War Horse

On Christmas Day Mike and I went to see the movie War Horse. I had been waiting and waiting until this came out to see it. I was wonderful, yes, some sad parts in it but still I loved it. Did I cry? Yes, some I held it together pretty well.

Baby Joey

Albert making friends with young Joey

Joey excepts the work collar, love this picture reminds me of Gilly.

Joey and Albert racing a car.

Joey is sold by Albert's father and starts his journey as a war horse.

Joey in the trenches

I loved the movie and plan on seeing it again with my horsey girlfriends. Mike liked it too but for the war part, I am the horse nut so I loved it! The sweeping scenery of the English countryside is beautiful. I would highly recommend seeing this movie. When it comes out in DVD I will have it, I have already bookmarked it in Amazon to be notified when it is available for purchase. Yea! 

Finder's Key is the horse that portraits Joey in the movie, really smart well trained horse. I found two articles about him here and here.
Here is a really good review written by Nancy Rojo of Horses are my Passion . 

Have a Happy New Year! If the weather is not too cold here I plan on riding from 2011 to 2012 to bring in the new year! If I do I will have pictures, Mike said he will take pictures for me! Yea!

Jane

Long lining

 Today Gilly and I worked in the round pen with the long lines. I am not really sure just how to do this with him so.....anyone who reads this if you have any tips, pointers or good books on long lining please feel free to help me! :-)  In the next few pictures we are just working on having him drift across the round pen to go in the opposite direction.

He does step over nicely. Sometimes he does really well then we have a few problems, I am sure I am not giving him the right signals and he is confused. He does try really hard for me. I need a long whip so I can reach out and tap him when he starts going the wrong way or when he backs up. He backs up when he doesn't know for sure what I am asking him.

I also saw when working him this way why he has such a hard trot to ride. He really, really needs to round up his back!!!! When trotting on the way up his back is more straight and when he comes down his back is really hollow and he is really strung out. Almost looks like he is pulling himself with his front legs....ugh...Gilly we REALLY need a lot of work!!!

I notice that his neck is really stretched out too. Looks like an old sway backed work horse.....poor Gilly!

 This looks a little better, head and neck are looking much better. I am also thinking of getting some trot poles for him to work with. With winter coming and sometimes riding is not going to happen but I am hoping that I can still work him in the long lines, even if it's just up and down the road.

So now if any of you have any thing you can tell me to help me out with this I would greatly appreciate it! :-)

The End

Gilly in the indoor

 Gilly and I went to Stanleyville on Friday for another lesson. (only have two photos that were good, it was a dreary day and camera didn't like the lighting, I guess) He has been loading up just fine in the trailer and seems to like going for a ride, it's only about 11 miles over there from home.
My friend telling me what she wanted me to do with Gilly and he was very intent on watching her. What a personality this horse has!
We worked on me getting a better seat riding this big boy. I had to ride with no stirrups for awhile, boy was that hard work. I did hold onto the grab strap for support, I felt like I was bouncing all over the place but she said I was staying in the saddle.

Learning the feel of having my legs in the right place, she placed them correctly so I could feel where I needed to be. She was really helpful, to have a person on the ground to watch and correct things that I can't see I am doing wrong and that's a lot. We worked on riding without reins, scary at first but Gilly did really well. We had an hour lesson, when I got off I was pretty sore from using muscles that didn't used so much in awhile.
I don't know if I will be back at the stable arena again, my little friend is leaving and a new manager is taking over on Monday. My friend will still be in the area so hopefully we can still take some riding lessons at home, weather permitting. It sure would be nice to have an indoor....sigh...only if I win the lottery!!!

Saturday morning I was sooooo sore from all the work that Gilly and I did. Today my husband and I are just hanging out and taking it easy, enjoying a relaxing Sunday afternoon. A real treat, we don't usually take days off, always something to do around the farm. We did a lot yesterday so today is a good day to just put things on the back burner and do nothin'!


Lacy update. Lacy is still lame the new shoes don't seem to be helping. At first the farrier was going to put some pads on but decided to wait and see if just the shoes would help. He is coming again on Tuesday and will put the pads on then; if this doesn't work then she will probably have to be retired from riding. I don't know what Kim will do then. So sad she is only 12 years old and that's still a young horse, I hope this works.
Jane

Gilly's jumping video

 

Here is a short video clip of Gilly and I jumping. This was our second time over the jumps. I have no idea if I am doing this right or not...LOL...but hope with more practice I will get better. I look like I am bouncing all over the place but remember Gilly has a BIG LOFTY trot. So here you go, any helpful tips would be appreciated!
When I jumped before I was always bareback and much younger, I wouldn't attempt jumping bareback on at all, at least not on Gilly.
Jane

Pokey and the feeder

Pokey, hey Gilly! HEY GILLY!!!!

Gilly, uh?

Pokey, HEY STUPID!!! WAKE UP!! (whacking horse on jaw) Look what I got!

Gilly, huh.....what????

 

Pokey, look....look....LOOK!!!! Look....in...the....feeder!!! (heeheehee)

Gilly, OH POKEY!!! you brought me some food??? yum..yum!

 

Pokey, here let me hold it down here for ya!

Gilly, well, but.... hey....where is it??? I can't find it....lick..lick...lick!!!

 Pokey, come on....keep looking....heeheehee (shaking the feed tub)
Gilly, I don't see it Pokey......where????

Pokey, (drops tub on ground) snort, snort, heeeheeehawwww!!! Stupid horse.....baahaaaaa....snort...snort!!! You fell for it......heeheeehaawwwww!
Gilly, Pokey you are a mean ass....I was really hungry too! (sob sob sob)

What characters these two are! LOL This was caught out the upstairs window this morning before breakfast. That Pokey is a stinker!!

Gilly's portrait

This is Tracey's fault, I had another post I was going to do but after seeing the picture of her mustang that she had done in Photo Shop.....well I started playing with Print Shop that has some pretty neat stuff in it. So here is a portrait of Gilly done in a sort of smudging effect. This was a picture of me and him, I cut me out, we were down by the creek when this was taken. I LOVE the effect this has, almost looks like an oil painting of him. (Click on it to make it bigger.)
I may have to print this one out and frame it!

Petey the Pug??? and a ride

Saw this picture in a dog/cat catalog and it sure looks like Petey! It said the pup was a Puggle, I am wondering if Petey has some pug in him. Love the jammies on the dog, how funny!!!

Had an MRI done on my shoulder, from when I got thrown off Gilly back in July and they found a small tear in a tendon. I had kept doing thing, helping with baling hay, carrying heavy buckets of horse poo all kinds of things to help get over the soreness. Guess I should have been a little more careful with it. Monday I went to an orthopedic doctor, hoping that he wouldn't tell me I needed surgery or had to wear a brace. I am happy to report that no surgery and no brace! He gave me some anti-inflammatory cream, it seems to be helping and I also need to take it a little easy on the arm then do some exercises for it. In the paper work I filled out for the doctor, since I hadn't been there before, there was a form about osteoporosis. I had to laugh, not that osteoporosis is something to laugh at, my grandmother had it but.....for the number of times I have been thrown off and fallen on by Gilly, I would say that my bones are pretty darned tough!!!!

Monday I also got to ride a beautiful dressage horse, we just walked, I was cooling her off for my friend Sheri. Hess is really something to ride, hardly takes anything to get her to go forward, unlike Gilly who needs a LOT of pushing to make him go! LOL Since I'm not that good of rider I just thought that walking was a pretty good thing....I don't know all the right commands to move Hess and didn't want to be suddenly cantering when I wasn't ready.

Hess is a Trakehner/Arabian cross and such a sweetie, really, really nice horse. I have wanted to ride her for a long time just to see what it's like to ride such a well trained horse. Since Gilly is about the only horse I have ridden in 5 years, to me it feels really different. Maybe I need to ride more horses just for the experience.

Riding in the big Cover-All arena was really nice too! Wow, wish I have just an arena to ride in, this would really be a dream come true to have a building like this to ride in!


Hess, is about the same height as Gilly but not as big built, and not as wide. Gilly gives the illusion of being taller than he is. His big legs, feet and big rump makes him look like he is over 16 hands but he is really only 15.3.

Below is a picture of Hess and Sheri at their last show in Lexington, Virginia. She is a beautiful mover that's for sure. Hess is for sale and I will attach the link to her ad on EquineNow.
http://www.equinenow.com/horse-ad-197991
I have to say I have never ridden a $38,000.00 horse, that's why I was a little nervous! I sure didn't want to mess her up! :-)

As soon as the ground is a little more dry Mike is going to till up round pen again; the grass took it over since I wasn't able to ride for over a month. Hopefully next week Gilly and I will be back to school and starting Dennis Reis' course. Can't wait!!!!!

Priceless Pictures..............

More about these two pictures later, enjoy! (click on picture to make it larger!)

Riding Bareback with Pictures

Kim got some pictures of me riding bareback yesterday. However the ride wasn't as good as Saturday's ride, I was tired yesterday, but still it was fun! Love the above picture!
What am I doing with my foot??? I kept trying to press my seat bones into Gilly so I would stick to him, must have been really dropping my heels but my toes are sticking out! LOL But then it could be I was trying to get him to turn around my leg and pressing down with my seat bone on this side.
Yes, I am holding onto his mane, trying to keep from bouncing around. I know I will get better at this the more I do it, more practice. I have ridden every day since last Monday and I can see a big difference in Gilly's attitude, it's much better. He isn't being a stinker anymore. We have crossed the creek everyday and not once has he hesitated to cross now. We went past Kim's horse and pony today and he kept on going where I asked him to go, no stopping.

Whoopee! Here we are trotting, this is just too much fun. I still want to try the canter but better get better at the trot first! I think Gilly likes being ridden without the saddle on, he sure is a fun horse!

Trying to get Gilly to look at Kim so she could take our picture but he wanted to rub his head on me. I didn't ride a long time yesterday but today I rode for an hour; just a leisurely ride down the road and back. It was a beautiful day here today, a really nice breeze hardly any flies to bug Gilly so he was happy about that. This morning we did more trailer loading and he did just wonderful, got right in the trailer each time I asked him to. So far we have had the divider opened up, today I tried it with the divider in place and he went in and stayed for a short time. That's OK though I want him to feel confident in there before we try putting up the butt bar and shutting the door. I want to do it right and he won't have any problems with it that way.

Stealing this idea from Lisa.......The End!!!

Gilly is a GOOD boy!!!!

Tuesday was a great day, I rode Gilly and we cantered more in the roundpen. He was a little hard getting started but ahhhh, the canter was great!
We need to work on cantering a lot and trotting, well everything! LOL I want to try and ride him every day at least a little bit, it makes such a difference when I ride everyday, for both of us.
What fun cantering is, I can't get enough of it, feels like flying!
Like this pictures even if his feet are a little blurred. Run Gilly run! I haven't been brave enough, just yet, to canter down the road or with the dressage saddle but I will before the summer is over!

After all the fun of cantering now it's time to try crossing the creek again, the place he doesn't want to go. So down the road we go to the field to the left and head for the creek, notice my doggie entrauge? I always have at least my two with me and Kim's dogs Otis and Sophie are in the lead.
Gilly says, "you want me to do what? Maybe I don't want to!" He did back up and not want to cross but I got off and made him walk into the creek and back through it, then he wanted to play in the water.
Oh, this is fun, watch me splash the water and sling it everywhere! He played and played in the water but I decided it was time to get back on and cross the creek.
He isn't one to paw the water he likes to shake his head back and forth and really churn up the water. Poor minnows in the water were probably wondering what the heck was happening to their home!
There we are crossing the creek! He started to hesitate and I tapped him on the shoulder with the crop and he went across. We crossed a couple of times just to make sure it wasn't a fluke!
Oh, Gilly what a good boy you are! Who knows what the reason was that he wouldn't cross it with me on his back. As you can see it's not deep or wide, nothing scary around there, he isn't scared anyway, just being stubborn.
Thursday and Friday we crossed it again and again and once even rode up the old road and back and didn't have any problems. I hope that this is the end of the problems with this creek anyway. Who knows what other things he will think up to challenge me with!
This afternoon we had trailer loading lessons and he finally got on the trailer. He sure gave Sheri a workout though before he would but then he got a workout too. Because of being a brat and trying to run and jerk the rope out of her hands he had to back up all around the trailer, up the road several times. He finally decided that was not the thing to do because it made more work for him so he decided to be a good boy and stop. He went into the trailer several times (no I didn't take the camera to get any pictures either) and backed out quite well. Now for the next week we will be working on trailer loading everyday, so when I say "Load up" he will jump right in and be ready to go....LOL....keeping my fingers crossed, it may take longer than a week or maybe not. More on that later.

Gilly is a BAD boy ...................... again!!!

Gilly has been being disrespectful ............ again! He still refuses to cross the creek to go up the old road. He isn't afraid of crossing the creek, just refuses to go over this crossing. He still wants to back up and go sideways, with a "you can't make me" attitude. I can get off him and send him across, make him back into it and even into deep water. He will just stand there relaxed resting one hind foot.

Does he look like he is afraid of the creek? He isn't and where I am asking him to cross is not like this. This was when the creek was up last July.
He also will back up when he doesn't want to do what he is told, he will keep doing this until he gets his way. We need to go back to round pen 101 and do a LOT of ground work. He needs to become respectful instead of sticking out his tongue and giving me the raspberry!
This is what Parelli says about horse personalities that fits Gilly very well:

Left Brain/Extrovert
Characteristics of a "Left Brained" (LB) Extrovert include being mischievous, energetic, willful, disobedient, domineering, and may have a tendency to be mouthy, nip and bite. LB Extroverts are easy to train unless you are boring and repetitive in which case they act up and become unruly.
LB horses are not afraid of people, they are self confident, brave, are relatively insensitive, playful, mouthy, exuberant and dominant. At minimum, these horses can be pushy and disobedient, and at worst they are aggressive. Keep in mind, these horses can be dangerous when they don’t like or trust people.
LB horses need you to become a lot more interesting. They need things to do. They are usually quite playful and are easily bored by riders who are fixated on perfecting a maneuver, and that’s what makes them act up. Because they are so confident they are fast learners.

This pretty much describes the brat boy. So what do I have to do, step up a lot, which is hard for me because I am not an assertive person but to get stinker to be good that's what I will have to do. Guess I'm gonna have to open a can of "whop ass" to get his attention and show him that I mean business! LOL


How Gilly is going to look after a long workout in the round pen............