I would love it if you took a picture of how much of a floof Rosco is :D Gotta love dem fluffy ponehs

I marked the ends of the hair with black on this one because it looks really thin on camera. It's actually quite thick.

https://i.postimg.cc/RZX1vvRD/20-ECC131-E4-DC-497-E-9998-206522750760.jpg

My hand = gone.

https://i.postimg.cc/D0HDjqW1/7-DFF5803-71-C6-4-BE6-89-DF-82-FEE776884-F.jpg

And he's got at least two inches of feathers.

https://i.postimg.cc/g2WdGWJ8/64-E93884-AC49-43-B1-AAB3-E7-B3383376-AA.jpg

His face doesn't have long hair but he's very fuzzy :)

https://i.postimg.cc/SKPvN6r3/BB286975-090-B-4690-97-F2-AD10-C24-A87-DA.jpg

Update!

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Terry has been having a bit of a holiday. The weather is real rainy out here, so I can't ride in the yard (grass is too slippery). I take her out on trails when we have a break of good weather. Basically, she is barely going out, but at the beginning of the week we were able to head out for a quick ride! My dad wanted to go riding so he got on her and I got on Dixie; both girls were really good, especially since Terry has a lot of built up energy and that was Dixie's first trail ride with me (she's gone out with her old owner once but... I've told ya'll stories before sooo! lol).

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Anyhow, I'd just like to take a moment to share all of the development that went around here in 2019. I've had a lot of low points but as I was feeding today I started thinking about all this and... Wow... It's been quite a year. For the first time in a while, I'm actually feeling really good about all that has gone down and I am SO excited to see what 2020 brings.

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As for new things around the 'farm', we've gotten some great new things this year! In the spring, we put up our secondary pasture. It's saved our butts quite a few times when we're low on hay. Plus, the horses LOVE it over there! In late summer, we got our trailer! That was and still is reeeeally exciting to me. We have so much more freedom and so many new things to do now. Also in summer, we started logging out some land on our property. The original intention was just to have a shop for my dad, but now we are also planning on leveling it more so I can have an arena!

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Moving on to progress with training. Everyone has grown for the better. Dixie is finally learning to trust and I can ride her walk-trot with steering. She went out on her first trail ride and didnt throw any bucks or try anything funny. She was pretty brave and it took a while before she started getting nervous. Terry is really turning into a dressage horse and becoming so much better to ride. When we can get back to a consistent schedule, jumping her is going to be so much easier and more fun; we'll finally be able to actually work on it. I'm pretty confident that we'll be doing XC schooling and derbies when spring/summer come back around! We also were able to go solo at a schooling show without any freak outs! I don't do too much with Tiny, but when I do he's much more respectful. I've also been able to move up his in-hand jumping height. As for Rosco, he's learned all of his baby stuff along with some more advanced things as well! He's really mature and super smart; he's going to be awesome to ride when he's older.

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Personal growth. I've had a major change in views and training methods this year. Recently, I also came up with a thought that has been helpful for me -- in working with a horse, it should be viewed similarly to the lead stallion-lead mare relationship. I could expand on that if requested. Then, I started training with the absolute BEST trainer eveeeer (I love her sooo much lol) and I've progressed a LOT. I also started working at the mustang foal rescue and learned SO much. Both the owner of the rescue and my trainer have pushed me along and really upped my abilities. They've even gotten me to the point where I can confidently own my very own foal. If it weren't for them, I'd still be the sloppy, aggressive, idiotic, and horribly incapable rider and trainer that was stuck under poor guidance of a neighbor. At the start of the year, I felt so inferior to other equestrians and at some points I thought I could never be an equestrian. I can't even BEGIN to explain how horrible things were. Now, while I still feel small sometimes, I am so much more confident in my abilities and I know that, with time and patience, I can do it.

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I also feel the need to mention... Toward the end of 2018 and the beginning of 2019, I started to realize that my situation with everything related to my horses was rather poor. Everything I had relied on my neighbor, and I was figuring out that that relationship was not at all desirable. I won't go into detail but... To keep things short, the plan to break free into independence begun after this person raged at Terry for being scared, yanked her backwards all the way down the length of the arena (and right by the butt of another horse who has kicked in the past), then strongly slapped her. Then she had the audacity to get mad at me for disliking her actions. Along with MANY other things, I decided I didn't want anything to do with this person. O, although she is still my neighbor, I have broken away from all of that and now everything I do is on my own terms. Plus, the carelease with Terry was signed in her name (don't even know why I ever let that happen) so, now that the lease is over, I don't have to worry about anything related to that. The big baby pumpkin is all mine now!

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So, this is a short wrap up of everything, but anyway... I'd like to consider this a good year. Major ups and downs, plus many scares, but it all turned out for the better and I am SO grateful for everything I now have. There is so much laying in the future. This year was blessed, and I'm dying to see the works coming up. Here's to a good 2020 <3

Heya! Last night I did some basic groundwork and flexing with Terry and Rosco. They were both very good <3

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Today the rain stayed back and I got to take Terry out on the trail. We did lots of loose rein because she was offering to stretch. She actually picked up on relaxing and reaching her head down when I say "stretch", likely because we did a little bit of that in groundwork last night by putting light pressure on her poll. Terry doesn't normally like stretching or relaxing, let alone both, so I was very happy with her and she got tons of praise. I had two little rounds of collected trot that she was pretty good with. Due to not being able to work much, she's lost a lot of muscle, so engaging her bum is much harder. She still tried, though, and had a great attempt. :)

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We had to cut our ride short. The way our trail works, one of the first things you do is choose to go on the right path or left path. I always start with the right path and then come back to do the left one. So, we did that today too. Right path was great! As soon as I pointed her toward the left path she got antsy. It's normal for her to get nervous in the grass patch between the paths, so I thought she'd calm down when we started going down the road, but it just got worse. Recently the "local" cougar has gotten closer to our house and started killing animals on a nearby road. On Terry and I's last trail ride, she was TERRIFIED of the left path and when I got home my mom put together that we were probably being followed. This ride, I kind of felt like we weren't alone and Terry gave glances toward the woods, though she only got scared when looking at the left path. Based on other details of Terry's reactions, I think that when we were going down the left path we were heading toward the cougar. That area is probably where the cougar hangs around; it isn't far from the road that animals keep dying on. As soon as we turned around Terry was doing everything in her power to get out as fast as possible. I made her walk, but I was kind of glad that she went quick. We aren't going to be headed out there until the cougar leaves the area. Don't know how long that'll be, but it doesn't matter; I'm not taking a chance with a big cat.

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Anyhow, Terry was good and I'm proud of her stretching. I hope I can find another gravel path around the neighborhood to keep trail riding. It's all I can do with the horses right now, so I'd hate to stop. If I can't get to a spot away from the assumed cougar area, I'm obviously not going to head out, but I hope I can find one.

Oh, and here's a pic of my lovely gal on the trailer tie <3

Sounds nice!

Tiny says, "Merry Christmas hoomans!"