Baby it's cold outside!

Yipes that is an understatement!!

We are in the midst of the cold snap like most of the rest of the country. Enjoyed the first snow of the season on Saturday morning. I say enjoyed because it fell just a little and it melted and went away. No surprise here that I am not a winter weather fan, I mean I am a Floridian still at heart.

Saturday we pulled the Christmas float for my littlest one's school. Well, I should say my husband pulled the float, I walked 2 miles handing out candy to the parade watchers. It was cold, the little ones had to endure 30 degree temps on that float.
Here is a pic of the little cuties!



Sunday I awoke to yet more snow and still frigid temps, 17 degrees. I tried to go and get my saddle out of my horse trailer but the lock was frozen shut. Rats!! (note to self, when we thaw bring the saddle home to the house) I drove the hour and forty five minutes down to see Frank praying the temp would rise to above freezing the further South I got. No deal. It was 35 when I got out. I watched Scott ride him for a bit then I got my chance. I could barely get on with my winter duds on and um the little extra weight I have packed back on. sigh...... endless battle there.

Frank is doing great! He is still having issues to the right but we are hopeful it will click soon. He is almost slick which is strange for me as I usually let them grow hair. He actually does not grow much hair to begin with but man with that hood and blanket on he is looking good. I enjoyed riding him and braided his mane and tail and spent mommy time with him for a good while before heading home.

This morning I had another run in with the deer. I swear I have bad deer Karma.
Yes, another one jumped out and slammed into the truck this morning on my way taking the kids to school. Luckily we were only going 15 miles an hour and she survived and the truck suffered more scratches on the same side. It is supposed to get fixed Thursday I am debating waiting til hunting season is over. Anyone having trouble finding deer to hunt?? Call me up I am a magnet!

Just gotta laugh what else is there to do???

happy trails.....

Back in the saddle again... almost

Two posts in one week don't anyone faint here.....

I am finally back in the land of living... the little punks gave me the stomach virus and I puked for a day straight before hitting the meds. My stomach feels like I have been on an ab machine for six days straight... where are my six pack abs????
Oh well, happy to report we are all well and mended as of today.

Looking forward to the weekend! I am making the trip down to see Frank and am going to ride him for the first time in oh heck I cannot even remember.....

Scott says he is doing well and is even managing to remember how to turn to the right. He is soooo left handed, (the sign of a genius right?)that he cannot perform the turnarounds to the right without wacking himself and tangling his legs all up.
He is such a patient and good boy though and I think the marble is finally rolling to the right side of his brain (literally). Time for us to start getting it together, the first ranch horse show is January 23-24. You all know how much I love winter riding NOT! but since I am working as a show secretary and everyone and their brother seems to want to hire me I have to show when I can. Time to cowgirl up and pull out the winter skibbys. It was 28 here this morning and I think the high of 40
haven't made it outside. Well best get back to work, must catch up on the three days I missed before another week starts. Hope to check in with you Monday and post some pics!

Happy trails....

where does the time go?

Hi all,

I have been meaning to get here all month to post but things happen.
So much to tell you where do I start? Well I guess I will start
By telling you that I am having to post from my blackberry
Since my PC is dead. Work is to busy to find the time and my
lunch hour has become an errand marathon.

I did take Frankie down South to the trainer and spent the weekend
They are a great family and I cannot remember when I last
Laughed so much. I felt like Scott and him clicked and begrudgingly
Left on Sunday. I get updates three times a week and he is doing
Great! I went last Saturday for a visit and to my surprise he
Is having a rope thrown off him and doing log drags. He has
Been on cattle a few times as well. The bummer to last weekend was that
I wrecked the truck when a deer jumped out and I swerveded to miss it
I put the truck in a ditch and sideswiped a fencepost. It could
Have been much worse, I am ok and the truck only suffered minor
Damage.

Tonight I am home with a young un who is pukin constantly and I
Am praying the meds kick in soon.

Swear I will be back soon!

Almost time

So it is Friday and I am so ready for the weekend!!

Tonight is girl's night out and time for GRANDE MARGARITA'S!!

Tommorrow I am loading up Frankie and heading South to a new trainer's barn. I am staying the weekend to ride and check things out. It will be strange coming home without him. I am excited at the fact that someone will be riding him daily and finishing his lessons. Hopefully come spring I will get the chance to start showing.
I am not running for any officer positions this year and hope to get on with my horsey life again.

Speaking of:

Here is the littlest practicing on his beloved donk "Jane"





He is following in his mama's shoes and is going to be quite the little horseman.
He absolutely adores this donkey! She has been such a confidence booster and perfect lady.

Hope you all have great weekends, will post and hopefully have pics for you on Monday!

Happy trails.....

Still kicking

Oh my friends I have been such a bad blogger of late...... did you miss me???
I miss reading all your blogs.

This working business is really taking it's toll on my other life. Now the time change makes it even more challenging.

The fall colors here are beautiful and I must get some of my pictures downloaded to share with you. It is on my list.

In addition to working full time I have been doing show secretary work at ranch horse shows on the weekends. There is a method to this madness. The extra money is going to put Frankie in training this winter.

I am loading him up on Saturday and we are heading South to visit a friend of mine.
He is a trainer and shows ranch horse. If they get along I will be leaving Frank for a while. I figure someone should be riding him all winter as I won't be. You know I hate the cold as it is.

I know it is short and I will update you as soon as I can.

Happy Fall Ya'll!!!

Cowgirl goes to congress

I spent a glorious weekend at the Quarter Horse Congress!

Hubby and I escaped Friday morning and returned home on Sunday. BFF Susan was good enough to watch the little hell yuns for us, it was the first time away from them together.

Friday the weather was raining and cool but Saturday brought sunshine and pleasant temps. We did some window shopping on Friday and enjoyed a very delicious dinner out together before we returned to the show grounds to watch the freestyle reining competition. For those of you unfamiliar with freestyle reining, it is where the exhibitor creates their own pattern to their choice of music and they usually dress in costume as well. The contestants were very creative in the song choice and costumes. Several of them did patterns to the wizard of oz complete with flying monkeys! My favorite was a fella dressed in a fake belly that did his pattern to the song I'm to Sexy! It was hilarious.

Saturday it was time for serious shopping. Once again I had to do the dreaded boot shopping. I say dreaded because my feet have high insteps and it is not easy finding a boot to get into. After trying on close to 40 pair of boots I finally decided on a pair of Ariats. I mean to tell ya, the fact that they have purple tops did not faze me by this point.

I also invested in a turnout sheet for Frankie, although I have several in my tack trunk nothing would fit the boy. So....... I invested in another. We chose an emerald green one with Burgundy trim, midwieght and waterproof. Good thing as tonight it is supposed to rain and be a high of 49 tomorrow. Ugh!

I found some other little things like brushes and a cow hair coolie holder for my beverages. There was lots of bling there. So much that it hurt my eyes!! I did enjoy looking at the horse trailers and comparing interiors and such. My hub was in truck heaven! I did of course take a visit to puppy row although I loved the little Cairn terrier I would never buy a puppy!

Sunday we viewed some of the halter classes but it was like watching paint dry so we called it a day and headed home. Fun, Fun , Fun a very nice getaway!

Remember me??

Hi All! Has it really been this long since my last post?? Where does the time go? To say things have been busy around here would be an understatement. As I was catching up on reading blogs tonight I see that I am not the only one being swamped by life. I really don't even know where to begin with updating you on my crazy life.


Here's a sampling of what's been going on. My oldest joined the cub scouts which equated into me being roped into assistant den leader. Oh, a job I am relishing NOT! Since he is a Tiger cub he must have a partner do all the scouting stuff with him. Since hubby travels and cannot be counted on for jack #### guess who gets to do it. I spent a weekend camped in a tent surrounded by 300 6-12year old boys who made copious amounts of noise until all hours!! I hate sleeping in a tent! My body was screaming by Saturday afternoon, this is why I have a living quarter horse trailer!! We did manage some fun and he earned his totem and belt loops for archery and BB guns. Oh yeah, I said BB guns.....


I have managed to sneak in some rides on the Frank here and there, no trail riding but some schooling stuff. I hauled him to a county horse park 25 minutes from the farm. It has four arenas and an indoor. He remembered all his lessons from the spring although I have not had him in an arena since May. I am seriously thinking of sending Frankie back to Cory for the early part of the winter to finish his training. I really want to show next year and I don't have the place to school him and I really won't have the time to do it because.......


I took a full time job at United States Equestrian Federation (USEF)at the Kentucky Horse Park! Yep, it is official I started on Monday the 28th. I will be working in the Finance dept, my official title will be remittance processing representative (fancy name for accounts receivable). The benefits are great and it is 20 minutes from the house. It will be quite a change for all of us around here. I am still doing my horse show office business as well and had a show this past weekend in Indiana and another the end of the month in Ky.

I am a busy girl. Much more news but I will save some for later.

Happy trails.....

A few of my favorite books...

Not long ago my pony cousin Pony Girl did a post about books she had found while thrift shopping. It got me to thinking if I still had my copy of Black Beauty so I went looking. Indeed! I do have it, it is not as old as her copy but it is an oldie and still in good shape.






I have several other old horsey books as well. I am a junk collector ya know.
This one has a plain faded orange cover which makes me think it must have had a cover page at one time. It is titled Golden Lady and written by Eleanor Brown.
My copy is dated 1946. It has some lovely little illustrations throughout the book.




The opening page is written like this "In memory of my mother, a gallant woman"
Who couldn't read a book with an opening like that. Here is the title page.









And one of the illustrations of the book







But true to my cowgirl spirit is my all time favorite book, Smoky The Cow horse.
Ever read it? You should. It is true cowboy western tradition complete with a great ending. It is written by Will James and my copy is a beautiful aged blue and it great shape. My copy was published in 1926. Check this out.








Here are some of the illustrations in the book.









What are some of your favorite horse books?

Red Hill Ride

WOW! What a weekend!

I am back from a weekend at Red Hill Horse Camp and ready to share the stories and pictures with you.

Friday morning after dropping off the little ones at school I headed over to the barn to pick up Frankie and Susan's horse Butter. I arrived in the rain to find Frankie a real muddy mess. I had to take the time to wash him off as he was covered in mud and I was not sure of the facilities where we were heading. So after a quick rinse off and packing a few more items in the trailer we were off.

I actually had Frankie load himself this time! Thought I would give it a try so I just stood at the entrance to the trailer and guided him with my hand and smooched and up he jumped all by himself. Cool! Butter loaded with no issues as well and snug as a bug they were in there.





ON THE ROAD AGAIN!



The traveling was easy as most of it was straight down I 75 the camp is in Livingston, Ky about an hour and 20 minutes from my house. The road to the camp proved to be a little more challenging, it was filled with uphills and curves but certainly manageable. We arrived around 1:30 to a vacant camp. In fact the gate was closed and I was doubting if something was wrong. I did speak with the owner just two nights before and assured him we were coming. We opened the gate and found the mess hall, there were trail maps and release forms sitting on a bench on the porch.
We signed the release, got ourselves a map and continued on. We found a very clean well laid out campground. We picked a spot to camp close to the barns for the horses, we unloaded the horses and set up camp.






Here was Frankie's house when we were not riding.


The weather was kinda muggy and we had a few stray showers every now and then but we were not dismayed. Friend Carlene showed up about an hour after we arrived and she grabbed a camp sight next door. After putting out the awning and setting up camp we decided on a short ride. We saddled up and tried to translate the trail map we had picked up earlier. We found the trail head at the end of the camp and proceeded into the woods. The trail was narrow and unfortunately very steep and rocky. We felt bad because Butter was not shod on the back feet. Frankie was doing well and was getting an education on having dogs along for a ride. Susan had brought her two jack russell terriers and her yellow lab along. I never have ridden him with dogs and it took him just a bit to get used to them running ahead, behind and darting out of the brush at any time. All was going well until around 30 minutes into the ride.
Then, on a very narrow trail going downhill Frankie started shaking his head side to side and refused to go onward. I thought this odd as he has never refused anything I have asked of him. I gently encouraged him onward. This was rewarded with a complete blow up! He reared, lunged forward and went into full throttle bucking mode. I yelled for Susan to get out of the way as she was just in front of me and we were temporarily out of control. I mean I'm not talking crow hopping buck here kids but, full throw your a** to the ground bucking. He nearly had me off but I was a hanging by the 4 inch Oh Sh*t handle and lots of mane! As soon as I got him under control and back on trail I dismounted to check tack, surely something was out of whack to make him behave that way! I could find nothing on the girth or breast collar and no welts to indicate stings. I remounted, no easy task since Frankie has seen it necessary to grow to 15.3 hands. We walked on and he started again with the shaking of his head and refusing to go downhill. I knew something must be wrong with his hocks, back ??? This was so out of character for my horse so I dismounted and walked the half a mile back to camp. No easy task since A) the trails were narrow and I had to walk in front of Frankie B) The trails were steep, uphill and down and C) There were rocks to contend with. By the time I got back I had a deeper appreciation for my horse and the things he does for me. I unsaddled him and checked again the pad and his underside, nothing. I gave him some bute and put him in the stall. The three of us girls brainstormed and tried to come up with an explanation to the behaviour. I knew it had to be pain related as Frankie is just as laid back as they come.

We cooked dinner and decided we would try some reflex therapy on him after eating.
Susan brought steaks and fresh squash for dinner, a package of instant potatoes rounded out the meal.




As you can see Dawg the jack russell is patiently awaiting dinner as well.

The owner of the camp, Gene, showed up not much later. We asked him the which trails were flatter since the downhills seemed to be the only thing bothering Frankie. He told us that most of the trails required hills and valleys. He questioned my saddle and saddle pad, if either were something new to the horse.
All at once a light bulb went off in my block head!! This behaviour came about in a lesser degree the last time I rode him at the reservoir, he did not buck but did not want to go down the last hill on the way home. I had used a limpet pad on him that day as well. It is a closed cell, neoprene like pad. I generally ride him in a wool pad. Ah Ha! We felt all over his back and sure enough he was sore on either side of his withers. We did massage therapy on him and decided to try some more in the morning. We went back to camp and made a fire and swapped riding stories.



GIRLS AROUND THE FIRE

I did not sleep well that night. I was torn on what to do with Frankie. Of course I wanted to ride but I did not want to hurt him. Morning came and we found his back much better, he did not flinch at all when we touched him. Carlene did some more therapy and reflexology on him and we did administer 1 gram of bute to him. After breakfast we saddled up with my wool pad this time and headed out. We tried a smaller downhill to start, he was a little off but nothing like yesterday. I still had pangs of guilt at riding him.
The trails were beautiful.





THE GIRLS RIDING AHEAD INTO THE WOODS

We came across an older couple riding walking horses at an intersection of the trail.
They asked where we were riding to? We told them we did not really have a plan that we were just going to ride wherever the trails lead us. They explained that they had been riding the woods for over 40 years and knew all the trails. They asked if we would like to ride to moonbeam rock with them. We all agreed it sounded like fun and off we went. They actually rode at a slow pace and our quarter horses had no problems keeping up with the walkers. The gentleman's name was Bill and he was very conscientious about the trails, stopping to pick up trash and cans the entire way. He told us how it saddened him that people littered and that he usually goes back with his saddle bags full of cans and trash every weekend. His darling wife Ruby, was a joy to talk with and I was amazed that she was still riding at 68 when she told me of her previous injuries. We rode 8 miles through the woods together to moonbeam rock. It is a sandstone rock shaped like an arch about 80 feet up on the mountain.





Here is a shot of it.

We ate lunch there at the rock and talked about other trails. We mounted up, me with the help of a downed tree, thank you LORD! and down the hill we went. Frankie was holding up well and we were kidding around about all the badges he was earning this trip toward his master trail horse status. We rode the trails along a creek bed and Bill told us of how people had lived along this creek once upon a time. We passed the remnants of an old school house and several shacks. Here is one that was in the best shape of them all.



We crossed creeks and a concrete bridge, passed an old cemetery and ended up back where we started. We exchanged phone numbers with Bill and Ruby and promised to come back and ride with them again real soon. We made it back to camp around 4 in the afternoon and figured out that we had ridden around 15 miles that day. We found that we had some neighbors in the camp when we returned. They came over to see how our ride went and asked where we rode. They planned on doing that ride the next day.
The horses were treated to a nice hosing off and lots of carrots. We began dinner preparations, the menu was salad and brats for Saturday night. Gene, showed up again around dinner and we started kidding him that his nose must bring him around.
We reminded him that there was not hot water at the shower house and he apologized and went to turn on the water heater. He also came back bearing gifts, in the form of moonshine! I must confess, us girls did partake in the tradition of having some shine. It is rude to turn down gifts ya know.



Ms Susan trying out the shine.

We had another visitor at our camp that night, a young fellow named Monroe who claimed he was Amish and was not sure if he was going to stay Amish. We teased him and called him Semi Amish Monroe the rest of the evening. It was interesting to hear about his home life and certainly something new to me. I wish him well and felt a little sorry for the confusing time he was facing.

Sunday we awoke to a crisp 56 degrees! A cold front snuck in while we were sleeping.
We decided on a quick breakfast and to sneak in one last ride before we broke camp.
We saddled up and the horses were in good spirits from the coolness. We rode the lowest loop trail which basically went around the side of the mountain. We saw lots of rock formations and some caves along the way. I love this next photo, the way the sun beam is shining right down on my head!




We did encounter a large tree down on this trail and the horses had to walk over it as there was no way around it. Susan's horse refused and I tried Frankie. He had to step over a log that was higher than his knees, no hesitation he just slowly went over it the best he could. What a guy!! Another badge for him! The other horses followed and I was so proud of the boy. We rode for about an hour than headed back to camp. We cleaned up our site and the stalls, loaded the horses and headed out.

We all agreed we would definitely ride here again. Go give it a try if you are in the area!





Happy trails.....

My Donk is tame I swear

Since moving to the bluegrass there have been many changes to horse life around here.
For one the horse and donkey are no longer in my backyard or my care all the time.
Although I do see them everyday and clean their stalls and them some things are not in my control. One thing that is in my control is the farrier. I of course had to find a new one being that my farrier did not want to travel three hours to do two animals unless I agreed to pay him copious amounts of money! I don't blame him.

So..... enter the new farrier Juan Carlos. He has a nice rig, well equipped and seems genuinely interested in how I want my horses done. I made sure I asked if he would trim a donkey before we got started. He was a little apprehensive but said yes he would try to do the donkey. I assured him that Jane was the best little donkey ever and that she would give no problems being trimmed.





Look at her! Does she look like she would hurt anyone???

We ended up having five head to trim and shoe that day, Jane included.
I brought out Frank and explained that I wanted shoes put on the front and that I wanted him at a 55 degree angle. I also told Juan Carlos that he needed to be quiet and gentle since Frank has not had shoes on before and not been handled that much.
He was extremely patient with Frankie and did a great job putting the shoes on.
I need to put on shoes since Frankie had an old injury to his right front and had bad cracking and I was worried that with riding I was going to destroy that foot further. I asked JC if he would like to do Jane next, he declined and said bring another horse out. This happened until the Jane was the last one to be done. I was snickering to myself, knowing that he thought my donk was gonna give him fits when he attempted to trim her.

Finally came Jane's turn to be trimmed, I went out to fetch her.




She looks ready to eat someone doesn't she?

I brought her up to his tools and he again asked me if she had been trimmed before.
Well, you could look at her feet and she that yes she had been trimmed regularly.
But I was amused and said, "OH yes, she is great at it!" JC proceeded cautiously with the trimming, especially the hinds. He seemed genuinely surprised that she stood quietly and gave no problems. I asked him why he wanted to do her last and he said that usually the donkeys are a real rodeo to trim. He exclaimed that she was the best donkey he had ever worked on!

We knew that all along!





Happy trails.......

Why is it that.......

In life that no matter what we have, we want something different?

Human nature?

I wonder if horses think this way? Like does the stalled show horse wish for pasture time to run and play with buddies? Does my own horse wish for more stall time? Does Frankie go on these trail rides packing my fat butt up the hill and wish for Cory's nice indoor arena instead?

Life has been more than busy lately and I wish I saw an end in sight. I long to go and ride the Frank and start his training again. I feel like all I do is run out there clean his stall and knock the dirt off him and then I am off again. I know he misses me, he whinny's and runs to the gate when he sees me. I wish he was in my backyard still most days. Part of the problem is going to be solved this week, the littlest starts pre-school four mornings a week. This will give me time to ride, but where? There is no arena at the barn which leaves paddocks or an open grassy area. Unfortunately the footing is not great in either area and makes me leery to do to much like work on loping and leads. This in turn makes me long for a barn with an indoor arena with footing. I would have to give up having him five minutes from my house and a whole lot of dollars that are hard to come by right now. For some crazy reason here in KY most boarding places are self care. I could handle once a day but probably not twice most days not to mention when I travel to judge or run show offices on the weekends. Hmmmn...... life's little problems. I know things will work themselves around and out eventually so I will just be patient and wait it out.

Onto a better note. Hubby and I were able to replace the mats in horse trailer this weekend. Yea! I have been wanting to do that since I bought "big blue". The previous owners had put a conveyor belt mat on the floor. It was dangerously slippery for horses with shoes and definitely made practicing backing Frankie out really scary. Now I can start that process this week since Hubby is home and the trailer will stay hooked up as I am heading out for a camping trip this weekend!!

Susan and I are heading to Red Hill Horse Camp a place we have never been but have been wanting to try. It is only an hour south of the house so we are off for a weekend of riding. Now off to clean out the dressing room of the horse trailer and start packing!

Happy trails......

Rehomed horse update

Funny how life is....... just the other day I was talking about my older horse Tank that I re homed this past May and I get an update from his new owner in my mailbox.

Some of you may remember my old fella Tank, a big beautiful Dun QH that I had the privilege of owning for many, many a years. When the time came for us to move here to Ky I knew I would have to alter my horse keeping habits and the horses would not be in the back yard anymore. The decision to re home Tank was not an easy one but I felt it the best one for all involved. He was really to old to do the kind of trail riding that I do, which is sporadic and challenging most of the time. I did not have the time to keep two horses fit and take care of the young ins and household.
I felt he still had lots to give to someone wanting a great horse to ride lightly and enjoy his sensible and comfortable style.

Here is one of the last photos I took of him at my house.





He is such a handsome devil and always kept himself in good shape and easy to keep.

I am happy to tell you that his new Mom Linda is enjoying him immensely. Linda is a special lady that rescues all kinds of animals from dogs to horses and everything in between. She does not have a rescue per say but just does it on her own accord and out of her own pocket. Matter of fact her husband Sid said to me when I dropped Tank off that this was the first one that did not need medical attention or weight put on him. She rides him occasionally around her 40 acres and he has a whole herd of friends that he is turned out with. What more could anyone ask for their best buddy?


Happy trails...

I'm home

Well HI everyone!

I am finally back in the bluegrass and happy to be here. It seems I brought the hot weather from Florida with me though. It was 91 degrees here yesterday. We haven't seen any heat here since June, I guess all good things must come to an end.

I won't bore you with the Florida trip details, it is something we must do at least once a year for family sake. I know I sound like an ingrate but man.... the planning and packing and traveling with the wee ones wears me out. Not to mention the ag factor when I get there. But we did manage some fun and got to see my family and I must say my kids adored the beach.

This is what shear joy looks like!





My littlest was content to run and play in the surf and build sandcastles with mommy all day.





Dad and the oldest did brave the surf and had some swimming time, but for the most part we did alot of this.







You will notice there a no pictures of me on the beach. I officially started the plan again today to drop the extra pounds I have packed on. I simply must get back in shape and get riding Mr Frank more often.

Which, actually I did yesterday!

Susan and I headed over to the park by our house for some new trails......

It was super hot and humid and Frank was sweating bullets and the ground was slippery from all the rain we have been having but he was a real gem again.
Such a nice colt he is.....







This is one of the shady trails we opted for yesterday. The big black horse flys were in abundance and Payback was sporting her quarter sheet for protection. Susan has learned the hard way to use this as Payback bucks huge when one lands on her.
Frankie did not seem fazed by the bugs, I did spray him well with the Pyrahna aerosol spray, It rocks!






Here is Susan an Payback in a clearing before we head back into the woods for shade!
We rode for about two hours and called it a day. A very nice relaxing Sunday morning.


The little ones started school today so I am aiming for riding more now. My goal is at least three days a week. Hopefully I can do it and get going on some of the things I really want to work on with Frankie.

Hope you all are having a great start to the week!

Happy trails.......

Note from the road

Hi kids!

I realized today as I sat on the beach that I have been neglecting you. Yes, I said beach. No, there is no beach in Ky that I am aware of. I am in sunny and sometimes stormy South Florida visiting family. It was a last minute trip and one I am glad we took. Life has been really hectic and busy this summer and a nice trip here puts things in perspective.

Frankie is of course back home gorging on bluegrass getting fatter by the moment. That is OK, I have something planned for him when I get home. Another horsey trip!
Not to far from home but a new place to go try for a few days with girlfriends.

So far we have had a pool party with my family, a pizza party also and a beach bash today. They are all heading back South to Miami today and we will stay here in Port St Lucie for a few more days and visit hubby's family before heading out on Wednesday for home. School starts the 10th for our oldest and we must be back on Friday for the big orientation at the new school.

Just wanted to drop a line and say hello from the road. Hopefully, things will resume back to normal one of these days and I can post regularly again. Miss you guys but am enjoying the beach!

As my life churns

Life is just churning along here, busy as usual and not enough hours in my day most of the time. As of late I have been doing the Doctor's office shuffle with the wee ones getting them ready for school days. Who knew moving to a new state meant redoing all your medical records and other such crud. Not to worry they are now enrolled and officially can start school on August 10th, yipes that is soon. I am ready for it as it means some riding time for me and Frankie.

This weekend was a bust booty weekend around here. Hubby and I decided to switch the kitchen appliances out and put ours in here. Not a big deal right? Or so we thought. However, this involved taking all the doors off the two refrigerators and the stoves as they would not fit out the house doors. It turned into a four hour ordeal when all was said and done. But.... I now have my smooth top stove and my bottom freezer/fridge and am rid of that side by side that I detested.

The weekend also brought another round of garden goodies and I put up more green beans than I can describe to you. I need to do another round of pickles this week.

I am also in horse show week here. The IRHA is hosting another show this weekend in Indiana and that means I am swamped with preparations and phone calls regarding the show. Never a dull moment here folks!

I did manage to climb up on the big ole fat creme colored tick I like to call Frankie. Man he is swollen up from the grass here. I need to get some serious riding going here or I will have to dry lot him soon. I had a great phone conversation with Tank's new owner yesterday and she says he is doing very well and is happy with his new herd of friends. I think I am going to try and stop and see him Friday morning on the way to the horse show. I think my poor heart might be ready for it. I told Linda that I may come by and for her hubby not to worry since I will have my trailer with me. She said that was fine but that if I loaded him up and took him she would hunt me down! I am glad she is so in love with him and that he is making someone else's life happy, it truly is the best you could hope for when you re home a special loved one.

Until next time, Happy trails.....

Checking In

Hey people!

I really don't have time this morning to be blogging, but..... I feel like checking in and really wanted to read what you all have been up to. I see it is quiet in blog land, I guess I am not the only one who is crazy busy.

This week was/is a round of doctor's appts for the boys so they can attend school which starts August 12th. Thank God!! I also did some canning and putting up the garden goodies which are coming in quicker than I can deal with them.

I am taking care of Susan's farm while she takes a mini vacation to the mountains.
Frankie is so freakin fat on all the clover in his field, I am thinking of moving him to a smaller paddock today. However, it is right next to Jane and her buddy Payback. I am not sure if this will re instate the negative clingy behaviour he had previously. I tell ya though the slobbers from the clover are enough to drive me crazy, I need rain gear just to be around him lately.

Tomorrow I have the job interview at the horse park and am hoping I get it.
It would enable me to put the smallest spawn of mine in pre school and thus give me some time to ride Frankie without worrying where little people are and what they are up to.

Well, I know it is short but thought I would fill you in on my so called life.
Anyone need any pickles??

Don't spank Frank!

This little thought came about the other night after Frankie gave me another round of #ss padding. You see I was riding him at the farm and working on little things like moving our hip over at the walk and trot, transitions and just stuff in general.
Frank got to gazing around and generally just tuning me out. I usually wear a small spur when I ride him because he is the original iron sides, I mean you could literally bang on him with no reaction whatsoever. Well, I had forgot my spurs and he was being really lazy and as I said distracted by the horses in the adjacent field. I asked him to lope off on the right lead and he missed it, we continued he missed it again then he just would not lope at all. I lost patience, oh I know bad mommy! and decided to encourage him with a rein end. MY MISTAKE! He did not appreciate it and was startled I think, he took off bucking and doing his signature half rear lunge thing for a few moments. Luckily, he does not last long in that behaviour and it was over quickly.

This got me to thinking about the last time he padded my backside and that was back at Tiffany's house when he was having a fit about Jane and I shoulder spurred him to get his attention. I don't think it is retaliatory , I seriously think it is just a being startled reaction for him. Kinda like the other day when the stick poked him in the woods and he went off bucking.

Moral of the story: Don't spank Frank!

How I spent my 4th of July

Hi all,

Hoping you are having a great 4th of July weekend and I hope that part of this fun weekend was spent thanking the people before us that made our country such a great place to live and have our freedom.

I had a very enjoyable 4th! I spent the early part of the morning tending my garden.
Have a look see.







The garden is loving all this rain we are having and upon closer inspection, look at what I found:







Oh YEAH kids that is the first tomato of the season! I can almost taste that yummy BLT sandwich now......

I think this week my green beans and a round of cucumbers will also be ready. Which means get out the canner and prepare for some canning. The weather is supposed to turn hot again, always a joy when you are canning. We have been enjoying some nice days in the 70's this past week.

At nine I headed over to the barn to load up Frankie and Susan's other mare Butter.
We decided to celebrate our Independence and go riding! Frankie had never been riding with Butter but they trailered well on the short trip to the reservoir. We met another friend Becky there with her Welsh stallion Wayne. It was cloudy and overcast with rain moving in for the afternoon but we were sure we could get a ride in first. I was pleasantly surprised to find Frankie was relaxed and stood tied like a gentleman to the trailer even when Susan tied Butter to the opposite side.
We rode the same loop that we did last time we rode there. Becky was having some issues with Wayne and his stud like behaviour, he hadn't been out in awhile. Frankie did well with the exception of one incident. I was bringing up the rear of the pack and coming out of the woods into an open area, Butter got out of his eyesight and he starting rushing through a narrow part of the trail. I am not really sure what happened but my best guess is that he got poked in the side by a stick and combined with his nervousness of not seeing the other horses he went into a bucking frenzy.
I was slightly concerned because we came out on the side of a hill and there was an old fence of barbed wire that he was heading for. I did manage to get him stopped and under control before we reached the fence line. Sigh.... young horses.....

Still I am very pleased at his progress and the rest of the day was uneventful for us at least. You may have noticed the new header picture. It is one from yesterday at a small creek we crossed. Frankie was shaking off when Susan snapped it, looks like he is smiling doesn't it??

Here is a shot of Susan and Butter at that creek crossing.







And here is Becky waiting her turn to cross










We made it back to the trailers in about an hour and a half. Becky decided she had enough riding for the day and chose to head home. Susan and I grabbed a quick little snack and mounted back up. We decided to try the other side of the road trails. It was more hilly and the horses were a little winded being that neither of them were all that fit just yet. We did see lots of these.








No, not the cedar trees although there were plenty of them. Look to the right of that cedar can you see the deer? She was pretty far away but the only one that would stand still long enough to let me snap a picture.

We rode for another hour and then the weather started to move in. One good thing about it was that I got to put my slicker on while mounted on Frankie. A first for him and as usual he was non plussed about it. Baby steps each ride and soon he is gonna be as Susan put it "old reliable". Kind of a nice thought!






Happy trails!

Summer

I love summer! I like the heat, the sun, the pool and all the fresh veggies from my garden. I like canning the goods from my harvest. But dag gone it is sooooo... busy.
I just am not finding the time to sit and blog anymore. I miss reading about your lives and adventures. I miss telling you about my so called life.

But with the boys home and the newness of this place and finding my way around I find the days just fly by. Not to mention I am judging shows, doing show secretary work and planning the next horse show for the Indiana Ranch Horse Association.

I am managing to ride Frankie some and he is being a good guy. He is adjusting to life by himself in the pasture and has hardly given me any antics when I ride him alone. I am hoping to take him South to a friends house with cattle to start tracking them and see how he does.

I have a good lead on a job at the horse park again and am hoping that I get an interview at least. Just part time but at this point I think that is all I could add on to this crazy schedule of mine.

I judge a 4H fair show next Saturday and the IRHA show is the end of the month so things are at a brisk pace as usual. I have a few more judging jobs this summer as well.

Looking forward to the weekend when I can relax and swim in the pool with my little fellas. But first, I must go and set that dratted pool up.......
Ah the joys of motherhood!

Happy trails......

tales from the trails....

I figure I have kept you in suspense long enough for details of the cottonwood patch trip. Still cannot believe I forgot my camera, think I will tie it around my neck as Luanne suggested in a previous occasion where I forgot it. I did manage to grab these pictures from Susan who thank goodness remembered her camera and to actually use it while we were riding.

Friday morning found rain again, I showed up at Susan's at 7am as planned. We had hooked up the trailer the night before so all we had to do was load up and go. Susan had Frankie all haltered up with fly mask on ready for me to load him. Since Frankie won't back out yet we loaded him first than Payback. We set off with Mapquest directions and another version from one of the fellas from Georgia who had been there before, it was estimated at 5 hours. We hit rain off and on down I 75 but nothing major. We had one stop for lunch and ice before we got off the interstate for good. We turned on Ga 2 and headed into what we thought was the last leg of the trip, after 7 miles we determined this was not the Ga 2 we needed to be on. We found a turn around and backtracked turns out we turned the wrong direction,
just in front of us were two horsetrailers. Susan thought she recognized them as Ga riders, they turned off to the right and I kept on straight as my good ole GPS and navigator Susan instructed, this turned out to be the best thing that could have happened on Friday. The road quickly went from paved to gravel with more switchbacks and uphill then I could tell you, seven miles of this folks. Oh yeah let's not forget the two little narrow bridges we had to cross with my dually. Just when Susan started to doubt we were in the right place again I saw the horse trailers off to my left. I made the remark that I was glad I was not pulling a long rig as the roads were narrow and no shoulder just drop offs. We pulled in the campsite at 2 o'clock and several folks were already set up, they actually came in the night before and were out for a ride. Two friends were in camp and we figured out where to park and then got down to setting up camp. Unfortunately, there wasn't any really good place to place a picket line that would have been in the shade so we opted to tie the horses to a hitching post in the shade instead. Frankie never pulled back but..... he did untie himself and payback a few times until we hard tied him. Soon things were shaping up and then we heard a loud bang and horses banging in a trailer. Just after that Ralph a Ga rider came walking into camp saying James'
trailer was off in the ditch with horses inside and that it was BAD! We walked up the road and this is what we saw:









Now kids, if you are going to drive a goose neck trailer..... remember to swing out before your turns or this will happen.

Yes, there were two horses inside. Yes they were down and on their heads. The fellas had to dig out the hill behind the trailer, empty the rear tack, collapse it and go in and get the horses out. They both had cuts and were shaken up but thankfully they were otherwise fine.

Here is a side view so you can see what it looked like








These are the wrecker drivers who drug it up out of the ditch some hour and a half later. The young lady is one of our camp members who could not resist the uniform.
Ya see, I am glad they took that turn and that I got into camp before this happened or we would have been stranded up there on the road waiting for the wrecker to clear it. There was only one way in and out of the camp.

The rest of Friday was spent socializing and eating yummy fish the group fried at the campsite. Frankie seemed good on the post although I must confess I slept little and checked him about every two hours by looking out my trailer window.

Saturday was clear and beautiful when we awoke. The crew treated us to bacon and eggs for breakfast and we decided to split into two groups to ride for the day.
Fast, long ride for the gaited fellas and slow half day for us er quarter horse riding gals. We packed lunches and headed out for the iron mountain trail, a 12 mile loop around the campground with lots of hills and two river crossings. Frankie had already attached himself to Payback in a fierce way and if she got to far away he started his whinnying and antics of jumping around. Ugh.... I decided to make him lead for awhile and give him something to think about. The trail was not real wide and the drop offs were steep, it kept me on my toes since he is such a greenie.
I know it is out of focus but here he is plodding along.










Actually, he was moving out good and enjoying himself until.......this giant flat rock appeared when we rounded a corner. It startled him so that he jumped to the right and fell over the side of the hill. Well kids, I was thinking this could go really bad here or.....
Well, he wasn't panicking or freaking out, he stopped when I asked him to and when I accessed that we could not back up or go forward we just did a cute little 180 degree turn on the side of the hill and popped back up on the trail. Thank goodness he had reining training! Everyone was surprised at how well he handled it, other horses gave trouble with the rocks throughout the day as well. Frankie got over it after that one little incident. We meandered through the woods and I put him in the middle and in the back just to see how he handled it. When his girlfriend Payback was in sight he was fine but let her get out of view and he worried and jigged me around. Our next surprise came when the horse in front of me tripped over a downed branch in the trail, this turned out to be a God send as a big timber rattlesnake was laying on the trail just beyond it. Here is a shot of the noisy fella.










Thankfully, he slivered over to the ditch and proceeded to warn us to stay away with his big rattles. I was surprised how calm the horses were as they passed within 6 feet of him. We could hear the river as we approached it, the shallows running over the rocks was beautiful and the horses were happy to have a long cool drink.










After letting the horses drink and cool off we headed up the other side and found that it was a good spot to park for lunch. We tied the horses and sat along the river enjoying our sack lunches. Frankie was more than happy to stand and rest in the shade of the trees. We finished up our goodies and saddled up for the rest of the trip, we decided that when we got back we would take our chairs and head to the river for our own cooling off. The trail paralleled the river for about a mile or so and it was so relaxing hearing the water and feeling the coolness of the river
a perfect ending to the ride. We did have to cross a small wooden bridge and then a big steel bridge to get back to camp, Frankie handled these in stride as well. Frankie was a worn out fella when we strolled back into camp at 2 pm. After I unsaddled him I sponged him down with a bucket of water and he was happy to see that hitching post and his hay bag!

We set off for the river with beverages and chairs in hand, the water was cold! We sat in the sun knowing just how lucky we were to be there in God's beauty. A short while later the boys came riding up and checked on us, I inquired about Frankie and if he was still tied and they told me he was laying flat out on his side tied to the rail. We all laughed and commented at how well he handled the day but that his little mind was probably exhausted like his body.

When I think about his life before me and all that he had to take in this past weekend I am pretty impressed with the guy!

Happy trails.......

Awesome

That is what the weekend was! It was a five hour trip down there to the Chattahoochee National Forest but well worth it. I am happy to tell you all that Frankie did survive and he did great! It was not without some mishaps for me and others but no one was seriously hurt and all did have a good time. I was so stinking excited to go that I forgot my camera. No fear Susan was armed with hers and she did shoot some great photos. I am not going to tell you the story until I have the disk of photos since it is a must to show you some of the events. Just know that we are back safely and we did have an awesome time and are planning the next trip as I sit here and type!

Happy trails....

It's time

Well, I have had the Frankie out several times trail riding and we have had really good rides each time. I think the time has come for...... ROAD TRIP!!!

Yep, all this busy and hustling and bustling around here has me plain cranky so my solution is to go to the woods and center. Frankie is going to get himself a crash course in camping and trail riding this weekend. Best Friend Susan and I are heading South to meet up with friends from Georgia for the weekend. We are going
here .
We are leaving on Friday morning and coming home Sunday.

This will be the longest haul for Frankie yet, but Payback will accompany him back there. He will have to be put on a picket line when I am not riding. My hope is that this will help him with his pulling back problem and that he won't make a complete *SS out of himself. I think he is ready for this and it should surely help get him in shape and more confident.

Going to dig out my camping stuff!

Happy trails......

I'm riding again!

I thought after the move things might calm down a bit, but so far it is full throttle around here. This past week I did manage to get the satellite TV hooked up and a phone connected. Since I was captive all week I decided to go commando and potty train this very stubborn almost 4 year old boy of mine. We have tried several times with no success, my fault too since I am always on the go. (no pun intended)
But, I am happy to say I think we have rounded that corner this week as well.
Friday was a trip to Toys R Us for a job well done and yes the dreaded Chuckie Cheese adventure..... shoot me now! After that we drove a very sick and fevered Dad
to the Cincinnati airport for a flight to New York. He went against my advice, work calls you see. It is just an hour to the airport but with two small boys it felt like twenty!! We then booked it home, stopped for groceries and shavings for the equines and went to Susan's to prepare Frankie's new stall and paddock. I got the stall bedded and filled the water trough and buckets in the stall.

Saturday morning I went and hooked up Susan's big aluminum stock trailer and thank God she watched my boys as I drove to Indiana to fetch the big ole Perlino man.
Two and a half hours later I arrived and promptly loaded 78 bales of hay into the front of the trailer. It has a cut gate and that was what I could fit in the front section, was hoping for 100 but oh well. I then went to Tiffany's house and loaded up Frankie and all his paraphernalia into the trailer. Despite the trailer being something totally different and this being his 6th time hauled he did great.
I made it back to Susan's by 3:30pm and proceeded to unload him and some hay.
I turned Frankie out into his paddock to let off some steam. The rest of the horses were up in the barn and this distressed him terribly, not to mention Jane started the hee haw express in there. As I unloaded hay he basically trotted the fence and whinnied to whoever would answer.

Later that evening Susan had a cookout and by then he was settling in and relaxing some. Until...... I turned out Jane. Her paddock is across the driveway from him,
he can see her but no contact. He pawed at the ground and paced a small section where he could see her, she could have cared less. By the time I left at 10pm he was worn down and grazing peacefully.

Today after driving back to the airport to fetch said sick Dad who is now even sicker, I decided to go and ride with Susan. So at 2 o'clock we loaded Frankie and her mare Payback and headed to the reservoir to ride. The reservoir is not actually a reservoir it is just county land that may one day be used for that purpose. It is only 15 minutes from the farm. Frankie did well considering that he never had another horse haul with him in the trailer, I don't have slants just an open box. When we arrived at the parking lot there were about five other trailers there. We had seen a deer on the way in and that was only the first of many today. We unloaded and saddled up the ponies. Frankie did his classic pull back on the lead when I was about to saddle him, something we must work on. It is frustrating because he doesn't always do it and he is completely calm after doing it. After that outburst he was fine while being saddled. Susan had daughter Eliza along for the ride today in her buddy seat on the back of payback, she is six. We headed down the road and immediately crossed a concrete bridge with 4 culverts running under it and sticking out the sides like evil monsters. Frankie just had a look as we were passing over them. We found the trail head and went into the woods, it was a single file trail and Payback led. It was nice and shady and the bugs did not bother us today. We climbed some slippery hills and this did give Frankie some nerves but he handled himself very well. The trails were in the woods then opened into big fields,
we saw several deer and Frankie never spooked or acted up at all. We did some water crossings with no problem either. Of course I forgot my camera but Susan managed to snap this one with her Blackberry.




Can you see the topography in the photo? We did some serious climbing today.
We rode for about an hour and a half and when we arrived back at the trailer little Frankie was pooped. He was actually trying to sleep while I unsaddled him. We headed home and he got a nice showering off and some rest in his stall until this evening when he will get turned out for the night. Me I am turning in also, I am sore all over from slinging hay and tomorrow it will be from riding. That's OK, I am so glad to be back in the saddle again....

The mare may come this week for a trial basis to see if she fits my program, she sounds to good to be true so we shall see......

Happy trails......

Here comes the judge

That was one of the first comments I heard from a little girl on Sunday morning.
Funny how wearing a jacket identifies you as the judge. I drove up to Indiana on Saturday evening and spent a quiet evening in a hotel. Well, it was quiet until mother nature produced some violent thunderstorms at 11 pm just in time to wake me up. I tell ya, I needed that time alone to re-center. My life has been a crazy mixed up busy time as of late. But yeah I know you want to hear about the show....

I arrived at the grounds at 8:15 am the show was to start at 9am. The weather had cleared and it was cool and very pretty out. I submitted the office staff my patterns for showmanship and horsemanship and received my judges cards. They bulldogged a fella named REX into being my ring steward for the day. He was a part time farrier and pleasant man to work with. The show was not very large, partly I think since the previous nights weather. It is an outdoor facility and I think people may have been afraid that it was wet. They actually did not even get the storm that I had at the hotel some 12 miles South.

This was an open show put on by a sweet elderly lady that owns the boarding stable where the facility was. Her name was Rosie and she told me that she and her late husband had been hosting this show for over 40 years. She holds the show both days of the weekend with the same show bill both days and a different judge both days.

The show started at 9:15 and halter classes were first up. It was a little unusual as the classes were mixed genders and all breeds of horses. I mean I had 16 hand horses and minis in the same class! I really could not take pictures for you as I was judging but believe me the minis were so freaking cute! I especially loved the little mini studs, they had such attitude and presence. I was so happy to see so many youth competing and they were all very polite and well behaved. I am sad to tell you that no one competed in the mini obstacle class or the at liberty class.
I judged English and western but no contesting or trail classes. There were some pretty nice horses there and in a few classes I did have to ask for some extended work out of them to decide. We did have one mishap where a young girl of around 8 did come off her horse but she was OK just shook up. Made me have a gasping moment though. My favorite part of the day was when I was getting ready to leave and two young ladies of 6 and 8 came and thanked me for judging their show! I was impressed at the manners and poise of these young girls.

I landed another judging job while I was there for July, a 4H fair show. Ooh, ought to be good and hot by then. I am pleased, I really enjoy it and working with the kids.

This week I am trying to get into a schedule here at Valkyre house. Happy to say we are all here except Frankie. I am going Saturday to pick him up first thing. Jane is shedding off nicely and has made herself at home in the new barn. Susan loves being serenaded by her each morning.

BIG NEWS to come.......I am trying out another horse.....stay tuned.

Happy trails.....

Believe it or not...

I am still alive.....

I have been consumed by the ranch horse show and the tallying of results for that plus the big move to KY.

I am happy to tell you I did in fact haul Frankie to the show. I did even manage to ride him Friday evening. He was fresh, we did some lunging then riding and some bucking. He handled the crowds and newness of it all quite well. The rest of the weekend he basically stood in his stall and I had one of the youth kids water and give him hay at intervals. I did walk him around on Sunday during the lunch break and even took him over to the cattle pens to see his reaction. He was non reactive about the cows and generally everything else. The show went well despite rain and having to use the covered pen for every class instead of just the cattle classes.

This weekend is the final push for moving, should be in totally by the end of this week. Thank goodness for that. Today was last day of school for the kiddos so we are focused on getting the rest of our stuff moved now.

Sunday I am judging an open show here in Indiana and I must admit my first mini horse classes. I am curious about this mini horse obstacle at liberty class, should be a hoot!

Promise I will be back to posting more regularly soon, thanks to those of you out there checking on me.

Happy trails....

Stubborn as an ass...

Yep, that's me! Despite my aching back and my need for vicodin just to be upright I decided to ride Frankie today. I know , I know.... but the weather was just gorgeous today and he is doing well again and did I mention the ranch horse show this weekend?

Well, Frankie was quite good today and instead of pounding myself with trotting and loping we worked on other things. We worked on moving the hip without it being a big deal and getting faster in pace. This will come in handy for working gates and lead changes and lots of other things. We also worked on backing and just standing still for awhile. He looks good and is completely shed out and I must say looking buff! Hopefully, I will get a chance to show him at least a class or two this weekend. Since I am running the show it is a tough call, depends on if my help shows up and works out.

Either way we are making progress again and I know separating him and Jane was the right thing to do.

Now if you will excuse me I am off for a Mojito and another vicodin!

Happy Trails.....

Frankie's heart break club

First let me start off by thanking all of you for your insights and suggestions in the Frankie / Jane saga. I want to tell you all that A) I am not mad at him or disappointed. I understand he is a young and inexperienced horse and B) He needs more riding from me. Mostly I was just surprised by his actions as he never has shown any of those characteristics before.

So before one or both of us got hurt or digressed any further, I loaded up Jane on Thursday and took her to Ky. She is now at Susan's in her own little paddock and could not be happier. Well, OK she could be happier if Frankie was with her but that is not going to happen.

It was too late on Friday when I got back to go see Frankie but first thing on Saturday I went over to see him. I had talked with Tiffany on the phone and she told me he carried on for about an hour then settled down when I took Jane away.

On Saturday he seemed relaxed when I brought him into the arena , a good sign.
He stood quietly while I groomed and saddled him. Tiffany's horse Cisco did call out to him a few times and he did answer but did not get agitated like before. I decided to lunge him just a bit to see what shape we were in. He worked well and did not seem to preoccupied with calling out to Cisco. I mounted him and am happy to say he was back to his old self. We had a great ride and schooled for about 30 minutes in the arena.

Unfortunately my back has decided to spasm and flare up from previous injury and probably the moving and the fall last week. So..... I am here with heat pad and vicodin trying to get well so I can ride some this week. Now I am preparing for the ranch horse show this weekend which is a full time job in itself.

Round Two.....

Today was round two with Frankie. I would like to tell you it went better but in fact it was worse.

Last evening I went back over and gave him a bath. After bathing him I tied him in the arena and went to put away my things. He freaked out and started screaming for Jane and pulled back and broke a lead rope. I caught him and decided that we must do something to stop this behavior.

Today when I saddled him he was much quieter as was Jane, I was hopeful. But.... when I got up on him he flatly refused to move forward. I nudged him and bent him to no avail, he just froze up and whinnied for Jane who of course answered. I used my spur ever so gently at first and he just flinched, then he exploded. He did the shaking of the head thing again and then launched straight upward and started twisting and bucking. I took this as my cue to exit stage left. I was not as graceful as I had hoped and ended up in the dirt on my butt.

So, out came the lunge line and we did some work. After lunging for 15 minutes I remounted him and although he was still whinnying occasionally we did get some good work in. I ended on a good note and tomorrow is another day.

I have decided however, that Jane will be heading to Ky tomorrow afternoon and their love affair is over. He will now be pastured alone until he grows up a bit and gains some confidence. Sigh.....

The saga continues....

Bronc riding

That is what my morning was..... a bronc ride on Frankie. Who knew the boy had it in him?? Let me back up a piece and fill you in.

I decided that since mother nature will not turn off the water works around here and give me suitable ground to ride on, that I would move Frankie and Jane to Tiffany's house since she is still here and has an indoor.

The decision was two sided. I am taking Frankie to the ranch horse show on the 16th and I know Jane is going to freak out when I take him. Last time she went thru the fence when I left her. I thought maybe she will behave better at Tiffany's since her horse will be there for company. I also knew it would make me take the time to go over there and care for him and thus I would ride instead of doing one of the million things around here.

So last eve, Tiffany God love her! Came over with her truck and trailer since mine are in KY with hubby, and got the kids and took them to her house. I also am happy they are there since I can visit with her some more before we part ways and both move to our new locales. Tiffany has a great indoor and several runs for pasture for the horse and donkey. I also like the fact that I can dry lot Jane as she is looking like she is ready to birth twins any day now!

OK, back to today. I got out of her at 8 and headed to Tiffany's, it is only a mile away. I brought Frankie into the arena to tack him up and he seemed very at ease with the strange surroundings. Then Jane started! She was braying and running up and down the dry lot behind the arena, I could hear all of it. Guess what? So did Frankie which led to whinnying and carrying on like a crazed man. He actually tried to rear on the cross ties! Saddling him was no picnic with that crap going on and I was doing my best not to get frustrated. I should mention it has been over a month since I last rode him so I knew it was going to be adventurous. He worked well in between the screaming for Jane and her braying for him. When I corrected him for whinnying to her he got agitated and shook his head and bucked. This went on for 30 minutes and he was in a good sweat despite it being 63 degrees out. I am hoping this will calm down in a few days but not holding my breath. I think Jane may have to head South to Ky and they may have to be permanently separated when we get there.

Any thoughts to how to get them less attached??

Reality sets in

With all the hustle and bustle of my life lately I have been running on automatic it seems. The day to day life has caught up with me....
The move is now reality as I walk through my near empty house and garage. Sunday I took my little men fishing at our pond for what will probably be the last time. The neighbor came over and teared up talking with me about it. Today I caught myself telling Tiffany she could stay here at my place on her way to a trip South, only to realize it is in August and I won't be living here anymore. Sigh.... there are a few things I will miss around here. Life is hard, change is inevitable and usually for the better. Still the reality of it all is overwhelming.

Today I must give a long overdue THANK YOU to dear fellow blogger and friend Luanne
atAll in a days work for this lovely pendant she made and gave away in a contest on her blog.











This is called Dichroic Jewelry and although I do not truly understand the process in how she creates these, I do know they are beautiful and I am sorry these pictures do not capture the true colors and beauty of the piece. Thank you again Luanne!


Since I am now on the catching up part of my post I must give a shout out to new blogger and my sister at Adventures in paradise Welcome sis, I am sure everyone will want to read about your crazy life on the island!

News to come...... me and the girls are planning our summer horse trip for August.
Now, who wants to come along??

More scenes from Rolex

Hope you enjoyed the photos from Rolex yesterday, today I will share the rest with you. No, I am not venturing into eventing folks I just love watching anything to do with horses. Think I will stick to riding the trails and chasing an occasional cow or two. Frankie and I worked on backing down the drop off hill yesterday and also on trotting at hand. He got the backing part down but trotting at hand will require some more work. It is necessary if I am to show him in conformation classes at the ranch horse shows. Now onto more Rolex stuff:


After watching several horses go at the head of the lake jump we moved on to view the sunken road jump. This one was actually the jump before the lake one.
Here the rider had to jump a fence constructed of what looked like driftwood then jump down into a sand pit, jump back up out of the sand pit and over another big wood jump. We did see one refusal on this jump at the last element, however in eventing they can just try to complete the portion they refused instead of doing the whole sequence again.





In the picture above the rider has cleared the first fence and is heading to the jump down portion.








Unfortunately my camera has a really long delay so I could not get the gray horse in sequence for you to see. This is the middle part of the "road" the sand pit they jump down into and out of.





Here the rider has jumped back up out of the pit and is approaching the final jump of this sequence. There was not much room between the jump up and this next jump
I would guess maybe three strides for these horses. Just incredible stuff to watch!


We then move on to another jump called the log cabins, yes they were two little log cabins to jump. I could not get a true picture of this layout for you but the line between these jumps is what made it so difficult. They had to jump the first one on a hill then do a sharp 90 degree turn to the left to go up another hill and jump the second one. To make it harder there was a chimney on the second one in the middle of the roof, which meant they could not jump the center of the jump without hitting it.







In the photo above the rider is clearing the first cabin, can you see how she is having to turn the horse for the next jump even before the landing??







Here is the second cabin she did a really nice job on this jump!








This is actually another horse and rider doing the second cabin I just love the sky in this picture.


We did watch some more jumps but I retired my camera and just watched the rest of the day. Unfortunately we did hear of one horse that collapsed on the field and later found out he hit a jump and broke a leg, he was euthanized on the spot.
Sad news and it did dampen the spirits, but as with any sporting event accidents are inevitable.

Later that evening us girls convened on my new little farmhouse and proceeded to get happy with cocktails and reminiscing. We stayed up til midnight and laughed until we cried. All in all a great weekend that I will remember for a long time to come.

Hope you enjoyed the ride!

Trail riding cowgirl went to........

Sorry to have kept you in suspense all day but I had acres upon acres of mean green grass to mow all day. This mowing two places is really starting to suck. I am not complaining ....honest, I would much rather it be warm and have to mow than that winter crap any day.

No Luanne I did not make Keenland, Not Louisville either folks.... but a few of you guessed right!



Drum roll please.........


Cowgirl went to:







Yeah, ROLEX kids!!


For those of you unfamiliar, it is a three day event of international level.
We are talking the best of the best here, some serious riding for sure.




You see it pays to have friends in high places. :-)
BFF Susan works at USHJ at the horse park and was able to score us passes to the event. I called Tiffany who is still here in Indiana thanks to a big problem with the purchase of her new house in Detroit, she rides three day event so she was more than siked to come down and attend. I am so glad she did, she really was able to explain the jumps and how it all came together.

Here she is at the Head of the Lake jump








Here is the sequence of the jumps at this particular jump. It involved five different jumps right there in front of us. Incredible stuff!














If you look to the far right of the picture above you will see the first jump a huge log jump then they are on to the brush jump down into the water.














Then they go on to jump this wood bottomed brush jump in the water, they then must make a sharp 90 degree turn and jump up out of the water and over this next jump.














This is of course timed and if you think they are just cantering along slowly you are mistaken. Can you tell how this horse is moving out here?












Awesome athletes I tell you, both horses and riders. I have lots more to share but must get a run on. I will share more tomorrow including the after party!