Horses are not cheap. I know this; but I don't think it is stressed enough to new horse owners/wanters.

My mom called yesterday and told me that Robby was acting funny and REALLY crabby. He was such a good boy only a few days ago.  

So she had the vet out and his left back molar was dangling. If he was a really good horse she could have just went in there and ripped it out, but he's a sometimes-naughty-little-gelding.

The vet came out, sedated him, and pulled the tooth.  All is good. He's eating and happy again.  Horses!  

Today I redid Rob's tail while he was out in his little paddock. He keeps growing as his tail is still just touching the ground when pulled tight. I'm so excited for it to grow a few more inches as it is going to be GORGEOUS!

We played around the paddock again today. He was such a good boy. I really miss him being so far away. 

Even with the baby on the way, I am setting my goal of June 30 to be on his back. Wish me luck.

Robby has moved past his gangly stage and is starting to look like a horse.  He no longer resembles a wiener dog. 

I attended a Monte Roberts clinic (given by Denise Sandmann) last weekend. I picked up one of the halters to see if it could keep Robby on the ground when he flits into one of his little tizzies. He's been on stall rest now since August, with (supervised) turn out in a small pen throughout the day. He's on the herbal supplement Rest Easy Gold and it's done wonders. My mom has been weaning him off of it to see if he can remain calm without it.  This was the test.

I monkeyed around with him in the stall, brushing and scratching all of his favorite itchy areas. On went the red Monte Robers halter. I didn't even have to use the "training rings" he was a gentleman. He walked and stopped, and walked, and stopped based on my body language without even having to jerk down. This is without the stall rest supplement. He was great.

I think my little guy is finally growing up. Or, he's giving up thinking he'll never be able to run around the pasture with Cobrizo again. 

The best part - he didn't even bite me today ;)

From past experience, and based on the experiences of others, when a horse steps on your foot they like to stand there for a while, and sometimes even step down, before relieving you of the pain.

Robby's in Minnesota being taken care of by my mother. I thank her tremendously for this as I could have never afforded paying a boarding facility to keep in on stall rest (with a babysitter horse) and to be hand-walked 2 - 3 times/day.

It has been a week since I was home and my mother said she only worked with Robby once.  This coupled with the constant fireworks for the past week or so I thought would make Robby really tense. He was actually pretty darn good today.

Robby started out great. He came running to the gate. Thank goodness because it's MUDDY and I almost considered not working him as I didn't want to try and trudge through it. He came through the gate and waited for me.

There were other horses inside getting ready for a trail ride so he shouldn't have had an excuse to be naughty in the cross-ties. He was okay getting ready. He's too smart. He always "pretend paws" as soon as I get out of "whip distance." This means he lifts his leg threatening me that he might paw. Sometimes he strikes down, but never hard enough to hurt himself, just enough to cause a stern "ROBBY" from me. Today we tricked him and Louise stood by his side as I went to the tack room to get his pad and bridle. As soon as I walked away his hoof came up and crack (not hard) Louise got him across the chest with the dressage whip. Robby!

He was pretty good getting ready and GREAT getting to the indoor. It was uber windy today so I was hesitant to start "real" long lining. I actually forgot to bring the long ropes out with me. I set up a bunch of poles, the barrel and brought the mounting block into the center of the big-indoor. Rob ran around and checked everything out. I then went back to the main barn to grab the long lines.

He did pretty well by himself in the big arena while I was away. He trotted around and was standing by the back door looking out at the outside horses when I got back. We lunged and he did great. He only cantered to the right, but we'll get better at that. I don't care if he likes to only walk and trot...

I grabbed the long lines and attached them. I didn't have a whip at first and he wasn't too sure what I wanted him to do. Prior to this I would keep the lead hooked up to the Parelli halter and would attach those "in-hand" reins to his bit and walk him around and circle him. Having the Parelli lead on the halter allowed me to move his head and pull him ahead if he got confused.

Today was all bit. As mentioned at first he didn't know what I wanted him to do and  I didn't know what I wanted him to do other than move forward. At first he was commanding direction. I steered him (kind-of) to the other end of the arena and picked up the Parelli stick.  This was what I needed. I was able to tap him on the butt and keep him moving forward. It was great. By the end of the session he was walking like a little plow horse. We'll have to work on the Who/Stand. But moving forward and turning happened and without much fuss. He actually settled in and was walking with his head parallel to the ground and was licking and chewing. He's such a good boy. Well until...

Until we got back to the barn to untack. I hooked him to the cross-ties and as I was walking back from putting his pad/surcingle away I heard - SNAP.  Little bugger.  The past three times he's figured out how to snap free with the break-away cross tie. He knows just the proper amount of pull needed for the cross-tie to slip throw the break away part. Then he's FREE!  Since he's such a wuss he typically just hangs out by his stall (which is where he's cross-tied), but he's Free! Jerk.  Again Louise to the rescue. She unooked the cross-tie from the safety release (as seen in the image) and hooked it straight to the wall. That naughty (smart) horse continued to pull (just hard enough to feel it and enough to formerly set himself free) but this time he was still attached to the wall. He was getting so MAD. It was kind of cute. 


He's smart enough to stop pulling when he knows he can't go any further. I'd like to be able to trust  him, I think after a few more times with being attached to the wall (with only his left side - he hasn't figured out the right side was break away too ;p - he's not as smart as he thinks he is) I will hook it to the safety-release again so I feel better. He's keeping me on my toes that's for sure!

Today I got to the barn late. I almost prefer this when getting him ready. Rob’s much better with horses all around, as are all horses. I looked at him (see photo) and thought well my little mud bucket had some good rollin’ out in the pasture.

I then took this video of the "inquisitive boy" when bringing him into the aisle-way. 

After this little side-track it was time for work. He was good for his hooves and actually picked his front with only the verbal ask – good boy! He loved the mud-brush. He’s a brushing whore. And he barely pawed at all. I’m telling you, all you hard handed yelling horse trainers – ignoring Arabians is the best form of punishment ;).

He was better with bitting today and only picked his front hoof up to try and protest the tightening of the cinch. 

We worked in the small-indoor as the flooding was minimized to a small section which actually proved advantageous as it forced him to circle on the end he typically cuts short. He’s so good when it comes to the puddle too. Most horses stop and roll-back when “forced” into these situations. Rob slows down and cautiously moves forward. I really like this about him. He will be a great kids horse some day as he gets scared but never does anything stupid. He’s a good boy – less pulling things off his blanket rack. Oh and I almost forgot. When I was putting away his surcingle and bridle he pulled the bag of carrots into his stall and ate ALL of them. Arghhhh Robby!