The Little Things

I finally got a chance to ride tonight! I wanted to play with the GoC because it seems like I never have the opportunity to be consistent. I started it right before my 3/4 clinic at the end of June and never played with it again until a few times through out July and August. I took a huge break from it and recently picked it back up a few nights ago. So I am going to work really hard to be consistent, but I guess I need more arrows in my quiver.

Tonight started out well; he was good online and super forward and responsive riding freestyle. When I picked up the reins he knew to keep moving and stretch. Trot is the issue. He tends to curl his neck and avoid the contact, rather than take the contact and stretch. It's hard for me to tell as I am riding, but I had a friend video tonight and it seems like he is still avoiding the contact to some extent? After watching the video I tried again and took more contact to encourage him to take more, but then he reverted back to old habits and stopped. So then I started with stage 1, reins mean go and worked our way back up to trot with the same results. Ugh. If you always do what you have always done...

Here are two pictures from the last 15 seconds of the video my friend took. Most of the video he just curled his next, but for a few strides he looked like he actually engaged behind and pushed into the contact. I knew it felt good because that's where I stopped. Sorry the photos are so bad; they are screen shots from the video on my phone.

I wish I had more arrows in my quiver, but I guess the only way I can add to the ones I have is through experience. I am going to go back through the DVDs and make sure I am covering every point and try to go from there. I just feel so bad that Sonny has to be my 'sacrificial lamb' :(. But, I know he is very forgiving and as long as I keep my attitude positive and always reward the slightest try, I guess he isn't going to be too offended. Then again, look at all the mistakes he has put up with from me in the past three years that we have been doing Parelli ;).

As I was feeding him dinner and getting him ready for bed, I was kind of down in the dumps about our ride. As he was finishing his dinner I cleaned my saddle, put my tack away, cleaned up my tack room, locked everything up, got things ready for the A.M., and then went to kiss him goodnight. (Just to update those who are new: Sonny has his own barn. His 'stall' is a 15x16 area in one corner. His gate is at an angle on the corner closest to the inside of the barn. His gate had a bungee on it so if I leave it open it just shuts behind me and he can't get out). Well as I went to kiss him goodnight I saw his gate was wide open. It's not really a big deal if it is; the farm property is completely fenced in and everyone knows that if Sonny were to get out, he would never make it past the first blade of grass. But, he was just standing there waiting for me to come back. It really reminded me how lucky I am to have such a fabulous horse. I can only imagine where some people's horses would have been (some might have even been half way across the country as slow as I was being in the cold tonight).

It really made me smile and appreciate all the little things we have. When I was done riding tonight, we had excellent liberty walk and even trot circles! He stood still for me in front of other horses while I went to get water for grain, and he stood still after walking through the human door and porch as I went back to shut the door behind us. Along with that, he pooped (twice!) and peed ONLY in his pea grave tonight :). Just because we are having a difficult time learning something new doesn't mean that we are failures or that I am screwing him up or whatever it is that I am afraid of. We are just learning, haven't put that much time into it, and it's a total 180 from what we both have learned our whole lives. Of course we can't change that over night! So I am going to take the time it takes and be positive and progressive :). In the end, at the core of it all we still have the relationship, which is what really matters!

Dream Come True

We were finally able to take down the gate in Sonny's stall yesterday. That means for the first time, he could come in and out of his stall as much as he wanted! I caught the first few moments on tape :).

So it wasn't that exciting. He's an LBI, what did you expect?

It was very exciting for me, though. To finally be able to give him what I have dreamed about for so long. I never thought it would happen this soon and I am just thrilled about how great it turned out. I feel very lucky (he should, too!).

He stayed outside for quite a while, but once it got hot he came inside to stand in front of his fan. He also stayed inside once it got dark, but was out in his pasture, roaming around, when I got there this morning. I think he loves it :).

More updates coming soon!

Wordless Wednesday

I am home for about a half an hour before I need to be back at the barn. Since that time includes eating and whatever else I need to get done at home today, I don't have time to even think about writing a blog post. Instead, were are going to kick it old school and do it picture book style ;). So here is an update on the farm:

Our brand new, 60' round pen! Yahoooo!

Today we finished putting screenings in the stalls and
the aisle. More photos coming soon! 

Sonny's HUGE stall gate went from this...

To this! 

Sonny being such a good helper :).

Rafters in my tack room! 

Sonny helping Stephen while he puts the final screws
in my tack room wall. 

In the last picture, you can see how awesome the gate turned out! I will have to post a before picture, but he used to only be able to barely put his nose over it. Now he can comfortably hang his head over it! After we cut it down, my godfather cut open an old hose and glued it on the top so it is nice and soft if he leans on it. He is so increbily happy now that he can stick his head out all the time!

I have tons, and tons, and TONS of pictures to still show. But, that is all I have time for now! Hopefully more tomorrow.

All Moved In

Sonny and I went to a 3/4 clinic with Jesse Peter's over the weekend. When we came home on Sunday, we went straight to the new barn. We had an awful, scary trailer ride home, so between the three and a half hours in the trailer and the exhausting weekend at the clinic, Sonny was definitely wore out by the time we arrived. We got there pretty late, so we didn't have time to do much that night. Stephen and I spent some time hanging out with him in his stall, gave him some hay, then headed home for some much needed sleep.

I headed back down around 7AM and he seemed to have been fine over night. I can see him in his stall from the road, so I can check if he is moving, eating, or standing. He had eaten all his hay and was just hanging out. Once I walked him he really hyped up. For the rest of the day, he got upset whenever I left. He wouldn't eat his hay unless I was around, but did eat a ton of grass and all of his grain. He would whinny and poop until I came back into sight (Even if I was just around the corner!). I spent a whopping 15 hours at the barn Monday, staying with him as much as possible to keep him happy. He never had runny poop or worked himself up, but you could just tell that he wasn't comfortable without me around. Which is totally understandable! He is at a new farm with only one other horse.

Tuesday was better, but I saw a definite change on Wednesday. He stopped pooping every time I left, didn't walk circles when I was gone, and started to explore his stall and eat all of his hay. Today he is acting very close to his normal self; even someone who just met him Monday commented on how happy he looked today compared to Monday. But, why wouldn't he be?

Our daily schedule looks something like this:

• 7AM: arrive at the barn. Take out Sonny to eat all the clover he can scarf down, along with the lush, green grass that is taking over the farm. 
• 9AM: Breakfast! And stall cleaning
• 9:30AM: Back out for another go at the all-you-can-eat buffet. 
• 11AM: Back to the stall before it gets too hot. Fan on high and a nice little snack. 
• (During this time I am working to get things done around the farm, as well as showering and feeding myself)
• 7PM: Back out to eat grass and roam around
• 9PM: Dinner time! Maybe a cool shower, too. 
• 10PM: Time for Emily to go home. 

Rough life for the boy, right? It's been so stinkin' hot we haven't played much at the new farm. This weekend it should cool down, so I am looking forward to getting back at it.

Here are some photos of his updated stall:

What you see from the road.

His first day in his new stall! 

I love the shadow :).

While I was at the clinic, Stephen and his dad surprised me by putting a lot of work into my tack room! It was so nice to come home to that!

Still a lot to do, but we have walls and a door!

The current state of the tack room.

His favorite thing to do. 

 So far things have been great and will hopefully only get better!

A Family Affair

Wednesday night the whole 'crew' came out to help with Sonny's stall! With all the help, it went so smooth. If you remember from my last post, the final part to Sonny's stall was to put up the wall between is stall and the tack room.

Between Stephen, my dad, and my godfather, it was up in no time.

Plastic up to protect my tack room.

Stephen starting the boards.

Stephen and Dad measuring the next board. 

Putting it up! 

My god father, boyfriend, and dad :).

Done for the day!

I am sure you are wondering why we left that gap in the middle. We decided to get fancy and match up this boards with the boards on the right wall. Looks good, doesn't it? 

So we still need to fill in that hole and put another board on the very top, then the wall will be done! I am going to Jesse's 3/4 clinic this weekend and Sonny is moving in when we get back. So while I am going Stephen is going to finish that up and hang his buckets and get it all ready. I am so excited to see it when I get back!

Two Peas in a... Stall?

Sonny has to be moved to his new barn by July 1st. That has been putting some pressure on the 'stall building committee', but I believe that we can pull it off!

Stephen and I had some time to work on it this weekend and we are definitely making progress! Saturday we bought a board for the bottom of the wall the separates his stall from the tack room. With that board up, we could make everything on the ground level. We needed to get the ground done to get the pile of gravel out of the way for them to build the driveway. But, now all that's left is the wall :).

So we cut the board and put it up and realized that our original sandings were flat, but sloping. So we had to re-build the one side to make the sandings level so the matts wouldn't slope. Once those were level we put two mats in to make sure everything was going according to plan. So far so good!

Board up, sandings level, mat #1 down.

Pounding the sandings down and level.

Mat #2 in.

Next in line was to get the board up the separates the sandings/mats from the pea gravel. I wanted a board there so that he couldn't drag wets shavings into the pea gravel or pea gravel into his shavings. The board had to stick up a bit so that he is forced to pick his feet up over it rather than drag them across it. We put the board 8 feet away from the wall because his mats are 4 feet wide, so two would fit perfectly. Along with that, it gives us plenty of space for pea gravel.

 Making sure the board is 8 feet away from the wall.

Secured at one end.

We cut the sandings back so that we could use rebar to
keep the board from moving if he would step on it.

Rebar in!  

Screwing the rebar to the board so that it was super secure.

Once we got the board in, it definitely wasn't going anywhere! We could then fill in the rest of the sandings up to the board and level it out again. 

Once everything was filled in and level, we could finish putting the mats in. Mat #3, the one towards the wall, went in quite easily. Mat #4 was a little trouble maker. We ended up having to pull it out, re-work the sandings, and put it back in. But, we finally got it to work!

There is still a triangle area that isn't covered by a mat. I have one mat left over, so I might cut it up and put it there, Regardless, it won't hurt anything for that area to be bare now. The important thing is to get the stall functional so he can move in! 

The very last, and most exciting, step was to add the pea gravel. For those of you who don't know, pea gravel is supposed to be one of the best things for a horse's feet. Sonny has had feet problems since I got him so I have really, really been looking forward to him having an area big enough for pea gravel. Not only should it help his feet, but word on the block is that it is like a foot massage for them. I bet he will love it :). 

Stephen with our first load of pea gravel! 

It's in! 

I am so excited that things are really coming together. I guess they almost have to be for him to move, but it still makes me happy to see all the progress. I am just thrilled that he finally has a place that I am 100% happy with. I hope he loves the pea gravel as much as I do! 

Build Me Up, Buttercup

Sonny's stall is starting to look like something! SO exciting!

Stephen and I were able to do some work on Wednesday. First we put up insulation, in attempts to make Sonny's area (I hate calling it a stall) as nice as possible. After that, we lined the outer walls in plastic in order to keep wind and rain out. Next we started putting boards up, but I was too short to help him get the one's on the top up (if you can't tell from my photos, I am a whopping 5'1"). By the time we got done, around 10 at night, it was too dark to take any photos of the boards.

Insulation: check. 

Plastic: check.

Saturday, while I was with Sonny getting his feet trimmed, Stephen, his dad, and my godfather (Harry) worked on his place some more. When I showed up, they already had a good bit done. They almost finished the walls that Stephen and I started.

Stephen putting the last few
boards up. 

Done! Except we need to buy a 2x6 for the top. 

They were just finishing up the wall that separates the tack room from Sonny's area.

While I was there they built and put up the other tack room wall.

Another wall finished. 

Putting it up.

Both walls done! 

Now that the frames of the walls are finished, Stephen, my dad, and I can go back and easily put the boards up. That should be soon to come. So happy it is now starting to look like something! AND, so thankfully that all these men are putting in so much work for Sonny and I. Very lucky!

When the Walls, Come Tumblin' Down

As John Mellencamp would have put it, the walls came crumblin', crumblin' today.

Stephen and I went over this afternoon and started tearing [almost] everything out. To give you a general idea of what's going on, Sonny's "stall" is 15x16 in a corner of the barn. One of the interior walls of his stall adjoins another, smaller, stall. We are going to completely inclose the smaller one and make it a tack room so that I have a room right next to his stall. Perfect, eh? Well, the barn is ancient, so most of the wood on the stall was nasty and rotted. We could have dealt with that, but the issue was how they had put it up. Pardon my language, but most of the barn was just half-assed.  Therefore, in order to build a tack room where the walls weren't completely slanted and hanging by the hair on their chiny, chin, chin, most of it had to be taken down.

The first project was getting the wall that separates the stall and the tack room out. This wall was by far the worst; it was incredibly slanted and rigged up there.

If you look at the right side, you can see how slanted it is.

The first step was to take the plywood off so we wouldn't have to worry about that once it was on the ground. 

Once the plywood was off, the wood came off [fairly] easily. After that we took the wood off the outer wall in the tack room. 

Bye, bye wall!

You can see the that the whole wall needs pushed
back onto the cement blocks. 

We then moved on to the inner-most wall of the tack room. The wall itself wasn't awful, but we needed to take most of the wood off in order to slide it down so there wouldn't be huge gaps. 

Gaps at the top, solid at the bottom.

Almost there!

You can see we also took the half-door off the tack room. We will be replacing it with a sliding door. 

Three walls done, one to go! 

Our final project of the day was to take the wood off one last wall. Just like the inner-most wall, it was gapped at the top and solid at the bottom. Again, we took all the wood off that had gaps between boards.

Along with taking down all the wood, we went around and took nails out so we have a "clean surface". Now when we have time, we will be ready to start building the walls back up. Stay tuned!

To see more on Sonny's Sanctuary and the construction process, click here. 

Thanks so much to my boyfriend Stephen, for doing most of the work. Maybe in return, I can buy him a belt.