• Apr. 6, 2009
Meet Buddy

Here are the pictures of Buddy!!!

He is a 6 year-old Golden Retriever (We aren't sure if he is a pure-bred, but he looks like one). We have had him for a little over a week, and he is fitting in great. Surprisingly, History Boy doesn't appear to have any problems with him, which is odd because last night we went to a birthday party for my great aunt at my cousin's house, and their dog made him sniffle and snort.

It must just be a God thing...because Buddy was available for adoption for over a week before we got him. We were surprised, because we thought that such a nice Golden would go a lot quicker.

His training...well, he hadn't had much of it before he came to the vet's clinic. She (the vet) said that he had been running around someones backyard, being his own boss and such. She gave us a Gentle Leader to train him with, because he walks you instead of letting you walk him. He hates it with a vengeance...so we are trying a choker chain. It is working much better, as in, he is much more happy in it.

So far, with using the choker chain for only three days, he is still pulling half the time, but the other half of the time he is cooperative. He is sitting on command much better, and likes the treats he gets when he obeys :-).

We weren't sure how he would do around the boys, especially around Little Football Man....but he is wonderful with them!!! He loves them, and the attention they give, and allows them to hug him, and I think he revels in it :-).

He is currently occupying our old playhouse, which isn't large enough for more than two small kids at one time, but it is the perfect size for him!! It is on the edge of our patio, and the basketball goal is near too. He is so laid back about so many things, flying basketballs don't faze him at all; sometimes they make me want to duck ;-).

Isn't he cute?! Thankfully he is about done shedding and loves to be groomed...if I stop brushing him for even a few seconds and am still sitting there, he will come over and ask for more :-), lol.

I think he is rather photogenic :-). Photos, the Greek root word, was one I had in school today. One of the words my book gave as an example struck me as slightly comical:

Photophobia (fear of light)

Lol. You'd have to be a bat or one of those fish that live at the bottom of the ocean to avoid light.

We named him "Buddy" because Little Football Man likes the Air Bud movies...it looks like he might be thinking about copying the dog he was named after...lol.

His original name was "Scooter", but the vet didn't like that name, so she called him "Jake"...but it didn't matter what we called him, because he wasn't answering to anything. Until now. He now answers to "Buddy".

Oh, and that little bald spot on his head is because before we got him, he dug through a trash can and got into a pack of corn-dogs. Apparently, he is allergic to beef and corn, because he got an ear infection and some of the hair on his head started to fall out!!

Umm...he punctured it!! He got a hold of a little football and thought it was meant for sinking his teeth into!! Maybe he had a football to play with before we got him...who knows.

As a matter of fact...I don't even know why his former owner got rid of him...but he/she did teach him about roads!!

Several days ago I took him with me to take a letter down to the mailbox. He spent most of his time wriggling through the grass trying to get his Gentle Leader off, but when we got close to the road, he straightened up and listened. We crossed the road okay, came back, and as soon as we got a good distance from the road, he started acting up again! It was kind of funny...

Well, I have a hungry horse and dog to feed!!!

4Him,

~Hannah

(3Notes Already Written) (Write a Note!) (Permanent Link)

• Mar. 31, 2009
All About Horses, The Third And Final Part...

For now, anyway. lol.

We are keeping the Golden!!! We dropped off the adoption fee at the vet's this afternoon. I am going to take his picture ASAP and get on here, but for now, I need to finish what I've started, so here are the rest of the horse photos that I picked out to post;

This is Diamond, she belongs to my best friend.

Obviously, she is an Appaloosa, and I think she is really pretty :-).

She put up with me and my camera last summer when we were over for a visit.

And this handsome fellow is Sam, and he belongs to my best friend's sister.

I got to ride him while my friend rode Diamond. He is a former barrel racing Quarter Horse, really fast and a lot of fun to ride!!

These two mares, Faith and Ally, belong to our friends who also happen to live a few driveways down from us. I'm not 100% sure which horse is which, but I think Ally is the one with the blaze and Faith has the thinner stripe.

Pilot Guy and I ran over one day last summer so he could drop off a letter, and these pretty girls were just begging (okay, not begging...) to have their pictures taken.

Well, I'm off to feed the animals, turn on the dishwasher, and finish a super good series of books I started the other day!!

I am reading the Kingdom Series by Chuck Black, and they are great!!! I am so sad that there are only six books...I started the first one Sunday night, and I just started the final book about twenty minutes ago.

They are an allegory chronicling God's plan for His people everywhere from Adam and Eve to the final battle between the Lord Jesus Christ and His Army versus Satan and his demonic force (I haven't gotten to that part yet...but from the prologues in the books, and all the Prince's Knights being called over to the Kingdom Across the Sea, i.e. the Rapture, I know it's coming.) . They are fast moving, suspenseful, set in a fictional Medieval land, and don't have an ounce of magic in them, good or bad.

I am addicted. :-)

4Him,

~Hannah

(0Notes Already Written) (Write a Note!) (Permanent Link)

• Mar. 29, 2009
All About Horses, Part 2

I'm back for the second part of my series!! :-).

Last night we had SO much fun when our friends came over...we talked, ate a taco supper, talked, looked at pictures, talked, cleaned up the supper dishes, talked, rode Becky, talked...you get it-we talked a lot!!! But that's because they live an hour a way from us and we hadn't seen them for a while.

Also, we are highly considering adopting a Golden Retriver!!! Right now we have him on trial for the weekend to see if History Boy is allergic to him or not.

He (the dog) is 6 years old, totally cute, and very sweet...but needs some training. The vet said he was left to run around and do his own thing, so he is used to being his own boss. He is being trained to use a "gentle leader" thing that goes around his muzzle and it looks a little bit like a horse halter. He doesn't like it, and finally succeeded in getting it inbetween his teeth after I had taken him for a walk (he was very energetic after being in a cage for so long).

I unhooked it and grabbed his collar and tried to put his leader back on, he didn't think that was a good idea. He jerked and tried to run, and I wouldn't let go...so I slid along like a baseball player sliding into home plate for a few feet--on our sidewalk and gravel driveway!!! He gave up trying to run, it's no fun to run while pulling a dead weight like myself :-). I got scratched up pretty good...but, I couldn't really be too mad about it, because he wasn't trying to hurt me or anything, he just didn't want to wear his lead!!

During the next training session, he will also be wearing a regular leash hooked to his collar as well as his lead, lol. I learned my lesson.

Well...I'll have to take some pictures of him and devote a post to Buddy (he isn't offically named yet, but Little Football Man likes the Air Bud movies, and he looks like Air Bud...and it fits his personality...so, that is probably what his name will be) sometime soon!!

Back to horses....

Becky grazing...

She looks really black in this picture!! Black is her real color, but she always gets "sunburned" and her coat looks more brown, sometimes an orangish brown...

She is so fun to canter and gallop!! Her trot is super fast, and even though we don't know what mixture of breeds she is, I think she is probably Quarter/Morgan with a little bit of Standerdbred. I think she probably has to have even just a little Standeredbred to give her such a quick trot.

This picture is a couple of years old, but I like how perky and happy she looks :-).

4Him,

~Hannah

P.S.

There are more to come :-)

(0Notes Already Written) (Write a Note!) (Permanent Link)

• Mar. 28, 2009
All About Horses, Part 1

I am going to be doing a couple posts with some of my favorite horse pics, so all horse-lovers might want to check my blog regularly for the next couple days :-).

This picture I took at a Civil War festival/reenactment. I was upset about the cluttered look of stuff in the background....

so...I cropped and cloned!! Here is the finished product-

Well...some friends of ours are coming over in about twenty minutes, so I don't have time to post more :-).

4Him,

~Hannah

(0Notes Already Written) (Write a Note!) (Permanent Link)

• Mar. 5, 2009
Jumping Trials

My sweet horse sometimes has mood swings. Today was one of those days! It feels really nice outside today, although very windy, so this afternoon I went out and tacked up, in hopes of practicing my jumping skills.

She had other ideas...She doesn't really like jumping, even though the jumps are only between six and eight inches high. Riding around before I even tried to get her to go over a jump, she was grouchy! If I asked her to do something she didn't like, she tossed up her head and slammed on the brakes. Once or twice she tried to run toward the barn instead. *Sigh*.

Finally, after a pretty good warmup, I guided her toward the area where I have my two tiny jumps set up. First, I walked her over them, and then rode down the field at a trot and turned back toward the jumps the second time. "No way! I am NOT doing that," was what she was trying to say as she started prancing, trying to turn and run, or, at least, sidestep the jump.

Well...I won...sort of. I did get her to jump the first one and trot over the second one with a tiny hop. Progress? I don't know.

I only rode about five or ten more minutes after that, Becky kept acting up and I didn't want to push her. I'd rather stop on a fairly good note than about get thrown or have to deal with an almost-run-away. I've decieded to take down those two offending jumps for a few weeks...maybe (but I highly doubt it) when I set one of them up again she will be more optimistic about the whole thing! I hope so...jumping could be so fun if she would cooperate!!!! Until then, anyway, we will just do a lot of cantering and galloping since one of our favorite spots to just go all out will be available again .

4Him,

~Hannah

(2Notes Already Written) (Write a Note!) (Permanent Link)