This Stunning Creature

I am super biased.

That tail is finally recovering from Tail-Eating-Fence-2012

I think my horse is just the most beautiful creature on the planet. In reality, she is just a ncely put together pretty faced bay mare.

Nothing like a clean popo with a fresh trim and a banged tail!

But I could stare at that horse all day long. Every day when I get to the paddock, I look at my horse and just think wow. I am so lucky to have a horse like that!

Yes, I am rather lovey, aren't I?

Today, I spent a couple of hours waddling around the paddock doing a couple of chores. After I fed them breakfast, I got down on my hands and knees and scrubbed one of Allie's cotton combo rugs clean, hung it on the fence, then got Allie out and washed her. I scrubbed her mane and tail (which she LOVES), and conditioned them both with a protien conditioner. I washed her face (which she was not so pleased about). I sprayed detangler in her tail and combed it out. I even trimmed her tail AND did a hack job of trimming her mane.

She keeps rubbing out the centre of her mane. I think she has found a favorite rubbing spot.

Then, after a green pick to dry off, I popped her back in her yard, made her run around a bit to try to get some video (which uploaded to Youtube sideways?), then rugged her up again to help stop her scrubbing her mane and tail out.

Her scar is looking excellent!

It was awesome just to spend an hour or so pottering around with my pony again, :)

Why I fell in love with Gracie

When I first met Gracie, she looked terrible. She had a horrible dread-locked mane, her winter coat had started to grow out but hadn't yet fallen off. She looked like what you would imagine a 2 year old un-handled filly would look like. But she was different, she was young, she hadn't been ruined by other peoples mistakes, she was a blank canvas.

The first few weeks of owning her, I had mixed emotions. I felt like an idiot, I was scared of her, she was new but so different to what I was used to. The only thing that kept me coming back to see her was the sense of accomplishment I got when she finally let me touch her head, then put a halter on, taught her to lead, then get her comfortable with touching all over. We didn't have a bond, she was teaching me and I was teaching her, and that's what it was all about at first.

She taught me a lot in the first year. She taught me patience, she taught me that little things for me, were big things for her. I loved her a lot and I never wanted to replace her, but there was still a hole that hadn't been filled yet.

Everything changed once we left agistment and moved her to Lisa's property. All of a sudden I had a confidence boost. I wasn't afraid to try anything new with her, and she wasn't afraid to try for me. She started whinnying and pricking her ears up when I arrived, she paid attention to me, I wasn't just some human that was an annoyance in her otherwise perfect spoilt life, she loved me and I loved her.

Now I realise what it is about her that makes her irreplaceable in my heart - she is a snotty brat, she tests me, we push each others buttons (I am just as opinionated as her!), she doesn't believe in being polite for a treat, she thinks it's ok to pull grumpy faces at me or Lisa when we bring her feed bucket in, she hates the vet, and the dentist, an the saddler and pretty much ANYONE who tries to walk into her life and push her into something she would otherwise be ASKED to do... BUT.. She will try for me, she trusts me, she does ANYTHING I ask of her (sometimes puts up a fight just for fun), she whinnies at me, she hogs the attention when there's other horses around, she will give me cuddles if I need them, she knows who I am, she knows I'm her mum and she loves me to bits.

And that's why I am in love with her. Because even with all her mood swings and faults, I know at the end of the day that we are two peas in a pod, we need each other so we can grow up learning what life is all about.

Horse-Love

I read a post over on The Literary Horse this morning. She's asking why you fell in love with your horse.

 

 

I fell in love with Wombat at first sight. I was 12 and saw this great big (well, I thought back then!) grey horse standing at the gate. I loved him from right then, the way only a twelve year old girl could. I had him from 1996 til 2003, all through high school and a couple of years after. He got me through my parents divorce, bullying, first boyfriends and break ups, plus all the other horrible crappy things that you have to go through in order to be a 'grown-up'. I was in love with that horse because he was always there, always waiting. I still love him because I feel he is still waiting for me somewhere. I feel him give me confidence when I am nervous on a horse. I still to this day just pretend that I am riding him, and then I can trust the horse. Anything Pom dished out, I could handle. Therefore, anything this horse can dish out, I can handle. Confidence is just a bluff anyway, right?

 

 

 

Becks was a different story. I had lost Pom about 6 months earlier when Beckham came on the scene. I got him thorough a friend of a friend's friend. He was a free horse too. The guy was too old to look after him properly anymore, and he just wanted him to go to a good home. We did not click. He was totally different to what I was used to and he wasn't sure what I was all about either. He had a few health issues too, and the tiny bit of rapport we built up was totally shattered when I needed to float him to the vet clinic for eye surgery. He refused to get on. I had very little experience trailering too, and the whole day ended in tears for me. My horse didn't trust me. He had loaded fine for his last owner when I went to pick him up, and I felt terrible. I ended up having to hire a professional horse-truck driver to get him to the clinic a few days later.

Our love was a slow moving one. By the time I had him at home with me, I loved him just as much, if not more then I had loved Pom. I couldn't tell you when the turning point was, or what set it off, because there was no one little thing. It just crept up on us, and then I realised we were dependent on each other. I had him from 2003 til 2010. I have written before about our one moment of perfection under saddle, and that was like the culmination of all the years of hard work, but I always had a soft spot for him. Always.

 

 

Allie is an enigma. I love her certainly, but mostly because I know I'm supposed to. I'm not yet in love with her, but I am starting to see certain things about her personality that I know will form part of the puzzle that will lead to me being in love with her. Things like when she leaps into a trot she does a silly little squeal, or how she LOVES cuddles and will come up to you and put her head on your chest for one. She is just... so dumb sometimes! She is a quick learner, and she is quiet, but she is certainly not a clever thing. I'm used to clever horses like Gracie (who is FAR too clever and smart for her own good!) and Pom, and even Becks was smart because he had a lot of life experience. I expect Allie will become like Becks once she has been out and about. She is just off with the fairies half the time. Kind of like me I guess!