About this Blog

Meet my very 1st horse, Lazarus.
I couldn't wait for Santa anymore or ask one more time for a pony for my bday (after age 30 it got embarrassing). I took matters in my own hands and I finally decided to pick a pony that needed a new home. Laz found me as I contemplated with this idea. He was sweet yet very sassy, fresh off the track, Thoroughbred (OTTB).
Join us for our re-training, rehabbing from laminitis and testing all parts of mixed up horsemanship and partnership, and luck...

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Hog heaven; how he loves to roll!

Is it instinct for some horses to naturally love to roll more than others? Those that have 'clean' horses, who stay clean, are lucky! My guy loves to roll in sand, mud, grass, pretty much anything. I hose him down with water and sweat scrape him dry every time I get him in a sweat, and hand walk to dry him. The very next day, he will be covered in dirt. He likes to be dirty. He wants to be dirty. Maybe he knows a trick that I don't..maybe the fly spray doesn't work as well as the dirt does. Who knows!
Below are some fun photos of Lazarus displaying his gymnastic routine while playing in the riding arena.

Paw, dig, dig, dig...searching for the right soft spot
"Oh, here it is."

"Ohhh my back...ahhhhhhhh"

He won't roll completely over I've noticed..just side to side and on his back and then he gets up and starts the routine over for the next side.

Look at those camel lips pursed with enjoyment!

Everyone needs a little time to make mud pies, right? He deserves his time to play after working so hard all those years racing. Enjoy Laz...

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

The first fall..ouch, my pride and my buttocks

Ok.. so, it wasn't my first fall ever off a horse's back, that is for damn sure. However, it was my first official fall off MY horse's back, 'sweet sweet Lazar' (another nickname for Lazarus now). Now am I proud to say that in my riding past, I've been bucked off, spooked off, kicked, bit, broke a wrist, got a bloody nose, etc. etc? Noooo..but it happens. I hope and intend to have check that off my list now, but occasional falls will happen and it did today.

I was beginning to really think, "Hey, I've really got it here. I'm sticking and staying on bareback or in saddle, when he blows up and spooks!" Ha! I should have NEVER thought that..no sooner did that thought of myself being impressed with myself go thru my mind, and I was eating sand.

Here was the first fall break down (more to come I'm sure..hopefully not too many more though). Laz spooks a lot, I mean a lot. A rabbit. "A werewolf!" A car driving by playing country music. "Ahhhh, no!!" A car driving by playing country music, again. "Hmmm, ok." The next door neighbor mowing his lawn an acre away. "What the HELL is that?!?!? Lions? Ruuuuun!"
There is a constant question in his eager and curious mind, of "what was that." He can't help that he is a flight vs. fight animal, it is his instinct and his breed of TB, I think is comparable to a weimaraner dog. A bit high strung, BIG heart, energetic and a natural athete...and sensitive. And I love that about him. So, as his 'mom/herd mate/however he views me' it's my job to get him to calm down and assure him that he is safe with me. We get it sometimes, I'm able to get him re-focused and concentrating on the task at hand, most of the time. For every hour of riding, he probably spooks 10 times. Some days are more relaxed with less of that, and some days (insert wind) he is much more spookilicous. With time and more riding, ground work, etc, I hope he gets to a place where he calms down more. He is young (8 yrs old) and is almost a year off the track, so he is coming along quite nicely in my eyes. Patience.
The spook, what is it? For those of you that don't ride horses, sitting thru a spook on a large animal, is like someone pulling a chair out from you and then pushing you with great force. It comes fast and hard and you don't/can't always expect it. Sometimes, you manage to stay on and re-group and push forward. Sometimes, you don't.
Today, Laz pulled some Michael Jackson moonwalk reversal side spook and jump, and I was nicely ejected over his left shoulder and landed on my left cheek, facing him. I do have to say, when it was happening, I thought "Oh shit. I had better not break anything or get caught in this stirrup." Funny how fast you can think. It was an easy fall, into sand and sweet Laz stopped (thank you to Cheryl for the training of pretending to fall off him so he learns to stand still) and looked at me like "Oh.....what are you doing down there?"
So, it happened and was over in a second. I brushed off the sand, and the embarrassment and got right back up. That is one major life lesson I have learned thru HB riding is, when you fall, you get RIGHT back up. It's less scary that way. We carried on for another 1/2 hr and ended on a positive note. Whew.

Curious George..er Lazarus

The many personalities of Lazarus. My favorite is his curious nature, truly..he is curious!
Here is a fun photo of after I took my 14 yr nephew riding (I hand held walk him as you'll see further below..that is it!). Although, I must say, either Laz was extremely tired that day, or he knew to take care of my favorite (ok only) nephew...he was as calm as a draft horse and as gentle as a golden retriever!
Below, was his reward... a nice bath on a HOT summer day. I have learned he loves to play with the water and slurp from the nozzle.

Oh, and when I walked away, my husband caught this photo of Laz tipping the trash over! Sorry it's so blurry..he took it with his cell phone. You can almost see the action!
Here, you can see the dirt on his muzzle after knocking over the dirty trash can and mouthing the lid...back to dirty!
Licking and poking at his new favorite toy, a cone. He likes to pick it up and shake it around and toss it! It's hysterical!
Here he is, being calm, sweet, happy... the best. Just a joy to be around
Taking my 14 yr old Nephew for a ride in the round pen, Laz stayed calm and was a complete gentleman.
Different day, actually a few months ago, of me riding and getting my courtesy lesson from sweet Cheryl (thank you x a million!) and as you can see, he was UP this day. Not misbehaving but quite aware of my husband sitting off to the side, taking these photos.
We are working and have been for the last couple months on setting his head lower, to round out his back and give to the bit. He's doing nicely now (which is not shown in the photo below), I'll have to get updated pictures of him doing that. But he tries and that is all I can ask for.

Yawning boy after spending the night out in pasture. I'm lucky to board at a facility that balances out a lot of pasture time, with full days outside and on nice evenings they sleep out in their beautiful pastures rather than in their stalls. He enjoys both and I know he is calmer when spending the night out. What does your horse enjoy?
He does have funky teeth, no? :)