Here comes Peter cottontail

Yep, here comes Peter cottontail hopping down the bunny trail







This is a cake I made for my 5 year olds Kindergarten class today. We are having an Easter theme party for fun.


Unfortunately, the only trail I will hoppin down this weekend will be interstate 75 with another load of stuff to Valkyre house. I am not complaining ....really. Its just the weather is just now starting to get nice and I long to be riding Frankie.
Yesterday the farrier came and he got a pedicure and he commented on how much better he is getting about being handled and with his feet. Yes! the ground work is paying off. Actually it is good that I am spending the only free time I have working with him on the ground. Ray hunt once said to me that you lead a horse from his back just as you lead from the ground. So I figure all our ground work will pay off when I actually do get to start riding.

Next weekend the ranch horse club is putting on a Versatility Clinic with a great clinician Ben Bowman. You may recall I took a clinic with him last year with Harley.
He really does a nice job and I am looking forward to going there. It is limited to ten riders and I have 8 signed up as of now. If it does not fill I may take Frankie just for some experience. He has never seen cows and the hauling would be good for him.

Speaking of hauling. A friend of mine had an idea to try for the woes I am having getting Frankie to back out of my trailer. She suggested working with him on the ground backing down inclines or step downs. Here at this house I have the perfect spot for this, the back lane is lower than the sides so I can step him down from the grass onto the gravel drive. I did not have time to try it yesterday with the rain but next week it is a go. Can't hurt to try it.

I am off to a room of 21 happy, energetic five year olds now wish me luck!

Happy trails.....

Kentucky scenes

I am back!

What a weekend. Wish I had spent it with my horses, but had to get the move on.
We left on Friday afternoon as I had to go and change all the utilities in Ky into my name. I had to do some of them in the flesh and show I.D. and give them a deposit. Details.. details...

Upon arriving at Valkyre house, (that is what we are calling home #2 right now)we discovered that the key for the front gate did not work. I hiked down the hill to the stud farm office and retrieved one from the receptionist, she was nice enough to drive me back up the hill to the gate. It was windy and cold, not the weather I ordered at all! Karen was kind enough to let me keep the key and go and get copies made. Next came the fun part. The entry to the drive has two concrete pillars, one on each side making getting a trailer in there dicey. Unfortunately there is a fence directly across the street making it difficult to swing out far enough to clear the pillars with the trailer. Let me tell you all it was touch and go. Now I am well versed at driving a trailer but thank goodness hubby is a professional or else it would not have happened. After much maneuvering and getting the truck muddy from the side of the road we did get it in there. We unhooked the trailer and I set off to town to do the switching of utilities and have keys made. Hubby stayed behind with the kidlets and unloaded boxes, God bless him. Friday evening we met Susan in town at a Ruby Tuesday for dinner, how nice to see her more than every once in awhile. Home we went and blew up our airbeds which would serve as our sleeping arrangements for the weekend. The kids thought this was great fun and they made a "fort" in one of the smaller rooms upstairs. We all slept well and woke up happy to be in our "new" house. Saturday it was sunny and really nice! I am going to share some pictures with you.

This is the kitchen, very uh pinky-orange but bright














Here is the view out the back of the kitchen, no horses in the closest pasture today but can you see the newborn foal up on the hill to the left of his momma?







There are so many foals, I think I counted 18 this weekend. They keep them separate for a little bit then turn them out together when they get a little older.

Here is a shot of the detached garage behind the house. My little guy was helping me take some pictures but he did not want to pose for one.










Here is hubby taking a Michelob break on the back deck. We brought down our patio set just for this reason.





Here is the view from the room which will be my office.





If you look closely you can see a black horse challenging the gray horse.
The black horse is a stud, his name is "Lured". I know this because he had a brass plate on his halter that said it. He is very curious as to what is going on in our yard and he agreed to pose for a few pictures before he was led off to the "ladies" barn to perform his duties.







He is huge, the top of this fence is at my neck so I am guessing he stands 17 plus hands.

Here he is looking away at all the foals up on the hill behind him.






This is one of the trees in the side yard, I think it is a flowering crab apple?
This picture does not do it justice it is beautiful!





Sunday we had breakfast and then emptied the rest of the trailer at the storage unit.
Then we headed over to Susan's house and helped her with a few things around the farm. We started back for Indiana and the sky's let loose most of the way. By the time we got home it was 46 and raining, ugh..... Frankie and Jane were wet and happy to see me. Today is catch up on laundry day and start packing again for the weekend.

Hope you all had great weekends!

Too much stuff!

Oh the joys of moving!

I have come to the conclusion that I have way too much stuff. This week has been a true Spring cleaning. If I haven't worn it or used it in a year out it goes. The Goodwill people know me by name now. Seriously, how did I accumulate so much crap in five years since the last time I moved? Well, I know I now have two more little ones and their things to add to the mess but still....

Poor Frankie and Jane just watch me daily making trips to the car with give aways and trips to the horse trailer packing what is going. Yep, true to the hillbilly roots I am using my horse trailer to move most of it. What a sight we will be moving in with a horse trailer, the blue one none the less.

We are making our first run down to the new house this weekend. I have to go and personally change all the utilities to my name. I have nearly emptied both basements and stuffed it into the horse area of the trailer. The dressing room is full of inside things that I do not need for day to day living. The boys are excited to be camping in our new house this weekend. It sort of will be like camping since we will sleep on blow up beds and have no furniture.

Speaking of Frankie, haven't done much with him except shed him of tons of hair.
I have managed a little ground work with him in the areas he lacks, which is most of them. He has gotten very good about picking up his feet now and no longer does a little dance when I move around him. We are still working on trying to trot at hand so I can show him in conformation and my oldest wants to as well. I fear I may need to invest in a little dressage whip to encourage his lazy little butt. When I give him the cue to trot he just looks at me like I am a bit crazy and sort of lengthens
his neck but does not increase his motion. More work but that is OK. When the move is over there will be plenty of time to ride and work on lots of things. I should mention that Frankie celebrated his 4th Birthday on the 27th of March I totally missed it but made it up to him the next day.

BFF Susan tells me there is a place just five miles from the new house that we can ride. It is state land and has trails and a parking area for horse trailers. She thinks you could probably ride about three hours total without doing the same trails over. Sounds good to me! Looking forward to riding with her lots this summer!

In ranch horse news, we are having one of our members display his stallion at the Hoosier Horse Fair this weekend for the club. We also have two members who happen to be ARHA judges that are volunteering their services to judge the top hand/top horse competition. I am running up there this afternoon armed with info and banners to display at the booth and in the arena. Things are starting to take shape for the first show in May. Hoping I have most of the move done by then so I can hold it all together. Well I am off and running, hope you all have great weekends!

Happy trails.....