I have spent most of my life a horse hermit....

...and now that I am getting out and about with the horses, I am finding I have to do things. Like get a coggins. In the old days I would just go ride by myself and life was perfect. It still is when I ride alone...but things are changing. If I want to get out there and help promote mustangs, I have to crawl outside of my comfort zone and be SEEN! :-)

Our BLM mustang adoption is the end of this month and a friend mentioned getting coggins pulled on her mustangs. ACK! I had not thought of that, and Tripp is going to his first Meet & Greet! Today I left work early and we headed to the vet. My vet is pregnant and has been banned from working on large animals, but when she saw Tripp she knew he would be good to her. She loves him! I am happy to say that Tripp was a perfect gentleman and I was very proud of him. Not bad for not being in the public for quite a while.

Here is his sign.....



Tripp was checking to make sure the information was correct....



After we were done there we drove around and hung up flyers for the adoption. It was a fun afternoon.

Last night Brian and I went to a Natural Horsemanship demo - it was free and only 1/2 hr from home. I love when something is win-win.

I did not want to have the flash on inside the barn, but this horse is a 9 yr old Thoroughbred and he is pushy. Melanie, the clinician, is not much over 5 ft tall. This kind of shows the height difference of the two. His back was a bit over her head, and his withers were a few inches over her head. He was a beautiful horse and started to calm down a bit after she worked with him.



The barn/arena area was not heated and I was COLD! Actually my feet were the worst and they hurt pretty bad. The rest of me was just fine. :-)



We have had some windy days, and it blew the icicles that were hanging from the canopy a little crooked. It looked like the snagletooth sharks you see on Shark Week.



Not rain or snow will keep the grilling master away!



We have a young QH colt who is going to be going to the vet on Monday. It is time to collect the family jewels, which also means it was time to learn how to trailer load. Rico thought he would rest while looking for the rest of the group. He is a very layed back little guy and it did not take long for him to go in the trailer. We had to do some coaxing, but it all worked out and now he hops right in.



I hear it is supposed to be in the low 40's tomorrow, which means mud is in the forecast. We have had snow on the ground for a long time and I have to admit that I have enjoyed it. Not only can you see deep into the woods, it is also very bright and hides the dull brown of the ground and grass.

I think I am running out of steam...so time for bed.

Hope everyone is doing well!
Until later, Karen and Tripp who loves me! :-D

Our meeting with the ditch....

We have had a lot of snow this winter. Not a lot as in feet of it, but it has stuck around a long time. The past couple of weeks, it has snowed overnight every single night and put just enough on the roads to be dangerous. There are slush pockets under the snow too, and that is what got us!

We are driving along real slow, minding our own business, make it around the curve okay and I am feeling very comfortable with Brian's driving. (not always that way!) Then I felt the front tires lose their traction and the front end started to move to the left. We slid a little bit and all of a sudden it gripped the road and shot us to the ditch. We slowed down as the frame hit the edge of the asphalt and we both tried to help it stop with verbal requests.....then THUNK! Nose in ditch, and back end out in the road. We were okay, the car was okay, and nobody else panicked when they came around the corner on one side or over the hill on the other side, not to mention we are in the shallow ditch! We could have gone off on the other side where it was much steeper and further down.

Mr. Brian was none to happy with me getting out of the car to take pictures - it was all good. I could hear cars coming so knew to get back in the car where it was safer.
Brian was not happy and he was not wanting to smile for the camera. Notice the rear tire is off the ground. :-)



His side....



You guessed it! Me trying to make the best out of it, so I took a self portrait!



We have been lucky up until now...hopefully this was our turn and we will not have another mishap like this in a while.

Until later....Karen and Tripp who thinks cars are dangerous. :-)

Tripp and I went for a walk...

I will start with a few nights ago. I need to start working more with Tripp because he gets to go to our BLM adoption the end of this month. He has been left on his own other than the normal loving and scratching I give them all. I put the halter on him and took him for a short walk, looking for an area that did not have frozen mud craters. I found a half way smooth area on the hillside so we did some basic lunging and direction changing. Let me tell you what! Tripp was full of himself and then some! He was doing a little rearing, crow hopping, would turn and kick towards me, and try to charge off back up the hill to his buddies. He was not mean about it, just being a spoiled little brat. We worked for a long time before he realized that I meant business. My goal was to get two complete circles each direction without any antics out of him. Oh, he even cantered slow circles around me - not because I asked, but because he had all that energy. It was amazing...Tripp doesn't canter well yet. Now that I know he can, we will do more of it, plus he is older and more mature now. Anyways, we finally got our circles, then took another short walk before we headed back up the hill. It took everything I had not to take the halter off and let him blast up the hill.....in spite of his being a rambunctious kid, he sure looked good! :-) But we walked up quietly, both of us huffing and puffing because we are out of shape.

I got home late a couple nights after that and put the halter on him again, and we walked around a while, did a couple of nice circles, walked some more, and I even led him with me while I tipped up the bale rings on end. He just stood there.

Yesterday I wanted to take a walk. We got a few inches of ice and snow here. Nothing big, just big enough to be very very pretty, and also annoying. I went to get Tripp and we were going to walk to the creek bridge. That round trip walk is 3 miles with a few hills in the mix, and it would be on the road, which I have not done with the green horses before because people drive very fast up and down these dirt roads and over these hills. Honestly, it scares me. I thought I would give it a try to see what happened. Tripp is a thinker, so I was hoping we would make the whole trip to the bridge and back.

The tricky part for me was to NOT walk in the vehicle tracks. It was very slick. So I had to stick to the snowy areas on the side where there was traction. It was slick for Tripp too, and he did some sliding around, but he worked it out.

We live on Devils Washboard Rd., and people are always stealing the road sign. It was here today!



Tripp is looking back to where we have been...



Tripp: HOLY MOLY! COWS!
Cows: HOLY MOLY! HORSE!



He sure is beautiful...the sun was setting so the reflections off Tripp and the snow were amazing.



From the eye of a mustang...



Yum Yum, grass!



Tripp also finds trash. I am going to start carrying a plastic bag with me...my pockets just are not big enough.



On my way to the bridge, Brian was coming back from taking one of his kids to a friends. Tripp says hello to Brian.



Brian took a few pictures of Tripp and I. I love smooching him on the nose. I love all horse noses, but there has always been something about Tripp's nose that is different. :-)



The brown part is the creek, and look at all those critter tracks in the snow! They were everywhere and it got me to wondering what they were and when were they there. Did they play too?



This is what it would have looked like if I was on Tripp's back. :-)



I got too hot, so took my coat off. Tripp looks very cute in camo! I think I will be camo shopping for my boy! :-)



I grabbed the mail on the way in the driveway and took it in the house. When I came out Tripp and Snoop were saying hello, with Misty supervising from a safe distance.



The untouched snow in the back yard garden area. It was so pretty the way the sun hit it and the shadows it cast.



And did you think you would get to escape without one of these?????? HA HA HA!!!!



I think we had a great walk, and altho we were both a little tired on the way back, it was wonderful to get to spend some time together.
While walking with Tripp and working on a few things as we went along, I got to comparing Copper to him. The two horses are different as night and day. Tripp was a quick learner with a great mind, and he is confident even when he is afraid. Copper learned quick, but he had to 'learn quick' several times because he was not confident at all. Both horses are very social and wanted to be involved in what was going on around them, they were just wired different. Copper will get to where Tripp is, but it will take a lot longer.

Copper update: He is still at the trainers, the adopters have not attempted to pay the trainer or pick Copper up, the trainer was riding Copper once a week after the initial 30 days to help him remember his lessons, and right now he is hanging out with the small herd they have at their place. They sent pictures and he has gained weight and looks sooooo good and happy. The trainer, Matt Bonn, is working on what to do next. Once things happen, I will update again. :-) Let's just say I am happy he is still at the trainers because Copper needed someone patient, and Matt and his wife Christin are that and more. I am hoping that Matt knows someone who is interested in Copper, and if not, we will cross that bridge when we come to it.

Until later....Karen and Tripp