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!

Santa Horse!

Here is the promised post with a few pictures of Dream and myself as Santa's little helpers! ;-) So, although a little late, Christmas should always stay alive, right?

Thanksgiving

If you're anything like myself, then you already feel like Thanksgiving was ages ago but before we all get too far removed from it, I would like to share a Thanksgiving poem I wrote, and a little about my Thanksgiving.

To start, here is the poem.

If a basket were filled

With all the things I'm thankful for

My basket would be overflowing

And spilling out upon the floor

I'm thankful for a God

Who loves me more than I could know

And a family who loves me

Helping me to spiritually grow

The freedom in my nation

Allows me to worship without fear

And I am deeply grateful to those

Who for it paid a cost so dear

I'm thankful for my country home

Far from noise and city lights

Where day or night I'm never far

From amazing God-breathed sights

I love my precious pets

Which turn our land into a zoo

They make me laugh and smile

They who cluck, baa, meow, and moo

I'm thankful for our little horse

Oh so majestic, tender, and sweet

And when I ride her through the fields

It is always such a treat

Without my family I'd be nothing

They never fail to bring me cheer

Even in the hardest of moments

My family shares in every tear

So as you can see my basket is full

Full of thanks for God, family, and living

May you now go out and count your blessings

Wishing all a happy Thanksgiving

Now for a bit about my Thanksgiving:

Our Praise Jar

For the last few years, my family has been celebrating our Thanksgiving the day before, and on the actual day of Thanksgiving, we deliver meals to shut-ins through a program our nearby town does. After that we go to my grandparents and put up my Grandma's tree the day after Thanksgiving. On our Thanksgiving, well, let's just say that it was fun and interesting. Before I actually go into our day, I should first explain our Thanksgiving tradition. We call it, the Praise Jar. Throughout the year, whenever we see a moment in our life where it was so obvious that God protected, provided, and was with us, we write it down and put it in the jar. So, to start our day, we made hot drinks and sat by the fire while the turkey was in the oven and began reading aloud our praises. It was amazing to see all the times when we thought, “I'll never forget that time” and.

. . we do. This is such an encouraging reminder to observe all the ways that God's hand was watching over us. Once we were done, we took a walk with Dream (our horse) and enjoyed the fresh air. When we returned. . . back to the kitchen! Here is where the first interesting thing occurred. Dad felt like he should check our mail. (Remember, it was the day before Thanksgiving so mail would still come.) When he went to turn on our van, the battery was dead! (Ok, ok. I must admit it was my fault. I left the light on above my seat. Oops!) Since he couldn't use the van yet, he checked the mail with the truck while the van was charging. When he got back, he decided to take the van for a longer drive to make sure that it would hold the charge for the trips we had planned for the following day. Interesting thing number two. Just a few minutes after he left, he returned. “Our sheep is in the road!” (For those of you who don't know, several years back a sheep hopped into our field and has stayed ever since. We had tried to find its owner but never did.) So, just as dinner was about ready, we hopped in the cars and drove down to our lower property to chase the lone sheep into our field while keeping our two cows in! When we got down there, the sheep was back in the field! By this time it was nearly dark. Dad and I walked the fence and repaired the place where she could have gotten out. Oh my, what an afternoon! Once we got back we had a cold Thanksgiving meal but we already had our first praise for the next year as we saw how God was at work and uses even things that could have turned out bad for good.

The next day we went into town and delivered the meals. It was neat to see these people and hear their stories. One senior we had met two years ago while delivering meals and we were able to chat and spend some time with him which was fun. Then we went to my grandparents along the coast and had another Thanksgiving meal with them. Thankfully, this one was much more relaxing than the day before! The day after, we set up Grandma's tree and went to an Italian coffee shop for our traditional, three-generation family picture.

Thanks for reading! How was your Thanksgiving? Do you have any traditions? Did anything exciting happen on your Thanksgiving? I'd love to hear about it!

Sheer Joy!

As most of you are aware, last November our horse got an injury that eventually made her lame. Long story short, my sister and I could walk and canter (lope) her but we were unable to canter because we had to pass through the trot to get to the canter. The trot was what would have made it worse and become dangerous to us as the rider. So we were stuck with a walk. Of course, I was glad for a walk rather than nothing but it was hard since we got her mostly to really ride. Anyways, we had the vet come out to give Dream her annual shots. When he did, he also looked at her leg. He clarified for us that her injury is just like arthritis; sometimes she'll be a little stiff and limping, other times she'll be right as rain and on those days we could go through the trot to the canter. He briefly lunged her and told us that on this particular day she looked “right as rain”. So, later that day, my sister and I saddled her and then worked toward a canter. After several tries I was able to get her to a canter on my cue. My sister also had several good canters. 

Now, this wasn't even the best part! Well, I guess that the best part was that we can now canter her, but my post title is actually based on an event that happened the following day. Up until this point, I had both walked and trotted bareback but cantered only in a saddle. I had been thinking about trying to canter bareback since in all your movies and books they do canter bareback. (Yes, I know that they are not always the most reliable sources but I know that people do.) After making sure that this was one of her “right as rain” days, my sister and I worked her a bit and then rode bareback. Once again, after several tries, I was cantering bareback! When I came back I was absolutely speechless. It was an AMAZING feeling. I was flying! Sheer joy. That's just about the best way to describe it. Both my sister and I had several more bareback canters and we both agreed that, that . . . I don't even know how to describe it! It was wonderful. As I said, sheer joy!

Sorry, but I was unable to find any pictures or video of cantering bareback so this one picture will have to do! (A BIG thanks to my sister for capturing this beautiful moment on camera!)

Caption This #1!

Hi Everyone!
Recently a blog that I really enjoy has started something that called "Caption This". I asked if I could use the idea and she said yes. It works like this: every other week (maybe a little sooner or later) I post a picture and in the comments, you put what you would caption it! It could be funny, serious, just whatever you want! Then at the end of one week (on average), I will pick my favorite caption and post it with the picture. Then the following week, I will post a different picture. And so on and so forth. I hope that you guys have fun! Just post your caption in the comments and sometime this week I will pick my favorite one!

Here is the first "Caption This" picture!

What is Dream and my sister thinking?

A Magical Moment

Our cow Freckles touching noses with Dream.

A few weeks ago I enjoyed a small adventure on our property. Since I live on 40 acres, own two cows, one sheep, four chickens, four cats, and a horse, with practically no neighbors on our street, I get the full country life. So anyway, I saddled up Dream with my sister and parents and we rode Dream in our lower 20 acres. It was really fun as this was her first time in the “lowland” as we refer to it. She had only met our cows over the fence so she was as excited as could be to meet the cows face to face. As I rode her toward the cows and sheep, her whole body began to vibrate violently. At the time I thought it meant that she was scared but have since learned that that means that they are excited. I turned her around and began to walk away and as I did the cows and sheep began to come toward us. I have to admit that I was pretty nervous as I was on her and didn't know how she would respond and also, there are a lot of gopher holes in the lowland that I was afraid if she started to run she might step in and break a leg. However, after the cows and sheep followed us, I decided to let them meet. I once again turned her around and after a while, our youngest cow stepped forward and reached out her neck as far as she could. It was sort of like, “Hey! I want to meet you but am just a bit afraid. But my curiosity is getting the better of me. I'll just keep my distance.” I can understand why the cows would be a bit afraid because I'd never realized just the size of the cows until I was up on Dream's back. Even though Dream is considered a “pony” she is still a good size. I was looking down on the cows instead of up to them. It was practically magical to watch as they touched noses. I can tell you that I let out a sigh of relief as I realized just how relaxed Dream was since she was eating grass as she approached the cows!!! :P

A girl and her horse. . . and two cows and a sheep.

I just wanted to share this special part of my life with you all. Thanks for reading!

An Update . . .

I just wanted to do a quick post to let all my readers in on an update about Dream's leg. Sorry I didn't earlier. It is healing up well and she is at the point where we could start to ride again. (Yeah!!!) She is really feeling her oats. We have been working her more to get her ready for us to ride again. We took her for a walk (I know that sounds crazy but. . . ) on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and that was great except that it was a windy day and she spooked a bit. So I hope that fills you all in!!! By the way, if you are a horse owner, could you let me know in a comment so I know who to ask for tips? I hope to post new pictures soon! God bless you all! Thanks for all you prayers and concern!

The Ups and Downs

Her leg was really swollen.

It was open just below the knee and bleeding.

Since receiving Dream we have lived through some ups and downs with her. To start with the ups, it is a wonderful blessing to have her on our property and to ride her freely. I so enjoy working with her, grooming her, spoiling her, and riding. For the downs, we came home one day about two weeks ago to find that she was just standing, which is extremely unusual for her, not even taking a few steps to come to the fence to greet us. I crouched down to look at her legs all the while coaxing her to come to me. I noticed that her left-front leg was open just below the knee. Being a first-time owner, I freaked out and called mom and dad. I jumped through the fence and was with her in a jiffy asking my sister to get water because I didn't know how long it had been since she had drunk since the water trough was on the other side of a hill. When I saw that her food wasn't even finished I became even more worried because Dream loves to eat. :D After we finally led her into a much smaller “pen” we called the man we got Dream from and the vet. The man we got Dream from came to our place to look at her wound and said that it was bad but not life-threatening. (THANKFULLY!) Two days later the vet came out and basically said the same thing. We got some medications for her from the vet too.

We gave her the medications twice a day for about a week and cleaned her wound daily in addition to putting in some stuff that's supposed to heal it up and some stuff to keep the flies away. It's been a lot of work and I hope it heals real quickly! Please pray because it isn't appearing to improve!

A Dream Come True

What ya doing?

Dream's feeder and OUR boardwalk to keep out of all the dust.

LET THE VIDEO LOAD ALL THE WAY FOR BEST VIEWING!!! ENJOY!

Ah, Sunday, October 13, 2013, a day to remember indeed. For on this memorable day my family and I picked up our horse that we have been given. Although it was extremely difficult for me not to share this with you all before, I was determined not to until after she was on our property. Going back now to August, I had a horse and didn't even know it! My dream come true at last! Back when we left for camp, that Wednesday, my mom and dad had been offered a horse and decided to take her. On the Saturday my sister and I came home they told us. So from Wednesday to Saturday, basically four days, I didn't even know that I was a horse owner! Can you imagine! I was so excited! (And still am:-)) We decided to name our mare “Dream” because she was a “dream come true”! Dream is an eight-year-old pony appaloosa. This does not mean that she is a very tiny horse but rather she is not quite full sized. She is the perfect size for my sister and me. She is also considered a “pony of the America's” aka: POA. We have free-ridden once so far and we do “ground games” a lot with her. She is a great horse for us. She's quiet—not like a high-spirited Arabian or something. : ) She was actually used with handicapped kids if that helps you picture her! Another good thing about her is that as we learn our training method, Parelli Natural Horsemanship, she is learning too because she was never trained with this method so she does not get frustrated as easily. (Notice I said “as easily”! LOL) Our friends who gave her to us also taught us how to ride, but most importantly, to build a relationship with her.

Now she even trots to us when she sees us or we call.

 

Neighing at me."Well, howdy yourself Dream"!

I am queen of this hill!

We are converting our playhouse to a tack shed for her. We made her a nice feeder too out of a tractor tire. We have been so blessed by friends offering advice, loaning us equipment, giving us tools, and offering physical help. Thank you if you are any of the above mentioned. Since we are first-time owners, we need all the help we can get! So far we have had a good experience except for a few minor mishaps. :-) Expect that I will be posting a lot more with her included!!!