New pictures!

Freshly weaned, I got some new pictures taken today of Ele, or as I like to call her now, BB (Big Baby) She is getting so big! As you can see from the pictures of her standing next to me. I am just about 5'10 so you can get an idea of how tall she is getting. And extremely cute, she loves to be patted and loves attention. I took her out of her stall on Wed. and she was very skittish still. I didnt walk her around to much, didnt want to test my luck with her good behavior, she could easily take off leaving me in the dirt. The training lessons in the weeks to come are going to be... interesting.....



Electra 6 months

Update

Due to crappy weather, my baby wasn't weaned until today. And due to my sister visiting, I couldn't get there to help. I wont be able to see her till next Wed. =/

Weaning Time!

Tomorrow me and Enikna have decided to wean the baby! It is the next big step and I am looking forward to it. It will be easier now for me to work with her, without having to deal with her mom. It will take a few days for her to get calmed down from being separated but she is more then ready for it. She hardly nurses now and eats alot of Nekita's food. She is getting so big, I will try and measure her tomorrow and see how many hands she is.

Good Lesson!

For once I had a good lesson w/ Ele last night. It was dark out by time I got to her but they were still in pasture so I worked for a while on leading. She did so good! I dont know if this is a fluke or what but she walked forward well and hardly resisted at all. I hope she keeps it up!

Death in the Family.....

My baby's daddy had to be put down yesterday. He reared up in his paddock and caught his leg in the fence and pretty much tore it off, completely broken in two. There was totally nothing anyone could do except to get the vet out there fast to put him down. I'm not going to go in to the details that I have learned because they are just to gory and horrible. Enika was the one to find him and she said she will never forget the scene. I feel so bad for the guy, Im sure he must of been in so much pain before they found him. Just a sad sad day.....

New pictures!

Ok, finally got a ton of new pictures taken of my baby. Isn't she getting so big!? I also did some work with her today, she was a pain but did a few things right. I hope someday she will learn to obey and respect me just a little bit more. But I guess that will come with time and lots of work!!

I also free lunged Ringo for a bit, I added a short video of both of them.






Electra 5 Months

Jumping Already?

Yup, you heard it, my baby has decided she wants to start jumping at the ripe age of 5 months. To bad the fences she wants to jump are over 5 feet! She was overseen yesterday trying to jump the arena fence, only to of course not make it and crash into it! She completely busted all 3 boards, which are very stout! I didn't bring my camera with me today, but I will when I go on Friday and snap some pictures of her new crashed in fence. I cant believe how ornery she is. ( She wasn't hurt in her attempts. )

I worked with her some today, while her mum was in a lesson, she was very full of herself and bitchy. Always trying to sneak bites and/or just not want to move. I feel I am going to have my hands VERY FULL with her....


On a very sad note, I was told today that the owners of the barn are selling it! Enika herself was very surprised and we are both shocked. She herself has some horse's boarded at the place and now me I have 2. Uncertain times are ahead for me and my horses, not knowing where we will be at in the future. Hopefully still under Enika, cause I'll need help with my baby and Ringo as well.

Seems to be doing better...

My little girl seems to be doing somewhat better. Iv been working her when her mum is taking a lesson in the ring, that way I have more room to work with her. I start off working her with the rope NOT wrapped around her butt and do that until she starts acting up, then I will put the rope around her and work her that way for a while. Then I will start over, without it. She still likes to bite but hey.... what can ya do...

I was talking to Enika about her and she was saying that she looks like she is growing to fast, more so then she should be for her age. Mostly because she is stealing her mum's food and still nursing. I think we should wean her now. If it continues to get worse, she could get Contracted tendons or Epiphysitis? Where her bones grow faster then her tendons, so its important that she doesn't get any more grain for a while!

I will try to get a updated picture up soon!

Slow Going...

It seems so slow going right now, with her training. I feel like one day she might be learning something but the next time I try the same thing with her, its like its all forgotten. But I guess that is the way of things. Today they were already in there stalls when I got around to saying Hi to her. I found her laying down in the corner of the stall. I crept in and knelt down next to her.
Thankfully, the sawdust was fresh and clean, so I ended up sitting down next to her. I kept calm and she didn't seem to mind to much that I was there, which is good. I want to try to build some more trust with her, and having her not jump up when I came in the stall is a good step forward I think.

She pretty much knows how to go forward on a lead when asked a few times, but sometimes...she just doesn't want to, stubborn as a mule! Then goes the butt rope, and even then, takes alot of tugging to get her moving forward. But I think I am making that slow progress....

I know this is just about my horses but....

GO RED SOX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

World Series CHAMPS!!

Mike Lowell!!! MVP OF THE WORLD SERIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Papelbon zomg awesome!!!!!

Grrrrr!

My baby was a complete BITCH today! She acted horrible and made me want to smack her head off.....

*Silent Scream*

Unfit Mother?

Sometimes I wonder if I have what it takes to raise my rueful child. Sometimes I wonder just what I got myself into. Its those days when she is acting like a crazy idoit that I want to beat over the head.

Again, here is a problem with me not having much patience.

I have to remember that she is not yet 5 months old. Its like thinking your 2 year old is going to mind perfectly and NOT trash the house everyday or make a mess eating. Its just not going to happen. Its probably a good thing I don't have kids yet. At lest with Ele I can smack her on the nose when she tries to bite and put her back in her stall when I'm done dealing with her.

Of course it would help if I would work with her everyday. I know I can blame my weather, which I do alot, its just that I have to get over some laziness with this new horse. She needs to be worked with pretty much everyday, if she is going to remember anything that I try to teach her. She isn't like Ringo, who remembers alot of what I teach him and even after a month off, will still preform well. But that DID take years for him to be like that.

Its just been years since I really worked with any foal, its taking some getting used to again and I have never raised one from 4 months on. I got Ringo when he was 4 and he could lead and lunge and stuff. This baby knows nothing!

The techniques of teaching a foal to lead really isn't HARD, it just takes time, patience, and some arm strength. ( Especially with this baby!) Nothing like trying to control a 300lb+ animal who is wanting to go off one way, while you don't! I just need to get myself in a better mind frame.

Need to take it slow.

Need to work with her daily!

Need to stay upbeat and optimistic about my new baby, even when she is trying to eat my arm!

Need to remember how freaking awesome she is going to be if I do this right.

Baby Biter

Worked with Ele yesterday, was really crappy and rainy out, so I could only work with her in her stall. She got a nice bite out of my leg and was being bratty.

Thus is the life raising a child.

Baby Getting Big!

My new baby is growing by leaps and bounds, and soon will be stronger then me.

Its been over a week since I have worked with her, mainly due to the fact that I have been Very Sick and couldn't even get out to the barn. But I went yesterday, rode Ringo and spent some time working with the baby between her mama's lessons. She is very feisty and can be stubborn but I think she is learning. I can tell she knows what I am asking of her but only does it on her own time, when she wants to. After about 10 minutes working with her, she started to get frustrated and wanted to pull me around and swing her head about. She also likes to try and bite my leg and the lunge line constantly and she gets mad when I get after her about it, almost like she throws a small temper tantrum. But I feel like I shouldn't be to hard on her just yet, to much discipline at once probably isn't good, sides, she is only 4 months old still, I have to keep remembering that. She cant and wont learn everything as fast as I would like and I don't want her to become resentful at me for always pushing her and getting after her, I try to give her good scratches and pats as much as I can. I cant wait till she is fully leading and gets weaned. Then I think I will start taking her for walks and such. So much to teach her!

I am glad I bought her and not some noob who doesn't know what the hell they are doing. I bumped into the lady who was suppose to buy her before I swooped in and took her. She is a new rider and would of had NO idea how to deal, train or raise a baby. She just wanted to buy her so she could keep her with her mama! HA. Like Enika would of let that anyways, babies HAVE to be weaned, no matter how much they might hate it the first few days. Gah, I hate seeing nubs who have no idea what they are doing, buying foals thinking that since they are small and cute....it will be just so easy to raise and train them.... /sigh.... Its like those people that have kids and really have No right to be reproducing.... we all know the type...

Another Lesson!

Worked with Ele today, doing more leading lessons. I have to say she is starting to get the hang of it. We did almost a full circle around the stall leading without the line around her booty pulling her along. I hope to get constant forward walking within the next few weeks. Going to be working with her agian tomarrow, hoping for more progress!

Horse Show!

Alright, I will get around to write about the horse show I went to on Sunday, Sept 16th 2007. It was a local open show, the was pretty close. I took my NSH gelding, Ringo with me. It was going to be our first show since moving to Mass, so I was kinda nervous. I also never been to this type of show before, Iv only had experience with Arabian shows and I knew this one would be somewhat different.

We got there pretty early, but it was already packed! It was a show out of your trailer type, so we had to find a decent spot to park. Showing out of the trailer sucks, that's all I have to say about it. Lol. Since my horse doesn't like to tie nor is he a fan of being in the trailer (unless he is with friends or dead tired) so I had to pretty much hold and walk him around all day, which sucked.

We had 5 classes we were to ride in, and that seemed like alot for us! Didn't help it was pretty warm and sunny out. So anyways, around noon I get on and start warming him up and trying to tire him out some so he wont be to crazy in the ring. Our first class went OK, tons of horses in it but we didn't place cause me and Ringo both messed up. Our 2nd class went better, was about 17 horses in it and we got 5th place. Pretty good I think. As each class went by Ringo was getting more tired and kinda pissed off. When we went into the show ring, he just wanted to run around like an idiot. But by our last class, I think he was tired enough to behave, and we ended up getting 1st out of 4. All in all, the show went good. Other then getting a sun burn and an aching back. I was proud of Ringo for being a good boy and doing better then I thought he would. Below are some pictures of me and him.

Horse Show

First Lesson!

Today we had our first leading lesson. I didnt work to long with her, as I didnt want to get her frustrated. She seemed confused at first, about why I had a lead line wrapped around her butt, but she seemed to understand that pressure on that line made her want to walk forward. We spent a few min. working on walking forward and stopping, she didnt like the stopping part, mostly wanted to drag me around the stall. I ended on a good note with her willing walking forward a few steps and stopping. Gave her lots of pats.

I also took tons of new pictures of her also, this cute one of her face. She wouldnt stand still and let me get many good full body ones, she kept wanting see what I was doing with the camera the whole time. Here are some of the pictures I took!

Electra

Filly of the Future

My name is Caressa and I currently just bought a 2 month old American Warmblood paint filly. Her name is Carousel's Electric Jigsaw or Electra and she is very cute and pretty much the type of horse I always wanted. She is going to grow to be tall and flashy. I wanted to start a blog, which I never really did before, to chart and mark my progress with my new baby, as well as make any comments on her or any going's on at the barn, which always seems busy! I also own a 9 year old NSH gelding named Rock the Ring (Ringo) whom is boarded at the same place. We actually just competed on our first horse show since coming to Mass. Ill blog about that later.

This is the only current picture I have of her, about a month ago, and now she is even bigger! Will have to get more pictures of her soon. Anyways, she is about 2 months old, almost 3 and soon to be getting her first leading lesson. Its good to get this started early, especially with this young girl, as she is going to grow tall fast! She is already wondering a good distance from her mom when taken out of her stall, she is getting a mind of her own!

She is a good baby, don't get me wrong, I've patted her pretty much everywhere and she doesn't seem to mind. She gets handled all the time and is a big barn favourite, everyone loves her. Because of that, I'm sure I will be getting alot of help when it comes time to work with her. Everyone cant wait till she grows up, she is going to be awesome! My instructor and barn manager (Enika) has promised to help me work with her, so with her help, I have no doubt that she is going to turn out great!

Tomorrow will be her first leading lesson, Ill be posting updates on how its going with my new baby!