Sky has been showing me that she was unhappy with her bit. She was chewing it excessively, gaping her mouth, putting her tongue OVER the bit and pushing into it most of the time. So I thought maybe she would like some tongue relief. I did some research and came up with the Arch Mouth Butterfly Bit. It came a yesterday and today I had a chance to try it out! It’s a very pretty bit. I got the German Silver mouth piece and she seemed to like it just fine. When I first offered it

I thought I would do an update of my tiny track and share how it’s working this winter. I still love it. The ponies are moving around all the time. Right now they are not using the entire track because one side of it is a big, deep snow drift. Once in a while they will try to come down that side and I cringe the whole time they are floundering through it. It wasn’t so bad when the drift was soft but now it’s hard as a rock! I feed at the opposite side of the track from the wa

I know I talk about listening on this blog often. I think it’s so important when you own animals of any kind to learn to listen to them, to understand them and to honor what they say. I mentioned before that I have had several horses in and out over the spring and summer. Last year I still had Billy when I brought Sky and Zorro home. I had Captain Planet when I brought Sky and Zorro home as well. Sky had quite a lot going on when I brought her home. Much of it physical. But s

After my last post there were a few questions about different parts of the harness so I thought I would do a post about them! I’ll start with the bridle. As I stated in my last post I like to have only one wrinkle at the corner of my horse’s mouth. When I was in 4-H I was told to have 3 wrinkles and I remember the judge checking that! But I was told by an old cowboy friend to do that to myself and see how it felt. It didn’t feel good so I started having only one wrinkle or if

We went on a beautiful morning hike today. I brought Sky and Zorro. I’ve hiked with Sky around our house and into BLM but we haven’t been able to go up into the mountains until today. And Sky is a hiking MACHINE!!! She absolutely LOVED it. Zorro, on the other hand, looked pretty miserable until we were going downhill. LOL! He was so funny. I think he was pouting because he had to wear bear bells. But they both sounded so happy walking and trotting up the trail… even if Zorro

Finally! The post about the Sure Foot® pads. I know, I’ve kept you all waiting on pins and needles! I wanted to have some time to use them… to see if there would be any changes worth blogging about and may I say WOW! Definitely changes worth blogging about! Here is a little blurb about the Sure Foot® pads from their website: A unique, innovative way for the horse to be his own teacher. Developed by Wendy Murdoch, this revolutionary way of improving your horse’s balance, confi

The weather around here is finally starting to calm down a little bit! We did have a huge wind storm yesterday, but it was blowing the storm away not in… so today was gorgeous! Two days ago I wanted to take Sky for a little drive and went to get her Cavallo boots only to find that she has worn holes through the soles of them! We got them last November and maybe put about 10 miles on them because of the winter. I can’t believe they didn’t last longer. I emailed Cavallo and the

Oh I am so excited!!! I finally could afford the solar powered charger, hot wire and insulators to put together part of my track! This side is for the girls, Sky and Chantelle. When Zorro is done being a stud then I can put all the ponies out on it together and the boys will help move the girls around. I am going to hide hay around the track to encourage movement as well! I’m so excited about all the things we can do on this little track system. Bonnie will have to stay in th

I am often alone when playing with my horses and have had to get creative over the years when taking photos. I have all kinds of little tricks to get my horses to LOOK, ears up and eyes bright. Usually I make funny sounds, meow like a kitty, bark like a dog, quack like a duck… you get the idea. Basically I make myself look like an idiot to get that special, whimsical shot! I don’t mind. The photos are usually worth it! Once in a while I have a horse that just won’t put their

Note the title of this post: “How to Take a Good Picture of Your Horse” NOT “How to Take a GREAT Picture of Your Horse” nor is it “How to Take a Professional Picture of Your Horse.” I have noticed that many many people post photos of their horses that are just not flattering. I’m not talking about those cutesy photos that show the horse’s personality. The close ups of their nose or ears. Fun angles, horses smiling… Those photos are not what this blog is about. This blog is ab

I have been using some form of a slow feeder for several years now. The entire time I had Billy he had feed 24/7. He had a slow feeder, a slow feed net and/or access to pasture. Now that I have the minis I did not want that to change. Because I thoroughly understand the importance of a horse having access to forage all times of the day and night I knew I wanted that for my minis as well. I have three hay nets, the 70 pound bale nets to be exact. Forage is the foundation of ev

There are many ways to wean a baby. (Or a yearling!) When we had the farm we tried a few different ways. First we tried taking the baby away, cold turkey, and moving it across the farm as far away from the mama as we could. There would be a couple of days of crying and whinnying from both mama and baby, but then things would settle down. The best was when we had two or more babies to wean at the same time. We would put them all together so they weren’t alone. This was worked