From the horse's mouth

Huhhi! It's Max myself here. The short woman is completely ignoring me at the moment, and I haven't even seen her for nearly a week. Really, it's not good enough.

I have been getting used to seeing her all the time, and have done a pretty good job of training her not to come empty-handed. She is a bit thick really, but if I make it really obvious she will sometimes figure out what I am trying to tell her. It took a bit of standing on her feet, but I have got her to bring me carrots, apples and sweetcorn, all of which are pretty tasty. Luckily for me those other horses in the paddock are snobby "Warnblud" types and they don't like the corn and so I get to eat ALL of it! Yummy.

I don't know what them other horses are going on about when they tell me they are well-bred. I dunno what "Warnblud" means, except everyone should be warned about that big black one. Man, he is mean! Here I am, just minding my own business, and WHAM! he gallops at me with his ears back. All I did was look at the Grey Mare and wonder if she would be my friend today.

And then I just walked over to see if anyone would like to share a hay pile with me. It gets a bit lonely somedays, standing there eating on your own. I just think it would be great if we could share a bit of hay and have a bit of a talk about stuff, but nobody here will join in. No, says the Grey Mare, you're an annoying little common-bred short-arse horse. NO! says Busta the Black One. She is my friend and so you are not my friend. Chomp. No, says Rusty the Red One. My tummy hurts, and I feel icky, and I want my Mum to make it better and just go away!
So I'm reduced to trying to get some sense out of that dumb pet lamb. And people say I'm not the brightest - you should meet this bimbo!

I hope the woman comes to visit me soon. I would even be good for her up the road and try not to see the scarey monsters behind the trees. I kind of miss her.
And 'specially the carrots.

Shiney, happy people/horse

Look at the gloss on that coat! Nothing to do with good, old-fashioned grooming I have to admit. Just a healthy horse living in a good paddock.

Max is having a fairly easy life at the moment as I am hugely busy (like 10 or 11 hour days) at work. He is getting a bit of training from my coach and will start some lungeing soon. I have managed to fit in a ride about once a week lately which is nearly enough to keep me sane. I had to go and visit him last night as it was the Friday of a tough week and I needed some horse time! He just got some sweetcorn - his current FAVOURITE treat - and I did a bit of massage on his back with tummy lifts as well. Then he was rugged up in the 100g cover as the nights are getting a bit chilly and put out in the paddock.

We're planning a ride on Sunday but as that is work-dependent, we will see...

My first abscess

Poor little Max had an abscess. I thought he had broken a leg, he was so incredibly lame! Turns out he is just a complete sook and like a typical male, can't cope with any pain. I had never seen a horse with an abscess before and now I know why they say they are hard to miss. That is the most lame I have ever seen a horse and I'd be happy not to see that again.


I read up my barefoot books and stood him to soak in some warm epsom salt solution.
He was incredibly good about this, considering how green he is, and stood pretty well in the little foot bath.

Hmmmmm...

Could I drink this?

Unfortunately, that's when the standing nicely ended. He got a sip of epsom salts, shot backwards away from it and knocked over the tub. Ah, well, it got a bit of a soak. Then on with a poultice, bandage and good ol' duck tape to hold it on. A few days later, the abscess burst and he was okay again.

Goober

HUH????

My Max is a dear, sweet little horse. But he isn't the sharpest pencil in the box, if you know what I mean. So this has led to a number of nicknames we apply as needed.

These include, but are not limited to:

Goober
Dingbat
Ginga
Knucklehead

You idiot
Ah, sweet boy
Nincompoop
Great Gallump

All of which are very tempting to use as his official registered name, but I will worry about that when it gets closer to us actually getting out in competition.

He came with the name "Bubba". We hadn't got very far down the road after seeing him for the first time before I burst out with "Nice horse, but there is no way he is keeping that name!". My coach agreed with me completely and confessed she was worried I would be too superstitious to change his name. I had been superstitious before that, but rapidly changed my mind.

I have a few ideas for his show name but Max is good for now.  It is even funnier as he is the smallest horse in his herd.
Irony, you know.

Half a Horse

May 2009

Yep, I bought this half of a horse! We found this cute little horse for sale on a farm down the way, so we went halves in him. The plan is to take him along with the youngsters as a sobering touch, and for me to learn a bit about teaching a green horse.

Actually, I just wanted to be able to tell my Dad that I'd bought the arse end of a horse as I knew he would find that hilarious. I may end up owning all of him yet...

Introducing Max

This is Max, formerly Bubba.

He is "the other horse" in my life and I thought it was about time he had his own blog.

Approximately 15.1 hands, 7 year old-ish stationbred gelding from Takapau, Central Hawkes Bay. I'm not sure of his colour, although he looks bay in this photo, he is more brown in summer. I would like him to be my next all-rounder with a tendency to eventing, but we will see how that goes.
He was bought for a small amount and had been well started but was as green as grass. With the patient help of my coach, I intend to bring him along and into competition and riding club events.