Peanut the beautiful

I have to chuckle when you all say how beautiful Peanut it is ...

I'll be the first to admit I thought Peanut was a bit homely and ugly when I first saw her. She was fat, dingy and was really after Limo at first. I really thought to myself, "She's going to be hard to adopt". And then we figured out that she was 5 and not 3 which really made me think that...- there was a mix up at the kennel with her and another brindle female, Wiki Onetime. One look at "Wiki" and we knew she wasn't 3. So my sister Jen did some ear tattoo investigations (all greyhounds have tattoos in each ear) and paper digging and figured out who she was. It was kinda sad too because the person who thought she had "Peanut" had chosen her because of her breeding. Her greyhound that she had just lost had the same grandfather as Peanut. I know that's not saying much, cuz like in the horse racing world the good studs are the ones that sire so many! But it does sometimes feel like fate or a special connection when they are related in some way.

I encourage both you KK and oregonsunshine to adopt a greyhound! It's very rewarding just like taking in an OTTB and it's fun to have a dog with a past. I meant to have this link, Go Peanut Go, attached in the last post. She ran 108 races, won 38 and came in 2nd in 14. She was the best runner of her litter.

She is pretty...

darn cute...

Go Peanut Go

This past weekend I got some good shots of The Nut running. Go Peanut Go was her racing name... my sis was disappointed that I kept the name Peanut, she thought she needed a car name like Limo, but Peanut and especially just calling her "Nut" suits her. It's not always easy, usually she's either too far away or too close... you can click on each pic and enlarge to see her rippling muscles:-) I've been around greyhounds now for over 15 years and I'm still amazed how buff they are and stay even in their retirement. I'm so lucky I can take the girls to the farm with me like I do.

Expectations

Thank you all for viewing the previous video and leaving your comments...first video and pics in six months of us riding. He hasn't changed or improved a bit. But I didn't think he would. The only thing different now in our riding is my low expectation. There was a time I thought I could "work it out of him", what ever "it" was. I thought he just needed to strengthen his hindend and do long and low work outs to loosen up his stiff muscles. I started over with him more times than I can count and worked on building him up slowly. I still wonder how far we could have gone in dressage if it hadn't been for "it". He did so well in some areas in spite of "it" and could even achieve some 2nd level dressage movements quite easily. Not too shabby for a very one-sided horse with an obvious problem somewhere. He still prefers to turn and hold his head left. Most of the time when I ask him to turn right with an open and soft hand I'm met with a grab and heavy pull to the left. That's fine. We can go left.

I wonder what he feels? I know sometimes when I throw my back out or my neck gets a kink in it it's not always a "painful" feeling, but a "I can't move that way" feeling.

Like I said before, I LOVE our tacking up time together, when he's not taking off out of the barn to find some grass he can be really sweet and silly.
Kacy, I don't know what that "flub" in his hindend was. He does it often though in a walk, trot or canter and whether he's undersaddle or not. It's like his hindend just gets lost. I wouldn't worry about Wa though, it might just be laziness on her part;-) -thanks for the comment on my leg, I like to think I still do something right!

Lisa, Lester has always been OK with animals underfoot, I'll blog about our past goats soon! All your goats make me miss them.

How to exercise a greyhound

Spooky would do the exact same thing...eventually she'd realize we were just going in circles so she wouldn't follow so intently. It's still new to Peanut though.

I cantered on Lester the other day, I LOVE his canter. He felt so good that day and I just asked. He's always had such easy transitions too. I got on him again the next day and he didn't feel nearly as good. He stiffened and seemed anxious. So we just walked for 10 mins and I hopped off. No need to ever push too much, we just have to take it day to day. It's not even just the riding him, I love spending the tacking up time with him. He's so goofy and turns his head in the tackroom and sticks his tongue out constantly at me.

I miss you Spooky