Sunday Stills

Today's challenge is statues or figurines; I wanted to get some of the statues at my church, but ran out of time, and had to travel for out family reunion, so I quickly snapped these ones of some of the little fellows around my home.

Busy and happy

The last couple of days I've been busy with my new job, and getting organized to leave for our family reunion this weekend.

Beamer is walking better now, I think he's over the tenderness from the rocks on the trail ride. Check out Mrs. Mom's blog- she did a couple of posts on his feet. He'll get a few more days off, as we'll be gone till Monday.

He is going to have some changes next month; after I wean Kai, I'm going to turn him in with Coyote Belle, who is in foal, and I expect that she will teach him some manners, and that close proximity to other horses does not mean it's breeding time! I have large pens so that he'll be able to get away from her- and it will give Belle something to take her mind off her foal.

Tonight, when I went to bring the mares in, and didn't have my camera with me, they did their flat out fun play time before they were ready to be caught. It was a moment of absolute joy for me, watching them frolic, their manes and tails streaming out as they galloped, heads up, nostrils flaring, the pure beauty of their movement, and their coats glistening in the fading sunlight made me feel blessed that I have these beautiful creatures in my life. It was a moment of shared love of life that I hope will always remain with me.

Blogger Trail Ride- the good, the bad, and the almost ugly

On the way in

The much anticipated trail ride is over now, and it was a interesting weekend. As you can see in the photo above, we were in some lovely and wild country, and the weather held out for us; just as we were leaving the rain came, but it was welcome as it kept the dust down on the 40 kilometers of gravel road.

As the title of the post suggests, things didn't go totally smoothly for me. I'll get to the good part first, and finish with more good parts, as we all like a happy ending.

The best part was getting to meet Crystal, from Ranch Riding blog, and her friend Charlene, with their horses Bailey and Ricky. They were great company, and their horses were well behaved.... not like a certain black stallion, but we'll get to that later....

Dave and Janice were there; they brought 7 horses including some young ones that were there just to get experience in the mountains. Dave spends a lot of time in the mountains with his horses, and they are big stout boys that he can use to pack game out. Janice brought her 3 Morgan mares.

Getting into the bad part, on the way in, I was following Janice, and Crystal was following me, and about 3 miles from camp I couldn't see her in my mirrors any more; I went slowly to see if she would catch up, but when she didn't I figured something must have gone wrong. This is a narrow road and I couldn't turn truck and trailer around, so I drove to the camp and sent Dave back in Janice's pickup to go check on them. He found them walking; Crystal's trailer had 2 flat tires on the same side. He brought them to camp, then they took Dave's truck and trailer to pick up the horses, and I lent them my spare tire, which Dave put on, and they limped their rig into camp.

This was all Friday night, and we had to come up with a plan to fix this- remember, we were an hour off the highway up in the wilderness. So the next morning, Charlene went for a trail ride with Dave and Janice, and Crystal and I went to Cranbrook with the flat tires to get some new ones. We went to OK Tire, and the service was excellent: half an hour later, and a few hundred dollars lighter, Crystal had 3 brand new tires and a rim to replace the one that got bent.

Dave putting the new tires on

We got back to camp in time to go on an afternoon ride, as the rest of the crew had returned from the morning ride.

Now we get to the almost ugly part. Beamer. I have been working on his "stallion" manners, getting after him if he dropped when he is around other horses. And he was doing a lot of that, so when I saddled him up and he kept hanging it out, I got after him- all of which got him upset.

Crystal and Charlene starting up the trail

We started out on the trail, and I figured the work would get his mind off his hormones and he'd line out and be good. Wrong. He was so busy paying attention to Crystal's mare- I found out later that she was in heat, but that is NO excuse for bad behavior on Beamer's part!- that he wasn't paying attention to where he was going. He refused to walk over muddy creek crossings; and he has never refused before, he usually goes carefully wherever I ask him to.

Everyone else, having a good ride!

It got to the point that I didn't want to ride him anymore,I figured that if he couldn't pay attention to where he was putting his feet he wasn't safe to ride; so we went back to camp. I was pretty disheartened, and considered packing up and going home the next morning. But Janice came up with a plan, bless her heart. I'll get to that in a minute.

So now we get back to the good! We had two great evenings in camp, with lots of good food, sharing stories and playing with the dogs- more dogs than people!

Tucker and Kali playing tug'o'war with a stick

There were another couple camped there too, and they had a border collie- which I found out was related to mine, he was a son of Tess's grandpa. There is a large corral there that an outfitter built, and Saturday morning after the other couple left, Dave and Janice put their horses in it; they had high-lined them in the trees Friday night.

Plenty of room, and plenty of collies!

They used hobbles on some of them, and Crystal and Charlene were able to turn their horses in with the others. Beamer had his own pen that I set up using my horse trailer as part of it.

This is where Reba spent all her time

It's a pretty good camp , complete with an outhouse, and the river right next to it.

We all used tents

I set my hammock up too, but Charlene and I were the only ones that used it; Tess had to climb in with me, and Crystal got a photo of that.

Sunday morning, after a great communal effort at breakfast- bacon, sausage patties, eggs, refried potatoes and carrots left over from supper, and lots of good strong coffee, we saddled up. I used a different plan with Beamer. I chose not to reprimand him on the dangling issue, because I wanted to keep his mind quiet. We went with Janice's plan, which was for me to ride behind Dave on his gelding Indy, and for the other three horses to ride just a little farther back at first. This worked really well, Beamer behaved quite well, except he still wouldn't cross the muddy little creeks unless I got off him.

Dave on Indy

We rode along the river and up through a meadow where I saw a wolf track in the mud. All the horses did well at crossing the river, which we did numerous times, and mine was the only horse that had issues with the little mud crossings. We stopped at some cabins that belong to the outfitter whose corral we were using at camp, and took a nice break.

Crystal and Janice(on Mattie) coming in to the rest stop.

You will have to visit Janice and Crystal's blogs for more photos of the great scenery there; mine were blurry, not sure why. I did get this one of the horses tied to the trees there.

This is the saddle I borrowed, if fit Beamer and me really well!

On the way back, Beamer got a little footsore about a half mile from camp; up till then he had been doing really well barefoot, but we did have a lot of rocky ground with all the river crossings. So I plan on buying a set of boots for him for trips like this, and any input I can get from you bloggers will be appreciated.

We broke camp, and I had to get this shot of the Alberta girls stylin' their boots and shorts.

Cute boots!

Speaking of footwear, all us girls had the same idea of what to wear as camp shoes!

From left to right- Charlene, Crystal, me and Janice.

Dave was a really big help, he did all the work with taking off and putting on tires, and his expertise with the horses and trails was much appreciated. In this photo, he is ponying Janice's mare Jade on her very first time crossing the river- which she did as well as if she had done it a hundred times.

You can see how rocky the river crossings are.

All in all, it was a successful first effort, I think Crystal and Charlene enjoyed coming to our neck of the woods and seeing some of the lovely back country here. We plan on doing this again next year, likely with a different location as there are so many beautiful places to see and experience. We will pick a different weekend though, probably one week earlier, so that some of you who couldn't come this year will be able to go next year.

Also, we thought it would be great if other bloggers would like to host a blogger trail ride in their part of the country, like the one over at Gun Diva's blog. It's a great way to meet the folks that we are reading about, and their horses.

Sunday Stills-Metal

Today's challenge was to photograph metal, and to try for things someone else won't think of. So I've come up with-

Barbed wire, which two flies were using for shade......

an old implement seat that makes my back ache just looking at it....

and a pile of steel drums waiting for the scrap man to pick them up to be crushed and recycled.

I preposted this as I'm way up in the mountains on our first annual blogger horse camp-out trail ride. I'll check everyones Sunday Stills on Monday when I get back.

Heading out!

Not a good photo, but this little hummer moves so quick I have a hard time focusing on it!

I'm leaving this afternoon for our first annual blogger trail ride, be back Sunday night. My Sunday Stills will automatically post.

Hopefully it won't be too smoky for us, but it will be fun! I'll leave you with a photo of some of the beauty around here- a field of sunflowers against the backdrop of the Skimmerhorn mountains.

Must be a spa day here!

Beamer was treated to another massage last night, and still has a way to go. The therapist showed me a couple of more things to do including a stretch and a place to massage right at the tailhead. So Beamer continues to get pampered, and he's loving it. He got more of an overall massage at first, which really relaxed him, including parts that weren't supposed to- he heard a lot of "put that away!"

That's the spot!

I tried out a couple of saddles and found one that fits that I can borrow for the weekend. It's a very nice handmade saddle that belongs to my friend Bobbi, and since it's her personal everyday saddle, I'll only use it for the weekend.

I'll be picking up some arnica tomorrow, and Mrs. Mom recommended Zim's Maxx Freeze; some of you recommended Sore No More, which I will also look for.

It continues to be hot and humid, the local farmers are haying like crazy, and I take pity on the horses and get out the hose to spray them down.

The mares and Kai all got their hosing, and apparently a mud bath is necessary afterwards, according to Velvet.....

and Chickory. We could use a good thunderstorm to clear the air and keep the dust down.

Working my Chicky

I haven't worked Chickory for about a month, and had the chance to get on her yesterday. It was my 5th ride on her. We used Beamer's pen to work in as he was out on pasture.This time, we went solo. I worked her around me using the get down part of the mecate, and since she went nicely both ways, I stepped on board. She still walks slowly and carefully, she steers nicely, backs beautifully.

I'd like her to go forward with a little more confidence, but that will come. A couple of times she got stuck and didn't want to go forward, so I untracked her to the side, and it worked.

My friend Bobbi was there in case she was needed, and kindly took photos for me.

I guess the next step will be to haul to the round pen and get her trotting with me, and then on to the bigger arena. I hope to get at least one trail ride in on her before winter. Slow is fast with this girl; keeping her mind quiet and focused is my goal. And it's fun! Love this horse!

Beamer's assessment

Beamer had a date last night- with Green Haven Equine Therapy. Melissa kindly allowed me to video for my blog.

The good news was that his back didn't need chiro, just massage, and there was one adjustment in his neck. The video below shows how she assessed him, and some of the work she did on him. I think that we will have to address the first level of treatment, ie. his muscle pain, and then will have another level to address the issues in his neck. So he has another appointment for Wednesday evening, and I will be massaging him twice a day. I was happy to find that this young lady uses the same essential oils that I do, so we are combining that treatment with the massage.

The bad news is that it may very well be my saddle that is causing this problem. When we checked the saddle, there is a very slight convex spot right about where the soreness is on his back, and of course when I'm in the saddle that spot would be putting a lot of pressure there. So I'm on the hunt for another saddle! I knew a while ago that this saddle didn't fit quite right but didn't think it was that bad. I have a couple of local resources; it's always a trial finding a saddle that fits. I'd love to be able to haul to Alberta to the tack stores!

I hope I can get my boy feeling better before the weekend.

Sunday Stills Smoke and Fire

Since there is a fire ban on all but small campfires right now, I went to my archives for some of these.

Mesmerizing open flames....

are a great way to spend a summer evening, especially with hot dogs or marshmallows on a stick.

Then there is the serenity of candles,

and the swirl of smoke when you blow them out.

But mostly smoke signifies danger, like house fires, forest fires, burnt food on the stove!, and as in this instance, the smoke from a crash and burn highway accident a couple of weeks ago.

Safety

Thanks to Tara and the young lady who was riding Beamer in the English lessons, I found a local Chiropractor for Beamer, he will be treated on Sunday evening. Got to have my boy feeling better!

If y'all haven't been over to Laughing Orca blog today, you might want to visit and wish Lisa well, she got kicked and is in rough shape. Which brings me to the reason for my post tonight.

We tend to become complacent with the horses we know and love. With strange horses, we are much more careful. These large and powerful animals rarely deliberately want to hurt or attack us, so it is the little things we do that get us hurt. Today, the flies were thick around the horses, and they were understandably irritated. I brought Beamer in, hosed him off, and turned him into his stud pen. He hangs out in a crowding tub that is part of his pen and has some nice shade for him. It has solid steel walls. I was on the outside of it, brushing flies away from his eyes when I spotted a small bite on his side that had a lot of flies biting it. I picked up a stick and brushed the flies away- but Beamer didn't see me do that and he reacted with a very powerful kick that made those steel walls ring. I was very glad that I wasn't standing next to him. Worried about the concussion in his foot, I took him out and gave him about 15 minutes of strong hosing on that foot with cold water.

I've heard it said that the accidents that kill you are usually within 5 miles of home, and my cowboy mentor says that it is the horses you know and trust that will hurt you. Be vigilant and always practice safety even in simple situations. Put safety before convenience. Make it a habit to always do the little things in the safest way possible- even if you are only doing that thing for a moment. Like, for example when I am leading two horses and get the lead ropes snarled around my arm when I am closing the gate- I've caught myself doing that lately and make myself take the time to straighten them out- the gate can wait, I'd rather not have a broken arm! Or when handling cattle, never assume that the fence or gate is safe to stand behind- I have a scar on my brow bone to attest to that.

Never be in a hurry to the point that you sacrifice safety.

And don't forget to stop and smell the roses......

Evening beauty

I am blessed to live in such a beautiful valley that gives me such beautiful sunsets like this one. Taken looking east:

and this one taken looking to the west.

I worked on Beamer's sore side again tonight. He really gets to licking and chewing when I get the right spot. I'll give him another 2 days off then I'll have to ride again because the following weekend is our Blogger Trail Ride. The farrier is coming tomorrow morning, so we should be good for next weekend.

We're coming too, aren't we? Yes, you little hooligans are coming too.

Lessons and learning

I went for my lesson yesterday, it was a perfect day for it; not too hot. We worked on Shirley issues first; like keeping my shoulders still, my legs back- boy, that's a tough one when you don't use those inner thigh muscles much!- and a new one, the way I hold my wrists. I needed to turn them in a little, as I was riding with them braced outward, which gave me a hard and unflexible hold on the reins- poor Beamer!

We worked on keeping Beamer in frame. It wasn't too hard at the walk as long as my position was right, but came apart a bit at the trot. I'm learning to keep my leg aids on at the rising trot, talk about multi tasking! When we proceeded to the canter, Beamer still had issues with his right lead, so I asked Gail to ride him. She discovered a few things about him, like how that short back of his makes his trot a very quick stride, especially as she is accustomed to much bigger horses with a more flowing stride! Also she got a good feel for just how much rein to use on him, and that I was riding with quite a bit too much contact; he has a nice soft face.

But the main thing she discovered is that he is sore going to the right. His not wanting to take the right lead was his way of telling us, ouch, I hurt!

Our horses do tell us when things aren't right, we just need to know how to read them, and to be in tune with them so that we know that they aren't just being evasive, they have a reason for it. I'm really glad Gail pinpointed that problem. When I brought him home, I checked his back and found the sore area, about 8 inches behind his withers on the right side, about 6 inches below the spine. I could feel knotting in his muscles so I massaged him- he loved that- and put some of my essential oils on to relieve the pain and muscle spasm.

Gail gave me permission to use this photo of her, and the quote below it is hers.

"Beamer is starting to relax and move forward. It won't be long before he and Shirley have it all together and then what a picture that will make! The boy named Beamer can live at my house anytime.....he is such a gentleman."

Well all right!

After yesterday's craziness, things were much improved today- thanks for all your well wishes everyone, I'm sure it helped!

I had applied for a job as Parish Secretary at our Church, and got my interview today; tonight I found out I got the job. I'm so happy! This is a much more meaningful job for me; no more selling cigarettes and Pepsi! The hours work out really well for me too, I'll have plenty of time for chores in the morning and horse and dog time in the afternoon.

I noticed the bot flies are out now, I was wondering why the horses were all a little crazy last night, and I could see the bot eggs on their legs today. Time to get out the sanding block. Speaking of bugs, check out this one that I found on my flowers- double wings!

Creepy little thing!

The storm clouds have gone and the sun set in an almost clear sky tonight. I think the weather will be good tomorrow for my next Dressage lesson.

Only a week and a half to the trail ride!

Crazy day!

Sometimes on the evening of a new moon things get a little strange. Like today. There were 5 motor vehicle accidents here today; two of them were at the intersection of the place I work. The first one was someone who panicked because he thought someone was going to turn left in front of him (that car was actually stopped and waiting) and ended up end over end in the opposite ditch; he will probably be a paraplegic- and the second one was a car that was turning right to come into our gas station and was rear ended by someone else that didn't see them, 5 people to the hospital. There was a fatal head on over across the valley at Wyndell, and two more. A lot of this is because of the 5 day music festival called Shambhala which draws a big crowd of young people ( think drugs and alcohol) with 10, 000 tickets sold; it was sold out this year. It ended last night and most of the people were travelling home today, burned out it seems. I don't have a lot of sympathy for people who drive under the influence of either drugs or alcohol; my sister was killed back in 1967 by a drunk driver who got off all charges.

One of my sisters had her car give out on her today, and get towed away, and another sister got evicted. What the hay is going on! Does anybody out there have any good news from today?

I give up!

Sunday Stills- clouds

Loved this challenge, it got me out in all kinds of weather. I love thunderstorms, and we had plenty this week. So here you are, sit back and enjoy!