Liz Howell

For the past 3 or 4 weeks Sudden has been ridden once a week by a 12 year old girl named Kelsey.  Kelsey had put an ad on a local website wanting a horse to ride and since I can not comfortably ride Sudden I thought it might be a good match.  Kelsey said she was experienced and had taken lessons but from her first ride I knew that to not be exactly true. She certainly knows how to sit on a horse but we had to fix her hands, legs and heels.  I have given her some tips and hollered many a time and made her legs hurt with some exercises just enough that I think she is beginning to get the hang of it.  I try to not butt in too much unless she is doing something really wrong as I feel it is important that she learn to think on her own and figure things out.

Sudden is being a perfect angel and gives her just enough trouble that Kelsey realizes she can't just be a passenger but has to actually ride.  Today Kelsey was trying to learn how to post correctly but every time she would go up Sudden would either go back into a walk or a really slow jog. I tried to explain how to squeeze as she went up but was unable to get my point across so I had her practice riding the trot without her stirrups to help build up her balance and strength. I don't think Kelsey was very happy with me today either that or she was just frustrated.

After the ride Kelsey, her sister and her cousin took turns riding Sudden and then they gave her a bath.  It was really cute to see the three of them washing her and arguing amongst themselves about who was doing what.  Sudden really enjoyed the bath and soaked up the attention.

I have been actively horse searching since Mariachi's untimely death and it hasn't been easy.  Several times I said "I am getting out of horses" and then Sudden would holler and I would once again set off looking for her a buddy. I found an ad for an un-broke 5 yr old mare and 2 yr old gelding. They were both unregistered Paso Finos at the same place so I gathered up Jim and Abbie and we went to see them. They were really cute and the mare had actually been saddled (I rode her with them leading me) but the owner did not have a current Coggins and the horses had never had a West Nile shot. Disapointed we went home and I searched some more.

My friend Janet and I went to look at 3 Registered Paso Finos that happened to be at the same place.  Two of the horses were totally wild and could not be caught. One was very friendly and appeared to be well gaited but when he would run it looked like every other stride his hocks were catching causing his back legs to get tangled up. Bummers I really liked him, he was very cute.

I looked at a 7 year old gelding but he was a run away and a 12 year old mare who was very mare aggressive. Neither of those horses would work. I was becoming very depressed as Sudden was so lonely, I felt helpless that I could not console her. Then a miracle came, the owner of the first two horses that we had looked at called to say that she had pulled Coggins and gotten their West Nile shots. Well the coggins came in and Janet and I went to get the mare.

The mare had different ideas though about going to a new home. We did everything we could think of to get her in the trailer and she just was not budging. Whipped we left and decided to come back with more reinforcements and a bigger trailer over the weekend. Saturday came and Janet and her boyfriend Buzz went with me. Well the mare still was having nothing to do with going in the trailer so Buzz and Caroline's (the owner) son got behind her, picked up a leg on each side and walked her on her front legs into the trailer. Thank goodness she is only around 600-700 pounds and not a 1000 pound horse!  We got home and Sudden hollered like she always does when she sees a horse trailer and to her surprise a whinny called back to her.  Janet and I were dying laughing as Sudden's head flew around as she realized "Hey someone is in there".

Mariachi had to be humanely put down today. Since he came here I had suspected that he had some sort of nerve damage. Every once in a while he would just twitch for no apparent reason. I figured I would have chiropractic and acupuncture performed on him once his weight got up to a reasonable amount.  I was getting so excited and had been telling Jim that I would probably be able to start riding him in a week or so as the weight was really coming on nicely. Continue reading →

Well it has been a week yesterday since I started feeding Mariachi and all the other things that needed to be done to him.  He has not foundered, died or had a colic episode so I think we are on the road to recovery.  He is getting only slightly more feed than Sudden who is supposed to be on a diet as per the vet. (Sudden gets fat on air) I give him 1/2 scoop feed, 2 flakes of alfalfa and 1 flake of coastal two times per day. Extra coastal is given as needed plus I turn them out for a couple of hours a day to pick at what ever grass is left in the pasture. Continue reading →

Well Revy left and now I already have my next horse project.  He is a little Paso Fino about 10 years old that is skin and bones. He has a long shaggy coat, a runny nose and eye and cribs (which I did not know about until I brought him home). I was so excited to get him and give him a new home just to be shattered that he was a cribber. I contacted the previous owner to see if he would take him back (which I really did not want to do) but of course he denied knowing anything about the horse being a cribber so now I am stuck. Continue reading →

Here it is only Tuesday and I feel like a week has already passed.  Sunday some folks from Venezuela came out to try Revy and see if she was suitable for sending back to their country. Revy in her normal slow self did very well for everyone even though no one had spurs on. I rode her and three men rode her and she did just fine. I kept offering spurs to them but they all refused. Anyway they bought her and she will be in her new foreign country in about 3 weeks or so. She is going to have to learn to speak Spanish though as I don't know if they know English riding terms or not. I was sad to see her go but at least now she will have a job and not be a pasture pet.  Sudden threw an absolute fit about her leaving and I felt so bad for her.

Revy went to the horse show 9-12-09 and this time actually got to show. She took two first and 3 seconds. I showed her in two halter classes and Audra showed her in three riding classes. I am glad Audra was riding her because twice she got so excited and bucked up a little. I have no doubt I would have come off but Audra rides so much that she just worked her right through it and kept on going. Thats the bad thing about babies ya just gotta keep riding and taking them places before they settle down and work properly. Unfortunately age and gravity have made that impossible for me to do anymore. Continue reading →

Well she didn't actually go in the show, but she was ridden among all the other riders and horses during the lunch break. She is doing very well with her training and Audra really likes her. She said she has been very easy to train and quick to learn.  She was excited being around all the other horses but did quite well, even when one horse stopped abruptly in front of her she just swerved and kept going. Here are a couple of pics that I took.