I Am Back! Major Updates

I am back after over a year of absence, I finally feel like I'm in a good enough place mentally for my return. I haven't gone into a depressed state in over a year, which is a huge accomplishment for me!

I have a new laptop, my old laptop is currently giving me the black screen of death, and we're going to try to save everything off it as I have tons of art, characters, photos, and writing on it. 

Anyways, I'm back to my old name as well, so I'm sure many will be pleased with that. There's some noticeable changes to EV, so I'll be trying to navigate my way through all of it and more I'm sure through the next few weeks.  

So, updates, I am 21 and will be 22 next year.  

We also have a new addition (other than a bunch of fish)! 

Meet Whimsical Sweet Pea, our Friesian x Pony cross filly!

She is solid black and looks like a Miniature Friesian, so we may need to do some DNA testing to figure out what exactly

her dam was. As our vet confirmed her sire was 100% pure Friesian (she used to do vet work at the farm where Sweet Pea was bred). 

My best guess for her other breed is Welsh Section C or Section D. A Connemara is not out of the question either, it just depends on how big she ends up being. At the moment she is approx. 12.1 hh, she was around 11.3 hh when we bought her. The string test suggested she'd max out around 12.3 hh to 13.0 hh which would be wonderful. 

She is a strong dressage prospect and definitely a driving prospect. I'm hoping to do Hunter Jumper, Western Dressage, Competitive Trail, Pleasure Driving, and In Hand work with her in the future. Sweet Pea is currently a bit mare-ish, but

she is in the "terrible twos" stage so I don't get frustrated with her as Loki when through the same thing in his growing stages.

Sweet Pea is very smart and picks things up quickly; and I think she'll do great learning liberty, horse agility, and tricks which will help build my bond with her. I would say she's arguably the closest to me right now. 

Her trot and canter is truly something to behold as it is pure Friesian with high knee action and what I like to call "floaty" movements. I can't wait for when she's ready to be ridden as that will be so fun to ride. 

Now a little bit on Sweet Pea's backstory and her rough start to life plus the hilarity of how we came to find her. 

Sweet Pea was born in late 2017 at a exotic animal farm, stable, & "zoo" that has a horrible reputation in our community. 

Her sire is a purebred Friesian stallion and he was apparently being bred to small broodmares of unknown breed to produce Friesian pony offspring. I can only hope they weren't something like Shetland ponies or Hackneys as that'd be extremely inhumane to the mares. But, I wouldn't put it past this farm to do that.

According to her previous owners, rescuers, and Margot, our vet, the horses on the property were beginning to look worse and worse; thus since the county wasn't stepping in several equestrians did, by purchasing horses from the farm and taking them in to rehabilitate. A unofficial rescue that's only less than a mile from us obtained Sweet Pea, presumably with her dam and some other horses. 

Her previous owners said she had been skin and bones when the rescue got her and they bought her from the rescue. 

Her previous owners had her for close to a year before they offered her for sale due to no fault of her own. They were moving and their new place didn't have water set up or proper fencing either. Thus for fairness towards her, they offered her for sale. 

Thus here comes the hilarity of how my dad found out about her. They were having a moving sale and my dad stopped by to have a look. He got to talking to them and then noticed they had a pretty black pony in a pen in their backyard. He asked about her and learned they were selling her too. He met her and then decided to come get us to come out and look. I wasn't sold immediately and was a little too critical, but I was just overwhelmed and having a bit of a sensory overload. 

Anyways, the next day I was regretting my decision and low and behold so were my parents as they went behind my back and called the owners saying we'd buy her. The funny part is how we brought her home. As keep in mind this place is just like a half mile from our place, so we saw no reason to hook up are big ole horse trailer for a petite little pony a half mile away. Thus we had my mom drop us off over there in the car with a pair of leadropes, paid for her, and walked her in hand home. She was an angel the whole way and although we had a few funny looks; I think our neighbors are used to it by now. 

If you're curious on how much she was; she was an excellent price  ($350) AND she came with all the equine stuff the family had thus she was more like $250, as the stuff included was nearly $150 worth of stuff, including supplements, salt blocks, halters, leadropes, two grooming kits, fly spray, wound care, vet wraps, leg wraps, a feed bucket, and three tail bags as she has a stunning tail. These were all the best quality money can buy from Tractor Supply.

She came with the same Grace, which we changed to Sweet Pea; with her full name being Whimsical Sweet Pea since I plan to show her in the future. After purchasing her from where we did, it really makes me wonder what our other neighbors with privacy fencing are hiding in their backyards xD

For the first 3 weeks or so we had her separated from are other horses to kind of see who she was getting along with over the fence. It turned out that Rosie absolutely despised her thus, she couldn't go in with her and Mack, which left the Minis. My mom let them out together and they got along wonderfully; now they're best pals. 

Sweet Pea's presence brought Loki out of his depression and brought life back into his eyes. As after Sidekick's death he just lost it; and was very depressed and acting out. Now he's our little angel and greeter, and reminds us of Sidekick in his younger years. 

I am now doing Liberty training with him and he is doing wonderfully. He is super attentive and frisky and by the end of the sessions he is super chill and relaxed which is great when I try to desensitize him to various things. I'll also be starting to do some in hand jumping with him, which he didn't take to when he was younger, but I think he may enjoy now that he is an adult and also a gelding. 

Chance is the liberty master and is my little prince charming. He is helping me teach Loki proper Liberty etiquette and manners. Yesterday I did a 15 minute session with the pair and they did a side by side trot in perfect unison which just about had me crying in happiness. As a problem I have with them is they do get jealous of each other when the other is getting attention and will start nipping each other; which is kind of hilarious at the same time. But, they're getting better with that and it truly showed yesterday as when I asked them to join up they did it perfectly. 

Anyways, you can see I have been having fun with my horses. Oh and if you're confused on who "Loki" is; we changed "Shawn's" barn name to Loki as it fit him better. 

I will post pictures shortly! I had a bunch on my old laptop, but since I haven't transferred anything over yet, I will need to go out and take some new photos in a few minutes while I am giving them their breakfast. They're all a little chubby and I'm trying to give them exercise along with their diets to work through that. 

I am so glad to be back and once all my psd files and finished tags are transferred to my Alienware desktop computer (my new laptop won't be used for much artwork) then I will post all those here and issue any refunds needed. I am so sorry for that sudden hiatus last year, but I am back and will try not to let it happen again. Hope everyone is doing well and 

also would love to hear anything new with all of you or photos of new pets you got this year or sometime last year.

So glad to have you back Sibbers :D

Welcome back Sib! I've also taken a break for a few months and before that been very on and off since the purchase of my pony, Poppy, 2 years ago

Welcome back!!

Welcome back! Glad you and Loki are doing better. Can't wait to see the pictures when you get them. :D

Sibby!!!! ♥ *hugs tightly*