Monday, December 29, 2008

Introductions!

If you want to find out about the human part of this blog, that's what the 'about me' section is for. :) Here you get to meet the critters that live at our place and fuel my passion for horses.

Rio - a 7 year old Pinto gelding, he gets to be first on the list because he's the first horse I've had the pleasure to own. He can be a spaz about some things, but is a sweetheart with beginner riders. He is deathly afraid of plastic bags - he SWEARS that they're going to eat him!

Nebular - He's 17, a registered Arabian who I fell in love with while going to California State Polytechnic University at Pomona, and he was given to me as the horse to use for my senior project. There is always a trick horse at Cal Poly Pomona, and the former trick horse Jaime was needing to retire. Nebular was a fun challenge, as he was the first horse I ever tried to trick train, so there were many times that we took a LOT longer to learn something than we should have taken! After graduating school, I left, and he stayed of course...but after a few years, I decided that I HAD to do something to get him! The folks at Cal Poly said that if I trained a replacement, he could be mine. 2 years more, and a lot of adventures with Libertie (the arabian mare that became the replacement) and Voila! I am now the owner of my buddy Nebular. So he's having to learn about a Missouri winter, which is somewhat cooler than a Southern California one...

Libertie Cat's Ian a.k.a. Scamp - Scamp was an unexpected blessing that Libertie decided to create (with the help of a friend's stud) and one of the reasons that I had Libertie for 2 years. He was born in May 2008, and I had the opportunity to imprint train him - although we didn't get to see him born, because she snuck him out while we were watching a movie. He's a loveable little pest, who's accident prone. Here he is, 1 day old, with Libertie.

Zira - 4 year old Mare, Registered Breeding Stock Paint. Zira is one of those 'saw her, have to have her' situations, she's supposedly had 30 days training, but had a few years off after that, and she basically needs to be restarted. She's another trick training prospect for me, and hopefully going to be my sidesaddle riding horse. She has a tough time trusting people some days, but she seems to have a good bit of intelligence. She has a 'blow up and buck' streak, but looks good under saddle, doesn't she?

Belle - My husband's BIG grade buckskin mare, 6 years old. She's an easy going girl, adores Rio, and is the lead mare of the bunch. Her trot is big as the world, and her canter...well, she tends to think that cantering takes ENTIRELY too much energy. She's an easy keeper - and if on pasture she dapples like crazy - Husband says she eats so much she 'cracks'.

Annie - the newest addition to our herd, a 3 year old Mustang mare, originally from the wild hill country of Oklahoma. Her story is the main story we'll see...for this Blog she's our 'leading lady' so to speak. And she is a lady, most definately! She and Nebular have a special friendship (they're nearly inseperable), because they traveled all the way from California to Missouri together - with a long layover due to truck difficulties...but that's another story.
That's the equine part of the place - we also have 3 dogs (Badger, Cali, Spur), hopefully chickens soon (we just got the chicken house finished), and the barn cat "Skeeter" that comes better when called than most of the dogs do! Skeeter also has a love of horses, I was working with Annie in the round pen, and she came down and insisted on being a part of what was going on, so you'll probably see her in pictures every now and then.