The adventures of Gilly the rescue horse and his side kick and partner in crime, Pokey the donkey.

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Being with a horse is a journey that never ends. What they have to teach us is amazing; but we must quiet our mind to hear them. ~ jca

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Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Gilly's Adventure at a horse show....and other craziness

Remember I said that I was going to get a lot of pictures of Gilly at the horse show??? Well, it didn't happen and I am so mad at myself for it! Grrrrr!!!
The day didn't start out good and that should have told me that it was only going to get worse. Kim couldn't get here on time with the trailer, misadventures at home so we were late getting started. When she pulled up her boxer was running behind the trailer, strange?! We loaded all of Gilly things; buckets, water, tack, our lunch, cameras....yes, I had TWO cameras with me!!!

OK, so the trailer is loaded now lets get the big boy out to load up. I got him out walked him up to the trailer and he promptly side stepped around to the other side. OK, Gil get into the trailer, nope, side stepped to the other side and behind the door. What the heck is wrong with you??? Last time he loaded fine, just walked up and into the trailer and started eating his hay. Not this time.......we worked with that darned horse for over an hour before we finally got his sorry butt in there!!!

So we start out, can't go fast, on a gravel road and pulling a trailer and what do we see running behind up.....Kim's dog! Well, living out here in the country and down in a hollow our cell phones don't work. We couldn't call her husband to come and get the darned dog. Mike is running the chipper so he couldn't hear us if we stopped and yelled to him; so we tried to keep going and hope that she would go home. What am I saying, the dog kept coming and running in front of the truck; now there is no where to turn around so we had to stop, pick her up, she is covered with mud and take her with us to the top of the hill where hopefully one of our cell phones would work. NOT!!! We had to drive another half mile, we are almost three miles from the house now, before we could get her husband on the phone. He was supposed to be watching the dog, obviously he was NOT! It's now after 10 in the morning, we were supposed to be there at 10.....that's not happening. I had to call my instructor to tell her we would be late.

Finally we are back on the road with the horse, yes, he's still back there and as quiet as can be. What was all the fuss about getting into the trailer, who can say, he doesn't move when riding. We get there and unload him, oh, great! He has decided to poo in the trailer but it's mashed all over the door and his butt and tail!!! GILLY!!!! So I try to rinse it off but he is hopping around because he sees all the horses there. We are out in a field and there aren't a lot of trailers and horses but he can see them at the arena across the race track from us. Thank goodness his tail is black and you couldn't see that some of it was still green! :-(

So I get one picture of him, above, standing by the trailer. We started walking him toward the arena where all the activity is.......OH BOY, OH BOY, OH BOY!!!!! he is saying look at all the horses!!! He didn't know where to look first, the paints and palominos caught his eye the most. None of them paid him any mind, he whinned, nickered and shorted but they all ignored him. He watched for awhile then settled down somewhat to just look.

Kim and I walked him across the race track to some trees and there were some other horses here too. The picture above was taken there; Gilly is looking toward the race horse barn where there was some activity there too. (check out my jeans in the picture. I tapered the legs and sewed on some synthetic leather for patches, works very well and the price was right!!)

Back at the trailer I saddled him up, no, not me going to ride, my instructor is. I thought he was just a little too wound up for my liking so I stayed on the ground. Glad I did too, he got spooked twice but Vicki didn't fall off, of course, she is an excellent rider. Someone through a fork full of manure over the fence right at him, he jumped of course and the dumb woman never even said "sorry" just continued to through more over the fence! After that some crows flew out of some tall grass and that gave him a fright. Then all was well and he settled down and Vicki had a good ride.

This is the part that I hated missing the pictures or video, I could have done either. They had a 15 minute break in classes so anyone could ride in the arena. Vicki took Gilly in for a ride. WOW!!! He didn't know what to think of all the horses milling around him going all directions. The look on his face was priceless!! When a big group walked toward him then passed him he wanted to go with them! That look was just too funny! But I missed it, how??? Someone was asking me about him and instead of talking and photographing at the same time, I just ran my mouth.....grrrrrr! Vicki got him moving and paying attention to her instead of what was happening around him. He was trotting beautifully and cantering......and I got not one picture. Kim didn't either, darn it!

After his ride I sponged him off with some cool water, gave him a good drink of water and let him cool out while we ate lunch. After walking around a bit more we were tired, hot and ready to go home. Do you think Mr. Gilly was???? He started the same trailer shenanigans as before, running from side to side and would not get into the trailer. A few times he would step his front feet in and just stand there. If you tapped him with the stick he would back out and just give you a look that made me want to choke him!!! "You can't MAKE me! La la la la la!!!" What a brat a 1,200 pound brat at that, now how do you move something that size when he say, "NO WAY"! It didn't help any either that two scruffy kids and their ponies were running back and forth where he could see them, the parents standing there watching us fight with Gilly and not saying a word to the kids. Some people are so ignorant!!!

After over an hour for this, finally a couple stopped, they had been showing too and gave us some help; plenty of others had just gone past and looked but not offered to help. We finally got a lunge line and put it around his butt and pulled a little and he went right in. He didn't know what to think of the man who came over, he looked like he wasn't going to take any guff from Gil and Gil's eyes were pretty big. He said, "OK, this guy looks like he is going to kick my butt so I'll get in now". We shut the butt bar and he just stood there eating his hay and resting one hind foot like nothing had gone on!!!

We arrived home without further incident!!! But Gilly had to stand in the trailer until it was all unloaded for being such a fine horse all day! Then he had made another mess in there that I had to scrub out, thanks so much Gilly!!!

This is the kind of stuff that just makes you want to beat the living pee out of a horse, not that it would do any good but BOY can they make you CRAZY!!!! So now we have to go back to trailer loading school and knowing Gilly he will just walk in like he has done all along when I don't want to go anywhere!!! They know and they know how to push your buttons too!!!!!

THE END!!!
P.S. Pokey says he can't see what all the fuss is about, no way is HE going to get into the trailer, there's no need too!



27 comments:

Alice ~ Folk Art Primitives said...

Jane ~ that sounds like a horsey nightmare to me!!! You are a brave soul and I know you and Gilly will figure this out!! Good luck, girlfriend!!!

Nuzzling Muzzles said...

I suspect people didn't offer to help either because they know most horse owners have too much pride to accept help, or because they didn't want to be held liable if there were an accident and someone got hurt. If I'm in a hurry to get Bombay into the trailer, someone has to come up from behind him with a whip or branch to put some pressure on from behind. But that's usually only when we are leaving home. When we are returning home, he jumps right into the trailer with no resistance. Trailering can be such a challenge.

Paint Girl said...

I am so sorry Gilly wasn't a good boy for loading! They sure can be big pains in the butt at times! Like you said, when you go back to practicing, he'll load fine.
I think being at the show was a very good thing for him. It gets him used to all the activity. Before you know it, he will not react to poop being thrown at him, screaming kids etc!

cowgirljlynn said...

That darn Gilly! He must of woke up on the wrong side of the stall!!!

Desert Rose said...

Someday's you can tell from the get go that you aint' gonna get to go!!!
Last ride out as we were bridling a Chicago screw had gone missing. I had extra screws ( newly purchased) but no screw driver in my emergency tool box I bought for my trailer one year ago...what's with that??? finally another trailer had one and we got fixed up. Then before we mounted I was kicked and had my toe stepped on!!! Was a great ride anyway!

Dusty Devoe said...

Don't they just make you so mad sometimes!Somedays just go like that!!! Dusty does the same thing. We have been working with the bit for 69 days straight. So today I go put in in his mouth, and he raises his head, steps backwards. I wasn''t going to take any crap from him today, so I popped him on the chest and told him to quit. Guess what, he decided he wasn't going to give me any grief. He likes to push my buttons for whatever reason!

Dusty Devoe said...

Somedays are just bad days!

allhorsestuff said...

Whoa Gilly! I did the 45 minute trailer loading once with Wa and that was enough...she did balk this weekend once while we were to leave and I walked her over to the tack room and got out the bright orange training stick..flicked it behind me..and she got right on with me at her shoulder! Good girl.

Well..the more you do it the better it will get and if he has no incidents of pain/fear(drive slow on corners and stops) involved all the better!
I am sooo glad you took him and he got to ride with tons of horses and get manuer slung at him...what???was that all about!
He is so handsome...!!!

Leah Fry said...

Bet you slept like a log that night. Dang, I hate it when they go stupid like that.

That's a beautiful pic of Gilly looking alert.

And Pokey's spots remind me of my new little dog Martha's pink speckled skin!

JoJo said...

Oh, how this post has me laughing. Horses are much like toddlers...they never want to do it when it's necessary for them to do it!! And I was literally LMAO reading your story about Gilly pooping in the trailer and getting it all over himself. Has he no pride???

Green home said...

You must be exhausted about all that’s happening. But thank God it turns out okay.

Nose plastic surgery said...

Maybe gilly was just scared going inside the trailer. He’s such an adorable hoarse.

jane augenstein said...

Alice, anything with horses is always a crazy adventure!! LOL
Nuzzling Muzzles, right, trailering is a pain in the rump!!!
Paint Girl, yes, I am sure that Gilly will be good here, it's just when I need to go somewhere that he will be a stinker. Oh, he enjoyed the show and all the horses!!!
cowgirljlynn, I think he did wake up on the wrong side of the stall!
Desert Rose, yes, I should have known the way things started out that it was going to be a bad day!
Dusty Devoe, right, horses sure can be buggers at times!
Kacy, Gilly isn't afraid of the trailer or the ride, he was just being a brat! He rides like he isn't even there, just stands and munches his hay; he just wanted to be a big brat. The poop throwing, someone was just cleaning some up and throwing it out into the race track for some reason and didn't seem to care that someone was out there riding, stupid person!
Leah, yes, I was wore out that night, too tired to ride the next day even!
JoJo, it is funny now that I look back. Yes, Gilly is a slob, could care less if he pooped on himself......horses!!!! LOL

Jacque. said...

My nephew...what is up with him? Ya know, I am so glad that you and Gilly are having so many adventures...both exciting and exasperating ones! ~grin~ You're such a good mama to Gilly.

Julia said...

Long day but I am glad you all made it back in one piece! More road trips are in order to get the loading down. MOre and more repetitions until he does not care anymore. :)

jane augenstein said...

Jacque, your nephew is a brat, did you know that???? LOL He can be sooooo good then turn around a be a big stinker! But (sigh) I do love him!
Julia, yes, definitely more trailer work and more road trips! I DO need my own trailer though, so I can work with him when I want to, not when someone else decides to work their horse. I am pleading and begging to get something when wheels for Gilly-Boy!

Girl Tornado said...

It seems that trailering is always a fun adventure. Some days are better than others, and sometimes for unexplained reasons. But I'm sure it did Gilly good to be at the show and see all the activity. :)

I like your new helment too!

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

lol! Pokey's spotty butt! Too cute!

Wow! So basically over 2 hours of time spent just working on trailer loading. That would have driven anyone nuts. I wish more people would at least come over to offer some help, but a cowboy once told me that most folks don't like it when someone comes over to help them with their horse. It's like an insult, like you can't do it yourself.

Well, I'm not that proud. If I'm taking an hour to get my horse loaded and she's still not going in, would someone please come over and lend me a hand? gah!

I'm glad that you all got to go at least. Too bad about the pictures. I'm sure he looked awesome out there in the arena. He sure is one handsome fella.

~Lisa

jane augenstein said...

Oz Girl, yes, sometimes fun adventures and sometimes not. He was just being a stinker, it was really good for him to see all the activity. Hope I can get him there again.
Lisa, yes, the time spend trying to get him in the trailer was exasperating to say the least!!! It would have been nice if someone would have come to help, I didn't mind! Since I couldn't get him to go in, obviously I was having trouble...LOL! He did look good out there in the arena, he stood out because he doesn't move like the other horses. He is definitely NOT western! :-)

Julia said...

OH!! I did not realize you were getting trailered by a friend. That makes things a wee bit difficult. Maybe they'd park it at your house for a few weeks?? And you could practice.

Five O'Clock Somewhere said...

Well it was a good experience to get him out to a horse show and experience all of the excitement of other horses. Bummer about the lack of pictures. I always think I take alot, and then get home and always wish I had more.

allhorsestuff said...

Hiya gal!

Well, I have waited long enough...YOU TOTALLY DESERVE>>> becasue you are one....the....
"INTREPID RIDERS FACTION" award! I am so very awe inspired by you and really enjoy all you are and do for your animals and the way you crave to know and do more.(you remind me of...me!)
Would you please accept? Just click on the sidebar logo you created ("~')!!!
You know I love ya's!
KacyK

Heart of a Cowgirl said...

What's the saying? If you only have 15 minutes it will take all day, and if you have all day it will take 15 minutes... sounds like that is about right!
Gilly is such a gorgeous boy. I sure hope my Piper turns out like him! She's got about 500 lbs to go... :)

jane augenstein said...

Julie I wish! I am looking for a trailer of my own, then I can practice loading Gil when ever I want to. Using someone else's just isn't working out.
Kacy, Oh, thank you sooooo much!!! :-)
Heart of a Cowgirl, you are so right! Thanks, I think he is pretty special (even if he is a stinker to load!) LOL

gtyyup said...

Oh my...what a day!! Gilly sure is looking handsome though. All in all it was a good experience for everyone. Going out like that really shows you what you need to work on with your horse.

Hope you keep going places...I promise, it'll get better!

Jennifer said...

Sounds like a real adventurous day for you and Gilly!!! Dont feel bad about pictures-Riley showed her horse at County Fair and i only took about THREE!!!How did that happen??? I was standing there with a camera in my hand the whole time!!!!!
Jen

Jennifer MacNeill said...

Oh Jane, reading about your misadventures always cracks me up! Sorry:) Gotta love it when the TB nuttiness comes out.

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