Jan's Redeeming Thunder

05/12/2020

Some things never change. 😂

05/04/2020

They don’t call him a turbo Friesian for nothing. 💨 🐎
Seeing my horses run and play in the pasture makes me so happy.

30/03/2020

I hope you all can help me wish Thunder a very happy birthday! As you can see, he very much enjoyed his cake and shared it with all of his friends 🙂🥳🎉🎈🎂

15/03/2020

It’s not all rainbows and butterflies with a baby. Sigh. I’m thankful I have a *sort-of* patient, handy man husband who fixed it. 🤣

This did NOT happen while he was in the arena working. He was free in the pasture and ran into it like a dummy because he wanted the grass and pony on the other side. 🙄

11/03/2020

Why yes, I did take a break from his workout to take pictures of him during golden hour. 😍

08/03/2020

“People let me tell you ‘bout my best friend” 🥰😂
Magic and Thunder have the best bromance. I’m glad our horses get along Kari Nichols.

21/02/2020

So brave. 😂

17/02/2020

The super nice lady parked next to us at the show captured these adorable pictures of Thunder! 😍 He’s so cute.

And let’s just talk about how good he was standing at the trailer eating his hay! You guys, this horse is the most ulcer prone animal on the planet, and he didn’t have a flare up all weekend. He ate and drank the whole show, and then came home to eat all his dinner. A year ago he wouldn’t have touched the hay net, definitely wouldn’t have drank any water, and may not have finished dinner. Making changes to keep his stomach busy and happy has completely changed this horse’s life. Ulcers can be 100% preventable by good hay, good diet, and a stress free training environment. Thunder is proof for sure.

I’m so proud, and happy with how he handled himself. He’s getting a couple days off due to his puffy leg, but he will go back to work probably tomorrow if the swelling is gone. 🙌🏻

16/02/2020

Today I hauled/groomed for Kari and Tiara, so I decided to let Thunder come along for the ride. He was so excited to get in the trailer and go. I was cracking up, because he is like my giant Labrador ready to go for a car ride 😂. Really it was a boring day for him. He stood at the trailer, walked around the warmup, watched other horses ride around, and lunged a bit. He was excellent. He ate his hay at the trailer, and drank when offered water. Other than calling out to other horses, and somehow banging his leg up (no idea how, but he will survive) he did great. I’m so burnt out on showing it is unreal. I came home pretty bitter, complaining about the politics of it all. But for Thunder, this was a great experience. Looking forward to getting him out and about more this spring.

14/02/2020

Happy Valentines Day ladies 😉😂❤️💕💋

12/02/2020

Ignore my commentary and keep the volume off if you don’t want to hear my voice 😂. I was encouraging him to stretch forward and downward.

12/02/2020

“Hi I’m Thunder and I’m definitely half Arabian” 😂 Someone was a bit spicy today but we had fun free lunging in the arena 🌶

10/02/2020

Some pictures from today. Thunder has been hard at work 💪🏻

04/02/2020

A few pictures from the last few days. Today was awful and wet, but the other two days were gorgeous! So ready for spring.
I talk about what we worked on and where he is at in his training in my journal post if anyone would like to follow that. It is pinned to the top of this page. 🙂

24/01/2020

You know, I usually only post the pretty, majestic looking pictures of Thunder, but just know that 90% of my camera roll is full of pictures like this. 🤦🏼‍♀️😂

12/01/2020

Oh hayyyy. Just another transformation picture. No big deal 💁🏼‍♀️

But for real. Top was a few days ago, bottom was almost a year ago. Bottom looks powerful and pretty to watch in the field for the naked eye, but let’s dig a little deeper-
In the bottom picture he is tense everywhere but especially his shoulder and up his neck. His eyes are wide. He’s running out of control. I don’t mean out of control like I couldn’t stop him, I mean more like he had no idea where his body was. He just knew lunging meant go go go until the monkey in the middle said stop. (not my choice btw)
Now he is calm, responsive to my body language, and relaxed. He trusts me. He uses his whole body. Yes, there’s room for improvement, but I think I’m going to pat us both on the back and enjoy the moment for a little while. 🥰

11/01/2020

Snow Thunder ❤️
Yes, I made him wear his rain sheet to stay dry. I know, I’m the meanest mom in the whole world.😂☃️

06/01/2020

Top picture is April 2019, bottom is January 2020. The past year may have not been perfect, but these pictures speak for themselves. Slow, balanced work is worth the extra time. I promise.

05/01/2020

Starting my 2020 training journal today. I know I’m a few days late, but Thunder hasn’t done anything this year besides sit in the pasture til today. I’m copying the format from a fellow trainer and just posting each session in the comments of this post. It will be easier for me to keep up with. If anyone would like to follow our journey, just click “turn on notifications for this post” in the top right corner, or comment below and it will notify you when I post something new. The goal is to work him 4 days a week, with body work or something light on the 5th day. So only 2 days off completely. He is a busy boy and needs to put that energy towards something productive. I’m also looking forward to driving him this year if I can find a good trainer I like and trust that’s willing to help us. So far I haven’t had very much luck in that department.
Here’s Thunder from today! Big hyoid release! ❤️

26/12/2019

Merry Christmas from Thunder! He got a special treat in his breakfast this morning, and then tried on his new tag from Tony ❤️ Once he is ready to trail ride it will go on his saddle, but for now he can have it on his halter. It has our phone numbers on the other side.

22/12/2019

He actually looks like a grown up horse in these 😭

17/12/2019

Thunder enjoying his hay with his favorite girl, Glory. The real feel this afternoon was 27, but instead of standing in their perfectly warm barn to eat they picked the outside pile. Silly horses.

27/11/2019

Hahaha we totally agree :D
credits: Tumblr

25/11/2019

Mounting block woes 😂 Had an awesome lunge session with Thunder today, and then taught him to step over to the mounting block since his new favorite game is to move his haunches away from the block as soon as I step up there 🙄 He’s such a smart guy. Took him about 10 mins to figure it out, but after that he now steps right up to it and stands for me to climb up and down off the block as many times as I want. I’m so impressed with him.
Also, today was his first time in an English saddle. Which was literally no big deal to him and I was about the only one excited about the whole ordeal. 😆

25/11/2019

Jealous little baby Thunder 😂 He’s ready to go to work this afternoon!

06/11/2019

I posted these on my personal page but had to share here too. Heather did a great job capturing the love I have for my animals.

05/11/2019

More pictures to come, but no caption needed here ❤️ It was a fantastic weekend. All the horses were phenomenal. I cannot wait till next time.

31/10/2019

In about 18 hours this little fishy and myself will be headed to participate in his very first Veritas Clinic ❤️ I’m so excited and nervous, but I know I have prepared him the best I can. Gideon and Wiley will also be on the trailer with him. This will also be Gideon’s first clinic, and Wiley’s second so he’s the old pro. I really have mixed emotions about this weekend. This was supposed to be the biggest event of the fall for Candy and I so it’s very bittersweet. I contemplated not going at all at one point, but staying home feeling sorry for myself won’t help Thunder at all. So I’m packing my bags and we are going!

28/10/2019

When the waitstaff takes forever to deliver your breakfast 🥞 😂

20/10/2019

Just hanging out on the bridge on this beautiful Sunday! Thunder is signed up for his very first Veritas Clinic, which is a little under 2 weeks away 🙌🏻 I am beyond excited! 😬 I think consistent work all last winter/spring, then an easy summer has definitely worked well for him. We are back to the grind now, and he has been so nice to work with.

16/10/2019

Show off 🙄😆

13/10/2019

Sunday verse from The 4 13 Ranch featuring baby Thunder ❤️

10/10/2019

I won’t post a picture of him standing still because he looks like a gangly teenager, but holy cow! This horse is definitely putting in the effort over the tarp today ❤️❤️❤️❤️
Ignore the silver spot. It’s medicine for his bite wound that Wiley gave him 🙄

01/10/2019

Today was vet day at the farm, so enjoy this picture of a very intoxicated Thunder. Per usually he was very dramatic about his sheath cleaning and temperature taking 🙄

30/09/2019

Love thunder, but 🤷🏼‍♀️😂

27/09/2019

20/09/2019

A wild Thunder in his natural habitat.

15/09/2019

We had a great weekend at the Eagles Pony Club Fun Show. Thunder won the reserve champion high point award for the adult division. He was also shown by a junior rider in one of the trail classes, which is absolutely huge for him! This time last year I could hardly catch him. He was unpredictable and very nervous around strangers. I couldn’t be more thrilled with how far he has come.

09/09/2019

He wears way more than he eats 😂