Dodger Jr. ( CBER Cracker Jax)

[webmistress32]

Cracker Jax Feedlot pics - November 2006:





we adopted Dodger Jr. from CBER in Nov 2006. his name was Cracker Jax but he was for my son who is seven and wanted him named after his old horse, an appy named Dodger ;-) so now he is "Dodger Junior" (aka Jr.)

we had planned to use Jr. as a lead line pony but then in May we needed him to pinch-hit as a Pony Club pony when my 12yo daughter's pony developed a nasty abscess and had to sit out several planned activities (D2 uprating which the pictures are from, Pony Club Camp five days of XCountry and dressage, 2 mini events and coming up: D Rally)

Jr. is quite the HIT. he had no idea how to jump or canter in May but by Camp in July he was leaping over 2' fences with ease - never looks funny at any of them, never refuses - doing simple dressage tests with two whole canter leads and playing Pony Club games like a pro. he placed 2nd in his first mini event and had clean XCountry and stadium at his second mini. he is amazing.

he is absolutely the biggest surprise of our summer!!! he really seems to be enjoying himself. I am sure this is the most riding he'll see with us as my daughter's pony will be back in commission soon and my 7yo son isn't ready for riding at this level, but Jr. is just having a blast. he is probably anxious to start the nice quiet retirement I promised him when he got here in March but meanwhile he's getting the ride of his life.

I have been so so so surprised and just beside myself with happiness at what a great pony he is, I had to post this somewhere I knew folks would understand ... :-) ... thanks for listening!


Laura

[cybercat]

I have thought about you and Cracker Jax so often since you adopted him...and am thrilled that you found our new board...! He looks great and so do you and the family. We love these stories.

Would you like me to retrieve his original thread from the old boards?

[webmistress32]

Hello no need to repost his original thread. I am just so over the top in love with this pony and so are my kids, I had to share!

[swissgrl]

he looks sooo happy, and so do your kids. Thank you for sharing. I love coming to this section, and reading about the happy new owners of these horses. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy ;D

[ljbrooks]

What a great thread! I love that he is doing so well.

[atticus]

He is awesome and sooooo cute!

[patrolhorse]

Love the pictures!! Thanks for the update Laura.
This is the wonderful outcome we all wish for when these horses go to their new homes!

[Tate]

What a delight to see him in such a wonderful place...thank you for adopting him.

[webmistress32]

Update on Junior: this past weekend he attended Pony Club D Rally with my 12yo daughter. D Rally is a Mini Event with Dressage on Day #1 and Cross Country and Stadium Jumping on Day #2.

In addition to the riding the kids are scored on their Horse Management and Stable Management with several formal inspections during the day on the horse, the tack, the riding wear, the stall, and the tack room. This part of the Rally is highly structured and proceduralized and quite competitive. The kids help themselves and each other, no adult interaction is allowed.

Each team is comprised of five kids at the D level (in this case a mixed team of D2 and D3): four ride and compete and one stable manages (keeping the other kids on point with their stable and tack room management and keeping them on time to their rides and formals.

Grace and Junior had one of the best Rally performances for a D2 team at the entire show of 35+ kids at the D2 level. They had a mid-level 49 for Dressage but only one error on Cross Country (many kids didn't get around or had huge penalty points for multiple refusals, falls, etc) and a clean stadium round (one of very few).

Their team was the "Flashy Foxes" (our club is affiliated with a local FoxHunt) and they got FIRST Overall and SECOND in Horse Management. :-) :-)

[swissgrl]

Wohoo, Congrats, Dodger Jr. looks so flashy!

[atticus]

That is awesome!!! Junior is a great guy!!

[halfwayhome]

HEY FANTASTIC! He looks great and happy and so do the kids! I love it. Good job all of you and what a cool guy! Thanks for sharing.

[ljbrooks]

That is so great! I love checking this thread. It makes my day brighter.

[webmistress32]

We are going through our show season photographs now, deciding what to purchase. I found these cute photographs (proofs) from the professional photographer at the Fox Valley Mini Event in mid-July of Grace and Junior.

Isn't he the cutest jumper?




I am waiting for some of the Pony Club moms to send me some pics from Pony Club camp; hoping to get one or two of Jr at "Games Night", which of course he excelled at (like everything) I will post them here if I can get some.

Junior had such a nice time this summer but my girls leave in two weeks to stay in northern Michigan with their dad for school. So hopefully my 7yo son Kane will pick up where Grace left off and Junior will have a year or two of nothing more than trails, walking, trotting and cross rails. I think he will like that.

He also needs to gain another 50lbs or so, and he has what looks like some squamous cell cancer on his sheath that will need to be treated. So in summary he will be spending his "off show season" being primped and pampered, medicated and rested.

Laura

[atticus]

Jingles for the little man!! Have a nice time off. He is cute as a button that is for sure!!

[crum]

He has tucked his knees so nicely in the second shot.

Hopefully he will enjoy his winter off!

[webmistress32]

More Junior photos. Here he is braided for a hunter show in late June. I just remembered these photos were online. We are writing Junior's story for our local newspaper. I hope they publish it.

He spent this past Sunday doing games on horseback - first a "kid quadrille", then egg & spoon, costume class, obstacle course and musical stalls. He's a winner!

He seems to be gaining some weight. I talked with the Vet about his little cancer spots and he says with Junior's age (20+) if they are not growing or changing then best to let sleeping dogs lie...

Meanwhile his new routine is he likes to come into a stall at night around 800pm and get two leaves of the "Good" hay (freshest, greenest grass hay with a little pinch of alfalfa) with his dutch doors open to the paddock. No one bothers him so he can relax. He gets his nose down into the pile of hay and makes this hay bowl so that the little tasty bits fall into the middle and he can scoop them up first. At midnight we have to come back to the barn and put him into the pasture with the rest of the herd.

I swear this pony can talk. He has his routine just the way he likes it, he is training me very well. :-)

[paintedlady]

This little guy is a true rescue miracle ;D He is amazing and quite handsome. I love endings like this or should I say new beginnings. I am that someone would throw him away

[atticus]

He is the best guy!! I am a huge Dodger Jr. fan!

[webmistress32]

It was the description of him that did it for me, here is his original feedlot rundown. Had it not been for the full endorsement of the assessment team we would probably not have adopted him:

Cracker Jax- PENDING!
Post by cybercat on Nov 28, 2006, 11:54am

20+, 13.2h, appy gelding pony. This is a super great pony!!!!!! Easy to catch, easy to handle, good about his teeth being looked at, ears touched, feet picked up..... Easy to ride, moves off leg, gives to rein pressure, neck reins and backs easily. We were told he is trained to drive as well but we do not know as we have not seen it for ourselves. None-the-less, this pony is great, great, great! He could possible have an eye problem as seen here in the photos he is squinting but he could see and navigate fine around the other horses and the feed-lot.

Please contact Vickie for more information.

[e-mail]



I was a bit concerned about the squinting thing as we had an old App that had ERU. It was horrible. So we had the vet out right away to the QT location to have him looked at. I was very relieved when we were told that he did not have ERU.

In retrospect though his eye thing was probably the little cancer spots. He has some cells on his sheath (very small) and his third eyelids are both "herniated" looking - most likely also cancer or sarcoids. Luckily they aren't growing or changing and they don't seem to bother him. We keep a fly mask on him 24x7

If they start doing anything there is an equine clinic down the road from our house that will do a cryogenic thing (flash freeze) to stop them. Here's knocking on wood they don't start growing!!

Laura

[agilitygal]

That is one flashy pony!!!! Beautiful pictures! And, look how carefully he's taking care of his rider.

[ptowne]

What a wonderful story. Jr is such a sweet boy. It is wonderful that you found him and saved him. My daughter has a POA that we adopted from a rescue here in Vermont. I thought our Pokemon was a gem, but now I'm thinking that these POAs are pretty nice little guys.
Pam

[webmistress32]

Junior is our 4th Appy. I don't think I'd "blind" adopt any other breed. Appy's are not always the nicest or most pleasant breeds in the bunch to be around but they are the most predictable and are really really GREAT with kids.

They also seem to be somewhat indestructible and all of mine have always been sound as a dollar. :-)

Laura

[ptowne]

Pokemon is sound as a dollar, too. He has the best feet I've ever seen. Can't imagine he'd ever take a lame step.
Pam

[webmistress32]

I have an update on Junior. There are now several sub-10yo Pony Club girls fighting over who will get to ride him this upcoming season at Rally. Junior has been so busy three days a week with TWO little girls (7yo and 9yo) who can trot, canter (both leads) and jump (just X's) and ride him out on trail and over little cross country jumps.

Junior is just the best and most dependable pony!! He goes when asked and stops when asked. No questions, ears perked and twitching backwards to listen to the little girl aboard. I'll get some photos and post them - he is SO AMAZING.

Meanwhile my 7yo son is learning to post at the walk and just starting to trot for a few steps. Junior can do this too. Stays right on the rail, doesn't go too fast and maintains his pace.

Then I a 40+yo lady (110lbs 5'1.5") took him last weekend to Pony Club trail ride, trotting cantering and jumping logs in the forest for 2.5 hours. Junior had a blast just kept going and gave me a great and fun ride.

This pony is ONE IN A MILLION. THANKS CBER !!!!!! :-)

Laura

[agilitygal]

I don't think it could get better than that!

[cybercat]

Wow, Laura! I am SO happy that Junior is working out so well for you...it is a huge leap of faith to adopt a horse online- sight unseen- and I truly appreciate your willingness to do so.
Junior looks wonderful...you are taking spectacular care of him.

On the proof pics that you posted a few months ago, that is some GOOD LOOKIN' corn that Junior is jumping by! I grew up in Indiana, but now live in Oregon, so crops like corn always catch my eye!

[webmistress32]

Corn? corn? are you kidding?

While you guys were withering away this year with drought, we were drowning! I have gone back over the photos from the summer and at every single show we went to this year it was pouring rain, sometimes thundering and lightening.

Even the photos where it looks like a sunny day I can remember the night before there was a huge storm.

So yes the corn was like 10 feet tall this year! and we lost a lot of it, not to drought but to flooding.

Crazy.

I know this is totally nuts but of my six horses I adopted four sight unseen. Two appaloosas, one hungarian sport horse (although I saw him twice a year since he was a foal) and one TB cross (although I knew his owner really well). My child's bay mare I purchased after spending about ten minutes looking at her. They are all, without reservation, awesome and perfectly suited to their jobs. Guess I have a knack for it. ;-)

Came by this morning to post more pix. See next message. :-)

[webmistress32]

Four Seasons Fun Day 2007
Photos from our end of "summer camp with horses" party at the boarding stable down the street.








And a stray photo from dressage @ Pony Club D Rally 2007, at which Junior was a TOP PERFORMER (of over 35+ D2 level ponies) with a low dressage score, only one missed jump on XC (kids fault!) and clear stadium round.





Modified to add: the Appaloosa on the left was also adopted sight unseen over the Internet from far northern Wisconsin. He's a 1/2 Percheron, 1/2 Foundation Appaloosa. Goofy guy Clyde. :-)

[webmistress32]

More family fun day shots, here is Junior on the Obstacle Course.





The kids had to have a "creative salute" at the end of the obstacle course. Grace elected to do an "around the world salute"