Muddy Mare

For the past few days it has literally been raining nonstop and had kept me from seeing my girl. But finally when the sun broke through the storm I went out to see her and found her covered in lots of crusty mud, guess what I was doing for the next half hour... haha, yes, getting all of it off of her, my hands have callouses now from using the shedding blade so much!

What We Wear and then Some

So, today I wanted to make a little post sharing what gear Ava and I wear during a ride. But before I get started I wanted to mention that a wonderful blogger named Mary has an awesome 100 follower giveaway, she is giving away a beautiful customized grooming tote bag to one winner, everyone should enter!! You can find it here at Simply Horse-Crazy.

Also, yesterday I went to see The Hunger Games movie with some family and friends. It was... indescribable and the actors couldn't have done better. I read the books way before the movie came out and after reading the books it gave me a pain in my heart, kept me crying and depressed for weeks (literally,) but left me with an amazing story that will stay with me for as long as I live. I truly do not have words for it. Has anyone read the books or gone to see the movie?

 

Well, now, let's see what I've been wearing...

•Stubben all purpose saddle, got it for $20 at a sale- literally the best saddle I've owned

•Black biothene stirrup leathers

•Safety stirrup irons

•Fleece and nylon english girth

•Dover saddlery quilted purple all purpose saddle pad

•Tipperary Sportage helmet, I saved for a long time for that helmet and it was well worth it!

•Ariat riding/hiking boots, comfy and perfect for everything

•Bosal with black nylon mecate reins

•Dark oil western headstall

•I also wear black Kerrits riding tights and silver/gray Irideon riding tights as well, forgot to add them in the picture, so comfy!

Well, at the moment that is all Ava and I wear when we go for a riding.

A Fun Start

First I want to say I LOVE YOU CHRIS COX AND RICK GORE! Okay, now that I have that out of my system I will get on with my post.

Ava and I had a fun and relaxing week. All thanks to Chris Cox and Rick Gore for helping me train myself to become a better horsewoman. Ava went from a bucking unfocused maniac to a calm little pony I can ride out of an arena alone.

The weather was amazing all week long and gave lots of opportunities to go and do stuff. We first started with only ground work but then moved to riding. Yesterday we stayed out of the round pen and fooled around for a bit. I started with groundwork in their pen then right outside their pen then worked on liberty in the arena and finally rode in the open fields and investigated the scary objects at the back of the them. It was a blast and I hope we can do it again and soon. Ava was responding well to my cues and didn't over exaggerate either (which she usually does,) you would've thought she was a ten year old dead broke horse instead of a six year old green broke one, it was great!

Just two pictures before we went on our ride, look how calm she is! What a good girl!

Thanks for reading!

Before and After: Dec 2011 - Mar 2012

First of all, I know that I have only been posting about Ava's feet for a while but there has been a lot of Spring weather here and I can't work with her very much until it gets a little better. I also just recently got sick with a cold or whatever so I have to deal with that too. Being sick is so annoying when you want to be out at the barn without having to sneeze every two minutes...

I wanted to show some before and after pictures of Ava's feet. I just trimmed them a couple days ago and noticed they looked quite a bit better than when we started. So, here we go!

Ava's front feet as of December 2011- I had not done anything with her feet when this was taken, the farrier did this... Almost NO heels!

Here are Ava's front feet as of a few days ago- March 2012. Heels are coming back and her axis is becoming straighter!

Now for her hind feet. This is what they looked like as of December 2011, they actually didn't look as bad as the front.

Here are her hind feet as of a few days ago, March 2012.

Of course there is still room for more improvement but I think they are looking pretty good and heading in the right direction. I heard someone say once, "if they can still walk by the time you're done trimming you most likely did a pretty good job." Haha, always makes me laugh!

Learning to Trim

As you may know I started trimming Ava's feet all on my own. My farrier was becoming unreliable and just too tricky to deal with. So, I decided to start doing it on my own. Already knowing quite a bit about hooves and whatnot from 4H it wasn't a complete novice thing for me, I had some idea of what to do. After watching tons of videos, reading articles, asking for peoples advice I finally got all the tools, rasp, hoof knife etc. That was my favorite part. Once I had everything ready to go I haltered up Ava and set to it. I really enjoyed it and still do. Anyways, back to the actual post. Doing all of the research was not hard, there is quite a bit on the internet if you know where to look. If anyone is interested in learning to trim or even just to learn more about horse feet there are some links below you can check out, if I have forgotten any I'll make sure to add them later.

PDF on Beginning Hoof Anatomy- this is great!
[click this]

Sarah Bell Barefoot Trimming

Video Playlist of Hoof Stuff 

Care of Your Horse's Feet