Introductions All Round
We have five horses on the farm. There are two riding horses for my husband and me, two brood mares for the breeding we are trying to do, and one yearling filly: our first live foal from 2011. The riding that we do is mostly pleasure riding around our farm in Elbert, on some ranch land we own in Herfano County in Southern Colorado, and out and about on public land and trails in Colorado. I used to do eventing as a teenager and through that learned a little bit about dressage. After a 40 year hiatus, I took up dressage again in a minor way and absolutely fell in love with it. At 60+ years of age, I will never have the strength or athleticism it takes to be really accomplished in this discipline, but I enjoy working at it and it is always good for the horses. It is, afterall, "training".
I have long kept training journals for the horses and it seems logical to move them to the computer at this point. I am at the keyboard a lot of the time, anyway. And maybe it will make me more consistent in remembering to enter things. But before I begin to do that, I want to do the introductions, so it is clear who I am journaling about.
Augustus McGee: Gus is a 13-year-old, Off -The-Track-Thoroughbred. He is 15' 3" hh. He was our first horse. We got him as a four-year-old. I bought him for my husband, who had never had a horse and had not ridden much. It was a tactical move on my part, as it was clear that we couldn't make this move to horses and country living if we didn't both embrace it. People accused me of being crazy and worse, of trying to kill my husband off. But OTTTs were what I had grown up with and after 40 years away it seemed logical, to me at least, to start back with something I had known and understood once before in my life. And Gus has been a super horse for us. I relearned how to school a horse and my husband learned how to ride on him. He has always taken good care of my husband. And he has always at least pretended to try to do what I have asked him to do. He's reliable on the trail and likes the spotlight of being the only horse in the arena for dressage. He will never do the upper levels, but then, neither will I, so we work at it together. I am schooling him 2nd level this year.
Prima Donna: Prima (or Miss Piggy when I'm mad at her) is a 14-year-old Oldenburg mare who was given to me by friends after I had to put my mare down in 2008. She is 15' 2" hh. She is by Donnerwerth out of a Fruhlingsrausch mare. (Horse people are amazing in their capacity to understand and step up in the most unpredictable and kind ways.) She is a school mistress: trained to 4th level, but she was lame when I was given her and not expected to improve. She has given us one super foal and is open this winter. She is mostly sound now and I am having a blast riding her. She has lots to teach me!
Firenze, or Flicka, is a Swedish Warmblood mare by Florencio out of a De Niro mare. She is 15' 3" hh. She is seven years old and pregnant with her first foal. She is due in late June. The sire is a Hanoverian stallion, Benidetto, who was imported from Germany and is currently showing in Florida. She has chronic neck and back problems that we tried for a year and a half to resolve to no avail. We are hoping a year off and a baby will help.
Prajna, or PJ, is an Oldenburg yearling filly. She is 14 hh. She is Prima's foal by the stallion Rodioso. She is supposed to be my dressage horse some day. We have shown her in-hand in a limited, local, sort of way and she has done quite well. I have high hopes for her! She leads and ties, trailers, bathes, clips and has had a bit in her mouth a couple of times. She will stand for leg wraps, hoof cleaning and the farrier. She has a sweet temperament and a willing, curious mind.
Shine to a Tee, or Elvis, is a four-year-old Quarter Horse gelding and he is my trail buddy. He is 14' 3" hh. I got him last year as a three-year-old. He was bred and started by my farrier. He is by a Shining Spark grandson and is out of a Tee Cross mare. He has a wonderful temperament and a super mind. I have started him in cross country and dessage tack as well as my western endurance saddle.
Today we lunged and rode Gus and Prima around the farm. Gus was lazy on the lunge but good out and about. Prima was crazy on the lunge. I don't know what got into her. At one point she took off at a gallop and I thought she was going to try to drag me back to the barn, but she just stayed on the circle. She seemed a bit panicked so I made her stop and restarted her and she was fine. I do not have a clue what set her off or why she seemed so afraid. Generally she is not afraid of anything. She was also a little off in front, something I haven't seen from her in many months. Also, somehow she managed to bloat so that I could barely get the girth around her when I saddled her and it was up nearly all the way on both sides at the end of lunging. She looks more pregnant than when she was pregneant! Could Littleton have made a mistake?? Out on the pastures she was energetic and available, but good. I kept her to a walk and collected trot while I was on her but tried to keep her balanced on the backhand and foreward off those front feet. I put hoof dressing on both horses when we were done.
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