Adios, 2018!

The best thing about goals is exceeding them! Managed another ride today. This time I went into the neighbour's grazing lease, the cows are gone and I had to do battle with a tight stretch gate to get in there but it was worth it.

I rode down to the end to check on the walk through gate, it had been behind a wall of mud a couple of years ago but it looks like the mud has dried hard and I'll be able to get through it come spring- or maybe even this winter depending on the footing, it's a bit icy now.
 On the way back I wanted to see if Gussie liked rosehips; I read that they are good for horses.

 She sure 'nuff liked them! I'll have to pick a bunch in the fall before they freeze.

They are plentiful! But really big thorns on those bushes.

When I got home I had Ted take our picture- now, I am not a fan of seeing myself in photos but I sure do like to see my horses, and I thought this one of Gussie was pretty cute.

So that's it for the year! Now it's time to go do chores and then attend the bonfire the guys are firing up, and roast some hotdogs and salute the year end with a glass of wine!
Happy New Year everyone, and thanks for following along on my equine journey!

Riding day 101

Goals

Looking back on 2018....

 I set the goal to achieve 100 rides this year. Sounds fairly simple, right? But with 2 months of heavy smoke during prime riding time, the summer, and the usual winter weather and spring and fall rains it took a bit of perseverance to git'r'done.

But I did! 

Ride 100 was, as promised, a trail ride with my husband, who doesn't ride much any more. In fact, this was his second ride this year. And I'm pretty sure he volunteered for it because he loves Gussie, he is the one that picked her out of a pen of colts at the auction we bought her at.

I rode Beamer, of course. He was pretty tickled to have a GIRL riding along with him but he was pretty well behaved, talked a couple of times but a growl from me straightened him out. 

Yes, I growl at my horses.....

It was a lovely afternoon! We had rain on top of the little bit of snow, so there were icy patches here and there but riding in the bush it was really good footing. And the snow made for nice soft footing for Beamer. 

We went to the river and back, just my usual ride so I could show Ted where I go. 

On the way back Ted and Gussie led for a while. She had gotten a bit ramped up but he handled her well.

I gotta say I was pretty happy to reach my goal on a ride where I was on my best horse and my husband was riding with me.  Great way to get there!

So- getting back to looking back... my key word for the year was "change". What changes? Well, I now have a hay shed, so no more tarping bales and losing hundreds of dollars worth of hay to mold!

A big change was selling a horse I didn't get along with (Rosalee) and buying Gussie, who is totally my kind of horse! Also, I stepped up and invested in an eventual replacement for Beamer, which was not in the plans but just worked out that way.... pending 5 panel results and what Drifter turns out like. Because, I really wasn't planning on replacing Beamer at all.... but dreams die hard, and helping someone else out made it a worthwhile project.

So- what's up for next year? For me, my key word is "action". How that plays out we shall see, and I will record on this blog as it unfolds. One thing I want to change for sure is my diet- I need to cut out most of the sugar I routinely indulge in! Another area I want to change is my propensity for procrastination , especially as pertains to housework! I am one of those people who would rather clean a horse pen than dust and vacuum my house. And one big change is that I will actually be travelling a bit; my daughter in Ontario is getting  married in July so I"ll be heading there. Perhaps flying ( I hate flying, I'm claustrophobic) or renting a car and driving- which I would prefer as I could then stop to visit friends along the way.

What's up for 2019 for you?

Riding day 100

Still time!

That is, still time to reach my goal of 100 rides this year. Today was 99; I was feeling a bit lazy so I just went for a bareback ride on Beamer down to the river.

Just another lovely quiet day, just enjoying my best boy and his eager stride, and interest in his surroundings. He's such a pleasure to ride, and it's a lot easier to dismount from his 14.2 height than Gussie's 15.2 when I ride bareback!
Love seeing the bright splashes of colour with the mountain ash berries.

 A few times, Beamer knocked snow off branches onto us but that was all just part of the winter fun!
I'm hoping to do something special for my 100th ride- I want Ted to come with me so I can show him some of these beautiful trails.

Riding day 99

Peaceful

We all wish for peace on earth... especially at  Christmas. I found my own peace today, just me on my good mare, and the sound of hoofbeats and nature. No squeaky saddle!

Riding day 98

Christmas ride

Jingle bell ride, on the bestest, fastest walking horse ever

A lovely mild Christmas day, and after a relaxing morning and before putting the turkey in the oven, it was time to saddle up and ride! After riding down to the river and back I gave the neighbour kid a ride:

 and got Ted to do a photo shoot of me and Beamer. Normally I hate getting my photo taken but I want to have photos of me and Beamer to look back on for the day (distant day I hope) when all I have is memories of him.

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you are all having a peaceful day.

Riding day 97

The changing of the season - time to work!

Oh how I miss my Nikon... I would have been shooting the moon, the beautiful cold moon of wintertime. As it promises, it did bring colder weather, and the snow is falling this morning, looks like it will indeed be a white Christmas. I was hoping it would because I want to do a Christmas photo shoot, will have to use my cell phone though!

Yesterday I brought Gussie and Mesa out of the pen, tied them to the hitching rail, saddled Gussie, then went to the horse trailer to get my boots and this is what happens behind my back.....



The horse thief strikes again! He didn't jump off as I led her over to the mounting block, thought I was going to have to double him as well as ponying Mesa!

Speaking of which, as we started out, Mesa was a bit fresh, so I ended up ponying her down to the round pen, turned her loose and stayed on Gussie as I worked her; got her kinks out and it was a good work out for Gussie too, as we had to do a lot of spinning  and lateral work to keep up. I also tracked her on Gus and then got ahead to turn her back like you do in working cowhorse. Fun! But it didn't take long before Mesa was ready to go out again. I had to reach down from Gussie's lofty height to put her halter back on; but they were both good girls and stood still for me.

The rest of the ride was uneventful, except one little bobble when we got back and Ice and Drifter came to the fence and turned and galloped off- Mesa had the urge to join them as she usually does in pasture; I was prepared with a short hold.

Remember when I first got Gussie back, how she had vitiligo; depigmented skin around her lips? Here are some then and now photos.

Then- February

Now- December

Then- February

Now- December

Then- February

Now- December

I can only attribute the change to proper nutrition with her. Straight grass hay, and Hoffmans minerals, free choice salt. She does not do well with alfalfa, and apparently the hay she got over the last 4 years was an alfalfa mix even though I did caution the person who bought her not to feed her any alfalfa. I'm pretty happy that she is getting back to normal- that is, as normal as a red headed diva can get!

Riding day 96

Short and sweet

The shortest day was a good day to ride; I saddled up Beamer and we stepped out to enjoy the sunshine.

The sun stays low on the horizon these days, this was around 1 in the afternoon.

I kept the ride fairly short; Beamer wasn't lame but he was footy- tender footed on the hard ground, but willing to step out on the softer footing. 

Well... until he came to the log, the one that has a steep drop off on one side....

I opted to ride him around the cement barriers because he is so short that my feet hit the cement unless I raise them. 

It was such a beautiful day, a wee bit windy, the residue of a storm that hammered the west coast the day before.

 

This warm weather has melted most of our snow, at least down here on the valley bottom. 

The full moon was so beautiful last night, making the longest night bright and beautiful. Looks like today will be another good day to ride! I think I'll pony Mesa. 

Riding day 95

Thank you El Nino

There's good and bad about an El Nino winter.
The bad? Lots of mud!



The good: Nice mild weather, good for riding!

Thumper agrees! Beamer did want to buck him off but agreed to stop when I asked.

Gussie, sweating after a schooling ride

Today's ride was a really relaxing trail ride, bushwacking our way to the river and counting my blessings for having a good horse to ride and a lovely place to ride.

She is such an excellent trail horse. I luvs her!

At the end of the ride I thanked her for taking care of me and being such a good horse. 

I take it she agrees with me and that she enjoyed the ride too!

Riding day 92, 93, & 94

Countdown... 91

December is giving us some pretty nice riding weather. Gussie and I hit the trails today, and had a thoroughly enjoyable ride. I spotted big tracks near our place, either an elk or a moose has been visiting the local yards so I kept an eye out hoping to see him/her, but no luck.
Such a gorgeous day!

I finally got a decent photo of the mountain ash berries; wouldn't you know it - just a quick snap riding by and it turned out better than the many I have stopped and fiddled with settings to get.

Come along for the ride!

Oh how I love those cute li'l ears!

Riding day 91

90

'Nuff said.

Riding day 90

Conquering trepidation

Not me- Gussie!
The other day (ride 88) I had a really nice ride on Gussie, and coming home I had someone waiting for me, so I took the shortcut across the neighbour's yard, which gave me the opportunity to take Gussie across the bridge the guys built earlier in the year. It's 4 ft wide and about 6 or 7 ft. long, very sturdy, it goes across the seasonal creek that flows through our yards.
Well now.....
Gussie was having none of that!!!!
A few years ago I had tried her on a teeter totter bridge for cowboy challenge and she hated it- it MOVED!!!! Very very scary! So this was the first time I had asked her to try a bridge since then- apparently she has an excellent memory.
I dismounted, and with much coaxing , she went across.... all in a rush and I had to get the heck out of the way in a hurry. I took her back across, again, she rushed, very anxious about it. After that, she.was.done. No more going across, thank you very much.
 So yesterday, I did a really nice bareback ride on her. Originally I planned to try loping bareback as I have been really enjoying her rocking horse lope, but I decided to start with the ... big scary bridge!
 Well....

Talk about an anticlimax! So I got on and figured I would ride her across.....

No problem, I got this!

After that, we went down to have a second look at the Christmas tree I have picked out.

Yup I think it will do just fine! The plan is to go get it tomorrow. 

We continued our  ride, looking at the ice beginning to form on the river.

Then we came to Gussie's other nemesis, the dreaded concrete blocks. 

Well... maybe not so dreaded now, but worthy of a bit of cautious side eye!

I was so happy with her!

Riding day 89

Bff's

Took another ride on Gussie to try out the little saddle with the SPH pad; it worked ok but there just isn't enough gullet clearance with that saddle. So next year I really have to go saddle shopping. I can get by with it for the remainder of the winter- or just ride bareback.

While I had Gussie at the hitching rail, Thumper came to visit.

Thumper: Hi Gussie! Whatcha doin'?

Thumper: Yer my bestie!

Gussie: I'm good with that.

Then I saddle up, and he steals my horse!

Had another little schooling ride to see if the saddle stayed put when we lope- it did. Then went for a ride through the bush to check on a possible Christmas tree, and up onto the dyke. 

They say it's going to be a mild winter, so I should be able to get lots of rides in if it doesn't get icy. 

Hope you don't get tired of the view!

Riding day 88

Sad(dle)

Well November sure was a wet one! I did manage to get in a couple more rides since my last post. Both were schooling rides on Gussie. I have dreams of showing her in Cowboy Dressage some day.... there is a place an hour across the border that had ride nights last year, if they are going again this year I might try to get in on them. If not, maybe I can take a clinic with a CD instructor in Alberta. I really feel that it's my style of riding- and I really want to try the garrocha pole!
On the second ride I used my Wade saddle with an SPH pad thatI just bought. I was hoping it would make a difference in keeping the saddle from sliding back.
This photo is before the ride:

The bars are set just behind the scapula.

This one is after:

It may not be really obvious in the photo but it had slid back a couple of inches and was digging into her back.

So tight when I was on her! But when I got off:

She has an old horse back (she is 15) and not a lot of muscle over her shoulders. My next venture is that I am going to try to gorilla glue the broken ends of the tree on my other saddle (wish me luck! ) and try the SPH pad with it. Meanwhile, this saddle is up for sale. If it doesn't sell I'm ok with that as I may someday be able to use it on my future filly or Mesa if she doesn't sell. I do have someone interested in her by the way, but not until next spring.

I have been taking Beamer for walks, partly to keep his leg limbered up and partly to relieve his boredom.  Yesterday I took him over to the shop where the guys hang out. He didn't want to go in at first, but eventually he did.

 

Hanging out with the guys!

With good weather in the forecast I expect to get more riding in this coming week- yay!

Riding day 86 & 87