BlackStones Progress...

Blackstone has proven to be quite the astute pupil.  I am enjoying him very much.  We have progressed from not being able to "catch" him at all to him greeting me at the gate, to being able to brush him all over,  to picking up all four feet, leading, giving to pressure, lunging, backing up, coming forward, disengaging the hip,  and putting on the saddle pad, with a little bit of desensitizing thrown in for good measure.  We have a long way to go, but we sure are proud of him so far.

BlackStone Lunging

He has not been too pushy or too spooky to over come his fears, and he really loves to please.  He actively looks for rewards and responds to them with great relish.

As time goes on, we will be working on the more difficult stuff, so stay tuned!

Saddle pad with Saddle

Standing quietly with lead over withers while saddle is put on

BlackStone gets an A+ for standing while I put the saddle on for the first time!  I love the lead over the withers as a stand still quietly cue for the horses.  It makes life sooo much easier.  I did not cinch the saddle this day, as it was his first time ever having it on his back.  Cinching will come soon:)

Today, after this session, I took his halter off in the pasture....I don't like them with halters on in the pasture in the first place, however for the purpose of ease I have left it on him thus far.  Today, he is rewarded with having no halter and tomorrow, I (hopefully) shall be rewarded with him coming to me willingly and dropping his head to be haltered. ! 

Box to house, house to home!

dining room table! In the dining Room!!

Oh yeah, that's right! I have a dining room table! uh uh uh uh!  Love it!  Alright, so I had to do some very creative thinking to come up with a plan to get all the furniture in my house moved to the correct locations of the house as opposed to piled haphazardly into just two rooms.

After much thought, much prayer and some gentle coaxing from a friend.  I made a decision, I would ask (beg) for help.

Cue the semi-local Church group to loan me my own House Dobby and Cohort.  This was a pretty big step for me, as I do not like strangers in my house, much less strangers knowing where I live.

The living room

I seriously considered putting a blind fold on the Dobby's cohort.  I reconsidered, when I realized he might take exception to that.  I  had to settle for taking all back roads with many turns to get here....don't think I didn't notice him making mental notes of the land marks though.  On the other hand, I was kind enough to leave the Mastiff and the Great Dane/Lab Cross at Weedy Flats.  I suppose even Church going Cohorts want to keep their limbs.  Besides, he needed those for the work that lay ahead.   We only had two hours to get everything done, and honestly, I presumed that we would get the heavy stuff moved at best.


Well, I forgot that I was working with Super Dobby and Cohort!  They got everything put where it belonged, the bed assembled, the table assembled, the lazy boy chair assembled, put the boxes in the rooms where they were marked to go, arranged the furniture in the living room (after we found the living room furniture) and  had time for a cup of coffee to boot!

Dobby and Cohort

I was just flabbergasted!  I have never seen two men work so quickly and so efficiently.   I was just beside myself with joy!  I have a home!  A real home!  I can not thank these two enough for helping me like this.

It has made such a huge difference in my out look at life and at my future.  I feel at peace here on Windy Hill today, and I have Dobby and Cohort to thank for it.

I'm really hoping that the next time they decide to help (I have a list) that I will at least have the oven hooked up so that I can feed them a real meal.  If not, I do have a crock pot and I am not afraid to use it!

Dining room filled to top

Dining Room almost finished!!

TADAAAA !

Oh and P.S. ...don't you love the way I have the word "we" sprinkled through out this little story as if I had anything more to do with this lovely turn of events beyond asking for help?  I literally did nothing
beyond saying things like "Oh my gosh, this is so wonderful!" and "I think 'we' should put the couch over there."

God is Good!

The Arrival of BlackStone ~ new Training Horse.

Meet BlackStone: Blackstone is my new Dales Pony in training.  He is owned by the same person that owned Argent.  See, all you doubting Nelly's out there, I told you that she would come back. (whew)

BlackStone Dales Pony in training

BlackStone is four years old, and has not been worked with much.  It all started on a dark, drizzly, windy, cold night here at Windy Hill...as if we ever have any other kind of weather here.

What preceded the event was many hours of my son saying "Is her son coming with her?  He is really nice, and he is a good boy too!  Are they  here yet?  When are they going to be here?"

Finally, we got the phone call that BlackStone and company had arrived.  I glanced at my son, he was sleeping soundly...it was a school night...I hate to wake him up so late on a school night...after an internal debate, I let him sleep.

In deference to the cursed and dangerous driveway, Blackstones owner and I mututally agreed that it would be best  (and safest) to meet at the end of the driveway.  This meant it was necessary for me to walk down said lonely, long, dark, dreary driveway by myself, alone, with no one else...hmmm.  That seemed silly, so I left the Mastiff with my son and took the Dane Lab cross ~ I wasn't sure how the Mastiff would greet people in the dark, even if I did tell him it was okay.  I knew that that Kharma would listen to me when I said "It's okay, they are friendly" and not eat anyone.  Besides, I wanted my son to have the Mastiff (Doom) with him while he snoozed away.  I put Doom on "guard" before I left the house, and Kharma and I traversed the dark, lonely driveway.  Read as; Kharma barked her fool head off and raced ahead of me to ward off all impending danger of small children, horses and fancy standard poodle with a cute show groom.   I was left to fumble my way down the driveway; alone.  At least the Mastiff would have stayed right at my side.  Sigh.

Well, I made it to the end of the driveway with out being attacked by coyotes, wild banshees, or other creepy wildlife lurking in the fields on either side of me.

BlackStone Handsome boy

I finally meet BlackStone, a simply lovely coal black example of the Dales Pony with a cute baby doll head, a willing attitude and just enough snort and blow to tell me that he will be super fun to train.  We led him up the driveway with no incidents despite my dog leaping for joy around his legs and pestering poor Poodle to no end.  

Next day, *B_______ noted with interest that Blackstone had arrived and I was treated to all manner of dirty looks, and accusations of not wanting him to ever do anything fun!  I apologized several times.  He seemed mollified in the end, realizing that sleep is very important before school.  Glad the crisis was averted!

Now, I must go, I hear a Dales pony wanting to learn!

Putting the Cart before the Donkey..er Pony...

As some of you know, I very much wanted a Donkey and Cart.  I blame Argent!  I love a long ears no matter what size or shape, and most especially a long ears of the Donkey variety.   My son *B____ used to call Mules and Donkeys "Bunny horses."  when he was very little, due to the long ears.  :)

http://www.museum.oldpicturepostcard.co.uk/donkey-cart.htm

I casually mentioned that I wanted a Donkey and Cart while on the phone with Michael, as we were on the phone, I was browsing Craigs list for said Donkey and Cart.  I stumbled across a Pony and Cart...hmm, close...

Michael said to call them.  Now, Michael knows me very well, he is aware of my hideous horse/pony/donkey addictions.  He certainly knows better than to be an enabler by saying things like "Call them."  but he did it anyway.  Shame on you Michael!  Personally, I think he gets a kick out of hearing me squeal like a little girl when I am excited.  Then again, it was late and he had other things (like sleep and Fairy Princesses) on his mind when he said to call them.

Call them I did.  Somehow by the magic of all that is in the Universe, Michael found time to go look at the pony and cart, we took my son.  We had a nice trip, we saw the little black pony that is "really difficult to catch" and the man hooked him up to the cart for us.  We took a little trip in the pony and cart.  I let Michael drive.

He was hooked.  We have a pony and cart!

Our Pony and Cart

*B_____ and I drove pony and cart all the way to the small local store (about 3 miles away.)  We had the best time ever!  Big burly men in pick up trucks would stop, roll down their windows and say "Man, oh man, that's the coolest thing I have ever seen."  Business men would wave and smile and say "You don't see that every day."  We met our darling neighbors on the way and they they chatted to us like we had known each other for years.  Little children rode by on their bicycles and waved and several wanted to pat the pony and asked where we were going.  One little girl was so excited that she jumped up and down with her hands clasped in front of her chest yelling "Oh Mommy! Mommy!  It's a pony! A real pony!  It's right here in the street! Oh Mommy! Come and look Mommy!"

We saw the old Church that is closed for repairs up close and it's even more awesome up close like that, we saw squirrels and thanked God when the barking dogs were behind a fence.  Pony was not phased by any of it.  The dogs, squealing little girls, big pick ups, combines in the fields, other horses in nearby pastures prancing wildly, and calling out to us...none of this changed pony's little trotting gate or gave him pause in any way.  He had a grand time.  *B____ even drove for a spell.

"Pony"

Upon arriving to the store, I discovered that when I reached into my pocket for the phone, I had also pulled out my $10.00 bill and lost it somewhere along the way.  Ah well, perhaps we will find it one day.  Luckily I had other money in my other pocket... (It's a habit I have, I'm like a squirrel, I stash money in all manner of pockets and cubbies and whatnots: that way I always have a few dollars even when I think I'm out of money)  Besides, it wouldn't be a certified Windy Hill adventure without some sort of mishap now would it?

Having a pony and cart leads to all sorts of other things that I didn't necessarily think of when I was on my little Pony and Cart rainbow ride.  Things like myself building a stall in the barn for the precious little guy to stay in.  The fences are built so high up that he would walk right under them, he can't live in the round pen forever..not with a training horse coming and I need the round pen!

This calls for myself and my son (who happens to be the son of a great carpenter) <<<<that is important information.   As we all know I am a girly girl, I don't know the first thing about building a stall.

My dream stall...looks mysteriously familiar...hmmm

So, here are some notes.

• Lumber needs room to ride in your Auto.  A cute hybrid will not accommodate real lumber. 
• Stalls need latches, hinges, screws, staples and more wood.  

Hmm, I asked my carpenters son ...son...what he thought.  After thoughtfully looking at our choices, and chastising me just one more time for not bringing the pick up truck like a normal person, he chose some materials and off we went. 

Now, for the stall building portion of this little venture, my son was not home, this meant I had to figure it out for myself.  Pony watched anxiously from the corner of the barn.   Somewhere in my head, I do know that you should make the door/walls etc. on the floor and then put them up.  For the life of me, I couldn't see how you could get things positioned and nailed and looking like a stall like that.  So, I went about it all wrong  and put it up as I went.  As I went along,  I was getting the picture of how to do all of this on the floor first.  Too late!  Things were nailed and hinged and screwed up already.  Why staples?  I knew you would ask.  I'm using a screen type material for the door.  He is only a small pony and wont be pushy, he just needs a block is all, and the size of lumber I would have needed would not fit in the accursed hybrid.   The mesh screen is stapled to the lumber.  

I got it done.  Pony has a stall.

Pony got out of the stall two days later by going under the mesh just as my son predicted would happen.  Never doubt a carpenters son!    

Took me 20 minutes to capture very difficult to catch pony.  He is young, he wants to run and play.  I let him play in the round pen while I figured out how to fix the stall.  I located some longer wood that was left over from shipping crates.  Wish I had thought of it earlier.  Fixed the stall.

I am so happy and grateful for the many fun hours behind the reins that Pony is sure to provide my son and I  as we trot along in our cart behind our steady little pony.  His official name here at Windy Hill is indeed pony.  The man we purchased him from called him about 15 different things (some of them not so flattering)  in as many minutes, so I don't believe pony is offended by the simple name "Pony."  As an aside, yes, I am aware that "Pony" is actually a miniature horse by breed, but we are going to continue to call him Pony and I will continue to talk about my Pony and Cart even though, he is really a "mini."