Stacy Westfalls ride for her dad

This is truly the most awesome thing I've ever seen with a horse! Unbelievable.....

Great Evening For A Ride....

.....and once again TJ is going and not me!!! :P Oh well, I had my glory days, and until we can get a second horse, I'm happy he WANTS TO GO!!!!

It's been so darn hot here lately, this is the first time they've gone for some time.

The heat and humidity has just been horrible lately. But "Gustav" blew through and gave us some much needed rain, and cooled it off tremendously!

So here is a current picture of Crystal and TJ, all set to go! The saddle blanket and girth were NOT his pick!!! LOL!! I really need to get a different one for him, poor kid!

This is my "adoptive mom" Dolly and Crystal's best friend Brandy!
Brandy is nearly 25 years old, but she sure doesn't look it does she?

Dolly has been MY riding buddy for many, many years, now shes
teaching TJ! She's a great mentor and fantastic lady! Brandy's a good horse, a little on the lazy side, but a good horse! LOL!!

Believe it or not, she's an appaloosa, yep, NO SPOTS! But she's a registered Appy!!

Well, I hope they enjoy their ride! While the trotted off to the woods, I stayed behind and shoveled the stalls out! LOL!! :P

A Horsey Blast From The Past

Pictures of my old QH Mare, Cutie (Chicaros Cutie) and her foal, who was only a few hours old, Impressabar Prissy.

Prissy was born in 1988, and five years later I had to place them because of an illness that I was diagnosed with. I was told I would not ride again. I could barely walk, and I was totally devastated. I loved these horses totally, and to part with them was one of the toughest things I've ever done in my life.
So I got out my old photo album, and decided to snap some photos of my photos and upload them to the computer! I had forgotten how beautiful they both were. Prissy was just a few hours old and Cutie didn't even look as though she had been pregnant!

The saddest part of the whole thing is that later on, about twelve years after I placed my horses, I found out my doctor had made a mistake and had misdiagnosed my condition. It was totally treatable. Two surgeries later and I was fit, able to walk, go back to work AND RIDE AGAIN. But minus my babies from years ago. I sometimes wonder what has happened to them, but part of me doesn't want to know, I don't know if my heart could handle it. I love Crystal so much, but I loved them too. I learned a lot, mostly to ALWAYS get a second opinion, no matter what.

Lazy Horse Days

Crystal and Brandy just lovin' life!! They are like siamese twins!! Crystal can't get out of Brandy's sight without her having a fit!

Hard to believe that Brandy is 24+ years old! She looks so tiny next to Crystal!

They definitely love their pasture, and it seems to be agreeing with them!! They aren't hurin' any in the feed department! :)

Well, another week has come and gone! I need to take more pics of Crystal AND Sage! So I can have plenty of photos for my blog!

I so wanted to ride Crystal this weekend. Tomorrow is my birthday, and I've hardly been on her at all! But it's in the NINETIES here today, same tomorrow! That is just ungodly hot....

Oh well, maybe I'll just take some new photos and call it good!

My tooth is doing good. Had it yanked out of my head on Thursday! They had to anesthetise me for it, it hurt WAY WAY too much with just novacaine! AND I'm a HUGE chicken now when it comes to pain! But it's out and no longer hurts at all! That is the good news, the bad news is, had it waited about six weeks I would have had insurance! :P

It's Been A Horsey Kind Of Day

Well, today we trimmed the hooves on our miniature horse, Sage. He's such a good boy. He never gives us any grief, but at 29", it's tough for him TO give us grief! This is an old picture, I need to get some updated ones. The goats are Carmen (the blond one) and Bubba (the carmel one). They are all best buds! The goats are going to get theirs trimmed one evening this week. It got to hot to do them all today, plus hubby and I got tired, and the goat are a REAL chore! LOL!!




TJ went riding this evening on Crystal.
I'm determined to
go MYSELF next weekend,
come hell or high water! Dammit!
She's my horse and I've been her like TWICE.....

Losing My Horse Again Today

My son is going riding today, and once again, I'm sitting home. :P We're going to have to get another horse!

That's him on Crystal and my daughter is on Brandy (the sorrel mare). Johnnie (my daughter) will ride, but she's not all that crazy about it. TJ is ALWAYS giving her you know what about her riding abilities!! He who has ridden for all of about THREE MONTHS. But I have to say, he rides like he's been doing it all his life.

He is so much like me at that age. I had ZERO fear (not sure THAT is a good thing), and he just knows what to do. He is great with Crystal who hadn't been ridden in two years before we got her.

So he's gonna go riding and I'm gonna play around today.... Maybe I'll groom the dog!

NOT Looking Forward To Friday

I've had an abscessed tooth for about three weeks or so, been on antibiotics and I'm going to the oral surgeon on Friday to have it removed... NOT looking forward to it. Feeling how I feel with this tooth, I can only imagine how poor horses feel with bad teeth..... For a week I couldn't eat ANYTHING. I lived on soup and yogurt! :P

ADDENDUM TO ADD: Got to the oral surgeon's office and of course my blood pressure WAS HIGH, they were about to stick needles in my mouth! :P Well, he wouldn't do my tooth. So I came home and researched it, and NO WHERE could I find that it was dangerous to pull an abscessed tooth when you have high blood pressure. In FACT I read just the opposite, that an infected tooth can CAUSE heart problems. Idiot. So I called the other oral surgeon my dentist recommended and I go Thursday. So I had myself all psyched up and no go..... another week of antibiotics and discomfort. Again I say IDIOT.

I'm So Friggin Tired...

The animal hospital I work at moved into a new building, and I worked 12 and 1/2 hours today! I'm too TOO old for this! I'm dead on my aching feet.

No horse stuff tonight, I can barely find the energy to type! :P But here's a picture of Crystal anyway, just because! :D

Beautiful Day...

It's been a gorgeous weekend. My son took Crystal trail riding yesterday, along with my friend Dolly and her neighbor. We're very fortunate that we have such a great friend that keeps her for us, and she lives on one of our great state parks with LOTS of horse trails!

Here is a picture of TJ out with Crystal on their very first trail ride a week ago. TJ had NEVER been on a horse until we got Crystal in May. He is a natural.

I required he ride in the pasture for the first two months, no cantering, just walk and trot until he got used to her and she him. She is an awesome horse, so willing to please, and with a lot of sense. She has "kind eyes" and smarts to go with them!

Her feet were a mess when we got her, but with her second trimming, they are almost where they need to be now. Our farrier said she obviously did not get the proper nutrition she needed. I suspected that, as they had a lot of horses and Crystal is definitely "low" on the pecking order. I imagine she got rooted out of the feed the majority of the time.

But now she's on four acres of lush pasture, and only has to share that with Brandy, her "siamese twin", and they are both in great weight.

We're working Crystal up slowly with the trails as I have no idea if she's ever BEEN on trails. Her previous owners said they didn't know (huh?), so we've taken it easy. But one thing is for sure, she loves to go. Yesterday when they headed out she wanted in the lead, and there she stayed! She was happy to go, and moved right out to the woods!

I feel very fortunate to have her, and even more fortunate that my son has the same passion as I do...... we will probably be looking for another horse next year, as he loves to ride and so do I, and it's NOT easy sharing ONE horse! LOL!!