A Bright Spot

Posted on August 12, 2014 by Exechorseluver

My first time to see and touch my new filly. A big smile in the midst of some dark days.

It has been a rough couple of weeks, starting off with Lauren’s horrific broken arm, then days of death watch with my mom, to putting her in the ground next to my father and sister today.

By far the high point in our trip to Denver, in addition to being able to hug and share stories with those I love, was the chance to see my already purchased, but never seen filly, Betty Sue.

I had hoped to get out to Denver this summer to meet the now four-month old Warmblood filly but with my mom so sick, I didn’t dare travel. But with coming to Denver for her burial there was no reason not to sneak a trip in to meet and finally run my hands along the golden, painted coat of my newest horse. She will not come to Texas until late October after she is weaned and RPSI inspected.

A quick request to Stephanie landed Lauren, my oldest friend on earth, Camille and two of my grandchildren, Riley and Jordyn, at RoanOake Farm in Longmont, Colorado.

I am not sure who was more excited out of all of us but can assure you that nothing about the filly disappointed me and her sweet disposition gave me back some faith in a world that had gone a little dark for me.

Lauren who has felt nothing but pain physically and emotionally at the death of her grandma, brightened up extensively as well. The grand kids easily walked about with baby Betty Sue and Riley even got to pet her large stallion grandpa.

Probably the best news was that Betty Sue’s maternal grand sire was quite a jumper back in Germany. We hope she carries a lot of those genes!

Fun turns to Fractures

Posted on July 27, 2014 by Exechorseluver

Continuing onto our weekend, the girls decided to up the fun factor at the farm. Our pasture heads down into the woods and ends in a lovely park like area. As we have walked the dogs each evening we have talked about how fun it would be to add some simple little log jumps. We have looked enviously at the fallen logs in the pasture next to us.

Yesterday afternoon, Lauren and her friends decided to create their own little cross country course in the park. To the extent possible with the talents of three young girls, old granny and six miscellaneous pooches we dragged logs, bushes and other objects to make a series of small jumps.

The girls went and got Snow, Mickey and Feather and started jumping the course, adding a jump at a time. One of us, got the brilliant idea to see if we could tandem jump the widest log. It might have been me with that idea, but either way I went along with it, snapping away furiously on my camera to create the most awesome photo.

Its all fun and games until someone has to wear a cast on their arm.

I think everyone was about ready to go in then. But everyone wanted to try one last jump. All the horses had been jumping easily and well. Mickey, perhaps, was a little hyped up. He had been serving as Jordyn’s walk trot pony and was pretty excited to be back jumping, turning and racing along. But both Snow and Feather were doing their usual style of jumping. That meant Snow was jumping just enough to safely clear the obstacle while Feather was being an over-achiever, soaring to new heights over one foot high logs.

Lauren’s last jump was like all the others except perhaps Feather flew a little higher and landed a little harder. Jumping a log my Yorkie could have scrambled over, in a fashion meant for Olympics jump off rounds, Feather went high and then smashed to the ground causing Lauren to smack down hard on the mare’s back. Somewhere in her past, I feel a lion jumped on Feather’s back, bringing back that instinctual but usually well buried, fight or flight response. A while back when Jordyn landed hard on Feather’s back she bolted forward much like last night. When she bolted forward, Lauren was already spiraling to the ground like perfect football toss.

Immediately, Laure wailed in pain. “Call 911, my arm is broken!” She cried. Okay, honestly, Lauren has a lot of falls, we all do. Most are much better moments later. Not this time. Then I spotted the weird alignment of Lauren’s forearm. I knew it was broken and was dislocated.

Things happened quickly here, Keith brought the truck down and we got the cussing, screaming Lauren up in the seat. I almost forgot I had my granddaughter, Jo, with me until I was reminded coming out of the drive (I know, bad granny!).

Having moved we were at a Houston area ER and they did an adequate job of getting X-rays and managing pain meds. When surgery became the obvious next step, I tried to get any of the orthopedic guys we had used in the past (and that is a pretty long list). None of them were either in town or taking this case.

The ER doc let me know me who was on-call for their hospital. I had known that doctor for a long time, had credentialed him as part of my job at the time and did not think he would serve as a good surgeon in this complicated case. The ER doc made many calls and finally Methodist hospital agreed to take Lauren and her badly broken arm. She was transferred by ambulance near midnight.

This morning Lauren went into surgery to correct a fracture and dislocation of both the ulna and the radius bones in her forearm. The fractures were open and protruding from her skin. Lauren has been in much pain and had moments of sleep over the last 36 hours. The doctor says no riding for three months.

I appreciate greatly all your prayers, offers of help, messages to my family and just your love and support. Please continue to keep us in your prayers as the next few days hopefully brings some pain relief and no infections to battle.

A little Fun

Posted on July 25, 2014 by Exechorseluver

Dev’s OKC Show Team walking the Grand Prix course.

Lauren fully enjoyed her trip to OKC. The Devereaux Sport Horse Team had lots of fun although everyone had ups and downs throughout the show, and not just because they were jumping! There were okay rounds, a little scary rounds, Libby’s Champion and Amanda’s Reserve Champ Rounds. Lauren and Feather continued to grow. Placed second in two classes (one with close to 40 riders) and figured out some tricks to use in future shows.

Back at home, Ally took over the barn chores. She did a great job! I have less sleep in the last two weeks than when my new babies came home from the hospital between busy season at work, visiting with mom and keeping up Lauren’s end of the barn chores while she was gone. I have had lots of visitors. Everyone has been ridden. The boarders have been great helping me out and we have had a lot of laughter coming out of our little barn.

Mia’s friend
Hailey visited Bruno.

Smiles were pretty contagious! Ally and Luke took off on a cruise Saturday morning. The grand girls spent some time with Luke’s folks and I. Lauren and the horses got back from Oklahoma late Sunday. She was not seeing the charm of her young nieces. When I got home we went out to play. I let them have at it in the fresh rain puddles and they wallowed around in the mud like a couple of young rhinos.

Jordyn told me it was the best time she ever had at the farm. All Kendyll wants to do is come back to granny’s to play in the mud. Oh, what has granny done now? A shower, some soap, it was good again!

The next night found Lauren taking her first ride on young OTTB Try Delta (TeeDee). Getting her bred this summer was not a possibility so it was time to go to work. She has been her about a month and look at how some good groceries and green grass have erased her ribs from showing!

OTTB TryDelta about four weeks ago.

Starting to fill out.

Co-owner Lynn was on hand to see the first ride. Lauren has ridden (and owned) many horses off the track but never has she been the first to ride them when they have arrived home. While Lynn’s young son Rhys was getting a lesson on Snow, Lauren quietly slide up on TeeDee and no doubt said a little prayer that she would stay in the saddle. TeeDee was great! Quiet, accommodating and seemingly well started. Both Lynn and I were pleased.

Pretty mare, measuring in just under 16 hands.

It has been a whirlwind of adventures. The group is settling in and it is nice to see the girls out of the arena, riding bareback, taking little pasture trail rides, setting up a small cross country course and just having fun. It is summer and that is exactly what they should be doing!

Momma is brighter, more responsive and able to tolerate being up from her bed. Definitely the pain has lessened. Thank you for the prayers.

Jordyn Leases Mickey

Posted on July 11, 2014 by Exechorseluver

Jordyn taking a ride after she announced she wanted to lease Mickey.

My grandchildren are all smart, of course they are, they are my grandchildren. Each of them possesses some unique traits, is clever and intelligent. Jordyn as the oldest has been called smart the longest, Riley and Lexi clearly are as well and little Kendyll is definitely hearing it a lot these days.

Based on that, it didn’t take Jordyn long, hanging out at Granny’s farm and around the new riders there to figure out something was new wit the horses. Both riders, Isabel and Mia, lease their horses, they do not own them. In a situation much like a long-term rental agreement, people with a horse they are not currently riding or using, look for a rider with the right skills, to lease the horse for a period of time. I know long-time riders who have never owned a horse. When the lease ends, they re-new it or walk away, none of that pesky have to sell the horse problem.

Likewise, leasing offers a specific type of horse to do exactly what level of riding is desired at that point in time. Mostly, horses do one or two things well. People, especially children, increase their knowledge, skills and abilities. Easier to lease horses with varying abilities than have one unable to do what you want or try to buy and sell the right one at the right time.

Anyway, Jordyn figured out these two riders were leasing their horses and learning to ride. Jordyn has been stymied with the horse riding process. All of us, Lauren, Jordyn’s parents and myself, have alternately encouraged her and admonished her and her riding abilities (or lack thereof). It had gotten to the point she didn’t want to ride at all (which was sad indeed).

Jordyn figured out in her head that if you lease a horse the following happens:

you get to ride a lot and no one yells at you
you get to hang out with the other girls at the barn on horseback
you get to take lessons with Uncle Dev (who has never told you that you must trot)
it must be better than buying a horse because all the girls are doing it

The other night, Lauren was going out to ride Feather. Jordyn, as always prepared to ride, dressed in her pink breeches, Zoc socks, and paddock boots, even though it was over 90 degrees in the dark of night during summer in Texas, asked if she could ride Mickey. I helped her saddle up. Then she asked if Lauren would help her put a hair-net on and put her hair up in her helmet (that was when I knew she was seriously mimicking the older riders).

As we walked to arena, she announced to Lauren and I that she wanted to lease Mickey. I caught Lauren’s eye and silently begged her not to laugh. Jordyn was dead serious. Of course, the idea makes no sense in our situation. We own Mickey. Jordyn is family. We are not going to make her pay a lease payment for the use of our family horse.

But, Jordyn had thought it all out. She would talk to her parents and they would help her work out a way to pay the monthly amount. Then she told us that if she leased Mickey she could ride all the time with the girls and just get used to being in the saddle (with no pressure was left unsaid). She could take some lessons with Dev and get better at riding. Then she could start doing shows.

Lauren and I jumped on the ‘lease Mickey bandwagon’ quickly. We agreed it was a great plan and would have a good outcome. Jordyn insisted we print out the lease agreement so that she could sign it. She had a good ride with Lauren and Feather. Instead of working on lesson things, I did “Simon Says” and some “Red Light, Green Light” to help her develop skills without stress. I have to say Mickey was an all-star.

That night Lauren dropped Jo off at home and Jordyn immediately went in to tell her mom that they needed $1500 a month (not the real price-not sure where this number came from) to lease Mickey. Ally choked back a gag and inquired as to why they would lease Mickey. Jordyn sold her plan again.

Mickey is now officially being leased by Jordyn. I know many of you wanted him in your own programs but really, family does come first. Since this night when her lease plan was hatched, Jordyn has ridden every day (still wearing the pink breeches-Ally must wash them every night). We have gone down the driveway and down the road. She has ridden with the older kids. She has trotted Mickey on her own. She is working up to her first official lesson.

Kids, especially high achieving kids, have so many demands on them. It is difficult to meet the expectations of parents, grandparents and teachers. Jordyn found her own way to make sense out of the horse world. She saw happy kids riding fun horses and thought she could do what they did. In Jordyn’s brain leasing is a non-stressful approach to riding and I am so happy she initiated it and we took it seriously!

A working Farm

Posted on June 15, 2014 by Exechorseluver

Lauren, Kona and Feather riding the endless meadows of Wharton.

We named our little six acre farm in Wharton, Six Meadow Farm. At the time we had six horses, five of our own and one boarder. We had six dogs and we looked out upon our six acres of land as it blended into the acres and acres of farm land beyond us.

Bruno running free.

At new Six Meadow Farm, we actually own five acres, but are leasing three more. The pastures are park like with giant Pecan trees shading our days. The catch pen is actually Bermuda grass and I am working to get looking like the finest hole of a golf course. The flowers we planted just 60 days ago are maturing. There is none of the feel of open land that we had at our last SMF. But it is magical to me as the pastures roll like rivers amongst the trees, from the top pasture to the very bottom, where when it is wet, a little creek flows. Also, it is common now to see deer in the cool of the shaded evening in the protected bottom pasture.

This new place is infinitely more work. Maybe because of the boarders, the leasers or Dev bringing his lesson folks here it is like we never stop working. Plus our tremendous contractors have yet to finish all the work we have asked them to do, probably because, each day we have a new brilliant idea.

Kona and Kendyll in front of the newly made feed room door.

This new side of the barn (we have fit more into a 1550 sq. foot barn than I thought possible) will include two new stalls. One for Mickey and one for Betty Sue when she arrives. They will have their own entrance with a cool Eastern exposure. That should be finished this week.

We had a show yesterday in Katy. Lauren’s division didn’t make so she rode against the girls in the division below hers. Remember this is a timed event. Lauren had to jump the same courses as the girls before her only jump six inches higher. I would call that a little bit of a handicap. But Feather was on and they attacked the courses. They earned two second place ribbons with times just a fraction off the winning horse, but oh, yea, she had to jump higher. My friend and vet, Lynn Criner was there. She hadn’t seen the Flag horse jump before. By the end of the evening we had settled on a mare to breed Flagmount to. So, we will have a baby next year. How exciting!

Jordyn and Kona sharing the shade with Feather and the boys.

Although it was Father’s Day, Luke was shredding pastures most of the day. Ally weed eated and mowed the people places. Lauren and I readied the new stalls and re-did the existing ones with an entire pallet of shavings. I mowed (with the old push mower) around flowers, troughs and construction spots.

I am feeling it deeply in my hip. I won’t be able to hold off this hip replacement much longer. It has been ten years since the first one was done, and both needed surgery then. Maybe over the holidays! Huh, maybe.

Jordyn and Kendyll had good rides on Mickey. Jordyn trotted away and Kendyll refused to take off her helmet the rest of the day.

Bruno watching the lessons!

Oh, Kendyll!

A Good Weekend

Posted on May 11, 2014 by Exechorseluver

Feather entered the arena with its fish jumps, spectators and riders and calmly waited for the start bell.

Jo and Bruno.

It was a busy time. Lauren and Feather had headed to the show on Wednesday. I had been keeping up with things at home and at work additionally, about three things are still left to be done on every project from garage to barn, so dealing with and directing the contractors is a daily duty. And somehow, patio furniture and barn paraphernalia keeps showing up in assorted UPS, FEDEX or some other truck with initials. I must be ordering things in my sleep at this point because I don’t even remember the specific items.

Lauren and Feather earned four ribbons over the course of the show. In the 1.05 meter class, they earned three third places, a very admirable start to the spring season and their first attempt at these higher jumps.

I visited my mom a couple of times, only to find her asleep and unwakeable. Today, while the grown ups worked on chores, I stole Kendyll and Jordyn to go wish momma a happy Mother’s Day. Once again she was sound asleep. The kids made plenty of noise (like seriously) but she never woke up. Still I am glad we went.

Luke and Ally came by and gave me a terrific gift of helping put together some of that continually appearing patio furniture, mowing the grass and helping Lauren organize the new tack room. It looks like we are getting a couple of boarders so we will need to share our space.

Dr. Criner is coming in the morning to review Bruno ‘s progress. She will want to see Bruno ridden. Even through Lauren was on the verge of exhaustion, she saddled up one more time to give Bruno a ride so he would be easier to handle in the morning when the vet gets here. It was his first ride at new Six Meadow Farm and his first ride in over 90 days. Lauren had been hurt and Bruno has been on the back burner. Lauren popped Bru over a few jumps . He was jumping and moving well.

A 3’3″ jump had been set for Feather. We decided to let Bruno give it a go. The jump standards are five foot and he is quite unsure what to do with his back feet but it was pretty awesome to see him clear a three-foot jump with lots of air.

Maybe we have a couple of horses that can jump.

Kendyll and Jordyn got in on the Bruno rides too!

Lauren and Kendyll on Bruno

Jordyn wasn’t about to miss a ride on the big horse either!

The grand girls brought their cousin over Saturday and I caught a great photo down in the pasture.

Cousins, Kyla, Jo and Ken

Family Weekend

Posted on April 26, 2014 by Exechorseluver

Baby Kendyll is holding her granny nanny’s hand as we take her for a stroll today.

My daughter, Amber, from Denver came Thursday night for a belated Easter trip. Her kids, Riley, 4, and Lexi, 2, are the middle of my grand kids with Jordyn at 6 and Kendyll, 1. It is always a great, yet hectic, yet wonderful time for us all, as we try to sandwich months of missing one another into a weekend stay. I am going to stick with mostly photos tonight but am grateful my mom seems to be in much less pain, my contractor is a super star finishing our arena and my family for all our faults is terrific!

Kendyll looking out for her nanny!

Jordyn walking her favorite dog, Muffy.

The weather was warm and the kids had fun on the slip’n slide on steroids I bought for them.

Riley-Surfin’USA!

The poodle could be found lying in the little wading pool trying to escape the Texas heat and humidity. The kids played hard, we ate well, and crammed as much as possible into our time.

Princess Lexi!

Baby Kendyll at 21 months did anything and everything her cousins did.

What a Bathing beauty!

All the kids helped out at the barn last night and got first rides in the newly finished arena. We start them early around here and everyone helped with barn chores.

I think if you can walk you can rake.

Gotta work if you want to ride.

Finally, we headed to the arena for family rides.

Feather’s first trip in the arena.

The arena got bigger than we anticipated, but the footing came out perfectly.

Mick and Feather.

Lexi got a ride on Feather while Mickey was ridden by Riley – ALL BY HIMSELF,

In the end, there were a lot of tears as the cousins said goodbye until their next reunion.

Cousins make the best friends!

Marching On

Posted on April 1, 2014 by Exechorseluver

Guess what this is?

It has been awhile since I wrote about all the goings on at the farm and in the family. We have had a frantic month of selling our farm while dealing with the sellers of our new place that have been less than benevolent in working with us. From oil and gas leases from the past to multiple surveys to adequately depict the property, we have been flying around. This has all been coupled with trying to pack everything we own, a busy work schedule, and problems with the animals.

At this point, today, we are scheduled to close on Six Meadow Farm tomorrow and our new place on Friday. Then a new set of fun begins when we start the construction of the barn and fences. Lauren has wished for her father numerous times, as she says, “he would make sure this place looked great”. He was/is a great craftsman and she is right our barn would look infinitely better if he were the contractor. But, alas, I don’t see him coming to town to take over the job.

The sand and gravel being set down for our new driveway.

It has been a rough and tumble month for the horses, dogs and cats. Roland was here six weeks ago. Bruno tore the shoe from his bad foot five weeks and six days ago. He has gone all this time with no shoe on the foot that must be shod at all times. The rain and wet conditions have made it difficult to get anyone out to help us. Snowboy, in a classic Snowboy move, decided to load himself up the couple of steps to the tack room where the feed had been set out for all the horse’s dinner. He ate at least 18 pounds of feed; high carb, high sugar feed. Dr. Criner was appalled. Is he alive?, she asked. He should have colicked and died. I don’t believe he even got a belly ache. He was angrily asking where his dinner was when we did not feed him that night. Now, his feet are looking horrible and I am hoping it is due to the horrible wet weather and not a result of his binge eating.

Speaking of dying, my brand new cat, the Burmese, that I had waited to get for so long, was attacked and killed by BrownDog. Lauren ran out the front door to catch Muffy who had escaped the fence and BrownDog took that opportunity to storm the cat room and kill Hula. I buried him in the back pasture and silently asked for forgiveness from his breeder that I did not protect him better.

If you go to the first, early blogs, you will see my description of BrownDog and that I trusted her the least of all the dogs. She has become increasing aggressive. She has attacked both the Corgi and Muffy, injuring them badly. She has also snapped at my grandchildren. I thought about and tried out different alternatives but in the end, I stood with my beautiful BrownDog at the vet as I had her put to sleep. I could not live with myself if she hurt a child. She was the sweetest dog ever to Lauren and I. It was a difficult decision. But I am happy for my remaining dog family that they are not constantly scared.

So, a difficult time emotionally for us. Lauren still has not been back in the saddle to jump, but physical therapy is going well and we hope to get her back to work this week. The pain has diminished a lot for which I am grateful.

Jordyn was out this weekend. She walked Snow around on his sore feet and then had a great time taking wildflowers to Bruno so he could eat them. Bruno is so gentle and sweet to her.

Jordyn feeding Bruno wild flowers.

My mom has had some health issues. She is better now although her knees are bothering her again. It might be time for Dr. Chau to inject them again. It was like a miracle last time. She has been happy and bright. I think her memories diminish a little more each day. I am grateful to the staff and especially her sitter, Janet, who give her so much love. She is safe and loved. Not a bad place to be.

Thanks for riding along with all our adventures. Hopefully, I will turning the lock on my home shortly.

_______________________________

Top picture is my water trough which sits under the dusk to dawn light attracting a hoard of June bugs. We moved the trough. Yuck!

Top picture and this one are my water trough which sits under the dusk to dawn light attracting a hoard of June bugs. We moved the trough. Yuck!

Successful Goals

Posted on January 19, 2014 by Exechorseluver

Kona leading the way, with Jo handling Snow all by herself.

My family is pretty big on setting goals, driven I am sure by my slightly OCD, type A personality, that is always planning, organizing and setting the next notch a little higher.

One of Jordyn’s goals has been to trot her pony, Snow. Last weekend she had a few good solo flights in the front yard. I decided this week it was time to take the show on the road. Roland was here all morning, needing extra time for the complicated shoeing on Bruno and Mickey. I had been up to feed the horses long before dawn. I was ready for a change when Roland finally pulled out.

I told Jo we were going on a trail ride. “Out as far as the corn fields?” Yes, that far, I answered. I didn’t give her much time to think about it. Lauren and I saddled up Snow and Mick. My only concession to this being a bit of a trial, was that we left Snow’s halter on under his bridle with a lead rope looped up to the saddle horn. If things went too badly, I would be able to drag Snow back to the farm.

From the moment we stepped onto the trails, it was magical. Jo has routinely had trouble handling Snow in the arena but both he and Mickey settled immediately into a nice pace. I had figured Snow would follow Mickey, but Snow wanted to be lead horse and Jordyn handle him easily. As we continued down the path, I started moving Mick on a little faster. I asked Jordyn if she wanted to trot. She was scared but the horses fell into a nice easy jog. We were out over an hour, we trotted a lot!

As a kid, nothing was greater for me than a trail ride. I would ride miles of trail on the weekends. Crossing railroad tracks, busy highways and deserted back roads. To me, especially at that time of my life, there was no greater freedom for me, than when I was riding my horse across country. I was glad I could share this with Jordyn.

The weather was beautiful. Kona was along for the ride as well. Jordyn got more saddle work and confidence in this hour than she has had after months of arena riding. She was like a little cowgirl, handling her pony with gentle but tough hands.

The biggest praise goes to my POA pony for his unflappable spirit. We have used this pony for so many things over the years. Lauren won miles of ribbons with him in Pony Hunter at shows. I was so grateful to have such a wonderful guy for Jordyn to ride. I believe it was his most important work ever!

My first ride ever on the giant OTTB Bruno.

In my 2014 goals, a big one for me was to finally ride Bruno. I am a competent rider, but getting old, with broken bones and bad backs harder to recover from, I dont want to take a lot of chances. The horse Lauren rode yesterday, was difficult to ride and hard to control. I may have cheated a little, because the Bruno persona in the ring today would place well in any hunter class. I rode Feather to double team the Lauren work out team. The plan was her to work Bruno while I got Feather through flat work. When Lauren deemed Bruno’s workout complete, I told her I was going to ride Bruno. He has been here 14 months and never have I wanted to ride the huge, fast thoroughbred. But you’ve got to achieve your goals and a quiet hunter Bruno was the one I wanted ride.

I had some trepidation as I viewed the world from these new heights. Bruno is the largest horse I have ever ridden. I relaxed my death grip on his mouth and he settled in quickly, listening as I worked on some turns. I prayed that as Feather cantered by, Bruno would not think it was Match Race Sunday.

I loved it, but only walked him today. I am going to breakdown my goal from just riding Bruno to walking (achieved today!) to trotting and finally cantering the big Jump Start colt.

For goals to be achieved you have to push past your own comfort level and reach a little higher. Jordyn and I both did that this weekend. Yippee for goals and success!

Thank you for being part of our journey.

Taking a Challenge

Posted on December 28, 2013 by Exechorseluver

Jordyn with all her Christmas gear on her Snowney.

Jordyn, who agreeably trotted all over as a toddler, has been unwilling to trot since I put her up on Feather and Feather bolted away. Jordyn went flying to the ground.

Understandably, Jordyn was not interested in trying to trot her pony again. And the more the family has pushed Jordyn to try again the more resistant she has become.

Jordyn was spending a couple of days with us over the holidays. We were visiting with our friend Kathy. She challenged Jordyn to try trotting. But this time she challenged her to count her trot steps. She told her, “just see how many you can do!”

We got home and immediately Jo was ready to ride. She started with some basic walking around the arena. At one point early in the ride, Snow pulled his head and reins out of Jo’s hands. Frustrated she said, “I hate this pony!” I got her organized with her reins and feet in the stirrups. She looked at me and said, “I want to trot!”

I was surprised. Somehow when Jo and Kathy were discussing this, I thought it was going to be on the lunge line. I started to walk with her towards the lunge line. “No, Granny, you need to trot alongside me!”

Oh, what a great idea! I can’t think of many things I can do better than run through deep sand in cowboy boots with two bad hips. But by God, if Jo wanted to try to trot, I would give it a shot. I grabbed hold of Snow’s bridle and started shuffling down the long wall of the arena. Jo was second guessing her decision but I was moving forward.

It was a pretty great scene. Fat, white pony being virtually dragged down the arena while a little girl fearfully hung on for dear life. Oh, and granny’s limping and stumbling along like a Friday night drunk.

But miracles do happen. Snow started a little jog. Jo’s eyes lit up. And she started counting. We made 32 steps at a trot before granny and Snow slowed to a walk ( I blame Snow). Lauren and I both applauded her brave progress. Then she wanted to do it again. We made 64 trotting steps this time. It is really pretty awesome because Jo gets so focused on counting and beating her last number, she relaxes and just trots along.

Next day at the barn, she ran to tell Miss Kathy how many steps she had taken. Jo hugged her and said, “Thanks for the great advice!”

Jordyn’s parents and other grandparents came down yesterday to see her finally trot Snow. Thankfully, Jo glad agreed to allow Lauren to jog beside her instead of me. Probably, because they feared I would slip and fall and Snow would just trot right over me. I am also thankful because this time Jo and Snow trotted 108 steps.

Jo with Lauren as she prepares to meet another challenging day on Bruno.

Lauren has been facing her share of challenges as she has focused her vacation time on getting Bruno started as sport horse. He has been difficult and argumentative. But she has gotten some terrific tips on how to work with him instead fighting against him. She has learned what makes the big horse listen and do as she asks. Today they successfully navigated a short course of jumps. He cleared a three-foot jump with ease. A week ago he was barely going over a trot pole.

My girls are standing up to meeting new challenges. Kendyll got in on the fun riding along with Lauren and Jordyn. Holiday fun! Thanks for riding along. Enjoy your holiday.

Snow is being a trooper!

Exechorseluver

The life and times of modern day horse woman

Category Archives: Grandkids