Learner Becomes the Teacher

So this week I have been totally busy. My mom, step-dad, sis and bro came to visit us in Va. Perfect opportunity to teach my sister how to ride, or start to teach her how to ride. She(Mollee) is 12 years old and has only ridden Olly once. Luckily I have a trusty Chincoteague she can ride. She even brought her own chaps! I was so excited that she actually wanted to ride. She isn't much of a outdoor person. Dirt and Mo don't mix.

We started out with the basics, heels down, sit up straight and so on. She seemed to get it easily. We played follow the leader and set up some ground poles to walk over. We even did some trotting. At first I walked Olly over the ground poles.

 We walked slow since they were only like 2 ft apart. lol. Perfect Kiki stride though. She did quite well.

 On to learning diagonals and 2pt.

Since her balance isn't up to a consistant riders, we decided to sit the trot a bit. Again, not bad. To the ground poles!!! The first few times she went right over perfectly straight, but then Kiki started noticing that this kid isn't so on it. That is when the "pony" came out. Little innocent Kiki became the naughty Chincoteague. Dodging and trying to turn to the house.

I know Mo was getting irritated, but I thought it was great. Nothin' like keeping ya on your toes when your pony decided to do her own thing.
Olly on the other hand was bored beyond all compare. He walked with his head hung low and just tried to keep the slow pony pace. I did have him trot and canter to keep him thinking and I had him go over the coop a couple times. He seemed satisfied and so did I. It was an easy day for him.

On our walk back to the house we evaluated our session. Overall I think Mo did great! I think she had fun, although after looking at the pics she looked entirely too pissy to be happy, but I was reassured by her that she did indeed have fun. I really wish that she or I lived closer. I think that she would make a great little equesterian.

Olly's New Friend

Last Thursday we decided to go looking for a "real" friend for Olly. The goat didn't exactly click with him. She was afraid of the big red horse, as would I. I got on my favorite go to, Craig's List. First let me tell you about the problems with Craig's List. Most people that list on Craig's List are idiots. They have no clue how to spell, let alone sell something. Most of the time it is mostly crap that they are trying to sell and for way to much money. This is what I encountered last Thursday. The ad sounded great and the picture looked awesome. FOR SALE Chincoteague pony!! I jumped on it. First with email and then by phone. Of course they still had the pony! We head out to go take a look at "Kiki." After driving and hour and getting lost (the GPS isn't always accurate), we roll up to a nice house with TONS of animals. And I am not talking like goats and horses and cows. I mean monkeys, llamas and wallabys. I think to myself before I even get out of the truck, "this woman is nuts."
We get out of the truck and see this scraggly bag of bones tied to a lunge line in the side yard. By the coloration, this is "Kiki." My heart sank, not because I was disappointed to have a good pony gone bad, but to see all that this woman put into her other animals and yet her horses (yes, she had 2 others) were starving. All of them were like a 2. FYI normal horses are like a 5-6. This pony was emaciated. I wanted to buy her just to get her healthy again. The lady walks up to me an says in a chipper voice, "this is Kiki." I looked at her and while trying to hold back the profanity, said this pony is WAY too skinny, emaciated even. Her only response was well, I am so busy with the other exotics that I just don't have time. The kids are suppose to care for the horses. I feed them hay and whatever pasture they can eat. Well woman take me to see this wonderful "pasture" you are feeding. As I walk around the house I see this paddock, while large enough to house 2 horses and a pony was a complete shit hole. Literally. It looked like it hadn't been mucked in, well, forever. Who wants to eat grass next to a pile of crap. Oh, and the hay, orchard...grass hay, cow hay, CRAP, for nutrition. OK for fiber, but it is mostly cellulose. Nothing that a horse can live on. No wonder this pony and the other horses for that fact were so skinny. Next question: worming? Shots? NOTHING...she had the pony for 4 months and didn't even know what the other owners had given her. Give it up for the Craig's List genius! I had to have this pony, husband thought otherwise. In his eyes this little Chincoteague mare was a money pit. All I could see is my heart being ripped out of my chest.
Time to talk money. this woman must have needed some money, she wasn't budging on the price. $500. For what? An emaciated pony. Oh, and by the way the previous owners told this woman that Kiki was 12 years old...try closer to 20-25. Anyway, the only bargaining chip I had was the skinny thing, a big deal, but obviously not to this woman. Final deal: $400 and she delivers for free. DEAL!!!! For $400 I get an emaciated pony with months of "food rehab" and vet bills, wow, I made out like a fat rat...(can you hear the sarcasm?). Not to mention I had to deal with my husband. Thankfully he trusted my decision and gave me what I want, a common event in our house :) He soooooo loves me!

Friday morning was delivery day. Colton couldn't be more excited. The only people "allowed" to touch HIS pony was me and him....that's it. He waited by the window all morning until the trailer pulled up. We unloaded her and let her eat some grass while he sat on her back. He was in heaven. He is definitely my son.
Down the barn to get some food. I did some research on how to rehab a horse when emaciated. Start out giving 0.5% of their body weight for 5-7 days. I started with Alf cubes. No grains yet. We don't need a founder, too. Increase by 0.5% every 5-7 days until you reach 1.5%, then start adding grains. I chose a senior diet just because it is easier to digest and the fact that she is a senior. We are still on the first set of 5-7 days, so keep following on how Kiki's weight is improving in the future. ;)
Kiki is warming up to our life, and Olly is really warming up to Kiki. He has a GIRLFRIEND!!! Watch out Klein! Olly likes them big and small...lol!

Olly and I went out on a trail ride only a few day after we had Kiki. The trail goes down the road and behind the house. As we were walking down the road, he is just neighing and neighing, we all know how attached he gets to his friends. Kiki is neighing back, they totally miss one another. I mean, that is good, but I don't want it to get too bad. The say their good-byes and we are focused. We were only gone maybe 15 minutes, when a little Chincoteague neighs and it is all over. Nothing but amazing paiffe's and head tossing. If only he would give me this collection in the ring, without the head tossing of course. I get him calmed down and go for some cantering sets. Just one minute at first and then a 2 minute walk, another one minute canter and a 2 minute walk. Nothing big just starting slow, since he did have that 2 month break. We head back to the house and as soon as we are in site of the barn the neighing begins again. It was like they hadn't seen each other for a year. I let Olly walk up to Kiki, she is waiting for him at the gate,after dismounting of course, and she squeals and kicks out. MARES!! I want you but only when I want you. Typical! Oh well. they are happy and that is all I need.