I semi gave up on keeping this blog all together, but I suppose I will give it another go. It will be nice to look back on. I recently returned home from a nine day trip to Florida for work, but got this cute photo on my last day of working with Bentley before I left.

Upon my arrival back it was obvious he was a 2 year old who had not been worked with for 9 days. He was weird about me pulling his halter off over his ears, didn't want to respect my space, etc. He also had a what I like to refer to as "gooby" eye so I called the vet to come out this past Monday to check it out and go ahead with pulling his caps. I almost posted a picture from the day he had his caps pulled, but refrained as there was definitely some blood in those...lol! It was nothing serious with his eye so a vet bill and some eye drops later he's doing better.

After letting him have a couple of days to rest I started doing some ground work with him and he seems to be almost back to his well mannered self again. I am hoping to try riding again tomorrow if I can bear the heat...101+ with humidity is a little rough!

Standing Still

So after another month of ground work and a western saddle we have accomplished mounting and dismounting while standing still!!! Yay!!! I decided on a western saddle to try and desensitize Bentley more. Now we have had 4 rides since I brought him home 3 months ago and he just keeps getting better. We still have a long ways to go, but glad to see that things are slowly improving and we haven't gotten stuck in too big of a rut yet.

And yes that is Ginger in the background trying to sneak out of her stall :)

First Ride

On Friday I had the day off of work so I ran some errands and headed out to the barn. Bentley and I took our first ride since I tried him 2 months ago. It went a lot better than when I first tried him. I guess the ground work has paid off. He stood like a perfect gentleman for me to hop on and off as I practiced. However after making a few laps around the round pen and then asking for a halt to let me off it was not so great. He gets antsy and doesn't want to stop or stand still for me to dismount. On our first attempt I tried to dismount and he danced around so I swung my leg bag over to try and calm him again, once I did he was still antsy. Every time I become unbalanced (as you do upon dismounting) he panics. All ended well as I continued to work with him refusing to end on a bad note. I was able to make one small lap ask for a halt and dismount with no dancing. This will be our main feat to overcome before any more in the saddle training continues.

Overall I am happy with the "first ride"; it was a lot better than the test ride where he had to be held while I mounted and caught before I could dismount. I have seen many horses have problems standing still while mounting or wanting to walk away too soon. However only problems while dismounting is new to me. Hopefully we can get it all sorted out and have many great rides together.

Bentley's first haircut/pull/mess

Here we are attempting Bentley's first trim job. It started with me not able to find my new clippers. Still not sure where they are...

So this meant using scissors and my old Wahl clippers that won't hold a charge/have seen better days. Pulling his mane was out of the question for me. He stood fairly well considering and his mane doesn't look half bad. Still need to work on the bridle path though. He is really turning into a beautiful palomino dapple color. I hope the dapple stays, but I am pretty sure he will just end up a full golden palomino color once he sheds all the way out. Either way he is turning into a handsome little fellow.

I am super eager to ride him, and will consider at least getting on this weekend since it will have been 2 months since I bought him. I said I would wait 2-3 months to build some respect up on both of our sides before diving in. He does listen quite well on the ground and I hope it shows in the saddle too. If it feels right this weekend I will do it, if not maybe some trailer loading practice will do us both some good =)

Miscellaneous

The horses had their spring shots last Saturday and Ginger enjoyed a drink/splash in the creek afterwards. She's such a pretty girl even at 19.

Last night I went out to the barn to find Ginger off on her back left. There wasn't any heat, but seemed slightly puffy around her fetlock joint...when I say slightly I mean nearly non existent. I figured/prayed/hope it was just from her being stuck in the stall all day due to the monsoon here in Texas. We gave her a couple of grams of bute and I will go out tonight and hope that she has worked it out.

On a positive note from the monsoon meant puddles and puddles of water! This was a great time to see how Bentley would do as a possible cross country horse one day...lol! He did great when I led him through and only hesitated slightly when asked to come through on his own to the right...not his favorite side to do anything towards. Overall he was great and I couldn't ask for too much more out of a 2 year old.

New Horse

Well once again it's been forever! I have changed my blog to Ginger & Bentley (the new baby).

Now if I can only keep up with my adventures with Bentley. Hopefully they will be more training related and not so much medical :)

I purchased Bentley on February 10th. He is a 2 year old Appendix gelding. He had been lightly started before my purchase and I intend to do 2-3 months ground work before getting back in the saddle with him. Here we are in the picture already 1 month down the road. This is the first time I have even put a saddle on him since I tried him out. He is much more like Ginger than Cash was and I think that will suit me better. He has a little spunk, but not too crazy.

On another note I have also changed the layout of my blog. I really like the pictures showing up as that is what I enjoy the most. It is also a nice change since the blog is now about my adventures with my old lady and a new guy. More to come...

Poor Gingy

Well...here Ginger is feeling crummy! I was out yesterday trying some horses out and I guess she knew. I was about 45 minutes away from the barn trying a horse and got a text message that said "Ginger is down in the pasture". I thought, "what the hell, down?!". Is she dead, did she break a leg, colic?! Well it was colic. I called the vet to head out to the barn and then headed that way myself. The vet said is seemed mild and tubed her and administered banamine. We stayed with her for a bit and she seemed well, just a little mad to not be eating.

This morning I got a call that she was pawing and trying to roll in her stall. I talked to the vet and she said to bring her out to her place. Well...Ginger HATES trailers (she had an accident involving 22 stitches in her head before I got her). She's never really been a fan since then. After many failed attempts at loading her; I called the vet to come out with some ace so we could get her on the trailer. Of course then the vet thought she could load her and tried without the ace. It really annoys me that people who barely know my horse think "their" method will magically work. I have had her for 15 years and roughing her around is definitely not the way to get her on a trailer. Anywho...she is still at the vets barn on watch. Everyone say a little prayer that she makes it. I am on pins and needles... panicking anytime I hear my phone ring. I hope not to get any calls tonight.

Cash finds a new home

OK so I will try to make this long story short. After all my ups and downs with Cash I decided to sell him. I couldn't afford emotionally or financially to keep just another trail horse and I didn't want to drug him up every time I showed him just to keep him feeling OK. So I sold him to a very sweet lady that just wanted a love bug/trail horse. He is shown in the picture at his new home. We dropped him off on January 7th, just 9 months after he came into my life. I am really happy that I was able to prepare him for someone new as I know he would not have been able to go to this same home 9 months ago. He came a long way and is such a great horse. I am grateful to have found a home where he will have all his needs tended to and lead a less stressful life.

Now I must decide what to do next. I really want another horse, but at the same time I am scared to get burned again. For now I will enjoy the time I am actually home (and not out of town for work) with my old lady (Ginger) :)