Baylie!

Getting ready for our trail ride at Shaver Lake.

First ride! The man in the picture is the friend who gave her to us.

For awhile now, I have been hinting about writing a post about our family's new horse, Baylie. We have now had her for several weeks. She is an 18-year-old bay mare Quarter Horse. She was a champion cutting horse when she was younger. We received her after a trip to my family's favorite vacation spot, Shaver Lake. Over the years that we have traveled up there, we have built strong friendships with many people up there. One of them enjoys having three to four horses at a time. (and two mules!) On our most recent trip there, our friend let my whole family ride his horses in preparation for the three-hour-long trail ride we went on two days later. During this time that we have been riding his horses, he offered to give us Baylie because he knew that Dream is lame so we cannot do much riding with her. He let us know that if keeping Baylie didn't work out, he would take her back. As much as we loved the idea of having another horse, it took a lot of thinking and praying before we said yes due to the added responsibility and finances. After a few weeks, he and his wife brought Baylie down to our house along with her halter and bridle. Initially, we had been concerned that Dream would not get along with Baylie but everything worked out splendidly! Both horses took to each other immediately and are now very close. And of course, my excitement overflowed now that I didn't have to worry about them getting into it.

                                                                                                         Getting Settled:

"Mmm. Tasty grass!"

Smile!

In the time since we have had Baylie, we have gotten to know her better. We are getting used to neck-reigning since Dream is direct-reigned. One thing we have found is that Baylie is extremely responsive to the slightest ques. The slightest touch of the reigns to her neck and she pivots 90 degrees. Barely squeezing our legs sends her moving faster. We can travel up and down hills with her without concern for her knee like we must with Dream. Furthermore, God has so blessed us by providing us with a wide-tree Quarter Horse saddle for her when we would have had trouble affording a nice one. However, after a week or so, Baylie began to do little bucks whenever we rode. It didn't matter if we rode in a saddle or bareback. A local friend looked at her to help us decide whether she was in pain or was just testing us. We were caught off guard at her behavior because everyone had been telling us what a super sweet horse she is. We talked to the man who gave her to us to figure out why she might act this way, and he was just as stunned as we were. We were able to figure out that her behavior was not caused by pain. Then Baylie got fine again for awhile and went back to being nearly perfect. However, just a few days later, she began to buck and rear again when we rode her bareback. We asked that same local friend to watch us riding her and give us an analysis. She figured that Baylie was testing us and would become respectful to us if we stayed firm with her and didn't let her get away with any antics. So, we are hoping and praying that she gets better and that no one gets hurt in the process. I would also value your prayers. Thank you for following me as I discover that life is full of adventures.

Note: This post was written a while back and since, her behavior has improved under saddle but not bareback. We have been able to ride double in our lower 20 acres and move our cows around (to be expanded on in another post) as well as some different friends' land. God has truly blessed us through this adventures through the ups, and the downs. One other thing that I would value your prayers on is that just today, we had our vet come to give Dream and Baylie their shots. He recommended that we bute Baylie with 1 gram a day long-term. Bute is basically just an anti-inflammatory for horses but when used long-term, it can eat up their stomach. I really would like not to have to do that, but right now, I need to talk it over with my family before coming to any conclusions. All the same, I would treasure your prayers!