Thought I'd give a short update to anyone who remembers Megan and Brody. They are both doing so well. Megan finally got the courage to lope him. She was so excited. She can now saddle him by herself by balancing on the pipe corral and lifting the saddle off of the pipe and putting it on his back, then she jumps down to tighten it up. She can also jump on him from the ground bareback. She really practiced that one for a long time. He is so patient with her but I've noticed that the more she learns the less he puts up with. Now he seems to expect her to know how to do certain things. He doesn't really like me much for some reason or he just does a good bluff. When I feed, he pins his ears at me and once in a while even gives a little kick. Megan doesn't believe me because he acts like a big puppy when she feeds him. He is also great at escaping his pen. Every gate has to be chained because he bites through the lead ropes I used to tie around the gate. Megan is also signed up for the horse group in 4-H now so I will let everyone know how that goes.

I'm sorry I haven't given everyone an update sooner. There just doesn't seem enough time in the day. First I'd like to thank everyone for the prayers being sent this way for my brother. He just finished his first round of chemo and is in the middle of radiation. His goal is to make it 2 years so his youngest child will remember him. So please keep sending the prayers.
Second, Thanks so much to all of Santa's helpers for Megans great gift. She had it open before I even got home that day. She brought it with us to dinner last week to show the whole family how pretty it was. And now for Brody:
He is wonderful. He has personality plus and is really testing Megan. He is really good at backing up too. When he doesn't want to go a certain way he just backs up really fast. It's pretty funny watching Megan's face. She is starting lessons on him when school starts back up. There is a lady on the next street that gives lessons and I've thought about it for a couple of years but never knew any one who had lessons with her for references. Finally I really started asking around and found quite a few people who really like her so we're going to give it a try. She can just ride him over there. We leave the horses loose most of the day so they can graze and Brody has become quite the escape artist. He is great at pulling the gate open and then rushing through it when the kids forget to latch it so hubby fixed a new latch. Now he stands there pulling and biting it. A few weeks ago we got home late one night and the horses were still in the yard so one of the kids jumped out and opened the gate, well as soon as it was wide open for the car here comes Brody like a bat out of .... runs past the car and up the street. We live at the end of a cul-d-sac so he knew exactly which way to go. Well where Brody goes, Pride is close behind so my poor 12 year old is waving his arms and yelling til hubby gets the car through and then we slam it shut. Well Pride is throwing a fit and Brody is enjoying the attention so he is prancing in the street. My husband walks up behind him while he is prancing the other way and pulls on his tail which usually makes him stop. well he didn't and hubby went street skiing. I ran in the house to grab a lead rope and came out there. By then they are 3 houses up eating grass with hubby holding him in a bear hug yelling hurry. I put the rope around his neck and try to pull his head up, he ignores me, so I slap his neck, he nips at my leg and keeps eating, by now it's not funny anymore because he is getting closer to the cross street that leads out of the neighborhood and onto a highway. So I tighten the rope, yell at him to knock it off and he raises his head and jogs next to me all the way home. I don't think I'll ever be late with his dinner again. Luckily Megan slept through the whole thing in the car and then accused us of almost losing her horse when we told her about it the next day. He is the sweetest friendliest guy there is. He is so patient with the kids, my 6 year old is getting good at climbing on the fence and getting on him alone now. He follows us all over when he is loose. I can't imagine him not being a part of the family, he blended in so quickly. And Pride my arab loves him. He is also very jealous when Brody gets ridden and so we finally saddled him up and I got on him for the first time in over 2 years. I didn't walk or anything, just sat there but then my brave(stupid?) little daughter decides she can ride him so up she goes and I lead him around, he was an angel. He didn't even blink so now Megan has decided she is a much better rider then me. I keep telling her that first fall is going to hurt but she just laughs. Hopefully it will only hurt her pride. Well thanks for listening to me rattle on. I don't post on here often enough but I know you guys are always here for advice or prayers and I appreciate that.

Brody is doing great. He has had 2 trimmings now with no corrective shoes and doing fine. The farrier said he has a club foot, not navicular. He is such a sweetie. My husband calls him our 6 foot dog. He follows us everywhere. I take him to the bus stop to pick up our 6 year old son and Nick rides him back home alone and bareback. He is so mellow. I think he may have belonged to a boy before because he does seem to take to the boys a little more then girls but then he doesn't have much of a choice about likeing Megan.

Megan and Brody and Brogan(the dog)

Sending you some more pictures of Megan and Brody. Brogan is also up there with Megan. It was so hot today so Megan went out and sprayed him off, he loves water. Well Brogan, the puppy decided to get in on it too and when Megan got on Brody the pup decided he wanted to do that too so we put him up there. As you can tell Brody is totally ok with anything that goes on around him. He is so calm. I think that Megan has actually on ridden him twice with a halter on the rest of the time she just leads him to a chair or something and climbs on. She relaxes on him while he grazes.

Brody is great, he now smells like Juicy Green Apples. That is the kind of shampoo that Megan bathed him with. He stood like an angel through most of the bath and then decided he had enough but when Megan said no he acted like a gentleman and put up with her. Tonight the kids were all jumping on the trampoline including 2 of the cousins and Brody was hanging out with his head in the middle of them literally leaning against the trampoline and stretching towards them. Megan clipped the lead rope on his halter and the kids took turns riding him around the yard. Well the neighbors saw the kids having so much fun and came over to ask if we wanted to buy an old western saddle for 50. It is light enough for Megan to lift herself. Of course we jumped on it and the lady even said she'd hold it til payday for us. She said she was having fun just watching the kids have so much fun on the horse. I know he is Megan's horse but he has definitely become everyones favorite real fast.
Susan