New Arrival

There's a new arrival at Triple D Stables! Sometime between Saturday and today a new baby Percheron was born! She's a little filly and absolutely adorable! She's all black with a star and she's super sweet! Came right up and let me pet her and she sniffed my hand! I have never met a newborn foal before so that's new to see a baby with no teeth! Her mom was so sweet! I gave her some peppermints to become better friends with her just in case she got protective of her baby.

For size reference, that gate is a little over 4 feet tall.

We've been waiting since before I moved my horses for this little filly to be born! She's really cute!

Babies are so cute!

Also, Holly is now in the indoor arena so the baby and her mom, Daisy, can have the back of the barn and Holly's big stall as their "run-in" shelter. Poor Holly has to stay in now because she has a terrible abscess on her front left foot. Poo thing. =[  However, the filly and Daisy probably stay out 24/7 because that's how it was with Holly and her mom, Dawn. This little filly seems so happy! Daisy is such a great mother!

Tomorrow, I'm bringing my real camera (instead of my phone which is usually what I take pictures and videos with) to take some really great pictures of the filly! I think I'll take some great ones and print them for Jason and Sandy later.

On another note, I gave Louize a back massage and gave my girls (and Daisy) some peppermints I found at the Ocean City Job Lot for $1! They're the best candies ever! I stocked up on a variety of my favorites and got the peppermints specifically for the horses! They were so excited! 

That's Yada's nose and shadow trying to eat the peppermints while I was trying to take a picture. Peppermints were the first and only treats she took from me when I first got her! Apples and carrots and other treats were NOT her thing.

Also, Louize went 3 days without her ulcer medicine and only left a handful of grain in her bucket! I didn't not give her the medicine on purpose, I just keep getting busy or tired or whatever and not going to the barn lately. I'm going to have to ask my mom to visit, brush, medicate, and treat my horses starting next Monday while I'm at marching band camp. I won't have the time or energy to visit them. =[  Rehearsals start at 8am and I'm not done until 9pm. Plus driving back and forth and showering and I need sleep. The girls will just have to suck it up! I'm sure they'll get spoiled by my mother. I just have to make sure she doesn't overfeed them treats... she likes to do that. They don't mind but their stomachs might.

Something Different

I don't usually like to do the same things all the time when riding. The indoor arena is pretty cluttered with hay, wagons, tractor, etc. and so I decided to try something new! I rode Yada out in her pasture with Louize just wandering around. At first when I was walking Yada, Louize would follow us around and look at me like I was a weirdo. When I started trotting Louize followed a little and then gave up. She was trotting better than I saw previous but it could just be because no one was on her back, too. I'll ride her today or tomorrow to see if she's still stiff and sore and then my mom and I will consider calling a chiropractor for her. Might be good for Louize. Also, Louize has been eating very well! Even when I don't go by the barn and forget to get her ulcer medicine to her she has been eating everything! She hasn't left a single piece of grain which makes me very happy! The first thing I do is check out their buckets, grab a lead rope, some treats, put on my boots, and go outside to give Louize her medicine and some treats to both of them. There were a couple days when I didn't visit them and she still ate everything! Yay Louize! Maybe her stomach is finally settling down and she can come off the ulcer medicine sometime soon! For now, she's staying on it... don't want to change too much and cause it to flare up again when she's just getting better. It's obvious she responds to stress because she was like this before we moved her out of Jill's and then stopped eating after the move. At least it didn't take as long to get her to start eating. At Jill's it took WEEKS! Here, it took maybe a week or two and I had to make sure she got her meds EVERY day! Now she's getting better and that makes me very happy!

I have also noticed that Yada, in the indoor arena, stumbles and kind of limps for a few steps when making turns (mostly to the right). I have a feeling it's just because the turns we have to make inside are fairly sharp and she may have pulled something because riding her in the pasture didn't seem to cause the same issue. She was just super lazy and I had to work to keep her going, except in the slightly sloped areas of the pasture when we went downhill. Only issue I had was keeping her on the fence line because she wanted to go in the middle with Louize, haha!

I also noticed that Jason and Sandy have started to wean Holly from her mother! She's an adorable 3-4 month old Percheron filly. She's only about a hand or two away from being Louize-sized! She's been inside in a big stall for most of the time so at least she has room to wander. She's not outside with her mother now because she's back with the other drafts. A baby with 5 big drafts probably isn't a good idea, so I understand that. She could, I guess, hang out with Yada and Louize! I bet they could be great friends! Louize is very motherly (she's had babies in the past before I bought her) and Yada is VERY sane for a 3 year old. Oh well, she's not mine but maybe I'll offer it as an idea so Holly can go outside more.

In other news, Daisy hasn't foaled yet! She has to be 12 months pregnant now! They have her in a stall at night now and she is in a separate pasture but no baby. They keep waiting! They were hoping she would foal back in June when I first came by to check the place out! Hopefully soon there will be a baby in that pasture. Who knows, maybe when I go see my girls this afternoon there will be a baby!

Louize Needs a Massage

I went to the barn today. I haven't ridden much this week because I've been busy and it's been really humid all week, as high as 85% humidity! Riding when it's that muggy out just kills me so I usually just go for a visit or if I do ride, it's just a little bit. I went out to the pasture and gave Louize her medicine, then Yada and Louize both got some apples. Yada finally likes apples! In fact, if she can get to my brush bag and there are apples in there, she will try to steal one. When I first got her in April, she wouldn't touch apples! If I put any apple slices in her grain she would eat around them. Now she likes them. Most likely because Louize enjoys them and Yada is all about food so she must think they have to be good if Louize eats them.

I decided to switch things up so I rode Louize. I tacked her up and got her ready. I noticed over the past couple months some stiff stifles on her. She gets some muscle cramps in her back legs when my farrier is doing her feet and she used to pick up her feet really well, now she just takes the weight off and I have to DRAG her leg off the ground and up so I can pick them. Sometimes I have to let go of her foot when she starts cramping up. Poor girl. I did a little stretching with her legs before I rode to try to soften her up a bit. Those back legs didn't stretch much. I can tell she definitely has some stiffness. I got up on her back and walked around a lot in circles, changing directions, wandering into the driveway, and checking things out. A few times I tried to get her to trot but she really didn't like that. She'd stick her ears back, get stiff, go for a couple of strides and then stop. She took a lot of leg to get going more than a few strides! I remember when I got her almost 5 years ago, it was a fight to make her stop! She's on a joint supplement and her joints seem fine for the most part. She doesn't creak or crack or anything but Jason has also been noticing some stiffness in the morning. After walking for a bit, Louize loosens up some and acts better. I'm considering getting an equine massage therapist to check her out and rub on her sore or tight muscles to see if that helps her any.

Until then, I'm going to buy some bute from the vet tomorrow and give her some whenever she's acting particularly sore or stiff. I can't give it to her every day as she already has a stomach ulcer issue and bute just eats away at horses' stomachs. Going to ask the vet for anything else I can to do try to loosen her up other than a massage therapist. I'm going to start doing a little massaging of my own, leg stretches to loosen her legs up, and ride her around every day or almost every day. Just walking to try to get some motion in and some blood flow to her muscles and joints. I won't do anything else with her for a while until she starts acting better. She started getting really stiff after the 3-hour trail ride. That might have been a little much but she really loved it! She did eat her grain fairly well after! I guess she felt better after getting some well-deserve attention since Yada gets a lot of my grooming attention lately.

Hopefully, she is just sore and a good massage and some bute will bring her out of it. I think she might be sore and stiff from A) Age, as she is 22 years old, B) Lack of exercise since I don't ride her often, and C) She has gained back 100+ pounds since the middle of March and without a lot of exercise she could just be getting stiff with adjusting to her weight. Another factor is that she does have high calcium levels (higher than my vet's scales can reach. They had to send her blood to another facility to read it) and that can cause muscle weakness and soreness. Poor girl. We'll do what we can until we decide whether or not massage will help her.

She was being really cute and loved the attention she was getting! Especially when Jason came back with his girlfriend's kids. They LOVE Louize to pieces! I had to try my hardest to not offend the little girl when she wanted to ride Louize. I honestly didn't want a small child on Louize when she was acting so stiff and sore.

Here she is, looking cute as ever! Sorry it's dark. It was poor lighting in the barn when I took this.

As a reference point to how much weight she's gained, this is what she looked like in February right before I moved her to make her healthy again. This was AFTER we moved her. Looking at this picture makes me want to cry, especially after the old barn said they didn't know what the problem was. "She's eating everything she's getting so I don't see the issue!" Really? I do. I can see every bone in her body! This was taken around the beginning of March.

Here she is, last week, soaking wet after a shower. Not a rib in sight, except for a slight outline as she was stretching down to eat!

Trail Ride!

Well, it's been a few days since I went on this legendary trail ride, but I have been busy and tired and everything else so I forgot to update but now I have more to talk about! Yay!

My friend, Alicia, invited me to a trail ride on Saturday at her barn. It was really fun! I rode Yada and my mom rode Louize western (only way I trusted my mom riding her in case Louize acted silly). There were 8 of us total at first but one had to turn back because her horse was acting up and then the other turned back after a while because she needed to head back to the barn.

The first issue with Yada came up when we had to cross a stream about 10 feet across. She REFUSED to go across. It came down to me, Louize, and the lady who turned back after the stream and she wouldn't budge. Alicia got off Gizmo and tried to lead her across but she wasn't having that. She led Louize across hoping that would convince Yada but that didn't do the trick. After 15 minutes of struggling, I got off and into the water to get her across. I tried my hardest but she refused to move! After a few minutes, I realized I had a peppermint in my pocket so I used that to try to convince Yada the water wasn't so bad. IT WORKED! She went across and once she was in the water she could care less about it! SUCCESS! I knew it was good to not give up! I was refusing to give up on her!

We continued on and she did really well! She stepped over logs without giving them a second thought because we already practiced trotting over poles so she was a pro! She did well on the road with cars driving but, going around a gate into the woods, walking across the road, etc. On the way back, she started to get more irritated with the bugs and had to be glued to Louize's side. The bugs always drive Yada nuts! She hates bugs but seems to hate fly spray too, so there's nothing I can really do. At least she had ears on so they weren't driving them crazy too. Everything was going well and we were trotting along when Louize started cantering. It was my mom's first ever canter on a horse! YAY! However, this made Yada start acting up because Louize was running away.

When we got back to the stream, Yada practically jumped the whole thing! She will make a great jumper when she gets older! She caught me off guard, haha! She was NOT letting Louize get away, though. She got in and out of the water as fast as she could.

We even had a little face off with two drunk guys while we were headed back! Apparently we didn't realize the land belonged to someone else. We thought we called and asked permission to go on everyone's land but we missed one guy and his friends were really mad we were there! Guess he had security cameras and saw us. Oh well, that sucks. We finally talked them down and left and things were fine. Ali, the lady leading us, called the owner of the land and he was very upset. Turns out, the guys were pot dealers and I guess they were growing back there so they weren't happy we were "snooping". We didn't see anything so not sure what their issue was. Last time we go through there, for sure!

By the time we got back, it had been 3 hours! Yada and Louize were quite sweaty! We took them home and made sure they got some water and then went back to my friend's barn for the BBQ after. They had really great food there! By the end of the day, it was getting too dark and chilly to hose off the horses but they were happy just hanging out in their pasture. I did shower them the next day and now they're all clean and happy! I do need to wash their saddle pads, though...

In other news, my friend Calleigh left Coldbrook Equestrian Center! She's riding a friend's horses at Wild Ivy and working their now! Jill Schnedler still hasn't paid her for working but claims to pay Calleigh when she gets the money... like that will happen.

Also, apparently Jill Schnedler got another Great Dane adult and has a puppy that she's going to buy soon. Where she's getting the money from this, who knows? The horses are probably going without grain or hay or something. She never has money. She wants to start breeding puppies, I guess. Good luck, Jill. Her unneutered male isn't AKC so he shouldn't be used for breeding. I have no clue about this adult. She can't use the puppy because it's her male's half-sister. I don't know how she thinks she's going to profit from that. Plus, her house is disgusting and she thinks she's going to keep her puppies in the her kennel in the basement. The basement that leaks and has no heat. Her puppies will get sick and die! No one in their right mind would walk into her house and want one of her Great Dane puppies!

Oh well. It's only a matter of time before she has no business with helpers leaving, boarders leaving, and putting money into breeding dogs that just don't sell very well in Maine. Not everyone wants big dogs, especially Great Danes. They are great dogs, but most people are not big dog people.

Jill Schnedler also is having a Judy Westlake clinic in August! I posted on the Coldbrook Equestrian Center page about my interest in going just to drive Jill crazy and so did Alicia (who also left Jill's on bad terms) but Jill hasn't responded. Weird. She also hasn't responded to my comments on her video or picture of Domino working with Connor! She was thanking him for the hard work he's put in to make Domino a good pony. Sorry. That was me that helped him. I didn't work with him and desenitize him for two weeks straight and get no thanks in return. I'm the reason he's rideable now! Oh well, according to Jill I didn't pay board and I used her, I guess. I was the one being used and she still owes us money. She's twisted.

Whatever. What goes around comes around, Jill Schnedler.

I would also like to point out that I've had this account since 2009 and I have had 34 views in that time! 32 of them being within the past month! WHOO!

Show Update (sorry it's really late)

So Yada's first show was great! She did an amazing job and everyone there LOVED her! It was only her second time riding full western and she did great! The judge commented on how great she was the entire time on only commented on keeping my hands tighter on the reins or in western, not switching hands. I'm new to western, so that's fine. Also, she needs to work on backing up but considering she's only done it 6 times, she was kick-ass at it!
For the results of the show:
English Equitation: Third
English Pleasure: Second
Western Equitation: Second
Western Pleasure: First
Costume Class: Honorable Mention (it was a borrowed costume with wings and Yada didn't care! She's completely relaxed!)
Trail Class: Fourth (never walked over hula hoops, backed through poles, or walked through pool noodles. Scary stuff yet she was fearless!)

Considering it was her first show, I couldn't be more proud of her! Also, we brought an old friend of mine, Alicia, and her horse, Gizmo, and Yada and Gizmo fell in love! They were so cute!

Here they are napping together before the trail class! Yada is the one with the brown leather bridle.

Here Yada is in her full western gear!

Since Saturday, Yada has had it really easy. Sunday was really hot so I gave her the day off. Monday, I stopped by to give her some love and treats, and today she had the day off because I was out with my friends celebrating Dollar Tuesday at a local theater where movies are only $1 and we go swimming for $5!

Tomorrow, as long as the arena isn't filled with hay, we're going to get some work in since I haven't really made her work a whole lot. Saturday was the "toughest" day she did and it was mostly standing, eating hay, and walk/trot. Hardly work, really.

However, I have discovered one new thing about Yada. On Saturday, she encountered her first miniature horse and miniature donkey. Apparently minis are TERRIFYING in her mind! She finds them horrifying! The only thing I have ever seen her spook at and then run away from! They were really cute (and both naughty) and to Yada, they were NOT okay! She spooks at minis but not giant purple wings hanging from her shoulders. What a silly little girl! I love her!

While Yada has to work, Louize gets the luxury of hanging out in the pasture. I might ride her a little tomorrow, too. I don't work her much since she's getting older. She just gets lots of love and treats! I looove Louize!

I will update you more later! Sorry this was late, been a busy week with my best friend, Sarah!

Old Western Film

I felt like I was in an Old Western film today buying a consignment western saddle and trying out a new western bridle on my OTTB, Yada! She has never had a western saddle, western bridle, or western bit before in her life! She handled it well after a little bit of playing with the bit. It's a Myler barreling bit. Got it complete with a bridle and another bridle with a different western bit at a yard sale my high school music teacher held! She gave me all of her horse things for $50! There was a saddle rack, 2 bridles with bits, a breast collar, saddle pad, water bucket heater, sponges, leg wraps, a padlock, 2 lunge lines, a lunge whip, 2 crops, a bunny feeder, gloves, and other miscellaneous items.

This is the type of bit I have:

The "new" saddle:

She wasn't huge on the fact that the bit has the part going on top of her tongue and kind of holding it there, but she soon got used to it. The other part of the bit was how the reins were connected. A little bit of pulling puts a lot of pressure on her mouth so I used very slight movements to not hurt her and not make her hate her western bit. Besides, I hate it when people pull on horses' mouths. More pulling makes the horse experience pain, discomfort, and can desensitize them so they the horse requires even more pulling! I want her mouth to stay happy and sensitive. Makes her easier to ride in the future when we start doing harder stuff like jumping and really fancy dressage stuff. She's still only three years old, so jumping is a couple years off but might as well get her ready now!

I will have pictures of her in the new western tack tomorrow for modeling purposes and to see how she does! And then I will ride her bareback a bit since, to my knowledge, she has never been ridden bareback before! I was going to yesterday but there was too much hay and equipment in the ring to even ride. Today I tried to go on a trail ride with my mom on Louize but the trails were overgrown and the ground was soft and squishy. Plus, I was only guessing where the trails were. I have no clue, really! I did find one area that looked promising but Yada refused to go forward. She just spun in circles and backed up. Apparently there was something there she REALLY did not like, so I gave up the endeavor. Maybe another day.

I also got new halters for my horses! They look so cute now!

These are the brightest colors for anything I have ever gotten for Louize or Yada but I thought it was high time for something different! I also figured the natural horsemanship of the rope halters might be better for them since they both get rub marks from their other halters. I had to have fleece on their halters before to keep it from stripping away all of their hair! These should be much more comfortable for them! Louize usually looks amazing in greens so that's what I usually got her but she does look pretty good in that super crazy orange! Yada looks amazing in just about any bright color. Blues are definitely her color but I think her purple, pink, blue, and green halter goes with her quite well!

Yada and Louize update! (Sorry it's late)

So Yada and Louize are settling in very well! Louize is eating well with her ulcer meds (her ulcer acted up again after the move and she wasn't eating well for a couple days). Her eye is looking really good! The swelling is almost gone and it hasn't been weeping! Yay! Yada is also doing really well. Haven't been able to practice our canter lately because the arena has had equipment and hay in the way. Maybe one of these days I'll just ride out in the pasture... except there are rather large rocks out there. Maybe that wouldn't work well. I do need an open, unobstructed space to practice. Yada needs room to gain balance and confidence in her canter. Or maybe I'll explore the trails and if there are any fields or straight-aways, I can canter there until the arena gets cleaned up. I don't know. She's a work in progress but I'm loving it, even after some frustrations.

Louize will soon get a really fun trail ride, too! I want to explore the trails so badly! It's killing me. I'm waiting for a day when I have nothing better to do than explore the trails. Maybe there are trails connecting Triple D and Stonewall so I can trail ride with my friend at Stonewall, Alicia!

Also, Yada is going to a show on Saturday! It's a fun equitation show so it's nothing stressful but it will be very good experience for her and get her out there showing off her stuff! I will have to do walk/trot, though. I was hoping I could work on her canter. Her left lead (the race track way) is okay! She's very confident at it on the lunge line but her right lead is not... I have only made her do it a handful of times. Hopefully Louize doesn't lose her mind being alone for most of Saturday... I will give her lots of carrots and apples before we leave and some more when we get back in the hopes that it might relax her a little bit. Poor thing is going to be lost all by herself!

On another note, Jill Schnedler pulled a nasty move on my mother today. She tried calling into the hospital and claimed that my mom broke patient-doctor confidentiality and tried to get my mom fired! What the hell?? Luckily, my mom was able to prove that A) Jill Schnedler has never been her patient, B) Jill Schnedler goes to St. Joseph's Hospital, not Eastern Maine Medical Center where my mother works, C) my mom doesn't have access to Jill's files, and D) my mom never revealed any medical information in the first place except for one small tidbit of information: Jill only has electricity because she has a prescription for a nebulizer (that requires electricity to work). She owes the electric company over $6000 and she has never filled her prescription for her nebulizer. She doesn't own one and has never used one yet she tells the power company she needs power in order to get her medicine. This doesn't breach any confidentiality information. She told me this in person when she had to call the power company to get an extension on her bill because it was going to get shut off if she didn't call them!

Oh well. It didn't work, Jill. Maybe next time you try to get someone fired you give a story that has even 1% of the truth.

I'm on to bigger and better things. I have better things to focus on than trying to ruin lives. I have a job interview soon (YAY!) and I am having a blast with my horses!

Goodnight everyone! And remember, if people ever try to drag you down with them, just walk away. It's easier to leave them in the dust than to get tangled up in their net of self-destruction.