Okay since I have found so much enlightenment and sense of well being from my Thankful Thursday experience, I have decided to create a listing of Blogger’s who participate in the Thankful Thursday meme, generally without prompting from other blogger’s.  I am choosing my list based not only on their gratitude content, but also on the unique thought processes that reflect in their overall blog content.  Over time I will add to this list of blogger’s who have an “Outside the Box” approach to the world around them.

I want to fill my senses with these kinds of mind-sights and share them with you.

To visit these blogs  check out the index at left under “Pages” for “Thankful Thursdays – BLOGS” or click the link…

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When I got home from taking Theory to her new home, I went straight out and rearranged the corrals incorporating Theory’s pen into the larger of the two corrals to give the boys more turn out space. I rotate them from the smaller pen to the larger one every week.  It’s not huge, but its definately  buck and frolic room now.  Also I fixed it so the boys could play over the corner fence putting their water buckets there in the conrer so they couldn’t really lean into the fence.  They are having a lot of fun chewing on one another.  My goal is to have them be close buds by the time I have to trailer them side by side to Colorado. Once there I hope to pasture them together.  Pai is turning out to be the best horse for working with my plans.  He really pays attention and tries to be a positive part of things.

Here he looks at me as I walk out to take pics of them playing, and I know he was making sure I was okay with what they were doing. Once he saw I was just packing a camera and taking pictures he went back to playing. 

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AR Theory went to her new home today.  Loading in the trailer was relatively uneventful. Basically run the lunge line up through the trailer stand at her hip with little contact on her face.  Just enough to keep her head going into the trailer.  I tapped her on the rear few times to no avail, so went up and placed her front foot in the trailer then pushed her from behind and POP up into the trailer she went.  For being a pretty flighty filly she hauled beautifully and used her head.  Showed some real common sense.  Unloading was scarey for her but she managed to jump out.  We took some old fashioned (throw away camera) registration pics and then put her in with Dr. Darger’s horses.  Later in a couple weeks he is going to put her in her own 20 x 20 pen under his shade barn to start working with her. 

We both thought she should bond with his horses first to help her feel like she is part of a herd.  All in all this has been a very rough day for her, but we are confident that she will do fine.  At least she has lots of room to run and is not couped up in a small stall any longer.  Dr. Darger is working with me in terms of if she doesn’t work out he’ll give her back to me or to Simrat so that we can place her in the proper situation.  Also if something comes up that is better than what he can provide she is free to go there.  We’ll figure all of that out come end of June.  In the meantime I’ll get her registration done and other paperwork in order and sometime before I leave for the meeting in June we’ll have her branded with the Akal Ranch brand.  If she fits in at this place then it will be a permanent home.

Here she is not the happiest baby Theory, but she quick, she’ll do fine!

A little bewildered…

A hard lesson as one of the geldings establishes his dominance.

This mare spent a lot of time putting herself between the two geldings and Theory.  We think she may take Theory under her wing.  Will keep you posted.  Dr. Darger is now off to learn all he can about Spanish Mustangs, and of course I sent straight to the SMR website.  I feel pretty badly sending her off like this.  Real bad in fact.  I feel like why was she born to me if she wasn’t going to stay with me.  I’m actually a little sick to my stomach.  But I know her  new home is loving and kind one and that it’s best for her to be able to mingle with horses and have room to run and develop.  I know her, it won’t take her long to impose herself on everyone there and make her presence known.

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Here is a young man trying to make a difference in the lives of all of us.  First read the blog post that his teacher and author of  ”Old Picture of the Day” has to say about his highschool student Dustin Ramirez.

Then be sure to read what Dustin has to say here.

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Beware, the link below could catapult you into a deep thought provoking inner debate. 

Adventures of a Horse Crazed Mind

Why do you ride?  What kind of horsewoman or man are you?  For what purpose does your horse serve you – or for what purpose do you serve it?

I learned along time ago that the secret to understanding horses is to understand that a horse would never conceive of putting a saddle on another being for any purpose much less for its own pleasure.  I also learned that a horse has no qualms about carrying you along on a personal experiential journey if the rewards of that journey go both ways.  I also learned that for a horse to do a job for a human being, he has to come face to face with reality – serfdom.

Blending the above realizations into a harmonious relationship is for me the reason I have horses in my life. Yes I love to ride, but when I’m riding most of the time my horse is put into the serfdom role getting me from point A to point B, or performing a certain discipline – fiet.  Only rarely do our rides incorporate going where the beast would choose.  Which is nearly always to a favorite munch spot.  So I don’t spend as much time on top of my horses anymore. 

Harmony and perfect communion comes from within through self expression – expressiveness. My horses tend to be more expressive than a horse doing a job would be allowed. I find this my most difficult hurdle to overcome.  Taking away their ability to have a voice so that I can compete at something that makes no sense to the horse.   I really do battle over this, and me coming from a lifetime of professional showing and training.  At this point in my life I live with my horses as family members. I’ll try to develop some disciplines with Paisano and Prophecy because I do want to see them excel, however I wont go so far as to take their self expression from them and turn them into beasts of burden for my pleasure or to fulfill a promotional concept. For me life is nothing more than being part of the herd.  I have to find the magic potion that enables my horses to succeed and remain who they are.

Next?

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Well today turned out to be a good horse day. Grooming, worming, trimming feet, riding.  Yes I did say riding.  Even with this lousy knee I just had to get upon my boy bareback to trod up and down the driveway a few times.  It was a very relaxing 30 minutes for both of us.  He was great with me trying to get up and down with this knee of mine, standing like a rock.

After our ride though Paisano became pretty frustrated with me because all he wanted to do was eat and I wouldn’t let him. In fact he wanted to eat too badly.  He had not finished up his hay today which bothered me.  I checked it and it wasn’t moldy, it smelled and looked good.  Yet for some reason he didn’t like it and was famished.  We had some issues with him trying to force the eating issue with him getting pretty exasperated with me.  He did “get it” to wait until I told him he could eat. But then he would get frantic when I’d say we have to move on.  That made me think I need to look at my  feed.  Luckily I’m out of that hay and bought new hay and pellets today, and after feeding him tonight he seems pretty happy.  I do believe this issue though is not caused by the feed.  I wormed the horses a month ago with Ivermectin Gold and again for the second time this year I don’t think it took.  Everyone looks wormy to me.  So a double dose of Panacur went down the hatch to all three of them which will be followed up with at least three more double doses this week.

They all got a brushing, and Pai got his rear feet trimmed. I had trimmed the fronts last week and wanted to even all four of them up.  We had a bit of an argument about that too, a mild argument, but he was going to make my life tough for not letting him eat.  I ended up bopping him.  Man he doesn’t like that! That head goes right straight up in defiance.  I petted him and looked him directly in the eye and said “now we are going to trim feet one way or another, it might be to your advantage to help out”.  He softened and that was that he was easy for the rest of the trimming.  This next week I need to tackle both Sophie and Pro’s feet… Ack!  They are getting away from me.

Afterward I thought its just not fair that he is locked up all the time and all he wants to do is eat, so I left his halter on took his lead off and turned him loose.  He was so grateful to be out and be able to nibble on the tufts of grass, that he just sighed.  He was loose for about an hour before he started giving Sophie some grief, or was it the other way around? Regardless it got him put away.  The really rewarding thing about having turned Pai loose, is that he showed me that he is settled in here and that this is home now. He is connected with his comrades and wants to stay close to them which means he will get some turn out time now.  Now “I” can sigh a sigh of relief.

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Paisano’s first Arizona wind storm had him pacing and bucking in his pen today.  At first it was in play, the desire to run before the storm.  By tonight he had had enough and was just plain frazzled.

I spent some time out with him this evening to help calm him. He’d run off shaking his head then come back over to nudge me or lip me, then off he’d go again.  I know he wanted me to open the gates and for all of us to run and find shelter.  That would be the smart thing to do in these wind storms we have. I hate it when I can’t fix things for them.   Like when Kindlewood stomped her foot at me trying to force it into my brain to make her pain stop.  There was only one way to stop her pain… I dont’ think that was what she was asking for.

What I wouldn’t give to have a place to take Pai where he would feel safe from the desert gale. He has witnessed the neighbors metal shed torn apart and blown through the air, other debris from neighboring yards whipping across the ground past his pen.  All of this par for the course when these wind storms come through.  After a few of them he’d be use to them like the other horses around here are. Even the babies have seen monsoon season and are hunkered down for the night munching on their dinner. I bet Paisano is one very tired boy come tomorrow.

He sure is beautiful in the dark! 

 He is just beautiful no matter when you lay eyes on him! 

There is a sparkle to his coat in the night light that captures me and holds me spellbound.  Like tinsel in a magical dream.  Pai’s my Magic Man!

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THANKFUL THURSDAY

Todays Thankful Thursday is a journey down memory lane and a home I loved dearly.  Sometimes I think we take our homes for granted. I know I did.  Never more!

For more thankfulness visit these blogs:

Akal Ranch

Tired Dog Ranch

Enlightened Horsemanship Through Touch

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Here Theory was getting ready to have the second segment of her first tying lesson. She is wearing two halters and the mark on her face in the corral is from having worn the halters earlier. I put the halters on snuggly so she cannot rub herself out of them. It is not a sore, it is just ruffed up hair. Theory never fought being tied, she stood like she had been tying her whole life, a very smart little girl. This video shows some of Theory’s nervous nature. She has come along way from crashing through fences to flee.

Paisano is such a good boy, you can see him re-assuring her that it will be okay. The look on his face is priceless.

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Krissy came out to stay for the weekend and we took several video clips of Pro and Theory.  Even Paisano snuck into a couple.  Krissy rode Pai bareback up and down the drive for about 30 minutes.  He was a saint  and she was able to go have some fun  without me watching every move the horse was making.  Paisano was Mr. Steady Eddie.  The perfect family horse.

Theory had her first tying session today and surprised us all by standing quietly for two separate sessions that were each around 1 1/2 hours long.  Tomorrow she will stand tied for at least two hours. This is in preparation for her to be hauled using one of the two horse straight loads we have parked in our yard. Next weekend she goes to her new home.  She is such a smart little girl and other than trying to untie herself handled being tied with little fuss.

I’ll post Theory’s video later on.

Below are some photos (taken during our video session yesterday) of Celt’s Prophecy at 15 months of age sporting his baggy pants (halter) look.  I’ve decided I won’t buy a new halter until I can buy his permanent halter.  So he swims in his grandmothers (La Senorita de Madrid) halter for now

Here Pro was rearing on command, the shot was a bit early, but I like the picture anyway.

Pro got his first bath (with soap), and then we set out to get some video of him.  I have an injured knee and it gave out on me during the videoing, so I was not able to do as much or move as agile as I needed to in order to give Pro real opportunity to shine.  He still came through showing some of his potential and his gait.

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