Sunny dun 20!

[TikusMom]

Yesterday afternoon I saddled my stallion, Sunny, and took off for a ride. I didn't have a destination in mind when we started, we just kind of went where ever. We were out for about 6 hrs, and rode to the next town down the road which is 10miles from home, so Sunny did 20 miles round trip which is the longest ride yet for him!

He also accomplished some firsts:
*We rode by the evil soul sucking jack donkey from hell for the first time. My gelding, Tomahawk, is convinced that this little spotted demon will damn him to hell and refuses to ride by, but Sunny did....well, after about 5 minutes of serious staring and snorting until he realized that the demon donkey couldn't get through his barbwire fence.
*We rode across the scary "echo" bridge....A large concrete bridge that echoes the hoofbeats as we cross. Sunny thought maybe the demon donkey was following us at first, but never looked back! He did great!
*We crossed a fairly wide, shallow creek...we played in the water in the creek....we tried to eat dead leaves out of the water in the creek....the creek was fun! LOL!
Then it was time to come home to a good rub down and brushing out, and then yummy pellets and lost of hay for din-din!

So, today Sunny gets the day off. He deserves it! Not bad for a horse who was just broke to saddle at the end of July!

[greencinacheeks]

wow thats great!!!!! way to go Sunny!!!

[TikusMom]

Thanks...I'm so proud of him!

We just brought in a new little 4 year old QH mare today for me to train. She's in the roundpen right now, and for the first hour Sunny was just struttin' his stuff and talkin sweet nuthin's to her!
He did finally decide to leave the fence and go back in the barn to eat his supper and hung out with me in there while I brushed him for a while. He's such a big baby! LOL! I jsut love him!

[greencinacheeks]

haha sounds like quite the horse!!! I have always wanted a horse(s) i love them so! maybe one day yea?

[TikusMom]

Never give up on your dream! I was the same with becoming a parront of a B&G macaw...it took me nearly 30 years, but now I'm finally at a place in my life where I can have one! Yay!!!!

I Love this photo of Sunny, still in his winter-shaggy coat, taken in March of this year. I wonder what he was thinking as he was standing there......

[greencinacheeks]

"umm....Mom? I'm cold."

don;t worry, i don;t plan on giving up on it :)

[Halo]

How did those leaves taste??

I'm having a real bad smartarse evening tonight

I always wanted a horse too. Then we got a throroughbred who made it so that I will never be able to handle another horse I still own one though. She's got hopefully another winter or two in her before she goes her way. She's a 24 year old Morab mare. Very sweet and still sound. I'd much rather be riding her than watching her in the pasture! I still love horses though! but in the future, I'll stay away from newly gelded studs.

[TikusMom]

LOL Nate! You very well could be right! hehehe! I didn't figure you'd give up on that dream....that's the thing about horses. If they're truly in your blood, they're there for life and it's only a matter of time until you find a way to add one to your family....Hmmmm kinda like birds!

Dang it Halo....was ya tryin' ta kill yerself?????? As if being newly gelded wasn't bad enough, but THOROUGHBRED?! Holy shmoly girlie-o! That in and of itself is TNT with 4 feet! I'm glad yer still alive, 'cause I love yer smartarse comments! Ya make me laugh!
So are you physically unable to ride, or just too freaked after dealing with the horse with Nitro in his veins?
Oh, and for yer mare; 24 is still a looooong way from the big pasture in the sky! She's prolly seen enough in her lifetime to be a good bomb-proof mount for you to gain confidence in being horseback again.
If not, you could always saddle break that cute little calf of yers........Naaaaahhh! just kiddin!

[greencinacheeks]

hahaha

should probably look it up, excuse the ignorance, but what does gelded exactly mean? and why is he being thorough bred make it worse?

[TikusMom]

Well, gelding a stallion makes him NOT a stallion...if you catch my drift. It's just the horsefolks way of saying neutered.
Thoroughbreds (the breed) are hot blooded, meaning they are bred to have TONS of energy because their primary uses are racing long distances, or competition say as cross-country, dressage, jumping, or 3-day eventing (which is a combination of the previous 3 competitions).
Most Thoroughbreds that go to private owners are usually tested on the track first, which means the main focus of their training is to run like satan is on their heels! Getting one coming "off the track"...one that doesn't cut it as a racer....usually as a 2 or 3 year old will only know one thing and that is when someone is on his back, he's to RUN!
Put that together with the behavior that the unchecked testosterone taught him until very recently, with a new owner who may not know how to handle such an explosive combination and it can be disasterous for both human and horse. Even people who are very accomplished riders may have much difficulty in retraining theses horses to less speedy disciplines of riding, and also teaching them that they can actually go more directions than left (in the US, horse tracks run counter clockwise). So not only do you have to teach them the concept of "slow", but also that the bit and reins are used for communicating which direction to go and at what speed to do it...