Get a Little Help From my Friends :D

I am desperately sleep deprived at the moment and my chest feels like it's being constricted by a tight rubber band, but I come to you to show you just how crazy my friend and I are.  I've known her for eleven years now and I can say she's my first true friend ever (I was pretty bad in the social department before that).

As you can see this post isn't about Apollo or Rosie (I'll need to bring everyone up to speed soon though) but about something I made last night that sums up our crazy friendship :P


Meet Cyphale:

Now before anyone says anything (as if anyone does on here >.> ) Cyphale is not a boy XD and I saw this picture and immediately thought of her so I had her type the way she did when I had her fake being my boyfriend at one time and put this together :P

That is all, I'm exhausted and in pain and really just want to curl up and watch some Vampire Knights.

~LEB~

Here and Now

It has been quite some time since I've blogged about anything and I have good reason for my absence.

So, as my last post explained, we've figured out what was up with Apollo and now we're back to where we once were months ago.  Actually I think we've gotten better than before.  Some people joke about all the time I spend with the two of them, but I know that if I hadn't spent so much time dedicated to riding Rosie and Apollo and working with Apollo then I wouldn't be as far as I am today.  I wouldn't have the sweet puppy dog I fell in love with in February.

Apollo's doing well, as stated above, and has even acquired his real summer coat.  If you thought the last time you saw him he was stunning wait until you see him now!

He's also grown taller in the past month or so; from 14.2-14.3 HH to nearly, if not already, 15 HH!

And that's all for now, it's late and I'm exhausted.

~LEB~

Problem Hopefully Solved!

Went to the barn tonight to figure out what has been up with Apollo.

And to conclude what I thought was an impossible fix is really my fault.

I forgot not to push him and I thought by pushing it meant loping him while on his back and trying to teach him barrel patterns right now.  When in reality it was all the jogging and fast work on the lunge line that I was doing with him.  He forgot the meaning of whoa and just thought, 'hey let's get going!'

So when I asked him to whoa when he wanted to go it ended in him rearing up and bucking me off.

Which brings us to a cross roads -- one that we've already made a decision for.

I'm going to stay at the other barn for a while until I grow more as a rider and so I feel comfortable in a controlled environment, though telling the other woman is going to be tough.  But my mom agrees that it would be safer to stay at the other barn since I have a green horse and I myself am a green rider.  I'm sorry but two trips to the emergency is enough for me this year (not saying I could end up there at any point this year) and next time I could likely break a bone.

Well there's an update for you, probably going to post more updates more frequently as we progress.


~LEB~

I Return!

It has been quite a while since I last blogged here (as a certain someone has continued to remind me) so here I am with a very large update.

So, where did I leave off last time...oh yes, I was doing this weekly update that I failed to do XD.

Well Apollo has been moved to the other barn, but sadly we're heading back to the barn he came from since lately he's been giving me a hard time, and by hard time I mean I've been to the hospital twice after he's bucked me off.  This second time I was told I have soft tissue damage in my hip and I think I have whiplash in my neck when my head hit the ground.

But let's back up to the fact that I have a second horse now, yes I bought a second horse.  Her name is Rosie and I've been eyeballing this mare ever since I saw her.

She's a Dark Bay Quarter Horse mare and she turned eight the beginning of this month.  There were a couple reasons to my madness in purchasing her.  One: she looks exactly like my old mare Ara (Even though Ara was an Arabian mare) and she even acts like her.  Two:  because her jog is so lovely :3 <3 p="">

So back to Apollo, he's being trailered back tomorrow morning and we're going to figure out why he's been bucking when we're about to do the one activity he enjoys; trail riding/adventuring.  He had his wolf teeth removed so it can't be his mouth, his feed isn't the problem either...I'm speculating his saddle since he's filling out more in the back end then the front, but whatever it is I hope we figure it out.  Any other horse I'd probably have given up the first buck, but Apollo's different; I'm afraid to lose him.  I was actually bawling, not because I was hurting, but because I started to think that maybe he was too much for me to handle and that I would have to give him up.  But I've been told not to worry that we'd figure out what's going on.  From someone Else's perspective they said he doesn't hate me because anyone could tell loves me.  And I can see it, hell I went to the barn to just see him and before I had reached the barn door he was approaching the fence.  I went into the field with him and he waited til I reached him and when I gave him a hug he did his little sideways hug with his neck.  Then before I left (I went into the barn to get something and by that time he'd moved into the far part of the field) my mom told me to call his name, so I did and he looked up at me, but I didn't persist since I had to get going.  

Anyways, sob story behind me, here's an updated picture of the guy.

He's gotten his summer coat :D my lovely strawberry roan <3 p="">

Here he is with a nice shiny coat and well combed mane (courtesy of my mom)

So that is all for tonight, I took some painkillers and I'm about to pass out for the night, hopefully the next post isn't so far away.

~LEB~

April Showers, May Flowers (Hopefully)

This week has been pretty shitty in the weather department, rain every single day so far...

But I can't complain, lots of rain means maybe the hay fields will be better this year. 

So anyways, this is my last month at the barn I've been boarding at since February.  I knew this wasn't going to be permanent, it was just until I had Apollo paid off, but I'm going to miss going back and seeing all the horses and going along the now familiar trails.  But I know I must move closer to home, though I know after April it won't be the last time I see them. 

Now this week I've been working on my fear of falling into large puddles, yes I say my fear because Apollo can go through the water, but he hesitates because he senses I'm worried about the water; so he worries.  Let's just say I've quickly learned how to steer with just my legs and little with my reins. I'm thinking, though, since we're still having disagreements, that next time I'll hop off and walk through the large puddles as I lead him to show him that it's all okay to go through them.

I've decided recently to take a picture of Apollo each week to show how he's changing colour as he transitions from winter to summer coat.  So I will post a picture of his winter coat:

And now a picture of last week:

As you can see his becoming pink :D.

He is also making a funny face in the last pic due to the hay in his mouth O.o


I'll probably post again this week since I still need to get this weeks picture update :P  I'll keep you all posted as best as I can. 

~LEB~

Broken Promises, A Brand-New Tomorrow

 

I thought I'd start this post off with a silly picture of Apollo; he was scratching an itch when I took this picture.

 

Anyways, my dad came out today to see us, the first time in a year (sad isn't it?) and weeks ago he said he'd bring my oldest half brother because he was interested in horses and wanted to ride.  So I planned a day where I board and was all excited to get him up on the horse. 

 

I was so excited that I finally had a sibling into what I was into, even if he's 17 years younger than I am :|  But nonetheless, I excitedly told everyone and even went as far to announce my excitement on facebook (which rarely do I ever post status updates about coming events). 

 

Then the day came and something happened.

 

My dad decided he wasn't going to bring my brother and didn't give a reason why.  He complains we don't see our other brothers enough, but then pulls shit like this.  I was beyond pissed, this was another thing he said he'd do that he didn't do. 

 

Though, I blame myself for getting over excited about the whole thing.  I should have known my dad would do something like this.  Hell, he's done stuff like this before. 

 

Like at Christmas, I was supposed to go up to see him and my half siblings and exchange gifts.  Well something came up and I couldn't go up.  He even went as far to say they weren't even celebrating Christmas. 

 

Christmas day I go onto facebook and see a group of photos uploaded by him and guess what, it was him and his new family enjoying Christmas with her family.  It all summed up to the fact that they didn't have room for me to stay with them.  Let's just say last Christmas was the worst Christmas I'd ever had. 

 

So why should I be surprised that he didn't bring my half brother?  Maybe I thought he'd changed, maybe there was a tiny sliver of hope that he was going to be the father I used to remember eleven years ago. 

 

Now, back to the rest of my day. 

 

We went to the barn after eating lunch and only spent a few minutes because my dad wore white shoes to a barn with a muddy barn yard.... He's such a city slicker...

 

Then he brought me and my brother home and left...we spent maybe 2 1/2 hours with him?  He then proceeds to call me to say that he's 'sorry' for not spending so much time with us because of the long drive home.  Come on, I have a cousin who probably drives a longer distance than he does and they spend the day with us. 

 

So this summer, I guess we must go up to his place because he complains we never stay at his place, and I'm going to pull the same stunt.  We'll stay for an hour then say we have to head out because of the 'long drive' home.  Then we'll just go over to my aunt's and visit with them. 

 

And I know I sound spoilt and selfish, but when you have to live with broken promises and teeth pulling to get a single visit out of the man who helped conceive you, you get sort of sick of it. 

 

I was told I was a real daddy's girl when I was a kid...not anymore. 

 

 

So on a lighter note, I'm heading to the barn tomorrow afternoon with family from my mom's side, at least they won't disappoint me.  They never have without good reason. 

 

~LEB~

Where's Spring?

Holy chow mien it's been quite a while!

But as always, I'm super busy and have barely been on the computer in weeks. 

So lately I've made some big purchases in my life, many of them horse equipment. 

I got a good deal on all of that and he looks snazzy in all his sexy black tack ;)

 

So anyways, mostly trail riding has been going on and lots of it.  I've also figured out Apollo's little quirks in the short eight weeks I've gotten to know him and own him.  For one he's a very smart boy, you can see him assess the situation before he reacts resulting in fewer spooks as the days go on.  Like just last week we went on a trail with two other horses and a turkey flew out of the brush, spooking the horse in front, but Apollo just looked at where the turkey was, didn't move for a few seconds, then relaxed. 

 

Another quirk I've figured out is that when he knows we're going out, and he really does know (he's found out that when there are other horses as we're all tacking up outside that he's going on the trail) he'll act up and dance in place, try to untie himself and just be a big butt until we're out in the woods and I get on; then he just mellows out and marches along. 

 

When we're coming back from the trail he slows down quite a bit and will hang his head really low and will flop his ears to the side because he doesn't want to go back to the barn.

 

There's a spot behind his right cheek bone where when you scratch it he stretches out and forgets he's not a lap dog and ends up sort of stepping on me as he pushes right into me.

 

He paws when he's impatient to do anything.

 

He doesn't like when I'm out of his sight when he knows I'm there.

 

He has a vendetta with tree branches.

 

When he spooks he drops like how cats do when you scare them.

 

He has this obsession with my coffee.

 

He won't let me hug him, but he will wrap his neck around my shoulders when I'm not facing him.

 

He follows me like a dog, no matter what I'm doing or carrying around (Lately I've been dragging large sticks around so they make loads of noise and he sticks right beside me).

 

Those are only a few of the quirks and behaviours I've picked up and I know with the years to come there will be more.

 

 

But that's all, there are a few movies I've been itching to watch, but haven't been able to due to work >.>

 

~LEB~