Meet the Horses!

Bella

             Bella is the first horse I ever owned, adopted from the BLM in 1997.  She was 7 years old

             and had just been collected from the wild.  She is now 20.  I still ride her but she contracted heaves a few years back and has trouble breathing in the summer.  She can do many things well, especially lunging.  She has always tried to be cooperative except for two things: trailering and bridling.  Our trailering problems are legendary, so much so that I have written a separate blog ("The Thinking Horse trainer") to describe the issue in all its gory detail. As for the bridling issue, more on that later.  Bella has been trained to level two dressage, which is about as high as I have gotten. She loves to give hugs and is very vocal, especially at dinner time... I love her more than any other horse in the world.  We have been through many things in our time and she has taught me a LOT.  I love her more than anything in the world (except my husband and parents).  

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Tequila

I adopted Tequila from the BLM in 2001 when she was 2 years old.  She is now 12.  I adopted her shortly after my divorce thinking that it would give me a project that would make me feel positive and happy, but I was too depressed to put the time in that she needed.  A friend helped me get her gentled so that she could be haltered and handled safely but I didn't start riding her seriously until a few years ago.  She does very well on ground work but saddling and riding are very difficult for her and therefore for me.  I think she has back problems which only makes it all the worse to ride her.  She really needs a solid stretch of daily riding to get over her issues and to become comfortable with being ridden.  She likes the attention, though.  I think she is very cute and she is the one horse who gives me a hug every day.  She can be a brat, but she can also be very loving.  She is the lead mare in the herd and also the smallest horse I own.  

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Bj

Bj was given to me in 2002 as an already ageing horse at 18 years.  He is an appendix quarter horse and a former polo pony owned by Perry Schrader.  When Perry gave him to me he was sick with the runs and under weight.  After a thorough vetting and some TLC he became my lesson horse.  Bj can be very gentle and loving but he still has that hot-blooded temperament.  When I could still ride him I would saddle him, get on and he would want to take off.  He faithfully put up with little kids steering him around and pulling too hard on his mouth.  He taught at least one teenager that they weren't "all that".  He had a way of humbling people when they needed it. He and Zac, my step-son, have a special relationship - he really likes Zac! Now he spends his time protecting his mares (Bella and Luna) and hanging out in the pasture.  He is close to Bella and she seems to protect him.  She also tries to eat his grain... Bj is just like an old man, set in his ways and kind of demanding at times.   Other times he is soft hearted and gentle.  Sometimes we have a moment that is special, even to this day. 

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Luna

Luna was born to Bella in March, 2004 making her 7 years old.  Her father was a registered quarter horse named Moose belonging to my brother.  Her father was in the next pen when she was born, which I think is kind of cool.  He has since passed away...  In any case, Luna is a love!  She has a cute little spot on her side and a chili-pepper shaped stripe down her face.  I imprinted her at birth and then she was put into a herd of mainly mares and gelding for several years.  She is not afraid of people or people things, but she does not disrespect a person's boundaries, either.  Sometimes that is a problem with imprinted horses.  Luna, like Tequila, came into my life at a time when I thought I would have time to train her but did not - until now.  Luna was taught basic things like leading, lunging (she needs more work) and some groundwork but she is way behind on her training.  One of the reasons I started this blog was to document her training. 

 You may ask why I bred Bella when I didn't have the time for the baby.  Good question - first of all, the opportunity presented itself to breed Bella for free.  She was at my brother's place and he had a stallion.  It gave the stallion something to do.  I wanted a baby.  I figured I had a few years before I'd have to start really working with her.  When Bella got pregnant I was working three to four jobs in order to pay off bills incurred from my divorce.  I thought that in three years I would have plenty of time, but instead I met my current husband, Doug, and we moved to Rifle.  I started working at a ranch, and then we had to travel to Boulder every other week to see his children, and Luna got left behind.  Between the ranch (which was an hour and a half commute) and being gone every other week, Luna did not get enough consistent work to become a trained riding horse.  I am now out of work and able to work with her daily.  

Yes, I know, excuses!  But such is life.  We aren't rich, as I said before, and life can get in the way of things we want to do.  The future is not always clear.  The weather over here on the Western slope is different from the Front Range.  The snow stays on the ground longer, making it difficult to work in winter.  Not only that, but when I worked at the ranch I would leave in the dark and come home in the dark for 4 months out of the year.  Poor Luna has been waiting and waiting to be ridden and she really wants to be ridden!  I can tell by the way she looks at me....  

Ride me!

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Angel

Or not... sometimes her halo slips a little bit.  But she is mostly good.  Angel, and her brother Snickers below, were purchased at the nearby town of Debeque in 2007.  Angel is about 13 years old. We paid something like $700 for the both of them.  They are half mustang and half Appaloosa.  What were we thinking?  Actually, though things started out rough, they have actually been just what we hoped for:  safe riding horses for visiting family and for our own enjoyment.  And because I need a horse to ride because the other two young horses are not trained yet.  And Doug really wanted a horse of his own.  I immediately liked Angel because she has personality and a bit of stubbornness.  She has cellulite, too, and is prone to founder.  she gains weight just looking at good hay or a green pasture.  She had a really awful episode two years ago and we have to be very, very careful with her in spring.   I think that she has potential to be a dressage horse because she looks like a Lipizzaner when the light hits her just so.... and she can do a levade (when she is irritated). 

Angel has learned a lot since we first got her.  She stands quietly to be tacked up, is now used to a pelham bit when she was previously ridden in a hackamore.  She can bend both directions and is getting used to leg pressure.  She needs more work, like all the others that are not "finished", and should be ridden daily in order to really get it.  All things considered, though, she is a good horse.  Sometimes she rears up a little or objects when I ask her to do something difficult, but I can put a beginner on her and she won't act up.  She loves attention but seems very shy when receiving it.  She can open gates unless they are chained with a lock.  She also climbs fences (fence panels) when motivated.  She LOVES Bella!  And tries to eat all her grain.  I love Angel - she is my special girl!



Angel does a levade





Angel sees Bella for the first time and falls in love.  Note the belly...

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Snickers

Snickers is our other gelding and lives with Tequila and Angel.  As noted above, he was purchased in 2007 with Angel and is half mustang, half Appaloosa. He turned 15 this year.  Snickers is kind of remarkable in a way.  His previous owner did nothing but saddle him and ride him around haphazardly every once in awhile.  When we got Snickers and Angel they wouldn't stand still to be saddled and they had never been washed.  The first weekend we had them Doug and I managed to give them a bath, which was not easy.  However, the payoff made it worth the effort.  Once they had been bathed and their tails combed out, they took off running across the pasture as if showing off and so proud of themselves!  They ran back and forth over the pasture, tails streaming.  It was wonderful to watch. 

Snickers is Doug's horse and he LOVES Doug.  If I am in the pen with him and Doug walks out, Snickers will run me over to get to him.  I love to ride him, but he would rather it was Doug.  Snickers has a very bouncy trot and a wonderful, smooth canter.  I actually enjoy riding him and spend time training him every year.  At his age he won't be more than a trail horse or a visitor horse, but he never runs away or bucks or spooks.  His worst habit is going where he wants to and not the rider, but he does it slowly.  He won't lunge to the right, either, but does it really matter?  Snickers is my big lug and I love him! Well, ok, he's not really MY big lug, but I still love him and so does Doug!

Doug and Snickers just before a ride - Snickers is drooling!