Ballenger Training Blog

Oh yea, they’re still there and the camera still sorta works. More about that later….

I know ya’ll want to see the video and pictures and have a good laugh. Right?

RIGHT!

This video is Bob playing in the water before he decided I needed a bath:

I think this is as we were going down into the water:

All I could say was “Bob, Bob”. And that was it….

ENJOY!!!

Now, as for my camera. It might still work ok, eventually. Right now it was to go through set up every time I turn it on. The shutter was stuck closed. I got it open and now it’s stuck open. The lens is dirty (some fine sand fell out when the shutter opened). I’ve left it open for now to dry out more and will try to clean the lens and free up the shutter tomorrow.

Tags: Bath Time, Fire Drill, Stop Drop & Roll

Getting a mint from Dr. Dana

Dr. Dana Gillig came to visit Bob again today. I called her this afternoon about his health checkup for his Health Certificate and she came right away. Now if only our doctors were that devoted to their human patients!

There have still been ongoing soundness issues with Bob. The bulge is still there on his back leg and there’s been some slight puffiness in his ankles. His “ hitch thing” behind hasn’t reoccurred recently, but maybe that’s because he’s been dropped back to only one session per day, lightly worked and not cantered much at all in the past few weeks, or since that bulge appeared. Time flies and I can’t remember how long ago that bulge showed up now. Dana Did flexion tests with both the left front and left hind, with no results. Given the fact that there’s never been any heat or obvious lameness (except for the hitch thing with the back leg) we’re a bit stumped without further tests, which don’t seem warranted at this point. I was asked to saddle him up and then she changed her mind when she noticed my shorts and sneakers. The verdict is that it’s most likely just a mild inflammation bothering him from the stresses and strains of our time schedule. I have two options at this point: We can put him on Bute to take care of any inflammation if that’s all it is or, get back on our regular work schedule and if he does come up lame we go from there. I opted for the latter.  Bob hasn’t done any hard work in a few weeks. When I ride it’s mostly trotting and walking, we don’t canter that often and when we do it’s for brief periods. Just enough to teach him to hold it for a round or three of the ring.  After any good work Bob’s been stiff and off the next couple of days. I got in the habit of giving him a full day off once we started the trial rides as they’re a pretty good workout and over very varied terrain. As for that bulge Dana thinks it’s now scar tissue left over from some inflammation or irritant. I think that’s what she said… Sometimes I really should write things down.

When I worked with Bob this morning, during lunging he seemed a little stilted in front, not reaching out with his shoulders like he usually would. But he was even and didn’t appear off or to be favoring anything otherwise. I got on and walked him for the first half working on leg yields and bending, because a green horse needs them and to loosen him up. He seemed fine and responsive except for bearing a little to the left. I asked for a trot and that was when I could feel the difference. He felt decidedly lopsided. I worked at a slow trot, bending again and asking for some lateral moves. Naturally, he moved to the left far easier than to the right, because he wanted to list left anyway. I called it quits pretty early and didn’t try for any cantering. I was thinking my trimming from last week might be uneven but Dana didn’t seem worried about his feet at all. She was focused on his ankles and the puffiness there.

Since there doesn’t seem to be any obvious cause for concern Bob will resume a regular work schedule tomorrow, but still only be ridden once a day and we’ll see what happens. The twice daily rides were just to get him started anyway. I haven’t cantered him enough to do any work on lead changes on the go. It’s been one lead, then turn and ask for the other lead which he picks up well, with only a few trotting steps. He didn’t want to rock back on his hocks at all today, not sure why that was. He did it, but didn’t do it smoothly. Then again, going from western on the trail to English in the ring is always “different” the first day back in the ring. I’m not near as demanding of him on the trails as I am in the ring. Trail riding is a treat and a holiday away form boring ring work for both of us. I guess getting serious again is as tough for a young horse as it is for a young child having to go into the classroom after summer break or long weekends.

Anyway, Bob is ready paper wise to go to Texas. His teeth were fine, those incisors coming in just have to work in on their own. I’m assuming that we’ll be dealing with teething issues just like many others are. And, I have to eat my words, according to Dana. He’s three, coming four, if she remembers correctly, she was questioning her memory! LOL Not 4 coming 5 or 6 like I first thought.

Tags: Dr Dana Gillig, Health Certificate, soundness questions

What do you do in case of fire? Remember those drills we learned in school, and saw on TV? In case of fire, Stop, drop and roll. We had that drummed into our heads as kids. I don’t think they teach this anymore in the schools though. Somehow, somewhere, at some point in time, Bob heard about this.

We went for another trail ride yesterday at Knob Noster. Chris and I, her niece Cora, and, finally, Ron. Ron would finally get to see how well Bob has come along. At first everything was going great, Bob was showing what a handy dandy little trail horse he is and he was impressive. Then we came to one of the river crossings. We stood in the water to let the horses play, something Bob loves to do. I got my new camera out and videoed him splashing and got a few still shots as well of him getting a drink from the saddle.

Silly me dropped the reins to put the camera back in it’s case. Next thing I know, me and my camera are in the water. Bob dropped for a roll, right out from under me! Naturally I had a leather saddle on him instead of the nylon Abetta. My camera went for a swim, I just ended up sitting in the water. It was nice and cool by the way, not too cold, and not too warm either… I haven’t tried to turn the camera on yet. I took the batteries and storage card out and the camera is sitting near the air conditioner in hopes that it will dry out quickly and still be working when I try to turn it back on. Maybe then I’ll have some pictures in there to show off. My hopes are up and my fingers are crossed for this to happen. I cannot afford to buy another camera to take to Texas!

When Bob got up his bridle was hanging off the side of his head. It had broken on the off side, where the buckle attaches the cheek piece to the crown. I bought that bridle brand new just last summer! I guess he caught it on a rock in the river bottom. He looked rather pleased with himself when he got up. We managed to get the bridle back together with a twist tie Chris just happened to have, to hold a long cheek piece of her bridle from flopping around and continued our ride. I was wet and soggy, my feet were like raisins when we were done. The saddle seems none the worse for wear, it’s in the garage drying a bit before I soap it up to undo whatever water damage may want to happen. This isn’t one of my saddles either. I haven’t figured out how to explain to Jerry why I was using his saddle and how I got it wet…

Other than that little escapade, we had a good ride, a little over 2 hours. Cora did fantastic and is now in love with Joe, one of Chris’ mustangs. Non stop chatter was all we heard during the ride to “Jo Jo” from Cora. LOL For someone with confidence issues that girl did fantastic on the steep parts, the muddy parts, and all the in-between parts. Joe took good care of her and gave her some confidence. That’s a Mustang for you! Ron rode Baby, one of Auntie’s QH mares. Yes, we allowed him to ride with us, only because he supplied the truck and trailer. Otherwise we would have insisted on him not knowing us… LOL Baby has two gears - Walk and Neutral. But, put her on a trail and she comes alive. This gal loves the trails. Bob was a good Bob until the fire drill incident, then he wanted to be a brat, so we spent much of the ride having a series of discussions about who was the leader. I won in the end, but he put up a good argument for his side of things. Silly stuff, like who was steering and deciding where we were going stuff. I think he likes going out with those gaited horses better, it helps get rid of the piss and vinegar.  At least there was no bucking and farting on this ride, just dropping and rolling. Hmmm I think I like the bucking and farting stuff better.

The darlings above are available for adoption. No need to fill out an adoption application, we know you’ll give them a good home. Proceeds from their adoption will go towards covering Bob’s expenses to Texas (and mine too). We are still quite a long way from meeting our expense goal.

The adoption fee is a low $15.00, which includes an envelope and postage to send them to you. If you’d like the card itself addressed and mailed that can be done as well. Any Mustangs adopted will have the word “Adopted” in the caption, beside their number so you will know that Mustang is no longer available for adoption.

These quilted, fabric postcards are “legal” to mail, they conform to  the USPS standards for postcards. They are one-of-a-kind works of art, lovingly made for Bob by Jane Sheffler of Phoenix AZ.

Now, don’t you want to adopt one of these darling Mustangs and give him or her a forever home?

Adoption instructions: Up above, click on the tab that says “Donations & Support”. In that window there will be several Pay Pal buttons you can click that says “Any Amount” at the top. Click on the button that says $15.00 and fill in the blanks. In notes remember to state which numbered Mustang you want to adopt. And you’re done! That’s all there is to it. No Pay Pal account required for this.

Thank you for your support of Bob in this competition!!!

Tags: ADopt a Mustang, Mustang Quiltlets, Quilted Postcards

This past week has been A fairly quiet one without daily entries. Today marks Day 80 of Bob’s and my journey in the Extreme Makeover. Time is running short along with the days themselves. It’s dark by 8 PM now. The darkness parallels my emotions and moods. I find myself not wanting to go and ride or work with Bob. Perhaps I’m subconsciously trying to distance myself so I’m better prepared in Texas. I steel myself and head for LaMonte. It’s gotta be done, right?

My focus on work and teaching Bob has been much less than it should be. We’ve been pretty much just reviewing the basics at a walk and trot. Between high temps and rain this week there really hasn’t any opportunity for more intense things. It doesn’t bother me. We’ll know what we know and do what we can when we get to Texas. Bob’s learned and processed a lot in these past 80 days. We’ve spent more time this week just going for lazy rides around town than we have anything else. I did some trimming on his front feet, gave him a real bath, shampoo and all, braided that stubborn mane again and bought him a fly mask. I got a discount on it oo, from MFA of course, which was not part of our sponsorship deal. Every time I buy something for Bob there the price is always less than the tag on the item. Those MFA guys are great!

Fashion Statement

Bob wasn’t too sure what to make of this mask. I went out to his pasture and forgot halter and lead rope. Luckily he was amiable to me putting this strange looking thing on him. I got it in place and he froze up. Didn’t move his head, did absolutely nothing but stand there, frozen in time for several long seconds. Then he tentatively moved his one way, and then the other. Hmmm, Gotta mint mom? was his response. It was quite funny and I so wished I’d brought the camera along with me to capture this on video. No, I didn’t have any mints either. He followed me back through the pasture, through the several gates to the round pen where he got his mints. Three of them to be exact. We then did some ground work, trotting on the lead etc before I saddled him up. We worked on trotting circles, smaller and smaller and holding that trot. Not bad, but a long way from perfect too. It was so hot, with about 100% humidity. Bob was already working up a sweat so I got off and grabbed the tarp. It’s been awhile since we did anything with the tarp so I decided Bob need to do what Earl did last year - wear the tarp as a cape and be “Super Bob”.

Bob WAS NOT impressed. I folded the tarp in half and tied it to the D’s on the front of my saddle. I’ve never attached it to him before, so when he moves it usually just falls off or blows off and he scoots out from under it. This day (it was Thursday or Friday) it didn’t blow off. Bob had his usual reaction to something scaring him. He bolted. I AM SO GLAD I WASN’T IN THE SADDLE FOR THIS ONE! He tore around the ring like a house on fire! This went on for at least 5 laps before he dropped to a canter, then a trot, and finally stopped. I sent him in the other direction. The wind caught the tarp this time and it billowed up like a sail on a ship. Off he went again, only bolting for 3 laps before dropping to a trot and then halting. Well, that wasn’t too bad I’m thinking so I united it so it could extend the whole 8 feet and cover his whole body, and sent him off again. No bolting this time, but there was some fast cantering for a lap. The other direction only warranted a half lap of cantering before stopping and coming up to me uninvited as if to say “Ok, this is enough, get this thing off me, I’m hot with it covering me up”. I untied it and dragged it off over his butt and let it drop behind him. He promptly turned around and stomped on it, then stood on it so I couldn’t change my mind and put it back on him? Well, since what we do is supposed to be my idea, I led him away from the tarp and then brought him back around and asked him to walk over it. Nope, I don’t want to. Yes you want to or I’ll put it back on you! Ok, I’ll walk on the stupid thing, which he did, but stopped when he had all 4 feet on it. Whatcha gonna do now Mom? I had to laugh at the look he was giving me. He really was daring me to do something about it I believe. To get even I grabbed whatever I could of the tarp and shoved it up under him, rubbing it on his legs and making all the noise I could. Bob was of the opinion that I was trying to scare him so he’d move off it and I could put it back on him. He was having nothing to do with that idea and stood firmly where he was. No way was he relinquishing that tarp so I could come up with more ideas! LOL OK, I do think a tarp is no problem now, so I took his bridle off. Then he moved off the tarp to follow me into the shed (as far as he could fit) to get a mint.

Saturday was work and then fun time with a little learning thrown in. First Bob was saddled and waited patiently to be called upon.

Bob Ready and Waiting

Chris had her niece Cora over visiting and put her on Lacey. Cora has some confidence issues after several bad experiences with another horse she’d been riding. Lacey who has only been under saddle for a few weeks now was very sweet in taking good care with Cora, but being so green still has some going forward issues of her own. Cora and Lacey seemed to hit it off well. Cora was able to get Lacey walking without too much help from Chris in the middle and once Cora was comfortable with Lacey and moving her around Bob was called upon to come in and hopefully be encouragement for Lacey to move without too much work from Cora and Chris. It worked somewhat ok. Lacey’s Bob’s pasture mate so really didn’t care where he was or what he was doing. She followed when it suited her and stopped to watch when stopping suited her. OK, so much for that idea! LOL

Cora and Lacey

All in all Cora did well given her confidence issues. Most of us have been there and know how stressful trying to battle these issues can be. Cora did well trying to overcome her fears!

Next, since there so many able bodies standing around I asked who was going to ride Bob. No one stepped forward. Chris got stuck with the job. And this is where it gets funny… There’s a story about Chris and shoes when equines are involved. She lost a shoe on Jim earlier in the week remember…. I finally got the story behind it. To make a long story short Chris was run over by a donkey, Horace, He knocked her out of her shoes, while leaving her covered in little hoof prints and tire tracks. He was harnessed to a cart at the time. Of course, the police were called to help round up a runaway donk, the ambulance was called because Chris cracked the back of her head when she was knocked over, and ALL these calls went out over the police scanner for many to hear. This brought a radio station on the run to report on the event. Chris has had some trouble living this event down…

Harmless Horace

Doesn’t Horace look innocent of any wrongdoing?

Unfortunately this picture does not do his ears any justice at all! ROFL Poor Horace was spooked by two things at once and Chris just happened to be in the way….

Back to Chris riding Bob…

My stirrups are in being covered in leather. They’re quite slippery if I don’t wear tennis shoes to ride. The ones I’m using are a little on the narrow side and Chris couldn’t fit her feet into them with her shoes on, so she just shucked her shoes to ride. Her socks were a nice, bright white. Bob wasn’t impressed to see that bright white thing going over his back and did a little dance… After that he was ok until it was time to get off and he did that little dance again.

Chris and Bob on the

Check out the SOCKS!

I threw the tarp over the bridge to make a “water crossing”. Neither Bob or Lacey had any issues with my invention.

After all this Chris and Phil made me a real “L” to practice backing. I’m not sure why there’s no pictures of this but oh well… one side of this “L” was the scary red tunnel. The other side consisted of a barrel and cones. Backing through and turning his butt left was perfect! Backing through the other way and turning his butt to the right was far from perfect. BUT, since Bob was so fabulous the first time, Phil decided to make it harder and poor Bob could barely fit and went off course. Once it was widened out a bit more Bob was pretty good, but he remembered running into and over cones and was a bit apprehensive about doing that again. We tried it again later and he was better but still not as great as turning to the left. They turned to the right in the EMM last year.  Just my luck… We did a little bit of cantering. Not much because we had to avoid the water in spots in the ring from the storm that blew through Thursday night, leaving a tree laying on Chris and Phil’s truck and trailer. What a mess!

Now it was fun time…. We headed up the road to wander around town. First sight was a party getting ready, with balloons, music playing and BIG blue blowup house type thing for kids to play in (I presume). It was as tall as the house and Bob was interested in all this walking by but showed no sign of being frightened. We found manhole covers, which had to be sniffed, and we found two new bridges to cross! These bridges are ment for pedestrians, but there was a horseshoe embedded in the one so we took that as an invitation to use it. ACK! My picture doesn’t show the horseshoe.

The Pedestrian Bridge

Bridge and Crosswalk

Big black thing

OOOOO My shadow!

We performed a taste test. YUCK!

Bob wasn’t too concerned with anything in this yard. The roller thingy for rolling/smoothing out asphalt had to be taste tested. Bob was quickly bored with it… however, he found the sand bunker (I don’t know what they really call them). Once he started pawing I thought it best to move him on before I was flattened in the sand underneath him. Bob is known for dropping for a roll whether he’s saddled or not… We rode around everything in that yard including someone’s boat, and other road equipment, whatever all those things are called before heading back home. We stopped to chat with kids on bikes and big kids in a car, one whom has 3 Quarter Horses and would love to adopt a mustang. I invited him to come to the Sedalia adoption in 2 weeks and fill out an application. I hope to see him there!

Tags: Chris rides, Cora, fly mask, Horace, MFA, New sights

I finally figured out how to edit the videos from the show last weekend. They’re still not great. You have to account for my limited abilities here…
First Class was English Pleasure:

The second class was Green as Grass Pleasure (Western):

Tags: First Show, Fischer Stables

My Beautiful Boy

According to Bob: A side pass goes like this:

Let’s say I’m going to the left just to make this easier to understand for you humans.

Mom cues my butt and I move it to the left in response.
Mom cues my shoulder and I move that to the left in response
Mom cues my butt and I move it again, to the left
Mom cues my shoulder and I move it again, to the left again. This is getting boring by the way and I stop to chew my knee.
Mom cues my butt yet again, and I move it yet again. Is there a pattern here?
Mom cues my shoulder and I move it again. Then mom starts telling me I’m great and gives me pats and a mint. Apparently this is a sidepass, my way of doing it that is. It made mom happy so I didn’t tell her I moved over just to get away from those tap tap tapping cues of hers. If mom’s happy that means I get mints so I’m happy. Why spoil her day?

According to Mom: Bob hasn’t figured out this disengagement stuff with his shoulders yet. He still tries to go forward rather than cross those legs most of the time so I have to tap tap tap with the dressage crop when I’m on him. It’s that or kick him in the shoulder, which I don’t think he’ll appreciate. Today I lined him up in front of the scary red tunnel for this exercise. He’d either go sideways or jump the tunnel. He needs lessons in both area so it was a win-win situation. Right? The sidepass attempt actually consisted of a partial turn on the forehand, then a side step, not to be confused with a cross over step of his front end. This was our first attempt so I consider it a success and that’s why he got the pats and the mint. Notice how Bob doesn’t even bother to mention the tunnel. Guess it isn’t so scary anymore?

He also got a real bath today, soap and all. And a rinse with alcohol in the rinse water to help with a sudden population explosion of flies. This is the first time I’ve soaped him up and wow was he shiny afterwards. I’ve been forgetting the camera all week and missed out on some milestones. Bob got his mane braided again and weighted with egg sinkers to help train it to lay flat all on the side. His trotting on the line (lead) is getting awesome. He arches his neck quite nicely and moves out really well. BUT he lays those ears back and give me a look that gives me the impression that the devilish part of him is going to take over at any second again. We did this in the bridle today – a first, and it was very good. No difference from doing it with the halter.

Earlier this week:
Monday was a day off. Tuesday We had a wonderful ride.
There was no “classroom”.
No learning
No testing
No reinforcing
No worries!

I asked Chris if I could talk her into saddling up and going for a ride around town. Not only did she humor me, but so did Phil and the three of us just wandered around LaMonte on our horses. We were attacked by a “Killer” Jack Russell who thinks he’s a Great Dane trapped in a little terrier body. When Bob stretched out his nose for a sniff, the “Killer” ran the other way! ROFL We had kids on bikes and on foot tagging along. Two on foot actually jogged along right beside Bob’s butt, and Bob wasn’t the least bit nervous about it. Silly me was the only nervous one. I was impressed with Bob and his casual attitude now. Jim was a Bonehead for Chris. You’d never know that he was the seasoned horse on this ride. Chris lost a shoe (long story). Then they had a little discussion in a plowed field. Jim behaved after that.

Notice how Phil is always smiling. guess who told me and Bob to smile?

After the ride, I did try something new…
I trimmed Bob’s feet! Well not really… Gotcha there didn’t I? I started to trim his front feet. This was on a whim, and while he was eating. I grabbed the nippers and rasp and went to work. I was SLOW. I started with the left front and got the nipping done while he was eating. It was very uneven and there’s still quite a bit that needs to come off, but for my first attempt I thought it was pretty good. Then I couldn’t make the rasp work. By this time Bob was done eating and running out of patience with me. Chris came over (laughing I think) and took the rasp and showed me how to do it. She got that foot leveled off and looking nice despite more needing to still come off. I tried for the other front foot. I finally kinda sorta got the hang of the rasp, enough that I got past the real concrete part of Bob’s hoof and the rasping was going a little easier. Bob’s feet are like concrete! By this time my back was already giving me fits so I decided to wait on that front foot and nipping it until Wednesday. When he’s eating again. For a first trim, Bob was quite tolerant of my fumbling so I didn’t want to push my luck and turn it into a boring or unpleasant experience for him. I came home and told Ron he has to buy me a pair of good nippers and a good rasp, no cheap stuff allowed and I was going to trim our horses all winter once their shoes are removed.

Wednesday was a ground work day (no saddling). Our session consisted mainly of old stuff just being reinforced. I figured we both needed a break form learning new stuff and it was nice to go back over some of the old things. It made it an easy session for Bob. Something we did work on was his coming to me when I invite him in. I’m encouraging that enthusiastic trot of his. I run backwards across the pen and keep him coming at me. Every once in awhile I have a mint and rattle the wrapper to really perk him up and get him moving! LOL Bob loves this exercise. It’s probably one of his favorites. Before I did all this with him I got to work on those front feet again. This time I was surer of myself and it went quite well. I got the right front done and tackled the left front again. I’d taken more off the right so had to go back to the left… I wish I’d had the camera, to show off his feet now that they’re trimmed and actually looking good even though it was me who did them. I brought home the hoof trimmings to save… Baby’s first trim and all that…

We made it to our first show today. It was dicey earlier in the morning with thunder rumbling and rain falling. I called Fischer Stables (one of Bob’s Sponsors) and asked if they were canceling. I was told that they were moving it inside so we decided to follow through with our plans and go. Chris offered to load Bob and meet us there so I could go to the farm and help Ron load Baby and Ginger. This was to be their first showing experience too. We planned to be at the show by 11 AM and waiting for Chris. Hmm, what’s that they say about the best laid plans of mice and men? It took almost an hour to find the mares. They were playing hide and seek with us at the furthest point of the 25 acres they have at their disposal. We almost missed them, and we did on our first pass. They were in the woods, waaay back and being very quiet so we wouldn’t find them. Once found, they all came easily enough, which is a good thing cuz we didn’t have any halters or leads with us – they’d been left up by the gate. I call Chris at 11:09 to find out if she’s left yet. She was planning on loading at 11. If you remember form a past post, Chris is very punctual and today was no exception, unfortunately.

We arrive at Fischer Stables and there’s Bob and Lacey, already unloaded and standing quietly beside the trailer. Chris has pulled out tack and brushes and has everything set up and ready to go. She even knows where I have to go to get us entered for our classes.  I grabbed up posters for the upcoming adoption, coggins papers and off I go to get us entered. Ron got baby and Ginger unloaded and joined me. Good thing cuz I had no idea who he wanted entered in what classes.

Warming Up

This time she thought she was shooting videos… LOL We had a quick lesson in working my camera and all was fine after that. Lacey was there with Chris as Camera Assistant and all around bored horse. Seriously, for a mare you couldn’t touch a month ago she’s come an awfully long way and was acting bored with all the commotion of a show!

After a few minutes of lunging I got on Bob and put him through his paces. He was fairly calm, attentive and really behaving himself for the most part.  For whatever reason he wanted to trot faster on the left lead than on the right. His canter in both directions was good. His halts and backs were also good. We didn’t work too long as the sun was bearing down on us and it was hot.  

Warming Up

Back to the trailer where Ron “Bobbysat” while I went to see the show secretaries again with some questions. I was under the impression that 2 & 3 yr old snaffle bit was western but wanted to make sure. They weren’t sure but thought so, so that would entail a fast tack and apparel change for both Bob and I. I also asked about his stop b turn hackamore. Nope, only bosal or snaffles allowed in the green classes, meaning I also had to get the D ring snaffle off the English bridle and on to the western headstall. After the questions were asked I went back for Bob and rode him around the grounds, trailers and other horses. We met up with another mustang – can’t miss those freeze brands!  This one belongs to Jonathon Crocker of Rocheport MO! I didn’t know that there was another EMM horse so close to Karen and I. This black horse was not his original horse, a sorrel. That horse was kicked in the knee and this guy was given to John in exchange. I thought he said his name was Josh…. My hearing, like the rest of me is going downhill… Which reminds me, my breeches still fit. No, wait. I shouldn’t say “fit”. I could still get them on. The wonders of lycra! With lycra, you can get 5 lbs of sugar into a 3 lb bag! Handy info to know don’t you think?

On the downside, when I’m in a huge hurry to change clothes between classes those lycra content breeches had to be peeled away from my sweating body – they did not want to part with my skin.

I was very pleased to see a lot of interest in mustangs and Bob. One older gentleman commented on how fine looking Bob is. He breeds Arabs and could see the Arab influence in Bob, in the way he carries himself and his head itself. He showed a lot of interest and hung around for quite a while chatting with me about Bob while we watched classes from just outside the arena. We actually ran into a few people I know and Bob was introduced. He got a lot of attention and loved every minute of it, but ya’ll already know he would by now eh?

A break was called and we were able to enter the arena and check things out. Bob didn’t like the openings on the sides (into the barns) and veered away from them  every time. No shying, just veering about 6 feet sideways while maintaining gait so I didn’t worry too much about it. At the top end where all the people and show staff were was another story. Nope, he wasn’t going there the first time we were at that end. Each round he got progressively closer until we were right on the rail and he wasn’t looking at all the people. That took only 3 laps. We changed direction and he was fine on the second lap, but still veering away from those side openings. More people kept appearing so Bob feels he had good reason to veer away. I thought we’d done all we could in the arena so we went for a walk around the grounds again and then back to the trailer for a short break before our first class – Open English Pleasure.

Bob did well. He broke stride at the canter once that the judge saw but picked up his leads correctly which held some weight with the judge I guess because we got 4^th place. I let them know that we needed a tack and apparel change for the 2 & 3 yr old snaffle bit class. By the time we were ready, it was time for our 3^rd class. We totally missed the snaffle bit class! The secretaries told me they waited as long as they could, and they were both sure that Bob would have won that class. Now, isn’t that just my luck to cheat Bob out of a blue ribbon just because my breeches didn’t want to come off.  Bob was entered in classes # 20, 22, 23 and 28. They were going off just too fast for us to keep up. It didn’t help that class 22, a gaited class had only one entry. In # 24, Green as Grass Pleasure there were 7 or 8 horses (not entirely sure). English and Western both were entered. It turns out that I could have ridden him English in the snaffle bit class, there was another English horse in there! We still weren’t entirely “together”. My stirrups were way too long (had just had them repaired/replaced and didn’t them set at the right length. The bit was also too loose in Bob’s mouth, which I didn’t notice until during the class when it was too late to do anything about anything. I concentrated on hanging on to my stirrups and staying in the saddle, which was also a bit on the loose side.  Can you spell frazzled? The heat was also getting to me. I’d already had a couple of dizzy spells and fell while dismounting with the English saddle. Some yahoo must have thought it would be fun to move the ground, because it was not where it should’ve been and I landed on my butt.  This “maneuver” scared poor Bob as it isn’t something we’ve practiced before. He knows all about me going flying from the saddle, but not when I’m already mostly off. He gave me a big snort and one of those looks that reminds me of how my grandmother used to look at me when I’d done something really stupid, like the time I got my head stuck in the porch railings and the fire department had to come and cut through the wrought iron railings to set me free. I also got my mouth washed out with soap while stuck, but that’s another story and has nothing to do with Bob…

Where was I? Oh yea, the green pleasure class. It’s great that there were several other horses. It’s also great that Bob now has the confidence to get out in front of the horse in front. Except, this wasn’t supposed to be a race! Bob was enjoying himself, he now thought he knew what the deal was and when they asked for the lope there’s those Quarter horses doing that weird walk thing that they call a lope and Bob is running up their behinds so of course he took the lead – he was gonna show them what a REAL lope looks like. Now, if they’d asked for a hand gallop I’m confident that we would have won the class…  I was amazed at how fast Bob could zip around that indoor space and not break stride, except when we got near the out gate. He KNEW where that was, and there were open fields beckoning to him outside of that gate. His backing in both classes was good and when we were called into the center to line up he was also good and very patient about standing there and looking stupid. The next class was already entering and walking around and Bob still stood patiently waiting for results. I think he just wanted to hear all the clapping if the truth be known.

While we were at this show for experience only and I sure wasn’t expecting to get any ribbons I was a little upset at what lengths some people will go to for a ribbon. I won’t mention any names, but will mention that there were horses in that class who had absolutely no right to be there. The winner was at the American Royal last year, which means NOT green as grass!  Do people really want a ribbon that bad that they will enter a horse that far below his ability and class? Most of the other entries were quite questionable. This was obviously not their first show, they were just too “together”, their horses weren’t looking around at all, had all the moves down pat and just knew what they were doing. There were classes for novice horses who are in their first or second year of showing, and junior horses, under 5 years old. So why come into a class that far beneath them? I just don’t get it. With $5 entry fees and a points system involved there should have been a little more strictness on the part of the show committee. In my opinion. I did mention this to the show secretaries after the fact and sure enough, they had no idea about the one horse. So it’s not their fault in any way and if a rider isn’t honest about a horse’s past how is anyone to know? I think I will search for a fun show to take Bob to, where there’s no competition for points. We were probably in the way of points earners by being there.

Other than this beef on my part, the show was well run and well organized. I’m looking forward to going back and having the chance to really work Bob inside the arena and in the outside ring. There’s a real rail to work off! Woo hoo! I get leg yields from Bob but I suspect that’s the round pen doing most of the influencing rather than my legs. We will find out next week. Karen and Tripp are coming over and we’re going to school Bob and Tripp together, then hopefully go for that trail ride we’ve been trying to plan. That ought to be a fun day. Karen mentioned that she hasn’t ruled out going through the Dairy Queen drive thru with the boys. And, if we’re going to the DQ we might as well go a bit further down the road and visit Carlene at Russell Stover. They have a drive through too! I think we can accomplish most of this by cutting through the fairgrounds instead of having to ride on the side of the road since that road is Highway 65 and always rather busy. It’ll be an awfully good experience for the boys and the Katy Trail is right there too. The possibilities are racing through my head….

Back to the show… After the green as grass class we had a short break to prepare for our next class. Ron had to get Baby ready for her class, and that’s when I messed things up for everyone and tried to fall down. Chris went and found water, they stuffed me into the truck with the AC full blast, but nothing helped. Every time I stood up the world tilted and I had to grab for something to hold me upright. Ron pulled the plug on any more showing. Baby never got a chance to make an appearance, and she’s Ron’s baby (hence her nickname). We withdrew from our remaining classes, picked up Bob’s ribbons and away we went. Ron parked me in the truck while he unsaddled Ginger and Baby and loaded them up. And he was mad at me for letting myself get that overheated (we had a big scare with this same sort of thing last summer) so I should have known better.

Chris took Bob home and settled him in and Ron took me home and put me to bed. Our trail ride for tomorrow was cancelled, I was grounded

Video coming….

Tags: first horse show, Fischer Stables

Woo! Bob did it again, he made the front page of the Democrat. This time on a Sunday! People will see him front and center in all the news boxes all week now.

You can read the story here: http://www.sedaliademocrat.com/news/bob_10890___article.html/_.html

There’s also a video of us:

Sarah once again did a wonderful job with the story. It’s not as long as I thought it would be. She asked me a lot of questions about our wreck back in July and I was worried that she might focus on it. Bob must have worked his charms on her though as she’s very complimentary about him again. My one “negative” about the story is the sponsors. I’ve had so much local support from small business owners; I was really hoping to see them mentioned. They deserve credit in these days of soaring prices. I gave Sarah a list, but none are mentioned. I guess she has only so much room to work with and focused on Bob, which is ok too. Right? Right! Yay Bob! The adoption event in Sedalia is mentioned so that’s a good “plug” for the Mustangs too. Sarah will be doing another story, totally devoted to the adoption event. Hopefully between these stories on Bob and her story on the adoption we’ll have a great turnout and get new homes for lots of Mustangs! 100% adoption is the goal!

My next entry will be about Bob’s first show yesterday. He was fantastic! I had to brag about his celebrity status first… *giggle*

OH! Here’s your chuckle for the day… I went to get a newspaper this morning so I could read about Bob over coffee. There was an old man at the newspaper box ahead of me. He gets his paper and stands there looking at it (he’s blocking my view and ability to get my own paper). He looks at the bottom half, flips it back over to the top half (we’re on both halves), then looks up and notices me there waiting. He looks at the paper again.. “Is this you?” I said “Yes, that me and my horse, Bob”. “Well, Can I have your autograph?” he says! LOL My truck was right there so I grabbed a pen and signed his paper for him. It made my day to be asked for my autograph! He was so cute, I couldn’t turn him down, and why would I? It’s the polite thing to do. I came home all giddy and told Ron about it. He got a chuckle out of it and called Aunty Virginia and told her. They were both laughing over it.

Tags: Front Page news, Sedalia Democrat

One month from now and it will be all over, but the crying. The time has flown by, and I’m feeling a little resentful of the short time I have left with my precious Bob.

I’ve been a little slack in blogging. Sorry for that but it was same old same old type stuff. Bob had most of last week off because of the bulge on his leg. Nothing was happening with it, good or bad so I went ahead and rode him. Dr Dana (Bob’s vet) said it was ok. Saturday I rode and he was a doll. The time off seemed to agree with him and he was sharp and right on the ball with everything he’s learned. I didn’t do any cantering, just in case. That leg bothers me a whole lot more than it does Bob or Dr Dana. I finally found a little teeny weeny scab. He scraped himself and that’s probably what the bulge is from.

Sunday was our weekly trail ride. Hehehe, weekly. Don’t ya just love that when approximately a month ago I was being led around in the pen on him? Bob is feeling his oats these days so I lunged him before we left, to take the piss and vinegar out sort of thing. We get there, get saddled up, meet up with the 8 other people we’re riding with and we’re all set to go. Chris and I are on Mustangs. The other 8 are all gaited horses. Hmmm this ought to be interesting. We mount up and head down the park road towards the trail entrance. We’re at Knob Noster again by the way.

We just get through the gate and on the trail and Bob suddenly realizes where he is. YIPPEEE another trail ride and he lets out a huge fart, and a couple more after that while bucking and making a general ass of himself I front of all these proper behaving gaited horses. I do the one-rein stop thing. Bob spins around on a dime (seriously!) pops his head way up and snorts with great satisfaction (as if to say How do you like me now huh?) I apologized to all for our behaviour. Naturally he had to do a fly by past 3 or 4 horses while he was bucking and farting and making an ass of himself.  All these people know I’ve only been riding Bob for a few weeks so I can just imagine what they’re all thinking right about now. I’ve never met any of them before so we must have made a dandy first impression. About half an hour later, one by one they start taking turns (so it seemed) riding next to Bob and asking questions about him, mustangs and the Makeover. And, commenting about how well he’s doing for only a short time under saddle. YAY Bob has redeemed himself.  I gave Chris my camera and put her in charge of the official picture taking. I’d used the camera to video Lizzie and Ron the evening before and forgot to change the settings. Chris didn’t think to check the settings. Here’s a sample of one of her “pictures”. I won’t torture ya’ll with the other 41 of them. I thought it was kinda weird when Chris announced I was out of memory…….

Long story shorter: Bob was awesome! After the bucking and farting part that is. Actually, he was pretty awesome at farting too according to Terry, who was directly behind us when the show started.

Anyway…  Bob has gotten much more confident in himself, and tackled that trail with gusto. We did a lot of trotting this time. Of course we did, we had to keep up with those gaited things somehow. We rode for a little over 4 hours, which was way too long according to my knees, but not long enough according to Bob. He didn’t slow down in his trot for anything, we trotted or jumped logs of all sizes. Plowed though mud and didn’t worry about following the horse in front for a change. He was brave enough to pick his own path many times, often through water or mud rather than going around. He got to play in water twice, soaking me, him and anyone close by each time. He showed interest in wandering up the stream away from everyone else when we all stopped for a breather, so I let him wander. He really enjoyed walking through the water and splashing, and then picked a steep little bank to hop up as his exit. When the ride was through the two mustangs were the driest horses. Amy was a bit sweaty around the flank area. The gaited horses were all sweaty, a couple of them dripping wet. Bob was dry and looking for his mints. Every one got to go in the corrals for rolls while the riders had a picnic. It was a great time for everyone. Bob and I got to show off our little “trick” – how he pops into a trot when I invite him to come to me. I was worried that he would ignore me in favour of grass and the horses in there with him, but nope, he came, at a trot and very enthusiastic about the whole thing. Good Bob!

Monday was a day off and Tuesday was a bit of light work under saddle. Not because Bob couldn’t handle anything heavy or strenuous, but because I’d just got him saddled and Ron called. I had to go and meet him.

Wednesday morning Bob got to ham it up for the cameras again. Sarah Nail, the reporter from the Sedalia Democrat came for that follow up and brought her editor, Kaye Fair with her along with another photographer, Sydney Brink. Bob was photographed and Videoed for the newspaper’s website. He POSED for pictures on his own. The little turd has turned into a media monster. Each and every time he passed Sydney and his camera, Bob bowed his head at him! I swear the lil sucker thinks he’s Elvis reincarnated “Thank you, Thank you very much”. He posed on the bridge and ate mints for the camera. Of course, no one had to talk him into eating mints… Sarah couldn’t believe this was the same horse she saw just 6 or 7 weeks ago and couldn’t get anywhere near. Kaye was on the video camera and Bob knew it, AND zeroed in on her. Talk about sucking up – he kissed her arm and nibbled ever so gently all the way up and back down her arm while she giggled. He had her right where he wanted her! I think he was flirting with her.  He’s doing all this and making a pain of himself while totally loose, no halter, no nothing, just Bob and his charms. And charm he did. I did not teach him this! LOL He’s figured out how to fish people in all by himself. I showed them Bob’s trotting to me thing too and had him chasing me across the pen while I ran backwards. He backed serpentines through the barrels and cones, did a 360 turn around a barrel backwards and a pivot for them. He didn’t do it perfect, he’s still very green but he gave it his best shot and that’s all I can ask of him. He cantered on cue for them, came back down to a trot or walk when cued and just plain showed off for them. They’re aiming for Sunday’s paper again, but Sarah warned, that can always change, as it did last time.

That evening trotting on the lead finally clicked and Bob was doing awesome. We now trot out in both directions quite willingly, but with just a hint of the devil and some head swinging. I’m just waiting for him to jump on me thinking it’s a game…

Today (Thursday) it was raining, continued from last night so Bob got the day off much to Ron’s relief as it’s his birthday. He got himself a saddle for his birthday. There was an ad on Iland and he called about it. Next thing I know we’re on our way to Windsor to look at this saddle. Well, it turns out the woman selling it recognized me and asked about Bob… Ron got $50.00 dropped off the price of the saddle just because of Bob! LOL Now that’s a fan! Thank you Michelle! Ron tried the saddle out tonight, but doesn’t know yet if he likes it or not cuz the little mare (Lizzie) was a bit lame and he got really focused on that. It seems that there’s a nail that didn’t come out of her hoof when she was reset the other day. Ron thinks that’s what’s causing her to be off on that foot, so he called Albert and he’s coming tomorrow to check her.

And that’s what Bob’s been up to this past week.

Something related in a way is one of Bob’s sponsors. I’ve been carrying on about Russell Stover being Bob’s mint supplier. I was wrong.

Russell Stover is no longer into “community support” so Carlene, the Assistant Manager there has been supplying Bob’s mints out of her own pocket and didn’t correct me. The store in Sedalia has been in need of a Manager since Sherri left a few months ago. Carlene has been filling in. As Assistant Manager and faithful employee for 5 years she seemed a shoo in for the position as Manager. She’s a wonderful asset to the store, very good and friendly with customers, and knows her stuff. I do have a fair bit of retail experience in my past and was a store manager myself so I know what I was seeing – something you don’t often see anymore – Good, Solid Customer Service. And a well run store – good, eye-catching displays, clean, presentable, friendly staff, and a clean store overall. Russell Stover has hired someone off the street to be manager. I almost fell over when I heard this.

So, I ask What makes Russell Stover any better than the likes of mega stores like Wal Mart, where you can find Russell Stover candies and chocolate. It’s people like Carlene that make Russell Stover better. And they treat her like that? Pass her over in favor of hiring someone off the street. I was shocked and appalled to learn of this and I hope someone with some say at Russell Stover finds this blog and reads it. I think they were pretty shitty in this manager deal.

And to Carlene: Girl, go somewhere else, somewhere where you’ll be appreciated for what you do for your employer! You deserve so much better than what you’re getting from Russell Stover. Obviously they’re not interested or too dumb to realize what a gem you are and what an asset you are to their company.

Tags: Carlene, Michelle, Russell Stover mints, Sedalia Democrat