1/27/11

Paul was due home, so when I got there Melissa was excited for Paul to get there. When he arrived, we went out to breakfast. When we got back, Melissa worked Indie, Paul rode Mo, and I rode Angel. We had to hurry towards the end so we could get out to Williamson Valley to watch an Equine Dentist.

The dentist gave us a lot to think about. We couldn't stay as long as we wanted, though, because we were expecting a filly in about 4.

The filly ended up being a no-show, but I rode Kay (Que Serai) for Melissa. After we were done with her, I fed with Melissa. The day changed a bit about that time...

Melissa was graining the older horses that need it while I was loading the gator. I was throwing hay down on the truck bed, then pushing it onto the gator. The end of the trailer is wearing out, and has several good-sized holes in it. I found one of the holes (the largest, of course) while I was moving hay. (No harm done).

Feeding went without a mishap, until after we were done. The dogs were barking at us and chasing the gator, so Melissa got the gator going as fast as it could on the way back to the trailer. Most sane people would have held on to something. I did not. She tapped the brakes to slow down a little, then slammed on them. I went flying into the dash. We were both laughing really hard as we walked back towards the house. I jokingly accused her of trying to beat the apprentice (I believe what I said was something like "it's bad enough I found the hole while throwing hay, now you have to run me into the dash too") which made her laugh harder.

All in all, it was a good day.

1/28/11

Started the day by picking the 13 pens that get hand picked. (The other 7 get scraped with the tractor). I then made sure all of the pens had water, and cleared the horses out of the arena. Two of them went into their stalls, Imzadi I had to move to one of the hot wire pens. While I was working on this, the Ambrose's had a new horse arrive in the form of a young black-and-white paint filly aptly named Belle.

Melissa and Paul had to go somewhere, so I worked Quito for about an hour than tied him to the trailer. While I was saddling Kameeka, I noticed he was nervous, so I left him tied to the trailer until he calmed down. As I was getting ready to mount Kameeka, Paul and Melissa returned.

I worked Kameeka for an hour or so (it took her that long to calm down), then put her away. Quito was throwing a tantrum, so I left him at the trailer and walked around with Melissa and a couple of gals who had come out to see the horses.

After they left, we ate lunch and then I caught Kay. I didn't get to ride her, though. Karen showed up right about then to  see her horses (she has two there) and work on Melissa. After she left, Paul rode Willie, practiced shooting, and then turned Belle and Dynamite out for the night.

1/29/11

I got to sleep in an extra hour this morning. I was out at Melissa's at 10, but they were having a slow morning. I watched part of a movie with Melissa, then went outside and helped Paul catch, saddle and load Roanie, Willie, Lady, and Dakoda. Then we headed over to arena at 5M for mounted shooting practice. I worked Dakoda until the rider's meeting, when I tied him to the fence since we weren't sure how he'd do with the shooting. Paul rode Lady first, than Willie, than Roanie. He also ended up riding a mare by the name of Cookie for Melissa's aunt. Melissa rode Lady through the pattern also, without shooting.

We got done at the shoot about 4 and went to dinner at a Mexican restaurant. I ended up with a free meal cause they messed up my order.

When we got back to the ranch, we unloaded the horses, turned them out, then fed everyone.