3,2,1,,, Happy Holiday's!!

Rhyme refusing to stand still to get his picture taken

    I hope everyone had a vary happy holiday. New Years is coming up and then onto the 2013 season. I got a awesome new halter for Rhyme from smartpak. Complete with a name plate. Its blue and dark brown(looks black)

  He has a HUGE head, even though he is half welsh cob, he is warmblood size everything. I'll try and get a better picture later maybe. I also got two books " How Good Riders Get Good" by Denny Emerson and "The Eighty-Dollor Champion" which is about the jumper Snowman.

Anywho we are currently waiting out a blizzard\snow storm. Ponies are all huddled together in the shelter, not happy about this wet cold stuff falling from the sky making them cold and wet. 

Safira and Imingarda part one

    Every summer in June my mom drives my brother up to Minnesota to camp, and on the way she passes this HUGE horse farm in Wisconsin. After wondering like she always does she went to trusty google and looked up "Horse farms in Blue Mounds,WI". She found out it was a breeding farm where they did research on Lippizan horses. She then looked at there sales page and found out that they where selling the offsping at a VARY good price for purebred lippizan's. When she went back a month later to pick my brother up she looked at the young mares they had for sale. Being my mom, she decided to take the package deal and get Biopsita, and Irmingarda, a package deal. After she got back she drug me out of bed at 3am to go with her to get them.
    They had never been loaded into a tailor. It was one of the hottest days and we where picking up a yearling and a three year old. GREATTTT

Bop upon arrival at our place,, UGLLYYYY DUCKLING  

     Bop as we call her was a yearling with amazing bloodlines and a promise to be at least 15.2h. She is as sarcastic and acts like a teenage girl have the time.

    They where not worked with vary much besides the basic farrier work and vet stuff.  We worked on them all summer and by the winter they where halfway well behaved.

Winter Break!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    I made it through the first half of the school year, amen. I can't wait for school to be over,seriously hate it.
On the other hand I rode Super Kid for the first time in about two week, she has lost most of her top line
(insert crying and saying I worked all summer on that ): ) We didn't ride vary long, it was one VARY cold two she was a complete airhead and would walk nicely and relax. I don't know how we are going to be in vary goo shape in the spring. GAHHH the frustration of riding horses.
    So now the plan is the rest of my break mostly lung her to get her to focus and relax forward and downward to stretch out her back and hopefully start building it up. While she is doing this I will be ridding Rhyme, he's always such a good boy for being almost 5 ( he will be 5 in the spring)  Soo, hopefully I will keep writing over this break and take lots of pictures 

The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear

The "Ohhh Crap" moment when your four year old eventing prospect runs into a gate and rips it from the hinges and "hopefully" has no damage to himself but the gate doesn't far so well.  Yea I about pee'd myself.
   Anywayyyy,,,,, This week is finals then I'm on winter break!!!!  I have to read over nine ch. of U.S History, blahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ):

Finals week................................................

    This whole week is finals........................................................................................ GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
    I wish I was in South Carolina doing this

Joint Supplements, again

    In a past blog I wrote about our joint supplement problem. I will be happy to tell you that SmartFlex Senior Herb-Free has so far worked pretty well. Super Kid was getting really stiff not being able to bend to the left without fighting you, taking her short stride in the back and just being in general stiff as a board.
 I gave her a few days off after I started her on them, I got on her and she was halfway willing to stretch and bend, and step fully under her. We will see if this will support her in the spring when we start conditioning and being rode more like Cosequin ASU did. If it doesn't I guess I'll have to buy it ):

One of my photographs, it is Super Kid's American Sport Pony brand  

Munchkin is coming along way.

 

  I call Rhyme many nicknames,,,, Rhymeykins, Munchkin, Corn Silk, Monster.

 We acquired Rhyme about three years ago from Castleberry Cobs, as a weanling. At the time I was ridding Brenin and hadn't even bought Super Kid yet. The breeder called us saying that she had a few foals that she wanted to sell, and my mom always thinking took me out there with her to look at them.  We saw this total cutie with his mom Regal who is sired by the Dutch Warmblood,  Limmerick and out of a TB named Ariel.

Look at the baby trot

Mother and Son moment

    Rhyme's sire is Tuscani Dundee, a Welsh Cob stallion, so he's a big pony. Fast forward three years and here we are. I started training Rhyme for leading and in hand classes. We never went to one. Then bing lunged with a saddle and eventually a bridle. We got on him at the end of his three year old year, only walking around. This spring we started with trotting and some light dressage work, only riding him a few times a week.

    He is to be my next eventing horse, meaning Novice and above. Super Kid could do Training, but she cant compete at it. We jump it at home though.  Tonight after I rode Super Kid, I rode Rhyme. He was AWESOME!! This winter i am hopefully going to introduce jumping and we started that tonight over itty-bitty one-foot jumps, that he just took a big trot step over.  Double Awesome. 

Bop had to get in on the action. 

    This horse has HUGE legs,joints, head, everything, but I'm most excited for his feet,I have NEVER seen this horse slip when he is playing out in the field with he's BFF Blitzen. Hopefully this will carry over to eventing particularly cross country, where I wont necessarily have to worry about him slipping and falling, because he has awesome pancake feet

CUTIE!!

Indiana weather depresses me.

Rhyme nom's on Blitzen's neck in a play war

     It never snows, it just rains, that in turns makes ponies mud balls and everything slippery. It makes me vary sad, I like sun and not muddy ground. So does Super Kid 

Finally!!!

     I finally ordered Super Kid's joint meds. I was stretching her front legs and she made a grumpy " It hurts to do that" face. She is spoiled rotten and I ordered them as soon as I got home again that evening. I will tell you how these work because we are switching from Cosaquin to SmartFlex Senior Herb-Free.  

Super Pony

    Here's a video from the Simon clinic when we jumped about 3'8 to 4ft something like that

Alfalfa Hay, I hate you

    The drought this year made poor people with ponies vary sad.  The worst part of it is that when you go to buy hay in its above 8$ you start to cry. We bought 250 bales in the fall to hopefully last us through the winter, feeding a bale in the morning and night plus letting them into the back where there is grass. With six horses hay has to be rationed so my mom bought straight alfalfa hay, the two Lippizzan's cant have alfalfa, and but everyone else can.
     We started giving them hay in the morning and sometimes at night if it is really cold, Arrow, Super Kid and Blitzen get alfalfa and everyone else gets grass mix. Welll this being the third day that they have gotten alfalfa I didn't think it would affect Super Kid.
    Yeaaa sure, I got on her and she the whole time was saying " LOOK MOM THAT PLANT MOVED, WE NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE" "OMG, THE WIND BLEW. AHHHH" and Super Kid being herself  was threatening to bolt the whole time.

This is from a few weeks ago

    On the other hand I lunged Rhyme over cavaletes (sp) and we got our BIG WARMBLOOD trot out, I was vary happy with him. He will be a fun horse to show next year, he's vary smart and wont do anything bad, just stands there and thinks about things. AWESOME

How We Do: Pony Food and supplements

 
      Super Kid was cursed with the ability to inflate with grass intake and then overnight deflate. So, if she's on grass she looks majorly fat but if doesn't eat a lot of grass she looks skinny. So we found a happy medium. She gets Smart Choice grain once a day, with her supplements. This grain we have found to be PERFECT for all of our beasts. It gives them the nutrients and proteins that they need without giving Ms. Sugar and starch make me crazy and hyper, the dumbness other grain gives her. Plus this supplements for her coat, skin and all the wonderful things that it helps. It works well with all our horses, even Rhyme with his "My skin breaks up in nastyness when it rains", its not rain rot just nastyness. It works

    If I had more money I would keep Super Kid on Cosequin ASU, she has an old tendon injury, but this is the only supplement that we have tried. We are going to try SmartFlex Senior HerbFree next because cosequin is to expensive for poor people with six horses to feed. 

the little pony that thinks she's a warmblood.

Super Kid being awesome as always

    This would be Super Kid. She is a registered American Sport Pony and is 12 years old. I got her three years ago and we haven't stopped since then.
     We got her because our TB Arrow made it perfectly known that eventing was not his favorite thing, and would come up lame randomly. My aunt at that time brought her welsh cob gelding Mary's Brenin down and i competed with him for a few years. He was about 22 or 23 when I got him. Then he started getting to old to compete like he used to and wouldn't feel up to jumping anymore. Sooo I was out a pony ):
    My mom at that time had a horse named Blitzen and she new that his mom was smallish eventer who was a freak of nature almost. Blitzen was a 1/2 welsh cob and the other was Lippizan, Holstiner Warmblood, Welsh Cob cross.  He was a amazing dressage horse and smart as all get out. When she found out that Super Kid, Blitzen's mom was for sale she jumped on it.
    Super Kid had four babies by the time she was 5 and wasn't properly trained until she was atleast six, and had a bolting problem. We went to go see her and she was overweight and couldn't bend to one side  I rode her and loved her. We took her on a week trial, at the same time I drug Arrow to a eventing camp. My mom surprised me by buying her when I was away.
   After that she stayed out on a complete dry lot and got a little handful of Safe Choice feed just to keep her happy. She slimmed down really quickly after that. After that first year we where on fire, having Lippizan in her gave her the awesome edge on dressage and at one of our shows we have gotten in the low 30's but we have first jumpitis and refusals due to me choking up and stuff.
   This is where Simon comes in. Simon is a magician I swear. After he yelled at me to " get the bloody hell over the ditch" we where good. He is amazing I would do anything to be able to be a working student for him. He gets us looking awesome and I love it

4ft oxer 

It's cold, I hate I.N weather.

    Since we are cursed with weather that is crazy, it makes working ponies difficult. Yesterday it was cold enought for the ground and water tanks to freeze. I HATE freezing water tanks  They are annoying, but good tank heaters that have the nice covering to keep the wires covered are expensive. Yes, we have a water heater, its a old on that stays on all the time. Not super nice, and some of the horses don't like it.

Just Because

I am doing this because I saw this on someone else's blog and I have nothing to do

Splurge or save: 

1) saddle: Wintec,because that it the only saddle I own right now.
2) board: none I have all my ponies at my house
3) halter: Super Kid has a leather show halter,and her regular halter is nylon. But I don't keep them on the horses out in the field. both  
4) bit: splurge because a bad bit can hurt their mouths 
5) bridle: save,
6) saddle pad: depends

7) trailer: splurge

First thing that comes to mind: 
1) Haflinger: pretty,
2) Quarter Horse: lazy and have big butts
3) Thoroughbred: awesome,nice horses,vary athletic one of my favorites 
4) Warmblood: another of my favorites, super athletic, 
5) Welsh Cob: and another of my favorites, almost every pony I have ever rode thats mine has been a cob or part.

This or That:
1) English or western: English
2) tall or short: tall
3) trail ride or beach ride: trail ride, but I want to take my horse and go on a beach ride 
4) long mane or short mane: short 
5) hunters or jumpers: JUMPERS!!
6) XC or barrel racing: XC all the way!!!! 
7) outdoor arena or indoor arena: outdoor
8) trot or canter: both
9) canter or gallop: both 
10) paddock boots, tall boots, or cowboy boots: tall boots
11) horse shoes or barefoot: barefoot
12) saddle or bareback: both

About you: 
1) How long have you been riding? Since I was four

2) Do you own or lease a horse? Own 
3) Breed? Age? Height? Name? (if you don’t own or lease, you could talk about your lesson horse) Super Kid- 12, 15.h WelshCob\Warmblood\Lippizan;                Blitzen- 15.2h ,7 WelshCob\WelshCob\Warmblood\Lippizan

ArrowTB,16.3h,8; Rhyme15.3h,4 DutchWB\WelshCob, Bop 3,15.H, Irmi 4, 14.2- Lippizzan

4) Do you have any other pets? 3 cats, Princess Pretty Kitty,Chives, and Alison and a dog, Riddle 

5) If your horse was a person, what kind of voice would they have (you can use a celebrity for an example) Super Kid, would sound like Jenna Marbles, I swear, Rhyme would be like a excited little kid 

6) Does your horse have a “color”? If so, what is it, and what do you have in that color?  Black and Electric Blue, or Royal Blue 

7) Does your horse do any tricks?  Arrow can bow

8) Have you ever dressed your horse up for Halloween? No

Favorites:  
1) Breed? Warmblood crosses, but any if they are good at what they do
2) Discipline? Eventing

3) Coat color? All,

4) Famous horse? Coragous Comet,Hickstead, Big Ben, almost every famous eventer, 
5) Horse race/competition?Eventing 
6) Brand of tack? HDR,
7) Thing to do with your horse? Eventing

Annie, the best first pony ever

I am extremely lucky to have a parent who understands and shares my love for furry long-legged creatures called ponies. Well I call every horse a pony, just do. My mom is the one who got me my first pony, and carted me to ridding lessons,and still does. I recently had to say goodbye to my first pony due to old age.
    Her name was Annie and we went to Ohio to get her when I was three. She belonged to a family with five girls and they all learned to ride on her. She was a bay with black mane and tail that was so poofy it about stood up by itself. I did EVERYTHING with her, baby dressage, jumping, playing imaginary games that every little kid plays, showed her in 4-H. I rode her until I was in third grade and too big. She taught me how to fall off without it hurting severally bad, to hold on, to keep your heels down and look up when jumping( learned that one the hard way). She was in her mid-to-late 20's when we got her. so by that time she was probably 30. I leased her to my friend and her and her little brother rode her, then I leased her to my old riding instructor for her little girl and later her little boy. She can home after that, I was probably about 14, she had a little vacation with occasional little kids ridding her.
    She eventually went to TEEM to be a lesson pony for my old instructor and she was there for about four years. About the third year she was starting to not eat well, lose her hearing and eyesight. In September we brought her home and she stayed for about three weeks then we put her down. She was probably 35 or older by then and lost all her teeth and couldn't hear or see unless you where really close to her.

    I miss her so much, she would come up to me and rub her head up and down on my hip\leg and knock me over, nicker at me when I came around. She was the best pony a little girl could ever ask for.