Its been two months since Amble came home.
Photos loaded backwards, so I'll tell this story backwards.
Last week, 6 months 3 weeks old, she went to her first show
at Tacoma Horsemens Unit #1.
She got:
5th in class #13 Halter, Senior 19+ out of 12 horses
5th in class #14 Halter, Color, out of 12 horses
Didn't place class #19 Halter, Open, out of 13 horses
This photos is the only one of us in our 1st class, taken by a gal that shared it online in an FB group
This photo was taken right before a girl ran past us, Amble reared up and came down on my foot. We're waiting for Erin & Mack in class #16.
Amble sure is a pretty girl.
I borrowed this halter from Lans mom; its got a few jewels on it. The silver was badly tarnished and it took me HOURS to get it all off & cleaned up but it ended up very nice.
Erin and I had washed her feathers the day before and they were beautiful
Here she is at 6 months
Withers 51" tall (12.3hh)
Butt 52.5" (13.1hh)
Girth 56.5"
Body/blanket length 56"
Girth x girth x body= 17,8766
divided by 330 = 541.71# weight
Measured mid knee to coronet band = predicted 14 hh at maturity
1" taller at withers
2.5" larger girth
2" longer body
64.6# heavier in 1 month
In mid December we had snow so I turned her out with all the other horses for the first time. Mack had slipped and fallen and was limping so I knew he couldn't chase her as much.
They all got along well. She'd been across the fence from the big boys for 6 weeks so they weren't strangers.
Those eyes
6 month feathers
Wearing Wifi's cooler for the first time in early December
On to January 2022
I got her this lime green rain sheet to help keep her clean but it does nothing for her legs and we have one muddy area that the other horses make her stand in when waiting to come in at night.
January 10th
On Friday, January 14th,
Erin & I bathed her legs and put her into her stall to dry
This was a couple hours later, they were getting dry
These are photos from our second class,
where she got 5th out of 12 horses in Color Halter
Oh yeah, you should have seen those AMAZING feathers when she trotted beside
me for the first time with her beautiful floaty trot and they were flowing.
I paid $61 at the show:
$12 per class x 3 = $36
$15 haul in fee
$10 office fee
$40 gas for the truck
Plus I had paid hundreds for:
my hat
black pants (2)
cowboy boots
shirts (3)
boot socks (4)
and other miscellaneous stuff, like makeup and coffee.
My goal showing her was just to get there and give her the experience. I did all that and I had fun, I was smiling the whole time. As Lan pointed out, I also paid $6,500 for the horse and $1,000 to get her here but over time each thing I do with her will be more economical. I won't HAVE to purchase more boots and hats (but I will).
There is another show at the Unit on February 12th but due to the cost of the classes, we have decided to skip that one. We are looking for more local shows to attend, so we're not paying $12 for a 6 minute halter class. The Kitsap Saddle Club and Silver Spurs have local shows we can attend. I just want Amble to see and experience other places and things.
What I learned at this show:
Amble needs to have people run past her, she needs to hear loud scratchy loud speakers, she needs to have strange horses lay their ears back at her, she needs to travel in the trailer more. All of this will happen over time and I'm doing more here to get her used to it.
On FB someone asked what everyone feeds their horses & if they give them alfalfa and many do. I've been giving her a minimal amount of alfalfa but I'm going to start giving her more. I hope it helps with her soft poop (sometimes like cow patties) that I'm giving her Probiotics for.
Shes currently on 2 flakes of orchard grass in the morning, which lasts all day.
For dinner, 2 more flakes of orchard grass plus 1.5# Mare & Foal grain, 1 lb alfalfa pellets and the probiotics, all soaked. I'll up the Mare & Foal to 3# and give her 3# of the alfalfa pellets and add alfalfa into her hay net.
She will be 7 months old in 2 days and I'll measure her again at that time.
