Spring is in the Air!!!

Wow, what a difference a year makes.  Not only was there very little snow this year spring made an early appearance this year.  And you know what happens to young girl horses when spring is in the air?  Our thoughts turn to boys!!  I don't know what came over me but I had this overwhelming desire to be in the boys pasture so when the electric wasn't on I blasted through the electric ribbon and joined them.  After the second time of doing this and making a mess out of the fence Jackie was more than a little bit upset and she moved us girls to the front pasture where we couldn't even see the boys.  I think she overreacted a little bit especially since I really didn't have any desire to go visit the boys anymore after a few days.

I didn't get a chance to be mad long because nice guy called Eric Dierks came to the farm along with a bunch of people and other horses and I got to do my first official jumping clinic!  It was a lot of fun but I got to tell you that it was harder than it looked.  The first time I went down a line of 5 jumps in a row I couldn't figure out what to do and I was wiggling all over the place and hitting fences but Kyle kept encouraging me to keep going and to 'figure it out'.  Well I have to tell you that was down right embarrassing and I certainly wasn't going to do that again!  The next time I figured out my footwork and timing and it was a piece of cake.

The second day we were suppose to do some cross country but we had a heavy rain in the morning so we stayed in the ring and did more fun exercises.  I was really getting the hang of things and having a lot of fun.  Eric made some comment about me almost being too brave.  That seems funny, how can being too brave be a problem?  Anyway, I had a lot of fun and learned a lot and I can't wait for Eric to come back in the summer.  If you want to read more about the clinic and see pictures and videos check out this link, whatever that means.

Tika & me napping. Ruby is the one standing

Here I am multitasking ...eating & resting at the same time!

Well a few weeks have gone by and the girl herd has grown.  There is a nice young filly named Ruby who is here to get started.  I hear she's getting  to hike all over the pasture with Kyle behind her with to long reins on either side.  I can remember when he did that with me.  Then Laura got a new horse called Tika.  I guess she has some fancy jumping pedigree. Pedigree shemdigree; that doesn't give her the right to run at us with her ears pinned back and turn around and kick at us!!!  Well Margee and I had to explain the rules to her if you know what I mean. Things are good now; I even share my favorite napping spot with her.

Well after a month of being in the 'isolation' pasture we were moved back to the big pasture.  It was nice to have more room to roam, but then I got that funny feeling again and my old friend Jethro and I started hanging out next to each other.  Darn that Jackie, she got the electric fence working again and that's all the closer we could get; hanging out with a fence in between us.  Then I heard them talking that they thought it was time to check me to see if I was ready to be bred.  Well I won't go into the details because it is rather personal but since Monroe went home a couple of weeks ago I got the 'man in the can' version of Monroe.  See it  has his name on it Blue Ridge Monroe in the blue can.  Kind of funny.  Anyway he's kind of cute and everyone thinks we make a good match.  Check out is video of him jumping.  Not bad for a little guy.

Here's Monroe with Laura all braided up.  He's kind of cute

Well enough about that.  I have some more exciting news.  I get to do my first Event (not sure why they call it that) next month at the Winona Horse Trials.  And the cool thing is that I don't even have to leave home to do it.  I remember watching some of that last year.  It looks kind of interesting and fun!

That's it for now.

Jill

Well as usual Jill pretty much has things covered except for the 'man in the can' part.  Sorry I don't understand what that's all about.  But she was right about the Eric Dierks clinic, it was a ton of fun.  Since I have done more jumping than Jill I got to do more stuff and we were lucky enough to go first thing Sun morning before the rain so we got to do some cross country AND I had a new rider on Sun.  Kyle asked Karen Chandell if she wanted to ride me.  She's a very nice person and rides nicely but it took a little bit for her and I to understand each other to get the canter with just the right amount of energy.  That's when Eric got on me and showed her what he wanted.  I knew what Eric wanted but to be honest I was a little tired from the day before and I was having a little trouble waking up.  But when I did wake up we did great together and I got a lot of 'good boys' from Karen (with Eric's urging) and I heard Eric say: 'I love this pony!! and he's the green machine!'  The tone of his voice sounded like it was a complement but I'm not a green pony; I'm a bay horse.  Check out the video and see what you think.

      

 I also get to do the event too!  It sounds like fun, but I'm not so sure about that dressage stuff.  I'm still not 100% relaxed with the bit in my mouth but I'm getting better.

Well I guess that's it for me too.

Jack

                               

Happy Anniversary to Us!!!

One year ago today Jack & I stepped off the trailer at Stone Gate Farm and what a year it has been!!!  My how things have changed in a years time. To begin with when we stepped off the trailer the entire farm was covered in snow and today felt like spring!  I heard that Jack got to do a gymnastic today, whatever that is and that tomorrow I get to do some jumping too because the weather is suppose to be nice again.   But it isn't about the weather it's about our home, our friends and all that we have learned this year.  

Stay tuned, I hear that there are bigger and better things planned for this year now that we're almost all grown up. We're looking forward to it.

Jack and Jill

Happy New Year from Jack & Jill

From what people have told us, today is New Years Day, a time for people to reflect on the year that has just ended and thoughts of what the new year may bring.  Well Jack & I have had an amazing year!!  A little scarey leaving the only home we ever knew and all our friends  and moving to a new home and making new friends.  It wasn't easy at first but now I hardly ever think about what we left behind. Not only do we have new horse friends but we have new human friends too which was a pretty much a new experience for us.  But Kyle and Jackie have been great and we have learned so much about  becoming 'sport' horses as opposed to being 'race' horses.  I'm not really sure what the difference is but I guess race horses don't go on a lot of trail rides, go to dressage shows,  jumper shows or  a jumping clinic like Jack and I did this year.  From what I hear race horses  get to run as fast as they can on a big oval track.  While I like to run, I do think that it would get a little boring doing the same thing all the time.  To be honest with you I didn't get to go to the jumper show and clinic that was Jack day and  I must say I'm a little envious.   But all in all, as I said earlier it has been an amazing year and I couldn't be happier to be living at Stone Gate Farm and I'm looking forward to what the New Year will bring.

I also heard that not only is it a holiday but it's our birthday!!  Well not really but since we're TBs (that's short for Thoroughbred) Jan 1 is considered the 'official' birthday for all TB's. Jackie said not to worry, we were still going to celebrate my 4th birthday on the correct day in April but that we were now considered 4 year olds.  Jackie jokingly said the party is over.  I'm not sure what she meant by that but so far so good so I'm not going to worry about it.

I'm not sure what the new year will bring since the humans seem to make all the 'big' decisions about us; I'll just have to trust them and so far I have no complaints other than Jack seems to be doing more fun stuff than me.  But I did hear that I will be jumping and going to shows after all next year because I no longer have a 'bun in the oven' and they were trying to decide when I would have a meeting with the 'man in the can' again.   Geesh, I wish these people would just talk English!!!  But if it means that I can start jumping and go to shows and clinics like Jack; I'm good with that.

Now as far a New Years Resolutions go ... I guess that's where you decide to do something that is good for you; I resolve to eat as much grass and hay as I can, never pass up the opportunity to take a good roll in the mud and to continue to make Kyle and Jackie happy ;)

I guess that's it for now.  I hope you all have a great new year and enjoy life as much as I do ;)

Jill

I agree with everything that Jill had to say, including me having more fun ;)

Jack