Ziva

My big news for this year is that we bought a horse.  Yes, a horse!  Ever since I was a little girl, I have wanted a horse.  The opportunity came along, it actually kind of fell into my lap, and I did it!  I bought a horse that had been boarded at a nearby boarding facility, which is owned by someone I know from Church.  I have continued to board her there and the owner, Kari, and I have become good friends.  This picture is from when we first met her at the previous owner's house.

Her name is Ziva and she is 9 years old.  She is a Quarter Horse and Palomino mix and she's really big!  I have learned so much about horses that I never knew before!  They are pack animals and I, as the owner, have to establish my dominance constantly so that she knows who is in charge.  But that's kind of scary since she's so much bigger than me.  I'm learning how to train her and work with her.  I need to do it more.  She's a really good horse and very gentle.  She's really good at trying to understand what I want from her.

A couple of days after we got her, my daughter Lindsay brought her kids over to meet her and they got to ride her for just a little bit.  This is Ivy and Kai on Ziva...

 Ivy wasn't too sure about it, but Kai kept saying, "Up, horse!"  He loved it!

I look forward to really getting to know her better and take care of her so that we can have lots of years of riding ahead of us.