Where has the time gone.

Well, here we are at the beginning of August and the summer is seeming like a long spring and no summer. Not to many hot days to complain about, but then I prefer warmer that what we have had.

Peanut and I have now done three FQHR shows and have not really done to bad. He has helped me to learn that I am no longer 21 years of age, more than once. I still see him as a really good horse. He will always be my buddy, and anyone who has had a good friendship, knows that our friends don't always agree with us, when we want to do something and they don't.

At our first show in May, we managed to take last place in every class we did. I was a little bummed at first, but then had to keep reminding myself that it was our first show. I know look at it as being consistent in our placings. We did not DQ in one class and I also found that Peanut likes to do barrels. We took a 3rd out of 3.

At the second show, we DQ in ranch cutting, but that too is ok. We are both still learning how to play at this game. If I can recall, we took 8th out of 11 in one of our cattle classes and took a 3rd out of 4 in barrels. Peanut sure loves those barrels. I just need to find it in my heart, or should I say my stomach, to let him run full open on the way back to the finish line. I am still a little apprehensive about speed.

Now at the July show, Peanut was not feeling like Peanut at all. He had a little bit of an attitude towards the cows and that was NOT ok with me. He so wanted to beat the living tar out of them, and I would not let him, that he took it out on me. We took a deep cut into the herd and started to work the cow a little and we lost it back to the herd, on the second deep cut, Peanut wanted to show off his shiny shoes to the cows. I refused him to do so, asked him to move forward and well,

Peanut basically told me to buck off. He let me have 4 or 5 good bucks, enough to unseat me from the saddle and left me hanging there from the horn and a right spur caught under the saddle skirt. Thanks to one of my turn backs, Jeff Lebbins, who hollered "whoa, WHOA" at Peanut, I would have been on the ground and looking at the undersides of the cattle. Not a place I really wanted to be. But, I finished the class and moved on. On Sunday, came confirmation class. So far, we have not even come close to placing in this class, but, each and every time, I learn a little something new. The judge saw something in Peanut that the others had missed. I don't know what it was, but a 3rd place ribbon was good enough for us beginners. So far this has given us 3 pretty yellow 3rd place ribbons from 3 different shows. Again, consistency. As the day worn on, it began to rain and Peanut and I still had barrels to run. In the Open Barrels class, we took a 4th place and then in Armature Barrels we took a 2nd place. Now we have added a beautiful white 4th place ribbons and gorgeous Red 2nd place ribbon to the collection. I am looking forward to the August show and hopefully more ribbons to hang up for Peanut.

FQHR shows are not the only thing Peanut and I have been doing this Summer. Parades, Meet and Greets for the Mounted Unit, and other small events. Peanut, along with a couple of the Mounted Units horses, partook in the Lake Ann Homecoming Parade.

It's not a huge parade, but a fun, little hometown parade. Lots of people whom we know, and visitors to the area. I just love small town parades.

We left Lake Ann and rushed to Beulah to participate in the 4th of July parade there. Another small town parade with lots of spectators.

The next weekend, Peanut and I, joined the unit in Traverse City, MI for the Annual Cherry Royale Parade. This is a huge parade with visitors from all over the World. The U.S. Coast Guard flies their chopper down Front street, just above the tops of the buildings. I was so proud of Peanut for not spooking at that. He carried the Unit's flag with pride. Out in front, by himself, right down the middle of Front street. Later that same evening, we traveled to Bear Lake, MI and participated in the Bear Lake Days parade. Again, another small town, lots of people. Again, Peanut did me proud. He carried the Unit's colors and did it with great ease. He always seems to please me with something everytime I ride this great little horse.
After all is said and done, I still tell everyone, "I just love this little horse."

It's been awhile

Well, here we are in the beginning of Summer, and all is going well. Peanut and I have been doing trainings of many different avenues. From mounted stress training, evaluations, parade training, to training Peanut to work cattle. What an adventure we have had over the past few months.

Peanut and I traveled with our good friends, Janet and Rustin to work on some cattle. Rustin has a natural talent for working cows, but Peanut has to learn what to do with them. I was surprised that Peanut did not back away from them. He went right into the herd and followed my lead.

Mounted evaluations proved to me that Peanut was truly a good horse. We had a little difficulty with opening and closing the gate, but with a little more work, it will all come like second nature.

Then came some of the other obstacles.
Like the bag of cans drag. Peanut was rock solid. He stood there just perfect. Let me drag this

noisy bag of rattling cans at him and open a portable dumpster and drop the bag in.
We then moved on to the traffic barrels. Here I had to walk Peanut up to the barrels, grab one at a time, and stack them on top of one another.

Peanut was true performer at this. Not one issue at letting me lean way to one side, and pick up a heavy plastic barrel and carry it to the next one and stack it on top.

We then moved to the stack barrels. We have to knock the barrels done and then walk through them. This allows us to show our horses can manuver through tight areas and move obstacles with our horses, if the need should ever arise. Peanut not only knocked them down, but was impressive to watch Peanut step gingerly through very small tight areas with his legs and feet and not react. How can one not appriciate a horse, who is willing to give anything and everything to please the rider. Peanut and I may not aways see eye to eye. We may have our off days, but what friendship doesn't. He is truly my best friend in all aspects of the meaning.

Peanut can be a pistol

I have tried and tried to find a way to discrib my recent adventure on Peanut. Last weekend, the civilian mounted SAR unit, that I am a member of, did some stress obstacles. Peanut did every one of the obstacles without even having a second thought about they may just eat him alive. I just can not find one thing that sets him off. But, I know it's coming. I can feel it.
Well, Saturday, the day before Easter, I found it. We will call it, "working the gates".
Peanut does not like to work the gates. I can get him up to the gate, get it unlatched, and then try to open it. Yep, thats where Janet gets to laughing. I did not think I could get in such an ackward postion on a horse. Let me explain this in steps.
1. Peanut only wants to open the gate from his left side, facing the gate hinges, but refuses to move forward enough to pass his wonderful round rump past the post.
2. I lean over, unlatch the gate, and start to move it towards us.
Now, remeber, I can not let go of the gate, or I am disqualified.
3. Peanut then trys to face the gate, while I am still trying to hang on to it. Needless to say, I am having to stand up in my stirrups and lean as far forward over Peanut's neck and head, and not let go.
4. Peanut does not like to follow the ques from the position I am in now.
Now comes Janet's laughter as she is seeing my tuccus raised way up in the air, actually higher than my head is. Not a pretty site in my mind.
5. I am still trying to get Peanut in position to get through the gate and close it from the other side. Of course now Peanut decideds to back up away from the gate and as it come at him, he moves even faster backwards and I am still hanging on to the top rail.
Nope, not a pretty site.
6. I finally give up and let go. How many times can a team get DQ'd on one obstacle. Well, if it's Peanut and me, a lot.

I never laughed so hard at myself, as I did yesturday. I just know now, what I have to really really work on. I am thinking longer arms are in store for me.
Next weekend is CATTLE. WHEEEEE Haaaaaaa!

Peanut's Pasture Mate, Ike

Up north, here in Northern Lower Michigan, we tend to get a little slap happy from a long, long, long winter. We see glimmers of hope that Spring is not that far away. A couple of days in the 40's and low 50's, some rain, and then BAM, Mother Nature takes you back to the full force of Winter. But, we still manage to laugh.
On Sunday, March 8th, I took Peanut's pasture mate, who is a very large Belgian named Ike, up to my friend Janet's, to ride. Of course Peanut went as well. Ike is such a gentle creature and just a great all around horse. While I was there, Janet wanted to ride Ike. Well, Ike is use to just standing for most of the day and has not really had to work for the past 6 or more months. He is one of those kind of horses you can go out alone on, bath with no problems, trim his feet with out issues and just about do anything around him.
Well, Janet had a little issue with getting him to move for her. I have never laughed so hard at a person trying to get a horse to move, as I did this day. Poor Janet's legs. Ike just stood there.




Of course, Janet can be quiet the clown too! She then decided being Ike was not going to move, she would put forth the action as if he was moving at over a 100 miles per hour, then she puts the brakes on and as one can see from this next video, it was all laughter from there on out.

I often aske myself, "How does one obtain three wonderful horses, and several wonderful friend?"

Jolly Ball Fun

Ok, so we all know winter has been too long, and bordom sets in pretty easily. Peanut has been pretty bored and it shows when you look at my wooden fence, fence posts, and barn gates. He has been a busy little beaver. He is just keeping me busy, by helping me add things to Ron's Honeydo list. So to help break that bordom, I bought Peanut a Jolly Ball. It is made for horses to play with. I only had wished I had had my camera phone on, when I first gave it to him. He grabbed and was tossing it around like a kid would do. Once he tossed, and then went and got it. Tossed again and went and got it again. I walked out into the pasture and took it from him. I tossed it, he went and got it. I had some horse cookies in my pocket, so as a treat, I would give him one everytime he went and got the ball. Well, needless to say, He started to bring the ball back to me, and then he would get his cookie. Talk about a smart horse. I later went out and grabbed some short videos of him and the others in the pasture. He loves his hot pink Jollyball.

I have also noticed with Peanut, he trys to share his toys. From the paper box with Rustin to sharing his jollyball with Leaper.

Self taught Stress Training 101

Well the winter continues and with the warmer day, I felt a little riding would be nice. So off to Janet's arena I hauled. After riding around and around and around for a little bit, I felt a little stress training was needed. Peanut was doing very well at warming up, in fact he had a little coat of sweat on him after I removed his blanket once he was unloaded. So a small course was set up.

First there was the always there tee-tee totter, then a came the blue tarp on the ground. Janet tied some twine to a orange cone, so that we could lift it up and move it, drag it, or whatever. I tied some yellow horse eating caution tape to a plastic coal shovel, we stuffed some yellow horse eating caution tape in our pockets so we could trail it off of our horses. Then came the INFLATABLE SNOWMAN. Yep, we were set up of a little training.

You can tell Peanut and his buddy Rustin are young horses. While setting up our little stress course, these two decided it was time to play. Janet had an used cardboard box sitting in the corner, it had some crumpled up paper towel in it, nothing bad, just a box. Well, to say the least, Janet put the words to the fact. Peanut is very oral. There sits the cone and the box. Of course there stands Peanut and Rustin. Peanut finds the box, Rustin finds the cone. Peanut grabs the box by one of it's top flaps and begins flipping it up and down. Of course, Rustin decides he has to join in on this too! Janet and I just stand there watching and laughing at the little antics these two are involved in. Rustin rips a chunk off the box and decides it's something to eat. Janet managed to get the piece from Rustin and place it out of harms way. She then hands Peanut the orange cone. I did not think a person should be laughing as hard as I was. This was completely entertaining. Not only to us, but the horses as well.

Well after mounting up and crossing the tarp and poles, came the tee-tee totter. Rustin had no issues with this. Peanut just basically refused to completely go over it. He has done it many many times, but he just did not want to do it. So instead of frustrating him and myself we moved on. Janet and Rustin were working with the orange cone, that Peanut and Rustin had been playing with eariler. Rustin allowed Janet to pick it up and move it to the mounting block and then back to the fence. He did not like it touching his legs, but that is just something small we will help him get over. Peanut on the other hand, would not side pass up to the fence where the orange cone was, so I had to leeeeeaaaaannn way over and grab the twine. Of course Peanut did not have a care in the world where the orange cone was. In fact, I put in on Peanut's butt and rode around with it there for a minute or two. Ok, so it was more like 30 seconds, but Peanut took it like a every day task.

Now on to the plastic coal shovel attached to a long long piece of horse eating caution tape. Oh the dreaded caution tape. Every other horse I have owned knows that this caution tape has teeth 10 feet in length and it will gobble a horse up in one bite. Peanut just looks at it and says, "oh yeah, if you bite me, I will bite you back and play with your dead yellow caution tape body"

So I start off making Peanut back up, while the shovel drags in the dirt in front of him. I then turn him to the right, so that he gets use to the pressure of something touching his flank. After walking and trotting with the shovel dragging behind him on the left side, I have to get it to the right side. So I just switched hands and had Peanut drag it while it rubbed all over his right flank.

When I found he had no issue with this, now it time to see how he will react to it under his tail and the feel of pressure on the back of his legs. Now please note, caution tape break pretty easy with enough pressure. So I back Peanut into the yellow caution tape. The tape tightens, more pressure, my mind is thinking, he's going to jump forward, he's gonna jump forward. But then when you least expect it, Boom, Nothing. He does nothing. Dang, I was expecting a little reaction out of Peanut. Well since he is not reacting to that, now it's Rustin's turn.

Well, we can't complain to bad over how our horses are acting. We do have to remember they are still pretty young, but they are fast learners. Now it's time for the........................

INFLATABLE SNOWMAN!

Janet and I ride Rustin and Peanut up to this white nylon blob on the floor of Janet's arena. It just lays there lifeless. No movement at all. So I jump down, well I can't really say it was a jump down, as much as a lean forward, kick my right leg up and over Peanut's rump, and I can't not really explain in words how it must look to see me dismount my horse, but I know it is not pretty. I now am plugging in the snowman. Slowly he fills. Peanut is more interested in eating it, then reacting to it. Rustin is looking at it and saying in Penaut's voice, "WHAAAATTT THEEEEEE HEEEELLLLLL". As the snowman gets taller and taller, Peanut discovers there is a extra large carrot on the face of this being. FOOD is what he is thinking. "Can I Eat it?"

If you watch Peanut's expression in the video, he gives me this look as if to say,
"Ok lady, is this supposs to scare me or something? Get Real!"

Rustin looks at the snowman and looks like the thing is going to come after him.

After a few moments, Janet dismounts and is making the snowman wave it's arms, we both make the fabric make the noise that nylon does when you rub on it. Finally, Rustin is right there beside Peanut, smelling, tasting and rubbing on the snowman. Battle won; Horse 2, Snowman 0.

We continue to work both horses with the blue tarp on them and off them and work them with the wind sock flag that Janet keeps in her barn. These two horses may be young, but they have alot of brains in their heads and are willing to learn and test everything we put in front of them. Peanut just wants to eat everything I put in front of him, and he is not starving. He just likes to taste everything. So after 4 hours plus in the saddle, Janet and I decide to go outside in the daylight, the wind and the bitter cold. We ride down the road and find that we were a lot warmer back in the barn. It did not take us long to ride back inside and out of th elements of Northern Michigan. I feel we both conquered alot on Sunday afternoon. We won our little superbowl of stress training 101 redneck style.

And so, until next time, keep an eye open for the next blog.

Pasture Fun

As the sun shines today, I watch my horses at play. One can plainly see the child like antics of a young horse when you watch Peanut at his games. Of course halter tag is the biggest play time event, but with my horses not wearing their halters, I am not sure what to call it.
I do not know the reason, but at one moment all four horses are standing around the round bale having a snack, and then one by one, they all head to the barn. One by one they enter, disappearing behind it's walls which blocks my view. They are in there for a few moments, and all of a sudden out runs Peanut at full speed, followed by Leaper, my 25 year old Paint, then Ike, my 19 year old Belgian, then Noosh, my daughter's 18 year old Leopard Appy. The race is on, or at least thats what it appeared like. Peanut is in the lead and the rest follow Peanut out of the my little 20' x 70' run, which opens in to the pasture. At first it looked like they were going to stop at the hay bale, but no, they all make a run around it and head back to the barn. In one door, through the barn and out the other. Back around the hay bale, back to the barn, in the barn, out the other door and run again for the hay bale. They have created their own race track. I have never seen them do this, and it seems to be Peanut is leading this run. After about four trips to the barn and back to the hay bale, Ike finally gives up and wanders back to the hay bale, followed closely by Noosh. Now it's just Peanut and Leaper. As I stand watching this, I am found to be smiling ear to ear. What a sight. Peanut then begins to show off his talents. It is almost as if he is saying to Leaper, "Hey watch this". He takes off out of the run, full speed in to the pasture and does a small reining slide, does a rollback, heads back into the run, tags noses with Leaper and off to do it all over again. If only my batteries were charged for my camera, there would be a video attached to this post. But as luck would have it, all the batteries are dead.
I swear Peanut likes to have way to much fun and the older horses give up to early for him. I watch him begging Leaper to join in on some more fun, but Leaper would rather head to the hay bale for a mid afternoon snack. Peanut is now following Leaper, his head hanging low, like a child who has been told to settle down and act right. I can not see if his lower lip is hanging like he would be pouting, but his head is sure low.
Many times I have seen my horses play halter tag, or just kick their heels up, because they feel good, but I never witnessed such play as this today. I hope Peanut keeps his child like behavior for a long long time. It makes me feel young just to watch.

It must be Fate!

How does one explain something that just happens. It is really fate or chance. Well, I like to think of it as Fate.
I started riding horses in 2000, which is mid way through my life.
In October of 2008, a friend and I were traveling down to Reading, Michigan to check out some horses. I have had four horses in my life time, but never seem to be a team or partner with any of them. They all were good horses, but the shoe just did not fit the foot. Most of the time fear was in my gut. The fear of falling and becoming injured or even being killed, laid in the back of my thoughts. But that one day in October changed how I would ride a horse in the future.
As we travelled down the free way, we laughed, joked and talked of the type of dream horse we each wanted. Her dream is to win versatility, and mine was just to find a good horse I could trust. During one of our many chats, I had blurted out the statement,'"What the Heeelll?" I had to explain that this came from a character which I had seen on television and had fallen in love with the being. That being was Jeff Dunham's puppet, Peanut. I just love how this man can bring the puppet to life. Well with that brief description in place, I told Janet, wouldn't it be funny if I found a horse named "Peanut".
Well, we arrived in Reading and were prepared to ride as many horses as we could in two days. It was like going into a use car dealer and test driving all the hot rods the owner had on the lot. There were horses of just about every color, size, age, and level of training, that one could think of, or at least of what I could think of. Janet had her heart on wanting to ride this one little buckskin gelding named "Daisy Does Hollywood". She told me he has a confirmation to die for. Janet was told by the owner that she would not like the horse, as it did not have enough cow in it for her. Janet wanted to try him. As she was tacking up this little gelding, she asked what his barn name was. The owner said "Peanut". Janet and I just looked at each other and laughed. What would be the chances of one moment making a statement, and then later, hearing that the place you had traveled to, had a horse named Peanut.
I got to try a little buckskin mare, who did not like me at all. Pinning her ears at me while I removed her from the stall was the first indication. I tried not to take it to heart, but once in the saddle, this little mare, just was not wanting to work for me. As Janet rode Daisy Does Hollywood, a.k.a. Peanut, around the arena a few times, she soon expressed that besides his confirmation, there was nothing she liked about him. She asked me if I wanted to give him a try. I said sure. Of course I had in mind that if Janet did not like how this horse rode, neither was I. So, up in the saddle I go. First thing I noticed, I sat different on Peanut than I have ever sat on any other horse I had rode. I first walked him around the arena, then to a trot, and then to the lope. WOW, was all that came to my thoughts. Janet even noticed that I was actually sitting in the saddle and not getting dislodged every step the horse took. I had never had this feeling before, and thought that something was not right. But the more I rode him, the more I liked the ride. But I had many more horses to try. Janet and I rode several horses that Saturday, and on Sunday, I had came to the conclusion to give four out of the many a second ride. Peanut was on the list. I rode the chestnut mare, the buckskin mare, the sorrel mare, and Peanut.
I called my husband at home, six hours drive from where we were and told him about this wonderful little guy and how I was feeling while riding him. In fact, I was riding Peanut while I was talking to him and taking Peanut through some things that I am sure he had never experienced before. He conquered the obstacles like a champion. I so wanted to bring him so bad, but my hubby said no. I could only exclaim that while riding Peanut was like putting on your favorite pair of jeans. Peanut just felt so right. But Ron still said no. So, Janet and I left the farm with her new horse and headed home. My eyes were red and swollen and I was very disappointed that I had to leave that wonderful little ride behind.
Well, once home, the discussion began and the following Saturday, at 4 in the morning, I was on my return trip to Reading with my trailer in tow. I was going to go get my Peanut. Once there, I rode him again, my youngest daughter, who had traveled with me, rode him, and she found she liked the way he rode as well. I told the owner that riding him was like becoming melted chocolate on his back. I just melted on to Peanut. I knew he was the horse for me and I was going to take him home. I signed the contract and loaded Peanut in the trailer for the trip home. He traveled like a dream. Once home, I unloaded him and introduced him to my husband Ron. Ron could not believe how much shorter he was than the horses I normally had. I had my little Peanut. He settled in nicely with the others, and it appeared like he had been a part of my herd for the most part. Of course there was the ranking of order to deal with, but that only took about 15 or so minutes. That also was easier than any we had in the past.
Peanut was fitting right in.
As the weeks went past, I would haul Peanut up to Janet's to ride in her indoor arena. No matter what task I put this little guy up to, he performs well. The first time was to see how he would handle crossing a blue tarp on the ground. Of course most horses think that anything laying on the ground that can not be ate, has teeth and will eat them alive. Well, Peanut, just looked at it, and then decided, if I step on it, it can't bite me. He did awesome. Then came the twin size mattress, same thing, right over it, no problem. Then the tee tee-totter. OK, I thought, he might react on this. It moves under them, but Peanut just took it stride. As long as it was only with his front feet on it. But that soon changed. Peanut was soon crossing it with all four feet, and then I could get him just to stand on it, like a top on a trophy.
Well now the deep of Winter is here. Hauling and riding are just not as easy, but when we have good roads and I have the evening, I haul up to Janet's and ride.
I just love this little horse. He has brains and a super temperament. He allows me to do so much more than I would have every thought of trying on any of my other horses. He will let me swing a rope over his head, lope around the arena with a large tarp floating behind him like a cape, lay a 12 foot long piece of PVC pipe across his rump and ride him around with it balanced there, carry a flag, drag a light log on the ground, drag the PVC pipe on the ground, make noises in the PVC pipe, and he just does so well. Of course Peanut and I have a lot more training to do together and as we do this together, we learn to trust each other.
Some people might read this and call it just luck, but I feel it was Fate. I have found my little dream in a nut shell. I have my Peanut.