Spinner 's First Show

I have to share these two pictures! This is Spinner, aka Wonder Pony, aka Mr. Dr. Prof. Love.

Yesterday we took him to his very first horse show. He was entered into the Walk/Trot beginning horse and the W/T beginning rider classes. He won 3rd in both classes. There were 10-15 people in the class!


Today we completely clipped the Wonder Pony. I wish we would have gotten it done before the show! Oh, and he stood there for all of it, falling asleep. I guess someone forgot to tell him it was his first experience with the clippers!

Here are the winners!


Here is a reminder of what he looked like on his first day at our house...

A Saddle B(r)itch Rides in the Star Parade

So here is one of my B(r)itchy friends riding her horse Bijon (okay, I don't know how to spell his name.... somebody let me know and I will edit this!)

She has been working hard to get her horse "parade worthy". I am so proud of her!



You go Denyce! Keep up the great work!

Three Amigos

A couple of weekends ago Lyn and I took our "Two-Year-Olds" out to another show. Tom took Star into the ring and Lyn showed Doll. Cheish had the opportunity to show a cute little half Arab yearling named "Cricket" in his very first class.

It was also Tom's first time to take a horse into the ring. He did a great job just relaxing and letting Star be who she is. Here they go! Lyn and Doll are just ahead of Tom and Star.

Unfortunately, Star thought she needed to stand backwards in the line- up!

Doll took first over Star. Both horses and their people had a great time.


Cherish had a great time showing Cricket. He was the only horse in his class. He wasn't too sure about being in that big 'ole arena all by himself! But, for his first time out he handled himself pretty well!

A Guest Blogger Writes About His Horse....

I usually don't write on the blog. In fact I never have. But I am really missing my horse
today. As I am writing this, tears are coming.

I can't say much, but he was my friend. We taught each other about pretty much everything. Becoming close to a horse, or even any animal, will teach you much about life and about yourself. If you truly become close to a horse, you life will never be the same. Honest. I never had a horse before, or any other kind of animal. When we brought him home, I was wondering what in the world we were doing. We was supposed to be Char's horse. But he and I hit it off. We were the same personalities. Peas in a pod. One of kind. Buds.

We brouht him home when he was 2 years old. Char wouldn't let me sit on him till he was 3. And thereafter we could only walk, but that was fine with me. I never sat on horse before, all fit and wide. He had a real slow stride from side to side. So I learned to sit on his back, without falling off. I learned to move my hips with his. Move as he does. The horse and you become one in a sense.

A few months later I started to trot. That was a very different experience. We learned together, both of us. When this happens, your horse and you connect in ways that just creep on you without notice. Now, here I am crying over my horse.

Finally I got to lope on him. That was rush, not only for me, but for him too. He didn't like to lope much, unless it was his idea. But this was an area that Ted and I disagreed much on. But when we got our heads together, it was great.

We went on a few trail rides together. We did a few play days together. We did a clinic together. I got bucked off him a few times. I got bucked off him once at a play day. I was riding out in the arena, getting warmed up. He was just feeling good and gave a happy buck. At that time I was still learning to ride. I couldn't stay on. I came off him right in front of God and everybody. I rode him bareback and fell off a few. We did stuff together. We learned together.

I will miss my great friend Ted. He is a good place now. Through the high prices of hay and other circumstances, I decided to sell him. Hopefully I will be riding Star next year. But I will alway remember Ted. I will always have fond memories of him. Don't joke about me or my horse. Those are fight'n words. If you do, you just don't understand, and probably never will.

First Ride of the Year

Went on my first trail ride of the year. I love going down the trail and so does my horse Delight. She just marches right down the trail. I bet in her younger days she might have been a good endurance ride!

I took the girls and their horses along. This was Spinner's first time ever out on the trail. He was a champ. You would never guess that this was his first time out ever. Once again he proved his weight in gold!


I was in heaven riding with my girls on their very own horses. I am so proud of them. They did all of the work, handling their own horses. All I had to do was get my own horse ready.

This is one of my favorite things in the world to do....

A Loss for Words

I have been sitting here for 15 minutes or so because I am at a loss for words.

Incredible, I know.

I enjoy my horses so much. I feel so grateful to have them in my life again. There were so many years that went by when I was busy with other things. Needful things. Wonderful things. Things that I wouldn't change or give up for the world; education... marriage... my children.

But my horses are something that I find feeds my soul. This evening working Star in the round pen and brushing her and hand grazing her in the yard helped to wash the worries of the world off of my shoulders. Riding my Delight into the yard bareback and in a halter to graze for a while renewed my strength.

I am so lucky, so blessed, so happy.

Thanks God for giving me horses.

Crazy Ideas About a New Registry

The other day on the Horsetraining 101 forum we were discussing some of the illogic that the fringe anti slaughter fanatics use and I suddenly had a brainstorm. Maybe it is just as illogical as what I was accusing others of being, but I thought I would copy it here.

What if there were a registry for NFS - "Not for slaughter" horses?

Let's charge a fairly high price to have peoples horses branded and registered. Just for grins, lets say it will cost 1000.00

The brand will be a numerical one like the BLM uses. And maybe we will put an ID chip in the horses neck too. or maybe just a specific brand indicating the NFS status and presence of the microchip.

All of the NFS purchaser's contact information will be put in the data base, including what to do if the OP (original purchaser) cannot be found, or is deceased.

It would be up to the OP to keep his information updated. Maybe there could even be an online data base where he couldn't see the future buyer's info, but could update his own.

Future buyers of the horse would transfer the horse's registration (for a much smaller fee), but the all of the previous owners' info would travel with the papers.


Whaddya think?

....The NFS deals specifically with what happens at the end of the road for the horse

...The horse would not be slaughtered, period. It would take too much paperwork and would also allow a loophole for slaughterhouses to get a hold of these animals. An unwanted horse with a NFS brand would be euthed and rendered, period. Unless the OP has specified (and maybe paid extra for? ) euth and cremation, etc. The funds would already be in place for these procedures.

The only "rights" to the horse that you are purchasing with the NFS brand would be #1 the end of life arrangements #2 the possibility of being notified if the horse is in trouble

Heartbreaking as it is, the only peace of mind you get if you can't pay the 3000 [ or whatever amount is to repurchase your horse] is that your horse won't end up on the long bus to Mexico.

On the other hand, wouldn't you like to have the opportunity to network and try to get your beloved horse into a home where he can have a few more happy years?


Anyone want to discuss this idea? Just write what you think in the "comments" area.

Just for the record, I am not anti slaughter. I feel that this sort of a registry would give the people who are pro slaughter and PETA types a middle ground to work together.

Here is what I wrote about how a NFS registry would affect a small horse owner like me:

...I was thinking about the horse I just sold, Ted. He was unregistered. I feel like we did a good job of picking out a new owner, but after that what?

I think NFS would particularly help grade horse owners.

I would love to know that he has some registration papers to track his whereabouts. I also would like to know that he could be humanely put down without the future owners having the burden of wondering if they have the funds for it.

We kept Ted for probably a year longer than we would have if we felt like we had some sort of control over his future. That was the thing that kept us hesitant. We could afford him, but what if we couldn't?

Just for argument's sake, lets say we could no longer really afford Ted, but rather than have him face an uncertain future we decided to skimp on his hay in stead? We would never do that, but I know there are people who would, and who DO do that.

If he were NFS registered I think it would have been somewhat easier for us to sell, or at the very least I could have had him euthed if I felt like I was that worried about his future.

Another thing. Lets say I have an opportunity to rehab a horse. There are two to choose from who are exactly the same. I would choose a NFS horse over a regular horse knowing that if the horse never has the chance to be sound I would be spared the end of life expenses.