Early 2018

I know everyone thought they would never hear more about Piper and Lyric, but here I am finally ... and here is Piper.

Piper has become so responsive when we lunge her and although we don't ask a lot of her; what we do ask, she does perfectly. As you can see, she's well fed and in need of some additional exercise. She has become very  friendly, which is an attitude I love in a horse. She's the first one to the gate when she sees us.

Lyric has grown a teddy bear-like coat for the winter as you can see.

He's doing well even though he has some of those physical problems that older horses get like arthritis. I put the saddle on both of them recently and although we didn't ride, Lyric perked right up when led around with the saddle. Once I address some of my own back and knee pain, I'll definitely try to fit in some riding before it gets really hot this summer.

Same Horses - New Living Quarters

 

Lyric and Piper decided it was long past the time when I should add a new post about them. We still have both horses and they are doing great although I can't say that this extremely hot summer was the most pleasant for horses or people. They are now being boarded at a lovely place and although I miss having them here at our barn, it definitely was easier on all of us not to be bring in loads of baled hay, mend fences, etc. I've worked with them for short periods of time over the summer, but mostly they get groomed and get a bath - that cool water from the hose would manage to get me a bit wet, too (on purpose!)

It should cool off quite a bit in a few weeks and I'll update you on my activities with both of them.

There's Someone Who Returned

Lyric is a chestnut Arabian horse that I bought when he was 6 months old. He had been living in North Carolina so one of my daughters could enjoy riding him. I should have posted this in the fall, but you see how slow I am am adding things to the blog. Lyric returned in the fall of 2014 so now Piper has a buddy to hang out with. Most of the time they get along well, but every now and then there's a discussion about who is in charge. I can't wait for the weather to cool off some more so I can be outside spending more time with them!

This picture was taken the day after Lyric arrived and the two horses were very nicely sharing their hay pile.

Colder and Closer to Christmas

It has turned colder here. Will we have snow for Christmas? Very unlikely, but you never know! This is a picture will a light dusting of snow from several years ago, but it didn't fall on Christmas.

There has to be an update on Piper, too, of course. She'is doing fine. It's amazing how their coat goes from sleek to fluffy so quickly as winter approaches. I'll look forward to some warmer days when I can work with her. However, she doesn't seem to mind having a lot of leisure time and always enjoys her meals! I'll be sure to include a picture of her the next time I post!

Finally... a New Post!

You'll notice that I haven't posted here for a long time. I got sick towards the end of May and had to head straight to the hospital where I stayed for almost a week. That was to get things stabilized and I knew I had to go back for surgery. I continued to hurt and not feel well all summer and finally had my surgery on September 18th. Again, I was in the hospital for almost a week, but I'm home now and I hope once all this heals, it will be the end of medical issues for a long time.

Piper is doing well. She just had a long summer of rest which she probably didn't mind during the hot weather. For a change we got rain during the summer so the pasture is in better shape than it usually is this time of the year. The flip side was the hay farmers couldn't cut and bale hay all summer because it rained nearly every day. Finally the daily rains stopped and the farmers could cut and bale hay so we could get Piper a new supply of hay.

I've bought some training aids and horse toys so hopefully I'll be able to use them with her soon. Here she is with her training ball. It's supposed to desensitize them to sudden movement, but as you can see it didn't really bother her. We placed some hay on top and she thought that was no big deal.

I don't know how long it will be before I ride again. We'll start back with ground work once I feel up to it. At least there is fall weather ahead which is so much more comfortable for me with outdoor activities.

New Pictures... Finally!

I finally remembered to take my camera down to the barn and get some new pictures of Piper. Sorry she isn't posed a bit more, but she was trying to enjoy munching on the grass!

Notice the place in the middle of her mane that is sticking straight up? Before I got her, I was told she would reach way into the hay rack to get every last bit of hay (which is totally believable... she eats every piece of her hay) and that in reaching way underneath, she totally wore away that part of her mane. I sure will be happy when it grows back to full length, but she has a long mane so it will be awhile.

Enjoy your weekend and thanks for stopping by!

Fly Spray and Hay

I know that heading sounds like a terrible combination. Piper may not have ever been sprayed with fly spray before we got her. That was another thing she had a strong reaction to ... and fly season is here so we have been working with her so she doesn't think it's so bad. The first technique was to spray pretty far away from her body and only a time or two. Then we thought about using a spray bottle with water in case it was a little less stressful if it didn't smell funny. That helped. The most help of all was today when I fed her handfuls of hay at the time she was getting sprayed. Yes, pleasant associations!