A LATE MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas - ate too much, enjoyed time with family and of course with Ponies and Poopies and Kittens!

My best friend took some photos of Sam and I a few months ago and I finally got them from her so I thought I would share some of my fav's - ENJOY!!!!!




Come on, lets go over here!
Sam and Jodi
Whatcha got there?

Can I see?Here you can have it......

Meet Adam Ant

Please meet Adam Ant. He is a standardbred gelding. About 15.2hh, not sure of his age yet I haven't been able to read his brand yet. He is very solid and very friendly. His head is massive! My rope halter that I use on Sam doesn't really fit him!!!! My full size brow band is a little small on him and a full size bit only just fits! I would consider going the next size up.

Adam Ant or Atom as he used to be called was raced but too slow and the trainer asked Malcolm - the owner of the agistment place where I keep Sam - was asked to find him a kind loving home. Malcolm did this but unfortunately the lady had an emotional break down so he has been sitting in a 60 acre paddock for the last 6-9 months. Once the trainer heard about this he took him away from the lady and has asked Malcolm to once again find him a loving home. This is where I come in.

I first noticed Adam Ant last Wednesday afternoon on my ride by the 60 acre paddock. He caught my eye and he made his way over to the fence for a chat. He has bite marks all over his bum but other than that he is very fat and shiny. His eye is beautiful and his build looks very strong. I asked Malcolm about him and that is when I found out he is looking for a new home. Instantly I thought of my best friend Jodi . I know she would love a horse and Adam Ant would be for free!!!!!! She also likes the breed as she knows how to drive horses in harness as well as ride.

I went and caught him on Friday so I could have a play and see what he was about. He was happy to be caught and lead away from his girlfriend. Half way down the lane way he grew 10 hands and started to really look around. He wasn't silly and stopped when I stopped and walked on when I did. He spooked slightly at a few things on the way up to round yard but when he was allowed to look and check things out he was fine with it. I did some ground work, he let me wave my lunge whip around and let me rub him all over with it. His off side he is a little more attentive on but other than that he gave me no trouble. Moving off pressure he has no idea. He lunges both directions but very hard to get him to canter. He is short in his stride length but then again his legs really aren't very long! I was able to bridle and saddle him with no problems. Slapped the stirrups on his side, didn't even batter an eye lid. I didn't mount him but I could stand on a create next to him, lean over the saddle and wave my arm around on the off side. I think he would be fine to ride.

When I let took him back to his paddock he wasn't as spooky but appreciated the time to look at things. At the gate I took his halter off and he stood with me while I gave him a scratch. He had a drink and then came back over for a another scratch. I think he enjoyed doing something!

I told Jodi about him so hopefully she will come and look at him, other wise Malcolm has asked me to help him find him a home. He is such a lovely fellow I am sure the first person to meet him will fall in love with him like I have. He is very smoochy and loves a cuddle. All he needs is a bit of time spent with him and I am sure he will be fine!

Please Help Me Welcome Squirt into the World!

About 4.30pm yesterday afternoon little Squirt entered into this world. Mum and bub did great! I got there a bit after 5pm and he had been up on those long legs for about 5-10min. I have called him Squirt as the owner hasn't come up with a name yet. He has one blue eye and one brown one. He is the colour they wanted and even though he is a little light on he certainly had a lot of get up and go. Within the first hour I watched him trot and canter for the first time. It took him over two hours to figure out where to get a drink from but he finally figured it out!
Tails - Mum is 18 years old and this is her last baby. She is very protective of little Squirt. He has some attitude. He attempted to kick out at mum and did a little hump when she kept trying to move him. It was very cute. These photos were taken within his first hour!
I have never had anything to do with foals so it will be great to watch his progress over the next year or so. It made me want to go out and buy a mare so I could breed my own but that would be reckless so I will have to be content with watching others!!!!
He is Sam's next door neighbour. The big dope missed the whole ordeal but when he finally came up to see what we were all looking at he was very intrigued. All the horses started to whinny and run around when Squirt decided to try his little legs for the first time. This is Sam seeing Squirt for the first time.

A new fitness regime

Sam and I are going to start a fitness regime. In a previous post I told you about Sam and I getting all the way around the top paddock with Bec and her horse Alice, well yesterday afternoon I was feeling very lazy and tired but Sam needed to be exercised so I thought we could go for a lovely long walk. I headed up to the top paddock and we just started to walk along the fence line. We made it all the way around with no hiccups so I thought I would push Sam up into a trot. He was happy to trot around the entire perimeter. It is about 20 acres so not huge but big enough. We both did really well.

I have decided to do this once a week. Walk a circuit, trot a circuit, canter a circuit, trot half a circuit, walk the rest, walk a circuit. This paddock is on a hill so I think that should be good for him as well.

I was very proud of myself for getting around that paddock. It used to really worry me going past certain horses but Sam was awesome. He stayed very calm and was happy to watch the horses canter around their paddock. I think he was more interested in trying to eat the long grass on the side as we went along than his surrounds!

I love my awesome pony!!!!!!!!

Some of my favorite funny pictures! ENJOY!!!!

Update

Sorry about the lack of posts but I started at Horseland this week so I have been very tired!!!!! I haven't worked a full day for over a month and it is amazing how much it takes it out of you. It isn't too bad but not as good as I was hoping. The other women or I should say girls are very much into just gossip and not working. Anyway back to the important things - SAM!!!!

Sam had a very cruisy week due to my working. I lunged him lightly on Tuesday afternoon and we long lined on Wednesday arvo. Thursday I only worked a half day so Bec and I decided to go for a trail ride. Sam did not want to go forward and after a while we figured out that he just isn't brave enough yet to be in front so I slowed down a bit and kept Sam's head about in line with Bec's knee. He was a lot happier to trot along. We also managed to have a canter. I was very impressed with him because Bec started to pull away from us and Sam did not increase his speed - if anything he wanted to use it was an excuse to walk!!!!! What a pony!

On the way home poor Sam was busting to go to the toilet that much he just stopped on the road (Half his body on the road, half his body off the road) Bec and I were laughing so hard! Poor Sam he really must have been busting. I got off to ask the traffic to slow down for us and I noticed most of the drivers having a chuckle. Thereisn't a drought when Sam is around - it just kept going and going!!!!!

I haven't had a chance to practice my position (I do it every ride but I mean in an arena setting where I don't have to think of anything else) I felt really good today. I don't even remember losing my balance once. Our transitions to canter were much better. Instead of Sam rushing in the trot for at least half the circle and me banging, slumping, and praying he would hurry up and canter. I sat tall and thought canter, started to squeeze with my seat and he cantered generally within about 4 strides of doing this! I also practiced transitions. Sam is good as this doesn't hype him up. All of my other horses have become hot when I practiced this so I never did a lot of it so my position during transitions has always fallen apart. I felt strong and tall through out and they really helped Sam collect himself and start to sit on his hindquarters. I am not asking for roundness at the moment just concentrating on myself but I find he is offering it more and more! I have the balance now to push him forward when he leans on my hands and he is starting to really listen to that. If he doesn't I do a transition and I find this helps.

The other morning was a beautiful morning so I took Sam's rugs off while he had his breakfast and snapped a few photos -
My best friend Jodi decided to dress Jack up and this is what she came up with!!!!! I love the smiles on both of their faces!!!!!