New Dude Update.

It's closing in on a month now that I've been blessed with Jake. 

It's certainly been a month of learning.  Both for me and for him.

He came to me about a hundred pounds underweight, with a crappy shoe job.

These pictures are of him the day after I brought him home.  Cutie patootie.  This is also the day that he disappeared from underneath me when I took him out in the fields on a cold, windy, blustery day in a strange place.  Shame on me.  Dear Daughter got a huge laugh out of it though.  Lesson learned.

Since his arrival, he's gotten his feet taken care of, (twice already) his teeth done...thank you equine dentist god who I like to watch :) He had some sharp points in the back of his jaw, and some sores on his cheeks, poor dude.  He now has earned the nickname of Hoover, and has earned some big round rocks in his feed bucket because he eats with such enthusiasm... He's also on the best food/ration balancer on the face of the earth, and gets fabulous care at my wonderful barn, and within a few weeks, he's filling out nicely!  This picture is a week later....

He's proving to be quite the smart dude.  He was a hunter/equitation horse in his earlier years, and then later doing trails with his previous owner...  Me? I'm working with a French Classical dressage trainer with my horses.  Jake "gets" it.  He's very smart and tries his hardest to do what is asked of him.  He's got some pretty stiff muscles, but he's getting it, and he's certainly enjoying it.  (along with his momma) 

He's a pretty "looky" dude, and tells me that there are lots of scary, terrifying, greyhorseeating monsters everywhere.  He's pretty good about letting me know in no uncertain terms that he's scared about something, (in a non-killmeleavemeontheground kind of way), and if I keep his brain occupied constantly he's okay.  He gets lots of praise and hugs during our rides, and has gotten over the mounting block is going to eat me phobia, and that it will stay in the center of the indoor, and not chase him around.  He also now understands that when I take my gloves off at the end of my lesson, that the velcro sound of my gloves is not a mountain lion leaping from the rafters of the indoor to land on his back and eat him.  Bless his heart, he's training me well.

Here's the handsome dude two weeks in....at this point he's outgrown his blankets and his hiney is hanging out...he's filled out from a 78 to an 80.  I just couldn't bear the thought of his little hiney being drafty all winter.

I'm currently in the market for a saddle for him, as the County that we use on the big mare is custom fitted to her, so Mr. Handsome needs on of his own.  I've got another County out on trial for him, and I've just got to get the saddle fitter out to determine if it will work for him.  I'm sure she'll be out on a fairly regular basis as he fills in and muscles up. 



Photo Shoot.

Well hello handsome!

There's a new guy around.

His name is Jake. He is a TB, 1994 model.

He needed a place to land, and he's landed in horsie heaven.

I've got a soft spot for the "oldsters" who have spent their life working hard, learning and teaching.  Sometimes they need a place to land.  Sometimes I can help.  I could help this time, so I did.  Jake's got some issues, as every "older" horse does.  That's what makes them special. And from what I've learned, is they give back way more than you can ever imagine. 

Now this is progress!

What a difference a year makes!
This is Miss Chinook when we got her a year ago...

Scrawny, upside-down neck, no rear end at all, weak topline with no muscle, and a belly that looked like she was due sometime soon.  I got a comment the other day about her improvement in both looks and attitude.  She is on an awesome feed program, along with a good exercise program, and look at the difference a year makes...(excuse the grainyness, it was taken in the indoor)

She's got an awesome, strong, flexible neck now, she's developing a cute little butt, and her topline is much improved, both from regular exercise and a well-fitting saddle. 
It's actually kind of amazing the difference that a year can make.
I owe a lot of her progress to my awesome barn, and the amazing managers who treat every horse there like their own.  I also have to give credit to my amazing instuctor who is teaching the both of us French Classical dressage.
Just because this whole post is a brag about Miss Chinook, here's a few more pictures of my beautiful, sweet, unbelievably unphotogenic mare!

 
I loff my sweet mare!

Progress?

We have now owned Miss Mare for three weeks. When we got her, she hadn't been ridden much, and had a skinny hiney that made me wonder how she even walked around. She had very little muscle in her rear end and on her topline, which mad her look like she had a big hay belly. We have been working her six days a week, lots of work at going long and low to engage her hind end and build up her topline. Lots of transitions and lots of trot work. Please bear with me, as some of these pictures are in the indoor, and it's quite hard to get a good picture in the indoor!
Here she is the week she arrived....

A week later...


And this week...(sorry, photos from the indoor again...)


Now that I look at the pictures, I am not seeing a lot of difference physically, however, she is moving much better and seems pretty content with herself. She's not short strided and stiff in her hind any more when she comes out to work. I'll keep you posted on her progress...

Someone is cranky today...

Miss Mare has decided that she does not want to be messed with today. She was cranky about being caught in the pasture, she was cranky about being taken away from her friends, she was cranky about being unblanketed and brushed. This is a picture taken of her today. What's your opinion?