Roots - Ode to a Friend

Sometimes I reminisce about the good ole' days... but inevitably, they turn into the most bittersweet memories that I have. This is for you, buddy.
Friends can come in any color, shape or size. They can touch you in so many ways, that even when they’ve gone, they continue to affect your life. I found a friend in wise brown eyes, copper hair and four hooves. My friend’s name was Peaches when I met him, but he came to be known as Sierra. He was not what anyone would have considered the perfect first horse. After being tossed in a field for years and being plagued with endless hoof issues, he was a little bit hot, to say the least. During the first year, every time I tried to hack him, he would hit the pavement and then the sky. He would take off after jumps. Buck me off. Make me cry. I was terrified of him for a few months.
Sometimes, though, it takes some tears and some hard choices to figure out how to handle yourself or your situation. I resolved myself to fixing his issues.
Sure, he was never mr. athletic. He was a mediocre mover and a safe but very limited jumper. What can I say? I was young and I was in love.
Regardless of his limitations, I could slap a halter on him and take him into the endless fields, spending the whole day pretending I was an indian. I could sit in the corner of his stall while he ate, telling him my deepest, darkest secrets. I could spend hours just pouring over his body, memorizing every little bit.
Nearly ten years later, I can still recall the little scar on his back in the shape of a '7'. I can remember the peculiar discoloration on his rump - what we all nicknamed the 'rotten muffin'. I can remember his kind eyes and those bad feet.
I can remember the day my heart broke.
I spent the hour before the vet came crying into his mane, giving him a final brush.
It was the hardest goodbye I have ever said, knowing it was the last one he would ever hear.
So this is for you, friend. This is for all those endless summer days we spent together. This is for saying goodbye way too soon. I miss you every day. I love you every day.

Dee's First Bra

I got Dee a bra the other day. I've been meaning to get one for awhile because she's getting little rubs on her shoulders from her blanket, and I actually stumbled across one for free! We had someone drop off bags full of blankets and tack the other day at work, and upon sifting through it I found a shoulder guard that, while not sellable due to a small rip, was perfectly adequate for my purposes... and it's RED! Jackpot!
It fits her pretty well, too. I put it on and told her how lovely she looked in her first bra... she responded with a VERY ugly face, so I told her that once summer came around we could have a bra burning ceremony. That seemed to cheer her up again... God I love that mare, she's such an adorable little character.

I am currently working on my senior paper for Post, which is about the Thoroughbred (history, current issues and future). In doing all of my research, I read a lot about several illustrious sires such as eclipse, herod, man o' war, etc. I also read about 3 european stallions that were introduced to provide more size. Well, after all this reading about pedigrees and such, I decided to look a little further into Dee's. The exciting part? I really can trace her all the way back to the Godolphin Arabian, Byerley Turk and Darley Arabian. I also found Herod, Eclipse, Man o' War, the Tetrarch, Sickle, and Roberto, among others. I also scrounged up a picture of her sire, Action This Day.. Here he is. I like him. All in all, Dee actually has a decent pedigree (not ridiculously inbred), and while that may no have translated into good racing skills, I'm hoping it will translate into eventing skills. I mean, she's got a good head on her shoulders at least, so that's a good start! Does she have a stubborn streak? I think so... but I also think that she's the type that will test her boundaries and, once they are established, will be happy to comply. That's how Tango was, a little bit. And but for his chronic injury, he would have been brilliant. So maybe Dee will be brilliant, but I'll settle for just having a horse that I can enjoy, which I think she will be.
Ok, enough of my rambling.

Barefoot at last!

Miss Dee is finally barefooted! Bob thought her feet were in great shape and that she'll probably do well barefoot... so unlike Tango, whose feet were just terrible. I'm hoping that she acclimates well and doesn't get too sore. She was a proper lady for the farrier, too! Actually, she mostly just spend the whole time trying to figure out if my hair was edible or not (not biting, just lipping at every opportunity)... once she ascertained that it was not, she just sort of nosed it around and played with it... silly mare! But that was probably the most affectionate/playful she's ever been with me, so I was excited, and it kept her occupied.
In other news, I've got her started on the Max-E-Glo, and I'm really pleased with it. She seems to love it and is looking fabulous. I guess the Ultimate Finish just wasn't her cup of tea. I'm thinking that once she's in work, I may get her started on Platinum or possibly Mushroom Matrix, which Bettina told me works really well.
In other OTHER news, I finally got around to cleaning out my tack trunk and the rest of the tack room. I've been a bit negligent, and my tack trunk was in a complete state of disarray. The tack room needed some help, too.
Since we got all this snow on Tuesday, my trailer is sort of snowed in behind a plow drift, so I'm not sure when I'll be able to get it out again and actually take Miss Dee somewhere, but at least now I have an excuse to let her hang out: she needs to get used to having naked feet!

Step 1: The Friendly Game

Well, our lesson was cancelled on Saturday, but we got it today! We're learning the Parelli style of natural horsemanship, and the first step was mastering the friendly game, which basically involved getting Dee to be ok with having a big orange stick rubbed all over her. She pretty much passed that with flying colors, since she could care less, for the most part.






We also worked on something called the Porcupine Game, which is basically teaching her to move away from pressure (either with a hand or the stick). That one wasn't so easy to master, and in fact, we have some homework to do. When Diane first put pressure on her by pushing Dee's shoulder, Dee's response was to try biting Diane. It did get better from there, though. By the time I took the lead, Dee was at least semi-understanding the concept of going AWAY from pressure rather than pushing AGAINST it.





That was most of what we worked on. Diane also worked on trying to get her to back up (by flicking the lead), but that's got a LONG way to go. Mostly, Dee would either put her head up as high as it could go or try to run off. Eventually she'd try to head backwards, but she never figured out that going backwards was what we really WANTED. Oh well. I plan on working on these games through the week and hopefully we'll get to some new ones at out next lesson!

Natural Horsemanship

When I was a working student in MA, a woman came once a week to work with me and Scudder, the youngster, on natural horsemanship-type stuff. Now, I don't know what type it was... we used a rope halter and the ground work VASTLY improved Scud's manners, that's all I know. SO, when one of the girls in my senior seminar class asked me if she could use Dee and I as subjects for her senior project on Natural Horsemanship, I leapt at the chance.
We get our first lesson this weekend, and I'm pretty excited about it. I think it will be a great thing for me and Dee to work on together! Our "lesson" is Saturday, so I'll make sure to update! Maybe I can even convince megan to come up with me and take pictures.

On a side note, I wish I had my camera with me yesterday, because Dee was SO SUPER SHINY I couldn't believe it. I guess the Ultimate Finish is making her pretty glossy, but she doesn't seem to like eating it, so I'm thinking of switching her to Max-E-Glo rice bran, instead. It will offer the same results without the weird coco flavor that I think Dee is none to thrilled with. I do LIKE UF, and I think Buckeye is a great feed, so I don't want to take her off of the gro n' win, but I think I need something that she LIKES to eat to supplement the gnw with. They do have a UF powder, but I can't really imagine that it would taste much difference, and the powder is more expensive, so if she hates it, that's a lot of money down the tube.

Other Horses!?

Dee had her first ever experience with SHARING yesterday. That is, she was made to share the indoor with not one but TWO horses. Well, ok, she didn't share with both until the end, but she held it together.
Now, of course she's shared space on the track, but that's a very different experience than sharing space in the ring, and I've had horses who get VERY upset about it. Luckily, Beth - who we were in there with first - was nice enough to let us just tag along behind her, which Dee loved. Also, by the end, Taylor could be half of the indoor away from us, and Dee was ok with it, because she could still see her, and felt like she MUST still be following her, so it was ok... what a crap racehorse she must have been! She was totally unconcerned with keeping up!
When Taylor needed to have a canter, another horse had walked into the ring, and that girl was nice enough to have her gelding babysit us in the center of the ring while Beth went for her canter. Dee actually STOOD STILL in the center with Miles and didn't even bat an eyelash when Taylor was cantering behind her. What a good girl! I was expecting her to be a little panicked about such a big horse thundering behind her, but it was no big deal at all.
All in all we did lots of trotting, just slow and steady. It was a good time for her to get her head around other horses in the ring (and when Miles went out and started trotting while we were trotting, she was fine with it!), and it was also a good workout for her (by the end, however, it was a good workout for ME, while I was trying to convince her that continuing to trot was a good idea even though she was tired).
I was very very happy with her, she's a good mare.

In other news, I finally got ahold of Steph yesterday after weeks of attempting, and she's on her way to sunny and warm Florida. Jealous. She's going down with 9 horses and 1 WS... so she's gonna be BUSY (We had 10 between the two of us), but at least she'll be warm. One of these winters when I have the money (I'm actually thinking of starting a Dee Account), I want to be able to send the mare down to sunny Florida for the winter and maybe visit for a week or two and compete somewhere. Hopefully someday... maybe next winter? Who knows!



That was what I woke up to every morning in Ocala.