Nothing stays the same

A girl that was interested in Oakley a while back who has since purchased a different horse, forwarded someone to me that has been looking for a horse for a while. I was pretty reluctant to show him to anyone just yet, he is at his worst and looks like shit; underweight, nicks all over him and a puncture wound on his back leg. This lady was eager to see him, she loved his videos online and was heading to a clinic in OR in a week and thought maybe she could take him to try him out at this clinic. So against all inside of me that was embarassed to show him to anyone, we met her at a public arena in Redmond.

Her name is Janet, she is an exceptional owner and rider.. She has won lots of money and awards including the 2009 Oregon Foundation Quarter Horse Ranch Versatility. She's looking for a solid horse to use out on the trails and to do the trail challenge courses with, maybe work some cows etc. Exactly the type of home I would have hoped to find for Oakley. She was able to look past his weight and nicks and wanted to give him a try, although she is not hauling him to OR this weekend, he's just too out of shape for that much work.

I had a momentary lapse and self destructed in devaluing my own horse when we had to set a price on him. I think I felt so guilty for how bad he looks now that I allowed myself to get talked out of a bit of money for him. For now Janet is doing a 6 week lease and will determine at the end if she wants to A)buy him for $5,000 B) lease him on a long-term basis or C) send him home. I'm okay though with the offer she made because she is such a terrific home that I am staying positive. I met a new friend, I hope to ride with her and Oakley in the future and watch them progress and see just how far she can take him with what she does! Plus.. I know I could get him up to weight no problems, but do I really have the time to get him in shape when I cant even get my ass on my own horse these days. lol

And I have the colt to work with now too. :) He's coming along great. Very SLOW progress, but he is learning to respect me. I was able to approach him and catch him from his right side the other day, that is a HUGE deal because he has been very leary of even wanting me on that side when he has a halter on. So that is progress... I have been able to touch his back legs with the whip (used as an extension of my arm) and he has not kicked. I have brushed him almost all over, started picking up his front legs. I dont trust him and I dont think he trusts me just yet. I also hung a bunch of hay strings on his stall door, yes it looks pretty silly and odd, but I want him okay with random things touching him.

We settled on a name, his new name is Tucker! Derek won the battle in picking the name, of course. :)

Derek's 38th bday was this past Saturday, clearly we didnt end up out of town on our camping trip to Easton, had to cancel it with all the work Derek has been doing lately and with the added horse stress.. just wasnt feasible to get away. Instead we had dinner with Jen/John & Sean/Sophy on Fri night.. We all went back to Jen/Johns place and had some really great conversations mixed in with a few shots, finally left at 3am! It was just really nice to have some bonding time with them all. Spent Saturday night out to dinner with my parents, Eric/Andrea and Crystal/Aaron. A laid back kind of day, worked on our fencing too.. paying my dads x-workers to finish it off with the wire, it will be nice to have that project thorn in our side completed.

Things are looking up for us a little, the hard work of fighting the bank paid off and we are signing new loan documents tonight and I'm sooooo ready to start fresh. Now if we can find a way to add some hours to the day so we can finish some other projects, that would be ideal. Cleanup has slowly started at the Fecht household.. once the fencing is done, we can clean up all the excess wood, get some dump runs out, and clear up the shit outta our shop, shed, driveway, pasture, garage, yard and anywhere else it may be stored... lol