Hafy Halloween

Camryn being a creative kind of girl took it upon herself to come up with a Halloween costume.  Can you guess what she is?  Scroll down to find out....

 A HORSE TRAILER!!!

Now tell me isn't that creative? 
As a side note, she's probably pretty depressed right now, I know I am.  We almost got her a real horse trailer.  One of those deals that sounded to good to be true. "It was."  Luckily, I investigated a bit before sending the cash as it was a scam.  So, Camryn still has be be her own horse trailer.

bit of a windy ride today

Have been impatiently waiting a wind free day.  Just not going to happen it appears.  Except a quick naked ride (Camryn was naked not me), around the pasture on Sun., it's been nearly two weeks.  So today we girls decided to saddle up and ride.  Danette on Dakota and Lori on Eclipse met me on their horses at the back of my woods and we headed to Danette's arena.  Danette lives one house over from me, she has a home barn with her two horses and Lorie's horse.  She then has a boarding barn w/indoor arena, which can be accessed off another road or via the woods.  We generally use the woods with Camryn and I meeting up where our properties merge.  On our rides Camyrn doesn't much care if she's lead, middle or last, today we chose first.  Eclipse (Arab) normally leads, though he'll just go with the flow as well, Dakota (Spotted Saddle Horse) is the only one of the three with a preference, leading is not in her vocabularyry unless perhaps we're headed to her home barn, then she might choose to lead.  Something comical always occurs when Camryn is leading in front of Dakota.  Comical because Dakota is gaited so she moves out faster than Camryn.  Camryn (and I) prefer to amble along enjoying the sights.  If Dakota feels Camryn is moving to slowly, she'll reach out and lip (never uses teeth) at Camryn's ample Hafy butt.  This just cracks us up, Dakota saying "move it", with Camryn's attitude being "if you wanna go faster, why don't you lead girlfriend?" It's one of the things I so enjoy about my golden girl, she goes on totally unfazed by just about anything. Nothing exciting happened which of course is what you want in the saddle.  Doesn't read as well, personally I like boring ;)

It must be love!

Our barn isn't large by any means. Once a horse was on the way, hubby built a lovely 12x12 stall, a hay loft, made sure the water and electric were operable.  He cut down lotus trees, and turned them into fence posts, he and my oldest boy tag teamed putting these in.  Fencing in a large paddock, and pasture, I mean I could just go on and on.  Hubbies dream never involved horses or any animal beyond your basic dog out back.  But, knowing and loving me, he's made all this happen. Our barn used to house three indoor/outdoor dog runs, along with Hubby's ATV, tractor, mower, and various other husbandly DIY stuff. Several of the larger items had to move outside.  Hubby still kept his tools, and not huge items in the barn.  I had my horse stuff area, he had his hubby stuff area.  I was content and happy, not bothered with the lack of space.  Without any prompting what so ever, Hubby began moving his stuff into the shed, which is actually pretty big.  Still the ATV and what not had no real home of their own.  Sooooo, hubby solved the problem by adding on to the shed.  Is my Hubby the best or not?  I say he is!!!  disclaimer: Hubby doesn't read this blog, so this blog entry is not made in order to gain anything for myself.  Also, he doesn't have any brothers girls LOL

                                   

Not quite finished, but well on the way

Treats? Did you say treats???

Camryn food motivated?  No, never LOL

Could it be an Apple?

Please, let it be an apple...

Mmmm, doesn't look or smell like an apple...

Drat, it's just Mom and that darn camera again (SIGH)

Can you tell Camryn is getting her winter woolies in order?  I just loooove running my hands thru her winter coat, so soft, furry and warm.

BFF together

Got a pic of the BFF together.  Camryn is doing her fav thing which is eating, Onyx doing one of his fav things, which is chillin.  And I'm doing my fav things just hanging out with the two of them. 
Notice Camryn eats from a slow feed hay bag.  When she came to me in Jan. she weighed in at nearly 1400 lb, an 11 on the heinke scale.  Of course 10 is the highest!!!  Vet recommended a low starch/low sugar feed, the amount fed to a 900 lb horse.  We switched from a 2nd cut grass hay, to 1st cut, fed in the small holed bags to slow her down a bit.  Started out just riding her at a walk, adding trotting once she'd gotten in a bit better shape.Our pasture is basically just enough keep her busy without adding much weight.  Last month she weighed 1030 lb. Vet feels maintaining what I'm doing now, with riding should take off the rest needed. 

I can tell she's enjoying the weight loss, poor girl I don't think she'd been able to roll as heavy as she'd been.  Of course she thinks she's starved to death and doesn't much appreciate my concern for her health. 
Her winter coat is coming in like the fur on a teddy bear, I just love running myy hands thru it.

Camryn's BFF

"Onyx sleeping nearby as I burn brush"

Camryn is a solitary horse, though she does have three neighbor horses just 90 ft away.  She's not alone however as she has a BFF in Onyx.  Onyx loves to tag along on rides thru the woods, he's a retired show dog, having his breed Championship as well as multiple agility titles, and his Novice Rally title. He's a such an awesome boy, he and Camryn get on famously just hanging out together.  I've even found them napping under the magnolia side by side.

Pumpkin time & assisting

I've heard horses enjoy eating pumpkins, so of course I had to give that a try.  Well, Camryn does like the stem, the pumpkin itself, not so much.  The stem was gone in a matter of moments.  After she decided the rest wasn't up to her taste, Camryn wanted to see if she might be of some assistance in moving my burn pile.  Living in the woods means, having several burn piles for after windy days.  Until now I've always kept one in the pasture.  Ms. Camryn curious nature doesn't allow for this.  The old saying "curiousity killed the cat", could be adapted to suit her quite nicely!  Off to ride :)

Remi update

Thanks so much for all the prayers.  While Remi is very dehydrated, he came thru surgery just fine.  Apparently the blockage was caused by a corn cob, he'd snuck unbeknownst to anyone.  This would have been on LABOR DAY!!!  Vet said it must have floated in his stomach all this time to finally lodge in his colon!!!  Again thank you all for your prayers.

Prayers for Remi

One of my sons dogs has a blockage.  If he vomits tonight ER surgery, if not Vet will do surgery in the morning. Xrays don't show what exact blockage is, I'm unsure as to why the Vet sent him home for the night period?  Remi is a sweet young Pit who Chris and his girlfriend adopted from rescue.  He should recover with surgery.  The cost is beyond belief particularly if it turns into ER surgery, I'm talking $5,000!!!  Prayer requested for Remi, and for Chris and Samantha for their worry.  They plan to do everything they can for their boy.  I so wish I could be some assistance to them.

Yet another first with Camryn

Many firsts for Cam & I this weekend.  Today we rode over and met up with friends in the woods.  They asked if Cam & I had ever ridden on the rode before.  We hadn't but, knowing the other three horses did the road quite well, I felt today would be a good day for our first time.  Camryn had ridden roads before but, it had been quite some time and I'd never ridden on the road period.  So off we went, Camryn was a bit edgyy at first, as one of the horses (Snip a huge TB) had been cantering on the trail out of sight but, not ear shot.  Took her a few moments to take the edge off but, did quite nicely.  Was comfy as always just bringing up the rear even several horse lengths behind.  When you ride a Hafy with a TB, TWH, and SSH  she'd better be comfy in that position LOL.  We did trot several times to stay up with them, I wanted to limit that on the asphalt with her bare feet but, also didn't want to be feeling "alone" when a vehicle appeared.  Once we returned we rounded the house to find Marty mowing the lawn.  The other three horses were like "Oh My, let's stay right here".  I finally said "Camryn is used to Marty scaring the snot out of her" so we led!!!  I was right she didn't care one bit.  We rode back to the boarding barn, dropped off Cameron (the TWH) and Snip.  At first Camryn didn't want to head back out to the trail but, finally followed Dakota away from the boys.  We headed back to Danette's home barn, she changed to her Morab/Molly, Lori was there saddling up Eclipse (Arab) so off we went again.  Unfortunately Molly didn't do well going down a hill in my woods, unsure how/why but, she ended up on her knees.  She righted herself and seemed fine, we walked her into my pasture so Danette could walk her on the flat and see if she were hurt.  She wasn't but, as she's quite elderly we called it a day and Danette led her home.  Hopefully Molly isn't any worse for the fall in the morning.
I've noticed something interesting on more than one occasion recently.  As we're walking and I'm enjoying the sway of Camryn's broad back, I'll feel her begin to walk out faster.  I'll think of how much I enjoy her gentle sway and she slows right back down.  When on the road today, each time we trotted came right as I was "thinking" should we trot to catch up, Camryn began trotting.  I didn't stop her even though I hadn't asked.  Because "perhaps I did?" 

So proud of my gurl

Camryn and I had a first today, a big one.  Till recently I'd lead her to Danette's (neighbor) then we'd head off thru the trails out back.  Then Danette would lead Dakota to our pasture and we'd go riding.  A few days ago, Cam and I began riding to where our properties meet, where Danette/Dakota would meet us.  Dakota won't ride the woods on her own, she walks her over.  Today Camryn and I rode by ourselves over to Danettes.  I'm so proud of her, she even survived two moving horse eating chairs!!!  As we came over the peak of our hill, Danette's hubby had just gone by on his ATV.  Camryn had seen him but, he'd stopped just out of our sight.  What she saw as we hit the top was Marty picking up and tossing a white chair into the ATV trailer.  Shoot if I were a horse that'd freak me too.  Ecspecially as these two chairs are rarely in the same place when we ride thru, so she's been suspicious of them for a while.  This just proved to her that these were horse eating chairs!  I one reined her, Marty had now seen us, and spoke as he "carefully" placed the 2nd chair in the trailer.  He hopped on the ATV, I asked Camryn to move out, and we followed him over the bridge where we stopped to watch him put the chairs at his bonfire.  We then calmy finished our trip to get Danette/Dakota.  We did have a slight problem heading home, Camryn was balking going into our gate, we'd just gotten in the pasture when my cell rang.  As I reached back to kill the ringer, she took advantage and backed back out.  We then heard Danette yelling for us as he lead Dakota that Camryn's dog was with her husband at his bonfire.  Don't know how Onyx managed that, so we had to ride over and get him, the rode with Dakota back to her barn.  So she kind of won that battle as I didn't want to wrestle her at dusk back thru the gate.  So I led her down the road along with Onyx back to our place.
I feel so liberated and free now that we've crossed the hurdle of riding on our own.  YIPPEE

changing bits/riding with a friend

After yesterdays ride, I decided to switch back to our full cheek snaffle.  Had a much happier girl, once it was in she settled right into it none of the chomping she did with the other.  Still going to pick up a new next week as the full cheek sometimes gets caught up in her bridle.  Planning to go with a D ring sweet iron I think.
This evening we got together with my neighbor/coworker for a ride.  She has a boarding barn/arena which we can access via a wooded trail at the back of my property.  She led her Spotted Saddle horse mare Dakota over while Camryn and I rode up thru the woods to meet her.  Rode over to the arena and worked a bit, back to her home barn thru the trails, back thru my woods to my barn, to the arena....
In the arena I was working with "easy" whenever Camryn broke into a trot I'd half halt then click/treat when she slowed.  Kind of worked!!!  She kept offering trot when not being asked having figured out that a c/t would be forthcoming as soon as she slowed LOL.  So, I resorted to having her keep trotting a bit longer than she wanted too.  Once I did that, Cam was more receptive to waiting to be asked.
Camryn is the opposite of barn sour, which my neighbor finds quite odd.  Once we're out of her pasture she's far from eager to head back home.  As I rode over to meet Danette/Dakota I made a point of turning her back thru our gate a few times.  We argued a tad, but she did end up finding it simpler to comply.   One of the reasons we rode back to my barn several times with Danette/Dakota was to work on that issue as I'd have to do it when we were done alone.  Funny thing was that Dakota wanted to get to our barn in the worst way, causing Danette to do a lot of circling, while Camyrn was still far from eager, so we were circling for the opposite reason!!!  The girls nicknames are "you be-Otch!!!  We were successful though as when it was time to go home, Camryn did so as if we'd never had a problem. 
I think one of the things I enjoy about her as she's not shy about offering her opinion.  Oddly when my TWH offered his, my heart would be in my throat.  His opinions were generally fear based, whereas Cams is more, just wanting to do it because she does.  With Camryn I feel totally confident I'll be fine, and once she realizes Momma means what she means, she's like totally fine.
I think this blogging is going to be a big aid for me.  I can look back from time to time, see where we've been and compare were we are later.

Was it the weather perhaps?

Yesterday was cloudy & cool in the high 50's.  Due to rain I hadn't been riding in over a week.  Since it wasn't raining today,  I couldn't resist, so on go the riding boots.  Normaly Camryn catches herself, I simply appear in the pasture & here she comes.  Doesn't matter if it's with food, or halter/lead rope.  Yesterday this wasn't the case.  I walked out to her with her halter, as soon as I went to put it on, Cam turned her head and walked away a few feet.  I didn't think much of it, just went and tried again, she again turned her head away & walked off.  Basically she was telling me "say it to the butt Mom!"  I thought "this is a test, this is only a test" and swung the halter towards that big ol apple butt moving her off further and more quickly than she'd intended.  I did this till she turned in to me, then softly went to put the halter on.  Once again it was "say it to the butt", so I get her moving off a bit quicker.  Had to move her off a few more times, till finally she asked me to put the halter on.  Then we walked back to the barn together discussing what had just occurred sans lead rope.  Saddled up nicely but, wanted nothing to do with her bit.  The bit part had started off slowly, which caused me to realize I needed the dentist out.  I'm thinking I'll try the bit a few more times now that her teeth are done, if she continues to object, I'll try a different one.  It's a comfort snaffle bit, it's a bit thicker than the usual snaffle so perhaps that's it.  Going to the Quarter Horse Congress soon so perhaps a new bit is on the shopping list?
Anyway, she was totally fine in saddle, the ground was wet so we simply walked about and worked on my leg aids.  I click train, which is something I'm familiar with in training dogs, and Camryn enjoys, which shows in how eager she is in her work normally.

Vet check up

Reej & Tye had got to be truck dogs today.  Tye loves nothing better, Reej would just as soon never leave home.  Tye a "Terror Mix" is 13 yrs old, and only needed his rabies booster and a butt squeeze.  He has several nicknames the most used is "butthead" which I'm sure stems from his terrier roots!!!  Age has slowed him down quite a bit, that is until company comes or a ride in the truck is forthcoming then it's "let's go, let's play...
Reej is a Cardigan Welsh Corgi and soon to be 12 years old. He developed a seizure disorder recently and had to have blood pulled to check his pheno levels along with his rabies booster.  He was meant have a career in the show ring but, while he has the conformation to have done well, his insecurties won't allow him to show that off.  Hence he's nuetered and our home boy.
Pop quiz: Which is Tye, and which is Reej?

Happy to see me?

I get home and see my darling girl awaiting me at her gate.  She nickers, so very happy to see me right?
She loves me and adores me right?  Reality check!  Camryns heart is definitly in her stomach!

Mom, I'm so happy your home!!!

Hurry, hurry, into the barn where the food is Mom.

Life is good!

That's OK, I love to see her happy.  As you can see today is a dismal wet fall day.  Have to look for the beauty on days like this....Found it, fall leaves on a wet Hafy bum :)

Dentist Day 4 Camryn

Today was Camryn's day with the dentist.  I'm lucky in that my neighbor has a boarding barn, whenever she has something scheduled such as Vet work, dental, trainers, I'm able to share without paying the full barn visit fee on  my own.  Camryn was a very good girl, in true Hafy style, she explored everything her dentist brought into the barn with him.  As I'd begun to suspect her teeth were in need.  Judging by the height of the jaggy parts of her teeth it had been at least 5 years since she'd had work done.  I should've had him out this past Jan. when Camryn first came to us.  But, she never showed any signs of discomfort till just recently with her bit.  The dentists assistant had fun with Camryn's forelock turning it into her version of troll hair!!!

Jillians Birthday

Today is my first blog post, on my first blog, so bear with me.  Kinda blah as today is my daughter Jillian's 28th birthday.  She's having a great day, being in Hawaii!!! Jillian is spending today at Wakiki Beach with friends.  Momma misses her so much, but am so very proud of her.  She's in Hawaii, not just for fun, but stationed there learning to be an Army Surgical Specialist.  Adding a pic of her with Hubby and Myself at her Basic Training Graduation at Fort Sill, She's smart, beautiufl and brave :) 
I spent the day, rototilling Camryn's manure for my flower beds.  Surprisingly rototilling her manure gives it the appearance of mulch!!!  Also helps with it's aroma!