Trip pics

Happy Chicks find fun on the road...
It wasn't gambling... really!! The game was free, the quarter was to buy a DumDum



:D How Appropriate!



*note the local paper tucked under Angi's arm. A road trip Wouldn't be complete without one! LOL











Azania relaxing in Amarillo. A big thanks for the great welcome to our hosts & friends at the Horse Motel












Happy Chicks at The Cowgirl Museum Reception.




























Loosening up after 3 days on the road.





















Happy Chicks are ready for the show!






























Going home with his new dad !
















We found some hitchhikers who needed a lift to Cali.




















and what trip is complete without a stowaway or two ;D

Videos!!

Angi and Azania in Texas. They tied for 2nd place In Hand with an 81. (just .5 behind 1st place) and they finished 13th overall in the Idols division.



Beth has video of the adoption auction, but it's on tape so I'll have to convert it to digital before I can post it. The bidding went REALLY fast, and something in my heart told me to keep going after my limit.

We would have brought him home and loved him, Beth was already making plans for shows, BUT the gentleman who adopted him will LOVE him that very special love some of us are lucky enough to find. He was hooked from the 1st meeting, but needed some time to realize it, just like I did with my Symphony 7 years ago. She haunted me until I went back to adopt her, so I understood just how he felt. It was an easy choice to make but one that left us all very emotional and peaceful at the same time with no doubt that this is where God wanted Azania to be.

So Congratulations Frank! I pray you have many happy years of love with Azania, and that you keep in touch.

Kathy

Azania had a good day

I am so proud of this boy, worked his heart off and gave it his all in Texas. He came in 2nd in the in hand class and did good under saddle. Over all we were 13th and missed the top ten by a little. He came out into the sale ring quiet and soft, giving mustangs a good name, and winning the heart of several bidders. His adoption went to $2500, quite a bit more then several of the horses that made the top ten even. Kathy bought him back but relinquished him to a man with a heart for this horse only. He had stopped bidding at $1900 but went and borrowed the money to get him from Kathy who had only bid because she felt like she was supposed to. Come to find out she had bid against a couple who I thought might not be suitably matched for him. They found a horse to adopt that worked for them. Azania went home with the best owner for him and I am looking forward to hearing what more Azania accomplishes in his first year of domestic horse life :)
Came home to a quiet herd and a slightly bittersweet sadness of missing Azania. I felt good about his owner and new home but it is always hard to say good bye.............

sleepless nights with tired horses

I haven't had a chance to write on my blog for awhile and I have so much to share. Both on our great mustang adventures and on some other small stories also.

First I want to share a story that has been on my heart. I recently took in a mare a week and a half ago. I did not need to take another horse on. I have a few extra that I still need to find homes for. I remember this horse from two years ago when she had been sent in to be bred at a friend's house and I really thought the world of this mare. I remember her being fun on trail, quiet for a kid and a nice registered paint mare that the guy had paid quite a bit to get. I really figured I could just rehome her and not worry too much. OK! So somewhere I am living in a false world where all people take care of their pets and when I sent my friend to go pick her up and got a call that she was a mess I did not really know what I was in for. Remember, I'm downsizing, that means less horses not one more :)------

I called Jaime to come put shoes on her because I heard that her feet where bad but nothing could have prepared me for what she looked like. Bad is not the word that I would use. She could barely walk, one slow inch at a time and I was not sure that I would not be putting this mare down. She was about three hundred pounds underweight. Her left front had the angle so she was walking on her coffin bone and they looked like cow pies. When Jaime trimmed her the inside of her hoof was rotting and falling apart. He put shoes on her and after a half of hour talking to my vet, I was left with the impression that it was a real wait and see. I started her free feeding on three way and my vet said that she could be on some alfalfa because her body was so starved that the protein would be absorbed and not make her feet worse. Jaime put shoes on, my friends brushed her while she ate any grass she could reach and I fly sprayed her. It is probably the most attention this mare has gotten in forever. So, now it has been almost a week and a half since I got her and Jaime has seen her three times to adjust shoes and make sure her feet were doing slightly better. I have been at lifesavers living on Azania. Today I got home after three days of being at the ranch and I went to feed. I had the best gift that will last me a year. A paint mare walking quickly across her pen to see if I had added a pile of alfalfa on top of her three way!!! I could just cry. She has a long way to go and alot more vet and farrier visits to get her there but maybe someday she will make some little girl happy and have a person of her own again.....

Thank you Jaime Osbrink for being so willing to make a special trip to come see her and do her shoes so often despite your busy schedule!!!

And Chris Jones for giving me some extra hay for getting her weight back up and Thank you Doc Connelly for being the vet to talk me through the hard decisions and how to go about righting what some unkind person has done wrong to this poor girl.

Dressage and why Angi is going crazy

Okay so I am not sure why I am fixated on this dressage thing when I really have not much understanding on how to get these beautiful movements that dressage trainers make look so easy. I have been living in videos trying to grasp some of it. We are still working collection and Azania gets so ticky. He even tried to toss me a few times when I insisted that he MOVE with the long whip. He is pretty sure I often suck!
So we are working hard and we worked Friday night for several hours. Azania has the most fantastic back up of any horse. He is working decently diagnol and sideways, and he is doing good in his rollbacks. He sometimes can be lazy with is shoulder yielding on one direction. Spurs have helped somewhat. He really is dominant and not motivated to give in if he doesn't believe that you can follow through with something other then just heel. He is trotting collected and extending a little at it. But we have so much more to do! AHHHHHHHH
And there really is not a neck sweat alive that will fit :)

More cows

Azania's first adventure! We go see cows and lots of other people riding in a very large arena. Okay, so for all you people who think of him as easy :)------ He can be and he sometimes isn't! When we first got in the arena he lost all momentum and focus and uhhhhh Steering! (hee-hee). We first worked on you can move your feet and be guided despite all these distractions. Under me was a horse and I was aware that he had alot to say. Part of what he was saying was that I would really like to run and run and run and not stop. So we did not run. We trotted and stopped and sidepassed and did diagnols.
We followed a kind lady on a quiet red gelding until we could venture into small groups of others. Azania really wanted to play bumper cars with the others but we did not. Victor Penner and his wife assured me that both their horses were used to bumper horses so not to stress if Azania did run into them. THANK YOU BOTH!!! It really relieved some stress and we did manage not to crash into either when my horse thought he was supposed to walk on the other horses feet instead of his own. Azania relaxed and we tracked the herd of cows easily with no fear. Then the group of us gathered around the herd for some slow work and I was second. A very nice man (I never remember people names) guided us through it if it was our first time. We first were supposed to walk between the herd of cows and the fence then get braver and go between some cows. Azania could care less. I, on the other hand actually was a little nervous to be smashed between cows, some of which had horns. Azania did shy at the guy telling us what to do several times and it was obvious that he was sure he should be riding a horse and not on the ground. Then we got to keep one cow out of the herd and work it real slow. Azania really did good but showed no real draw to the cow. He just said mom is crazy and I am not really certain why I should chase this cow but okay..............

cow pictures

My fat horse grows up

So much has happened and I have had so little time to write. Beth came over and we took the horses out to ride on the trail. Azania liked having a horse to follow and lead sometimes, he really went out like he had been out on trail a million times. He didn't look twice at the trash in the desert. He walked calmly past mattresses, plastic bags, and cardboard boxes. He had a blast. We were riding for about two hours. It was so much fun. I've spent all my spare time watching dressage videos and trying to work Azania. Often it feels like AHHHHHH and sometimes it feels like AH HA! We are getting things worked out and working on much more.
Yesterday my friend Ingrid came over to ride Azania. It was a blast. For any of you who have met Ingrid you understand what a blast this lady is. The first time I met her I was struck on just how bold and confident this woman was with horses and how much fun she was to be around. She is even crazier then I am! The first thing Ingrid did was walk right up to him and pick up his feet, getting all into his space. Azania handled this really well, tolerating Ingrid rubbing all over him. Then she played with him a little and got on. He tested a little bit but then realized that Ingrid was stronger then him. Azania conceded respect and rode well. I told Ingrid that I had been doing crazy stuff with him so she added to it by standing on his back and jumping on him from the fence from directly behind him. It was so much fun. Thank you Ingrid!!! I had a blast and I know Azania did too.
We have been working alot on collection. With help of the dressage videos I have started Azania in collecting his head and neck. He is getting it so quickly. The idea is to drive him forward while taking a feel on the outside rein and giving a light rythem to the inside rein. This teaches him to collect on the light feel of the outside rein. It was so nice to feel Azania start to reach for the bit a little and collect. It was beautiful :)
Then this morning I met with Morgan who is helping me put together a program for if we make the top ten. She gave me ideas and inspired me so now I have tons of work to do! I will surely get no sleep for the next month........

Finding our song

My friend Lizz reminds me that I really need to have my song for my horse by now and I am not really sure what I want to use. I have picked out on song and several others to play with and see how the rythem works for Azania and I. It really ends up being between two songs that have relatively quick beats. I ride to each one several times then switch between them a couple more. I am in a playful mood and Azania thinks that his mom is crazy as I try to jump off him mid-trot (he slams on the brakes each time) and sit on his butt and ask him to move with me there. I finally have the song picked ( a great Toby Mac song) and we play to it several times. Ralph and Lizz both ride him, he is naughty with each one! With Ralph he is a slug and forgets to trot well. With Lizz he trys to smash her leg in the panel. He is BAD! but I do love him.......We end when we have both workeds into a lather. He has reared several times in irritation at me demanding a good back up and has become much more quick to lope when I ask for it. Oh Azania, we have a long way to go!
Angi

learning to dance

I only had a short time, and it was kind of windy and gross outside. I took my stick and halter. I took a can of alfalfa pellets with me to give as incentive. Azania likes to go up so I decided to try to teach him to stand up on his hinds on command. I take my stick and tap his neck. Just as thought, he becomes naughty. I give an alfalfa pellet and he looks at me like I am crazy. Why is my mom giving me a treat for being naughty? I use the stick to tap each leg and as he paws it forward I give him a treat. He is now being too lazy to protest with up but has a nice, slightly spanish looking type walk on the ground and thoroughly thinks his mom is insane!!!