New Horse

      Hello! Today at LMU (the horse barn that I volunteer at) we met the newest member, Shiloh! He’s a chestnut Missouri Fox Trotter.

 He also seems to be really sweet! When I approached the paddock he walked right over and greeted me. I can’t wait to see how he is with someone riding him! This is a really funny picture of him mid-sneeze. 

Also, just a little photo of Maggie’s nose. She was getting her tail washed and braided for a dressage show!

    

4th Of July Parade

     Hello! Yesterday was Fourth of July! This year my dad and I went to the annual Great Falls parade. It was really fun! We mostly went because on Saturday my mom and I were working on the horses costumes and I really wanted to see them at the parade. My mom couldn’t come so me and my dad went instead.

This is Titan. The instructor that I work with cut his hair on Saturday so it looked nice and sharp. I watched her carefully trim away at his mane. With Fjords, the black line in the center of the mane should be a bit taller. This makes it standout! 

There was also this horse in the parade. They weren’t part of LMU but I loved the tinsel!

This is Maggie. She’s a beautiful flea bitten grey. Her owner, Abigail rode her.  

There were also so many ponies! This pony’s name was Hercules and he looked awesome in a headband!

Pony herd!

And to finish it all off, a fellow volunteer drove the tractor behind all the horses! She was in charge of poop control.

There were also other people in the parade. Superheroes,

Spider-Man,

A GIANT truck,

Fire trucks,

Other floats,

And more! My dad and I had so much fun seeing the LMU horses and all the other people in the parade. 

For the rest of the day, we had my friends family over and we watched firework together. I was thinking, next year I should make 4th of July model horse halters!

Hoffman

      Hello! Right now I’m in LA but today I just wanted to talk about a new horse at LMU. His name is Hoffman and he’s half Gypsy Vanner and half Thoroughbred. I can definitely see the Gypsy Vanner and Thoroughbred resemblance. He has that pinto coat (piebald?) pattern and he has the size and personality of a Thoroughbred.

He’s essentially a really big Gypsy Vanner. He’s so tall that I can’t see over him very well, but I like tall horses!

He has such a great personality as well. He will gladly accept treats and he loves the attention of anyone. I think that he’ll make a great therapy horse!

I can’t wait to see how he is with somebody riding him!

Stablemate Tack

I was digging around in my boxes full of model horse stuff, and I found a stablemate! So I decided to attempt a stablemate scale tack set for a girl at a barn that I volunteer at. 

Let me just say, it was ALOT harder than it looks. I don’t know how other tack makers, such as Anna Helt, manage to make stablemate tack so realistic!

     I didn’t have leather lace that was thin enough so I had to cut my own. Then I had to skive everything paper thin. I cut through so many pieces of leather!

My uncle heard that I had no mini whinnies, so he sent me some. Thank you soooo much uncle Hugh!

 

Horse Therapy

      It’s really fun to watch horse therapy lessons, and look at the things that different people use to ride horses.

     I thought that these reins were interesting. Since the girl riding was blind, the instructor tied knots in the reins so that she can feel where to hold them!

     All the saddles also have these handles. The handles are there for riders that need a bit of support, or don’t use reins.  

The coolest thing that they use is this “touch board”. Since the girl is blind, she can’t see the different obstacles in the arena, so we set up this touch board to that she can feel the different obstacles and their locations.  I can’t believe that she remembers where everything is!

     

 

   Oh and another thing is that her little horse figure broke! The instructor dropped it and it’s leg and tail fell off. The little girl had a breakdown because she was very sensitive to changes. Unfortunately I don’t have any mini whinnies, so if anyone has an extra mini whinnie that they would like to give to a little girl, you can tell me. :)

Lift Me Up

For the last two weeks my mom and I have been volunteering at a horse therapy program called Lift Me Up. It’s really fun to help people, and spend time with horses. 

You technically need to be 14 to volunteer, but since I know a lot about horses I’m allowed to come with my mom. 

They have three fjord’s! I’ve never seen a fjord before, and they are gorgeous! It’s really cool to see the black in their mane and their dorsal stripe.

Another thing about the horses is that they’re all HUGE! I was expecting lots of ponies, but no. I could barely see over some of the horses withers!

At the barn, my mom and I mostly tack up and groom the horses, muck the stalls, and other barn chores. I even got to lead a horse in a lesson!

Selfie! (I’m smiling, you just can’t see it) :)