Everything went very well.

The weather was on our side today (sunny and got warmer all day - ended up in the low 40s). Twister loaded right into the trailer around 4:30 a.m. and happily munched on his hay during his haul to Missouri. Now he has never had problems with unloading, but he was afraid to take a big step down from my step-down trailer today. It took a while to get him out of the trailer. Boy was he happy to see another horse when his new owners and my new horse arrived at the truckstop we met at!

His new owners are very nice people, as I knew they would be, and I have to say I am totally in love with our new addition, Bucky. :) 

Ha, well we socialized with the new owners of Twister (and Bucky's old owners) for a while about the horses and whatnot, then loaded the boys into the trailers. Bucky loaded straightaway. Twister didn't load for his new owners until I walked up the ramp. He followed me up it immediately. Goofball! :P Guess he just needed his "mommy" to show him the way. I really miss him already, but I know I did the best thing for him. 

Got Bucky home just after 5 p.m. and it was starting to get dark. I decided to keep him in a run tonight and introduce him to my mare tomorrow when Calliope is gone. My main reason for separating him tonight was to monitor his feed intake. I know some horses get stressed or depressed in a new setting and don't eat any or much of their food and I wanted to be careful about that. He did have a good appetite, though, and also drank water. Good boy! :) I went in his run with him and pet him, talked to him, and got him to pick up all four feet and he was a pro about it. I think we will really get along well! :) My boyfriend really likes him, too. 

Tomorrow morning, Calliope is moving to Broken Arrow, OK. I pray this is the best thing for him.. I love that horse dearly and am getting very emotional about parting with him. 

This is going to be a hard weekend for me. Not only am I parting with Twister tomorrow (more technically, today, but it's LATE right now), but am parting with Calliope Sunday.

I am positive Twister's situation is how it is supposed to be. He is going to a great home, I'm sure of it, and I am really excited for him and his future.

Then there's Calliope.. I have owned him 5 1/2 years and have grown REALLY close to him. He's my best riding horse and I understand him and know him better than anyone. I am hauling him to his new owners' place Sunday, so I will see where he will be living and see how they are with him. If I don't get a good feeling about his new life, he is NOT being sold. He is too great of a horse to go to a bad home. The people seemed nice enough when I met them this morning.

So if things work out and both boys go to new homes, I will be down to two horses. Goldie and Bucky. It will be so nice to be down to two horses but I will really miss my geldings. They are really something special and will always find a place in my heart. 

Please think of me, Twister, Bucky, and Twister's new owners as we drive to Missouri and back to Illinois and Oklahoma tomorrow with our new horses. I pray the roads and weather cooperate. And my car and horse trailer as well. ;)

Well, I better hit the hay. I have a LONG weekend ahead of me

Bye bye, my special boys. Always in my heart.

Haha, I have been known to procrastinate on blogs...

Anyway, I have had a busy last couple of weeks!

I am done with my research park job until January 14. Spring semester of college starts January 7. But I still have some busy days during winter break!

Winter break has been wonderful so far! I have worked, gotten to spend more time with my horses, babysat, spent time with my boyfriend and also with a friend from school, saw my mom, dad, and German exchange student for Christmas Eve and Day, and started showing my 7 year old APHA gelding, Calliope, to people!

My horses are all three doing great. I had a wonderful ride on Goldie last Tuesday (I think?) when my friend Jenni came over to ride with me. She rode Calliope, and we rode in the neighbor's field, then down my road, along the busy road by my road, and down a dirt road nearby. Goldie and I were leading the ride and she was awesome about traffic and other things that I thought would have spooked her. I can't wait to ride her on the Lake Carl Blackwell trails! I most recently rode Goldie yesterday (Christmas Day) and Manuel (our German exchange student) rode Calliope in the neighbor's arena. I think it was his first time riding. It was super windy out (typical Oklahoma), but the horses behaved themselves anyway. Goldie was a little jittery at one end of the arena, but I was able to get her to walk through puddles, which she normally hates! Once I sell Calliope, I think I will be able to work with Goldie a lot and calm her down. She is an amazing ride when she is well seasoned.

The first interested buyers looked at Calliope Sunday. They loved him and the 12 year old son rode Calliope around the yard. He did really well with Calliope, but it was the mom who would be Calliope's "person." She didn't ride him but really loved him, too. Turns out the husband (who hadn't gone to look at Calliope with his wife and son) wouldn't offer me even close to the asking price of Calliope, so I turned their offer down. Nice woman and son, but Calliope is worth way more than what they offered. I don't think Calliope would have been terribly happy with them anyway. The woman is a beginner and is about my mom's age (my mom is 48 and the woman is 45?). She doesn't care about showing, gymkhana, trail riding, etc. She just wants to ride with her son. Calliope would do way better in a home where he could do what he does best - showing, 4-H, playday events, trail riding, etc. In short, I want to sell him to someone who is a lot like me. 

Tomorrow, a 13-year-old girl is going to try Calliope out. She sounds like the PERFECT person for him from the e-mails we have been shooting back and forth for the past week or so. I REALLY hope she likes him and vice versa! She sounds like me when I was 13. ;) I also got a call from a man who wants to look at Calliope with his wife on Friday morning. So we have a busy week!

Twister is doing great, too! I am still in shock over this, but I am actually trading him for a 11-year-old broke buckskin National Show Horse gelding THIS SATURDAY!!!! I am really excited about this trade, though. Twister will be going to Illinois (we are meeting halfway in Missouri, though. So it's about 4 1/2 hours each way) in hopes he will become a barrel or cow horse. I am so happy Twister will be used to his full potential! He wouldn't get that with me. :( I will miss having him here so much. We bonded immediately after I bought him and he is one hell of a horse. He is so easy and fun to work with and he sure is a looker! I know I am doing the right thing, though. The new horse, Bucky (yah, bf wants to change the name, lol), is actually my Christmas present to my boyfriend. My boyfriend has wanted a horse to do endurance riding with and also loves Arabian crosses, so this will be great for him! I really want to experience a new breed and know that Bucky will be a fun learning experience. I am not used to the high spirited Arabian or the gaited Saddlebred! Anyway, Bucky is just GORGEOUS. I can't wait to ride him! Pat (bf) and I have been shopping on e-bay for him lately and I have also been trading horse tack on Horsecity's bulletin boards. So far I have gotten an English saddle (cheap, but brand new and ready to ride in), English saddle pad, English bridle (already have the bit), SMBs, neoprene girth for English saddle, stirrup leathers, irons, and pads for English saddle, etc. He will sure look flashy in his new stuff! :D I just got the health certificate done on Twister today and Bucky's will be done tomorrow, so the boys will be ready for the trade!

I am really excited about the changes in my life. I will miss my dear Calliope and Twister when they go to new homes, but at least I am finding them great homes where they will be loved on and used as much as they should be. I don't ever want to lose contact with their future owners, though. I want to hear about them as they get older and do bigger and better things. Those boys will ALWAYS be in my heart. They are oh-so-special. 

Check out the pictures of my three current horses and my new horse! First horse is my AQHA mare, Goldie. Second is my APHA gelding, Calliope. Third is my APHA gelding, Twister. And fourth is my new NSH gelding, Bucky.

Whew, just when I thought life couldn't get busier..... it got busier.

I started working at the local equine research park a couple weeks ago. It has consumed my life the past week, and it has taken a toll on me. But I don't want to complain because I looooove the job. I basically get to do vet tech duties - collecting blood samples from horses, TPRing the horses bi-daily, helping handle the horses for different procedures, etc, and then there's the normal barn chores like picking stalls, feeding and watering, sweeping, etc. The best part about my job is my co-workers. I work with two guys and one girl. We are all in the same age range (18-21) and we get along extremely well. We love joking around. My girl co-worker invited me and my boyfriend to Christmas dinner with her and her family. :)

This week is finals week in school and I *was* going to take my sales exam this morning but all I do lately is sleep in my little amount of free time I have.. Therefore, I have had a hard time studying for it, and the exam was optional. I could have gotten an A in the class if I had taken the exam and done well on it. But I settled for a B. I might or might not have an exam in feature writing tomorrow morning. It depends on what my professor decides tonight! Hoping it is made optional... *crosses fingers*

My boss gave me today off work, which I really needed. I got to relax all day and finally see my horses in the daylight again. The weather has been such crap lately that I haven't gotten to do anything with them and they look like mudballs. Goldie had knots in her mane this morning, but I thankfully didn't have to chop it off. I was able to get it unknotted instead. Her mane is way too long and beautiful to shorten.  If the weather allows tomorrow, I will give all three horses a much needed brushing and take new pictures. Hopefully ride, too! I haven't ridden in a week and a half. :(

Might be selling my 7 year old gelding, Calliope, to a nice family in the next couple of months. It's still up in the air, though. They need to see him first. 

Things are good between the boyfriend and me. We came close to breaking up a couple weekends ago, but worked things out. I don't know if we are meant to be together forever, but I want to be with him now anyway. We'll see what happens in the future.

I'm so happy! My cat was feeling sick a couple weeks ago so I took him into the vet. He got tested for fungicides and bacterial infections and had somewhat of a bacterial infection, but no fungal problems, meaning he doesn't have ringworm! I let him out of "isolation" last night after I found out :) He has been shut in my room the last two weeks so he was really happy, lol. 

Well, long update.. Hopefully I can start coming on here more now. Hope everyone is enjoying their holiday season! 

Sadly, my Thanksgiving holiday is coming to an end. As I'm sure most other peoples is. 

Today was pretty uneventful unless you count my 7 year old gelding, Calliope, being a jerk as eventful. He gets in this "I hate winter" mood every year and I think it has sprung upon him today. :( Goodbye sweet horse, hello winter-hating demon!

I have been cleaning house all day so it looks really nice when my roommates come back from their weekend getaways. I also straightened up the barn, cleaned my horses' runs, and did other little things around the property.

The most fun thing I have done today is take pictures of the horses. I got some funny ones and some cute ones! I will share my favorite one of all three of my horses together in a second. I tried horse blankets on my horses today and two of them fit Calliope, none of them fit Goldie, and one of them is too big for Twister but kind of fits him. Lol. Calliope was crabby after I put the blankets on him and Twister so he thought he could bully me and Twist.

Got some funny pics of the boys in blankets!

Anyway, I need to start studying for this week's two exams.. And finish cleaning the kitchen and living room.

Enjoy this pic (now my desktop background)!