Up We Go!

Moon Man is the second horse I trained all by myself. His fiery personality matches my own as does his sense of adventure. Being such, I decided to train him to rear up....just like Heigh-Ho Silver, the Lone Ranger's horse. And I did as you can see!

Heigh-Ho Moon Man and Away!

Introducing Moon Man!

El Diablo Blanco! Just kidding. Moon Man may seem crazy to some, but to me, he is perfect. He is just the way I like 'em...fiery!

Moon Man came into my life when he was 6 months old. He is now 12. He has one blue eye and one brown eye and a mane that just won't stay down! I think it makes him look wild and it seems to fit his personality.

Moon is NOT patient by any stretch of the imagination. He paws the ground and digs holes if you stop working with him, ask him to stand still when the trail is still stretching out in front of him, or when he thinks the other horses are leaving him tied in the barn.

However, despite these minor flaws, Moon has a BIG heart and the stamina to go with it. He will carry me down the trail all day long (and I'm talking 8 hours at a time here) and rarely shows that he is getting tired. Even my husband (who never really liked him) has been impressed with his ability on the trails. Moon has even gotten a ribbon in a horse show, even though he much more of a trail horse.

Moon has a gait to die for! He is smooth as silk as he skates across the ground. You don't get much smoother than this little guy. He is an American Gaited pony, standing only 14.2 hands tall (which is 58 inches tall at the top of the withers for those unfamiliar with this). He is my main trail man.

When he was much younger, I taught him how to back up and then how to rear up on command. It is fun! It seemed to play into his fiery personality and he WILL rear up if you upset him on the trail. That suits me just fine!

Moon used to wrestle with the other horses in the herd. He could actually take them completely to the ground! It was amazing and funny at the same time!

God knew exactly what He was doing when he brough Moon Man across my path. We are quite a pair!

The Winter Season is Upon Us

Well, those who know me best will know I do not like winter weather. I don't like the cold at all and hope to one day move to warmer climates.

That being said, I have been trying to help out more with the care of our horses during the cold winter months. My husband, Brian, does most of it during the winter and I am much more eager to tend to the horses during the warmer months of the year. As long as I put on my long John's, a wool sweater, my Carhartt coveralls, my Carhartt coat and a sock hat, I'm good to go!

With one large stall, for the absolutely HUGE Max Mule, and 4 average size stalls, Brian has been keeping 3 or 4 horses up while the others are left outside. We do rotate them around so they can all get out of the weather a little bit.

Snow Rabbit is our most talkative horse and she is due to deliver a foal in late March or early April (if we don't sell her before then). She decided she wanted to come in for the night last night, so Brian and I took her and Spur (her baby's daddy) into the barn for the night, gave them some grain, some hay and some water and bedded them down for the night.

Max, Zip and Tonka got to stay up last night, too. Tonka prefers to stay outside, I think, but he didn't get to go out until this morning.

Boomerang and Moon Man, who are both fat and sassy, get to stay out more often since they have bulked up well for the colder temperatures. They both love to roll in the mud and, of course, they are both white and almost white in color. Boogers.

It will be like this for the next several months, but I'm not looking forward to it. However, I do thank God for blessing us with such wonderful animals.