History......and horses

That is, my history and my horses, and my dad..................

This is my dad, he went to farrier school and shod horses for 4-5 years I think. Then he got into laying carpet and vinyl and Mom and him opened a floor covering store that they had for 28 years, they just closed the store this year, Dad is still installing though.

Dad was a horseshoer, one day I wanted to ride Joe and his feet were to long so I got the bright idea I would file down his feet so I could ride him, I had watched dad do it for years so maybe I could do it. I believe I was 12 or 13 when I got this bright idea LOL. Well Dad caught me, and thats all she wrote, he taught me after that to trim the horses and I have been doing it ever since. I wont nail a shoe on, I dont think I want to nail, although I probably could have at one time, now I would just rather pay "horseshoer Dave" to do this, writing a check is a lot easier LOL. I still trim them and even have since my surgery, it takes a long time but I can!

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In 1990 I got invited by a friend to ride her horse in a 25 mile endurance race. So I thought I would try it. It was a blast, that is me on the dark grey, his name was Magic. He was a beautiful example of the Arab breed, nice conformation, his disposition was good but he was a stud until he was 6 or 7, he was gelded before my friend bought him. That being said he was a little nippy sometimes but not bad. When my friend and her husband went to look at him the owner already had him saddled and head tied down etc. Well to my friends husbands credit he would not ride the horse or handle him until they took all the crap off of him, and it went well, they obviously bought him.

This race was down east of Bend OR. I want to say Mustang Ridge, but its been so long I dont remember. We had a good ride, we rode together the whole time, we had been conditioning the horses 3-4 times a week. Let me tell you following little pink ribbons through the sagebrush isnt easy LOL. I remember our first water stop at a big cattle trough. My friend freaked out cuz I splashed water on Magics neck and chest, I now know that that is ok, but it was her horse so I didnt do it again.

We followed these little pink ribbons and came to another water stop and could see some confusion as to where the trail went, we could see other riders up on the ridge, but that looked like the wrong way to us. So we go the way we thought was marked and after about 3 1/2 hrs we came to the finish line, there was only one horse in front of us, we couldnt believe that we had come in 2nd and 3rd! Magics heart rate didnt come down right away cuz there were other horses coming in so I ended up finishing 5th after all his vitals came down. But for my first ride that was pretty damn good I thought! Oh and the little pink ribbons, we went the right way, a whole group of 12-15 riders went the wrong way and took another 1/2 hour to come in when they normally would have been in front of us, isnt reading the trail part of the game? LOL It was a blast doing the endurance ride, I would have loved to do it again when I was younger.

As for Magic, my friends husband rode him in another race a month or so later and over rode him and he tied up pretty bad, wasnt pretty he couldnt walk for a few days dark, dark urine, poor baby. Then my friend and her husband divorced and she had the horses boarded somewhere and the asshats turned Magic out with his halter on, thats not the bad part, there was an old bathtub being used as a water trough, thats all fine and good but the asshats didnt take the faucet off of the tub and Magic got his halter caught in it, reared back with it hooked to his halter, and severely damaged his knees, I dont know what happened after that, such a waste of a beautiful animal.

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How come it always seems there are no pictures of me, oh thats cuz I am the one taking them, LOL

This is the two fat girls LOL Me and Emma when she was probably 4 yrs old. I was going to start her when she was 2 1/2-3, but in Sept of 2002 I was hit head on by a drunk driver, I was in the hospital for 11 days and have a lot of titanium on my left side now. The doc left me in a wheelchair and walker for 3 months, no casts or anything, modern medicine. So Emma didnt get started when I wanted to, which in the long run wasnt a bad thing for her, she was plenty developed as a two year old, she was an 800lb yearling!, yes halter bred but she is only 14.3, a midget LOL, it gave her time to develop mentally, which was good for her. She was the easiest horse to train to ride that I have ever had. (The third one I have trained since day one under saddle.) I originally bought Emma for my youngest daughter but she has ended up being mine, LOL Meghan and her are to much alike LOL. Meghan says she doesnt get along with her very good. Oh darn, I get her LOL I love her she is so mellow and now that I have been disabled she puts up with my bumbling around and running into her without a flinch, which is more than I can say for the old mares, and at 9 years old on Jan 10th she will only get better! I fell in love with Emma When a lady came into the feed store I was working at and was sharing pictures of her new foals. We became friends and little did I know that 2 yrs later I would buy Emma from her. She gave me a baby book of pics and everything. Wasnt she a cute baby! And next is Emma at 11 months, you can see the frosting starting on her hips, she was, and is still a big girl. But not to tall, I like that LOL and she still fits in the trailer, at least mine, we went to a QH Show, with a friend, just for the experience down in Redmond OR in 2005 and she had such a bad butt bruise from my friends trailer (it was a 31/2 hr haul )that I hate to haul her with anyone else, she did the same thing in another trailer, but at least it wasnt as long of a ride. I have hauled her for long trips in my trailer and she doesnt do it so I try to only put her in mine. I have a circle J 4 horse with dress room, and it has adjustable width stalls so we can set it wide for her, she sits on the back wall, I think cuz she is so long and in order to rest her neck she has to sit back. I say again she is only 14.3 and wears an 84 blanket. LOL

Well thats a little more of my history.

Thanks for reading.