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Sunday, April 23, 2017

An update!

I really am bad at posting on here. I post on Facebook and not here, which is the complete opposite thing I want to do.

Life is good. Cobre' is great! I've fallen in love with two barn cats named Joey and Sweetheart. I'm still working too much.

Anyways a few things...
Easter was great! I had breakfast with friends, barn time with cats, rode a bit, relaxed, took a mishap shower in the process (Thanks Cobre'), relaxed out in the sun, and just enjoyed the lovely weather.

Cobre' farted and bucked. I about died laughing. He was not amused. I wrote the following blurb to Jen
Dear Jenn, this is a Corbe'... 
I'd like to put in a complaint with you about my person. You see today we were going great in the outdoor arena and my person asked me to canter, and I did. Just fine mind you, but you see I kinda was a bit gassy and let one big fart riiip and it scared the bejesus outta me!!! I bucked at whatever loud-tooting demon was behind my butt and as scared as it made me, this person who you sent me to be with... almost fell off of me... from get this... laughing at me!!! All because I kicked a fart demon and apparently won because it ran away from us. I won and saved the both of us but all she did was cry laughing as I cantered off and away to safety with the both of us. How rude!!
Pony is not amused



Cobre's DNA results came back, I registered him with the PFHA. We can now do things within the PFHA. YAY!




And a bunch of pictures.













Thursday, April 6, 2017

Okay, who drugged my horse?

I'm pretty sure someone this morning before I got to the barn either drugged my horse, or swapped his brain out with a seasoned trail horse's brain. I'm not complaining because I'm still on a natural high from our first trail ride together! He was AMAZING! Nothing bothered him, other than the random green signs on the fence on the trails. He just gave them a glance and moved over a bit.


Linda said be tacked and ready to load at 10am. 10am on the dot she was at the barn and she brought Becky along too! YAY, double good company! Cobre' loaded just fine and off we went to Dimple Dell. When we got there, we opened up the trailer and poor Cobre' was soaking ringing wet. I mean dripping all over the place, the floor too was soaked. My heart broke because he totally had a panic attack due to every time he's ever been in a trailer, he's ended up somewhere else, with someone new. He seemed quite relieved to see me and he backed off just fine. Got him tied and bridled while the other two were getting their horse's ready.

He was fine while I got on his back and away we all went. Calm, cool, and relaxed he was. He was enjoying the sights, new smells, and just being out.



He did some hill work, and that tired him out but he kept with!


We came across one of the restroom buildings and I had to pee badly. We stopped, I told Linda to hold on to my *crazy wild* horse. LOL  Sadly the doors were locked but I was in luck because their was a grocery store right across the road. Off to find the restroom I went. When I got back Linda told me that Cobre' was just fine and he never took his eyes off of the direction I walked away in. (AWWWWW!!!!)

Jumped back on and we started to head back to the trail, due to Raven's feet being ouchie.

I did a lot of riding today without holding the reins at all. They were extended all the way and I was just enjoying the perfect ride out with my horse and good friends.


 Becky texting and riding. A bad combo! LOL She sent some funny texts by accident.

Simply GORGEOUS!

Towards the end of our ride, there was a bridge. No biggie, he's seen and been over the Jordan River bridge. Then some kids appeared... Great, I thought... I sure hope they had parents with them. They did not. While we got closer, they all stood off of the trail, gave us the right of way, complemented our horses, and the older kids held the littlest one back. AMAZING! ALL KIDS should act like these kids when a horse and rider approach. We went over the bridge without a care in the world, other then birds trying to take Linda out which made Cobre' flinch and be aware.
 
We made it back to the trailer, loaded them all back in, and headed back home. They dropped Cobre' and I off and he seemed so amazed that he was back at the barn and no somewhere new. Poor guy. We'll work on that as he's never going to go to another auction or bad place again. He's here to stay and I see many trail rides in our future!



I got him put away and made sure to see him drink.
Joey the barn cat found me and I had to take a short break and pet him.


Over all, it was one AMAZING day!

Wednesday, April 5, 2017




Having this week off has just been amazing. Being able to spend most of my day at the barn working with Cobre' has been wonderful!
I sold my western saddle and bought an Aussie, which I just LOVE!


We went on a great trail rider across the road yesterday, as always he did fabulous!



 
It was SUPER windy


Clean round pony!

 
We found the white bag that *GASP* flapped!
So we chased it, got it, let it go and made a game into *getting it!*



 I have no idea if he's ever seen a tractor before, but I saw the barn manager getting ready to groom the arena, so in we came to see that it isn't a scary horse eating green machine.
 He startled once when it was right behind him, but other wise just stood still and watched it go around and around and around the arena.

Eating with a bit in, is a big challenge for him. He's learning!


Also today we worked on neck reining


 
He'll get it

Sunday, April 2, 2017

Riding in the Rain

I grew up being told "you can't ride in the rain." I don't know about you, but I know as sweet of a person I can be, for certain I'm not made of sugar. I won't melt and I'll say some of my best days of riding have been out in the rain. I've learned that on most rainy days, people aren't out on the roads, people aren't flocked at the barn, people aren't out hiking, and they tend to stay home. So that being said, after meeting up with friends this morning at Denny's for breakfast and short trip over to L's house to see her piece of Heaven, I decided that it would be a good day to ride outside. Off to the barn I went, Cobre' seemed happy to see me and happy that I brought him inside from the rain (little did he know).

We tacked up and outside we went. It was just drizzling and with the indoor arena being in use, we played and warmed up in the outdoor arena. I've been putting arena work back into his daily life a little bit at a time. Usually we take a lap or two around the property, then go into one of the arena's, do a few laps in there, and out back to plod around the property. He seems to like it like that, so we'll continue it. So far he hasn't had a arena melt down in weeks, so I guess I am doing something right.

After playing around on the property for a bit, he seemed bored. I figured with it now raining we could walk down to road to the fire hydrant and come back. It's not a far walk at all, but I just want to get him used to being okay to go out alone. We got to the fire hydrant and he seemed so happy and relaxed, I figured we could walk into the field a few feet and come back. He kept plodding on through the field with out any hesitation, so we continued on. At one point we came across a big pile of dumped straw, he wasn't too sure of that, but after a few neck rubs and telling him it was okay to walk over it, he went right over it. So we did a big loop around the field and came back up to the road and headed home. He did fabulous!



Looking like a drowned rat
Rain rain go away!

Saturday, April 1, 2017

Six Years Old


Cobre' turned the BIG *6* on March 27th.
Cobre' as a baby


I actually forgot about it until after I had left the barn. The next day I brought him a piece of carrot cake. He didn't seem to like it, but I left it in his feed bucket. The next day I was presented a feed bucket full of a pile of poop on the carrot cake. I got the hint loud and clear, Buddy... no carrot cake next year! Noted! Seriously though, his bucket is hanging up, he had to use math or something to line all of that up perfectly. I did get a good laugh though!

Anyway... Cobre' was auctioned off in 2014 as a colt. His life went down hill from there until he ended up in my friend's Paso Fino horse Rescue. He is from a famous stallion named MarcaPasos from Colombia. His Dam is Piel Canele, she is from Colombia as well. Cobre's sister Doña Petra looks exactly like him, and she is very very famous in the Paso Fino world. They were hoping that Cobre' would be "the next big thing" due to how well he sister is put together and has done, but sadly he wasn't. Which is fine by me because I now have one freaking amazing all around horse. I'm sure politics, money, and broken dreams were involved when Cobre' was gelded and tossed away. He has amazing genes that he would have passed on, like his sister. Oh well, their loss is my gain!





Cobre's sister, Doña Petra~They look identical





MarcaPasos' promotional breeding video

Doña Petra's promotional video
Doña Petra
Cobre' at Bastrop KillPen

Last Saturday (3-25) was the spring vaccine clinic at the barn. I've never had a horse have a reaction before to any vaccine until now.  Shots were given at 9am and he received Vetera Gold. It is a 6-way vaccine that includes: 
  • Eastern/Western Equine Encephalomyelitis
  • Tetanus
  • West Nile
  • Influenza
  • Herpesvirus, types 1 and 4 (Rhino)
I stuck around until about noon, and he seemed just fine. I went home and took a nap. Dummy me left my phone in the car and when I went out to find it at about 7pm, I had facebook msg's, voicemails, and text from people at my barn and the vet who administrated the vaccine. Most said "Ali, Cobre is shivering really bad; Faith and Connie are with him and have taken his temperature. I'll get back to you with Connie's number." I freaked out! A few phone calls and a plan to meet Faith back at the barn. He had a 103.9 fever. Vet was called and Banamine injection was given, along with a double dose of Fastrack gel for his guy, as he hadn't eaten any of his dinner. So hosed off his legs in hopes of cooling him down, lots of walking, and trying to get him to eat anything that he wanted. Thankfully about 10pm, he was feeling a tad bit better and his temp was back down to 101.3. By 10:30 he was wanting to graze on grass. By 11pm. he wanted his hay. I stuck around a bit longer and went home about midnight. Thank God for awesome barn cats! They sure know how you keep you company.



Sunday morning he seemed much more like himself and his temp was back to normal. I was happy to see a stall full of poop. I took him for a walk down to the river and came back. I biffed it in the mud really good and felt it all day Monday.





Tuesday I rode him for about 10 minutes. He was perfect.

Wednesday he got bit in the neck by his run mate, so he was very touchy and didn't want to be messed with.

Thursday... Same as above, but the farrier came out to do a bunch of horses. I wasn't sure how he would be but he stood tied for over an hour and didn't move. The farrier got to Cobre' and Cobre' couldn't have cared less that there was a man trimming his hooves. I was very proud of him!
Donnie, Puffy, Hal


Cobre', Magnum and Redwood

Friday, I didn't ride. His neck was still a bit ouchie but the bite was almost gone. :)