Fleetwoods Bold Grace

[Ash]

So I'm thinking it's time to make one of these for Miss Gracie.

Shes been home now for almost 2 weeks and has settled in great!

I'll start from the day I went to bring her home.
I left for Deerlake on a Friday and had the pleasure of spending the night with Maggie. Maggie, Shelly, Cassondra, and I went out for supper that night which was very nice! Then Maggie and I went back to her place. We stayed up real late, got to know each other really well and actually became great friends real fast. We both agreed it's like we've known each other forever. We laughed, cried, and did it all that night. I'll never forget it.

The next morning our adventure began! As many of you know, Gracie was born at Maggie's. The pasture she was in is where she was born (well in the stall in the pasture) and that has been her only home up until then. So we had the pleasure of trying to get her out of that field! We took Skip, Marquee, and Gracie (who did not know how to lead at this point) down from the back field closer to the house/drive way. It was an adventure let me tell you!!!

After they were down and settled, Shelly came with her trailer. She also had her own adventures that morning. Had the truck and trailer hooked up, everything good to go, took one last walk around and BAM flat tire!!!! So she then had to unhook everything again and get that fixed. I <3 you Shelly!!!!!!

So once she got to Maggie's we opened the gate and back into the driveway and parked. Of course everyone got all excited when this happened. So we just kind of hung out for an hour or so to let things cool off. During this time the horses became very interested in the trailer. We got Willow on and put some hay on the other side. Marquee was the first to say well I want in on this and got on the trailer hahaha. When she had enough she backed off like a pro! Super girl she is. And Gracie (being Marquees side kick) started looking and smelling and then her front feet went on. So by this time we decided it was time to get going. Maggie took a bucket of feed and on she went! I was so proud of her. We shut the doors, opened the gate, and off we went.

The ride home went great! Could not have asked for better. Cars, trucks, BIG trucks, everything went past us and nothing out of her! Keep in mind this was Gracie's first time out of her pasture, so also her first time seeing/hearing all of these things.

So we arrived home. She backed off the trailer perfectly. And once Willow was by her side she walked right to her new turnout. This was also her first time in with Willow but they got along great! First thing though, they ducked the dividing fence and popped in with my other horses hahaha. Nothing happened though, it was kind of a split second thing, in and out in under a minute! So we put another line of fence across there and was good to go.

So Willow and Shelly stayed with me for a couple of days which was absolutely fabulous and I loved every minute of it! We did a little barn hopping, saw Lacey's boyfriend play with his band, watched a totally weird movie, and just had a time!!

But of course all could't go that smoothly. The day before Shelly was leaving I backed up into her truck So she now has a BIG dent and a LONG line of red paint left on her blue truck! Not cool. Luckily my dad dose paint jobs and body work for a living so the first horse show she comes in for this summer she gets a new paint job on her truck!!!! So sorry Shelly!!!! I felt like a total dummy!!! Hahaha

So since then Gracie has settled in really well. She shares a turnout with my old man Skipper and he adores her.
We have been working on ground work. Leading is a big one but she has caught on very fast. She will walk forward, back, turn both directions, and halt. We are still working on her understanding she has to do this EVERY time I ask haha but she really is doing great! She has had so many firsts in the last 2 weeks.
She has learned the barn isn't going to eat her and now comes and goes freely (the first few days she wouldn`t have anything to do with it). She is coming along well with giving her feet when asked. She loves to be groomed and is a totally puppy dog when it comes to attention.
The next thing I want to concur is tieing. Shes never been tied before put she is doing good and responding well to having pressure on her poll. She has figured out that if there is tension on the lead and she steps forward it will go away. So I don't think I'm going to have too much trouble with this.

I am in no rush with her though. I am completely enjoying taking these baby steps with her and still letting her be a baby her self. I am very satisfied with my decision to have her and I think we are going to have a great time together. For everything that has been thrown at her in the last 2 weeks, she has been a pure angel.
And yes!, pictures soon I promise! Shelly does have a few though if you want to bug her



(pictures about were taken by Nat)

[Suzanne]

sounds great Ashley!! I am so happy for you and Gracie! I can't wait to see the progress you guys will undergo! I'll be out to visit this summer for sure! Maybe, just MAAAYYYBBEEEE Gracie's little godmother Echo will make it out to see how she's doing too!!

Sounds like you are on the right track and in the right mind set for little Gracie! I can't wait to see you guys in a few years time!

[nat]

Gracie is a gem! I will always have a huge spot in my heart for that sweet creature. Those pictures are certainly adorable! I'm so happy she has such an amazing home with you. The way this horse moves takes my breathe away... hence the 100 million pictures of her on Facebook. I think she's going to make you a stunning DRESSAGE horse haha... but I'm sure she will excel at anything she sets her mind to. I can not talk enough amazing things of this horse.

I just may have to pop in for visit if I'm ever passing through! Just sayin' xoxo

Give her some/ lots of love for me

[shelly]

Love how well you two are doing together!!
I had an awesome time over Easter, even with the unexpected adventures and mishaps thrown in, hahaha! ;D

I'm looking forward SO much to coming out this summer to show and ride my ponies and see how great things are going witih Gracie!

[ruth]

I know Maggie is thrilled that you bought Gracie. She couldn't have asked for a better home and more patient person to work with her.

[Becca]

maggie has to be one of the most genuine people i've ever met, i visiting even just talking to her!
im glad gracie has settled in, maggie couldn't have asked for a better home i'll hopefully be out sometime in the future for a visitt!

[Ash]

Thanks guys. The encouraging words mean a lot, they really do!

Today I kept the horses in for most of the day. We decided to have a snow storm this morning...great! My other 3 were kept in their stalls and Gracie was left to wander the hall, her stall and outside if she wanted. She has never been confined to a small space before so I don't want to "bar" her in her stall until shes 110% comfortable with the place.
So I go down this afternoon to let everyone out and to feed. I noticed Gracie wasn't outside so I figure she is in waiting for everyone else to go out. Go in the barn and still no sign of her. I have half walls for my stalls so I could see in her stall that she wasn't there. I actually started to panic for a second until I walk over to her stall door and there she was, curled up in a little ball in the middle of her bedding sound to sleep!!! What a little angel she was. I wish I had a camera on hand.
Once she heard me she got up and then we all went about our business. Still so proud that shes fitting in so well and feeling so comfortable here!

We did some leading today. She was really good and responding well. Had a couple of spooks at the horse eating ghosts in the woods but we soon got over that and continued on. Over all, great day!

Still no pics Tried but the cam was being a pig and wouldn't turn on, so hopefully next time!!!

[Ash]

Gracie has been doing consistently well with her leading over the last couple of weeks. She is really good at picking up all of her feet now. And she now ties!! Happy about that one! Tonight we had little fright though where she got the lead wrapped around the back of her head but she just started pulling back and as soon as I spoke she stopped. I took it off, re-tied her, and we went about out business as if nothing happened. Whatta lady bug she is! We also started the basics of lunging today. Only for a few minutes but she seemed to get the idea.
We are going to continue practicing the things we have been doing for a while. I´d like to have these things down pat before trying anything new.

Ashley & Gracie

[Danielle]

Great to hear she's doing well, you two are going to be amazing together

[Ash]

Well, guess it´s about time for an update.
I am in absolute love with my baby lady! She is such a good girl. So far she has pretty much concurred everything I have asked of her in the arena and barn.
In the barn, shes ties very well now. Almost ready for cross ties. She loves to be groomed but that was never an issue anyway, she has always loved being loved! She loves her stall, pretty much askes to come in at night haha. Picks up her feet nicely. Getting used to spray bottles without issues. She didn´t mind being sponged down. If the weather ever becomes summer here she will be introduced to the hose.
In the arena. Her leading is good. She will back up very well, almost have her to the point where I ask her to stop and when I turn around she knows it´s the cue to back. She will turn allll most on a dime, it´s getting there. No fuss though. She has no problem what so ever leading through gates/doors and turning to wait for me to close them. I can swing the end of the lead all over her and any where around her and she doesn´t notice. I can hop up and down next to her and, again, it´s as if I´m not even there.
So now I am going to begin to work with her out side the arena. She has some separation issues with my horse Skipper. They are pretty much attached at the hip. So I would really like to get her to the point where we can calmly work out of the arena and she knows she will return to him. We have been doing a little but I wanted to wait until she was comfortable enough working in her comfort zone before I took her out of it. But we did how ever have our first encounter with a moving vehicle the other day and it went MUCH better then I had expected.
I over all have no complaints about this horse. She has taken everything that has been tossed at her with pretty much no fuss. Her confidence is building and she is just a pleasure to call my own!
Oh and she has officially reached 15 hands at the wither!!

[oxmaybesoxo]

Aww...Ash she sounds like a super star

I hope she continues on like this if so she should be a breeze to back!!!

[htrimm08]

ashley, your gonna have to update us on Gracie! some piccies maybe?

[Ash]

Haha oh my I know I'm horrible at this! I barley scraped by keeping my kids baby books updated!!

But a lot has happened since the summer. Since I last updated, she was doing wonderful. Her leading was great. Lunging was coming along nicely. We were beginning to learn about roads, traffic and all that scary stuff and she was taking it all in as a pro.

Then late summer my family bought a new house. So we moved from one edge of town to the other. She was perfect to trailer. It was the first time back on since her long ride from Deerlake, which was her first ride ever, and she was perfect!

So she was settling in nicely to her new home and we were getting back to business with our work and then hurricane Igor hit! I didn't have my barn finished and the horses had to get in out of all the rain. After we moved from our old house, I was asked if my barn could be used for the winter, which I had no problem with, but then I was kind of in a panic and didn't know what I was going to do with my horses during this crappy weather. So I got in touch with the Blands and they were happy to have us stay with them.

So back on the trailer again! It was nuts!!! It was Kathie Lane, Kevin Dillon, and myself in the POURING rain trying to get 3 cold, scared horses on a trailer. So after some coaxing we got them on. She was a little harder to get on this time considering the circumstances that day but she did get on and was fine for the ride. (My heart goes out to Kevin and Kathie for that by the way. I don't know what I would have done with out them! I probably would have had to bring them in my basement for all I knew )

So we got there, got them off the trailer and into the barn and they were happy. We stayed for about a month seems there was no rush to get the barn done and get out. She enjoyed her stay very much. She met all the horses (which she loved)and all the cows (which were a bit scary at first, haha pretty funny to watch her looking at them).

While we were there we had the chance to work on some desensitizing. We got over the cows, seen lots of new and interesting things, was actually stalled for the first time (my last barn she has a run in stall so she was never actually stalled), had her first vet check since I owned her. Although the vet check didn`t go over all that well but she was excused because that was a couple of days after were first there and she was very excited and nervous to be in the barn after the crazy arrival. But by the end of our stay she would come in and out of the barn with out a blink of an eye. Very proud of her through the whole thing.

Then about a week ago my barn was finished and it was time to go home. She got on the trailer with little fuss which I`m so glad of because I thought for sure with the last trailer ride and the craziness of it that she was ruined for sure with trailers. But no, she was fine! They were happy to be home and loved the new stalls.

So all in all there has been lots of holds put on actual training but she has had a ton of different experiences and took them all quite well for a little baby who left her field for the first last spring! But when saying that her leading now is just like leading any old horse, she just goes anywhere you ask. She will back up, turn both directions and stop on voice command. She`s going great with having her feet handled, she still doesn`t like trimming all that much but it`s coming and she will tolerate it.

I love her very much and getting her has to be one of the best things I have ever done. I`m just so looking forward to a long happy life together. Oh and the baby girl became a little lady a couple of weeks ago, she lost her baby teeth!!! And I got one to keep!!!!!!! Most exciting thing ever!! Hahaha. Yeah it was pretty cute, I must say.

And I will get pics...I promise! I am horrible with bringing a camera with me but I am so over due to get some new ones of the crowd. So soon I swear!

[Ash]

They have all settled back in very nicely since being back home. So Gracie has started back to learning.
Most of what we are working on is learning to stand patiently while being groomed, being away from the other horses, walking up the road, some lunging, saddling, and I have been on her back a couple of times!
She is doing well with it all so far. She was so herd bound but she is getting over that. I am beginning to be able to get her away from the others and have her attention. Standing is coming along but she finds it hard to stand still sometimes, haha, but she is learning.
She lunges fine but we don't spend a whole lot of time at it just yet. Mostly just keeping the basics of it in her head until we are really ready for it.
The road work is coming. She doesn't mind traffic she is mostly bothered by thing in the yards along the way and barking dogs haha.
She don't care at all about a saddle on her back. Have had one on many times now and she just really couldn't care less.
And the part I'm most happy with is that I have been sitting on her back! 3 times now haha. Way proud of that!!
So these are the things we plan to concur before doing much more. Bridling will most likely be next but we're not in any rush for much more then this.
And pictures soon I promise. I have to wait until I can get to my dads because at our new place all we have for internet is a turbo stick and uploading pictures is brutal!! SO soon I swear!