Day 4 and 5 of the 100 day challenge

Snow is melting and it has been warming up! Hard to believe that January is almost over and February is almost here! On Monday, which is the first day of February, I will be moving Artax to a new boarding facility called Valley Chapel Farm. It's just a few miles south of Spokane in Valleyford. On day 4 of the 100 day challenge, I didn't have any pictures. I did ride though. Artax was was a little squirrelly that day. He hadn't been ridden in a couple of weeks and he didn't want to leave my friend's horse, whom he is somewhat herd bound to. I got off and did some groundwork to remind him who's boss and he was just fabulous once I got back on him. On Monday, which was day 6 of the challenge, Artax was just as chill as he always is and tried my endurance saddle on him. It fits him great and he looks amazing in it. I managed to get a couple pics of those. I am so excited about what the year has in store!

Day 3 of the 100 day challenge

Not much has been going on as far as horses. Weather has been too icky out to ride. The snow is starting to melt and the temperatures are getting warmer. I am participating in this 100 day challenge. It's where you post pictures of you doing things with your horse 100 days out of the year on this group called By Horseback on Facebook. You don't have to necessarily do it back to back each day. You can spread it out throughout the year. There's 365 days in a year and I manage to get some horse time in almost everyday, even during the cold season. I just went and gave Artax some loving. Here is my future father-in-law having a conversation with him, lol! 😆

Artax back in action

Well I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season! Artax's wound is healing fabulously! It's a 3rd of the size it originally was. He's back in action for riding. I rode on New Years Eve and New Year's Day. I know that 2016 will have a lot in store for me including the upcoming shows at Spokane Sporthorse Farm in the spring. Artax will begin his new career as a hunter jumper. Here are some pics from my New Year's Eve 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Been extremely busy with the holidays! We had a crazy windstorm on November 17th! It beat the records of ice storm 1996 apparently! I was only 3 years old during ice storm of 96, so I really have no memory of it. It was way long before I got my first horse, which was 2002. Artax got hurt the night before Thanksgiving! Fortunately it was only a superficial wound and it is healing like a champ! We finally had the bandage taken off since it is starting to scab over. We've been putting on panalog, a cortisone cream to prevent from proud flesh growing. I haven't ridden in over a month because Artax got hurt and also because of the weather. Artax's injury is healing up nice and he's also walking as if he hasn't gotten hurt. It's mainly the weather and we have about a foot of snow now, so it will most likely be spring that I can ride again. As much as I dislike the snow, we really need it because last winter we didn't get snow so we had a huge drought this spring and summer as a result. It was awful with all those wildfires, most notably the Okanogan Complex fire. Not to mention all the bugs we got. We've had worse winters years back, got through them, and this winter is still not nearly as bad as those years back such as winter 2008-2009. That was my sophomore year in high school. I plan on moving Artax to Valley Chapel farm in the spring, so I can have more access to arenas and lessons so I want to get into dressage and jumping. I hope to do a schooling show at Spokane Sporthorse farm in April. Here are some recent pics of Artax! Happy holidays!

Veteran's day ride and weight gain

Had a beautiful ride yesterday. We took the summer roads and rode all the way to Coulee Hite Rd via the summer roads. It was glorious. Getting as much riding in as I can before winter hits. Artax is gaining so much weight! Victory! His top line is filling in nicely and his ribs are hardly showing! I think I finally found the solution to helping keep his weight up. I'm going to have his teeth checked by the vet regardless in the spring.

Now to Work on weight gain and snow

Artax is doing wonderful with ground driving and is obeying my commands well. We'll be hooking him up to a tire soon. We just have to get a warm day. He still could use some improvements in his weight. We're going to be adding supplements to his diet. Also it will be getting a fecal sample and getting an appointment for the equine dentist to look at his teeth since he is showing signs of his teeth needing floating. It started to snow right after I put him away.

November ride

I've been trail ridding Artax on the surrounding trails where I keep him boarded. I hope to get him off the property and trail ride him at Riverside State Park this month. Hopefully take a lesson or two in dressage. Pics from today.