Huelio pictures finally, sorry for the wait.

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Huelio arrives at Kellyville

No photo's right now, I am waiting to "borrow" back my daughters camera with all my Huelio picks in it so I can update this blog, sorry but come back again soon.


Huelio arrived last Thursday, in the dark and cold and I so desperately wanted to get a photo of him but John the transporter had picked up 3 feral ponies and was running supper late so by the time Huels arrived it was getting on, I was late for work and I literally put Huels in the paddock with Rocky and raced off to work. They remembered each other and went nose to nose in greeting, Rocky did a little buck and happy dance, it was really cute. So I think Rocky is happy at least, Huels is yet to settle in properly.
Very next morning Dad phones to say that he could only find one horse in the paddock and that Rocky was standing at the top end of the paddock looking across to the road. Odd as even if Huels could get out of the bottom paddock the front gate is always closed so what were the chances of him getting down the road, well it seems, pretty good.
Our Friday started with me racing off to Kellyville to locate missing horse. Thankfully he was only about 1/2 kilometer away at a neighbours, penned up and munching away on some lucerne hay. He was not at all perturbed by my ranting and raving at him, and embarassment at having a horse lost on the very first day I got him.
Neighbour was very non chalante about it all so I thanked him took Huelio in borrowed halter, left the car on side of road and walked the naughty boy home, he in the mean time whinneying to all and sundry. LOL
What a peanut, anyway he was happy to see Rocky again and to get a second lot of breakfast the pig.
After some discussion Dad and I decided that Huels had pushed open the top gate at the side of the house, which is a clip lock wire gate, it is for access for the ute when Dad does the paddock clean up and usual rounds of the bottom paddock. It must have not been clipped in correctly and a push from a fat horse was all it took for him to squeeze thru, and squeeze he must have. Rocky wasn't gonna follow tho.
Then we were puzzled as to how the front gate got open, I was pretty sure I had closed it on the way to work the night before, but you know how we do these things automatically, like in our sleep or something and can not say for certain that we actually did it after all??
Turns out that at about 8.30am a bloke rocked up to pick up a trailer, as Dad stores things for the vintage bike club etc, he was parked out side the gate, and the gate was shut. Dad went up and said for him to bring his car inside, and said "By the way, did you happen to see a horse?"
The guy sort of shook his head, went red and changed the subject.
So we are thinking that he did actually open the gate, drove in, leaving the gate open, Huels was out in the top paddock, saw the gate open or being opened and took off. The guy paniced, drove back through, closed that gate and waited. Dad said he was a nervy little bloke so maybe he was worried we would go off at him about it.
So altho we are not 100% sure, we think that is how Huels day went.

Because Dad went off on a bike rally to Tamworth for the weekend, I was designated Mummy minder, so stayed at Kellyville to keep Mum company, we also had my brothers two girls Shay and Lisa, which was fun, they are awesome kids, Lisa loves horses and bikes like me so we get on pretty well and Shay is supper clever in drawing and writing.
So saturday morning I woke up and walked down to the shed to feed the "boys" except only Rocky meandered over from the other side of the house. Hmmmmmm, not again I thought to myself, gave Rock his breaky and a pat and went looking for the trouble maker.
Here he was, halfway thru the barbed wire fence, one foot down on the otherside and another strand across his chest, thank God for his rug. Why the hell do we have barbed wire, well 30 years ago, someone told Dad to put it up 5 fucking strands of it, I hate barbed wire, and we are replacing it all slowly, so as you can imagine I was pretty upset. The particular spot that Huels had tried to walk thru was ok about 5 weeks prior when we first checked on the fences and refenced with regular wire. Yes it was barbed, but in place and secure, except that at some stage in the last 5 weeks, a tree had come down next door, thru the fence and the neighbour had loped off the offending branches over our side, but did not tell us the fence was down. Now maybe this is a fair enough thing as we have not had horses in the paddock for over 30 years but it gave Huels another chance to visit the neighbours, and I have no doubt he would have if he hadn't got hung up.
Well I was on my own, apart from Mum and the girls and as I didn't know what Huels would do I told them to stay at the house. I stepped on the three strands that were up around Huels' knee, pushing them down near his hock, pushed the one strand off his chest with my right hand and bent down and lifted his trapped foot up and down again three times, telling Huels to back up. Well, he is a smart and sensible boy because he took it all in calmly and with out a fuss, he listened to me and repeated my action but as he lifted his foot for the fourth time I pushed back on it and said "Back up". He stepped up and over the wire and not a scratch on him which I was so thankful for.
Then he just calmly walked over to the feed shed for breaky. Oh my, what a horse. LOL. So that weekend Tony and I did a repair job on the broken fence, and worked our way down that side of the paddock, it is about 70% regular wire and star pickets now. The rest of the fencing is regular wire, in fair condition but Huels is testing all areas, he wants out. So I am hoping that when I get home this weekend, I can give him some attention, perhaps a ride and see if I can get him to understand that this is home. After all Rocky really loves it here, he is one very happy pony so I desperately want Huels to feel comfortable too. Any suggestions???

Riding Lesson

I have had a lot of doubts about myself riding at this late stage in my life, 48, overweight and wanting to re-experience the joy of owning and riding my own horse.

Seems it was only a few months ago that I decided to get my motorcycle licence and ride on the road. Having done both these things rather well as a kid, growing up surrounded by bikes, horses, and sundry farm duties, animals and the freedom of miles of fire trails at our back gate, It would all be a breeze for me to just step back into it as tho I hadn't been away from a horse for 30 years. Yer, right!!!

It is no doubt that I had a really wonderful childhood. The fact that these things were provided by my parents and their hard work and hard earned money was not even an issue for me or my siblings.

Providing said activities for myself is both exciting, worrying and hard bloody work. Makes me appreciate just how lucky I was to have parents like mine.

Well, doubts and misgivings aside today I got back up on Rocky with the brilliant instruction of Michelle, who's natural ability with horses and people was well evident.

Rocky was a star, he was calm and level headed a far cry from the last time we rode together.

He behaved well even under my clumsy attempt at mounting. He hung in there and received well earned praise for being a calm and willing boy. Michelle's calm directive had me able to control him without second guessing myself, and starting with basic control, having Rocky moving off and responding to commands with the correct position of hands, legs and body. Soft hands that move with the horse. Clear directives to a green horse from a green rider. Karleigh said we would "learn together" and I think she is right. Based on today's workout we are getting to know each other and with help, work and patients a bright future is on the cards.

Time for a Trim

You know that lovely feeling at the hairdressers, when you are getting your hair done, and it is so relaxing that you could happily drift off into never never land??? Well Rocky played noddy's all morning during his foot trim.

Today it was Rocky's first visit from a farrier. I found David's details on the ATHRA site. And it stated that he was the Bare Foot Hoof guy, well as I had intended to ride Rocky bare footed or in boots I thought that he sounded perfect for the job.

I wasn't wrong he was terrific, so nice to chat with and very kind and considerate to our Rocky.

David checked Rocky's feet and was impressed at how good they are in general, strong healthy feet. WoooHooo, perfect for what we intend to do, trial and light pleasure riding with him and the paddock he is in is perfect conditions for a barefoot horse, a little rocky, a little unlevel and well draining.

My one concern proved an imminent problem tho, the day we brought him home to Kellyville he was a bit disoriented and racing around looking for me, and followed me down a rocky path, not even a path more a mountain goat track. Silly boy, he made a big chip in the middle of his near side hind hoof. As David worked on it, it proved that there was indeed a good size crack in it, which he filed and treated but suggested no riding until I get a boot for that hoof.

As you can see by the pics, he was a super good boy, very relaxed and only really protested when the tender area on the cracked hoof was touched. I had a chance for a good chat with David and feel even more confident that bare hoof and boots are the way to go. Once again I didn't get to ride, but will soon. David said that Rocky had had seedy toe on his rear off side hoof at one stage, and showed me the damage left by it, of course it will cause no long term damage and I will be sure to monitor for any problems.

Well Huelio should arrive this week, and it will be a case of getting the new guys sorted out and finding out what he needs doing. Dave will call me in about a month and see how the feet are going and then he does a re-trim again or in 6 weeks time depending on the growth.

I gave Rocky a dose of worm paste, not that he needed them with the property having been horse free for so long, but just in case and with Huels coming I don't want any problems for him either.

Huelio

This is Huelio being ridden nicely by Karleigh his owner. Tony and I met Huelio when we went down to Goulburn to meet Rocky. Huelio was a paddock mate of Rock's and greeted us when we went down to their paddock. Tony was taken by him immediately and thought that he was a really lovely horse. He kept saying to me, ask Karleigh if this one is for sale?
I finally emailed Karleigh about Huelio after I had paid a deposit on Rocky and the answer was, No Huelio will never be sold, well that is a pretty final answer, so I let Tony know that Huelio was not available and to look elsewhere for his horse.

Well Huelio is not for sale, he never will be and he is firmly a ABS horse. He is a lovely boy who loves people, loves his food and loves his chicken shapes and Icy poles. A saddle horse never having raced or even trialed, he does not like working in a frame and prefers to fang around a paddock or trail, so the perfect companion horse for Tony and I, so will he be moving to Kellyville and meeting up with his old pal Rocky?

Stay tuned.....

Horses help you trim down

Well yesterday was a down day for me, suffering from depression I do not know how each day will pan out.

I checked on Rocky as soon as I got to Kellyville, he was happily sunning himself and had had his breakfast early so fine if I wanted to ride, I thought I might ride, so got out all the gear ready for the day.

I took off his rug, which he is needing right now it is cool. Brushed him really well which he enjoyed and picked his feet out and popped some oil on his feet, still has that chip on the back near side, but I am watching it and think it will be easily filed out when the farrier comes.

I phaffed around a bit more but when I started to think about riding I talked myself out of it.

Dad was having some trees trimmed around the house, cottage and shed, chainsaws going and general noise happening. Rocky was fine but I decided to go up and help haul off some of the big stuff in the ute, to the dumping ground in the bottom paddock. Dad is 80 and had fallen over the dog that morning cracking his head and shoulder hard on a table so I really did not want him over doing it. Dad commented that if I helped out I could possibly loose another 4 kilo's (my weight loss to date), well if promises were horses.......ha, no I don't think another 4 kilo's were lost but at least I was not sitting on a couch stuffing chocolate down my throat.

By the time this was over it was late afternoon, time to rerug and feed Rocky, so the ride did not happen and I was really feeling like a total failure, despite the good days work I had put in around the property I felt as if I had let myself get out of riding and was wondering at my own confidence around Rocky.

Will let you know.

Well tomorrow is another day and I will try not to be so hard on myself, I do have Michelle coming on Thursday for a lesson and I will have to get on the boy and ride him, he has had several weeks off since my fall from him and I hope that I can overcome my hesitation and go back to being enthusiastic with the riding as I was before.

Purchasing Rocky has changed my life in so many positive ways, I have had to get out and about and do things, walking, fencing, riding, feeding, watering, and clearing paddocks, picking up poo, has all contributed to the weight loss. So for this my Rocky boy, you are a life saver, thankyou.

Kellyville at last

Rocky has now been moved to my parents property at Kellyville, approx 3 acres all to himself, well at least until Huelio arrives.

Just some photo's of the other weekend, in between rain storms and the bottom paddock was very soggy. Rocky didn't mind one bit, and really seems to like his new digs.

He has a couple of sunny spots he relaxes in, one not far from the feed shed and then another a little further down the paddock and with a birds eye view of the house deck, and the door Dad uses to access the shed, and the horse feed. Rocky has it all worked out, clever boy.

This guy is awesome, he is so easy going, however when he saw the horse float he went into his "athlete" mode and started to prance around and get excited, he certainly loves things to happen. He must have loved his racing career and have been very well cared for and treated well for it to have obviously been such a positive experience for him.

Floating is absolutely no problem, on he goes and says "yep ready, what ya waiting for, let's go!!"
He is totally into anything different so I can not wait to be able to ride him on the trail, I think he is not only going to be fun to ride but I think he is going to be bold and open to anything.