Archive for the ‘Lookielou’ Category
Life Without Lookie
The days are getting easier every day. I can now tell people that he is gone without crying or choking. I can look at his pictures with crying.
The first day was the hardest. We had to move Little Dude into Lookie’s stall the day we put Lookie down. That was hard for me to do, but I had to. The horse next to him needs a companion at night.
The Friday after, the farrier came out for LD & realized that there was no more Lookie to have done. No more seeing the farrier every 3-4 weeks. No more frantic phone calls and texts telling dennis that lookie had lost his packing &/or shoes. I get to see the farrier in a more normal time frame now.
I miss Lookie & his antics. There is no more dancing horse asking for treats next to the fence. The gates are safe for the moment, as niether LD or Deseo are as smart as Lookie. Don’t get me wrong, LD is a character, just a different type of character. He dives fences. He plays with me in the pasture. He give hugs and kisses (as long as you get down on his level). It is going to take me some time to adjust to this new life.
As far as a new horse, We am looking for one, but it is going to take time. We won’t just settle for just anyone. It is got to be a lot like Lookie. We will know the horse when we meet him. I don’t think that we are going to seriously look until after the winter season is done. The show season is really busy for Paul & I, but you never know.
LD will be showing this season with me as his driver (I hope). Wish us Luck. If everything goes as planned, our first public outing will be September 18th, 2010 in Wellington, FL.
Posted in 
Tags: 
Lookie’s passing
I am sorry for the timing of this post,
but I just didn’t know where to start. I had to do some griefing & some rethinking about things.
So, let me begin. Lookie was put down on July 5th, 2010, after an almost 3 year fight with laminitis. I did what was best for him, not what was easiest for me. I loved him so much, it hurts. We had plans for the winter show season, but they were not meant to be.
We always dreaded the summer. Lookie’s feet were always at thier worst during this time of year. This year was no different. What began like an abcsess or an injury in his rear left leg, became the catalyst for that foot & his front feet. They just couldn’t hold together long enough.
We will carry on. Little dude will have To learn to show without his big brother & Port Mayaka will be emotional for me. I think about him everytime I’m around the barn.
Lookie is with us in spirit & I will never forget him. There will be other horses in our lives, but lookie will always be special in my eyes. I just hope we can live up to the expectations that lookie had for us, now that he is gone.
Driving Trials
So, I signed Paul & Lookie up for the Port Mayaka May Day HDT just a bit ago. I knew that it was that it was their first driving show & to be honest the events leading up to the show didn’t go well, to say the least. I didn’t think that they had a chance of being competitive. We were just going for the fun of it.
1st thing that went wrong leading up to the show was that I got hurt. I sprained my ankle stepping down off a hay bale (badly). This meant that I could not help Paul tack Lookie or be the groom Lookie needed, so I had call in some help.
The 2nd thing to happen was the Sunday before the show. they torqued the shafts of the cart very very badly. I ended up calling the cart maker to find out what to do. the shafts aren’t made any more for the cart & I needed to do something quickly. The cart maker gave us some insight on how to straighten the shafts of cart. The shafts got fixed and the show was on.
The 3rd thing was that Lookie decided that he was going to see if he could fit into the hay area of our trailer while it was moving. He is not the best traveler of the best of days. he is always moving and shaking, but I looked back to see what is was doing and I saw ALOT more horse then I should have. It took me another 1000 feet of Paul driving to tell him to pull over. We pulled over and went back to the trailer. I was right. HE WAS UP IN THE MANAGER!!!!! I could have shot him right there & He looked proud of himself!!! Paul got him down from there the same way he got up there. Lookie never panicked or thrashed. He was a little sore the next day & we didn’t know if he was going to be able to go. He finally got his back popped back in on Thursday and we said we were going to go with him. (Little dude almost went instead)
We took Lookie over Friday afternoon. I couldn’t believe how much more stuff you have to take with you for driving. We ended up borrowing a trailer from a friend in order to carry the horse, carriage & so many other things (thank you, Anna) He settled right in like he had been there, done that. Nice & calm.
Saturday came. Paul & Lookie did their dressage test. They got a 58.91% & the leader got a 53.09%. The cones course was very difficult but They knocked one ball off & we over time by 2 seconds but they were in second place after dressage & cones in the training level horse division.
Driven Dressage Photos – http://www.flickr.com/photos/lookieloudressage/sets/72157623990620598/
Sunday was the hazards. Paul talked to Bob Giles and they decided to go thru all the gates instead of just the required A-B-C ones. It actually worked out to their advantage. Lookie REALLY likes the obstacles and Paul used the obstacles to slow him down a little bit. The came in on time & with no penalties. We also got the photos from the photographer. Now, Paul’s Navigator was a gentleman named Jan Petri. I think he enjoyed the ride with Lookie and Paul for the Obstacle portion of the event.
Obstacle 1 – http://www.flickr.com/photos/lookieloudressage/sets/72157623990980134/
Obstacle 5 – http://www.flickr.com/photos/lookieloudressage/sets/72157623990667628/
Well, at the end of the day, Paul & Lookie Lou got overall Training Level Champion for the show. Not bad for his first time out. he got a very nice blanket. I didn’t get any video from the event because I really couldn’t get around as well as I would have liked to have been able to.
Lookie is going to still be ridden by Paul (as we did this weekend) once or twice a week, just to keep up his suppleness. We did take Lookie to a schooling dressage show this weekend & did rather well on him, considering that Lookie had only been ridden 2x in the last month. We had signed up for the show a couple months before and that show was cancelled because of weather and the entry rolled over to their may show. He did get a 63% on the TL4 test and a 62% on their first ever First Level 1 test.
I think we are going to take both of the boys to the Cypress Keep Schooling HDT at the end of may. Paul will be driving both boys. I can’t drive until I get my foot healed. It is not healing as fast I want it to, but it will be there.
a post.. OH my!
Back to blogging. What a whirlwind. Get another horse and then you look at time, you can’t remember where all your time went. I brought Little Dude (aka Reeses) home labor day weekend & life has not been the same since.
Paul has been continuing to try riding lookie in dressage. He has some success with it. We have also been driving him a lot more. I think it is helping him strengthen his back a lot.
So, let me formally introduce little dude. he is 7yr old 39″ mini. lots of trust/handling issues. I don’t know if he will ever be completely sane, but I love him too bits. he is getting the driving thing SLOWLY but surely. I had to get him a custom harness in order to get one to fit him correctly. We have wrecked a couple times already. It is always for something you didn’t plan or train for when you long-line/drag.
The first time he wrecked the cart, his back foot slid & his breeching bumped into his rear. he bucked up & put his back feet in my face a couple times. Then, he got a leg over one of the shafts and the cart rolled. I got tossed, but I held on to the riens and I got him stopped. he busted up the harness, but the cart was fine. the lesson learned was that he needed to be a little tighter in his rig.
the second time, we got too close to a jump in the arena (note: he doesn’t like when one of the cart wheels leaves the ground) again we bucked, legs went over the shafts & again I was tossed. cart got some very bent shafts and I a very bruised hip. He went back to ground driving until I could re-evaluate the driving issues.
I decided that …
1) he needed a better fitting harness
2) he was getting a kicking/bucking strap
3) he IS going to learn to drive & be a proper young gentleman.
So, fast forward 2 montths from the last wreck. We have been working LD almost everyday & he has been getting better. With the better fitting harness, the kicking strap, and a repaired cart, I think we might be able to a competent driver one day. Lookie has been helping show LD that he can do it. Lookie acts more like a big brother to LD. I am still a little gun shy, but Paul has demonstrated that in his new rig LD can’t get the cart flipped.
Time will tell. Lookie & LD are attending a driving clinic with bob giles in the first part of april. LD MIGHT be going to the port mayaka may day HDT. I have to see how his driving progresses.