Chrome turned five years old today!!!! We had the best day ever! I spent all day with him to make up for last year. I started by letting him graze in the yard, then I washed his dingy, yellow tail and let him graze again while it dried.
His tail looks so thin when it's wet!
Wet tail, still stained...
Thinking about a tail bag.
And some whitening shampoo!
Then I braided his forelock...
I couldn't find my braiding bands so I used red yarn... blech!
It looks weird at the top because instead of trimming his bridlepath I just add that part of his mane to his forelock to make it look thicker hehe. It doesn't cause any problems for our purpose.... what is that you ask?
His birthday present! An ear bonnet!
It's one of the crocheted ones. It's black.
I ordered blue, but they sent black...
Oh well, it will look awesome when his face is all white!
Isn't it cute??
He had no trouble adjusting to it at all!
In fact he acted like he never even noticed it. :)
And then I French braided his newly washed tail!!!!
This is the first time I've French braided anyone's hair (horse or human).
I LOVE it! It's a little loose, but that will get better with practice. It took me a few tries to figure it out (I wasn't getting the third piece and that was messing me up) and then I realized wetting it down might help and this is what I ended up with. I want to practice a lot on braiding his tail since he has no mane. I need some way to dress him up hehe!! He wore it for several hours and it stayed put so I was thrilled!
Next we tacked up for our second solo ride!!
He falls asleep while I tack up and doesn't have
to be held or tied up! :D I love it!
He doesn't look too small for me anymore yay!
I like where my leg lands on him. :D
Isn't that tail gorgeous?
I love how Jackal is in this picture too.
I wish he could go trail riding with me, but
the neighbor dogs are dangerous.
He is so gorgeous!!!!!
We look so spiffy even if my purple shirt
clashes with my awesome helmet cover.
Awkward walk stride, but I only got a few of us walking up the driveway.
I love his new ear bonnet! He's so stylish!
The reason my shirt looks weird is because I
blurred out the words on it, sorry!
When we first walked out on the road he was on high alert!
Then hubby handed me the camera and off we went.
I only got the one picture because.... I got video!!!! We went the same two miles as last time (figured we would stick to what he knows for our first time totally alone). Hubby stood at the driveway watching us until we turned the corner out of sight, but we were solo I promise hehe. The ride was approx. forty minutes long (I think I guessed wrong on how long the last solo ride was). He did awesome (as you'll see in the video)! He only spooked once (not on video) at something rustling in the leaves shortly after we left. I was so proud of him (and surprised really) that he didn't spook again after that. He sometimes stopped and looked, but it was mainly when he saw other horses or cows. On the way home he tried trotting without me asking, but he came immediately back down to a walk when I asked. A neighbor horse neighed at him and he neighed back, but he listened when I asked him to keep going. I think that about covers it.
I was feeling 99% more confident than last time because I spent Thursday and Friday riding for hours on my friend's broke horse on some GORGEOUS trails at horse camp (we didn't stay overnight, we drove back the next day). We rode alongside cliffs, through creeks, across flooded low water bridges, galloped full speed down sandy trails, it was AMAZING!!!! I really needed to ride another horse to boost my confidence. :D
Anyway here is the video. It's a little long, but trust me it's worth it! Oh and I sound like a dork hehe!
I love the sound of his hooves on the pavement. It's very soothing. He did great! I'm SO proud of him!!!! Sorry the trotting part was so bouncy. It's very difficult to hold a camera steady when he's trotting. :)
Poor guy had to sweat on his birthday.
He's not asleep, he blinked.
His tail was so curly when I took the braid out!!
His forelock too!
Then he had supper!
I soak his feed so he has lipstick hehe.
Followed by a nice long drink.
I LOVE his reflection!
We had an awesome day! Chrome is the best horse ever! :D
Also forgot to mention as we were approaching the turn around point he was veering off toward the field that we walked in last time and was totally ignoring my left rein so I stopped him and flexed him both ways several times. That helped a little, but he was still bracing so we did serpentines back and forth across the road. That's why in the video I was saying he was walking straighter after we turned around because he wasn't trying to veer.
ReplyDeleteAlso since we trotted back to our driveway I asked him to keep trotting past it to make sure he didn't think he could go home whenever he wanted. I think that's all we worked on. Sorry I forgot to put this in the post!
Happy birthday Chrome!! What a fantastic solo ride!
ReplyDeleteI just cannot believe how all of a sudden he looks like an adult, funny! He got so much thicker through his whole body. Either way, he is looking great and Happy Birthday!!
ReplyDeletehappy Birthday Chrome. You are a handsome beast (yellow tail or not!)
ReplyDeleteHappy birthday Chrome! Glad you had a good ride!
ReplyDeleteFor the tail bag, I can't guarantee Zep won't chew it but if he doesn't chew Chrome's tail out of a bag, he likely won't if it is in a bag. Short of spraying it with Chew Stop, there isn't much you can do if Zep does.
I haven't had or known of an issue where the tail is torn off from being caught. Ever. What typically happens is the tail bag rips (and they do!), this is why I recommend not using lycra b/c lycra rips VERY easy and my boys destroy lycra tail bags in months or less. You may want to try the lycra route first if you wanted to see how it works. Good luck!
Okay that sounds good. Thank you Appy. You've been a huge help!
ReplyDeleteHe is so cute & his tale is fabulously white!!
ReplyDelete