Finally

For the longest time we have had wooden posts sitting next to the side of the barn waiting to be used. And, now we are finally going to be building our new paddock. The wooden boards were picked up the other days, and construction starts tomorrow (hopefully.) It is one small step to building up our barn.

My parent's bought the place in March of 2008. The ten and a half acre property came with a ranch house, a metal pole barn, and various other garages. In a few short months we managed to get stalls, a feed room, and a tack room all built in the pole barn; we also managed to get the majority of the fencing done and get the horses moved in during August of 2008. Since then the only thing added has been the run-in shed. However, as always on a horsefarm, there are many other projects and work to be done. The other goals on our list conclude of: fencing in another paddock and another field, building another run-in shed, building an outdoor riding ring, and putting mats in the aisle way of our barn. Now, luckily one of the projects is going to be crossed off the list soon. I'll have to take pictures to put on my next blog post. Until then you'll have to settle for a picture of another barn resident.

Tigger

This is our barn cat, Tigger. He's not the best mouser in the world, but he tries. He's an older guy with a lot of old battle wounds. He came with the property; if we didn't take him he would have been sent to the ASPCA by his old owners. He's a sweetheart who loves attention.

The Horses (Part 2)

Sassy

This is one of my family's newer additions. She is my mom's horse that we got back in September. She's an OTTB; we got her directly off the racetrack. She raced a grand total of 3 times, and just didn't want any part of it. She's is at least 16.3hh, if not that then over. She is my pony's bff, which can be annoying at times. She is 4 years old, and seems to have a sensible head on her.

Glory

This is our newest addition. She was born on March 10th. She was an "opps" baby. Her dam is owned by one of our boarders; a couple of weeks after she brought her mare to our barn we realized that she was bagging up. Apparently the place where she was at before turned her out with a stallion with out permission. We decided to buy Glory when her owner couldn't afford to keep her. She is a soon to be registered Morgan, and she is either a smokey cream or a perlino in color. She is the first and only foal born at our barn, and we are having quite a joy training her. One thing I've learned with her is that you can't turn your back on her, because that is when she will strike! She's gotten quite a bit better though, and now realizes that people aren't her play toys, lol.

The Horses (Part 1)

On this post I'm going to introduce you all to a couple of my family's horses. They will be mentioned a lot in this blog, and this way you will know what each horse looks like and the story behind them...

Jasper

This is my baby. I usually only call him Jasper when he is in trouble, or I'm trying to get his attention. Most of the time I just call him Pony. He is a very sweet boy, and tries his best to do what is asked of him. He's about 14.3 hh, and is currently 5 years old. I got this guy when he was just over a year and a half. He was a rescue. He was a PMU colt that was at a feedlot in Canada getting ready to head to slaughter. I was able to get him through the United Pegasus Foundation. Every year, around fall, they post, on their website, pictures of PMU horses that need saved. They handle all the transactions and communicate for the broker that you are buying your horse from. United Pegasus was great to work with, and I would definitely consider rescuing through them again.

Lightning

This is my sister's horse, Lightning. He is a 15.1hh leopard appaloosa. My sister started taking lessons on this guy years before my family bought him. He can be hard headed and quite testy for new rider, so, at the time, only experienced enough riders were allowed to ride him. However, there weren't enough at the lesson barn, and so he was sent back to his original owner. My sister and I followed him there about a year later, and started working there in exchange for free rides on their horses. Shortly after we bought him, and I got Pony, we were able to move them both to our family's new place along with my friends two horses (Maggie and Space.) Lightning is a fat lazy horse who enjoys his food and being the boss of the field more than anything else.

About Me

So, I thought I would start this blog off with a bit of an introduction about me. First off, my name is not Jasper. Jasper is my horse's name. And, no, he is not named after a certain fictional vampire. I do like the Twilight series, but he was named Jasper long before I had ever heard of it.

I'm a college student at the moment majoring in animal science. I don't live in a dorm; instead I live with my parents on their 10+ acre horse farm where we board horses. We also quite frequently rescue horses. My horse was a rescue that we got a while ago, and, almost a year ago, my mom got an OTTB (off the track thoroughbred.) We also have been talking about possibly rescuing another horse.

I love animals; my family currently has 3 dogs, 5 cats, 4 horses, and a bird. Very rarely do we actually buy our animals (apart from the horses.) They are usually freebies that people no longer want, strays, and occasionally gifts (our golden retriever.)

This blog will mostly be about horses, my life, animals, and more horses. So, read if you want and enjoy if you can.