Round three of Summer 09 training extravaganza

Vixen is now taking her turn at the trainer's. I traded her for Hammer yesterday.
I am pretty sure Vixen has never been in the trailer, but she willingly hopped right up in there Sunday morning. And thank God for it, since it was already 90 degrees at 9:30 a.m. when I was loading up for the big switch.

Vixen's big brother Voodoo was the first one to go to the trainer this season, and he did well. Vixen is much more self-confident, so it will be interesting to see how she gets along. She is a level-headed sort. Her most famous experience is probably when she was a baby and got a bucket stuck on her head in the pasture. What a hoot she was trying to get it off, and taking her stuck head to everyone she knew to get them to take it off. Eventually her mother brought her to me, to have it removed. I like smart horses.


Obviously, her daddy is Sly. Her dam is Wilson's Foxy Gal, an own daughter of Doc Wilson, and out of a daughter of Freckles Playboy. Third dam is by Fox Easter. Like almost all of my horses, she is HERDA N/N, and will be for sale when she gets home from the trainer in a couple of months.

Target is settling in

This photo of Target in his stall at the new trainer we are trying out makes me a little sad. I think he looks forlorn---but I know he was not, so I don't know why it makes me sad. Just a sap, I guess.

Here he is demonstrating his number one interest--good hay. They had the most beautiful alfalfa hay, and he was all about it.

I have had my first update on him. He had his first ride on Thursday, and was a little spooky about having a leg thrown over him, but had a relatively uneventful turn around the round pen. He even backed a little. I guess he has not forgotten everything of the little he learned last fall, but his nerves are still there. These are a lot of big changes for a young fella in a short time, so I know he will be fine. We are going to see how things go with him, give him 30 days and reevaluate from there.

The return of Radar

New and improved with skills!

We fetched Radar from the Secret Weapon this afternoon. He is looking great, and has a great start. No spook, no buck, no wierd things, but a distinct thread of lazy in him. That is not a huge problem for me at all, as he clearly has all the parts to make it work, and just needs more time on him. He is stopping pretty hard already (no wonder, stop is easy, thus appealing to his lazy side), and he side passes all over the place, backs a little crooked, but he will get there.

I of course took nine jillion pics but will try to refrain from posting too many and making you all crazy. Once I got home and started editing pics, I had the strangest urge to ride him myself--so I did. This probably is not significant to anyone but me, but I rarely ride the babies--I make Barry do it, and then I ride them later. I am not a brave soul. But I wanted to do it, so I did, and while I was riding, I realized that this was the first Slybaby I had ever ridden. This makes for a pretty big day, and since it is not 1oo degrees, I may very well ride Slygirl tomorrow. We took Hawkeye to trade for Radar, and I have really high hopes for him. He is all around a stronger, more athletic horse, so I am excited to see what comes of his time away at Camp Secret Weapon!

Another training update--they just keep coming

Last nite, I talked to the Secret Weapon about Radar's progress over the last week. It was a pretty funny conversation. First thing I learned was that the Secret Weapon's wife won a dollar betting if he would buck. He did.

The funniest part is that the Weapon says he will not GO. Lazy as the wind, evidently. He can get him going, trot a few steps, then stop and look around. He evidently does not care what you do to him, he is conserving his energy.

Today he is scheduled to get a little coercion---the Weapon says he will be fine, he is just not signed on to the plan to get up and go like he likes them.

Stay tuned!

Squeaklet's big Debut

What a crazy night! Squeaklet went to this Wild Horse Ministries colt starting thing sponsored by Cowboy Church (well obviously, I went too as she does not so much drive). Paul Daily is the dude.

They asked for an unhandled two year old and everyone knows ALL of mine qualify for that! He started her like pretty much all of them do, by letting her decide to take up with him, which did not take long. He immediately went to aggravating her with the tarp- or maybe I should say, trying to aggravate her. She just did not care. It was the wildest thing. It was fun to hear everyone say they don't even own a horse that would have put up with the tarp treatment, let alone a baby two year old. Afterwards, Paul told me that he has done 917 of these things, and herlack of reaction was rare. I was so proud!

After her saddling, she set to bucking and bellowing like a stuck pig- she sounded like a whale in labor, the sounds coming out of her. It was a riot because it was so totally unexpected. She was ANGRY at that saddle! She gave him a touch of the same treatment, but settle down pretty quickly.

He ended by making her bow, and then she laid down and rested while he finished his sermon.

It was so much fun, I was so proud of her, and Paul was a great preacher. Sometime I think the analogies preachers use at these things are so corny, but he did not come across that way at all, and I really enjoyed him. I cannot wait to get the CD of the thing in the mail, I suspect I will re-live that bellowing bucking thing over and over again for comedic relief!

Now I am even more excited for her to go to the trainer for real, which will happen in September when it has cooled down some. She grows on me more and more every day, so I hope she sells soon or it will be even harder that is always is to send one to a new home.

The good and the bad of Susan's training program--as told by Slygirl

These geese are what is making her life hard--Susan says they have come to an understanding but it sounds more to me like Slygirl has decided to ignore them, and the geese have decided to not torture her. They agree to disagree I think. Hey whatever works!

And this is her reward after her lesson for the day--water hose drinking. It always cracks me up to see them do this, as it seems like they bite at the water, and this was a great picture Susan got.

So another day without significant incident!

This is almost surreal

This is pretty cool--my first hard evidence that Slygirl has not done something crazy like kill herself or Susan, since I dropped her off at the trainer last week. She has been there just a hair over a week, and has come to an understanding with the geese, and had her first solo flight tonight. She has been sat on with someone leading her until now, and this time, she did it all by herself.

I realize that most people do not judge how training is going by whether all the parties to the transaction are still alive, but I have had some crazy things go wrong in training ( a broken pelvis on Gypsy, for example), so to see them getting along so well this early does my heart good. I am just about to pop with pride at seeing my first Slybaby with a rider--WOW.

Now I cannot wait to see what kind of athlete Susan thinks she will be, but I am mostly thrilled that Slygirl is taking things well and not digging her feet in and sulling up like she has been known to do when she is not satisfied with the agenda.

GO SLYGIRL!

She is already rolling!

I love my updates from Susan about my silly horses. She is already moving right along with Slygirl--she has already been saddled and is accepting that just fine. She is still working on goose-proofing her, but she is making progress---you never know when you will need that little skill!

Slygirl goes to the trainer!

Well it has started--I dropped Slygirl off with Susan to have her started last nite. This is the first Slybaby I have sent to training, so this is big stuff for me---now is when we find out if he is the sire I believe he is. This filly is nothing like either of her parents in temperament, which concerns me some, as they are two of my best natured, obedient horses.

I put off having her started until this year as she was just too little last year--that happens with some of Gyro's kids, I have no idea why. But it was finally time to pull the trigger.

I know she is in the right hands with Susan--she will discipline her but be patient with her. Slygirl is one you have to convince that she wants to do what you say--you cannot force her into anything, and that is right up Susan's alley. She does a wonderful job with young ones.

Cross your fingers that they mesh well and Slygirl is all that she should be--just dialed back a notch, perhaps!

Are you looking at my butt?

I think that is what Rondee is saying here...she looks a little suspicious. Then again, from what I hear, she always looks that way at her trainer! These are the first pics I have seen of her since she went there March 1 or so. She is going to take a time out from training at the end of this month, to grow some more, and mature mentally..but if she thinks she is going to be on vacation, she has another think coming!