Speaking of Photo Shoots

I had a professional photo shoot done this summer. Mom and I suprised Brita with a disk full of hundreds of shots of yours truely engaged in a wide spectrum of activities.

There are photos of me being temperate and gentle.

Power shots...

Athletic shots demostrating my loft and suspension...

And shots displaying my tempestuous and wild side.

Yes, I can be a devilish, spinning dervish. It's amazing that I allow myself to be ridden at all.

But in all of them, I am beautiful

Well, in most of them...

Beautiful Blogger

I know, I know, I have been remiss in my blogging duties of late... busy busy and all that. but, I have been awarded the beautiful blogger award by two of my dedicated readers. A stipulation of receiving this award is recommending fifteen blogs and sharing this award with
them. I don't know if I will achieve a list of 15, but here goes, in no particular order:

1. Riding Aside

2.Dressage Aside

3. I Is Roxie

4. Millésimé Equestrienne

5. Paradigm Farms Retirement

6. Side Saddle Girl

7. Side Saddle Quest

8. When Sally Met Harry

9. Saddlebred in the Making

10. A Day in the Life

The other stipulation of this award is to
share seven things about myself.

1. I wear a size two shoe.

2. I have a bad habit of eating wood.

3. I was born chestnut with a star, and in the summer, you can still see my star.

4. I was an embryo transfer foal.

5. I am claustrophobic about horse trailers and being tied to strange things like posts

6. I like to pinch people when they're not looking

7. My favorite scratchy place is between my jaw bones

I Might be Famous

Remember my Celebrity Photo Shoot back in 2009? Well, the book is out. And you can view my photo on Amazon. Gee, I think I'm famous.

An Apple a Day

Well, make that "An Apple a Week".

What's the point of eating your Wheaties and working out if you can't indulge in a treat now and then? Plus, Brita says if I eat while I exercise, it doesn't count.

Editor's note:

It's amazing what horses remember and understand. Last week I had picked an apple from the tree, and when Grey heard me eating it, he begged, and I handed him the core from his back. I picked a second one, ate half, and dropped the rest on the ground where he discovered it. This week, when we came into the orchard, he went straight to that tree, stopped, and reached around to ask for his reward!

I had to pick another apple and drop it before he would look for them on the ground. His manners under saddle prevented him from reaching down there on his own. Once he found them though, it was hard to limit him to just one. He sure enjoys them, and makes them sound so luscious.

Apples!

I haven't seen an apple in over a year. They're not on my diet. I believed they had gone extinct.

We've been exploring new trails on our rides, and what's this? Snacks on the ground? Here are all the apples!

Mmmmmm! Crunchy! They've been hiding in this little pasture all along!

Apples as far as the eye can see!

And up in the TREES! What do I have to do to get to stay in this pasture?

Friday Funny

This isn't related to any current happenings, but Brita has been talking about getting us a bareback pad to use this winter, and I thought it might be funny to get one embroidered with this...

Or is that too "bad-ass biker Billy" of me? Maybe it would be more appropriate to get her a pink one that says this....

What do you all think?

Congratulations!

Congratulations to my big brother CH Revolver who won the County Fair class Fine Harness horse World's Championship earlier this week. Mama and I are sure proud!

Wildlife

One day the great outdoors came in and disrupted my barn time. As I was being tacked up, something whooshed into the crosstie area, fluttered under my chin, and crashed into the wall.
It was a crash landing, kamikaze, baby sparrow. Mom scooped it up and showed it to our border. Poor little guy was lost.

When we returned from our ride, we found an odd sign in the aisle. Mom had gone to the house before she remembered to tell Brita about the toad invasion. They can get underfoot if you don't watch out.

Oh there he is, over by the wall where it's safe. No one wants to step on a toad. They squeak!

Oh No! My Feets!

You know that all this hot dry weather and hard ground had to take it's toll eventually...

**Sigh**

My feets hurt


The ground has been like concrete. And the road crew spread rocks on my jogging path. So I have been a little tender footed lately. Not lame, but very short and careful. I pick my way around the rocks and trot uneven on hard ground. My farrier came and looked and said he found a "nasty black spot". I wish I could have seen, but it was on the bottom near my toe. Yup, that's where it hurts.

So Brita ordered some Magic Goo which she spread in my feet. When I put my foot down, is squished out the back. Now I know how people feel when they walk barefoot in mud and it squished between their toes. Ewwwwww......

She patted sawdust on the bottom, and wrapped my hooves to keep me from tracking it all over the barn. Don't my toes look fancy?

They're my Magic shoes.

I feel so sporty!

How Hot Is It?

It's so hot, the grey horses are melting like snowmen.

My time with Brita is usually in the hottest part of the day. It’s too hot to do anything, even too hot to ride in the shady woods. I’m usually all melty and cranky to start with anyway, so first I get a cool bath,

and then I stand in front of the big fans to dry off, and Brita rubs all my itches with a big rough towel.

The fans are big enough that they even blow a horse around.

When I am feeling refreshed, we try to find some grass worth eating. There isn’t much left.

But we have a secret garden in a low part of the lawn where the grass is still lush and green.

First we sneaky through the old garden gate. Shhhhh.....

Then we check the flowers to see how they are growing.

There is a little dappled shade there too which looks good on me.



After I've eaten my fill of the lush, green grass, we sneaky back out so no one knows our secret.

Brita moves one of the big fans in front of my stall, and I find just the right spot to stand and doze the afternoon away. We are waiting for the rain, or at least a cool breeze.

Learn To Ride and Drive In Style

Attention all you American Saddlebred fans out there. Here is an offer you can't refuse.



If anyone is interested in taking them up on their offer of a free lesson on an American Saddlebred, or driving a Hackney pony, and is having difficulty finding a local stable, please comment on this blog, and my network of Saddlebred loving humans will help you find one.

A Little Rain Must Fall

Into every life, a little rain must fall. Why must it wait until my lesson?

At first it was merely annoying. I only once threatened to dump Brita in the mud and head to the barn. Then I staged a brief work stoppage over a very wet and suspicious looking weed.

But we soldier on....

Mom flees to the relative comfort of the front porch and hides between the hanging baskets.

OK, that's enough...everyone head for the barn!

Yes-Drill-Sar-geant

For Christmas, with the assistance of Mom an Uncle Dad, I got Brita a gift certificate for some riding lessons so she could learn to ride better. I think all horses should do that. After all, we can only teach them so much. What Mom failed to mention, is that I would be responsible for carting Brita around while she learned. There was a lot of trotting. It can be a bit monotonous. But, we both paid attention as the instructor explained what was wrong with Brita's position...

It was fairly interesting...

But eventually I fell asleep.





Then they began what seemed like experimental procedures with my bit ...

to stop me from doing this....

Sometimes I do it just right.

Mom

My sister Cocoa's people suprised me with some photos of my Mom.... Isn't she pretty?

We have a new little baby sister.




Even though I got my gorgeous color from my Mom, Brita still thinks I look just like my Dad. I'm so happy to have pictures of Mom. She's 24 years old, and still looking pretty darn good for her age. Ooops, sorry Mom, I probably shouldn't have told on you.

Make Hay When the Sun Shines

The heat wave has broken, and today was the most beautiful summer day ever. Crystal blue skies, cool breezes, sunshine ... The best sort of day to be a horse.

The best news is the hay fields are being cut for chopped haylage, and there is finally firm earth baking in the sun and drying in the breeze. Perfect for a gallop. We have not been able to enjoy the fields at all yet because of the record rains. No sooner had Brita mounted up than one of those awful big trucks went rumbling by on the road. We beat feet for the first cut field which had been put up yesterday, and we had just cleared the roadside when the second truck appeared on the horizon. I took a good look at that, and Brita had visions of the last time we were in this predicament but I was more interested in stretching my legs and minding my manners.

We got a good trot around the field when the rest of the haylage procession showed up. One big green chopper, two tractors with hopper bins, then two more big trucks! We headed for the road so we wouldn't be trapped as they seemed to need our field to turn around in. There was a lot of commotion, and engines revving, and chopping and dumping on top of the cool breezes and sunshine. I trotted up and down the road in perfect form pretending I was in the show ring at the County Fair with all the farm equipment and activity. I kept my head, and my I looked fine.

After doing our fields and road work, we headed to the riding arena for a quick canter and I'll have you know I did nothing naughty. I took each lead with perfection and cantered politely. I have learned my lessons well. I barely broke a sweat, and I'll bet Brita even made it back to her office on time. I was faced with a whole army of monsters, and I behaved like a nobleman. Yes, today is a perfect day.