We are located seventeen miles from Shreveport, La. eight miles from the Texas line and about seventy-five miles from the Arkansas border. We have twenty two acres of land, three small barns and a comfortable small three- bed room home, (at least its paid for), with a not so great driveway. Rhonda, my daughter, and I are the horse nuts in the family.
We have one stallion, Brewin Up Trouble. He is an APHA chestnut overo.
Brew came to live with us when he was 4-months-old. My daughter saw his picture on the internet and fell in love with him,and just had to have him!!! Thank You Bonnie Riley of Riley Paint Horses for selling us Brew .
Our five mares are halter and performance bred,easy to handle,worm,give shots all have good manners and dispositions,good legs, conformation,and healthy and N/N . Easy to breed and are great mothers,no bad traits,great aptitudes to pass on to the foals.Only wanted to sell the Nobel Tradition mare because she is a sorrel QH and probably only throw breeding stocks with Brew ,but at least they will be nice breeding stocks.
Our husbands are not horse people but they do help us out and we couldnt get along without um !
Well maybe sometimes !!!
Donny,my husband is one of those unhorsey people who think if you got a green pasture ,then dont worry about giving them any feed,they got plenty to eat , Why do we have to worm our horses every month? They didn't do it in the old days,Did they?! Why do we keep our stud in a stud pen?Why cant he just run loose with all the other horses.Not thinking about the neighbors mares in heat next door !!He thinks I care more about the horses than him,ummmm!! Why do we have to keep their feet trim ,dont they break off on there own, and why does the horses shoes cost more than his.The horses eats better than he does. Can't a horse have a baby without you? You mean a horse can colic over THAT!!
You are going to throw away perfectly good hay because it don't smell good !!!!!!!! Where did you hide the check book?You bought "WHAT" for the barn,You got to go 100 miles to show a horse ?WHY?
How much money did you win at the show? You ARE NOT going to mortgage our house for a horse!!! How come he has to be kept in a stall in the daytime? Why can't he just run loose like a normal horse!! We wouldn't have so many flies if I didnt have horses. He also says all us horse people are crazy,could be something to that!
You know you are horse nuts if you pay more for your barn than your house--you dont own a car but you drive the lastest model darn goodlooking truck thats kin to a 18 wheeler--you could live in your 50 foot 8 horse aluminum,air condition,heated,with tv,kitchen,built in jacuzzis, horse trailer You only buy the best show clothes at the leading western wear store and shop at Goodwill for the family clothes--pay more for horses shoes than what you wear,except for those $300 show boots, plan all vacations around scheduled horse shows-- You can get up at 4:00AM drive 200 miles to go to a horse show, but its too early in the morning to get up on Sunday at *8:00 to get to Church -- have horses teeth floated regularly, but only see you dentist every 5 years-- keep up with all horse vaccinations,but the school has to call and remind you its time for the kids shots-- only vist your parents who live in another state when a show is going on in their town, except, if you are lucky and they are horse nuts too and the whole family first,second and third generations are with you at the show also. That's one reason you love horses so much,its in the blood!!! and why you got that big, fancy horse trailer.
You cant quite get all the dirt from under your fingernails,cant go to town without someone picking hay off your clothes,teens snicker when they see a few alfalfa leaves sticking out of your shirt pocket.
Then sometimes I wonder why I love horses so much myself ! I mean they can do a few little things that can drive you nuts. For instance, each horse has their own place where they are fed every day, twice a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. They all get the same feed and you would think they would know that by now. But lo and behold, when it comes feeding time,one horse thinks the other horse has something better, sooo --off she goes to chase the other horse off because she thinks the other one must be getting better stuff than she has. So, then the next mare has to chase the next one off so it's a chain reaction! Then the first mare that started it all decides shes going back to her regular spot after all. Five horses, grazing on 22 acres of fertilized coastal bermuda grass, and they still stand at the fence waiting for a handout!
And, then it's the bathroom thing. When we do put the horses in their stalls,its like they waited all day to go.... up goes the tails and out comes their $10.00 bags of feed! I swear I have never seen so much poop and pee. And you have to spend hours raking up and picking up and carrying poo off,and laying bags of shavings that takes a jackhammer to open ,Keeping the barn clean ,knocking down cobwebs from the stalls that you have to have a 12 foot ladder to reach, $1,000 doctor visit after you fall from ladder, But with leg in cast you must carry on. Of course you can say the workout you get from cleaning up the barn is cheaper than a gym and look how the old heart gets a workout ,but after the second heart attack you figure you better get some help, And if the precious horse does decide to answer natures call while out in the pasture, what better place than on the fresh hay you just threw out for them. And, of course, this also makes a perfect place for a nap! Now if you are lucky you will have a hayholder,but after the first horse breaks leg, second horse almost breaks neck, and the vets bills total more than than your house note,you figure you better off throwing the hay on the ground .
Now, I realize they can't help it, but why do they have to colic in the middle of the night on a Sunday, in the rain? Or get an injury just before a show or a ride,or have their foal as soon as you walked out the barn,after you have camped out for 9 days in the hallway waiting on that baby.
And how does a horses know the difference when you call them up to feed em or ride um? So, who's the dumb animal now??
While riding around in the neighborhood, a 5-pound poodle scares the living daylight out of the 1200 lb horse? Your on a nice,relaxing trail ride and sweet, gently "Dolly" suddenly thinks she is "Seabiscuit" and decides to leave the others in the dust and you have to hang on like the famous bronco rider Jim Shoulders.
What about that beautiful superior show horse that halters,rides,ropes,cuts ,reins,plows if your tractor breaks down, gentle enough for kids ,speedy enough for polo, The horse that is used to patiently teach handicapped kids how to ride ,not another one like it in the whole wide world and you had to pawn your wedding ring, max out credit card,and cash in your life insurance to buy,drive 900 miles one way to pick up .And you finallly make it back home with your prize animal and what do you think happens ?
Now for showing the most perfect, beautifulest,(no such word,I know)smartest,sweetest horse in the whole wide world in the halter classes (remember this is all in fun) no harm should come to the person typing this down !!! This is the Redneck Way
Hear we go now!! Its hard to believe what us" Halter "people go through to get points with our most perfect horse in the whole wide world,But first off you gota get the horse that fits the above discription, maybe if you got big $$$$$$$$,or a husband that dont mind mortgaging the house or your wife works ,and you can use her salary for the next 2 years and tell your kids to forget about college, to pay for the most beautifulest, perfect horse in the whole wide world ,you can go out and BUY ONE or another great idea is to raise the budding beauty yourself by breeding one of your very own perfect mares, that is the very own daughter or granddaughter or great granddaughter of that world famous superior,three time world champion stallion??? To the best possible stallion you can find ,well good luck because you have around 50,000 to choose from,Ranging from $50 to $300,000 stud service.
Now that ya found the perfect stud you better hope hes not one of those extreme makeover horses like on that tv show for us ugly people where they can take a bucktooth, big nose ,no chin, big butt person and turn them into a knockout beauty ,and then they go off and marry Mister or Miss America and dont tell the innocent spouse what they really looked like ,and along comes baby who turns out bucktooth,big nose,no chin and a big butt. Extreme makeover for the horse consist of braces for the bucktooth horse, he has a overbite! Removing excess flab on horses neck,I would love to have that done to my neck for sure,Tattooed eyeliner ,I had that done to my eyes ,hurt like heck!!! Braces for crooked legs,corrective surgery for spine,back, legs, break his tail so it will lay flat in western pleasure, mine is already flat enough, I need implants !! ,Having ears trimmed and I dont mean the hairs,pumping them up with steriods.so they are really beefed up with muscle ,if that dont work try implants .Then along come your future world show colt and guess what!!!! He looks just like Dad ,just like what dad really looks like....
I dont think this is too common a practice though ,probably cost to much money..
Another issue is the use of steroids with yearlings and 2-year-olds sold at auction. There are obvious benefits from pumping up a horse with steroids to make them look like strapping, physical marvels, a shady way to drive up their price at the sales,but what happens when you buy Arnold ,take him home and feed him the normal way ? That a whole nother can of worms... horses and auctions, Buying and selling a horse...... My pet peeve is driving 100 miles one way to look at a horse that the seller says is definitely 15'2 and you arrive at your destination all excited to see your maybe future broodmare and she turns out to be 14'1 on a hill, also said she was black and shes really brown,,The bloodlines she mention was for another horse, sort of got papers mixed up...Other peeves , Very gentle for anyone to ride,problem is you cant get the horse to move.,Need experience rider,Better be good at extreme sports
Dead broke,just that Almost Dead, Spirted..need to be a bronco rider before you get on that one,.Knows barrels, sure,up close and personal horse runs over all three everytime.......Good cow horse ,better get a regular horse!!Cows are rough riding.Excellent trail horse,sure as long as the horse in front keeps going.
Built like a tank.... World war two vintage,out of date
Refined....skinny can count every rib
Bull-dog type... .American or English ?
Soggy mare... Ug! even the name sounds bad. Big,out of shape and extra fat
ummmm!!
Easy on the eye...if you are blind in one eye and cant see out of the other
Wonderful disposition.....keep up the So -Kalm
Deep V chest...Legs rub together
Big wide chest....Like a plank
Gentle as a puppy....Watch out he might act like a dog
Bomb proof...Deaf and Blind
Now heres a few things you need watch out for when you are looking to buy the "Perfect Horse"
First off theres no such thing as the perfect horse unless he belongs to you and you are the one trying to sell him,strange but as soon as I buy him ,I swear its a different horse, Seems previous owner only mention that horse could be a little difficult to load at Times, well seems like it was his Time ! The day I went to pick hm up, but it only took 7 1/2 hours to load so I figure next Time he will do just find.
I guess the fellow who sold me the horse forgot to tell me to that he dont like to be in a stall,wont stay in a pasture, and he hates other horses, but I think he will do just find in the house.Just got to figure out how to keep husband from finding out theres a horse in the spare room ,you know how husbands are.
The first time he had one of those colic attacks was pretty scary but after his 6th attack I got it down to the art on what to do,but its pretty unpleasent to describe ,and this little foot problem hes got ,WelI I use my husbands car dolly to help him around and it works out great. I wasnt prepared for his first temper tantrum ,the horse not my husband,but you cant hardly sees the scars on my shoulder now. So now I know what he means when he lays his ears back ,I think the horse would probably call it "The Human Whisper" ... to be continued
OK back to the stud service thing. If stud service is $$$? or whatever, just tack on a month's salary for mare care,vet cost, shipping cost,x-rays,ultrasounds, just looking at 'em cost, expenditure of time and labor cost, (I looked that one up in the dictionary), and other important cost (but I dont know how to spell it), and for all of ya'll who have been through it --you know what I'm talking about, then the dang, #!!*%#!*###!,! (that's susposed to be a curse sign or something like that), mare, don't get pregnant!!! Soooo you got to repeat the above. Oh, but it's fun!! Right guys........?
Well you finally get your super duper mare in foal to the even more super duper Paint Stallion and give or take 11 months and a few days, Its time for the future show baby to hit the ground and hit the ground its does,solid colored as a red apple and a boy to boot....and he only cost ya a couple of $$$$$ thousand to get him on the ground ,give or take,and you are lucky if you can give him away ,but he is awfully cute :) :) :)
I don't know about this Superior halter title thing !! Because, if you've got the money, and if you've got the time, maybe five years or six years ,and you stick to local shows, and if you enter your fantastic horse in all the shows, I think "Francis the Talking Mule",(that shows you how old I am) could have got his superior .Just go get your Paint Horse Journal down and give it a look,of course most of them there horses are great and I am not kidding, no doubt about it!! but....theres always a few that we all are guilty of saying .( HOW IN THE WORLD DID THAT HORSE GET HIS SUPERIOR)!!!!!Come-on admit it ,but thats just my own personal opinion and Im from Louisiana
But then they might have had their five year old kid take the horses picture because all the other family members ran off when they hear these words "Help take Pictures of Horses" They know how long it takes to get that perfect shot!! You just go out there and get your horse and try to get him or her to pose, Now some horses have it down to the command....
butttttttt you got to practice, practice, practice ,anyway that was probably the best picture they could come up with.
But I do admire the person that has the dedication and persistence to follow through with his or her dreams (yessir), and not give up, even though beauty is sometimes in the eye of the owner!! Anyway, we mostly only do it for the fun of showing, (oh yeah) and meeting all the nice friendly people (yep), who wish you only the best (oh, sure, whatsa the matter, my horse is not in your class?)
And it's ok if you only placed a "5th" out of six horses ,because you know the judge is the first place winner's brother, the second place winner's uncle, and the third place winner's son-in-law. The 4th place winner couldn't figure out how he beat ya, but you did wipe out that cross-eyed 6th place horse and it only cost $900 to show after filling up that dual 35 gallon gas tank at $2.29 a gallon, oil, one blown-out trailer tire, one flat on the truck, breakfast, snacks, lunches, dinners, hotel, trainers fee, if you can afford one, entry fees, parking fees, trailer fees, ground fees, Judges fees, , membership dues, speeding ticket, shavings, feed, water buckets, feed buckets,rake, haybags, hay, alfalfa, , grooming supplies. Don't forget to bring the heaters in the winter, fans in the summer, slinkies, sleezys, mane tamers, horse blankets and hoods, regular halter, show halter, sheets, tail wrap, neck sweats , more grooming stuff, (I don't even want to go there), than Michael Jackson uses, and this is not counting the 6 months you spent getting your prize animal ready for the show,
Got to be kept up in his stall during the day, Wait until the sun goes down, sun-light dull that shiny coat ,that ya work so hard on bathing and brushing and rubbing,and scrubbing, then take out horse and exercise in the round pen ,or better yet ,tie onto 4 wheeler and drag through neighborhood,you would be surprise how many neighbors jump out of bed and give you a friendly wave ,I think its a wave, but they are yelling so loud ,I think thay are trying to tell me what a horse I got there!! So I have to keep moving along so they want scare my show horse 'Maybe I need to stop my exercise program in the middle of the night.
Wrap neck in cellophane,you can reuse to put frozen meats in the freezer, put on neck sweat,Put on lots of neck sweats, work horse with sheet on and then put horse back in stall to cool for a couple of hours so you can rest ,go ahead and have a wine cooler while you are waiting ,after a couple of hours and a nap its time to start again, dont forget to wrap legs this time along with above instruction . Back to the round pen, if 4 wheeler dont start.
Have video camera on at all times in stall, seems like your most perfect horse can manage to do damage to himselve one way or another ,and the more you paid for him the more damaged he gets and this list can go on and on too. And this is in his padded stall. Better hope he dont eat the padding. Have security guard to oversee his safety in case video camera stops working like last year when camera broke and show horse almost died from getting bite by a couple of them there brown spiders,I think it was a spider couldnt figure what else could get in his stall
Get ready to spend the kids college fund .( Little Johnny might not make it out of the 10 grade now) ...... On getting the right stuff down your specialley prepared show horse without killing him first. Alfalfa, Steamed roll oats, supplements like,Minerals,Vitamins, Orange Superior, Rice Bran,Beet Pulp,Soybean Oil.Corn Oil, Dac Oil,Full Fat Wheat Germ,Flax seed,Folic acids,Brewers yeast,Biotin,Magnesium,once a day wormer,once a month wormer,vitamin E,Probios, Concentrate Muscle up powder,Weight Builder,Glucosamine to help out with the overworked joints,might need to cut back using that 4 wheeler some ,.So-Kalm to slow him down a bit,Iron horse to pep him back up, and this is just a small list of supplies for now, continued........
Why I think showing a halter horse is more political than the Iraqoilgate, Energygate, Enrongate and InflatedWMDreportgate scandels. I guess showing anything is,when you got to have a judge !!! At least thats what that other fellow who lost in his class too ,told me .Why I didnt even place at my last show and I had the only horse in my class. Gee wiz!!!!
If only my horse hada been a little taller,a little more muscular a little more refiner,had a little more chrome,a little bit longer neck,didn't stand like a saddle horse ,by the way there is nothing wrong with a saddle horse but this was a quarter horse show, and I was hoping the judge wouldn't notice his neck wassss tied in a little low and his ears did go a little bit forward but I figure that was from me keeping a hat on his head when I would take him out of the barn in the daylight so as not to mess up his shinny coat . Remember what the sun does!!!,
Maybe I should have put a different color bow in his tail ,I bet thats why the judge was laughing so much when he come up to check us out ,it was that big Green bow on my horses tail and it probably didnt match with his hooves painted red ,and you know how many bottles of fingernail polish I had to buy,cost a small fortune too ," I just got tired of the old common black or clear polish .
Yep" I bet thats why I didn't do so good !! Shoot..... its hard work this halter stuff!!!!
Horses You gottta love um!!!
JImme Hardin
not the trainer
