Jumping!

Some of the other borders were setting up a jump coarse in the arena as I was riding on Saturday and were having questions about the proper striding so I volunteered to be the guinea pig and take Banico over them. There were a couple weird jumps but that was mostly Banico figuring out what was going on but the second time over them he was great. There was one run out but they had added another jump to a line and I think Banico just went "o shit there is another jump there ahhhh." He got it great on the second time. That arena is much smaller than what he is use to jumping in so some of the turns were tight for him but he got most of them. The best part was I actuly got a couple of people to take pics of us and actuly got some good ones. And some chopped off body part pictures but o well thats what I get for giving my camera to someone else.

 again with the sideways pictures. No clue how to fix it but isn't he cute. He says why are we just standing here.

 My western pleasure horse. Or just lazy.

Pictures

Here are some pictures because I haven't posted any for awhile. These were taken two weeks ago when Banico managed to find a burr bush and sit in it or something his tail was FULL of them. This was after I had pulled a bunch out the day before. Now he has a tail bag in.

(I dont know why the pics are sideways but cant figure out how to fix them. The are correct in my files but uploaded sideways. o well you get the picure.)

 Such a cute face ;)

 Nasty burr filled tail.

Nice clean washed tail. Notice where he lost a big chunk near the top last year some time. Love his tail otherwise it is so thick and beautiful.

Funny nursing school story and more improvement

This is kind of off topic for this blog about Banico but to funny not to post. I am in nursing school and am in the semester where we learn most of the skills like shots, NG tubes and catheters. I had my catheter competency today where we perform the skill in front of the teacher and get signed off on it. We use models to practice all of our skill on and do our competences on. The models for the catheter are hip models that are from the belly button to the knee and have a number of interchangeable body parts including male and female parts. I had gotten a scenario with a male so was holding it and inserting the catheter when the part pops out of its place. The instructor said I had a stunned look on my face then started laughing so she started laughing. I put it kind of back where it belonged and just continued with the competency and passed. The instructor kept laughing about it for awhile and we went back to the regular class room and told the rest of the class what happed. A few of the students said they would of broke down or just stopped the comp there but I could just laugh about it. Makes for a good story anyways.
     Just so this isn't totally non horsey Banico was great yesterday. Did some ground driving and then hopped on bareback. Ground driving is getting better slowly and I now have proof his brain is completely here. When I got on bareback (which is the second time I have done that sense he has got here) the barn owner drove by with a drag attached to the back of her truck to go drag the indoor arena. It was making a awful noise on the gravel but Banico didn't even move. Just look at it a bit but didn't do any thing. Same thing when she was nailing new dressage letters into the indoor and making a racket while I was ground driving him. He didn't even seem to notice. Love this horse. This is how he was at home normally so it is very nice to have it all the way back.

Home

     Went home last weekend. Was able to get friday and monday off from classes but it was still a short visit. it was a good weekend and saw most of my family and many friends. The circumstance for going home wasn't good but the weekend turned out very nice and I am very glad I went home. I stopped by the old ranch to pick up some things from my trailer and see everything but no one was down there. Had a great time on Sunday and saw lots of great people. Monday I had a horrible flight home. Missed my first flight at 6:30 AM so they rescheduled me for a 12:30 flight which then had equipment failure so was scheduled for 6:30 PM so was delayed a full 12 hours. I got back to KY at 8:30 Tuesday morning and had class at 12 and 3. I didn't get any sleep except dozing on the plane so was exhausted and went to sleep at 5 PM after my classes. Poor Banico got a bit neglected because I wasn't able to get out there until Thursday because of late clinical on Wednesday. But he is out in pasture full time now so it wasn't so bad.
     When I did get out there on Thursday he had just got feed so he did not want to leave it so we had a bit of a discussion about that. But he eventually came. He had a bit bump on his butt and the BO thinks he might of been kicked because they are still figuring out pecking orders. He seemed fine otherwise and I had a very good ride. He has become so much better after being out on pasture. I also started blanketing him because he still has no winter coat and it has been getting down in the 30s during the night and he is kind of thin. Friday I went out to dinner with the BO and some other borders and had a great time. When we came back for some reason Banico was pacing the fence line which WHO know what that is about. Apparently he started it the night before. Dont think he has ever done that before but who knows. When I went out to catch him he screemed at me and cantered up to the creek but didn't want to cross it. took him a few minutes and some bribery to get him across but I didn't feel like going across to get him. Some how he got him self over there. Sissy. Had another nice ride with some of the other borders. Today I went out and worked on his front feet some and then hopped on him bareback for a short ride. He finally has his brain fully back. This week has been long and I am glad it is finally the weekend but have another busy week coming up.

Improvement and unproductive day.

Banico has been much better. He has been much calmer under saddle now that he is outside more. Except yesterday when he got moved and got a bit attached to one of the other horses and got very distracted. I lunged him and did lots of transitions and he was fine by the end of the ride. He got move into a pasture with a creek running through it and he loves playing in water. His legs and belly were covered with mud yesterday when I got him out. He had obviously been playing and splashing in the water.  He also found a burr bush last night and had a bunch in his tail today. I am very temped to start putting it up in a tail bag again. I spent some time today picking them out and got a handful of them but there are a bunch more but the BO asked me if I wanted to go to the stockyards with her so I did that instead. That was interesting. I had never been to an auction. The barn owner goes and buys horses to resell. Today she bought a cute pony thats coloring reminds me so much of Banicos. She is a darker bay but with long white socks and a little star and black and white tail and some of the markings were even close. The BO was joking that she should name it Banica when someone asked what she was going to name her. Other than going to the stockyards and grooming Banico I have done almost noting today but after the crazy week I had I think I needed a day to relax. I have to get some pics of the new pony and some more of Banico tomorrow. 

Crazy week

This has been one of the craziest weeks and I have just not had the time to write a post. I went to WEG last weekend for Freestyle Dressage, Cross Country, and Show Jumping. It was all amazing and I got a ton of pictures. I will do some individual post with pictures later. I also had a bunch of homework and a test on Thursday I had to study for so I just didn't have much time to my self. I also didn't get out to see Banico as much as I had been but he is doing well. I finally jumped him a bit the last two days and he was great. We just did small stuff but I am very happy with him. Also he is finally out in pasture more so hopefully that will help with his mood. There has also been some stuff going on at home that has been stressful but that is slightly better now or at least calmed down. I don't have any thing major going on this coming week in school so hopefully this week will be better. I went to the Jumping tonight and that was amazing. I also have tickets for both driving events this weekend so that will be fun.

Improvement

Banico was much better today. I didnt get down there yesterday because of late clinical but got down there today after classes. I lunged him first in the covered arena. He was good and we did a lot of transitions to make sure he was listening.

I then let him off the lunge line to roll which he enjoyed. He at first just looked at me and didn't realize he was free so I chased him off. He then went and stood in the corner for a few minutes looking slightly offended and then realized he was free to roll.

I then took him back to the barn and tacked him up. He was much better today. He is still very distracted and looking at everything but there was no spooking. We did do some very nice almost flying lead changes at the end and. He is slowly getting better and I know it will come eventually.

And because Dad requested it here are some picts of Banico eating his dinner: