More Brego

Since I still have the trailer hooked up to the truck I was hoping to pull Chaos and Maverick out and start working with teaching them to load. I know Chaos can load when he wants to but he needs to be a pro at loading when we start doing our serious trail riding.

Since Maverick loaded with such ease, I'm hoping Brego will load just as easily. I'm hoping tonight that I can maybe try my hand at loading and unloading Brego. Of course I'll have to bribe him into the trailer with grain but if that's what it takes to teach him, so be it. He's pretty easy to train, just the simple stuff I've done with him.

It's now been a week with Brego and Chaos in the same pen. I'm thinking of pulling Brego out and putting him in with Bob and Rain. I'll pull Dude and King out and put them in with Chaos. I'm not sure how well Bob will handle it but I want Bob up near the barn so he can be in the leanto. I don't want to separate Bob from Rain but I want Rain to get used to Brego too. I don't want Dude in with Brego yet since he's so mean.

But there is going to have to come a time very soon that the big herd is going to have to meet Brego. I'm hoping this week I can do some more introductions. Last week was just too busy. The only other option would be to throw Brego in with the ponies... now that I didn't think of until just now. I guess my biggest concern is what to do with Brego when Sam arrives. And what do I do with Brego and Maverick once Maverick returns. I've had Brego and Maverick separated from the big herd for the past six months. Part of it was because I wanted to handle them more (which of course I didn't really do) and I just didn't have time. So now I have to make a mad dash to get the horses all used to Brego.

I'm a bit worried that Brego is really going to get pushed around. He already gets pushed around by Chaos. I just don't want him pushed around so much that he doesn't get anything to eat. I may have to pull him into the barn when I feed Bob and let Bob and Brego much on alfalfa and hay (Bob - alfalfa, Brego - hay).

I guess we'll see how tonight goes. At the very least I want to rearrange the herd so that the non aggressives are together and the aggressives are together for a couple of days. I'm sure Dude, King, and Chaos will be ticked they are in the smaller pen without the joys of the leanto off the barn. But I guess they'll just have to get used to it. Keep your fingers crossed all goes well (and that I get a chance to do some trailer loading with Brego and Chaos).

Warm Up Ride

Yesterday was the WarmUp Ride. It's the official start to this year's trail riding season.

I'm glad I had the chance to do a bit of riding before hand. Otherwise I'm sure I would have been even more sore than I am today. I'm sure King and Rain are a bit sore too.

I woke up about 5am and thought I heard rain. A storm passed through about 5:30 so I listened to the rain before I fell back asleep. I ended up sleeping in longer than I wanted. I caught both of them and got Rain saddled up. It wasn't raining or misting when I loaded the two into the trailer but not even half way to mom and dad's and it started to mist.

It was misting/drizzling when we got to mom and dad's. So I pulled King out for dad to saddle and threw Rain back in so my saddle wouldn't get too rained on. We loaded King back in and headed out to the trail head.

Not as many people showed up as I thought would be there. I guess only the diehards showed up this time. We headed out about quarter to 1pm. My favorite part of this ride is riding through the creek that runs under Hwy 34. The creek wasn't too bad when we rode through the first time. It wasn't even up to Rain's belly and he's a short horse.

Rain also got a compliment from one of the saddle club members. Rain has really come a long way. I need to start working on Chaos so that he too can start receiving compliments. I'd like to start showing him off and telling people he was a rescue. What can I say, I like to brag about my "kids."

We rode up to Johnson's Point and then headed back. We only took one half hour break and one quick potty break. Otherwise it was riding all the way. Unfortunately about the time we saddled up and headed out it started to mist. It misted/drizzled the entire time we rode.

When we turned around Rain started throwing a hissy fit. He definately knows where that trailer is! We finally got back to the pasture area where we got to cross the creek a couple of times. By the time we were back into the creek under Hwy 34 I thought the creek had risen. I wasn't sure if it was just me or not but the water was up to Rain's chest and lapping at the bottom of my stirrups. Least to say I took my feet out of the stirrups. I was wishing I had Bob about that time! I wasn't the only one who realized that the creek had risen about a quarter foot in the hour plus we'd been gone.

By the time we got back to the trailers everyone was soaked, from crossing the creek and the mist/drizzle. It was a pretty good ride. Everyone seemed pretty well beat. As I looked around, almost every horse had their head hanging down practically snoozing on three legs. Wish I would have gotten a few pics. We didn't sit around like we normally do since it did start to rain at one point. But we stood around for a little bit and then it stopped misting all together for a little while.

We decided to load up and head back to mom and dad's for supper. We pulled the saddles off and I blanketed the boys. I figured they might catch a chill what with sweat from the trail ride, the water on their legs, and the constant drizzle. I think they were happy to be blanketed. King and Rain stood around while we had supper. I was pretty well beat by that time.

We'd made plans to go pick up Sam the Belgian Sunday late afternoon/evening but it was already 7pm by the time we headed out of Madison. We didn't figure that we would get home until way past dark. I don't really like dealing with new horses in the dark and then leaving them to stand in a pen for an extra 24 hours while I'm at work. I prefer to be at home to keep an eye on them and get to know them right away. Maybe next weekend we'll be able to pick Sam up.

While I was standing in the barn looking at Bob this morning, I saw a mouse race across the rafters. We are in desperate need of more mousers. Having only one cat who prefers to dine on rabbits means we are being overrun by mice. I've seen three mice in the last two days. It's time we get more cats. And these mice are in the barn where a cat lives! Makes me wonder how many more mice we have in the place (and in the house)! I stocked up on Senior Feed this weekend too and I dont' want those darn mice getting into Bob's senior feed. There will be one ticked off "Big Momma" if I catch any mice in that senior feed. I'm hoping to bring home some more barn cats next weekend.

All in all, it's been a busy last couple of days. I'm ready for some rest and relaxation but I don't think that's going to happen. I'd like to pull Chaos out tonight and start fiddling with him. He really needs miles put on him.

Maverick will also have been at the trainers for a full week now. I'm half tempted to call tonight and see how it's going! There's always something going on at Borderlands!

Vet Day!

Yesterday was vet day for some of the horses, well, actually just the ponies. I don't have any problems doing the other horses's shots but I was afraid of doing the ponies. I wasn't sure if they would require less or what all would be needed. So I sucked it up and hauled them to the vet. It went pretty well at the vets. But I'm jumping ahead of myself.

I scheduled the vet appointment for Friday so that I wouldn't have to rush around on the weekends or try to squeeze in yet another trip somewhere. I got up fairly early Friday and haltered up Tommy and Skipp.

I also decided that Dad and I should go for a ride before the WarmUp Ride. We needed to get the kinks out before going on the first ride. I don't want to be the one that causes a wreck. So I haltered up Rain and King. It took a bit of rearranging to get the two bigger horse into the trailer. They are pretty spoiled and think they need to have their own section of the trailer. Once I figured out how they wanted to be loaded I got the ponies loaded.

I didn't realize it but there is a trick with loading Skippy. Since the trailer typically comes to his chest he won't load. The trick is to walk him up to the trailer and then take him away. Then walk him back up to the trailer and he'll fly right in.

It's actually pretty funny to watch the ponies jump in and out of the trailer. Those two little guys fly in and out with no problems. They can really jump. As long as it's jumping in and out of the trailer we won't have any problems. Now if they decide to start jumping any low fences.

I also decided to take Farley, Gypsy, and Trouble in for their yearly shots too. Everyone was due all about the same time so I figured one vet bill would be better than multiple ones.

When we got there, the vet wanted to do the ponies first. So Dad and I unloaded the ponies. I think the vet was very intersted in the ponies. They both receives compliments! Way to go ponies. They were a little bit naughty about shots but who isn't when getting shots?

I was also curious about how old they are. The vet took a peek at Tommy first and he guessed Tommy was about 8-10 years old. He looked at Skippy and said Skippy is a bit older than Tommy but not by much. He was guessing around the 10 year old mark. So to make things easier for me I'm going to say they are both 10 years old. That way I won't go insane trying to keep track of how old everyone is! :-)

The ponies jumped right back into the trailer and patiently waited to go home. Next came Trouble and Farley. We had to do a bit more with Trouble since she's the smaller one and needed nails and other extra done. The vet didn't believe that Farley was 6 years old. I can't remember now if he thought Farley was older or younger. Then came Gypsy. She behaved beautifully. I never know how she's going to behave since she's such a timid sole. But everything went very well.

When we got home, we unloaded the ponies into the barn and saddled up Rain and King to go for a quick ride. So all in all the vet trip was pretty uneventful. I definately breathed a huge sigh of relief when I got two horses, two ponies, and three dogs all back home.

I best get going. I still need to get the trailer packed for tomorrow's trail ride. Keep your fingers crossed that it won't rain. There was a bit of snow on the ground this morning when I went out to do chores.

Since I keep forgetting to get pics. Below are some pics of Brego. I wanted to get some pics of him six months after he came so that I can see the difference between when he came and now. I think he looks pretty good considering he went in to winter pretty thin.

How can you resist those eyes?! He's such a sweetie!

Riding Time

I really do need to get more pics of the herd. Everyone is starting to really shed out and glem with their summer coats.

I forget how much I really enjoy riding. I spend most of my time on the ground, caring for all the horses instead of sitting on their backs enjoying their view.

Last night I decided that I would go for a quick ride around the place. I need to get King and Rain into alittle bit better shape before the first trail ride. I'm not sure they'll really be in shape but at least I'm getting some of the kinks out (at least that's what I'm telling myself).

Rain decided that he wanted to snitch a couple bites of Bob's alfalfa so I grabbed Rain first for a ride. I can't believe Rain can be bought for just a mouthful of alfalfa. Crazy horse! I decided I'd continue riding Rain with the english saddle so that I can focus more on my form. When I switched to my western saddle it felt wrong. I may need to shorten up my stirrups.

I fiddled with Rain for a little bit and watched these dark clouds roll in. The weatherman never said anything about rain so I wasn't expecting a storm.

After riding Rain, I pulled King out. He's getting shoes today so I wanted to stretch his legs a bit and get him ready for the farrier. I decided this time instead of just putzing around that I'd try and make King work a little. King is such a slow walker that it's almost annoying. He also fiddles with the bit if he's not focused on where he's going. So instead, we trotted up and down the driveway and all around the place. I'm not sure how Dad survives King's trot. I swear King was going to trot all my organs out. I felt alittle bruised after all that trotting. I keep thinking King may be perfect for english riding. He has a pretty easy trot to post to (if I could only post).

While I was riding, I kept an eye to the sky. The dark clouds kept rolling in and all of a sudden I saw a lightening strike. I am not keen on riding when there's lightening. It's not bad if I'm riding a short horse but King is pretty big and I'd rather not act as a lightening rod. So King and I trotted around for a little bit more and then called it quits.

I had to spend an additional half hour after riding King, pulling out all the cockleburs. I wanted him to look half way presentable for the farrier. I hate having scuzzy horses when people show up.

I think Brego may be adjusting to Chaos and all his antics. I'm not thrilled with how Chaos treats him when it's food time. I now have to throw out a couple piles of hay to make sure Brego gets any food. Chaos is pushy and Brego would rather starve than go against someone. But I've had Chaos and Brego in together for two full days and it seems like Brego may start picking up on Chaos's lead. Chaos is by no means a leader, but he's a leader to Brego.

I'm hoping to pull Chaos out and put someone else in for Brego to meet. I hate to rush him but I really want him into the big herd pretty soon so I can free up that smaller pen for riding. I'm afraid that once Brego is in the big herd he'll get pushed around and wont' get as much to eat. I sure hope the pastures start to green up so I can get the entire herd out there and not worry about who is getting how much hay. I may need to start setting up smaller pens for at least the night feeding.

The farrier is coming out tonight about 4:30 to get shoes on King. Hopefully I'll have enough time to pull King out and brush him down before the farrier gets here. I prefer to ride them around the yard a bit to get the kinks and extra energy out of them but I guess that won't happen this time.

Tomorrow should be a fairly busy day. I'm hauling Tommy, Skippy, Farley, Gypsy, and Trouble to the vet's for their yearly shots. I'm also hauling Rain and King up so that Dad and I can go for a ride before Sunday's trail ride. I'll have to drop Rain and King off and keep heading in to the vets. I am not comfortable giving the ponies their shots since they are small. I'm sure I'll ask the vet some questions so that next year I can get everyone their shots and not be faced with a vet bill. It should be interesting getting everyone loaded. I think Gypsy will be the hardest one to load! :-)

I'm sure it'll be an experience to blog about! I should try and get some pics of the entire load headed up to Madison. Talk about a dog and pony show! Could be a pretty funny sight to see.

Brego meets Chaos

Brego is my sweet but odd little horse. He came back from starvation pretty well. I was worried at first that he would never stand correctly. At first he stood at an odd angle and I was worried it was a mix of no muscle mass and poor hooves. I’ve now had Brego and Maverick for six months.

Yesterday when we loaded Maverick into the trailer, Brego went nuts. I believe this is the first time Maverick and Brego have ever been separated in their four years of life. I hope that it does them both some good to be separated.

However, Brego is so attached to Maverick I was afraid that when we loaded Maverick up that Brego would smash through the fence and try to come with. Brego does not respect fences. We hauled Maverick to the trainers and came back right away to see how Brego was doing. I’d thrown some extra hay in to try and distract Brego. It seemed to do the trick. When Brego saw us pull in with the truck and trailer he whinnied. I felt bad. He was looking for Maverick.

I figured now is the best time to start introducing Brego to the rest of the herd. My initial plan was to pull Rain out and put him in with Brego. Usually Rain is my “Walmart Greeter” but since Rain is at the bottom of the pecking order in the current herd, I figured he’d probably take after Brego. Brego will most definitely be at the bottom of the pecking oder. But Rain wasn’t going to have any of that type of switching. Rain saw the halter and lead rope and bolted to the other side of the pen.

I didn’t want to mess with trying to catch him so I pulled Chaos out instead. Why not have my two 4-year olds standing together. Chaos might give Brego a bit of self confidence. Brego was NOT thrilled and wanted to stay as far away from Chaos as possible. Chaos on the other hand (once he ate all the hay) went over to harass Brego. Poor Brego, he can’t ever seem to get a break. Maverick beats Brego up all the time. Chaos did his notorious tail grabbing method to see what Brego would do. Brego just kept walking away. I sort of wish Brego would have let a hoof fly but he’s too gentle for that. The only thing Brego did was give me the "stink eye" for putting someone in "his" pen.

I’m hoping to put Rain in with Brego tonight and see how it goes. I have 30 days to get Brego adjusted into the herd before Maverick comes back and I have to introduce him into the herd. It may be that I need to create two separate herds, one passive and one more dominant. I’d prefer they all get along but I’m afraid the less aggressive horses will get pushed around. I don’t tolerate anyone getting pushed around. I expect manners. I know, they are horses and that’s their way of working things out but I don’t have to tolerate it. That’s why I’m the BOSS MARE around Borderlands.

We’ll see how tonight goes. Hopefully Brego can adjust and will stop giving me the stink eye for putting someone in with him. He’s definitely a people horse and not a horse's horse. He’d much prefer to be surrounded by people rather than horses. I’m not sure if he even knows what he’s supposed to do around other horses. Chaos will hopefully teach him. I’d also like to see how Bob is going to react to him. I’m not worried about anyone but Dude harassing Brego. But I think I might have a plan for that. Dude is down right mean when it comes to figuring out the pecking order.

It’ll be a slow process of introductions but I want to make it as painless for Brego as possible (and for me for that matter). I really want to see Brego bloom into a self confident little guy. Keep your fingers crossed that tonight’s pen switching goes as well as I hope.

New Brego pics coming this evening.

Maverick at the Trainers

I realize I don’t always give Maverick the credit he deserves. I think he has me buffalo’d. In any case, this past Saturday, my trainer called and said he was ready for Maverick whenever I was. We decided that this past Monday would be a perfect time.

The only hitch was that I wasn’t sure how well Maverick would load. The last time he loaded into a trailer was when the neighbor dropped him off six months ago. I’m not comfortable handling him to work with him so he sat all winter. I was pretty nervous about loading so I asked the trainer if he would be willing to come out and help load Maverick up.

So the trainer showed up at our place at 5:30pm. We stood around chatting for awhile, talking horses and whatnot. We walked back to where I had Maverick penned. We had to swing by and say hello to Chaos since Chaos remembered him and gave him a warm welcome.

I pulled Maverick out and he behaved! I’d pulled him out of the pen and wormed him before hand but when the trainer showed up, Maverick was on his best behavior! That darn bugger! We walked over to the trailer and he never once flipped out. He didn’t try to run me over; he didn’t try tossing his head around; he didn’t try to do anything bad. Mike opened the door to the trailer and there was no response from Maverick. He really must pick up on my nervousness.

We walked up to the trailer. Maverick stood there for just a little while. He sniffed and even put his two front feet in. Then Maverick backed out and we had to do a little maneuvering to get him positioned correctly. After that, Maverick hopped right in. That darn bugger.

Maverick and I walked to the front of the trailer, I shut the trailer partition, and unsnapped his lead rope. I don’t remember now if Maverick is good at being tied so I left him loose. That darn bugger. Here I was SO nervous about handling him and loading him and he made a fool out of me!

So we hopped into the truck and puttered on over to the trainers. I warned the trainer I drive super slow; we’re not talking turtle pace, we’re talking granny pace. The trainer said Maverick turned around a couple times but otherwise he was fine. (The trainer followed us to his place, poor guy.)

When we got to the facility, I told the trainer I really wasn’t comfortable unloading him. So he walks right in, snaps the lead rope on Maverick, and Maverick hops out. That darn bugger. Here he is making me feel like a total idiot for being so spooked. I think he was just showing off behaving and all. That darn bugger.

The trainer led him into the barn/stall area. He stopped once to look around. He wasn’t really even concerned about the other horses. He acted like a total pro. On the one hand I was totally impressed. On the other hand I was totally ticked. How could he have me SO buffalo’d. Almost makes me really upset that I’ve been intimidated by him for the past six months, a little not fair if I do say so myself. But that’s just me being selfish I guess.

The trainer walked him into a stall, unsnapped the lead rope, and threw in a bunch of hay. All Maverick did was grab a bite to eat and check out his other neighbors. I’m pleased he behaved as well as he did. The other horses were curious and Maverick was practically a gentleman. But he did used to play with King over the fence before I put the electric up.

So I guess maybe Maverick has a bit more potential than I thought before. I could see he really did want to try. I could walk out into his pen and he would follow me around. I know I made him out to be some monster but I think it’s more he didn’t know that he’s not allowed to do certain things. I simply don’t know how to teach him that those things are not allowed. So hopefully the trainer will be able to teach him and I’ll get back a well behaved horse. Hopefully his name won’t suite him anymore.

The trainer did once say that those horses with more aggressive names are typically really good horses. Those horses with sweet names are usually the really naughty ones. I’m hoping that Maverick will following in that saying.

Keep your fingers crossed that the next 30 days goes really well and Maverick comes back a total gentleman. I think I’m going to check up on Maverick a bit more often than I did with Chaos. I was new to the training scene and the trainer. Now we have a better understanding of what all we are both expecting so I may be a bit more of an annoying owner and stop out.

On a side note, we have a new member to welcome to Borderlands. Please welcome Sam the Belgian. I’ll add more later but I just wanted to quickly say that Sam the Man will now part of the Borderland family.

I’ll also have to post about Brego, Maverick’s herd mate and how he’s handling Maverick being gone. I think Brego may be a bit lost. But I’ll post more later.

Roller Coaster Ride

Sorry I've been absent from posting much. There's been so many ups and downs these last few days I simply can't take it. I swear I'm riding a roller coaster. One minute there's so much exciting news going on and the next I'm down in the dumps, and then stuck half way going up yet another rollercoaster hill. I'm not sure my poor little heart can take much more.

Hopefully I'll have a chance to post more after I take Maverick to the trainers. Keep your fingers crossed that he's a good boy and loads into the trailer with no problems. I sure hope Maverick proves me wrong. Be the good boy I know you can be that's squirreled away deep down inside, not the naughty gelding that bosses poor Brego around all the time.

Keeping my gingers crossed and hopefully I'll stop bouncing out of my chair!