Fawkes

on a cold cold cold day.  32 degrees and the wind blowing.  He is a sweetheart.  He is up on his toes, very concerned about everything going on around him, but not the least bit spooky.  (Unlike a nameless black mare who was spooking at her own blanket.)

screwballs in the cold

Yesterday when I got to the barn it was cold and had just started snowing.  Nina was in a sheet because the day before was too warm for a blanket, but she was cold and needed her big Rambo. 
I had been going to get her out for a little exercise, but the ground was frozen solid and slippery so I decided to pass.  I also decided to just throw her blanket on over the sheet which turned out to save some rodeo time.  I threw the blanket up on Nina - I have to throw, she is 16.1 and I am 5-5 so it has to land UP there - and she skittered around and flung it on the ground. 
Not happy, I picked it up, made a slower approach and she not only did it again, but pulled away from me and ran from one end of her pen to the other, sliding into the ends. 
Now I was pissed.  She has been wearing this blanket since I got her.   I picked up the blanket, grabbed her lead rope, shanked her a couple of times and proceeded to do some yelling.  It has been a long long time since I yelled at her and I went on for quite a while about her parentage, appearance, intelligence and general behavior.  She finally decided that she was more impressed with my yelling than she was skittish about the blanket and I managed to get it on her without killing either one of us.
She was still giving me the evil eye while she ate her beet pulp and I stomped back to the car.

I know you are waiting for a weather report...

Saturday was nice, Sunday was beautiful.
Today - not so much.  27 degrees, snowing, blowing, icy icy roads.
Fruit loop of a horse spooking away from her own blanket. 
Glad I am home for the evening, going to watch Terra Nova and ignore the weather.

contest for a wow! hunt coat on Get-My-Fix

If you want to enter a contest for a Hayward Hunt Coat, just visit Get-My-Fix and find out how to get entered.
Since my hunt coat is over 20 years old, I have my fingers crossed.  Here is one of the yummy options:

without words

we finally got a break from the weather

It was not the 50s that the weatherman promised, only low 40s but the wind quit blowing and the sun was out so it was pretty nice.  I had a couple of lessons to teach and we played with the new horse, who is a sweetheart and went to the feed store. 
Somehow in there Nina did not get ridden, hoping for time today.  And the better weather still wasn't enough to melt any of the ice that is everywhere. 
Hope everyone is having a good weekend.

more babbling... weather....

I am really discouraged with our weather.  Today I went out to the barn and the sun was shining, but it was 35degrees and the wind was blowing and the ground is frozen solid and covered with sheets of ice. 
I put Nina in a round pen and couldn't lunge her, half of the pen was a sheet of ice.   The outdoor arena is ankle deep frozen mud.  
Nina has had some time off because of her sore foot and she is simply not safe to ride without being lunged a little in this cold weather and there is no place to lunge. 
It's not the barn, they keep working the arena and breaking up the ground in the round pens, hoping that something will melt or dry or do something.
This is so unusual for here.  We have had old snow and ice - two weeks and more - on the ground.  We never do that here.  If you have ever been to the Denver area in winter you have seen the biggest snow falls just melt off in cold weather because of how intense the sun is.
But this year the wind is blowing non stop and it is offsetting the sunshine. 
I was determined to ride this winter and found myself just spending some time with a cranky Nina.  And I was totally frozen any time I got in the wind.
If this goes on through January and February - when it is SUPPOSE to be cold - I will have to learn how to ride all over again.
Vent over.....

more babbling, new horse....

The new CANTER horse arrived a little after 7am.  He left his awful track name of Admiral Dumyat at the Maryland state line and will be known now as 'Fawkes.'  When she told me about the name changed I thought she said 'Fox' because of his color.  I will have to find out more about the name.
He has a much prettier head than his field photo showed.  A little ewe neck, a little thick through the throat latch, all typical racehorse on pasture, upside down muscle.  Wait to see what he looks like a year from now.
He was known on the track as 'The Orange Horse' and judging by his winter coat I have to agree.  I wonder how orange the summer coat is?  Well, he will be easy to spot on cross country!

just babbling today....

I was reading Year with My Horse about the Hags on Nags holiday party. 
I suddenly remembered our over-the-hill group at the barn where I learned to jump.  A bunch of us started scheduling trail rides or trying to coordinate our jumping lessons together.  We called ourselves OFOF - Old Farts Over Fences. 
It got so bad that the trainer started putting OFOF lessons on the posted schedule.  She said it gave everyone fair warning.  HEY!!!

new CANTER horse!

I am so excited, you would think it was for me.  I just like new toys!
Remember my client who got screwed over by the local (new) trainer with the nice TB, who changed the price after they had a deal?
Well, that client found a horse on CANTER that she really liked, and she was taking a business trip near the breeder's farm where he was hanging out so she went to see him.
He arrives at the barn on Friday!  He has been a pasture horse for a couple of years so he is a little rough looking, but he is built like a jumper.  His breeder says they bred way too many mares to his sire, all of them were flops on the track but lots of them have done well in show jumping and eventing.  (This is also the story of Scotty's sire, remind me sometime).  I wouldn't call him a total flop, he did win some money, just not enough to pay his way. 
He is on his way, arrives at a to be determined time on Friday and starts his new life.

His present life includes rolling in the mud.  His past life included some winning shots at the finish line.  See one here:  http://hoofprintsinc.photoshelter.com/image/I0000tWjndDCZ.ko