Bentley!

Porkchop got a new brother and his name is BENTLEY!  He is the cutest thing on four legs!  I finally got to pick him up last night.

My only concern was the advertisement said AKC (American Kennel Club) registered (I've shown conformation dogs in the past and thought I might like to get back into it with Corgis because I love them) and as it turns out after all the arranging to meet his current owner and paying for him, he's actually ACA (American Canine Association) registrable.  So now I guess I can't show him in AKC shows unless the AKC can prove he comes from AKC registered stock or something like that.

I went ahead and sent in his registration papers with the ACA (it was only $17) so I can get a pedigree back on him and then send in the registration papers and pedigree to AKC and see what happens.  I've never heard of the ACA before, they hold some dog shows but I'm not sure about the legitimacy of the registry itself.  I'm ready to get his registration stuff back and pedigree info to learn more about him.

On another note: I FINALLY got to take Buck and Dolly to the farrier this morning.  I had the address so I just punched it into my GPS which said it was only 20 minutes away from where I live.  I got going, went out on a 2 lane little rural route road for a ways and then ended up having to go 2 or 3 miles down a gravel road.  The GPS took me to the wrong address and the gentleman told me it was about another mile down the road.  There are a lot of Mennonite and Amish families in my area and I was pretty much right out in the middle of no where and there was no other cars just horses and buggies! 

I arrived about an hour early so I hung out and watched him and his father put shoes on a gentleman's buggy horses, a really cute Saddlebred gelding and a not too shabby Standardbred/Saddlebred mare with a quirky attitude.  He was really good with them even though the mare tried to kick out at him a couple different times and always laid her big dark ears back every time he came back to size up her feet.

Once he finished with them I unloaded my two, brought them into the shoer shed and they went right to work on their feet.  It took them maybe 15 minutes, it didn't seem like any time at all and they were done since I didn't have shoes put on this time.  Loaded the horses back up and went on home.  Total cost... $40!!  A reliable farrier at the same price as the one I never could get to show up... I'm pretty much sold on this guy!!  Needless to say I will continue to take Buck and Dolly out to him.  They're feet look great and I feel much better now that I know I have someone I can count on to take care of them.

Ahhhh!!

I have to say this is my FAVORITE time of the year (ok actually spring and summer because warm weather = horse shows!) because of PRESENT!!

I have the best husband ever because I'm getting a PUPPY for Christmas hahahaha!

I am going to pick him up tomorrow and I can't wait!!  Merry Christmas to me hahaha!  I'm so excited!

Woo Is Me

I have been having a really rough time getting a hold of a farrier since my husband and I got married (March 2011) and we moved to our current residence.

When I was boarding Buck in Columbia life was great, the barn already had a great farrier lined up who came to the barn about once or twice a month and you could guarantee he would show up exactly like he said he would, clock work.  You just signed your name on the list, left him a check, and your horse would have pretty and perfect feet when you came back out.  It was like a trip from the hoof fairy!

Well now that I've moved I had to go searching for a farrier on my own.  Needless to say it was an almost impossible task since neither of us actually knew anyone down here, especially horse people.  So finally my father-in-law found out from his barber there was a kid who lived about 12 miles away who was a really good farrier.

The first time I called the kid he called me back a week later.  I decided I'd give him a shot anyway since I still didn't know anyone, we set something up for a couple of days later.  He then called me a half an hour before he was suppose to show up and cancelled and wanted to reschedule for the next day.  Ok fine, I'll go for that, he showed up TWO HOURS late after the reschedule.  All I needed was Buck's feet trimmed at this point, took him all of like 15 minutes and cost me $20 (heck of a deal in my opinion since my old farrier cost between $60-$100 depending on the work you needed done).  The weird thing was he then hung around for like a half an hour to forty-five minutes longer, flirting and trying to chit-chat.  I actually had to start saddling Buck (even though I hadn't planned on riding) and walking away with him before the guy finally left.

So 8 weeks later I called him again and he didn't answer, never called me back.  I called him a few more times until finally another 8 weeks went by before I finally got a call back and we set up an evening for him to come out again.  At this point I was getting annoyed with the phone tag and decide to start snooping for a new farrier again.... UGH!  Doesn't do me any good to have a nice horse with messed up feet... I started thinking maybe I needed to take up trimming his feet myself but quickly changed my mind when I remembered how picking up furniture and moving it can cause me to throw out my back!

The night he was suppose to show up this time he called (a half hour before he was suppose to show up) and left a message on my phone because I was away from it.  He stated he had something come up at home and he was wondering if it would be alright if we rescheduled for the next night, if it was not that was alright he would come on out anyway.  I didn't get to my phone until almost an hour after he was suppose to show up.  He left that message with no intentions of actually showing up that night I believe.  If it were me and the person didn't answer and hadn't called you back by the time you were suppose to meet, I would have shown up like I said I would!

I called him back and left a message letting him know I could not work it in the next night because I had to work but I wanted to know if he could come on Tuesday night instead (this phone call and situation all took place on a Thursday evening).  He NEVER called me back!!  Not until the day AFTER I wanted him to come out.

So, I am NOT calling this kid back anymore and I have found a new farrier thanks to the local saddle club (yay horse people!).  The unfortunate thing about this one is I have to load up both the horses and take them over to him.  Guess if he does a good job it will be worth the effort (except Buck is a nightmare to get in the trailer when you don't have help! Not mean just stubborn).

When Is Too Much Really Too Much?

You guys probably read my post a few weeks ago about the ad I found in the Dressage Today magazine with the picture of the horse they were asking $225,000 and I thought that was a little excessive... I now retract my previous statement and that is a heck of a deal haha!

When is too much too much to pay for a horse?  This past weekend was the 2011 Breeder's Cup Classic, a race I watch almost as tightly as the Triple Crown races.  On November 4, 2011 a cute little filly by the name of Royal Delta swept the Ladies' Classic by 2 1/2 lengths which I considered to be pretty impressive.  Anyway to make a long story short at Tuesdays Keeneland Sale, Royal Delta was the only 2011 Breeder's Cup winner to be offered at the sale.  Needless to say she blew the roof off the sale going for $8.5 million, a Keeneland record for a horse still in training.  She was purchased by Benajmin Leon's Besilu Stables and cosigned by Chanteclair Farm.

This puts Royal Delta as the 3rd highest price for a racemare or broodmare after the $10.5 million paid for Playful Act in 2007 and $9 million paid for Ashado in 2009.  Of all the horses sold the day Royal Delta went through the ring (285) 22 of these horses went for over a million dollars.

So somewhere along the way I think I got involved in the wrong end of the horse business hahaha!  Here's the video of the sale if you'd like to see what it looks like to purchase a horse for that amount of money.

Superstar Show-Jumper Dies Today

A world class competitor has died today.  Hickstead, partner of Eric Lamaze and Olympic medal winner in the 2008 Beijing Games collapsed after finishing a 13 fence course at a World Cup event of what they believe to be a heart attack.

According to one story from The Associated Press Lamaze stated they had just finished their round, knocking one rail and were circling to leave the ring when Hickstead collapsed of an apparent heart attack.  Vets tried to revive Hickstead in front of a speechless crowd at the Rolex FEI event in Verona, Italy.

After the veterinary service took Hickstead off the course the riders requested to have the competition abandoned and all held a moment of silence for Hickstead and Lamaze.

I couldn't even begin to imagine what it would be like to experience something so devastating with Buck, who I've only had for 2 years.  My heart goes out to Eric Lamaze who has been working with the 15 year old Hickstead since he was 7 years old.

I feel the equestrian world has lost a once in a lifetime horse today.  Horses with the kind of talent and willingness of Hickstead do not come around every day and I believe thanks to this horse and Eric Lamaze the show jumping world will never been the same.

R.I.P Hickstead :'(

Pan-America Games

Not sure if anyone has been following the Pan-American Games this year but the United States CLEANED UP the medals this year!

The USET received Team Golds in Dressage, Jumping and Eventing as well as Individual Golds in Jumping (Cristine McCrea on Romantovich Take) and Dressage (Steffan Peters on Weltino's Magic)!  To make it even better the teams also received individual silvers in Dressage (Heather Anderson Blitz on Paragon), Jumping (Beezie Madden on Coral Reef Via Volo), and Eventing (Hannah Burnett on Harbour Pilot).  Along with Individual Bronze medals in Dressage (Marisa Festerling on Big Tyme and Eventing (Bruce Davidson Jr. on Foxwood High)!

All in all I would say October has been an incredible month for our favorite equestrians and a HUGE congratulations goes out to every one of the participants in the Pan-American games.  No matter your placing, at the end of the day it is a great honor to be a part of any of the teams which travelled to compete at Guadalajara this year.

The U.S teams have not just done well in equestrian events but in most every event they have competed in bringing home 92 gold medals, 79 silver medals, and 65 bronze medals, putting the U.S at the top of the medal table followed by Cuba (136 total medals) and Brazil (141 total medals).

Needless to say it's been a great month for all of my favorite sports teams.... USET gold medals, St. Louis Cardinals 11th World Series win, the Kansas City Chiefs upset the San Diego Chargers, and Mizzou upset 16th ranked Texas A&M this weekend.  I'd say the U.S and Missouri have had a great October.... can't wait to see what November has to bring!

Money Pains

Everyone knows horses = money... of course for some people that means people with horses HAVE money.  As those of us who actually have horses know it actually means people with horses are BROKE! 

I don't know what hay prices are where you come from (I know Texas and Oklahoma are having it rough this year) but I just spent $400 on 100 bales of lespedeza and prairie grass bales for my two horses.  That's not going to last me the whole winter and I'll probably have to get at least another 100 before the end of the winter.  What are hay prices like where you come from and what are you feeding?

Also, I can't remember if I wrote about this earlier but Buck broke his bridle after he decided it would be fun to try and do a back flip while we were riding, not a good idea!!  So I need to replace the reins on my snaffle bridle and I haven't really found that are worth anything that are less than $50.  So if you know of any good, black reins which are not going to break the bank hook me up!

I was also planning on purchasing a double bridle at some point in the near future.  I was looking through the Dressage Extensions magazine I received in the mail yesterday and here's kind of what I noticed on that front...

Cheapest Double Bridle = $189.95 (good news it comes with handstop reins for the snaffle and plain leather reins for the curb so you don't have to spend money on that part)

Cheapest Loose Ring Bradoon = $18.95 (not sure this is what I'm going to go with I just use a loose ring on a snaffle bridle I have now and it seemed like a good choice for this purpose)

Cheapest Curb = $39.95

So with all three of these things a new double bridle is going to set me back $248.85.  Don't get me wrong, I think for a double bridle that would be a heck of a deal and honestly, the cheapest bridle in the magazine was not the one I REALLY wanted (I really like the ShowTime Weymouth Bridle with the crank caveson which is $258.95 and you still have to buy the reins separate which range from $73.95 to $109.95... totaling $332.90 to $368.90!)  Guess it's gonna be a while before I invest in that bridle.  Good thing we're a long way from those levels yet!

Finally, my riding teacher is great, I love her to death, I just wish I lived closer to her.  I have been working and getting paid every month for the chores at the barn but she's getting ready to leave for the winter and go to FL (LUCKY!).  Anyway, I want to keep riding at the barn while she's gone so the idea is to bring my horse up one night and ride and do chores that night, leave him there the next day and do chores and take him home that night.  So basically I'll do two days of chores and he'll get to spend the night up there.  Good side is the barn is awesome!  Indoor arena, outdoor jumping arena, outdoor grass dressage arena and trails and cross country course all over the property.  Pretty much if I died this place would be heaven for me haha!  Not to mention it would solve my problem with his anxiety over watching Dolly while I'm trying to get some work done with him!

My only concern is there will be no money involved, just the trade of my horses stay for the work (which it only take like 20 minutes to feed during the winter because there's only like 6 horses at the barn and the owner makes my life SO easy... it's really the easiest barn job I've ever had).  It costs about $70.00 to fill up the truck right now (gas is $3.15) and it take me it's a half of a tank to get to the barn and home again (it's about an hour away).  So I guess I wonder if the cost of driving up there is worth the pay off. 

I can't afford to board him permanently I don't think (I think $350 a month) so I drive and ride for a while and bring him home again.  I go to college in the town where her barn is so I'm driving up there and back every day anyway (although I'm driving a car that gets 32 mpg)which makes during the week would the best so I wouldn't have to burn gas going up there on the weekends.  I just don't know what to do.

Obviously my first instinct was an automatic yes because she's great and I love the barn and it's the perfect training facility for a prospering eventer. Then I started worrying about the gas money.  My husband is the most supportive person ever so he told me to do it because it does no good to have Buck if he's not going to get ridden hahaha!  He's not a trail horse and he's not a pasture pony... he needs a job!

So after this LONG post that is my money rant and worry, I just don't know what to do with myself.  Why can't I just win the lottery??? Oh right.... I have to buy a ticket first :-p