« December 2005 | Main | February 2006 »
January 25, 2006
Riding Weather
This winter has been very strange in terms of weather. We have had some great riding weather so far!
On Monday, Cheryl and I decided to see how our horses would get along if we rode them together in the arena at the same time. (We had been taking turns, since Kai had shown a dislike of Traz.)
Both of the horses performed perfectly. Kai was his usual calm and attentive self, paying attention to me and ignoring Traz. While we didn't put the two horses right up close to each other, they certainly shared the arena with no problems.
Kai looks like a perfect western horse with his spiffy "new" western saddle. I feel like Dale Evans with all the silver sparkles on the saddle and breastcollar!
We tried out our new reins and "training forks." Those are western style running martingales. Traz likes to toss his head, and this discourages it.
We had so much fun riding that is was getting dark before we dismounted!
In other news, we had a busy weekend. We spent time bowling with Ryan and Danielle and Pat (Danielle's brother.) That was great fun!
We attended a meeting of a reenactment group we were considering joining (which is now a remote possibility, due to the meeting being disorganized and just plain worthless.) We also went shopping with Ryan and Danielle at the outlet mall, and had dinner with Dave and Cheryl. And, oh, yeah-we went to visit Brian's brother Tim, his wife, Shawnna and their new baby.
Posted by Jessica at 12:05 AM | Comments (0)
January 20, 2006
Kai Update
Well, Kai is finished with screaming, and seems more inclined towards ignoring Traz...at least, now that he as asserted himself as the Head Honcho of the Pasture.
Traz was turned out with Kai last weekend without the knowledge of either myself or Traz's owner, and Kai definitely asserted his manliness-he tried to kill Traz! According to a witness (the stable owner), Kai chased his victim around and kicked and bit him numberous times, as well as causing him to fall and slide into the fence post, cutting his pastern in the process.
Eventually, they calmed down and Traz was able to be removed from the pasture so that his wounds could be doctored. It wasn't serious enough to require a vet, but Traz was very sore and scraped up for a couple of days.
I am mulling over whether to have Kai gelded. It is a risky operation at Kai's age, and could cause herniation or excessive bleeding. But it would eliminate the stallion hormones, though it might not change any deeply ingrained behaviour.
Fortunately, Kai now seems to mostly ignore Traz, and doesn't scream now. He is back to his calm self, and has never shown any agression towards me or any other human.
We do not plan to ever turn Traz or any horse out with Kai again!
Posted by Jessica at 12:24 AM | Comments (1)
January 12, 2006
Kai's New Buddy
Kai has a new buddy out at the farm, which may or may not spell trouble...
My friend, Cheryl, has been looking for a horse for her daughter and herself. She has been looking for a few months, and just this past weekend, we finally found a really perfect one. He is a 12-year-old Arabian gelding named RA Bay Traza, aka "Traz." He is bay, with three white socks and a star and snip. He has a really cute face, and a long mane.
Traz is very gentle and patient. He is perfect for Cheryl's daughter, Shannon, to ride on, and fun enough for Cheryl to enjoy.
Unfortunately, Kai did not take readily to Traz, and became very studdish (not surprising from a stallion.) Upon arrival, we put Traz in the riding ring next to Kai's pasture. Kai put on quite a show of manliness and some amount of aggression, which was scary to watch.
He couldn't get at Traz, fortunately, as they were separated by a board fence.
After a day or so, Kai decided he really liked Traz, and couldn't stand to have him out of his sight. This made it difficult to take Traz into the stable to groom him, as Kai would have a fit, galloping up and down the fence line, screaming for his buddy, and rearing.
Yesterday, we both took our horses into the stable, and Kai screamed the whole time, as he couldn't see Traz, who was in a nearby stall. I disciplined Kai for screaming.
Needless to say, after grooming Kai, I turned him back out to pasture, as there was no sense in riding him when he had no sense!
Traz was unperturbed by Kai's behaviour. We rode him just fine.
Today, I took Kai into the stable to groom him while Traz was being ridden. Kai was much better, and didn't scream once.
Hopefully, Kai will calm down and adjust to having a buddy, or else we will have to trade him in on a safer horse!
I don't want anyone getting hurt around Kai, as he is meant to be a family horse and I want my son (eventually)and the rest of my family to enjoy riding him, too.
Kai is normally such a calm and gentle horse that it really was a disappointment to have him react this way towards the new gelding. I had hoped to have a friend to ride with, as it's far more fun (and safer) to ride together than alone. Kai has been very safe by himself, but he isn't the perfect horse for me if we can't ride him in company.
Fortunately, the woman who sold Traz to Cheryl used to own Kai when he was about four years old, and says she would be interested in owning him again. She says she would find a gentle and safe gelding to trade for him if I'm interested, so we will see how Kai behaves over the next few weeks.
Posted by Jessica at 11:03 PM | Comments (0)
January 06, 2006
Choo Choo!
Derek talks about "choo choos" all day long! Here he is with his new Thomas toy, a gift from his Aunt Nancy!
Derek received loads of toys and some very nice clothes from lots of people. But what was really great was that he was such a good boy the whole holiday weekend, even though he went from house to house and had loads of excitement and very little naptime.
That is Aunt Amy giving Derek a ride on the train. Choo choo!
Derek can now say "Mama", "Dad", "juice", "nana"(banana), "snow", and "dog." And, of course, "choo choo!"
His photo identification is remarkable. At 18 months, he can identify family members in photographs, including aunts and uncles and his grandparents. He can also identify correctly all of the trains, tractors, helicopter, etc on the Thomas videos. If shown a photo collage of them all, he will correctly point them out if asked even though he can't say their names yet.
Posted by Jessica at 11:32 PM | Comments (1)
January 04, 2006
Derek's Happy Christmas!
Derek certainly had a lot to be happy about at Christmas!
My sister Nancy took this photo of Derek with his new toy doggie on Christmas morning. Later, I'll post a photo she took of Derek playing with his new ride-on Thomas train that she bought him. He just loves playing with his Thomas train toys!
We travelled around this past Christmas, and visited cousin Mary and her family on Christmas Eve (She was proudly showing off the brand new additions to their house-it looks great!) Then we visited Don, Amy and Nancy on Christmas morning, and went off to visit Doodah and Papa (Grandma and Grandpa, aka Brian's parents)later in the afternoon.
Derek was in great spirits the whole time, and enjoyed visiting with everyone, and unwrapping his presents. We are truly blessed with such a wonderful little boy!
Posted by Jessica at 12:50 AM | Comments (0)