Tag: Quarter Horse

Elemental

On By AveryIn Faith, Horses, Life10 Comments

Earth, air, water, and fire. 

And the Oxford comma. Ha! Hey, I’ve got jokes today! 

No, for real. 

Something so Elemental as to embody all four of those concepts. More than just words. They are senses. Images. Feelings. Emotions. All in themselves. 

The sun rises in the east and sets in the west. God’s paintings twice a day, every day, no matter where you are. Both at the beginning and the end. Of everything. Yet different every day. New. 

Seeing and smelling the earth, feeling the air across your skin as you lope your horse around, praying for those clouds to produce some rain (at least where we are, they have had more rain than us!), and having your soul set on fire. 

Blessed and grateful. 

The reflection of the sunset on the eastern sky Saturday evening with horses and friends. Clearly no better at focusing for photos than I’m sure we were as kids…






Please take a moment to enjoy Lito’s expressions. Seriously, that horse. I just can not contain myself.

Sorry. Where was I? Right.

Sunrise progression Sunday morning. I told you God likes Sundays to be foggy…



Two things that inspire me most next to my horses and my dog. 

Have you caught a sunrise or a sunset recently? Share if you have! If you have not, do yourself a favor and watch one soon. 

Walk in love, dear readers!

It Is That Time Of Day

On By AveryIn Dogs, Faith, Horses, Life8 Comments

…or was, as it were.

Sunrise. My favorite time of day. If you have not deduced that little factoid about me yet. It is. It is just my favorite time of day. Everything is new, fresh, and innocent. Dynamic and colorful. An event you can count on every day. For me, I am always struck by the blessing. The blessing to have a new day as a gift. A fresh start. To do what makes my heart smile. To begin a new day in the best way possible viewing God’s painting. It certainly did not hurt that I got to see all of the horses right before I had to load up in my car and head to town for work. Nothing like country morning air laced with the smell of horse. I started out the day seeing the positive. The beautiful. The light. These shots were taken by the front gate as I was leaving. 

I usually take her with me, but I left Darcy in town for the night because I was not going to get to the farm till late just to turn around and come right back. Barely enough time to do what needs doing, but it needed doing. Anyway, dogs always amaze me. I left her at my parents’ house in the care of my dad while she looked at me with confusion and sadness and came back to her happy face and wagging tail, seemingly asking where I had been. All perceived sadness and confusion gone as if it were not there in the first place. Today I came to pick her up after work and there she was, all smiles and ready to go. Are we going? Yes, we are going!

On Sunday, when I got back from my girls riding weekend, we had a much needed, grass growing rain. I got everything unloaded and the trailer cleaned out and parked before I took care of a couple of things. I cooked burgers for a late lunch with my parents while they worked on some chores themselves. They had been working all morning. Just as we sat to eat the sky opened up. It didn’t last terribly long, but the drops were big and plentiful. You know the kind. The kind that drenches everything before you realize it’s raining. 


This weekend was much needed. I can’t say that I necessarily rested, but it was relaxing and I was able to forget my anxieties and all the balls floating in the air. There were 5 of us. We ate. We drank. We rode. We talked. We were leisurely and relaxed. We lounged by the pool. Rain was promised all weekend and we did not get any. We saw stunning sunsets set in thunderclouds illuminaded by lightning and serenaded by distant rolling thunder. Everyone was able to get home safe before the rain on Sunday. 

My Cheetah girl was her usual, saucy self, but settled nicely once we got riding. We both needed that weekend. 



Lito and I are proceeding with our hand walking regimen. It started out a little dicey, but today he was much better. But let us be honest, he is still easier than probably most other 4 year olds. After our walk, I let him graze for a little but while I enjoyed the shade and the sounds around me. Let us all marvel how he has not rubbed his mane out while being penned up!

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All of this to say, I’m chugging along over here, juggling all the balls and doing all the things. Soon enough, life will settle back down and get back to ‘normal.’ Whatever normal is. Just less balls in the air I guess! Here is hoping I will be in my townhouse by the beginning of next week. 

I miss you, my dear readers, and can not wait to get back to talking with you more! 

Until then, walk in love. 

3 Things

On By AveryIn Horses, Life18 Comments

I had a friend tell me that she was feeling blue yesterday after a great weekend and that she did not know if it was because the weekend was over or because of the unknown future. It got me thinking as I have often felt the same way myself and my suggestion was to:

Focus on something good from the weekend (or past), something good right in front of you, and do something fun for yourself tomorrow. Nobody knows the future, so you are not alone!

Too bad I can not seem to do that for myself in those moments, so I think I will do the same thing for myself right now. We all have something to be grateful for even when it is all going up in smoke and hitting the fan. AHAmoment. It also seems like a good idea since I am supposed to be practicing self love and all that. Disclaimer, this may or may not turn into another love fest, and I will make zero apologies for it.

  1. Something good from the weekend.
    I rode 3 amazing horses.
    Saturday I took Second Chance, Chance on a road ride with some long time friends. It was terribly HOT. Like sweating at 8 in the morning hot. He was amazing even though he made some ugly faces at some other horses. It was quite comical, really.  I also got compliments on his butt. It is pretty big. I really need to show you what he used to look like. I love how he shines like a penny even when he is a woolly bear.

    Sunday morning I rode the my best gal, Cheetah. We did some arena work with transitions and ground poles before going down in the pastures to check the cows and let her really open up and stretch her legs. I did not get any photos because I was having too much fun. I finished out the morning doing some chores and unpacking the trailer. Then, my parents (the most amazing parents ever) met me for lunch at a nearby town on their way home from out of town and then came back to the farm so I could ride my Lito. I could not ask for better parents or a better colt. Seriously. This horse. I think it was his 10th ride or so and the first ride in a couple months. He was AMAZING. He was much more forward and fluid than he has been. That was a little bit of a worry for me. It reminds me to stay the course and do not lose heart. He is still learning. AHAmoment. He is just so easy, brave, and keeps getting better…and taller. I will stop before I explode.
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  2. Something good in front of me from today.
    My dog is tired and happy from running at the farm and my boss told me she was proud of my work. Boom. Enough said.
  3. Something fun for myself tomorrow.
    My bible study is having a Valentines party as our class. Thank goodness because I do not like Valentines Day!

Pretty dang good at present. Certainly can not complain.

What are your 3 things? Something good from the weekend (or past), something good in front of you today, and something fun for yourself tomorrow?

Walk in love, dear readers!

A Better View & A Better Mood

On By AveryIn Faith, Horses, Life4 Comments

Monday after work I snuck (sorry, I really just prefer it to sneaked, get over it) out to the farm to lock the horses into the paddock for the farrier who came out the Tuesday morning.

I arrived and got everything finished with enough time…and daylight…to fit a ride in on Cheetah. We have now redeemed ourselves from Saturday’s ride, and thank God, literally. AHAmoment. I did thank Him, for the ride and more. I have been pretty aggravated ever since Saturday, let us be honest.

It was a great ride and I feel better for it. I truly believe she does too. We just rode. That is all. Just for the fun and love of it. No agenda. No plans. No expectations. No pressure. Took what we had. Just rode for the shear joy. What IT is all about. AHAmoment, again! Those are our best rides. You can still make progress and work towards goals. Funny how that happens.

I snagged these quick videos for those of you who want or need a different view for a few seconds. If you are like my Niece, I welcome you to pretend you are riding. I will not tell anyone. Please notice the sun in that first one! I have decided I am not complaining about clouds anymore (sorry about Monday!). Do you know how many times in the Bible clouds represent God? A lot. Think about that. Do you want me to say it again??? AHAmoment! Also, clouds make the sun more brilliant when it shines through. So there.

What do you do just for the shear joy of it? Go do it.

Walk in love, dear readers!

Make it a wonderful Wednesday!

Daily Dose Of Cute. 

On By AveryIn Horses2 Comments

Here is your daily dose of cute. You are welcome!


It is a picture of a picture. I forgot this moment even happened. The old man, Mansebo, teaching the young buck, Lito, how to nap in the summer. 

I hope everyone had a great Friday and has an even better weekend! 

Walk in love, dear readers! Go do what makes your heart smile. That is what I will be doing! 

Pedigree.

On By AveryIn Horses3 Comments
OK, get your cup of coffee, I am finally (way late) jumping on the pedigree bandwagon of the unofficial blog hop. Sorry to my non horse followers, bear with me. I am not always a bore if this is your first time stopping in. It is still pretty interesting given that there are some Kentucky Derby runners in there! I have had fun reading everyone’s post on this. If you have not done it yet, do! Now if only someone from the PRE world would start one…
The Thoroughbred (TB) world is a bit of an unknown to me. I am pretty new to actually paying attention to TB pedigrees, as I did not grow up with them. I know more about Quarter Horses (QH) and the Iberian horses, mainly the Pura Raza Espanola (PRE/Andalusian). I had an off the track thoroughbred (OOTB) on my string in college. I really liked him, but for the life of me I can not remember his name. I actually feel quite terrible about that. I normally remember all the horses I ride. Geeze, I am getting old. I never knew his registered name anyway. I digress, back to the point. We will start with Cheetah’s dam.
While not a full TB herself, Cheetah’s dam was an OTTB. I did a bunch of research into her linage while in grad school before I bred her. It was a perfect and satisfying procrastination session. Especially since you can go all the way back to the 1700’s. It yielded some interesting results. Well, at least interesting to me. You TB people will have to tell me what you think. I can not remember if any of your TB lines intersect.
I went pretty far back. Growing up, we mostly had grad horses with generally unknown stories. If only they could talk. To at least be able to track the genetics of a horse is another puzzle piece we do not always have. I basically just used Equibase, Google, and Denny Emerson. I do not know anything about the get of these horses, so if you know anything about that, I am all ears.
The internet is a wonderful thing. Cheetah’s dam, Innocent Millicent (Milli), was not stellar on the track herself, but when you look farther back, she had some good blood in her.
She was foaled in Texas April 1996 and ran twice in July 1999 a couple weeks apart at Gillespie fairgrounds, finishing 8th and 9th. In her maiden start, finishing 8th out of 10, she showed brief speed in the beginning, but it didn’t hold. In her second start, she was far back, failed to maintain bld? racing 5 wide throughout, and finished last. I have no idea if she had any other foals besides my Cheetah. When I got Cheetah, Milli was being used as an english and western Equestrian Team horse at my college.
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As to not bore everyone to death (is it too late?), here are the stand outs in Milli’s pedigree:
There are several other multiple stakes and multiple graded stakes winners in there. It is a shame she is no longer alive. She might not have been a great runner herself, but if crossed with the right stud, she might have produced a pretty good race or sport horse. Maybe. Maybe not.

Cheetah’s sire, Drifts Wily Doc (QH), also has quite good breeding for a good all round cow dwd1_tcclassichorse. From what I understand, he is a work horse and sire of mostly working horses that basically always wins or places in the show ring. He earned his Register Of Merit. Farther back in the TB origins, all three of the developers of the modern TB make several appearances (Matchem, Eclipse, & Herod).

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There is more line breeding on this half, but some recognizable names (info & pics from AQHA):
  • Driftwood – AQHA Hall Of Fame 2006; match race winner, roper; sire of fast, calm, athletic, pretty heads (love that detail, thanks AQHA)
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  • Poco Bueno – AQHA Hall Of Fame 1990; very influential sire; cutting champion; sire of 36 champions and 3 Hall of Famers; sire of gentle, easy, smart
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  • Sugar Bars – AQHA Hall Of Fame 1994; great sire of stakes race winners and performance horses; sired by Three Bars (TB)
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  • Joe Reed II – AQHA Hall Of Fame 1994; courage; heart; speed; born to run; won race with gimpy knee; sire of cutting, roping, and race horses and an AQHA Hall Of Fame horse (Leo)unnamed-3
  • Joe Reed – AQHA Hall Of Fame 1992; conception planned by grooms and jockeys without owners consent; raised on a bottle; almost died; great sprinter; sire of Joe Reed II and Red Joe; #3 horse in AQHA stud book
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  • Clabber – AQHA Hall Of Fame 1997; ‘Iron Horse’ known for soundness; not very good looking with flared hooves; worked all day as ranch horse and won several match races on weekends; World Champion Quarter Running Horse and Wold Champion Racing Quarter Horse Stallion; great sire
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  • King P-234 – (Mansebo‘s grand or great grand sire) AQHA Hall Of Fame 1989; legend; Man o’ War of Mexico; cow horse; sire of great performance and cow sense
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  • Doc Bar – AQHA Hall Of Fame 1993; sired by Three Bars (TB); failed as race horse; 15 hh; sire of NCHA Futurity winners, world champs, top 10 horses, uniform, easy, ability, sense, and cow
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  • Poco Lena – AQHA Hall Of Fame 1991; known for her beauty; very successful cutter; bad founder; great brood mare; first NCHA Hall Of Famer and first mare in AQHA HOF
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  • Three Bars (TB) – Good race horse but plagued with injury; great sire of QH and TB
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  • Peter McCue (TB) – AQHA Hall Of Fame 1991; AQHA founding sire; race winner and mult distances; sire of some of the great foundation AQHA horses
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  • Wimpy P-1 – AQHA Hall Of Fame 1989; #1 horse in the AQHA stud book; produced 174 registered horses for King Ranch; sire of champions
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  • Old Sorrel – AQHA Hall Of Fame 1990; started King Ranch breeding program; 14.3 hh with great balance, conformation, temperament, quickness, and cow; bred to TB mares; sired uniform conformation
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  • Traveler – AQHA Hall Of Fame 1994; unknown origins; came from New York; was a plow horse; known to be ‘perfect’ looking; sired great runners with good disposition and confirmation
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  • Lightning Bar – AQHA Hall Of Fame 2008; sired by Three Bars; great race horse even though plagued with  pneumonia, distemper, cut coronet bands, and an injured knee; Register Of Merit; Champion in halter; sire of great race champions and cutter Doc Bar; died at 9 yo from virus
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  • Texas Dandy –  AQHA Hall Of Fame 1995; sire of race winners, AQHA champions, great broodmares; movie star of “Boy From Indiana”
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I bet you think I am crazy now! I like history and I make no apologies! I am a ninth generation Texan, so I could have talked about that.

I would love my Cheetah even if I had no idea where she came from or if she came from ‘lesser’ horses. She has a big heart and is very brave. She does everything and more.

Makes me want to breed her again!

A Soft Spot For Stars Blog Hop: Location, Location, Location.

On By AveryIn Horses3 Comments

This is my first blog hop, and it will not be my last! It has rained basically non stop since Friday, so I have no fun riding stories. I basically did chores and fed while getting wet. Then on Sunday, my parents and I got the family Christmas tree. I finished decorating it last night with the help of wine. The decorating is almost finished. Normally, I would be finished with Christmas deco within a couple days of Thanksgiving, but given the events of late, it just has not happened.

I digress, I am going to jump on the TB pedigree blog hop bandwagon eventually, but I can not remember who started that one? Cheetah‘s dam was an OTTB and has a fun pedigree. I did all the research while I was in grad school. It was great for procrastinating.

Today’s blog hop comes from A Soft Spot For Stars. I already like her because we both have dun mares. Anyway, I too am curious about fellow bloggers locations and what it is like where they are.

8e2fb13d66cac7d6dd11209131704afeNo secrets here, I am a Texas gal. I reside in the ‘southern half’ of the state, in a big city. My horses stay at our family farm an hour away. That makes things difficult for me and my fuel consumption. However, it is an easy hour drive and I can go out after work whenever I need or want. The time change makes it hard to ride when I go after work during the winter, but I can blanket the old guy and feed him before it gets dark on cold nights. I will be doing that the latter half of this week.

Demographic? Most people that live in and around the city board their horses if they do not have property outside of town. There are several equestrian friendly communities outside of town where you can live and keep or board horses. We are probably 50/50 mix of western to english riders of all kinds. There are many shows and clinics in the ‘general area.’ Most shows and clinics are just far enough away from where the horses are to not be ‘convenient’ (1.5-2+ hr haul). This is very frustrating for me as I am hungry for more knowledge and do not want to let my riding get stagnant. BUT there are many great trainers and I have a few that I plan to haul to for lessons in the near future. We have a few good tack stores in town (good or bad considering how you look at it!). There is a big tack store in the area. It is generally an hour from town or an hour from the farm, but I ride horses for people out that way sometimes.

Costs of horse keeping in my region of the great state:

  • Trim-$35 (Lito just gets a trim, as do the other geldings and Petunia)
  • Front shoes-$70 (I keep front shoes on Cheetah Beets)
  • Average cost of a month of full time training-$800
  • Average cost of monthly pasture board-$400
  • Average cost of monthly stall board-$600 (All kinds of board and prices range wildly. These averages might be on the high side, but there are places I have seen that have exorbitant prices. The ones that I have looked at and work for me are not all that much closer than the farm)
  • Hay, good horse quality Bermuda-$8.00 (I have not looked at the prices for this year yet)(We high quality pasture and have had good rains this year…I do not think we will need to buy too terribly much this year)
  • What I consider priceless? Feeding in my pj’s. That Texas sky. Sunrises and sunsets viewed from the back of my horse. When I am at the farm, I can do whatever, whenever.

Weather? In the summer it is hot and humid. The only ‘good thing’ about the humidity is that it keeps us from generally having too many 100+ temp days. The heat index is the killer…and the bugs. All of our cows have some percentage of Brahman in them to help with coping with bugs and humidity. I ride all year round. In the summer on the weekends, I wake up and feed in the dark so I can be tacked up and mounted by the time I can see with the first light. I generally ride 2 horses (groom, ride, cool out, hose down) and get some chores finished by 11 AM. I do not do much else until 7 PM when I will ride another horse. It also limits when I haul. I do not like to haul during the hot, middle of the day. During the work week, I hustle out there and get 1 horse ridden and get back home late. Sometimes I stay out there for the night and come back super early in the morning for work. Winter is pretty easy by majority standards. It will freeze a few times. Lows are generally in the 40’s. A cold night is in the 30’s. It will only do that for a few days. It is not uncommon to be riding in short sleeves in January.

Lito has what I think is an allergic reaction to mosquitoes or flies. Does anyone else have this problem???
Hot Darcy.
A ‘frosty’ morning ride on Cheetah, looking at the geldings.

Other notes? Hunting season. It cramps my style a little bit because some in the family like to hunt at the farm. That is all fine and good except that requires me to not ride. That bugs me. Other than that it is fine. Our property is on a river and there are some duck hunters that like to come and park themselves behind the barn. The barn is not right on the river, but it is close. Anyway, I can hear them and let me tell you, it is funny. They are not very good at their duck calls and I can hear them talking. That is not how you do it!

Frustrating things?

  • The drive. I wish they were closer. However, I like not having to pay board. I have contemplated it so I could have at least a horse closer. I also like them being able to live like horses. It is also simpler to have them at the farm with the others. I have also contemplated moving to a place somewhere in the middle.
  • I miss the barn community. It is a great thing. I have horse friends that I ride with, but most of them are not in our neck of the woods.

Join in on the blog hop if you have not already! I have had fun reading them!

It is December, y’all.

On By AveryIn Dogs, Horses3 Comments

I know, I am such a Sherlock Holmes.

I started decorating for Christmas yesterday after work. I put on my Spotify Christmas playlist entitled ‘The Reason For the Season.’ It all really lifted my spirits and today is a new day!

For a new influx of happy/fun/positive on this Thursday, I have for you some of my past years animal Christmas photos! It is December 1st after all. I will take some new ones soon. This is to prep you. I know you are just too excited. If you are well behaved, I might rustle up some old Christmas photos of us sisters all in matching outfits…that is a real hoot.

Have you ever taken funny Christmas photos??? Share them with me!

Walk in love, dear readers.

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The first year I made everyone do it. Look at Apache’s face! He was wishing he was not retired so he could buck me off.
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Darcy’s first Christmas photo.

Darcy is a good sport.

Look what I made baby Lito man do. Maybe not such a baby. This was last year when he was 2.5+ yo. Yes, those are jingle bells. He is a good boy. I am mean.

 

Cheetah

On By AveryIn Horses7 Comments

The time has come, y’all. As I promised, here is Cheetah’s story.

I was sent off to college under strict orders that I was not to take a horse to school and I was not to get one while I was there. The thought of this conversation with my father still makes me chuckle. I had been trying to find a loophole since I left.

I began an internship in my second year for the director of the university’s equestrian center where I schooled/trained program and sale horses, assisted in horse sales, led summer horseback riding camps, and helped run local horse shows. I had anywhere between two to five horses on my ‘string.’ The best part about it was I could ride two to three horses a day while going to school and I still got good grades…my parents could not complain! Anyhoo, Cheetah was in my first group of horses (could have been the second group, but that really is not an important detail) during that first fall of my internship. It was practically love at first sight. No one at the center wanted to use her for anything, being the strong, opinionated mare that she was is.

I have learned that the majority of the horses I fall for begin with this descriptor…probably not the best thing in the world. Oops. I was asked to put some miles on her and either get her placed in a university program or aid in her sale. After the first week of riding her, I was a goner. She was 4.5 yo at the time and did not know much of anything past go. She turned…some…and was not the biggest fan of stopping. She was also a booger to catch. Most days it took me a solid 30 min to bring her in. She made incredible strides in the riding department in just a matter of a couple weeks. Knowing the opinions about her and her personality, my Cheetah girl would not be a match for any of the school programs. She would have to be put up for sale. This thought broke my heart. I constantly shoved it away as I found new things that she ‘had’ to work on.

One horrible day, you know the kind where you are just all over the place emotionally and have that sick feeling where you have no idea what you are doing in life and that you are doing the wrong thing…that all too common feeling during that time in your life where you are just figuring it all out, I went out to the barn all bottled up like a shaken bottle of champagne. Everything was just beneath the surface, ready to explode. As I entered Cheetah’s turn out, we made eye contact and I said a little prayer, “please, just let me catch her today. I have had an awful day and I just need to stick my face in her mane.” When I turned back around from locking the gate to walk out and try to catch her, she started walking to me. We met in the middle. I then sat and cried with her head in my lap for the remainder of my allotted catch time. That awful feeling of her being sold kept creeping up on us.

I went home after finals for Christmas with a plan. I attempted to convince my father over Thanksgiving that my life could not go on without this mare to no avail. I had my mother and my Aunt though. Game changers. I gave him my best pitch at Christmas and I do not even remember what I said. I thought it would never work out until my Aunt stepped in and said he had to say yes. Well, I never did get a ‘yes,’ but I got something that was not a ‘no.’ I texted my boss on Christmas and asked if I could buy Cheetah. She probably thought I was crazy when she said yes, but I doubt she was surprised.

Yawn.

My boss and I ended up working a deal where I worked off the payment. It was a win win for everyone. I have to be honest though, I think I got the better deal on all fronts. I have lost count of the times I have cried into her mane and she has been great to catch ever since that one day. I honestly do not think I would have finished college without her.

Stripes for days.

We have logged countless hours in the arena and out in the crop fields. We trained. We showed some. We conquered. We made life long friends. The best part is, our story is not over yet! She is only 12. We are still doing even if sometimes it feels as if we are not. We enjoy our time together even if I am just standing in the pasture next to her while she grazes. She knows me better than anyone and has changed my life for good. I can not imagine my life if she had never mare glared galloped her way into it. I thought about changing her name when she first became ‘mine’ (my boss’ daughter named her), but you know they say that is bad luck and really, it suits her personality. I went through the hassle and ridiculous advanced age fee to get her registered with AQHA because I had our next adventure planned. I just had to graduate first.

This, my dear readers, brings me to Lito’s story. That is a story for another day ;).

Go walk in love.

 

The Herd.

On By AveryIn Dogs, Horses9 Comments

*This post has been edited to keep up with the times.*

I introduce you, officially, to each of my quadruped loves that teach me more about myself, keep me close to God, and remind me what IT is all about.

Merle, or Merley Bob, or Merle Merle, or Mr. Dirty Toes:
My wing pup. He was born in June of 2019 and was destined to be mine. He filled the hole in my heart. Currently he is spending his time playing and learning and barking. We have many adventures to come.

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Docs InnocentDrifter, or Cheetah, or Cheetah Beetah, or Beets:
This is my girl. She entered my life in the year 2008 an I have not been the same since. She is a 2004 model, dun Appendix Quarter Horse mare standing at approximately 15.1 – 15.2 hh. She has been with me through several years of rides, degrees, an amazing colt, and other memories spanning the state of Texas. She is my gal pal. My go to. My heart horse. I do not know where I would be without her.

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Manolito ALI, or Lito, Lito Man, or Lito Plito:
My dashing 2013, dun colt out of Cheetah. The realization of a life long dream. He is my boy and knows my every thought. He was sired by a hunk of a bay PRE stallion. He was close to 16 hh at just 2 yo and has not appeared to stop getting taller. This is Lito shown at 1 week old and 6.5 yrs. He is starting to fill out into his big frame. Here is to growing!

Ike, or Ike the Southern Gentleman, or Ikey, or Ikester:
My family’s retired Tennessee Walker gelding. I believe he is a 2000 or 2001 model. One of the sweetest guys on earth. He is about 16 – 16.1 hh. He has been diagnosed with DSLD and we are just enjoying our time with him, taking it moment by moment.

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Chance, or Second Chance, or Give Me A Chance, or Chancey:
My family’s token short horse! Ha! I have never taped him, but if he is over 14.2 hh, I would be surprised. If you look at him from a certain angle, you might think he is wider than he is tall. The best guess is he is a 2003 model. He has one of the softest, prettiest sorrel coats out there that shines like a copper penny in the sun.

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Petunia, or Tuners:
Last, but certainly NOT least. Old horse companion extraordinaire with a personality plus! I love this donkey! She was around 14 yo when we got her and she always has the last word. That picture is from the day I met her and brought her home!

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Introduce me to your four legged friends!