Sold!

I have sold the 68" blanket for $40. Oliver only wore in for 3 weeks before out growing it. I just have to find a way to meet up with the buyer to get the money and give the blanket to her. I also bid on a 1680 denier 82" sheet for Oliver on E-bay for $65 + $14 shipping. Its a really nice sheet, and he needs it since he ripped the other one to shreds and it looks like the rain isn't stopping anytime soon.

Blast from the past

I just got an e-mail from Terri (who bought Fawna, now called Hannah) she's moving to PA in August with Hannah. Oliver's parent's are sure well traveled! His dad is in Sweeden now and his mom will be in PA. Sounds like after a couple rough starts Terri and Hannah are doing okay. I hope she gets some training for them both, I think it would make things go a lot smoother for them.
I put my saddle, a 68" blanket, and some way too 'slim calf' tall boots on bayequest.com . If they all sell I will make over $400, possibly enough for a Used dressage saddle and some tall boots that fit.

Civic duty

The meeting was interesting, apparently the money is still there just nothing was being done with it due to unclear needs and uncertain costs. I volunteered to be on the commitee to re-allocate the resources and possibly raise more money. Should be interesing. Unfortunaly I didn't have a chance to go see Oliver but Kelly said he got new shoes yesterday 3/23. I think he keeps getting new shoes too soon. It seems that I'm paying for shoes too often, So I'm going to try to keep good count of the weeks this time.

We want our Show Facility!

I'm headed out to Livermore this afternoon to be a warm body in support of the building of an A-circut show facility at Robertson Park. Kelly is heading up the fight to get back the money that was diverted away from this project years ago without informing any of the local horse people or groups. Should be interesting.

Currently...

Okay.. So much for the history. 2006 has been remarkably uneventful for Oliver. Mostly because of the bad weather. We had a couple good weeks in February and I was able to get out and ride him a lot. Kelly put him in a contraption to help him learn to keep his head down. His walk is really good and I am learning to extend his trot and get some suspension/bounce out of him. In the last week I've only been out to see him twice. Mostly just to feed him carrots and make sure he hasn't ripped his blanket to bits. He is a size 80 and I need to get him a lighter blanket in the next week or two. Unfortunatly this stable doesn't have a covered arena so any rain puts us out of the arena for at least a week.

Moving and training

In April 2004 I moved Oliver and Fawna to the Peppertree reanch in Livermore. We all began training with Kelly Albrecht. Fawna and I got much better at rounding and did a little jumping. I sold her about a year later to a 20 something newer rider named Terri (As far as I know she is still in Livermore and in training for Jumping).
Oliver started his first 6 months of training with some basic ground work, lounging, and ground driving. I bought a harness in November and we started getting him used to the harness and cart. In February 2005 we started him undersaddle. We spent the summer doing both riding and driving with him. I bought a cart at the end of the summer and spent the next couple months refinishing it. By the end of 2005 Oliver was going well and the Walk and trot in the cart and undersaddle. Kelly started some canter work with him and we decided to concentrate on riding for a while. I spent a couple weeks in early December doing alot of trail riding with him.

Oliver in the beginning...

Oliver was born on June 19th 2002. He will turn 4 this year. He was born at a little private stable in Knightsen, CA and was moved to Wild Rose II at 3 weeks old. He was a bit knock kneed but well muscled at birth. He liked to jump out of their stall into the paddock. His mother was a Thoroughbred/Appaloosa mix named Mr. Pro Bubbles, I called her Fawna. I bred her to a Friesian Stallion and Oliver was the result. The labor was unattended but uneventful, she retained the placenta but cleaned up nicely within a couple days. Oliver was born Bay colored with a white spot on his right hip and one on top of his butt. No other markings. Here are the early pictures on the OliverPage
He spent the first 16 months of his life in a pasture at Wild Rose II. He was weaned at 5 months old and was pastured with a black quarter horse colt named Spirit. At 16 months he managed to cut a 2 inch gash under his tounge. After a month of antibiotics he healed and began some 'cowboy training' it didn't go well. By the time he was 20 months old he was running over people when they went to turn him out and refusing to wear his blanket. He also fully consumed a leather halter. All I found was the chin strap and buckle.
In December 2003 he was taken to UC Davis and gelded. He needed to go to Davis for this since he was partially Cryptorchid. Everything went ok and it was a chance to get him used to the trailer.

In March 2004 I decided it was time for Real training and started searching for a driving trainer.

Here goes... something....

Okay, I went and did it. I've made a blog. EEeeewww! The point being to have a record of Oliver growing up and his training. I'm sure someone I know will stumble upon this at some point. Oh well. Similar to Jason's beer blog this will be mostly centered on stuff about Oliver, with perhaps the occational Rant about School stuff.