Miniature Horse Doing Dressage

Here's the link to the video. Scroll to the end of the page and click the video link.

Friesian & Buggy at The Fair

Copyright 2008 "DJ" of Blog & Pony Show

Another Horse Laugh

The Flying Frenchman & His Horses

http://canecorso.com:80/lorenzo.htm

Horse Rides in Car

Horse Laugh

It's August!

Hubby's test was good!

My hubby's medical procedure went well today. He needs to eat more fiber and drink more water to help prevent future Diverticulitis attacks of the colon. Other than that, everything looked fine. Hopefully, surgery can be avoided with the new diet.

Longest Horse Tail

Click this link
http://curiousphotos.blogspot.com/2008/03/longest-tail-on-horse-at-12-feet-6.html

Breyer Model Horses Sighting...

at the new Centerville Western Store in Centralia, WA next to the outlet mall. We stopped by there Tuesday on the way home from the Oregon coast. Several old and new Breyer models, along with various brands of toy horses, and other western-themed items were on the shelves decorating the top of the walls in this huge place. The best part of going here was being successful in finding a western shirt that I liked. They're hard to come by in the Seattle area where I live.

Hubby is home!

I picked him up at the hospital today, but probably won't be back to posting on here regularly until some time next week. He's being treated at home for Diverticulitis, a colon infection. Hopefully, he won't need surgery.

NOTICE: Hubby in the hospital

I'll be taking a break for a few days because my husband was admitted to the hospital last night for tests due to lower abdominal pain.

Your prayers are appreciated! Thanks!

"Celebrate the Horse" Report

After discovering we had a flat tire on our van Friday night, and no one was open to fix it, hubby needed to take the van to Les Schwab at 8:00am this morning before we could leave for the horse fair. He had to wait about 15 minutes for them to get to him, but they fixed it for free!

He came home to get me and we were on our way to the "Celebrate the Horse" fair in Puyallup. We got there about 10:15. We had a schedule of the events which were located in 3 places of the horse stable area; the main indoor arena/stadium, the red barn, and the covered outdoor warm-up arena. There were also food stands and vendors selling horse-related items, artwork, crafts, photos, jewelry, clothing, and advertising their horses, ranches, training, health care, etc. There was also the horse rescue organization "People Helping Horses" with information. This was their fundraiser.

The first event we saw was the Warhorse Challenge. They demonstrated using spears and archery on targets (stationary & moving) from galloping horses. We also saw a group of girls doing circus stunt vaulting on a black Percheron draft horse's back, as it trotted in circles. Other demonstrations we saw were carriage driving, horse training using psychology, natural horsemanship (no bridles), and horse first aid.

The breed demonstrations we saw consisted of trained Kiger Mustangs (from southeast Oregon), a trained Nakota Mustang (a descendant of one of Sitting Bull's horses), Peruvian Paso horses, Marchador horses of Brazil (demonstrating archery), Friesian horses & a colt of Holland, Akhal-Teke horses (rare, ancient breed of the Turks), Gypsy horses of Ireland, Norwegian Fjord horses, Icelandic horses, Andalusian horses, American Miniature horses, Warlander horses (a new breed from crossing the Andalusian and Friesian), Arabian horses, Appaloosa horses, and Welsh Ponies. Many of these horses did tricks and showed what skills they can be used for. We met this Warlander mare and talked with her owner who rides in full armor for the Seattle Knights.

We both learned new things at the fair. We walked through 3 barns and saw many of the event's "stars" and talked to some owners and grooms. I also met and petted 2 of the rehab rescue horses. They were loving the attention everyone was giving them!

Gypsy Horse

Look at that long, thick mane!

Feathered feet of the Gypsy horse

Riding Demo

Friesian and Warlander

American Miniature Horses
Very small Miniature Horse

Akhal-Teke horses and ethnic attire

Only 3,500 exist in the world! These 3 live in Washington.

(All photos Copyright 2008 "DJ" of Blog & Pony Show)

Happy Independence Day!

"Celebrate the Horse", July 5 & 6

Tomorrow is my birthday and my hubby asked what I wanted to do to celebrate. I couldn't think of anything exciting or different, so decided to look online to see what our two closest fairgrounds had to offer in the way of horse-related events. "Celebrate the Horse" will be held this weekend at the Western WA Fairgrounds in Puyallup. I told hubby that's what I wanted to do, so we're going on Saturday the 5th! I bought the tickets online today. (You print your own out.) I've never been to anything like this, so it should be an interesting, fun time!

LOTR Horse "Shadowfax" on the Beach (with music)

Natural Horsemanship Tricks (with music)

Horse Plays With Umbrella (with sound)

Exciting Hobby News!

The 2009 North American Model Horse National Championships will be held in Portland, OR in June. I will finally be able to compete in person at this! I've been waiting since 1999, when I started showing model horses, to compete at a Nationals that would be held within a day's driving distance. Back in 2002, a friend proxy showed a custom model of mine at Nationals in Pamona, CA. That model won a large Top Ten rosette ribbon. So far, I have 9 models qualified for the 2009 Nationals, but I'd like to get a few more qualified. I'll need to try to show some before next May, to meet the deadline. I haven't shown at all this year, so far.

Another Triple Crown Loss

The Triple Crown Championship will have to wait at least one more year. Big Brown lost to Da' Tara in a huge disappointment to his fans, owners, trainer, jockey, etc. He doesn't seem to be hurt, but had to be pulled up in the last turn, because his jockey had no horse left.

I love this quote in the paper by jockey Kent Desormeaux, "I had no horse...there's no popped tires, he was just out of gas!" The jockey was concerned for him, so he did the safe thing in pulling him back to a canter across the finish line. Big Brown came in last out of 9 horses.

There are many unanswered questions, but I think mostly people are stunned and disappointed. Some are turning angry, thinking they were duped out of "a sure thing" and lost a lot of money on betting. I don't bet or even attend horse races, but one thing for sure is that there are NO sure things in racing! There are way too many variables that can affect the outcome.

My thoughts are that the heat, humidity and lack of some recent workouts, might have played a large part in Big Brown's loss. From what I've read, I doubt the lack of a steroid shot in mid-May had much to do with it. He also might have been too rank and bumped around too much at the start trying to get into a good spot. I don't think Big Brown likes that sort of thing, and he looked to be in a "mood" yesterday.

Unless there is something physically wrong with Big Brown, I feel he will come back to win more races before he's retired to stud. Personally, I'd like to see Big Brown go up against Da' Tara again (he beat Da' Tara by 23-1/2 lengths in March's Florida Derby) and also have the Japanese horse Casino Drive, in that race. Then we might get a better idea of who's the "best" 3-year-old, this year. But then again, there are just so many variables.