Winter

      I went to a friends house in eastern Tennessee for Thanksgivings and had a great time. Had lots of good food and just relaxed and didn't think of school at all. It was a very nice weekend and I had a great time seeing everything. I have never been in that area so it was interesting and beautiful. We also went to visit her horse who lives at her grandparents. He hadn't been ridden in a wile so we just visited and I had fun looking at some of the old tack they had. There were a bunch of  old draft collars and some old harnesses that were neat to look at. 

      This week has turned into winter. I woke up to it snowing but it didn't stick very long but it was close to freezing all day. It has also been raining so it was a muddy mess. Banico had been inside most of the last few days but when he is out he finds a nice mud hole to role in. He also turned a bit pink from the new red shoulder guard. 

I'm so glad he has a blanket on otherwise it would be to much work to scrape off all the mud to ride. He is still a muddy mess anywhere the blanket doesn't cover. 

Pink horse!

And just because he is so cute. 

He was a bit crazy today when I rode him probably because of the cold weather and being in a stall because of the rain. He was very forward and didn't want to listen to my leg. He just wanted to go. He was very sweaty after the ride despite it being freezing but I did finally get him listening to me better. I put a blanket on him and worked on his feet a bit.   

Some Pictures

Tried the bridleless riding again today a bit and Banico was great again. There are defently some stuff to work on but he seems to enjoys it and doesn't take to much advantage of it. Actuly got some pictures today but since no one was available to take them I took them from his back. So interesting perspective but still good. Found out the sideways pics are because I have a canon camera and some how something doesnt quite work with blogger. Havent really found easy solution so here are sideways pics. 

 He really likes stretching down and started it almost right after I took the reins off.

 There was another rider in the arena outside whos horse was apparently running into barrels. Heard a few crashes.

 Him giving me the "what the heck are you doing Mom" look.

I do really love him even tho he gives me crap sometimes.

I love my horse.

      I have been having a really crazy, stressful and emotional week so haven't made it down to the barn as often as I should so haven't had much to update on much less the time to update but some how am up to 4 followers so some people read this. Today I went down after my test and because of winter it was dark. I am so glad this barn has a lighted indoor arena so if I can make it out there I can ride. The pastures were a soupy mess from the recent rain but Banico was blanketed so he wasn't to dirty. Its about time to break out the muck boots. I talked to the barn owner a bit about Banico's weight and some other stuff. Banico had lost a bunch of weigh on the trip from CA and just the change in food and climate. He does seem like he has gained some of it back but still not where we would like him going into winter but we are keeping an eye on it. I then went and got him tacked up and went into the indoor to ride. He did try to go for the hay that had blown in one of the doors but a few kicks got him going. He is SO food obsessed. Poor starving horse. He was very good for the warm up and I took the jump down on the one side to poles so we could use the entire arena. It is a bit small for him but it is ridable and I am just glad to have somewhere to ride in the winter. Part way through the ride I decided to unclip my reins and put them around his neck. He was amazing. He did just about everything I asked but bridleless. Well he had a bridle on but no reins. I have played around with it a few times but never completely. But really I don't have to have to use my reins much anyways during his normal rides so it wasn't much of a step up. The only real problem was coming to a complete  halt but I think he just wanted to keep going. Downward transitions were great and he even did some lead changes for me. I love this horse. He has his moments but we have such a connection now.  My barn owner has told me a few times that she would love to ride him some time but is scared to because of some of the stuff he did when he first got here and he is a challenging horse to ride at times but "It is the difficult horses that have the most to give you". He was a VERY difficult baby especialy through his 4 year old year. He has dumped me more than just about every other horse combined but I can do just about anything with him now. I think this also applys to life in general where getting through the difficult times make you grow so much more as a person than if you just have it easy all the time. 

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.