Horse visit

I drove up to the ranch where I board my horses Saturday, since I didn't get up there over Easter weekend.  Just too many family things to do and it was our granddaughter's 2nd birthday weekend.  So, they hadn't been out for some R&R for 2 weeks.  I could tell.  Scout was...well...she was TYPICAL Scout!  She led down to the arena just fine, but, once there, she wanted to RUN!  I could barely contain her!  I took Gigondas, my big red thoroughbred mare, over to a large corral next to the 30 year old gelding who is her neighbor.  There is plenty of room there for her to run and he doesn't have to call to her and get all upset.  Next, I took Lucille, my 1/2 draft, 1/2 Tennessee Walker mare, over to the tie rack to brush her.  And brush her...and brush her!  Boy, does she have a LOT of hair!  She's got the most hair of all my horses.  Next weekend I'm going to have to ask the owner to show me how to trim her "beard" and leg hair.  They all got their feet trimmed while we were on vacation and I don't even worry about their behavior now.  They've been trimmed so many times by the same farrier that they just stand and think, "Ho hum" while he trims them.  He also sings to them, so they are pretty relaxed!

Here are some photos I took Saturday of the horses.  I know some readers enjoy hearing about them...

 Lucille's hair after I brushed her.

 LOOK at all of this!  My goodness!

 Scout running in the arena.  She's my mustang from Wyoming.

 All 4 feet off the ground!  I'm not confident enough to EVER ride Scout!  She needs a more experienced rider!

 Quad, my off-the-track thoroughbred gelding, a descendant of Man O'War, Secretariat, and Affirmed.  Out of 7 races, he never won, so he was shipped off the track.  Fortunately he went to a rescue instead of slaughter and I got him from the rescue.  I don't ride him either.

Sunni, my first horse.  Sunni is a PMU (pregnant mare urine) gelding.  His mother was tied in a stall and her urine was collected for PREMARIN.  He is the unwanted by-product.  Again, fortunately, he was saved by a rescue instead of going to slaughter.  He's half draft, half quarter horse.  I could ride Sunni, if I wanted, but, at my age, why bother?

This is Lucille back in May, 2014.  She's got a beautiful color, when you can see it and she isn't all woolly!  She's the only one of my horses that I ride.  She's VERY calm and patient.

 Another photo of Lucille last summer.

This is Gigondas, my big red thoroughbred mare.  She WAS on a slaughter-bound feedlot when I saw her photo back in 2006.  I adopted her through an online site and she was shipped to California from Washington state.  She had real trust issues with people, but now she's very trusting.  I don't ride her.  She's just too unpredictable.  She wouldn't intentionally hurt me, but I don't wish to put her through the trauma of riding her.  She gets to live out her years peacefully.