I stared this journal with the death of Dear One… it was originally on Live Journal but after being found by some folks I decided to move to WordPress. I thought it might be beneficial to those new here or those who don’t want to re-read all that I’ve posted in four years to have this Journal Timeline. It cites significant milestones in my life with horses.

11-25-07  ~ Dear One dies due to complications of Cushings and Laminitis. Most likely a heart attack. The blog’s original purpose was to serve as a place to grieve and vent.

Shadow Sister

12-28-07  ~ Beautiful Boy returns to his former owner for $1. He had been with me approximately three years and never worked out as the lesson horse he was intended to be but did teach me a lot about groundwork and horse behavior.

The vieled eyes of The Prince

A Brief History of Big Guy (Tee, T-Man or BG as he may be named in posts) explains how he came into my life and his background.

My Delicate Good Guy

5-15-08  ~ LadyZ (about 18 months old) arrives from her TX breeder (also called ZZ, Little Girl and LG in earlier posts).

This is Only a Test

June 2008  ~ Being Barn Manager at Hell Job ends (actually I’m fired after trying to give them my notice!). I had some posts about my work there but it was attracting too much attention from the Good Christians that I once called boss so deleted them.

Summer 2008 ~ Emergency Temp pasture board (I was given 12 hours to remove my horses from Hell Barn). An incident over Pandora’s lack of water on a 104 degree day caused the end of this friendship. Once again, BO”s prove to be lazy, greedy slobs.

August 2008 ~ Board at 3HF begins. BO is a former student with some personality issues. I didn’t want to move there because I had reservations but it was close to home and I was heavily wooed.

Pandora starts to have a series of mysterious colics. This increases my suspicion and unhappiness at the current barn especially when the BO leaves colicking pony alone to punish me. Eventually, the culprit is pinpointed to be a Silver Leaf Maple and once it is removed, her and her neighbor’s mysterious colics cease.

Ponies are Better then Chocolate ~ The Origin

1-14-2009 ~ Big Guy fractures his Pelvis, put on 90 days complete stall rest. While my posts may not reflect it, I was seriously worried and upset. It hadn’t been that long since Dear One had been on a long stall rest that culiminated in her death.

Because I didn’t want to follow the advice of the BO’s vet, the BO hysterically tells me to get out – which is impossible to do when you have a horse with a fractured pelvis. I tell her we will leave as soon as he can be safely moved. The summer of 2009 is spent in handwalking rehab under an uneasy truce with the BO and her husband.

Spring 2009 ~ Riding lessons with Molly

3-10-2010 ~ Boarding at 3HF ends (too much passive aggressive behavior from BO) and we move to FR (which later proves to be too far away).

7-2010 to 4-2011 ~ Lease of Dee, a Wamblood Appaloosa. After having her for a while it became obvious that her training foundation was not as I thought - I needed to decide whether to buy her and work on it or let her go. After my experiences with Beautiful Boy (too much time spent on fixing problems; too little time having fun), I decided that while beautiful, she was not the horse for me.

Learning to Let Go

6-17-2010 ~ Big Guy kicked in the face by Z; Z also injured. They are separated.

11-03-2010 ~ Big Guy officially retired.

January 2011 ~ Husband denied promised bonus; begins job search. We wonder where we are going to move too…

4-02-2011 ~ Z leaves to RH trainer for 120 days of training under saddle.

5-04-2011 ~ Big Guy moved to retirement home (9 acres with two other retired horses and run-in shelter).

6-08-2011 ~ Boarding at FR ends. This marks a big transition in my horse life. Z was at the trainers, Dee was gone, BG was moved to retirement and only the pony remained at FR.

I had planned on returning Z to FR but the BO was ticked that I had reduced my board (Big Guy retired elsewhere, Dee returned to owner) so much and told me she would reduce the size of my pasture. This was a pasture that wasn’t big enough in the first place to support one horse let alone two – and that we had improved the housing situation! It was an easy decision to say, “no thanks, we’ll move closer to home.”

6-8-2011 ~ Z returns home from trainer, stays at Molly’s for one week before starting her board at WCR.

8-2-2011 ~ Husband accepts new position in Springfield MO. Three weeks later his former company is sold and 70 percent of the staff let go! The plan is for me and the two teen kids to remain in OK for another 18 months.

9-2011 ~ Pandora (pony) moved to MO (10 acres and 2 other mini ponies). Thanks to Diane who loaned me her rig of truck and trailer!

10-18-2011 ~ Hire Rugby Guy to help continue Z’s riding education

As you can see it’s been exciting! I wish it hadn’t LOL! I’ll update as events continue to unfold.