The Event Shirt

Here it is!



Awesome isn't it? Thats me on Tonka... our resident horse since we can't keep a real one here. I named him after the Wild Horse in the Movie 'Tonka' Which is a great old western movie that you should watch if you haven't already. My standing vault technique is actually derived from Tonka so it really is a special name.

Anyway there it is :)

So where is he?

I told you a little while ago in this post that I would be leasing Phoenix and he would be arriving in the next couple of weeks. Well in case you haven't noticed there hasn't been much word on him here, so heres an update:

He was supposed to come about 2 weeks ago but the girl who has him can't drive him as shes on her restricted license and her parents were over seas for a couple of weeks so we had to wait for them to get back.

Then last week she rang me to say that her parents were back but when she had gone out to see him that day she had felt some heat in his hooves which meant he could be lame. She was going to get someone to check it out and see if he would be alright to travel.

She then rang me on Friday night and said there was no heat anymore and would it be alright if they brought him up on Sunday afternoon (yesterday). Of course I said yes, glad that something was happening and I would be able to show you all some pictures. She said they would probably get to the Pony Club at about 4.00pm. So about 3.30 I was just about to leave to go up to the Pony Club when I got a call from her. Apparently they had been trying for two hours to get him on the float and he utterly refused to go near it. They had some experienced horse friends helping them and even they hadn't been able to get him on. One of the friends ended up having to go to hospital because Phoenix ripped a rope out of his hand and cut it to the bone.

She said they were going to try for a little while longer and then get back to me. So I sat at home and then about 1/2 an hour later her mum rang to talk to me. She told me basically the same thing but she said they were going to call it a day and maybe try later on in the week. So yep thats about it.

I don't know when he's coming and even if he'll come considering they can't get him on the float. So we'll see what happens.

Now for some good news: My Cross Country event shirt and hat cover arrived on Wednesday! Its sky blue and black (my colours for those who dont know) and its awesome! I'll get mum to take a picture of me in it tonight and of course you will see in featured during the cross country phase of my competitions. Now all I need is some black boots for Red to complete our Cross Country outfit haha :)

Also if you remember in my post Shopping List I wanted a Hanoverian Collegiate Bridle... we'll I got it last week. I felt a tad guilty about spending that much on a bridle but I love it! I even brought a bridle bag to protect it so it dosen't get ruined in the back of my car. Reds not quite excited about it as I am.. he wouldn't stand still when I was fitting it to him.

So thats it in the news of Katie and Red. A story for another day will be coming soon (if not in the next hour or so) so keep your eyes peeled for that.

A story for another day # 4: The Choice

One day Sarah-Annes dad asked us to help herd some sheep to another paddock. So we jumped on two of her horses bareback and set off. The sheep we're wayyy down the road so we rode all the way down to their paddock and rounded them up which was no easy feat, especially since I had to go along one track that had a lot of thorny bushes head and arm height. Finally we pushed them out onto the road and we took them down to their new paddock.

When we arrived at the gate we saw that one of the male ostriches had gotten out and was on the road in front of us. Now I don't know if Ive mentioned this before butI hate and am totally scared of ostriches. Espcially males. If I could choose one animal on the planet to die it would be the ostrich (horrible and mean I know, but thats how much I hate them). Its mostly an irrational fear since Ostriches have never really done anything to me (except for Aussie) but Sarah-Anne has told me many a tale about her parents being attacked by ostriches and how they almost died (ostriches can kill). Also ostriches have this revolting mating call which sends shivers down my spine.

So anyway this ostrich was on the road in front of us. Sarah-Anne and I decided the safest thing to do would be to move over to the side of the road and not provoke it in anyway. So we turned around and started moving off to the side of the road. I looked back and saw the ostrich running down the road straight for us. I didn't know what to do! I had no chance of galloping away and out running the ostrich because they run faster then horses. But there was really no where to go! It came closer and closer... and then just ran past us. So now the ostrich was behind us on the road we decided to move the sheep into their paddock, Lance , Sarah-Annes dad, was at the gate. He told us just to hold back a second because Zee Zee, one of the stallions on the farm, was by the gate and was trying to get through. Suddenly, and I don't know how it happened, Zee Zee was out on the road!

Now I really didn't know what to do. Here I was, standing in the middle of the road next to my best friend with a dangerous Ostrich on one side and a dangerous stallion on the other. To make it worse, we were both on geldings. The ostrich was further away then the stallion so we slowly started moving towards the ostrich, trying to give Zee Zee some space. I was looking around, hoping an escape route would present itself, but alas I could see nothing. We really only had two choices, move towards the Ostrich and risk the claws of death or move towards Zee Zee and risk his wrath, hooves and teeth. I really didn't know what to do, I mean it was like choosing my death! But then the choice didn't need to be made because Zee Zee turned around and cantered off down the road in the opposite direction.

PHEW!

Lance jumped in the car and went after Zee Zee. He managed to herd him back and into his paddock. The sheep went to the cprrect place and the ostrich was established back in his rightful paddock. And we walked alllllllllllll they way back.

I'm still here... really

Well its been awhile since my last post. Basically nothings really been happening with Red and I, we're just moving along waiting for Pheonix's arrival and the new season to begin.

The first PC rally is in 2 weeks! Its going to be great, I'm in a ride with two of my good friends so it should be a fun season. We have a new instructor so hopefully shes as nice and as fun as Sue was.

Almost every wednesday for the past few weeks a few of us have been going along to C certificate theory lessons. Our head instructor Sue wants to push us through our certificates as soon as possible because we're behind for our age. I don't know why the other girls don't have higher certificates but I only started PC last season so I have an excuse :)

Red's putting on weight with the Spring grass! I'm sure he's loving all the new grass and the warm sun we've been getting!

Well anyway coming up in the next post is 'A Story for Another Day'! You're excited now aren't you?!

Till then :)

Horse Records

I'm a big advocate of keeping up to date records of your horse. I consider it an important part of horse ownership. I keep records about Red. Not just medical records but records on what he eats, his dental work, his farrier work and a lot of other information. As well as showing me when things like his next dentist visit must be it also can provide important information to my vet if he suddenly falls ill.

Almost everything about Red is kept in this file. And its readily accesible to anyone in my family. I keep one copy in my personal records, one in the telephone box at our house and one A5 size record in the car. My auntie also has a A4 size copy and a A5 copy for her car. I update it anytime new information comes in and I print it off once a month.

I also include pictures of Red in the file. Pictures of his markings, his brandings, a side on shot and also a head shot. I also ensure someone from my family is standing in one or two of the pictures so that if he gets stolen we can prove he is ours. These photos are updated every 3 months.

I encourage everyone to create a file for their horse(s) if they haven't already done so.

Blogger doesn't support PDF files so I'm unable to post a link to my records here but if you want to see how I do it, you can email me at katieandred@yahoo.co.nz and I'll email you my file and also a template of my file so you can work off that.

Here are also so good links that I found helpful when doing my file:

• For the Record: Keeping Medical Files for Your Horse This site gives you an idea of what you need in your records
  


• Know your horse's vital signs This site shows you how to take vital stats of your horse
  


• Preventing Horse Theft And this one gives you some good ideas about keeping those theifs away. Its a PDF file.

There are also a few programs that you can purchase off the internet that are desgined especially to help horse owners. I can't reccomend any of these as I prefer to make my own but if you have a huge stable full of horses it might be worth looking into.

So good luck to you and your horses! It really is a good idea to keep up to date records.

Happy Riding.

The cold windy days

When my annoying alarm woke me up this morning I realised it was raining outside and I though to myself "Red will not be a happy boy today" and I was right. He was the grumpiest I have ever seen in him in my whole 3 years of owning him. First he gave me his evil eyes and angry ears when I walked up to him in the paddock. He then turned and walked away. But he soon stopped and I was able to get him. Then as were walking all the way down to the wash bay he went as slow as he could. Honestly I could not get him to move out. And he wanted to stop to eat every few metres.

When I finally got him down to the wash bay it all went bad. Aparently everything I did annoyed the heck out of him. If I was undoing his cover he would try to nip me, if I picked up a brush he would try to nip me, and sometimes if I was just walking past me he would go in the for the kill. After telling him off a few times he finally got the message that nipping me was not on, so he decided to take his anger out on the air instead. His teeth nashed, his tail flicked and his ears were laid against his head at anything I tried to do. He was not a happy boy.

Then when I went to mount him he would not stand still! This horse just did not want to be ridden. But once we rode around a bit he settled down and got on with work. It just took us awhile to get there.

Last night I got the call that Pheonix can come onto grazing early!!!!!! Wahoo! Its going to make life so much easier. He'll be up in the next couple of weekends. I'll probably find out the exact date tonight! I'm really excited. Reds going really well at the moment, and Pheonix will be a great new challange so I'm in for a exciting 3 months while hes here.

Well thats all for now!

Freestyle Dressage

This is Andreas Helgstrand riding at the World Equestrian Game 06 in the Freestyle Dressage Competition. He came third (if I remember right) and Anky won but personally I liked Andreas' routine better! I'll never get sick of this video. I thought you just might want to have a look at what the pros are like :)

Its getting closer!

The season is almost here! I can feel it coming! I can even smell in the air. No, honestly I can. I went to Reds paddock this morning and all these Summer smells hit me and sent my mind straigh back to riding in the hot summer sun! Ahhh bliss! The PC grounds are even starting to open up! I am soooooooo happy! The plum tree paddock and the Reserve have opened for 'light riding' so I guess it means no galloping around wildly lol.

Anyway theres been a change on A Girl and Her Horse. If you take a look on the left you'll see that I've added a new feature to the site! You can now click on the links and go to pics of Red and I. Throughout the season I'll add pics of the ODEs and ribbon days so you now have easy access to my photos. Also a new blog has been added to my horse blog list... A Moment in Time. My friend Michelle is the author and its all about her gorgeous horse Gizmo! Check it out sometime!

In Red news... we had a lesson yesterday with Sophie. Sophie is an awesome eventer herself and she regularly gives lessons at PC. Red and I did a bit of dressage with her and some jumping. We worked on getting Red to lead with his right leg for ages! He got it about 4 times out of 30 which is a start! Sophies given me lots of raised trotting pole homework and she wants me to me vigilent about trotting on the right diagonal. Up till now I haven't paid much attention to it but as a result Red has more muscle on his left side. Yes its my fault. But I plan to get it sorted ASAP!

We did some jumping too! It was great fun. Red was awesome, Sophie said he was "Full of beans." He jumped really well and I kept out of his way :) Peter was there so he got some nice photos of us which you can check out on the link marked 'Lesson with Sophie - 02/08/07" at the side. Not all the photos are there at the moment because my email is down so check back. The picture at the top of this post is my favourite! I love it! I'm thinking of getting it blown up to poster size for my room!

Oh also when I went to get Red from his paddock this morning there was a dog that was chasing and attacking two of the horses! When he saw me he ran off, although I didn't see where. The horses he was going after were fine, I checked them over but they were upset. They both wanted lots of pats to be reassured. I called the grazing manager and she told me to call Animal Control because theres been other reports of a dog chasing the horses around and tormenting them. Hopefully it will get resolved soon! I don't like the idea of Red being chased around by a mean dog. Also the dog is putting itself at risk, a horse could easily double barrel it!