Tag: #newhorselove

My First Ride On Murphy, My New Horse!

On By DianaIn Barn stories, Living life27 Comments

I have some flowers blooming and so I just had to start this post with this beautiful flower. I have had a super busy weekend as this last week I was asked if I could help take care of horses at the barn. There is a horse owner recovering at home after being in the hospital with a staph infection and I am so thankful she is recovering. She has a good friend who is helping with her horses but she had a planned vacation which is where I come into the picture. I also have had other’s who were away this weekend for one reason or another and in total I have been taking care of 8 horses including my own. Some just needed meds and water buckets filled and others needed meds and some turn outs. Amongst all of this I rode Chloe out with my girlfriend on the trails early morning and then I exercised Murphy Saturday and Sunday I made time after my trail ride to get on and ride Murphy for the first time! YAY! I’m so HAPPY!

As I write this I still have 2 more days of extra horse care. One of the horses will drop off my list as their owners return Monday. I will just turn out my horses the next 2 days since I have to get everything done before I have to go to work in the afternoons. I am thankful it is cooling off a little bit and there has been nice breezes each day so the weather has been good being outside for most of the day. I can’t wait to share my ride so let’s get to it, here he is Murphy doing all grown up horsey things with his new Mom, ME! 😀

I should not admit this but I look so frumpy! It has been so hot, so I am wearing clothes that help keep me cool. But for me it’s all about Murphy, and he looks so handsome!

Aren’t we always so critical of ourselves! And I am rarely in my photos since I’m taking them. I asked to be in this so I need to stop being so critical. However, I do not like the way I look in this photo as I wish I was wearing riding apparel, like English riding breeches. But this is super comfortable for me and eventually I will be riding him in my western saddle as I get him use to it as I want to eventually get him ready to ride out on trail. Baby steps, it will all happen and it is SUPER FUN to ride him English as well. Maybe one of these days I’ll buy a pair of riding breeches, it would be worth the investment and I can ride in my western saddle in English breeches too. I have to say, I am really enjoying this whole adventure!

My first ride on Murphy! What a good boy!

I am so proud of Murphy! For those horse people out there, I lunged him before I rode him and he trotted around like a champ with the saddle and bridle on and remember he hasn’t done anything like this in just over a month. He relaxed on the lunge line, as he trotted around each direction which is what I was looking for before I mounted up on him. We have a mounting block in the arena and he stood perfectly still as I positioned it to mount and he didn’t move a foot. After I sat on his back he just stood there as I patted him and then I asked him to walk! YAY! What a solid horse, not scared or frightened and took everything in stride like he’s done this a hundred times before and I could not be happier. It will be fun to look back at this video as our adventure grows and he gets more and more rides under his belt!

I know they are almost identical photos except Murphy is licking in one of them so I think it is really cute. I like the other one because he has his ears forward! Haha, my girlfriend who took these photos said I’m just clicking and clicking and so I have 8 or 9 to choose from and these I zoomed in and these are I thought good enough to share.

I decided to share more photos of this weekend as I took some of my girlfriend on her horse Roscoe and a couple of photos out on the trail as I rode Chloe with Roscoe! It’s just so fun to share, I hope you enjoy too!

I tried to get both Chloe and Roscoe in the photo as we rode down the trail!

As I share with you my weekend I am thinking of how fortunate my girlfriend and I are to share this love of horses and being able to ride together each week. We are truly blessed and as I mentioned in my previous post my girlfriend and I have known each other for 50 years. We grew up together and rode ponies when we were young so in many ways we are doing what we grew up doing! Haha, that may not make much sense, but it is amazing that for the last 10 years or so we were able to connect and board our horses together or near each other so that we can keep riding together just like we did so many years ago. Who is able to do that? I don’t think a high percentage of friends stay this close.

I did split off in my late teens when I went to a horse trainer and showed in the Hunter/Jumper division. My girlfriend also went off to college so there were some years of separation. We both got married and during our early years of marriage having babies of our own and once they got a bit bigger that horse LOVE never died and only grew stronger. And here we are with grown children and now grandchildren and horses that we love and can ride together. So much to share, I could write a novel. ❤

Thanks for visiting my horsey loving post! I am so excited I can ride Murphy now and will keep ya’ll posted on our progress. I love to share video’s and will continue to make them when I can and with help from my friends. I am thinking of investing in a Pivo as then I can video with no help and I have seen on other posts they follow the horse really well as you ride around the arena. One step at a time I always say… something to think about!

Horse Crazy Mom and Grandma!

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; All About Murphy, My New Horse!

On By DianaIn Barn stories, weekend coffee share23 Comments
  • Welcome to my weekend coffee share where we share what’s been happening in our lives! How are you today?

Welcome and come on in so we can share a cup of Joe. I also have tea are juice? I have so much to share as I am spending more time with my new horse Murphy, I like to call him Murph. He is such a character, as he has figured out that his Mom that gets him out will give him lunch and he just LOVES food. Of course, all horses love to eat and they are meant to graze all day long so being domesticated has its challenges for grazing animals. I have a hay net which is exactly what it sounds like, a big net with with big enough holes that the horses can pull hay through. It is a good way to slow down their eating as it takes longer for them to pull out the hay stems. Hmmm…. I think I will get my hay net out this week and put it up so it will slow down his eating and that should last him longer until dinner. I like it when I give myself good ideas! 😀

He also loves people and he really enjoys the attention we give him and you can tell because he enjoys his head being rubbed and in general he is very pleasant to handle. He doesn’t show any stress and he is so funny when you go to handle him. Most horses put their head up, and may move away from you when you go to put the halter on to lead them out of their stall. Murphy puts his head down and as you put the halter on which he knows goes up around his head, he puts his head lower and lower! Haha, it’s so low I have to bend over to get the halter on! I even pull his head up and even with my shoulders. Dude, you are being kind but almost too kind making me work to put this halter on!

Here is head is up as he almost is posing for my photo! I had to use this halter with the chain over his nose until my new halter arrived.

He is so big and tall that when you lead him without some sort of pressure on his nose, he will bump into you or try and rub his head on you and so he needs to learn his space with ground manners. He is not bad at all, just young and not knowing exactly where his space is and stops and anyone handling him starts! I ordered and just received my dually halter from Monty Roberts. His training halter is awesome and has two nylon ropes that are attached to a ring on each side which acts like the chain in this photo I just shared. What’s great is it applies pressure on the sensitive parts on their nose but with the dually it is kinder and will release when the horse gives to the pressure applied. So it is a great training halter, but until it arrived I felt safer and had more control with the chain over his nose. Now I don’t need it and I will save this blue halter for use at a later date.

  • My new halter!! Thank you Monty Roberts for all you do for horses and people all over the world!

I have been hand walking Murph all around the property as he can’t be worked (or more exercise than a walk) until I have my veterinarian examine his left back leg. He had an injury to his splint bone and the vets in Oklahoma said he will heal up just fine but needed 30 days lay up. I decided this weekend to let him lose in what we call a round pen. He has been so calm that I thought he would be fine walking around on his own and if he started to show too much energy (like trotting around or bucking or anything of this sort) I would go in and take him out as I don’t want him to re-injure himself. He was as relaxed as could be and just moseyed around. What a calm, sensible easy going guy!

He is lose walking around and doing just fine. He is what I call “chillaxin” as he doesn’t seem to have a care in the world!

How’s your coffee, do you need a refill? I have more to share as earlier today (and is why I am late writing this post) I had another fun day at the barn. After my girlfriend and I rode out on the trail with Roscoe and Chloe I took out Murph to walk him in the round pen. He walked around nicely lose while I was in there asking him to walk. I can’t say enough how sweet his personality is as he almost wants to be in your pocket. He wants to put his head in your lap, and he will follow me around and when I went out of the round pen he wanted to come with me! Haha, I wanted him to hang out on his own and then I went back to take him out. He nickers when he sees me coming, so darn sweet!

After I groomed him and did all those things I told my girlfriends there I wanted to try on my saddle, just to get a fit and see if my cinch would fit him. I asked them for help because this is something new I haven’t done with him yet and I wanted him to have the best experience possible. I also did not think he has ever had a western saddle on him and they are bigger and heavier so lets see how you do Murphy! I knew he’s had an English saddle as he was ridden and I saw him on video trotting around with the trainer.

He was AWESOME and did great! What a handsome fellow!

I borrowed a thicker pad from my friend and I can see it’s a bit short for my saddle so I will be buying a wither relief pad to go with my western saddle for him when I start riding him. Miss Chloe has a very flat back with her wither just blending into her back. She is great for bareback riding because she has a back kinda like a couch! HAHA! But Murph is a very tall thoroughbred and they are known for having a tall wither, and so I knew I would need a thicker pad with wither relief which means it is formed higher in the middle to go over their withers or backbone. I was worried my cinch would not fit, but it is perfect and fits just fine. Yay!

My western saddle is called a Circle Y flex tree. The tree is made with plastic and is flexible and so I am hoping with the thicker pad my saddle will be okay and not pinch him along his shoulders where it will sit on his back. I will check again about this as I may need to invest in a saddle that fits him but for now I was just happy he was accepting of the saddle and as my girlfriends and I talked and they were helping me they asked if I was going to sit on him. Wait what? ENABLERS! AND YES! I was so wanting to get on and sit in the saddle! SO…

I was going to just sit on him but why not take a short walk! Lucky there were 3 of us as we walked around a couple times and were done, and my other pony friend took the photos.

There are a couple of video’s but after I loaded them they are very pixelated and not to clean to look at and its from transferring from one phone to another through apps. There will be plenty of time for videos to share of Murph! He was a champ, took everything all in stride as he took each stride around with me on his back! First time! It was such a fun day and I am so EXCITED AND A SUPER HAPPY Cowgirl!! He is just amazing. I Love you Murph! ❤

This is really long but I just had to share. I hope you all had as much fun as I have had this weekend. I will end with this photo my pony sister girlfriend took of me and she edited it to get closer up and as she says, she loves my smile! I’m in horsey heaven! Thank you so much girlfriends! ❤ ❤ ❤

I just LOVE this photo and I have one of my favorite t-shirts on and is from my daughter where she works and is in the Space Force! ❤

Thank you for having coffee with me and for visiting today. I have to thank Natalie for the weekend coffee shares she hosts and if you want to visit more click here and maybe one weekend I will hopefully write and share a little earlier! I get so darn busy it gets very late in the evening when I finally get to finish up my posts so I should call this a coffee share after the weekend has ended! 😀

Excited horse crazy cowgirl!

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; My New Horse Arrives!

On By DianaIn Barn stories, weekend coffee share13 Comments
  • Welcome, can I get you a cup of coffee or tea? Sit back, relax and enjoy my adventures this weekend!

I hope you have more than a few minutes to sit and chat as I have a lot to share! I know it takes me longer to write this than for ya’ll to read it so I am hoping this will be a FUN read. I am over the moon excited as my new horse arrived! I am getting chills as I write this as I cannot believe a Kentucky bred Thoroughbred is residing in Miss Chloe’s old barn stall. Please check out my last two posts (My Weekly Smile and my Weekend Coffee Share for more back story!). I received a call that Midnight Murphy was leaving Oklahoma Friday May 21st early morning 2am to be exact and he stayed true to his name as he arrived in my town just before Midnight Saturday night May 22nd! Here he is in the van, and honestly I am almost speechless how smoothly this whole entire process has been. I have to believe this was truly meant to be and for him to be my horse, without a shadow of a doubt! 😀

He was so calm. He never quivered or whinnied. He just calmly looked around and there was a lot of darkness as where I live there are no street lights. It’s a horse town remember? Its a rural setting in a city and there are only a couple of street lights near my house because there is a Junior High School across the street. Other than that we rely on our headlights, or barn lights if you must be at the barn at night.

I had a stable friend who I didn’t know extremely well stay with me as we waited and waited. We got to know each other sharing horse stories for the 5 hours we waited for the van. She owns an OTTB (Off the track thoroughbred) too, and her horse lives in the barn as well. She is 13 yrs old and raced until she was 10. She wants to use her as a hunter and jump. She is more “hot” with lots of nervous energy, which I believe comes with the territory of a long racing career. She loves her dearly though as she has the sweetest disposition. Midnight Murphy has never raced and is only 3 years old. This is what I want because he will be calm and gentle because he was not introduced to the rigors of racing. In my heart and head I felt I was looking at a very sensible, calm horse so far he is all those things!

These photos are not the greatest, all taken at night but I think totally worth sharing! This photo of him eating was after 30 minutes or so of him checking out his surrounding in his new barn stall. It does have a light, but he stayed out back with the light on in the barn. So I turned the light off, and he came inside and calmly started eating! I took this photo with my flash, and he didn’t skip a beat, spook or snort, just kept on eating like nothing happened. What a good boy!
What I did before the sun went down while I was waiting! I cleaned my saddles! I will start riding Murphy in the English one on the right. And eventually get him use to the Western saddle for trail rides. It is incredibly uncomfortable to sit in the English saddle on the trails. It isn’t made for that kind of riding, and you can see how worn in my comfy Western saddle is by the darkness where my legs reside. You can almost make out like a ghost leg! I have ridden over 100 miles in this saddle over the years!

As tired as I was feeling I was also very excited! I thought he looked comfortable and was not stressing out when I left him for the evening. He never once nickered or whinnied. They often call out when they are moved from place to place or have left herd mates behind. He was so relaxed (or stoic) and calm. He checked out his neighbors and those horses were more upset than him which is very typical. I thought I could sleep soundly knowing he would be okay in the morning. I woke up with this photo sent to me on my phone! A Happy surprise!

My boy taking a morning nap in the sun! I bet he is tired after his long travels. The caregiver at the barn was there early and when she walked into his stall he did not get up. She took the photo and then she said she slowly walked over to him and petted his head! AWW, what a sweet horse! He’s the calmest, sweetest 3 year old horse I have ever owned. Okay, Chloe is the first so he is the second! I can’t forget about Miss Chloe!

Today was get to know Midnight Murphy day! When you enter the stall he just looks at you like, hey, whatcha doing? He is so casual, just hanging out. He loves attention, loves the pets and pats and hugs. Not all horses like to be hugged, they are flight animals so with us being prey they look to see is she going to attack? Well, that’s the idea and what horses can think about but he just put his big ol’ head in the crook of my arms as I scratched his neck and I hugged his head with my left arm. He is the talk of the stables of course, so many of my horsey (pony sister’s) friends were coming and going and enjoying spending time with him as we stood in awe of his height! He is HUGE! But what FUN!! I can’t let something like height frighten me or there will be problems. I don’t let much ruffle my feathers and I have a huge amount of horse experience so I know we will be fine together. (I would never suggest I know everything, because no one knows everything about well, everything or anything they think they are an expert in so I am and always will be open to learn, learn, learn. I try to be a sponge!)

Here are some photos of today with the Murph!

Me and my selfies! I just have to try and this one turned out pretty good! He is such a joy! And isn’t he just Beautiful!!

I have just five more minutes to complete this coffee share before the link closes! So I am rushing to finish this and so I hope you enjoyed having coffee with me for this weekend. I have to thank Natalie for hosting and I will try and visit with everyone too. I hope you all have a wonderful week ahead! ❤

Welcome to the family Murphy! ❤ ❤ ❤

Super Happy Cowgirl,

~Diana ❤

My Weekly Smile; May 20, 2021

On By DianaIn Barn stories, weekly smile23 Comments
  • She makes me smile! Miss Chloe looking pretty!

Welcome to my weekly smile post. It has been a crazy month and I talked about the happenings in this month on my last coffee share post. My last coffee share I missed the coffee share link up, so if you missed it you can click here. One of the most exciting news I shared was that I bought a new horse, and I’m grinning from ear to ear! I am also very EXCITED! I have some more news to share as things are just falling into place and I feel so blessed. I have to thank all my friends and family for all their wonderful support with my crazy decision to buy a Thoroughbred retired racehorse. This horse I bought never raced so I shouldn’t say he is retired, but for whatever reason the trainer/owners who bred him decided that he was not worth racing and so he was responsibly donated to an Equine Horse rescue who rehomes these beautiful animals. I am excited because a place to keep him opened up at the same ranch I keep my horse Chloe. I take this as a sign that this all was meant to be as how ironic I bought this horse and a stall became available!!

Ultimately, this is what I wanted all along but when this horse came up for adoption (the horse rescue is a non-profit, I am donating a designated amount which helps the rescue feed and take care of the horses.) I had to make a decision without having a place to keep him because there were no open stalls where I board. I reached out to a good friend and its actually the boarding facility I had Chloe and Zack at last year and she said they had openings, so I went forward with buying the horse. I was planning on having one horse at one stables, the other horse at the other stables until an opening would become available. Happily, a stall has opened up and my new horse is being picked up early Friday morning in Oklahoma and being transported to California and will arrive early Sunday morning! YAY! (I was told it could take up to 2 weeks, it only took 2 days when I got the call with a schedule for pick up!)

  • This is the only photo I have of Midnight Murphy, my new horse!

I am smiling about my horsey adventures. My girl Chloe is 17 years old this year and although she looks great, her legs are having issues. She is serviceably sound which means she can still go on walks on the trails and I give her pain meds to make her more comfortable. These pain meds are like Ibprofen to us and are easy on her stomach and I know helps with the aches and pains of the arthritis she has gotten in her joints. Since she is still able to be ridden, I have plans on using her to pony my new horse on the trails to help him get use to everything out there and that will help when I start to ride him out on trails in the future. I will then plan on reducing the trail riding as I slowly transition Chloe into retirement.

I have some time, I am thinking at least one year as I go through this transition. Mr. Murphy is 3 years old, so I do not want to rush him either. A young mind is impressionable, and he needs training so I am hoping this mix of a senior seasoned trail horse with a young (hopefully) gentlemen will work for all of us as I figure out how I will work with them individually and together! Haha, I don’t even know if what I am saying makes sense but I have lots of ideas and I can’t wait to see how this adventure evolves!!

As I put all my horse thoughts down here I wanted to share a trail ride I went on a couple of weeks ago by myself on Chloe. We were on our main street in town and it’s such a pretty street I thought I would make a little video. They are always fun to make and I just love to share and I hope you enjoy! It’s just all about the horses this week, they sure fill my heart and make me smile! 😀

I sure love the trails and my bestie girlfriend has a new horse too! Her horse Roscoe will be great to trail ride with my new horse too, once I get to that point in his training. I am just incredibly happy everything is falling into place. This will be an exciting weekend and by Sunday I will be able to share in my coffee share more photos of my new horse! I haven’t decided what I will call him, Murphy is a nice name but I might change it, however Murphy is growing on me. There is also seeing what his personality is like once you get to know him. We will see!

Super Happy Cowgirl,

~Diana ❤

P.S. If you are interested, if you type in Midnight Murphy name on equibase.com you can see his breeding. If you click on his sire or dam’s name it will show you their breeding. You can then click on their sire and dam’s name and see more relatives. I did this and it went back to Secretariat, Bold Ruler and Nasrullah. (So much history! I just love it!) He has excellent bloodlines with his sire (dad) Midnight Lute winning over 2 million dollars and was trained by Bob Baffert. Bob Baffert’s horse won the Kentucky Derby this year (lots of controversy over this win and drug testing.) This is all just so much FUN!

Weekend Coffee Share; Family and Horse Fun!

On By DianaIn Barn stories, Living life, weekend coffee share27 Comments
  • Welcome to my weekend coffee share where we share what’s been happening in our lives with old friends and new!

Can I offer you a cup of coffee or tea? I have so much to share and I can really ramble if you get me going. Should we have some Speculoos cookies from Trader Joes that goes great with a cup of Joe? Yes, sounds yummy! I have missed a few coffee shares as I have been really busy these last few weeks. After I visited with my daughter, the following weekend I visited with my son and his family for Mother’s day. I had such a great weekend with them and it was my daughter-in-laws birthday too! What fun celebrating with them and I soaked in all the family time I could get. It was so fulfilling and I am so happy and thankful for this time with my grown children. I thought I would share a few photos from last weekend before I share some super fun horse news!

My grandkids and me. My grand daughter and her silly faces! They both melt my heart and are a handful I might add!

My grandson is walking all over the place, climbs on the couch and into everything! They just run around and wear out grandma but it’s all great FUN! Alice and I have fun coloring. When I finished up my weekend and was going about my work days this last week I came upon a video of the most beautiful horse that was being worked with a trainer I follow online. To make a long story short I thought to myself I want this horse! He is so beautiful and my sweet horse is getting older and has old injuries that she manages with but I am thinking soon I will have to retire her from trail riding. I thought to myself I think it would help if I had a project and a new horse so that I can let Chloe enjoy her retirement and I can be fulfilled by riding a new horse to train and be my next trail horse. Hmm.. I might even train him up to attend some small horse shows! Fun to dream! 😀

As I went through this process, it was fairly stressful and I thought I have to give it a try and if I am able to buy this horse then it was meant to be and if things do not work out then this horse was not meant to be owned by me and I would then have to look for another. Here he is, the stars aligned and I bought an off the track thoroughbred from a horse rescue who rehomes OTTB’s for a life after racing. He now has a new career and life with me! His registered name is Midnight Murphy and for now I will call him Murphy (but will see how that name fits him as I get to know him).

He has the sweetest face and (us) horse people LOVE their eyes! These are the only photos of him at this time. ❤

I am OVER THE MOON, EXCITED! There is a video of him that I can’t share because it isn’t my video but he is just so handsome and beautiful and all of the things we love about horses. He turned 3 years old May 1st and he never raced. He is Kentucky bred and he is very big and that could be the reason he never raced. He is 17h tall which is very tall for those non horse people. I wasn’t looking for tall or short, I was looking for temperament and he is very calm, quiet and is sensible. I told the trainer he needs a good brain to be a trail horse in my town. She said he would be perfect and that he is like an old soul in a young body. I think of these big guys as gentle giants, and so my journey begins with this beautiful registered thoroughbred!

He currently resides in Oklahoma so first thing in the morning I will be calling for horse transportation. It’s been a dream of mine to own one of these off the track thoroughbreds and as I dreamed watching video after video after video I thought it crazy that I could ever buy one then have it shipped half way across the country to California. Covid has really spurred the industry of adoptions (along with other furry friends), and with the help of this wonderful trainer who is Monty Roberts Certified, Jamie Jennings has helped retrain off the track thoroughbreds with gentle methods from her training. With the exposure with her podcast which I follow and listen too – Horses in the Morning – the rescue who normally adopts out maybe 20 – 30 horses a year, last year they adopted out more than 100! I think the number is 103 which is fantastic! I thought with all the people interested I would not have a chance to adopt, but I did! And I couldn’t be happier. 😀 😀 😀 I feel it only proper to thank Jamie from the bottom of my heart for all she does for these beautiful animals! ❤

I will keep you posted on how the next few weeks go as I get transport set up and hopefully it won’t take too long to get a hauler to ship him to his new home here. I can’t wait to meet my new boy! ❤

Enjoying the trails with my sweet Chloe!
Out on the trails with my pony sister’s! We had a wonderful ride this weekend and it was wonderful weather!

We are enjoying some really cool weather with lots of clouds and a spitter-spatter of rain here and there. I am taking in all the cool weather because the summer is around the corner and with that comes the heat. Maybe this year will be a cooler summer. We do get them sometimes. Chloe is always willing to go out on the trails and I will taper her outings a little bit to begin the process of retirement. In the meantime, my trail rides are so enjoyable and she is such a JOY!

As I share my coffee with you today I am thinking about my family and my horses. We only have this one life and I am trying to enjoy it to its fullest, the best way I know how. I hope you enjoyed your coffee and I hope you all are enjoying your life too! And if you have any dreams, don’t give up on them because you never know they just might come true!

Wolfie and Dublin aka The Brothers! My son sends me these absolutely wonderful photos and I just have to share!

As I share these two with their brotherly love it makes me think how I am sending hugs to you! Remember to stay smiling and enjoy what you can when you can and thank you for visiting with me today. 😀

Happy Excited Cowgirl!

~Diana ❤

P.S. I missed the regular coffee share linkup. It’s been a very busy weekend. 🙂