Aristocrat

 
 

Well we picked up Aristocrat and then it rained for 5 days.  He is doing very well and adjusting pretty good. 

He is getting along very well with our small herd.  Maybe too well, he freaks when Tinks is out of his site.  So today he is going back out to the big pasture.  He was in with Tinks and Rio in the small pasture.

He rides well and Sarah is very confident on him.  She took him out last night bareback.  He was a little nervous, 10 years old and his first bareback ride.
The kids are hitting it hard now.  Anna and Sarah are riding 3 times a week.  It's been very hot so they are riding in the morning. 
Now we just have to figure out what to do with Rio when we start the schooling shows in the fall.  Any ideas would be welcome.

See ya!

New Beginnings

Well we went to see 3 horses over the weekend.  It was hot and humid but the owners were all very nice.  We basically drove all over the Houston area.  Started out in Pearland and ended up in Hempstead.  It was really storming in Houston on Sunday, but we left that behind and it was barely raining in Hempstead. 

We have decided on the 10 year old gray Arabian gelding DC Aristocrat.

He is second level dressage trained and was just a sweetheart.  We are very excited to be bringing him home tomorrow.  Since he is actually trained higher than Sarah we are ready to go right into shows. 

We are back on track.  It's been a long time since we owned a gelding.  I think he will get along fine with are other horses. 

See ya!

EC Ala Mode - Jr Hunter pleasure

Time to Shop!

So it's time to start looking for a replacement horse for Picaboo. Of course we can never replace her, but it's time to look for another horse.

We are going to look at DC Aristocrat this weekend. He is a very nice 10 year old arabian gelding.

We have 2 other mares to look at also. Going to try and schedule that this weekend also.

I personally hate horse shopping. When I was younger I loved it. Couldn't wait to go see all the pretty horses. Now it's not the same, not every horse is a winner or a good fit. You have to kick a lot of tires to find a good one. And it's so hot this time of year.

Anyway - hopefully this will be painless.

See ya!

Rio and his Aunt Tinkerbell. Yes he really is that big at 2 months old. Well to be fair Tinkerbell is only about 14.1.

Back in the saddle

Tonight was my daughters first lesson since her horse died. It will be the first time she has been back in the saddle.

Our trainer is very sympathetic about what happened and she loved Picaboo also.
I was very worried about this, but it turned out I was the only one.

Tinkerbell took it all in stride, I think she was secretly happy to be away from Rio.

Rio used the time to bond with me, by that I mean, I was mucking and he was chewing on the muck rake, the wheel barrow and me.

I believe the saying "much ado about nothing comes" comes to mind.

Well our first dressage schooling show will be in September. We were going to show in July, but this summer has turned out to be one of the hottest ever. I believe we are breaking records and if you have ever been to Texas in the summer, you know that's saying something.

Changes

Well, when I first got this blog I was planning on writing about the joys and trails of being a show parent. You know things, like show list, trainers and things like that.

We had 4 horses, 2 1/2 Arabian mares, 1 full Arabian mare and our pinto colt. We showed the 3 mares.

Times sure do change fast. We lost our beloved Picaboo last week to colic. I had sent the full Arabian, Tootie off on a breeding lease, thinking that would give us more time to focus on the other 2.

Now a short few month's later we have in our barn our NSH mare - Tinkerbell and Picaboo's colt Rio. We went from having too many horses to our barn seeming sad and empty.

Losing a horse so suddenly to colic has been an experience that I never want to go through again. It's so sudden you don't have time to get used to the idea before they are gone. You have to deal with all the aftermath of getting the body taken care of, the clean up and million other things you never thought you would.

I would like to focus on the bright spots that happened. Santiago, who found her, hung around and was late for work because he knew we would need his help. The man from the electrical company across the street who brought his tractor over. All our friends at the barn who held an impromptu wake for Picaboo. All the parents who brought their kids to the wake, really helped Sarah get through it. Everyone who has helped us feed Rio, who is 2 months old. People can really surprise you if you let them.

Anyway - soon I hope we will get back to riding and showing. We were scheduled for a schooling show July 11th, so hopefully we will make that.

See ya!