~Riding Kat (movie!)

So I finally got one done of Kat! Yes she's been pretty awesome lately. I'm very happy with her. I even figured out how to get a good lope out of her!

So enjoy!

~Snow snow snow...

Hey ya'll! A while ago I was waiting and waiting for snow. We were starting to feel like winter had missed us. Well not anymore. We got several snows now in the last few weeks and well...I'm ready for spring.

The horses have been doing really good in it though and I rode 5 times in the first two days of snow we had. I was really looking forward to pulling my sisters around in the snow with the horses and also to try snowboarding or skiing behind a horse.

The first day we rode in the snow it was so deep we ended up riding up and down the road in front of our house, which was plowed but still had snow covering it. It was so fun since we hardly ever ride on our rode.

Normally people drive anywhere from 55 to 65 on it, so it is not very safe for horses. I've done it a few times but found out that some people just ignore you and buz right on by without slowing much or giving me extra room. So yeah I don't like riding on roads much.

But since hardly anyone was out driving we rode the whole way to the end of our road which is somewhere around a mile and a half from our house. I rode Dunny and pulled Jess on a sled and Marcy rode Hank. It was an awesome experience. Mostly we walked or trotted but on some on the more level spots we cantered. There was always that thought in the back of my mind "What if we hit an icy spot?" but we didn't really have any problems. I don't think I give our horses enough credit for what they can do. They are so much more athletic than I think they are.

I love to snowboard and had seen some skijoring movies so I decided to try except with my board cuz I'm a lot better with that than I am with my skis.

Dad was so sweet and came out to pull me. It was actually harder than I thought. I think it was because it was plowed but still really bumpy.

Also I did a medieval dress-up with Kat which was so fun. Yes I still like dressing up. Hehe!

It was really deep though, most places the snow was up to Kat's knees. She was very ready to get back to the barn, which didn't help in taking pictures. She was always moving! We had Hank along to keep her company but patience has never been her strong suite.

                       Note to self: Need to work on getting Kat some patience.

All in all I have had some very good times in the snow with the horses, but I'm ready for spring! And grass, and warmer weather, and dry ground, and no mud, and...etc. (End of thinking capacity.)
 But I'm also reminded of the verse "In everything state I am, therewith to be content." So I will try to be content till spring and maybe even be thankful for all the snow we still have!

~Just been riding

I wrote up this post about a week ago then never did anything about it. So here it is. Just some pictures and an update on what I'm doing with my horses.

All the photos were taken a couple weeks ago by my lovely sister Tashia ;)

Yeah I've been riding! 

Jess was out riding with me too.

And yes I'm wearing sneakers! I like them better for riding bareback. (Don't ask me why)

Doesn't this look cool?

We were having a bunch of fun riding around bareback. As I'm sure you can see! I rarely ride Dunny bareback (except when I bring them in from the pasture) so I thought it would be fun to do it then. And you know then you don't have to tack up! LAZY!! I actually had one near disaster while doing it. I was cantering around and somehow got a bit out of place. So I tried to right myself and must have tensed up while doing it, because he took off! The bad thing was that I still wasn't in place to stop him and he headed right for a corner! As you can imagine I was trying to hang on while pulling back while prepare for a sliding stop or a quick turn. It wasn't looking good. Thankfully he just stopped and I threw myself around his neck to stop from flying over his shoulder. So it ended up OK and yes I went and did more cantering but with no more catastrophes! And also Tashia wasn't watching so no real embarrassing pictures! 

I've been riding Kat too and she's doing great! I started lunging her before I ride and it helps soooo much! A couple days ago I did her first round penning with her and riding her after that was amazing! She was so much more relaxed and was starting to extend a bit more in her canter. When riding, I was having problems with her cantering or lack of it. (before I started lunging and round penning her) She would canter a few steps and that was it. And just those few steps were so bad that I felt like a sack of potatoes flying around. I don't think she knew how to canter with a rider on her back. 

Before I had gotten her she hadn't done any trail riding but I've been taking her out and have never had her try anything! No bolting, no skitzing out, not even any panicky moments. She just takes everything in stride. Thats pretty amazing to me, knowing how little training she has had. She's just so calm! Its not because of me either, she just has such a great temperament. I love my lil gal! 

 

~Are you willing?

We are all faced with this question. Are we willing to be used by God? Where ever He leads, will you follow? Where ever He sends, will you go? Do you know that if you are a Christian you have already answered this question? When you accepted Christ into your heart and life you agreed to let Him be the guide. So are you living by that? 

What do you consider is being used of God and serving Him? Helping out an elderly person? Giving money to a needy family? Yeah those are definitely good things, but if that is all you do, you're not entirely allowing God to use you. Both those examples were physical needs. So what about spiritual needs? How often do you minister to people's heart and soul instead of their bodies? There are sick and dying people everywhere. The problem is that there are even more spiritually sick and dying people out there going to hell every day. Yes, God does ask us to help others sometimes by...mowing their lawn, but really what lasting good is that if we don't stop to take the time to encourage them and show them we care? 

 

 Jesus asked Peter "Do you love me?" And of course Peter said "Yes." How did Jesus respond? He said "Then feed my sheep." I don't think He meant physically.  

A Higher Calling

I'm here for a purpose, I'm here with a calling

To encourage the week, and lift up the falling

God's counting on me to trust and obey

And with His help I'll go all the way

I'll give my mouth to being His voice

My hands I'll give to His sovereign choice

My feet to go where He wants me to be

My eyes to have pity on lost souls I see

My heart to those that are hurting within

And show truth to those that are struggling with sin

So Lord I ask for strength from you

To continue my journey, your will to do

~Meet Kat!

WARNING-horse topic ahead! 

Hey I FINALLY got some good pictures of Kat! I rode today and thought it might be fun to tell ya'll about it seeing as I haven't written anything real horsie lately.

For you who don't know much about Kat, we just got her this past fall, and soon after, she got sick for a while. So I couldn't ride her much, but now I'm trying to get to her. When we got her she was 8. As far as training went she had 30 days put on her as a 2 year old and hadn't been ridden since! But I right away felt very comfortable with her. She's pretty green but because she doesn't get worked up about much I tend to think of her as more of an older experienced horse. (Which she isn't!)

She's more of a light built horse which I'm really liking. I'm used to the more short and stocky quarter horses. I love wrapping my arms around her neck and it feels like your holding on to a foal because she's so delicate like. I don't know how tall she is exactly, somewhere around 14.2 probably. Maybe a little taller than that but not by much. 

She kinda has mule-ish coloring but I think she's gorgeous! For the pictures I had to have Jess hold her because she wouldn't just stay there! That is one thing I really need to work on: she was never taught to just stand and do nothing. Tacking up is a bit of a chore. OK she's not bad but I'm used to my horses just standing there. I guess I'm spoiled!

Anyway today Jess and I rode and it was beautiful out! As you can see I used my barrel saddle. I've had a hard time finding a saddle to use on her. My cutting saddle is way too big, so I've tried one of our trail saddles and I had a hard time staying sitting in that one. (Kat work so much off of your sitting postition, which is goo and bad. When I get out of place she comes to a screeching halt whether I'm ready or not!) Finally I just went to a barrel saddle. I rarely use them any more because they are so impractical for more of the working horse style. Rollbacks and sliding stops just don't go well with the high rise fronts! (Although barrel saddles do hold you in better than others, which is why I started using one on Kat.) The problem is with them is that they sit you in a forward position and our horses are trained with body language where you need to be sitting down and back more, not up and forward. 

I started out just walking mainly in circles working at bending and keeping her attention on me. She's been getting feed and weight builder lately and when I swung up on her I knew I was in for something. Just not sure what! She had more energy than I've ever seen her with, but she still behaved very well. After warming up a bit I rode her into the roundpen and started trotting around. She was more than willing to comply. Then I decided to get down to business and ask for a canter. I haven't done a lot of cantering with her yet so trying to keep her at a canter is sometimes a bit hard. I get as much of a workout as she does! Anyway I squeezed with my outside leg, kissed, and picked up the inside rein just a bit, and she took off! Crow-hops came immediately after and then a mid air lunge! Nothing real big or crazy like and I was expecting it so it wasn't a big deal. I pulled her in a tight circle and banged her with my outside leg a bit. (I don't use spurs with her right now so it was just my heel.) I wasn't rough but I wanted to make it plain and clear that behaving like that is not acceptable. I know she is green and inexperienced with a lot of energy at the moment, but she needs to still be shown what is right and what is wrong. There was a little bit more of that then next time I asked her to canter but not as bad. After a while she started evening out and didn't just bust forward as much! I'm happy with how she did and can't wait to ride her again. I just keep imagining the day when I'll be able to let anyone ride her. Which actually... probably... isn't that far off! Yay!