Introducing Zip!

Zip is a registered Tennessee Walking horse. His registered name is I'm Triple Trouble, but we call him Zip. He is a beautiful and talented blue roan who seems to like mixing things up a bit by turning strawberry roan in patches.

We bought Zip when he was turning 2 years old because he matched another almost 2 year old horse we had. We put him in the barn with the matching horse. My step-daughter came out and I told her we were going to call him Zip. She asked why we were going to change Spur's name to Zip. When she realized she didn't know this horse, she couldn't believe how closely matched he was to Spur.

Zip was trained completely by my husband, Brian. Zip learned very quickly and seemed eager to please. He is Brian's main trail horse and he has been showing him a little, too.

Zip loves to lay his ears back ( a sign of aggression) when we go to feed him or mess with him, but he's all bark and no bite. He will trail ride alone, or with a group and his gait has been getting steadily better and faster.

God never ceases to amaze me in how He chooses which horses will come into our herd. I hope and pray that He will allow us to keep and provide for the horses we have now, but, since they are on loan from Him, we can only enjoy them for as long as He allows.

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.