Chrome wears the bit and does something naughty (video!)

 "Let me go.. can't reach itch..."

Don't worry, I turned him loose so he could scratch.  :)  Okay so today was the first day I've see blue skies (mostly) and sunshine in so many days I thought I was going to lose my mind.  Problem is... my back is hurting again!  Ugh!!!!  Here's the whole story.  A month ago I hurt my lower back on the left side.  It got better in a couple of days.  Last weekend I hurt my lower back again... right side this time.  In a few days it was feeling better, but my left side started hurting again from compensating. NOW my right side is hurting again.... it's been a whole week and it sucks!  I need a chiropractor, but with a freaking $3,000 deductible I can't afford it.

Anyway, since the sun was out I wanted to do something with Chrome, but I didn't really feel up to riding.  So I decided to put the bridle on him and let him get used to the bit, since he's only worn it that one day.  So I let him graze in the yard while I brushed him (the above picture is before I brushed him), but the flies were driving us crazy!  One even bit me on the leg.  No wonder they freak out... it HURTS!

So I sprayed him and got the bridle.  I had my husband take a video.


Yeah I hid behind the tree because I hadn't combed my hair since waking up and I was in skimpy clothes because it was hot lol.  I think I bumped the top of his mouth because he didn't jerk his head back like that last time.  With practice he will get better with it.  All the rest of the moving around was because of flies.  I also gave him a piece of apple because one of my awesome blog readers reminded me to give the poor guy a treat for taking the bit.  Thank you!!

 Isn't he handsome???

I let him wonder around the pasture (while I supervised and took pictures) and he really didn't chew it as much as I thought he would.  He pooped in his favorite spot and then took off walking across the pasture.

I had his reins wrapped so he couldn't hang a leg in them.

Isn't his mohawk so cute??

He went straight for the pond and I started to stop him because I didn't want the reins to get wet, but then I thought it would be a good idea for him to learn to drink with a bit in his mouth.  He tried to figure out how to drink (don't worry there's video below) and made all sorts of cute faces, but the flies were driving him crazy!!  They would not leave him alone.

Then the pawing started.

He pawed and pawed and pawed.  

It took me a minute to realize that he was splashing himself to scare off the flies.  I'm a little slow lol.  I bet you can't guess what happened next....


LOL!  He caught me totally off guard.  I was not expecting him to lay down.  I was upset about the bridle at first, but then realized it didn't matter.  It's just leather and it will clean.  He had fun and I got lots of cool pictures.  :D  Also all of those flies are after I fly sprayed him!  So annoying!  At least his method of fly control seemed to work better than mine hehe.

The rest of the pictures are below.  Enjoy!

Watching Zep rolling in the dirt.  

Donkey doesn't know what he's missing.

I don't know why I bother to brush him haha!

He's trying to look so innocent!

He's so handsome!  Love him!  Below are a few snapshots from the video for those who can't watch it.

"Get it out!  I can't drink!"

Trying to figure out how to drink.

He had so much fun!  Now I have to clean my bridle lol.  It's about time considering I've..... never cleaned it since I got it.  :)

Rain and Mud.... Ick! (warning: snake pictures at the bottom of the post)

Funny how I was just saying he looks leggy and then I take this picture above where he looks short and THICK!  Funny how perspective works hehe.

We've been getting a LOT of rain.  It didn't really bother me when my back was hurting because I couldn't do anything anyway, but now that I'm feeling better I'm really annoyed.  I don't know if I've mentioned it, but I'm really not a fan of rain.  Obviously I'm happy when we get it because it makes the grass grow and living things need water.... but a week straight.... really?  Grr!

So since I'm evidently a fair weather rider and have no desire to go slop through the mud I'll just share pictures (I took during a break in the weather) of it instead LOL!!!

Driveway

 In front of the small gate to the pasture.

 Poor Chrome is so itchy.

Can't wait to get some claritan for him.

In front of the big gate.  Not too bad.

I can still walk through it without mud boots thank goodness! 

 In front of the barn is a SWAMP!

There's even water inside the barn.  :(

Before the rain started this was bone dry....  we had hay on the right side (a mixed grass bale that someone gave us that they only ate half of, they weren't crazy about it) when it was drier, but when I saw the forecast I asked my hubby to put the new bale on the left side.... which until now has stayed completely dry.  Oh well it's still drier than anywhere else.  Zep appreciates it because he hates rain.  He would rather starve than stand out in it to eat.  Once I get a part time job and pay off our OUTRAGEOUS property taxes in two counties (wish our renters would buy the old place and get it off our hands) I'm going to buy some gravel for the barns.  :)   There are drainage problems that need taken care of too.

Zep says thanks!

 Walking toward the pond.  Another swamp!

 The pond is FULL!!!  It was a foot lower than this a week ago.

 Yep, definitely up a good foot.

 Chrome follows me around like a puppy.

 Tadpoles!!!!!!! I saw a bullfrog the other day too.

 Chrome thought I wanted him to get a drink I guess hehe.

If I stand by the pond, he drinks.  Love it!

 I started stalking wildlife.

A lizard! He's hiding behind a stick lol.

 Little bitty teeny tiny baby turtle!  Cute!

Chrome got bored and decided to graze.

Jackal was pissed I left him behind and stared daggers at me the whole time.

WARNING!!!! SNAKES BELOW!!!




For those of you who don't like snakes please stop reading here!  When I first walked up to the pond I startled a snake, but I didn't think much of it because there are always black water snakes out there.  Imagine my surprise when I saw this guy!!

At first I thought it was a cottonmouth, but after doing some research I figured out it's just another non-poisonous water snake.  I'm just not used to the colorful ones.  The thing that makes it hard to identify them is because both cottonmouths and water snakes can be colored like this or solid black, olive green or brown.  I'll share with you some of the ways to tell them apart.

 This guy was around two feet long.  He just looks bigger in pictures.

This picture shows his cool coloring.

Water snakes swim with their heads above water, but their bodies are submerged.  Cottonmouths puff up their lungs when swimming so their whole body floats on the water.  Water snakes rarely come up on land (but will sun on sticks above the water) where cottonmouths are just as happy on land as in water.  Cottonmouths when threatened (if you throw a rock at it, don't get close) will open their mouths and show the white inside.  Water snakes dive under water to hide.  Cottonmouths can be territorial and threatening, but aren't always.  Water snakes are usually fairly shy.  This one was swimming circles around the pond, hunting I guess, but he would dive under water if I waved my arms or startled him.  He wasn't as shy as the black ones that I'm used to though, which is why I took the pictures and went to research it.  Now on to physical characteristics....

Here is a close up of his head.  The water snake has a rounded head with his eyes visible from above.  The cottonmouth has a flat head with hooded, vertical eyes that you can't see from above.  Water snakes have round pupils and cottonmouth have oval pupils (they can make them into slits in bright light I'm pretty sure).  Water snakes have a rounded nose, cottonmouths are blunt.  Cottonmouths also have a pit between their eyes and nose, but I'm not getting close enough to see that LOL!!  I think the eyes are the easiest way to identify it in pictures.  However if you can't take pictures, they move so fast it's hard to tell when they are swimming around, so just be careful!!  I thought this was a poisonous snake until I got this close up and could see his eyes more on top of his head than a cottonmouth is.  :)  He's not poisonous and won't hurt anything so I'll leave him alone.

Anyway sorry if I scared anyone with the snake.  I hope you enjoyed the pictures!

Leggy Boy

I keep looking at this picture of Chrome (I made it my desktop background) from last weekend and thinking.... man he's still really leggy!!!  Is that because he's five?  Or does he just not have a deep heart girth?  Will it get deeper as he fills out and matures some more?  Or maybe it's an optical illusion from hubby zooming in (we weren't close)....  anyway it's not a big deal.  Just one of those weird things I think about when I'm bored (being injured sucks!) and thought I would get your opinions for fun.  :D

I also noticed he looks thin in this picture (athletic thin, not too thin), but in real life he looks kind of fat LOL!!  I think he's one of those special horses that loses weight in pictures instead of gaining it.  Just another bored observation I made.