Saito's Dojo
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2005 Fall update
Well we took the plunge and bought a horse.  Horse meant a need for a stables.  Todd, Terry, and Andy heard I was building a stables and kindly volunteered to come over and help me. Which was extremely kind and for the best since I barley know which end of a hammer to swing. Couple of tons of wood, 20 bags of concrete, and a lot of sweating and banged fingers later we have what our vet called "Cadillac style horse stalls".  Thanks guys you did a great job.
To left is what the are looked like when we started.

To the right is the Little Beaver. The coolest tool with the coolest name. This little drag behind auger made digging 20 post holes WAY less work.  Have rented it again recently to do pasture gate poles.  Thanks Todd for recommending it.

 
Left -Walls begin to go up.
Left- Holes dug and beginning pole alignment.

Right -stalls getting closer to done.

 
Getting doors hung.
GERANIMO (NIMO)

We decided to name our horse Geranimo (due to it looking like he has war paint on his face).  Then we came up with Nimo for short.
NIMO!!
WOOF!!!  I would like to interrupt this web page and all this talk about Nimo to point out I AM ONE DISPLEASED DOG!!!  LESS TALK OF HORSES AND MORE TALK ABOUT ME AND TREATS!! DON'T MAKE ME ANGRY!! YOU WOULDN'T LIKE ME ANGRY!!!
Photo's of Kris's first ride on Nimo so far.  Would like to show you photo's of Dave's first ride. Would like to but cant. It didn't last long enough.  Geranimo was named correctly. cause my first ride was like Skydiving without a parachute...all I missed was yelling Geranimo.  less than 10 seconds in he began bucking and managed to throw me onto my shoulders(almost my head)
UPDATE - 7-7-04  Well I am now riding Nimo. We had to take him to a trainer who worked him for 1 month. During the last 2 weeks of that month I went to the trainers and I was taught how to ride and how to work the horse.  Bill Horton was our trainer. He was recommended by our vet and happened to live near my house. He is a great horse trainer and a really good person.  He went out of his way to help me and Kris out and help me get trained.  He says if we continue Nimo's training on our own at our house we will have a great horse in 6 months.
And for all you smartypants who thought it was funny that nimo threw me on my head and  who were saying I would never ride this horse please be sure to click on this photo--->

 to enlarge and see details just for you.

 And for you smartypants who thought that was funny 

Click HERE
   
WE bought a MULE!!!! 7/1/04

Jason is a friend of and works for Bill.  I told him I was interested in a mule after seeing his mule and others and riding his mule. He found us a good beginners mule.  We bought it from him and have added it to our training with Nimo in our back yard.  Her name is Clair and she is a App-mule. She is coming around quick to being very friendly and looks like we got a great mule. We are really great full for all the effort Jason went to make sure I got off to the right start on mule ownership.
7-19-04 update
Nimo saddled and head tied to teach him to keep his head down.
Kris and I bought a old mule saddle at auction years ago for almost nothing.  We recently had a saddle rebuilder fix up this saddle.  Wish I had some photos to show how bad it was originally cause he did a great job making it like new.
Nimo and Claire have taken to rolling in the dirt which is really funny to watch. The following are rolling photos.

 

BANG!!  PLAY DEAD!  GOOD MULE!

I knew Claire was a devil (that's why we get along so well). Now the camera proves it!!!...check out her eyes.
We began cleaning out the barn to store hay and put in a indoor riding arena.

Coming soon to this space----Photos of the new completed riding arena!!!
Here is us hauling hay. These were loaded with a tractor and Kris and I unloaded them by hand/back/kicking.
 
BIG NEWS NIMO THE BONE BREAKER IS GONE!!!  Oct 2004

We traded him for a 4 year old Paint mare named Penny who was being ridden alot.  She is much gentler horse and is ridding well.
PENNY!!!
Penny came to us with a case of what we think is mud fever. Its a fungus or bacteria that eats hair. She had it around her legs. The previous owner thought she got it from standing in water too long. 
Here is a close up on her ickiness when we got her. It is almost gone now thanks to Kris treating it daily and looks way better than this now.
What do you get when you move 13 tons of sand with a shovel, rake and wheel barrel and climb around on tall ladders hanging lights?   A indoor riding arena so you can ride all winter and during rainy days or even at night. Here is a Photo or the arena...well 3 photos spliced together..I cant believe this worked so well.

As always click to enlarge photo.
We rode Penny and Claire in the new arena last night Oct 20th 2004.  Was fun to be able to ride Claire in a larger area than just her stall.
 

 
 2005 Spring update- My mule Claire has taken to spooking or being scared suddenly for no reason.  When this happens she runs and bucks or runs and stops hard enough to throw me.  This has resulted in a a lot of injuries. The most recent injuries almost killed when she diagonally collapsed my chest and lungs. I chocked a while unable to breathe or call for help or stand and finally blacked out. Apparently my body relaxed when I passed out and lungs started working again.  After much soul searching and help from my Farrier I decided to sell Claire.  To see more on this story go to this page.