Miss Thang!

Well, with everything happening on the home front, Bailey has been enjoying her days off lounging in the pasture, eating the neck-high grass, and getting FAT! I finally had some time to play with her yesterday and today and boy did we have some firsts. Let me back track a bit. Day before yesterday a friend of mine, who now works at my old job at camp, brought in a horse, well, not just any horse, but my favorite horse from camp, Marquee, for me to ride for awhile. We actually traded horses, so she took Ranger back to camp with her. Well, Miss Bailey is quite comfortable with her 4 boys, but not this new guy. As soon as I turned Marquee out with Bailey and Festus she went "mare" on him. She was backing up and kicking at him, pinning her ears, the whole nine yards. It was actually kinda funny to see her really coming into her own. And let me tell ya...she has that mare thing down pat! One word can sum Bailey up these days...ATTITUDE! This morning I had lessons, so while Festus and I were using the round pen, Bailey and Marquee were begrudgingly forced to share the other larger corral. Man oh man, neither one cared for that idea. The kicking and pinning of the ears began all over again, with one minor difference. I noticed that Bailey was turning her backside to Marquee, but not always to kick him. She was lifting her tail at him because she was in heat! Yep, Miss Bailey is officially a woman....full blown heat cycle #1 has arrived!

Another first occurred yesterday afternoon. We were playing online in the round pen and I thought it was about time for Bailey to be introduced to the barrels. We put our nose on them first, both directions. Then we squeezed by them both directions. Then it was time to go over. Bloop, she went right over, both directions. She was a little feisty in the doing, being that she was in heat, but she only squealed once so I gave her a little slack. I think some of us ladies wished we had been given a little more slack when we "came of age", right?

Goodness Gracious!

Well, I couldn't resist blogging again so soon since Miss Bailey just keeps on amazing me! Like I said last time, we have started working on riding/saddling prep. Today was the day I decided to try out the new "baby" cinch I bought for the bareback pad. First, I worked with Bailey for a while going through all the (Parelli) games and specifically working on improving each of them....making things a little bit snappier. She did fantastic with all of that so I figured it was time to try the pad. Again I rubbed it all over her from head to toe and then held the cinch (before tightening it up and securing it) under her belly and asked her to take a few steps. She was so nonchalant about the whole thing, which was so exciting! So, then I tightened the cinch. Everything was still kosher....then I asked her to move out on the circle. She walked in both directions, no problem! I then asked her to move up into a trot...still doing great! So then we tried the tell-all truth revealer, THE CANTER...AND.........she did great! No buck, no rear, no anything that she wasn't supposed to do!!! So far my proudest moment. Won't be long before we are riding!:) You'll have to excuse the pics...I had to take them with my phone's camera. They aren't the best, but it was all I had to capture the moment!

Grass Belly Girl

Well, much has changed since our last blog. Maybe instead of changed, I should say, gotten better! Bailey is continuing to grow like a weed. While we were gone on vacation I think her feet alone doubled in size.....AND.....I am pretty sure she grew another hand! Lately I have been really prepping her to be saddled and ridden. She is getting big enough that I could easily sack her out with my body and work up to sitting on her and asking her to do simple tasks like walk forward, stop, turn, and eventually back up. If I don't do it soon she is going to be too tall for me to take advantage of being able to just hop up on her. This week I decided I would get to work! So, we started with the rope around her chest and belly....tightening it up just like you would a cinch. She was such a trooper and just stood there, first with her ears moving around trying to figure everything out and then ears forward and attentive. I couldn't have asked for her to be any better! Next came getting "sacked out" with the bareback pad. I let her smell it and then rubbed it over, under, and in between every inch of her body all the way down to her feet and even over her ears and down her nose. She didn't move an inch and not because she was frozen in fear, she just didn't mind it at all. I also flapped the leather straps and metal rings around to make sure she was fine with the new noises around her and of course, she was. Then came the big test...putting it on and cinching up. Over her back went the pad and under her belly went the cinch. I tested it a couple of times by running the leather straps through the D ring without tightening it up and she was A-ok. I then realized I couldn't cinch it up completely because my cinch was too big...so I left that for another day. I couldn't have been more proud at how she handled everything and can't wait to try it again. You can see her progress in the photos from that day shown below. Also, Del Rio had so much rain while we were on vacation, the grass grew about 2 feet in the 7 days we were gone! Since no one has believed me when I have said that, I had David take a photo of me and Bailey in the grass out back...it literally was touching her belly and then some. The horses are in hog-heaven! I also included a neat, random photo my dad took of me and Scout riding bridle-less. Too fun!

On another note...when I dropped Bailey off at mom and dad's before leaving for vacation she did the most hilarious thing! I happened to look out the window to check on her and saw her standing by my truck and trailer. She was on the far side and Festus (her big-time buddy) was on the near side, closest to me and the house. Apparently, she was either so desperate to be close to him or too lazy to walk around, so she just decided to walk through...yep, right THROUGH the little gap between truck and trailer!! I couldn't believe my eyes! She just looked down and then walked over...all 4 feet...and didn't trip or miss a beat. I thought, how many horses would do that, let alone THINK to do that?!? What a little smarty pants!...a fearless smarty pants! Wish I had caught it on film! Next time.