The Boyz Today

Hello everyone!

Just so you all know, I will be doing most of the real horse posts over at my other blog http://olliesbookoflife.blogspot.com/. I will be posting my model horse stuff here on this blog. If you would like to keep in touch with Ollie, Sherman, and Billie Jean, then please go visit my other blog! Thank you so very much!

~Alyssa

Pasture Pictures

Hello!!

If you all would like to see more about this picture..you can read about it here:

http://olliesbookoflife.blogspot.com/2015/08/pasture-pictures.html

Enjoy!! 

I am going to post about another (new) model tomorrow, so stay tuned!!

~Alyssa 

Trail Ride 7/24/15

It Is A Blustery Day

This morning I let the horses out to play. It has been rainy and cold-not at all like the usual 90 degree weather we had been having. I hope it warms up soon!

Here are a few pictures:

He looks like an Arab! I fixed his blanket after this photo. 

I see a cow horse! :D 

"Look mommy! Three hooves off of the ground!"

Cheyenne: "Look mommy, FOUR hooves off of the ground!!"

"Hey! I can do that too!!" 

"Um....wait up!" 

"See you later, pretty boy." ;P

~CBL

This Afternoon

My sister with Cheyenne, me with Ollie (yes, he has turquoise hair extensions in) and my mom with Sherman. We were going for a walk. 

~CBL 

Update On The Horses

                                                                        

 Hello, Y'all!


 It has been a while, hasn't it? I am sure you all are just itching for a update on the horses. Enjoy!!




CHEYENNE

 I have been really busy with our new horse  pony, Cheyenne. I retired her from barrel racing and am working on her speed. She is fast, but is also quite smooth, despite her straight shoulders. She has found good balance while carrying a rider at a fast gait, so it will be more difficult for her to slow down her speedy lope. I do not have any pictures of me riding her yet, but I will soon.

She has finished all of Clinton Anderson's Fundamentals groundwork. She is VERY smart and quick (as you already know) on her feet. She catches on to things incredibly fast and enjoys a job. Right now she does need a more confident rider to tell her what to do, but the more I work with her, the more I am chipping away at her barriers (she isn't spooky at all, but she likes a leader so that she does not have to make decisions). She wouldn't let anyone touch her muzzle when we first got her, and the former owners tried to use grain to help her with that, but it didn't work much. Now I can put my while hand on her muzzle and she is pretty good with it. She was pretty bad at disengaging her hindquarters when I got her, but now she handles it like a pro. I think she will work well with my family once she is fully trained through the whole Clinton Anderson Method.

OLLIE

I do not have a blog big enough to describe the love I have for this horse. He has finished the whole Fundamentals Groundwork and is almost done with the riding part of Clinton's Fundamentals series. He is so slow now and lots of people, including my trainer,  have said he is ready for Ranch Pleasure classes at the Appaloosa shows. He is learning collection and proper canter departures right now, and he is doing well. He is so smart and just loves people. I got Clinton Anderson's whole bridle, bit, rein, and slobber strap set and Ollie loves it so much. He really reaches for the bit, which is something he hadn't done with his other bits, and is very soft in the mouth with it. He is no longer headstrong and does not try to fight me with nearly anything. When I ask him to canter or gallop, he does it willingly and does not swerve a 90 degree angle when he is running at dead speed when we are on the trail (which is what he used to do about 4 months ago). and easily stops. I ride him on a very loose reins with one hand and very little contact (or no contact) with my legs when we are riding on the trail now. 

I am trying my best to grow out his tail. I have been using MTG for the past week and his hair has already grown 3/4 of an inch (in one week!).  I want him to have a really long tail and mane. It is already long for an Appaloosa (who are notorious for having skimpy manes and tails) but I would like it is long as possible. 

I do not have much of anything on Sherman, but I am working on him a little bit. My mom is cantering him now in the round pen and he is doing well. He will probably go up for sale soon, but we are not sure yet.  Stay tuned for more updates on him!!

~CBL

SOLD!!!

As you all know......

I put the mini's up for sale last week, and within just this week I got 5 people who were interested in them. I scheduled them to see the girl's, and yesterday evening the first woman interested came. I spent a total of 10 hours in the barn yesterday, with 6 of them being heavy cleaning, grooming, brushing, sweeping....etc. The barn is so tidy now you can lick off the floor....(which I wouldn't advise it..but it is true!).

Anyway, I let all of the horses out in case it could be the last few times they were together. They ran around, kicking, bucking and just having a grand time. Ollie made use of the soft dirt and rolled, then Sherman did, then Tucker..they all wanted dirt baths. 

Ugh. The annoying fact of having a white horse. 

I did more cleaning, and then it started to rain. A lot. the freshly groomed mini's got soaked and I was disappointing because I worked on them so much to get them looking nice. I just gave them another brushing and put them in the stall. 

The woman arrived, and I showed her how to tack Half Pint up, and then we drove her up the rode once. After Mrs. Richardson was comfortable, I got out and stood by the driveway while she drove back and forth a few times. Half Pint did amazing, and I was so proud of her. 

After Haffy was done, we went in to get Rosie. As Mrs. Richardson went to get her, Rosie bolted and wouldn't let her get near to put the halter on, which disappointed me because I really liked the woman. I squatted down and Rosie came walking over quickly to me. I haltered Rosie, and took her to the round pen to show Mrs. R the tricks Rosie could do. Rosie performed beautifully, and also did fantastic when Mrs. R tried them on her. Then I quickly harnessed Rosie and we took her out for a quick ground driving session. by this time it was 7:30, and about two hours after feeding time. Rosie started to act up, but I showed Mrs. R how to correct it, and then she did great. 

After we finished ground driving, Mrs. R decided that she wanted to buy them, and I couldn't be happier. She will be a great home for my little girls, we are going to do a first right of refusal, and she will try her best to update me on how they are doing. I am so happy about it, and now I am already searching for a nice small horse or large pony to take her place. 

My (or actually, Mrs. Richardson's minis) are leaving here next Saturday. It will be sad to see them go, but good because I can continue going down by journey as a horse woman.

~CBL

Vet Appointment/Snow

Hello Everybody!

So, last Tuesday the vet came out to our barn for a regular checkup. Rosie and Half Pint needed their teeth floated and Sherman needed some lameness work done on him.

They had to sedate Rosie and Half Pint first. They put the "sedation drug" into a needle and thrust it into a big vein in the middle of their neck. I thought it would take a few minutes to work, but Rosie (who went first with the teeth floating) was out within a matter of 15 seconds. 

They put an interesting contraption on her face that kept her mouth open. 

Then they looked into her mouth with a light to check to see how and her teeth were. The vet said that these minis were the best looking he had ever seen physically and that their teeth looked great (but they still needed a little floating). 

The vet took a big dremmel and filed the teeth down. It was so cool to watch!! 

Then Half Pint went. 

As seen in the pictures below, the sleeping drug did not wear off for about two hours. 

Sherman then had his lameness test. He is slightly lame (on a scale from 1-5 a 2)  on the right side and we are considering doing hock injections. 

So, the weather had been very fair to us for the month of February, but this past week, all of the snow came falling down. We got about one foot of snow from last weekend and this afternoon the snow came down again, with another 6-8 inches expected. Yay. :/ 

The horses love it though. Before the "big storm" I let them out to run around a little. Ollie usually doesn't buck or run much, but he did when I let him out!

All four legs off the ground!!!

Portrait Shot

Sherman was wondering why the round pen was closed.

 Then the snow came DOWN.

                                            

After the big snow, I let the horses out again. Ollie acted like he had before...full of young horse energy. Surprisingly Sherbert (who loves the snow and loves to run) was very calm and didn't hardly break into a trot when I let him free.  

Rosie was not happy with how high the snow was. She followed my tracks. Such a 
sissy!! :) 

"I'm freeeeeeee!!"

He calmed down after a while, though. :) 

Brotherly (although they are not brothers) love. 

~CBL