Hi, I'm Ev. I'm training to become a horsewoman. These are my adventures and misadventures. I'm green as hell, but so far, so good. I'm now learning from Bo (and sometimes his wife DeDe) at D&D Ranch in Pope Valley. I am extremely lucky to have this opportunity, I feel quite blessed, and I feel that they, and horses, have really turned my life around.
Solomon is my baby- a big old flea bitten grey Appendix gelding who is very kind and way too smart! I love him so very much. He is a rescue and was meant to be co-owned rehabbed, and maybe rehomed to a good home. He turned out to be over 25 years old with injuries that ultimately do not make him riding sound, so he is retired.

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Okay, so he didn't go into the big pasture today- we're going to put him in there tomorrow. Solomon has already gotten attached to the three senior mares in his paddock area. I first turned him out in a pen a ways away, and he ran and trotted around beautifully, and I of course forgot the camera. He was running around like that in part because he was anxious though, because he could not see "his" mares. The new BO warned me that this would happen. I just didn't think it'd happen in a day! That will make tomorrow more difficult, but Sol will adjust fine.
Today I stuck him in a small turnout pen to let him stretch his legs and to see if he knew what a hot wire fence was, or if he'd try to run through it. He seemed to know, because he was careful to not touch it, and he is normally not shy about fences at all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1QtwQnVJ0A
(once the video has been processed you'll see it anyway)

I wish my camera hadn't run out of memory when he started rolling. I love horse rolling, it's hilarious! Not the most exciting video, I know. I will try to get a tape of him cantering and trotting. I think he moves beautifully, but I am biased.

People who have met him at the new place like him. They say he is pretty and sweet. A lot of people guessed that he was an Arabian. Really? Heh. I told them that he was an appendix as far as I knew anyway.

Here are a few pictures.

Zomgz a tack locker! It's dusty and apparently it's "small," but hell, it's a tack locker and it's MINE! :D And things won't walk away from it either. Big improvement. I realized two things, upon putting my stuff away and then seeing other people's lockers:
1. I have a lot of horse stuff, and
2. There's a lot more horse stuff that I need!
Anyway, after I took that photo I put in a big container of drinking water. You can't see the two hooks on the other wall, but they are there and it's nice. It's great, I love having it there, especially since I just found out that I can't park next to the barn, heh.


Solomon and I shared an apple! :D He's eating it here. Oh yeah, and each paddock has a little sign that you put your horse info on. Under special feeding instructions, I put in my stickers indicating how much of what Solomon should be fed, and then I wrote "OM NOM NOM!"
Serious business, you know! Heh, the uber dressage queens will not know what to do with me coming out there in my skirt and floppy hat, all singing dorky made-up songs to my horse.


Poor Solly gets runny eyes. I need to get him a fly mask, though the last one seemed to make him itchy too. He's a bit worried in this picture, I think. So much new stuff!


Sorry this one is a little blurry- here he is eating hay. See that big hay bucket thinger? The guys who drive around and feed everyone neatly stuck in 2 flakes of hay for him. Wow. The old barn had a totally different definition of the word "flake" as it pertained to an amount of hay. Solomon didn't know what to do with all that hay. At one point he systematically removed almost every bit of hay from the bucket and tossed it around the stall. Good going there, sport. Maybe I'll get him a jolly ball or something for when he's living in that paddock.

The one regret that I have about the pasture is that there isn't perfect footing everywhere (I know, I know, I'm an overprotective horse mom) and that California is so dry and prickly. Well, spring will be awesome anyway!

I think I spent about 4 hours out there today. Tomorrow I may well be out there for longer, we'll see. I think I need to get a book to read, for when Solly is eating. It takes him HOURS to eat a couple of flakes of hay.

3 comments:

all-canadian said...

That's funny, because when I first saw pictures I thought he maybe had some Arab... but he looks a lot like an Anglo Arab I used to know, so I thought that was the reason it occurred to me.

The horse lawyer said...

This is going to sound excessively dopey, but he might be missing his chicken. If he gets really crazed over those mares, you might see if the Old Barn would let you buy "his" chicken and remove it to Hossmoor. Yeah, it starts with buying the horse. Pretty soon there's an entire menagerie, lol.

Evergrey said...

Hee, well I would have taken his chicken too- they wouldn't have cared- but the coyotes would have just eaten her. I would take the chicken home with me, but I've already been told that I can't keep chickens here. :/
I think he may well miss her though. Poor Solly! But he does have a whole herd to make friends with now, so that's good.