Training has begun to pull a cart

I have been having so much fun with Artax since purchasing him this summer. We have become a great team and learning so much together. I am not only learning to do jumping and dressage on him but I am training him to pull a cart. I don't have a cart yet but I hope to purchase one in the spring. I have been ground driving him and he is picking it up like a champ. I have been doing my research and one of the essential components of training a horse to drive as well is riding is getting really responsive to your voice commands and use to steering. Then the next step is to hook them up to a tire or sled if it's snowy out once they are ground driving down pat and are really obeying your voice commands. That's the next step with Artax once he's really comfortable with me ground driving him. He's picking up ground driving really well so it won't be long before I will hook him up to a tire. Here's some pics of me ground driving him and some other ones just letting him loose to graze.

New Chapter, New Horse

Hello all, I haven't posted here in some odd years. Been busy the last several years. I've been with my fiance for the last 3 and a half years, with Facebook and all the social media, I guess I never bothered to post on here. I'm now 22 years old and living in a little house in Hillyard. I have four dogs and a lot of cats. My dog is my service dog. She is mostly Shepherd but we think she may have some collie in her due to the shape of her face. She's a good dog and has helped me with my disability in ways that could never be helped. I sold Fox this last spring due to his lameness issues that where even light riding he was soar. I thought it was the end of my horse riding deal. But I was suffering serious horse withdrawals and couldn't live without a horse. With me getting approved for disability and taking on a new part time job, I started horse searching again. I wanted to try a new breed. After growing up with Quarter Horses and stock horses in general over the years, I wanted to try a Thoroughbred. Thoroughbreds are few and far between in my area due to the popularity and high demand for stock horses. After some persistence and perseverance, I came across this Thoroughbred up in Rathdrum, Idaho. He was a 12-year-old bay 17 hand off the track Thoroughbred. He didn't have any lameness issues whatsoever, he was the most chill Thoroughbred I've ever met(not your typical TB), and his age since he was still relatively young is what sold me on him. His registered name is Pete's Boy. I call him Artax after the horse from the movie, The Neverending Story. It was love at first sight. Me and Artax clicked immediately. Here are some pictures of me and my recent events with Artax. I'll try to keep this blog up to date with my adventures of my horse and other critters.

Nasty Day

It is really windy and rainy out there. Here's a picture of me at the second meet in Moses Lake with the equestrian team.



Fox is my best horse friend. We went on a trail ride in Riverside on Thursday night. We went with our friend Tersea York. It was awesome. Today is not a good day to ride so I will go shopping today. Have a great weekend.

Beautiful day yesterday and today

I am now back. I've been busy going to equestrian team meets in Wenatchee and Moses Lake and back. I got my last one in Wenatchee next weekend. I have to take our 23-year-old Arab gelding next weekend because Fox has a little virus. It's nothing too serious. He's getting better. The vet advised us not to do anything stressful with him for at least two weeks because that's about how long it takes for a virus to totally clear out of a horse's system. If did anything stressful with him with a virus then it could turn into something potentially serious such as pneumonia. Even though he's getting better and he seems fine, we are just taking extra precautions. The equestrian team will be having a clinic with a trainer named Charlie Hansen in 3 weeks. I will definitely be riding Fox in it. I will also be riding Fox in the Mule Days Parade with the equestrian team too. We took Mythical and Jessie, our 11-year-old Morgan mare to a clinic with our friend, Shelley Kerr. It turns out that Jessie is too much to handle for my mom. So we are putting her up for sale. We have 8 horses right now. 5 full sized horses and 3 ponies. All together that makes 8. We are serious about cutting our herd in half. We made up our mind and we decided who's going. Jessie, our 11-year-old Morgan, Indy, our 11-year-old Arab, Lily, our 8-year-old pinto Shetland Pony, and Butters, the coming 2-year-old Shetland/Welsh pony cross. Of course Danny, Fox, Myth, and Hala are not going anywhere. Our internet is slow I can't post any pictures of the meets. I will do it as soon as I can.

Two More Weeks

Two more weeks until my 18th birthday!!! Yes!!! I will legally be considered an adult and no longer a minor.





Practices for the Equestrian Team started on Sunday. We got our first meet in Wenatchee on the 25th, which is three days after my birthday. I got a lot coming up. Two of my nieces are coming up from Portland next week. I can't wait. I got prom coming up too. We will be very busy this month. On April 2nd, we're going to get our horses a coggins so we can ride in Idaho. This year is a lot better than last year. We just had a weird year last year. Everything is going to be made up from last year. I just love my Foxy boy. He's just the best horse. I hope you have a good rest of the day. Happy Trails.

Very Snowy

It's very snowy out and it's almost March! The good news is that it's going to get back up to the 40s by the middle of next week. I thought I would share a video about my lifestyle. It's just about what I like to do such as riding my horse and cheerleading. This spring will be a year since I got Fox. I just love him so much. He hasn't given me an ounce of trouble since I've had him. If the weather is good, practices for the Reardan High School Equestrian Team start next week. My first meet is just next month in Wenatchee. I've been working hard lately getting Fox tuned up. Since I've been doing that, he's getting back into the routine of what work is like. We're going to see if we can pay Randy Durheim to use his arena for a little bit and work on some stuff. If we can, we'll being doing it next weekend. He lives walking distance from us. I am so itching to get out do something with my horse. I hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend. Happy Trails.

A beautiful sunny day yesterday!

It was a beautiful day yesterday. The sun was shining and birds were chirping spring is in the air. I can feel it. Here's some pictures of me ground driving Fox yesterday. He was a good boy. Since I've been tuning him up lately, he's now getting back into the groove of what it's like to be ridden and worked. Most horses are a little goofy after sitting around all winter. That's why it's a good idea to get them tuned up in the spring. Here's some pictures of me working with him in the sunshine yesterday.



A beautiful close up.




He's huge!




Ground driving the beautiful sunshine



Me and him loving




Last but not least, you can really see how large he is here. I'm 5'7" and Fox is about 15.2 1/2 or 15.3 hands. I know he's just a little under 16 hands. Plus he's got a high head set, which makes him seem really large. I hope you enjoy President's Day weekend.