Trail Riding!

Got up early and went to church and then made it home in time to saddle up and head out for a ride. Well...I guess not really saddle up since I just decided to take Cocoa bareback... :)

I played with Cocoa in the pasture for a bit. Just did some of the 7 Games, traveling circling game...etc. I hopped on and we cruised around the pasture and then headed down the backroad to check the footing which wasn't very good. We were contemplating on riding today because it has been SO icy! But I rode Cocoa over to Michelle's anyways and she went literally leaping through the snow on the trail there.

Cocoa patiently waited for them to tack up and we were off. The horses cautiously stepped in the ditch and attempted not to slip and we finally made it to the trail. Michelle was able to ride again so she got to ride Ace and Liz rode Vic! We just hit the trails and even got in a little bit of cantering and trotting despite the bad footing. I had Cocoa stopped and Ace got a little too close so Cocoa tried to kick her (naughty horse) then once we got up the hill Cocoa and Vic were exchanging death glare glances. Vic wheeled around and kicked Cocoa. None of us were expecting this out of Vic...my guess he was mad at Cocoa for trying to kick his Ace. lol Nobody got hurt but I had slid off to get out of the way and had a fun time trying to jump back on Cocoa in my slippery snowpants and many layers of warm clothes! lol

So the horses got out for a good ride and it was a beautiful day...Dixie wasn't so pleased that she had to stay behind yet again.


Savvy Out,
Olivia, Cocoa, and Dixie

Out for a Stroll..

Cocoa and I headed out into the winter wonderland to go for a walk today. We didn't make it too far because the road was one bit sheet of very slippery ice. So we stuck to the ditch and she got to rummage for dried grass...she was pleased. I had her jump so huge snowbanks..Cocoa gets such a kick out of doing that where Dixie just plows straight through them..my little bulldozer!

Savvy Out,
Olivia, Cocoa, and Dixie

Happy Holidays straight from the Horses!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone!!

Cocoa eating snow while waiting..and Dixie wondering what she's eating.

Cocoa the 'white-nosed' pony!

Dixie busy bugging Cocoa..as usual! :)

THE END!!

Savvy Out,
Olivia, Cocoa, and Dixie

Christmas and Presents!

Finally opened all of the presents and here are some of the things the horses and I got this year!

- Video Camera (and some accesories) Now I just have to figure out how to work it!
- Horse Slippers
- Ariat winter boots (don't fit and didn't seem to warm - have to send them back)
- Sock liners..(to try and keep my toes from freezing)
- Ariat Half Chaps from Dover (haven't come yet)
- Twilight book! (YAY! Already read the whole series...but just wanted to own it!)
- Clothes


And finally...I knew about this already since they told me right after they ordered it due to a umm complication...

-TICKET to the Parelli Madison Celebration

But..my cousin in Oregon's graduation is the same date..and we were supposed to go to that. So I might have to switch which Celebration I go to... :(

Savvy Out,
Olivia, Cocoa, and Dixie

Have a Very Merry Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!!

Savvy Out,
Olivia, Cocoa, and Dixie

Winter Wonderland

After Cocoa and I got home we headed to check the mail. Then I let her out eat in the front yard like usual. I headed to get little Dixie and let her out with Cocoa. She was very impatiently waiting at the gate for me to let her out. So...I had to take some pics. of the little stinker. :) She wasn't pleased that I was stalling...but she was still ah-dorable!

Dixie saying.."Let me out, NOW!"

She just spotted Cocoa eating in the yard.

"Alright already"...I let her out, and she's heading to find Cocoa!
And she's off!
Now where is Cocoa?




So they both happily got to eat...and still are eating in the front yard! I put Cocoa's green cooler blankie on and then left them in peace to try and find some roughage!





Cocoa saying hi!

I Spy some grass!

Savvy Out,
Olivia, Cocoa, and Dixie

Mission Accomplished

Hopped on Cocoa bareback and took her out for a spin! Dixie, much to her dismay, had to stay home for this route. Cocoa and I had a mission to accomplish.

This morning I was wrapping presents and I was painting some of my gifts and I realized I didn't know what the other side of Roxy looked like. I didn't have a pic. of her from that side either so I couldn't finish painting the figurine I had got for Jess till I had some footage. So...that is where Cocoa came in!

Cocoa and I headed over for a visit and to get some shots of Roxy's other side! We headed down the road, walked through the knee deep snow in the ditches (just for the fun of it!), and even continued to jump some of the big snowbanks that were made by the snowplow!! Then we finally made it to the trail to Jess's. The trees were all full of snow, I should have taken a pic. it was so pretty but very wet! Even though I tried to duck (did a lot of that) we still managed to bump the branches and then all the snow came tumbling down on us. Luckily I dressed for the occasion this time and had snowpants on...even though they are slippery and a challenge to ride in. I've mastered riding Cocoa in waders while she is wet down at the river so snowpants aren't all that bad! We finally made it out of the trees and then took a little detour to canter around the field and weave through some trees then I had her gallop up the hill to Jess's.

Cocoa was so excited since she hadn't seen Hank and Roxy in awhile. She greeted them and made herself look all big and Araby. :) Then proceeded to be sassy and bellow out little squeals at them. Roxy was thrilled to see her and was trotting all over the pasture! We all said hi, I took some pics. of the very photogenic horses, and then hopped back on Cocoa to head back home.

Roxy girl!
Hank!


We cantered down the trail from their house and then cantered all around the field behind their house! Cocoa wanted to go faster so I let her but then my little Arab got a wee bit RB so we had to tone in down a tish. I had her do some circles which she proceeded to do wonderfully. So we did some from the other direction and when she had simmered down we cantered around the rest of the field at a nice slow paced canter. Then the rest of the way we just walked home to cool her out and stopped for an occasional snipit of dried grass. Fun little outing! It wasn't too incredibly cold but my eyes were tearing up from anything more than a walk because of the cold air!



Savvy Out,
Olivia, Cocoa, and Dixie

Dashing Through the Snow...

..In a one horse open sleigh... lol Now all I need is a sleigh to make that come true! My uncle wanted me to ask for one for Christmas...but I had some other things in mind that came before a sleigh! lol But I do want to teach Cocoa how to pull a sled and pony people around!! :)

I went out and played with the horses for a bit today. I had them out in the pasture with me and Dixie proceeded to lay down beside me again! And then Cocoa saw Dixie rolling so she rolled too...Hmm..hopefully I can take this and use it to teach Dixie how to lay down on cue. We'll see!

We romped around the pasture till I got too tired trying to run in all my snowgear. Then the horses headed down to the big pasture when they figured out the gate was left open. I let them eat out there for a bit and then grabbed their halters and headed down.

First I played with little Miss Dixie. I had her come to me in the pasture and put her halter on and then just let her munch for a bit more. Then we did some traveling circling game in the deep snow! I had her back from Zone 5 with just using my Energy!! And back by her hocks, and tail too. Then we did some circling game and change of direction. She was very spunky and took higher phases with a little snot off attitude. I had her cantering around for a bit and then let her come in. Then we did some serpentines towards me and even some serpentines sideways and towards me. She catches on so quickly. I rested in the snow and she licked my hat and just nuzzled me. She is such a keeper.

I then took her in the roundpen and did a little bit of the Catching Game with her. One lap and she came eagerly trotting right in to me. We played some of the 7 Games at Liberty and I picked up her feet. Then I sat down again and did some playing around with lowering her head. She was so curious, and wanted to paw me then tried to chew on the carrot stick. I wanted to check her teeth so after a little convincing I got a good look at her little chompers. Her adult teeth came in so nicely! But it looks like she's got a few baby ones left. She had so much fun slobbering all over me and grabbing my hat off my head. :) Then she nuzzled my face and tried to give me kisses....wet snowy ones..lol And who taught her that trick!?! lol :)

I let them both out in the yard..and then had them go for a walk with me. We just went down the road aways to say hi to the neighborhood horses, Ace, Vic, and Colby then headed back home.

I wanted to do one last thing with Dixie. I opened up the trailer and practiced some loading. Well..she didn't need much practice. She hopped right in there almost before I asked her too! What a good girl!! It was a little slippery so I was wary...cause it is just wood down in the trailer we don't have mats yet but she was ok.

They got to eat in the yard the rest of the day till we headed into town.

Savvy Out,
Olivia, Cocoa, and Dixie

Life Session with Farrah for Cocoa!

Today was the day for Cocoa's Life Session with Farrah! I was very thrilled to get to do this and see what doors it would open to figuring out what was wrong with Cocoa! I learned a lot and have a couple options to consider now. I'm not sure exactly what route I will be able to take with her or what I can afford but I'm going to try and help her feel better!

I'll post more specifics on it later!


Savvy Out,
Olivia, Cocoa, and Dixie

Playing with the Ponies in the Snow

I bundled up and went out and spent some quality time with the horses! They were very happy for some company...sometimes they see a little too much of each other I think. They seemed to be at their wits ends today with each other. I first attempted to chip all the frozen ice/snow out of their hooves then proceeded to spray them with PAM to stop the build up. We'll see how long that lasts! Then I asked Cocoa to step all four feet up on the tractor tire which she did...and then I stepped up there with her! After spending some good ole' undemanding time with them I opened the small pasture gait and we ventured out into the freezing cold white winter wonderland. The two munchkins followed me all over the front pasture and I finally laid down and attempted to make a snow angel while they were supposed to be pawing for grass. Well Dixers came over to investigate. That's my curious LB bugger! So she sniffed me and then finally was frusterated when I didn't move so she was going to start to paw me. That got me to to sit up awfully quick. :) Then she just tried to take me hat off and scratch on me. She went back to pawing the snow so I thought she was fed up with me and was going to eat some more grass but boy did she surprise me when she decided to LAY DOWN right beside me!!! Then I had to scoot out of the way cause she had major plans to roll all over that place. She tried to get over a couple times but she just couldn't get all the way with the blankie on...it was pretty funny to watch. So she had to get back up and go down again to get the other side. Haha.
Meanwhile Cocoa decided a roll sounded great too..so she went down too! She didn't have a blanket on and easily cleared both sides! Dixie got up and was going over to bug her so I tried to distract her from irritating Cocoa by giving her a good scratch and boy oh boy did it work. Apparently her neck was very itchy! We ambled around the pasture some more..I sat down again and again to my surprise SO DID Dixie!! Then we all three ran the pasture, fixed the fence, and shook snow off the trees to keep them from leaning their branches on the fence.
I think the running through the trees they've been doing..was the source of the hole in Cocoa's blanket that Dixie was wearing...grrr...
I finally opened the lower pasture gate and they went barreling out there cause their is a much better chance they will find edible stuff out there and they know it! I laid out there with them for a while till my toes froze and then headed back inside.

It wasn't an incredibly productive day but we still had fun. Hopefully it will finally warm up and get us out of this major cold spell....It only got to like 5 degrees tops today. BRRR...

Savvy Out,
Olivia, Cocoa, and Dixie

A Snowy Ride

I went and volunteered at Shopping with Santa and then was able to come home and play with the ponies!

Cocoa and Dixie were able to eat in the backyard and try and scrape and get grass all morning so I grabbed Cocoa out of the pasture and took her out for a spin! Just hopped on bareback and we were off....We ended up going on a pretty long ride..we were out for about 2 hours. Luckily it was surprisingly warm and we did a ton of cantering and racing through the trees! We were definitely kicking up some snow! :)

Cocoa did ah-mazing! At first she was a little pokey, but we had to follow the road so that was understandable because the road isn't all that exciting. We did a lot of cantering down the road since it seemed the footing was ok and not too slippery with all the snow. She was offering nice slow canters so that was great! Headed down to the St. Francis Tree Grove and stepped all over the tarps down there and then jumped all the trees they had cut down! Now that was fun! Continued on through the Tree Grove and we jumped a tree branch....Cocoa way overjumped it but I was right with her and it was amazing. When we finally got to the trail we cantered the whole way till we made it to our "Race Track". Cocoa and I galloped around just about the whole thing.....and it's HUGE! We made it all the way around this time and it's even bigger and windery than I originally had thought!

Then we got back on the trail and did lots of vertical flexion and collected trotting up and down all the hills. She got a pretty dang good workout!! We finally made it home after saying "hi" to the neighbors horses and Dixie heard us coming..she wasn't pleased with being left behind but I had wanted to take Cocoa on a long fast ride so Dixie would have gotten too tired.

They got to eat in the front yard for awhile and then I went and brought Dixie down to the round pen for a little playtime right before church. First we did a little bit with the barrel. I had her go sideways over it and then jump it. She didn't want to jump it at first and went a little RB but I calmed her back down and then asked her again and she just LEAPED over it! :) I did the Catching Game with her to start with and after about a half of a circle she wanted to come in and did. Then we just did some Stick to Me...backing by the tail, backing ..from Zone 5 and not using the tail just going by energy!! Sideways towards, picking up all four feet, leading by the lip. Then we had to run back up to the barn so I wouldn't be late!


Savvy Out,
Olivia, Cocoa, and Dixie

Playing in the Snow

It was snowing even more today..and now we have a nice covering on the ground. The horses actually have to dig/scrape to get to the grass....winter has started!

I let the horses out into the big pasture to graze and they went barreling down there racing each other and having a blast stretching their limbs. I took my carrot stick and ambled out there to just do a little liberty with them. I knew they wanted to eat the grass so I didn't ask for too much. Cocoa was SO into it..everytime I would even glance at her...or ask Dixie to come to me or something she would come running. :) LBE tonight! So I had Cocoa do some close range circling and then cantering beside me. We did some back up by the tail, serpentines towards me, and then just ran around like crazy! I didn't want her to do too much cantering though...since it was Slippery already! ugg..

Then I did some backing by the hocks with Dixie and improving her draw. It's amazing how fast she picked up on that. She loves trotting to me all the time! We did some sideways towards, with a swing your hiney over into a backup! :) That went well...and then I had her run around a bit and called it quits and let them eat in peace!

When I brought them in for summer they were caked with a layer of snow!

Snow and Pictures

We definitely have a white dusting of snow layering the ground here! I decided to take some pics. of my wet, snowy munchkins after breakfast. They stood on the tractor tire but didn't both want to be up there together and share since they were feeling a bit crabby towards each other. Most likely the cold weather has got to them too! They were following me everywhere... (isn't that how it always goes when you want to take pics??)

UPDATE: Well I had a 4-H Christmas party to go to...so I didn't have too much time but I put Dixie's halter on and the 22 ft. and we headed out for a bit. Cocoa was so jealous. We played a little bit in the front yard and Cocoa ran around the pasture. Cocoa and Dixie are usually little angels when it comes to be seperated but Cocoa was NOT happy to be the one left out tonight. I did some 7 games in the front...then headed to the big field. We attempted to plow through the thick weeds and did some traveling circling game. Then finally made it to my old round pen area...there is a cirlce indent but no longer a fence up. We did some circling game with change of direction and just played around. She had a couple RB moments but for the most part we improved our draw on the changing direction segment. She got really pumped and we even did a tad bit of cutting!! Then did some yielding the hiney and stick to me. She mimicks my every footfall...it's fantastic! We ventured over to the barrel and I stood about 15 feet away from it and sent her too it and she got herself all perfectly lined up beside it and then easily sidepassed over it! What a good girl! She's got that down PAT!....Then I had her jump it..with one barrel it took two circles till she jumped it and when she did she Flew over it.. :) haha Just a little bit of an overjump! Then I stood on the other side of the barrel and almost at a standstill she jumped it to come to me! We stopped with the barrel and ran up the hill...and just cantered all around. She and I got a bunch of energy out..she was having so much fun but I was tired. So we went back to the barrel I had her line up beside it and then tied by 22 ft. into a hackamore and hopped on. She walked off after a bit and did a little crow hop..it was rather cute. I haven't rode her in awhile so maybe that is why? But I was happy...because she's never bucked or anything for me when I've rode her so it's good she got something out! lol Then we just walked and trotted around the track and she did marvelous stops and back ups! I'm so proud of my little 2 1/2 year old she's come so far!! Then we had to bring it in so I could go. Definitely ended on a good note!

Playing in the Round pen

Snowy and cold out yet again...it warmed up to about 10 degrees. Uggh!
I had the ponies out eating in the back pasture and when I called for them Cocoa bellowed out one of her loud, low whinnys! It was so cute. Then they came walking up to meet me in the other pasture...Cocoa actually put some effort and JUMPED over the log! :)
I attempted to scrape all the excess snow out of the horses hooves but it was stuck in there pretty good. Then I put there halters on and we ventured down to the round pen. I let them both loose and then sent them out. They were having fun together running around. Dixie was in the back first but then decided she should be up front so it didn't work as well as it had when I used the signals to tell them to slow down since Dixie isn't quite that far at liberty yet. We did some change of direction and a lot of trotting and cantering! Cocoa was a little reluctant to come all the way in..when I disengaged Dixie would come running in right away and be right there so Cocoa was Jealous? She seems to be acting a little like that lately whenever Dixie wants to be right by me. I had them do some yo-yo at liberty and Cocoa was pleased to stay with me when Dixie decided to leave...she did about a lap and decided she wanted to come back in! After that we just did some Stick to me...and I had Cocoa cantering beside me and then even did some cutting and got her to rear up! :) Fun Fun!

After that I hopped on Cocoa bareback..in my pj's! lol And then ponied Dixie around beside us in the roundpen and then headed out. We followed the back road a ways then went in the 'old' pasture/clearing and followed the 4-wheeler track at a trot with Dixie sometimes occasionally cantering beside us. Cocoa was even doing some really nice vertical flexion. Then we went back to the yard and cantered up the hill from the back to the front..I let them eat a little grass then put them back in the corral with some hay.

Went to Buca's with some friends for a b-day..so didn't get much else done with the ponies and unforchantly no pics. with them in the round pen.