Well I rode Ziggy today.   Tore my arm up getting on.  That is really weird, what can you do that can make you tear your arm up like that?  Oh well, that is why I am paying that orthopod all the big bucks to fix        At any rate, he rode okay but he wanted to be a little pushy, must be from having all that time off.  HorseHappy, he looks handsome in the pulling collar you picked out for him at the state show.  He looks like one of those horses in the catalogs from out west on those working ranches.  I am hoping that he is going to be okay in a few more rides but i have to try to ride Bud and the arab too.  There is a lady coming on Wednesday from Dayton Ohio to try the arab for her kids.  She is a vet so hopefully I can get him sold for Laura.  He is cheap for what he is, sure wish my neighbor could get past him being an arab as he is the perfect horse for her daughter.  Don't you just love horse prejudice?   Oh well I am looking forward to getting on my horses and being able to haul some finally, If I can get my darn shoulder fixed soon

Told ya he would. Thank you, thank you very much
Well today was a georgous day!!! Absolutley wonderful. Great day for a ride too. I rode Junior this afternoon. He did pretty well too. Boy Val, you sure did teach him to flex. He flexes real well to the left. Right around to your toe. The right side took just a little more effort. We just did light stuff. Walk, trot, circles around my leg, backing up. He did pretty well too. No attitude or anything. We rode around his pasture and trotted  up and down the fence line. Your right about the bit thing Val. He spent most of his time trying to get the bit under his tounge. I used Dashers wonder bit on him. When we came up the path, Comet and Baby were standing by his fence. He looked but did not bolt nor did he make any sounds. I just kept talking to him telling him to focus on me. Now, had it been Dasher, that may have been another story. I was very happy to be on him. It felt good!!!!

Ring snaffle, sweet iron mouth or a small mouth real gag bit.  He likes light hands, will lope and can come around but if you try to man handle his mouth he gets very luggy.  I think the wonder bit would be way more bit than he needs, not many you can say that about are there?   

Oooo, that means I have to deal with the spiders to get my O-ring. Yuk!!! The wonder bit was handy and in the trailer. No spiders in there.

check out this website Little Miss natural

www.pestproducts.com   go to the part that tells about the cobweb eliminator, I think I may even order a bunch of that stuff.  Actually if you buy the Stall Fresh Powder, comes in a white plastic bag, it is food grade diatomactious earth and I have sprinkled it around the barn and found all kinds of killed little crawley bugs, supposed to be the same way the natural wormers work.  My nephew from Canada told me that is what they kill the bugs in the apartments with up there because you can't even buy raid in the store.  Not me, I can't live without my pesticides and all that hateful stuff.   

Thanks for the web site. They have a section on Brown recluses and that is what is trying to take over my barn. I kill two to three a night!!! They are right about the bug spray you get in most stores. They don't work well. I went threw a big can of that stuff (by Ortho) in one night. About the only thing I was sure was going to die was me. That stuff is an aerosol and I bet it is not healthy to breath. It killed a bunch of the baby's and some of the adults but they are back. I have to be real careful since they have now invaded my hay bales. I saw three tonight as I was getting the girls thier hay. Trust me when I say I know they are brown recluses. The spray stuff did kill the moster (I think) as I have not seen it since. Sucker was teh size of a half dollar. It is only through the grace of God I have not been nailed by one of those suckers yet.  I carry around my spider killer (the pink sweat scrapper I got at state) and smack them every time I get a chance too.

I have had luck with bombing my house and basement.  I put off 2 in the basement and 2 downstairs and 2 upstairs every year in the fall.  I spread Diazinon stuff around the grass in the yard & put Stall Fresh granules from TSC around the baseboards and outside edges of the house and barn.  I also fog the barn on a semi regular basis, really fog the grass outside.  squeeters haven't been very bad this year since I have been doing that.

Am going to try to ride the Arab tonight and then all 3 on Tuesday.

horsehapppy did u notice if the spiders carry their babies on their back?  Do they nest or are they hunters?  My hubby used to do pest control he was thinking you might be lucky and have only Wolf spiders.  He said it is very hard to buy anything without a license that will take out brown recluse.  Lots of stuff says it will but they are not easily killed.  You gotta get something with residual effects.   that will zap them.

Yuck!  Spiders!

I ended up getting to go on a last min trail ride on Sunday to Pike Lake.  We had a good time and Scout for the most part behaved him self.  He is getting better in a group of horses, not acting all studly.  I'm happy with how he is coming along!  I'm going to try and ride (starting tomorrow, have a family b-day party thing tonight) everyday again.  There is a barrel race in Wilmington at the Co fair grounds this weekend.  Scout needs to get out and see some diffrent sites.

Val I'm sorry you are hurting your arm.  It suck to be in pain!  Especially when it keeps you from doing something you love!  I was wondering if you still had the Arab!  Have you had many bites on him?

HH- Glad that Junior did so well for you!  Thats great!  So what are your plans for him?  Will you ever barrel race him?  Or is he just going to service the ladies!

I wish they were just wolf spiders. Them I can deal with. These are brown recluses. No, they don't carry the babies on their back. They have small off colored egg sacs all over the place. There are hunters too. Not to mention they have about chased all the other type spiders away. I don't even have grand daddy long leggs in the barn. Your right, they are hard to kill. I think one of them even enjoyed the stuff I was spraying them with. It looked at me like, "That is some good stuff. Got any more?". I was killing them and putting them in a jar (until I know they were dead) and looking closely at them. They are the fiddle backs. I saw taht web sight Val posted and as sonn as I can swing it, I am going to get some of that stuff. I am getting to be paranoide about them. I just have to make sure that I don't kill everything else in the barn trying to get rid of the spiders. I have two barn kittins right now and don't want to exterminate them too. Not to mention Nala (the raccoon) has her babies coming through right now. They are maily in the feed room (of course) so I am just real careful about what I grab in there. If it falls to the floor, I don't pick it up until winter. They seem to hybernate in the cold months.


Nic, as far as Junior goes. I really want to barrel race him. It kind of depends on how he acts though. He is a dream to be around here but I don't know if he could be trusted out in public. If nothing else, he will be here for my girls. If I ever do haul him, I would have to have someone go with me. I don't know if I would feel safe taking him any where by my self at this point. He is not crazy or anything like that, I just don't want to take any chances of getting him, me or anybody else hurt.

  Thats how I felt with Scout.  I felt scared to take him anywhere!  Just got to be a hastle and I thought ya know he would be a great gelding!  He was smart and willing!  Best desision I ever made was to have him cut!  So much easier to deal with.  Even day to day things at the barn!  Studs are so unpredictable!  But don't get me wrong if I had a bigger place and the right stud prospect came along I would own another one!  Just too much of a hastle at my place!  No place to keep outside mares, no way to seperate them, aaaahhhhhh!   Sorry guess I went on alittle rant there for a sec!

Anyway!  Hope to see you at some races this winter!  That will be fun!

Well, I had a wierd day yesterday. Full of ups/downs. I worked Sissy, Dasher and Junior yeasterday and I can say that they all did pretty good. For Sissy;'s first day in the round pen, she did well. She is gonning to be a hard headed mare though. Not dumb, just hard headed. It took her about 20 min or so to get all of her running, playing, jumping atround out before she was ready to listen to me. Once she was done being piss and vineger, she listened pretty well. She did great with the idea of going to the trailer, being tied, letting me clean her feet and getting splint boots put on. She was a little unsure about the cars comming out of nowhere (going down the highway) and would jump (in place) every time one would go by. After I was done I let her graze in the yard and she was getting use to them. She would still flinch, but not raise her head to stop grazing. Dasher did just fine. Her work section went pretty quick since she is so well trained. I just worked her through her gates and reconfirmed the voice ques. Junior did pretty good too. He had to understand that when it is work time, it is not time to see where the mares had been. He figured that out pretty fast and had a good work out. I had to keep reminding him to keep his head and nose off the ground while working. He did though. He gave me his full attention and never made a sound. Of course I cheated a little bit. I had the mares in the barn eating while I was working him, so he could not see anybody. That was the up part of the day. The down part was that while I was working Dasher, he broke two strands of the hot wire. He broke them in two diffrent places too! I know he got shocked in the process (I saw him) and he did still stay in his pen with the top wire being in place. I just had to go and fix it when I was done. The other down part is I got Baby and was cleaning her up. If her back legs are any indicator, she is not in foal. Look inside her back leggs (towards the ankels) and it looks as though she has come back in heat. Not that she has ever shown any signs of it but some mares are like that and she is not an easy mare to tell. She is not like Dasher and overly enthusiastic when she comes in. The only way I will know for sure is to have the vet check her. He is out of town right now at the world championship show in Louisville Ky. Maybe in a few weeks, I will be able to have him check her. That means getting her back in the trailer though. Not something I look forward to trying to do.

AAAWWW HH!  That is so sad to hear Baby might not be prego.  I know how much you were wanting her to be.   I am happy to hear that Junior did well for you!  I think it's a stud (ex) thing, Scout loves to look and smell the ground!  I sometimes have to get after him when we are trail riding cause he always wants to smell the poop on the trails! 

I got to ride last night my self!  I am very happy with how Scout is doing!  I can canter him and have his nose turned to the inside!  I can push him both ways off my leg at a canter!  I can go big circle, little circle with no problems!  One way he is better than the other but still is not that bad!  he is doing alot better on his whoa, and backing!  He has such a long stride, and is so smooth at a lope!  I have not pushed him for speed at all.

I rode Sassy too last night!  She is diffrent than Scout but is doing great tho for the amount of time we have on her!  She is alittle harder to get to move off my legs but is getting there.  When I do smaller circles with her she really feels good, like she is getting down and turning.  She loves Whoa!  I think she will be a better turner than Scout but I think he will be faster.  Even when she is in the pasture she just lopes along, she never "gets after it" like Scout does.  This little mare loves to canter, and is full of muscle, she is tough!  Don't tell hubby I'm talking nice about his horse!

I'm taking both of them to Smoke Rise when I go over Labor day, so gotta get them whipped in shape!

Ziggy don't play smell the ground when I am trying to work him, causes him to get his little hind end lunged off.  On the other hand he is a real challenge to ride as he is always thinking of ways to try to outsmart the rider.  I think it is just with me because I have never seen him act like that with Gary, and come to think of it he never acted like that until Gary rode him for a while last year.   

I love a horse that never really gets on it out in the field playing, shows how smart they really are.  Your husband may have the fast one, my 2 best barrel horses were the laziest horses I ever saw out in the field playing and were very very lazy to ride and work.  The did now when it was time to run after a while and those kind are hard to find.   But I won't tell your hubby you are talking nice about his horse. 

I need to try to get Ziggy to stay collected when I ride him, he likes to flatten out and that drives me crazy.  Gary Snider started that stuff and he has been known to let his horses get that way and work off then front ends.  I hate it.