Liz Howell

  Today was a great day to ride as the weather was awesome. My Paso Fino trainer came and brought a handful of bits to try on Rosa and his Paso saddle. The last time I rode in my saddle with a standard shanked snaffle and he watched but today he gave Rosa a real workout to see what she could do.  She was a lot more animated with him and moved so beautifully.  He said she needs to learn to walk better as she has a funny off step walk, its hard to explain but she will walk and then throw one of her front feet out real high and far, he also said she is too out of shape to do a good Largo but that it is definitely there and will get better the more she is worked. Her Corto is beautiful. Rosa is such a pleasure to be around and has such a nice disposition. Continue reading →

   Thursday my  friend came over and led me around on Rosa for a few minutes.  She then turned me loose and off I went. Rosa was a bit high strung at first and then calmed down. She has an excellent whoa, a big walk and a super smooth gait. She moves totally different than Maricita and Zee Zee moved. I don't know a lot about the Paso Fino gaits or how to ride them correctly but she sure was fun and I can tell she has had some serious training. The little hackamore I was using sets too low on her face so I will be looking for a Paso headstall at the Horsey Yard sale next week. I was very worried about her being able to carry my weight but she didn't seem to mind and she felt like a big horse under me. I added more pics to Rosa's Page and a short video.

Received a call from the neighbors in the early am that one of the horses was out. I figured it was Rosa since I had moved her to a new paddock the night before and sure enough she had some how fallen over the fence or something as it was all pushed down. I grabbed her halter and lead, climbed over the fence and walked towards her.  I thought she was going to take off as she did a couple little circles but then she just walked right up to me. The neighbor was out and came up to pet Rosa but Rosa is kinda funny about strangers and wanted nothing really to do with her. We walked down the road and back to the barn all the while Sudden and Daisy were raising a ruckus. I got her settled back into her stall, medicated the couple of scratches she had recieved and fed them breakfast.  I then called my fence people and let them know that I needed them to do the part we had talked about the last time they were there, she said yeah I figured it was you, I saw you walking a horse down the road. LOL!

   Saturday 2-25-2012: Rosa was one of the 34 rescued Paso Fino Horses given to Beauty's Haven Farm and Rescue. I had made an appointment to go out and see the horses and was amazed at how well they all looked. Beautys haven had been taking care of them for a few weeks which was evident in the horses body weight. They had one pasture full of mares that were very wild and a smaller pasture with approx 10-12 mares who were not quite as wild. We went to the smaller pasture first and I found the dark liver chesnut mare that was advertised on thier website. While she was not at full weight she was 100% heavier than from when her picture had been taken. After talking about her and finding out what info they had on her I decided she was not the one for me as she was very herd bound and had actually jumped out of the round pen to get back to her buddy. Theresa said it would be better for all involved if both horses were adopted together. Realizing that was not possible for me I glanced over at the others and decided to go look at the mares in the large pasture. Continue reading →

Today the farrier came to trim Daisy and shoe Sudden.  Sudden has been lame off and on for the past four years and my farrier has done what he can to make her comfortable.  I have had three different Vets evaluate her for her lameness and got three different opinions, the main problem I think in finding the real problem is that she will go lame in the front and then all of a sudden she will go lame in the hind.  She has had nerve blocks and ex-rays of the front which showed no rotation of the coffin bone and no navicular. The final diagnosis was soft soles on the front and unable to make a guess on the rear since she is lame on the front.  So anyway her angles have been brought up slightly and she wears an aluminum wedge shoe almost like how they shoe a navicular horse. Continue reading →