Merlin Jumping

Over Kill Right?

It was rather ackward to ride but it sure makes a great picture!(other than my leg that sliped back a couple feet).

He was rather suspisous of the boxes. It look't to much like a bridge, as in the Billy Goats Gruff and the Troll, you know the one that lives under the bridge and Gobles up all passers by.

What is Your Horses Personality ?

http://www.horsepersonality.com/quiz.html
Click the link and find out what your horses personality is.

Comity my 5yr old Thoroughbred is a People Pleaser.

Soft, sensitive, and very sweet describes this horse that will try and try to please you. They like to be told exactly what you want and then have you help them perform it. This is not your go-it-alone type of horse. They need you for support and can get very rattled if expectations are too high. This horse is in your life for the relationship.

However my horse Merlin  a 12 yr old Arab is a Rock Star.

The Rock Stars are confident and charismatic. They are expressive and strong minded. They love to show you what they know but are hard to get to focus on the small details of the task. They are found in many competitive arenas, usually at the top of their field

Ha Top in the Field of lazying about! Although that does look like his tongue.

In Need of Practice

Readers, I am in need of drawing subjects for I am without inspiration.
Please send a picture of a Animal that you would like a drawing of and send it to me. I will post it on a blog to come.
You Can send it to me by my email, Eleanor94@live.com


Below are some of my resent activity's.

Thank You

One More Time Now

Yet again I have Failed to save the life of a animal, specifically a wood pecker.
This year I have tried unsuccessfully to save three birds and one rabbit...

Day before yesterday My little sister rescued a Woodpecker,"It's not hurt!" "here you take care of it"goes my dad and little sister.

So I decide to give it a try and take it in my hands. I look under the left wing...
And what do I see.... A bloody mess! Its wing bone was sticking out.

So What do I do ?
I decide to look it up on the all knowing Internet.
But for the first time it fails me, no detailed description of what to do if you find a bird with a broken wing.
Instead it ether told you to put it out of its misery or send it to a wildlife rescue.

So I go with what I know.
My tools for the repairing of the wing

• scissors
• vet rap
• antibiotic ointment
• Gauze pads

What I fed it for The 36 hours I had with it.

•  Fish food pellets soaked in water

Fish Food?
Let me explain, when I was younger and had more talent in saving birds I found a baby Woodpecker that did know to be afraid and raised it to flying ability on fish food soaked in water.

I then started to let it outside to climb around in one our many oak trees.
And at the end of  the day I would call it down and it would slowly and clumsily get back down to me to be put up for the night.

Red Cap then started to fly around and explore the mountains and others of his species, and then one day he left.
A week later a wood pecker flew right over my head and flew around me.
It was Redcap.

But alas this tale did not end so happily as he died later the next afternoon.

But I comfort my self with the memory's of the animals that I have Successfully rescued.

• Redcap the woodpecker
• Piggy the pigeon that thinks hes a chicken
• Baby red tailed hawk , gave it to the wildlife rescue
• And numerous dogs and cats and snakes
• Chiclet My one legged chicken

The Next Generation of Horsey People

Here in Santa Cruz at the annual  D-Camp the voices of hundreds of little kids fills the air, added with the neighs of horses making new friends. Perhaps this scares some people?

But in any case this noise is all thanks to something called Pony Club. A association that gives thousands of children between the ages of 4-25 (yes twenty-five) the opportunity to jump into the world of horses. There are hundreds of Pony Clubs scattered in places as remote as Alaska and Australia to California.

Pony Club was created in England in an effort to save the the sport of Fox hunting and to introduce new blood. But it was soon evident that Pony Club was wanted every where and for more than just Fox Hunting but also show jumping,
Dressage,Threeday eventing,Games,polocross, and more recently western sports.

And so back to D camp...
You might be wondering why it is called such, it is because only D's are able to participate in this particular camp as a rider.
Now you are wondering what a D is?A type of kid that has Fangs?
Pony Club divides its levels of riders into D's , C's, B, and A.
And D's are divided into three levels, as are C's. These are D-1's,D-2's,and D-3's.

Resulting in me being a "Big Sister" to not one (my little sister who's participating as a rider on team 2) but Five because I'm a C-1.
My duties being

• Applying sunscreen
• Forcing water down throats
• Tacking horses if needed
• Cleaning tack
• Cleaning stalls
• stuffing food down children's faces
• keeping time under my watch full gaze
• leading pony's on Cross Country
• Attempt to teach jump/Dressage Courses
• Drink Coffee
• Drag sleep deprived children out of their tents

And so ruffly 150 Children were introduced to Threeday Eventing.
Five of those where from my Club, the Kaweah Pony Club.

So...What happens when you get this many little children on horses?
One would reputably answer "Fall off". Eight Children fell off on the second day, two of which went to the hospital(both came back for more the next day).
None fell off on the third and last day.

Here are some pics of the Newest addition's to the horsey world.

Two of the three boys present

Dressage

Oliver Twist

Crosscountry

"Is that edible?"

No the Deer is not stuffed

Dressage

Showjumping (my little sister)

Afternoon Snack

Walking the Showjumping Course

Warm-up arena

Just sorting out the minor details before Dressage.

Dressage

Cross Country

Cross Country

Cross Country

And so The Threeday event ends.

Comety's Off to Training

                                         Prep-School
For the past week I've been working with Comety every day.

• Brushing in till my arms fall off trying to get her to love me before my trainer takes her and Comety falls in love with her... This has happened previously to my Arab Merlin.
• Lunging her so she'll be relaxed enough to stand still while I'm brushing her.
• feeding her like a  manic( trying to make her fat).
• working with her feet(more about this later)Working with and the trailer(more about this later)

                                          Lunging with Comety
The funny thing is that shes a better lunge than my other horse Merlin....
        Even with the occasional take off with the nearest scary object(so far this has been three year old humans, Dogs,Bunny's and the most scary of all (Drum roll please) a branch, yes a branch.

                                            FOODFOODFOOD!!!!!
OK imagine this, theirs two horses, hungry horses , and they BOTH want their four pound of LMF Gold , with beet pulp and oil.

And out comes the poor stable girl or otherwise known as pasture girl(that's me ) clutching two buckets of the very sustenance that they are craving.

Not pretty right?

Do you see the flying hoofs that I do?

The greedy snorts?

The dust and scattered grain?

Then when they each get their identical buckets, what happens, you might ask?

They think the  grass is greener on the other side, or the grain is better in the other bucket, resulting in something that looks strangely like musical chairs.


                                                 

                                         New Feet

Comety is a six year old Thoroughbred that has never had her feet trimmed.

Front feet

front feet

Front foot

Hind Feet

Hind foot

Here are some pics of before, there will be after pictures in a couple of weeks.
The Farriers diagnose was that if trimmed properly  Comety's feet will grow back normally and that her Frogs are excellent and her feet are very good for a Thoroughbred that's never had its feet trimmed. Through her hoof walls are curved as shown in the first pic if you look closely. Comety did very well for her first trimming, infact she did better than some of our veteran horses!

The TRAILER

When I bought Comety she had been worked with for about Two  to Three weeks, before that she had had no training. The Lady we bought her from had rescued her from a Ranch that had been breeding for Palomino Thoroughbreds, and had run dry on funds, resulting in starving horses... The four or so horses the lady's rescued  had no previous training, so the only way to load them into a trailer on a gravel road was sedation. Comety's first touch into the world of trailering...

So When we came to pick her up for a six hour drive we were expecting SOMETHING and were rewarded with nothing... Comety was perfect, we loaded the companion animal we brought with us(Josie my first horse).

Then the local trainer just led her in!

So now I'm trying to replicate her success

My Tools of Persuasion

Helmet firmly attached to my head                                                                            

                                                                          

BOOTS protecting my delicate toes






A HUGE bucket of Grain







A LONG lead rope







And most importantly PATIENCE

 
I put Merlin in the first stall as Comety is infatuated with him.

Stocked the trailer and my pockets with hay and Grain, and sat down to wait her out.  Its surprising how far horses can stretch their neck when they want to!

But eventually ( about 45 minutes) my patience paid off and one could see her mentally say "  Aw Screwy it I'm going in". 

One set after another she got in and was promptly rewarded with a bucket of grain.

Must have worked because the next day she hopped in to go to my trainer Ayah .

This is the official BEFORE picture so I can properly see the changes in her, after training.

I wish I had been able to get more fat on her....

Comety is now at Ayah's and already beginning training on the first day!
Comety now knows wash racks don't bite.