Smudge Chronicle’s Entry 2

admin — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 13:46:21 +0000

Smudge Chronicles. Entry # 2
What a fall I had. Eventing season was over and I was training to do some
jumper shows. Working on my canter. Trying to stay balanced with a long stride as well
as with a short stride. Not as easy as it sounds. Sometimes when Mikki wants me to
shorten my stride I think she wants me to trot; but then she corrects me and we try
again. My hind legs are getting stronger and it gets easier to shorten my stride the more
I practice. I was also working on sharper turns which is also difficult. I can make wide
turns without any problem but smaller turns are hard; my inside hind leg has to be very
strong.
One day before the jumper show someone was doing something with the tractor
and it was very exciting. Our farm is usually very quiet and nothing much happens; but
this tractor activity was great entertainment !! When you have no buckets in turnout you
have to find something to entertain yourself !! So suddenly i decided to run away from
the noise of the tractor really fast.. I am soo fast but ouch !! All of a sudden I had the
most incredible pain in my left front foot. I was in the middle of running but I couldn’t put
any weight on that foot at all. Dan and Mikki came into the field were I was and they
picked up my foot and said that I had bent my shoe and had stepped on the clip ???
Mikki pulled my shoe off right there in the field and they led me to the barn. It still hurt a
lot, even with the shoe off. My hoof was washed and soaked in some hot liquid and then
wrapped up in blue wrapping. I had to stay in my stall, which is very boring. The vet
came a few days later and took x-rays and said I had a bone infection. That does not
sound good but it explains why my foot still hurts. At least she said I could go back out
in my field with my foot wrapped. Everyday my foot was soaked twice and rewrapped
and I had to eat the most awful tasting medicine. But I really like my food; so I just
ignored the strange taste and ate everything every day !!
I miss my work . I just spend my day out eating a little grass; although now that
it is December it isn’t green anymore and it has no flavor. I get hay in my field and of
course I eat that. I watch the other horses get worked and it looks like fun. Every night I
reach everything I can with my mouth and throw things around. I can reach my halter;
which is fun to chew on and then drop outside my door. I can lift the rack that holds the
fly masks and boots and I can get it off it’s hooks. If any blankets are left on the rack I
throw those on the ground; so that keeps me busy for part of the night. The rest of the
night I eat all the hay in my hay net and I try to reach through the bars to eat Calle’s hay
or Oz’s hay. Calle hates it when I take his hay. He pins his ears and kicks . Oz doesn’t
care; he shares with me , no problem. Sometimes I just look at Calle and then run
towards him and he gets so mad and kicks. After a couple days of that I was moved into
Oz’s stall. So he was next to Calle and didn’t make him mad. The problem with Oz’s
stall is that there is only a halter outside it.. I’m sooo bored. But my foot doesn’t hurt so
much.
Pretty soon the barn was full of activity. People packing up both trailers with so
much stuff. Days and days of packing. Very interesting to watch. Finally I got my shoe
put back on and now my foot feels much better and no more medicine. Yeah !!! One
morning before the sun was up Mikki and Dan and Bridgette and several other people
came to the barn and gave us a warm bran mash with oil in it and then wrapped all our
legs and loaded us into the trailer. Remember when I told you about my long trailer ride
up to Mikki’s farm? Well that was nothing compared to this. Calle and Oz and I were in
the trailer for 15 1/2 hours. But this was so exciting compared to the last month of no
work and nothing to do; so I was totally into this road trip. We stopped every few hours
and got more hay, carrots and water. We arrived in the dark at this new barn with nice
big stalls with clean bedding and fresh water. We all rolled and drank and had more
bran mash and then we slept. Now I’m in a stall between Oz and Marcus. Calle is
farther down the row and the walls are solid so there is no hay stealing to do..bummer.
I can reach my halter; so I chewed on it some more and I can reach the opening where
they put Oz’s feed into his bucket… One day I was trying to reach into that gap and Oz
bit me right on my lip..ouch ! So now I’m more careful when I try to clean up the edge of
the gap.
In the morning we got turned out into these wonderful sandy paddocks. It feels so
good to roll in sand. The sun is warmer here and we get hay all day long. A couple days
after we arrived I was groomed and tacked up and Mikki got on me and we went for a
walk. So great to be ridden again. Every day we did a little more walking and then short
trots and now finally 2 months after stepping on my clip I am back in full work ! We
started working on the things we were working on before and I remember most of it. Go
forward, slow down, bend, push from my hind legs , lift my back..it’s all coming back to
me. The other day I got to jump for the first time. That is so much fun. I love to get air !! I
wanted to canter fast after but Mikki wouldn’t let me; I wouldn’t trot for a long time after
the jump. If I wasn’t allowed to go faster at least I wanted to keep cantering; I think she
was frustrated. One day when we were walking out on the track and a race horse from
the farm next door went flying by. He was running so fast and I remembered doing that
when I was 3 and I got very excited. I tried bucking and cantering around in a circle and
put my tail straight up in the air and I didn’t want to walk any more and I didn’t want to
work anymore so we made our way back to the barn.
One day Hannah took me to the track to trot and canter. When she asked me to
canter I took off and pulled as hard as I could but she wouldn’t let me gallop; so I finally
settled down and just cantered..no fun
The girls moved my halter so I cant’ reach it and I get really bored in my stall at
night when I have finished all my hay. Mikki put a hanging thing in my stall one day and
it had this wonderful, sweet stuff to lick or bite; I prefer to bite food. I finished it in one
night; which must be amazing because everyone was amazed that it was gone in the
morning. The only thing left was the plastic holder hanging on a string. The next two
nights I just played with that and my feed bucket of course. My feed bucket was so
much more fun than the one back at home which is securely attached to the wall. This
one was on a hook and the first day I just picked it up and threw it on the floor in my
stall. Someone came in and put it back on the hook and almost before they were out of
my stall I had thrown it on the floor again . Then Stacy came in with twine and tied it to
the hook. It took me three days of hard work to chew through the twine. They tied it
again and I haven’t’ managed to get it loose again. So back to the hanging plastic thing.
I lifted it and it swings along the wooden wall. I think it might have disturbed Oz’s sleep
though, as the next morning Stacy said Oz’s stall was a mess; when he’s usually super
neat in his stall. So they decided I was disturbing him and took the ball down. Mikki
bought a refill with sticky seeds on it and hung it at the front of my stall; so as not to
disturb my neighbors. I finished it in one night…amazing; I am…In the morning Hannah
had to give my face a bath as there were seeds and sticky stuff stuck to my face.
I get to go on long walks some days and there are the most interesting animals
here on this farm. There are two llamas who threaten to spit on us as we walk by, but no
one has actually been spat on so they don’t worry me. There are cows , which smell bad
and miniature black and white ponies who act all tough over the fence and paw and
squeal when we walk by and there is a lake with ducks and geese and a grey heron.
Sometimes they walk out on the dirt road but they always move out of the way when we
walk by. There are also lots of other horses in big fields. Most of them are young and
they run and play all day long so I have a lot to watch between my rides.
One night I was hanging my head out over my stall door looking for something to
chew on or throw around or pick up and right there leaning on the wall next to me was a
brand new black broom. I chewed on the handle for a while and then I picked it up and
brought it in my stall. Then I could chew on the bristly end. Here is what they found in
my stall in the morning.
I have been practicing my dressage test in a practice arena and I hear we are
going to a show on Saturday to try it out in front of a judge. I’ll let you know how it goes.
to be continued……Smudge.

Aiken 2012

admin — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 13:10:14 +0000

Crosswinds Equestrian Center Jumper Show

admin — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 21:03:59 +0000

Crosswinds Equestrian Center Winter jumper show:

Aiken Bach Farm members swept several divisions;

Both Clare and Olivia Paulhac won jumper classes on their shared mount Lucky Charm.

Monique Schulman and Tattinger placed 2nd.

Caroline Day and Malibu placed 2nd and 3rd in Training Jumper classes

Carroll Paulhac placed 4th in Training Jumpers

Renee Fancher placed 6th in her first Jumper class ever !!

Carroll and Charlotte

Tattinger and Monique