Some pictures of the Anglo Arab

I hate making decisions!

I have a big case of horsey blues! Its so upseting that I didn't even have fun out riding Lucy yesterday! Although it was amusing how she kept spooking at the ground!

Anyway, I need to just spill all of whats in my head into a thread. Maybe you guys can tell me how you make your difficult decisions. In the end though, I am the only one who can make these decisions (yes I am facing more then one!)

So, as some of you know I am contiplating putting my morab down. She has been lame for a year and I am running out of money and energy. Plus she seemed to get worse over winter and I am worried about her being in pain.
Right now I have her on Naproxin, an anti-inflamitory. The last vet that I went to see suggested I put her on it for 21 days while in a paddock to see if there is any improvment indicating a soft tissue injury. Well the very first day on it she jumped out of her paddock and went on a little adventure. Since then she has not run around much and has been just as lame on the anti-inflamitorys as off (also I had her on Bute before going to see the vet and she was just as lame then too) so she has pretty much been her normal, lame self. When sound she has a lot more energy.

So those 21 days are up this Thursday and the plan is to take her off and see what the difference is, if there appears to be any improvment, then to continue on the a lower dose, if not then we are pretty sure she does not have a soft tissue injury. Now I have been in contact with the vet so he knows that she has been lame this whole time, even on the anti-inflamitories. So unless she makes some sort of miraculus (sp?) turn around in the next couple days, I feel like the best thing is to plan on putting her down sometime in the near future.

So here is where things start to get complicated!

1. I was telling my dad the other night that I was thinking of putting her down and if he could dig a hole (he has a very big tractor for the job). He was suprised that I had come to that decision but understood and agreed to helping me bury her when I have her put down. Suddenly putting her down seemed a lot more real and I realized that I wasn't sure I could do it! Its not like I haven't done it before, when I was 9 my mom and I put my rat to sleep, I understood why and was ok with it. When I was 11 we had to put my first horse to sleep, again I was ok with it and understood it had to happen. But now I am having a hard time seeing myself doing it! Its hard to imagine coming home from work and not seeing Kezi waiting at the gate for her dinner! But I know its for the best, becuase even though she can't tell me she is in pain, how could she not be with how lame she is?

Then there is the other thing that has been a big issue for me. Its not entirely related to Kezi but parts of it are.

Once I knew I was going to put Kezi down, or at least that would be the plan if nothing changed with her lameness, I sort of happend upon this beautiful Anglo Arab for sale (funny how that happens huh?). I figured it wouldn't hurt to go look at him and since I was sure I would either be putting Kezi down or giving her to a home where she could be more comforitable (my house isn't so good for injured horses) so then I would be looking for another endurance prospect, hopefully one that wouldn't end up lame a week after brining it home.
But now that Lucy (my Qh) is mostly recovered, I don't know, I seem to be having issues deciding wether to get him or not. I know that Lucy will never be an endurance horse, she doesn't like going real fast out on the trail, plus I am unsure if she will ever be 100% again after being sick, so I am not sure I will ever be able to push her to do something like endurance. And I really want to do endurance, I live in an area perfect for training, and haven't gotten to to out on the trails for over a year, I really miss it!
And of course I still really want to compete in Endurance (I’m tired of just trail riding!) and he could be a great horses to do it with! Plus he just has a great personality that I love! He would be so much fun to work with!

Lucy and I had a fun day!

Mostly. She did not want to be caught at first. Its amazing how she can run full out, bucking down a steep hill and make a persition turn before running into the fence! In the end I used Huck as bait to get her to let me catch her, so I ended up taking Huck with me since I felt bad leaving him behind all alone. We were on our way to Carolyns for some arena work.
It's so nice to have horses that load so well! Huck literally loaded himself! I had just put Lucy in and Huck was standing behind me, so while I was fastening her butt strap he came around and hoped in the other side! Those two are such good horses!
I worked Lucy a little bit in the round pen, free lunging and some pressure work before tacking up. I let Huck loose in the arena while we rode, he went off to make friends with the horses on the other side of the fence but would occationally come running over to check on us!

Lucy was hilarious! She kept spooking at the ground! Its was like: " oh my god scary grass! snort! snort! Ooo I think I should eat it! hahah! Oh holy shit that clump looks vicious! Jump, snort! Oh wait I think I'll eat it!"

It took her a while to get over the grass! Then the barn owners husband had just racked the arena, soooooo,
"OMG! THERE ARE LITTLE LINE ALL OVER THIS ARENA!!! I think they are going to eat me mom!" By the end of our ride she stoped spooking every two feet but was still trying to avoid the very clear lines down the center line. Despite all this spooking and being silly, we actaully did get some good work in! I did sepintines and diagonals with her, concentrating on opening and closing my hips to help her bend around the turn. I thought she did really good! We did mostly walk but her trot wasn't to bad either!

Then I brough Sassy out and worked with her for a little bit! She remember all her Parelli games quite well and was very good.
More to come on her I think!

Lets get some pictures of the mini brats!

This would be Ollie when I was first training him to drive. He is a bit of a rollie pollie now!

Huck looking very cute!

The boys pulling in town!

Mini brat #1 Huck!

Now its time for Huck to indroduce himself. But first I fear I must interupt and be selfish and spill a little of my own emotions and problems.


I'm starting to have reservations about getting the Anglo Arab. I was thinking about how nice it would be to just have Lucy, Huck and Ollie and be able to save a little money. But at the same time I really want a nice horse for endurance. And I have been managing ok with four horses. So I am up and down and all over the place!





Anyway, lets introduce Huck, he is a 19 year old mini gelding. Since I don't know much about him before I got him, I will let him start at the point at which I aquired him.





" So my name is Huck, or Huckleberry Fin if you want to be specific. It used to be Obe, thats what my old owners called me, but the new girl didn't like so she changed it. She is nice enough, when she first got me I hadn't been out much or done much with people for a while. My mane was a mess and I could hardly see out of it. She spent about an hour getting it pulled so I could see, which was nice of her I guess, it kinda hurt though. She made me do all sorts of weird things on a lunge line. I was living in her sisters backyard at the time, which was kinda nice except I was the only horse there. The kids were kinda loud and she sat some of them on me, but things could have been worse. Her sister had a funny dog, he was really big, almost as big as me. And always trying to play with me. The backyard had a nice little patch of grass, but the idiot sister did not seem to realise that horses eat grass, becuase she kept shooing me off of it. It was kinda silly really. She even put up a little fence all the way around it, like that was going to keep me out. I just hoped right over it.


The girl would sometimes take me over to another house that had horses at it. But I rarely got to hang with them, mostly she made me do stuff in round pen. Then after about a month she took me home. Then I met Lucy. Lucy is very nice, a bit silly at times, but not to bad to have around. She doesn't mind that I am small and shares her food well. The girl seemed to have this idea that I should pull a cart. I didn't bother telling her that I had done that before and wasn't into it. I had already figured out the humans don't respond to our methods of communication. Such strange creatures.

So the girl started putting a harness on me and long lineing me around in circles and out on her trail. I protested to say the least. Ok so I did enjoy it sometimes, it was kinda nice having a job, but I much perfered to be free. Like when the girl would saddle Lucy up and go out for a ride on the trail, she would sometimes bring me and take off my halter so that I could run free. This was so much fun! At that time we were kept in a paddock so we didn't get many chances to run free. So back to my so called training. Seeing as I aready know most of what she was trying to teach me, our traing sessions were more me testing to see how far I would have to go to get out of being worked. As it turns out the girl isn't some little pussy pushover. She made it quite clear on several occations that I was going to behave when out working, or at least that she wasn't going to give up before me. Now don't get me wrong, she was never/has never been been mean to me, she just asks me to do things that I would rather not do sometimes.

So she continued with her efferts of trying to train me to the cart. In the end she pretty much just hooked me up to the cart without much ado and we went on our merry way. Turns out she is acually a lot of fun to go driving with! She lets me go fast in the cart out on the trails!
About a year or so later, during a time when I was being boarded at another place (they put me in with this huge TB, he was kinda pushy) the girl got another mini. It was great, at first, I was so glad to see someone my own age, in fact I was a little over the top about it. The first time I met him I came running across the field whinnying at him. It was a little embarassing later. But wow was it nice to have another small horse around! All the big horses up there were afriad of me. Just goes to show what pussy's those big guys are, Lucy never batted an eye at me, even when I was pulling a cart, but then she has a lot more brians then the rest of them. And more brains then the new as it turns out. If I was hoping for another little guy who was as intellectually farward as me, I was very dissapointed. It took a while to set in that this guy was just a big human butt kisser! He loved going out with the girl! Or anyone for that matter! And when we were pasture with foals (snotty litte things those! Espeshally the mule!) he would let them play with him all day! I couldn't belive it, but hey better him then me! All they would get from me was a sharp turn and quick hoof!
With the new guy(the girl named him Ollie) came a new chapter in my life. Pairs driving. She she had this wild idea that she was going to strap me to this other little brat and we were going to like work together and pull her around. I never did see why, I was always strong enough to pull her around on her own, she didn't need to bring Ollie into the mix. But she did, and we started pulling this funny looking cart around. Ollie was soooo annoying! And it was so boring! I used to pick on Ollie and chew on his harness for fun, until the girl got a longer whip anyway, she spoils everything! Sometimes we would go out for a whole day and just sit hooked up to the cart while people ooohhd and awwwd over us, sometimes I got the impression that the girl got kinda tired of this. Then one day Ollie took off down the road while we were hooked up. It was kinda fun at first but then when we got closer to traffic I decided this better stop. We took a pretty big break from driving as pair after that. We did it one more time but Ollie had learned that taking off got him out of it, so we haven't done that since.
Lately I have been just enjoying my time pastured out with Lucy. Ollie and I spent a lot of time at home when Lucy was really sick, we thought we might never see her again, Ollie was really broken up about, but low and behold she came back and go better. I was glad, Lucy is a good kid! Last year the girl brought home another horse. A mare. And a total bitch! I didn't like her right from the start. And neither did Lucy, although after while she did start to show more interest. However we were kept in seperate paddocks. Ollie went to live with the new mare, I did kinda feel bad for him, she is quite a bitch!
Then a couple months ago the girl turned Lucy and I out in a really big pasture. Except for Lucy occational leaving for ride, life is pretty good! The girl was all worried about Lucy not eating enough, so we get all sorts of goodies! Like we get to eat alfalfa, and get a big bucket of pellets and chop everyday. Yep life has been pretty good lately! I think its going to be a great summer!"


And that is Hucks story! Took him long enough to get it out!

We need some picture of Lucy!
These are from her first and last horse show year before last!

This is Lucy when she is about a year old. The one of right is from about two years ago.

I think we need a little backround info! Lucy's story.

Your probably wondering why this is called Lulabelles Managerie, huh? Well Lulabelle is my paint mare Lucy, who I often refer to as Lulabell, and the managerie is the chaos that is the rest of the animals we have around.
I'll let Lucy introduce them all to you!

" Well I am Lucy, I am 6 years old and I belong to my mom. She got me from a farm before I knew that humans were ok and not going to hurt me, actually I am still not sure that humans are ok, but at least my mom is! Not long after my mom brought me home one of her dogs attacked me, I don't remember it much though, I was only 5 months. The dog, Bruno, and I are good friends now, it was all just a big misunderstanding.
I lived my first couple years at home and at varius boarding places that my mom would move me to when the mud got to bad at our house. At first I lived with a pig named Ivy, but then after about a year my mom brought home another horse who didn't like Ivy. His name was Nate, I liked him a lot but missed Ivy.
When I was three my mom took me to my favorite home away from home, the one I would end up spending the most time at, and had another girl there do stuff with me. I would later learn that the humans called them games, no idea why. The girl put a saddle on me, which was no big deal, after all my mom had been putting one on my for a while. I liked that girl a lot, but she only came to see me speraticly. I had another accident during that time. While turned out in the big pasture I ripped part of my hoof off. My mom doesn't know why and I am not telling! Anyway, it hurt a lot and they kept me in a little pen for a while putting wierd cloth things on my hoof. Then my moms vet came up, gave me some seditives and the next thing I knew the part of my hoof that was ripped was off. I healed up pretty quick after that.
A couple months later mom took me to another place, this one much further away, I could tell because the trailer ride was longer then ever before. Again there was a girl there that did things with me in an arena. She did the same things as the other girl, really strange stuff like making run around in on a really long lead rope, and walk sideways. The wirdest was when she started sitting on me, I have now come to accept this strange behavior from my mom, but at the time it was rather alarming. I wanted to throw her off, but felt that wouldn't be polite. She worked with me a lot more then the other one. I stayed there for about two months then she brought me back to my mom. Again I lived at one of the barns my mom sometimes took me too. She also rode me and played with me in a really big arena. Every once in a while she would ride me down this dirt road.
At the end of that summer my mom took me back home. This time I stayed for a while. I also had a new friend, a little horse by the name of Huck. She would ride me out on a little dirt road several times a week. We had a lot of fun. She would accationally take me back to one of the boarding barns for a couple days, sometimes longer, but we always ended up going back home. Once during that time I had my shoulder ripped open. Huck and I were playing and we pushed a fence over, so Huck thought we should go exploring. But there was a really big nail in the fence that cought me on my way out. That really hurt! Plus I had to stay up half the night while the vet came and sewed me up. I healed up in about a month but my mom still thinks I get into too much trouble!
The year before last my mom's mom died. I was being borded at the time and my mom came out to see me a lot. She didn't ride me as much that summer. She also kept bringing around this stange guy, who I would later come to know as her boyfriend. I didn't like him much at first, but now he gives me lots of treats! So whats not to like! That fall I started having breathing problems, I would get out of breat quickly and didn't have alot of energy. My mom noticed to because she had a vet out a couple times, but he couldn't figure out what was wrong. Then we went to some sort of gathering. Mom put in in a little pen next to her friends horse, Moe. There were lots of other horses there, it was all very exciting but I kept my cool. My mom rode me around in a little arena. Then we went out and ran all around this big pasture jumping over logs and stuff. I really liked that part! It was a lot of fun! My mom kept telling me what a good girl I was. At the very end, about when I was getting pretty tired, we jumped some more jumps. These ones were brightly colored and fell if you ran into them. All in all it was a fun day, but it was never repeted, maybe because I got really sick after that.
My mom took me back home and a couple weeks later I felt much worse. I had hardly any energy and then sometimes my lower lip would hang down without my control. This really worried my mom. She took me back up to the other barn and had a couple vets come out and look at me. They took blood but didn't do much else. I stayed there in the barn for about a week, I got lots of good food as I had lost a lot of weight.
About a week later mom trailered me a long way to another barn. They treated horses at this one. My mom and her boyfriend hung around with me for the first two days while the people there kept doing weird things to me. Then mom left while I stayed there. She came back a couple days later to pick me up though, not that I was worried.
Mom kept me in a little paddock after that and kept feeding all sort of yummy food!
I stayed at home for a couple weeks. During that time I had one of my first breathing incidents. I started to get out of breath during feeding time and found that I could not breath at all. It was very scary not being able to breath! I had a hard time standing and I fell on my moms car. I ended up on the ground and couldn't get up. My mom and her dad moved me so that the car could move without hurting me, then let me get back up on my own. I went back to my pasture on my own but my mom hung around me for quite a while that night. This would happen again, but later it would get worse. I would bleed out my mouth when it happened. Thank goodness it never happens any more!
About a month later my mom took me back up to the other barn. They put me in a stall, then stuck a really big needle in my neck. Once a day my mom would come and tie me to the stall door and sit with me for about an hour. She would hook me up to this wierd hose thing that made a liquid go into me. This went on for a couple days. Then after it stoped I started to feel better! My lip stopped hanging, and I had more energy! Although I still couldn't run around without risk of not being able to breath. My mom did this to me a second time, but I am not sure why. After that I got to go home for the whole rest of the year. Which brings us to now, as that happend last March. My mom started riding me again a couple months ago, not as much as before but I still dont' have as much energy and I am way out of shape. Which is too bad because I was in great shape before!"

And that is pretty much Lucy's story up until now. We will go into the other animals another time.

The picture at the top is from when Lucy was about 4 years old.

So my very first blog!

Well I decided to start my very first blog at the end of one story in my life and hopefully the begining of another. I have had a very long year dealing my my morab Kezi, and with Lucy's sickness, treatment and recovery. I feel like I have been drug though the mud and just want to let go and go back to enjoying life again. I feel like beautiful days don't matter to me any more because I can only wish I was out riding on them, not worring about weather or not Lucy can go out for a ride and if Kezi appears to be getting any better or not.
Unfortunitly I really need to get back to work, so I will have to finish pouring all my emotions into this later.