Catching Up!

Oh my goodness, I hadn't realized it's been over a month since I last posted here. I am recovering from the sprained ankle very well - it still causes me some pain and I haven't ridden again yet, but there is little to no pain when I walk, just when flexing - which is where my riding apprehension comes from. I really don't want to be riding a horse that has no training with an ankle that might be compromised, but I am going so stir crazy, I think I just might have to on my upcoming two days off.

My mother rode TOEH for his fourth ride, and took him off of the longe line. He did very well, moving off her leg and how she directed. I am very impressed with him. We have been toying with the idea of selling him over the last little while, but I would just as soon see us geld him and keep him as a riding horse, since he is so quiet (of course, after a couple dozen rides, he might change his mind about how quiet he is, but for now, of course).

Christmas treated us all well here at the farm, but we're tired. I am on my seventh day in a stretch of working at my "real" job. I will get two days off and then work another seven day stretch - it is really pushing me to my limit strength-wise, and is hard on us doing barn chores. Sometimes it seems like there is so little free time, that it is all spent doing work (cleaning stalls, running water, moving hay, etc) and there is no time left over for the training portions of things.

I had hoped to keep this blog specifically about TOEH, but I find it hard to keep my other horses out of anything - much as they find it hard to keep themselves out of my back pockets when I am spending any time with them. I suppose now would be a good time to introduce them, and they'll go by letters, of course.

I have:

A - "A" is a coming five year old filly. She is a half sister to R, via their dam line, and is very special to me. She is about 14.2-14.3hh tall on a good day and built like a brick house. She has about a half dozen rides under her belt and already walks, jogs, and lopes in both directions. She has been set a little on the back burner since I got B.

B - "B" is a coming four year old draft cross filly I acquired this past summer. In light of the loss of A & R's dam, I was looking for something to help me heal and B showed up. She was not at all what I was looking for at the time - she was the exact opposite, in fact, but she came home with me anyways. I saw her at about 10:30am one morning and in less than 12 hours, she had been delivered to my barn. B, at three years of age, had never been handled - I don't think she had even ever been inside of a barn. She was starved nearly to death a couple of homes before I got her, and had a foal that died immediately after birth because they were so emaciated. She is coming well.

R - "R" is a coming two year old colt, half brother to A. He is a son of TOEH and stands about 14.3hh already. He is going to be one big, leggy, flashy boy, and I can't wait to see him grow up.

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Back to Christmas, now that we have taken that brief interlude. Because of the nature of B's long mane and tail, she was gifted (or rather I was gifted for HER), a set of beautiful bright pink matching tailbag and manebags. I plan to put them on her tomorrow when I am off of work and take some pictures. I'm sure she'll be terrified by the bright things flapping in her peripheral vision but, as luck would have it, we are working on desensitization anyways, sooooo... there you go. R was gifted a brand new, "big boy" sized royal blue lycra hood and matching blanket for when he makes his show debuts next year. I won't put it on him because he is so scruffy and scuzzy right now - he will definitely have to have a bath first.

Anyhow, hopefully I will have more interesting news to report on TOEH's progress after some time off and a little bit of sleep!