Walkabout

The snow turned to rain a couple of days ago- not a lot of rain, thank goodness. But it made the snow really heavy. I went for a walk down to the river to check on it. Tess and Thea came with.... at least, until we got even with the horse pen and then Tess hightailed it back to the house... sigh. But miss Thea was really happy to get out for a walk with me.

C'mon, lets go!

I saw a lot of deer tracks and then a set of single deer tracks that looked like it would be a big buck. There were coyote tracks right on top of the deer tracks, but they were fresher than the deer so I'm thinking it was tracking the deer but didn't catch up with it.

Those coyote tracks are twice the size of Thea's tracks.

I really enjoyed this walk, it was a beautiful day, sun poking out, and nice and mild. It felt good to get out and get some exercise after being cooped up and sick since January 6th; I'm finally almost better.

The river was gurgling and burbling through this hole in the ice. It looks pretty good, I think all the flood danger is past for now. The government sent in heavy equipment to open up a channel along the banks, and it worked pretty good, the level dropped at least a couple of feet in one day.

Looking upstream from where I was on the dyke.

I sure hope the worst of the winter is past us now. I'm sure we'll still get lots of snow storms, but I hope that it stays fairly mild. 

I love walking in the woods, this is something I really missed at the last place we lived. (7 years!!!)

Here are some of the things that captured my attention.

Not too sure what these red berries are but they looked outstanding against the cedar tree....

and on their own. I'll have to check it in the spring and see what the bush looks like- it was at least 10 ft. tall. Tara, any ideas? It's not mountain ash.

I love the pop of colour on this tree, and I saw lots of Oregon Grape too- it's green leaves are always delightful against the snow.

Thea and I made our way back, sometimes I would have her wait up for me if she got too far ahead.

We walked back along the bottom of the horse pen so we could collect Reba at the barn on our way back to the house. Rosalee had to investigate why we were coming from that direction.

Had to have a horse photo of course! Well, maybe two, because Beamer was being silly...

Sunday smiles

Beamer got to be a kids horse today. A family with 3 children came over and as a birthday gift for their youngest daughter wanted to give her a ride on a horse. So pulled Beamer out of his pen, slicked him up and saddled him and introduced them to him. My B Boy was on his usual stellar behaviour as kids climbed on, loved up on him, and got led around. All 3 of them wanted to trot as well as walk and you should have heard the giggles!

Thea loved the kids and had to be underfoot all the time- literally, as Beamer stepped on her toe. Good thing it's deep grass, she didn't get hurt. After we put Beamer in his pasture, and Coulee out in hers, I introduced them to my as yet nameless yellow mare. I brought her out and put them up on her bareback- not riding, just sitting on her. She was really good.

This is my favourite photo of the day. I let their dad use my camera, he took all these photos and gave me permission to use them on line.
I love seeing how happy children are around horses and dogs.

Spring? Not yet but soon!

What an absolutely gorgeous day today. Warm, sunny, just perfect. I didn't ride, but I did get Josie's feet trimmed, and spent some time hanging out with the girls.

As you can see, there is still ice and mud in the horse pens, but it's rapidly melting. There are only bits of snow in the yard now, but anywhere its been packed down there is ice. Like all the border collie trails....
Josie is sure maturing, she looks great. Sill 1/4 inch under 14.2 hh. but starting to fill out. Love her mane.

I spent the rest of the afternoon baking bread, then scooping the yard cigars that are appearing now that the snow is melting. Come evening chore time, I grabbed my camera for one of the prettiest sunsets we've had all winter. Of course it always looks better with a pair of horse ears to set it off.

I think I took 15 photos of the sunset, here's one where there is a reflection in the water in the mare's pen.



























Hope you all had a great day too!
Just for fun, I did a sunset puzzle. I'm sure this doesn't work well on phones but if you have a good ipad or if you use a desktop \computer they are fun.

A spot of sunshine!

Well- finally! After a couple days of torrential rain that left lakes in Beamer's pen and the mare pen, the sun broke through today.....  oh how wonderful it felt, especially as we get close to the shortest day of the year, and it has just been so gloomy out!
Got home from work and hustled out to saddle Clancy. Fortunately she was standing close to the gate so I didn't have to wade through mud to get her out.
She still has a little issue about being saddled; when I put the saddle pad on her, she bites the hitching rail- I'm sure it has to do with her previous life and saddle fit or some other issue related to saddling. I just take my time, bring her head around and give her a rub, then take my time saddling; I back her away a step from the rail, and if she grabs it again, just bring her attention back to me and let her know there's nothing to worry about or get upset about. I really take my time cinching her. I try to make saddling a pleasant thing for her.

We started off in the round pen with some ground exercises, and because she was pretty fresh after being cooped up for over a week in a muddy pen, I sent her around before getting on.

She likes to keep her right eye on me; when changing directions from right to left she wants to do an outside turn, but when she is going left she invariably does a proper inside turn. So I worked her on that until she was giving me inside turns both directions.
I'm happy to say she stood still for me to get on, and that opening the gate with her is much improved. Still need to work on sidepassing to the gate once we have gone through so I can close it- so I took her to the L that I made of poles to do a little work on that.

See how nice and neat it is..... well not for long! I think every pole got rolled! Oh well, I know what I have to work on now. We have good shoulder and hip yields now, but I have to put it all together now for the sidepass.
 I did one exercise that's really fun; take the rein out to the side and get in time with the reaching front foot, then bring your elbow close to your hip and use leg on the same side to hip yield, and do a series of shoulder over/hip over; it's fun and really makes you work to get your timing perfect. You can do it like you do in ground work where you ask for a hip over then sweep the front across and change direction and ask again, or you can do it so that you are asking for the same side all the time (when you're riding)- shoulder to the right, hip left, shoulder right, hip left etc. then switch directions and do the other side.
We also took advantage of the puddles in the yard to make sure she would go through them; of course, she did.
Sure felt good to get back in the saddle again, even for a short time.
Another thing that brightened up my day is the fact that some of my flower baskets are still alive even after all that cold weather and hard frost we had. It's been raining for quite a while and the frost has gone out of the ground; back to mud! But look what I found.....

Took this photo looking south; that bald area on the mountain that is in line with the fence line is where the forest fire took out all the trees last summer. That is really close to the border, it was the day they shut the border down because of the fire.

From dust to dusk

I had planned to haul to Canyon arena today, to work Clancy and pony Josie. It was such a beautiful afternoon that I decided to forego that dusty arena and just trail ride Clancy at home instead. I waited until the late afternoon, and it was an absolutely beautiful ride.

Heading west out onto the fields. They plowed under this field after taking the barley off.

So peaceful, not a breath of wind, I could hear the geese overhead and the seagulls in the plowed field.

Not many geese moving yet, another couple of weeks before we start getting lots of them.

The long evening shadows, creeping towards the Skimerhorns.
I worked Clancy a bit out in the fields, she is getting handier all the time. Nice to see improvement in her every time I ride. Love that mare! And what a great way to end the day, watching the sun go down from the back of a good horse.....

and accompanied by a good dog.

Only thing missing was good friends!

A morning at Anchor D Guiding and Outfitting Ranch

The day I left Calgary to come home, I stopped for a quick visit at Anchor D Ranch- the place Ted and I got married, on horseback, in 1996. Dewy Matthews is the owner, and a long time friend. As I pulled in I could see that they had a big ride lined up as there were over 40 horses saddled and waiting for their riders. I had breakfast with them eggs benedict!!!- and did a photo shoot before I left.

The gorgeous log house

Snoozin' while he can

Dewy and his saddle

There's one in every crowd

This lady is a wrangler and a farrier

Saddled and waiting. How do you like that for a tack room?

Some lucky small child will get to ride Skookum

The horses that got the day off were napping in the sun

I'm pretty sure this young fella was posing for the camera (grin)

Peering between the logs of the round pen

Lazy Sunday

I'm the only one awake this afternoon; Ted and his little dog Merle are cuddled up on the couch. Reba and Tess have taken posession of the loveseat and the bed, and even the energizer bunny, aka Amber, is out of it....

A few firsts today

It warmed up beautifully today, so it was a good day to do things with the horses. Shayla came over, and the original plan was she'd ride Beamer, I'd ride Rio and we'd go for a tour down the road. However, that left Josie home alone, and you all know how kids left home alone get in trouble! So I changed up the plan; Shayla rode Rio and I led Josie. But just as we were about to head out, my husband decided it was time for Josie to experience her first saddle. What! you say? She's only 9 months old!!! Well, yes, but we didn't think she'd mind much....

A few sniffs... a few side steps.... and next thing you know, she's saddled and ready! (For the Christmas elf, maybe!)

So, after her first saddling, it was time for the first excursion off the property. Well, leading was getting a little boring for me, so I handed Shayla the lead rope and she taught Rio how to pony.

Josie wasn't too sure about it at first; I have never tied her up except in the horse trailer on her trip from Alberta the day I brought her home, and have only led her around from her pen to her turn out pasture.

Rio learned to pull for the first time. Shortly after I snapped this photo, Josie leaped ahead and Rio got a little worried, so I had Shayla drop Josie's lead rope and concentrate on settling Rio down. After that, we walked a bit and then tried again. Once again, Josie took a little exception to things and we had to regroup. But it wasn't long before they all got it sorted out.

I like to see the ponied horse facing the pony horse when they stop, and Josie did this naturally.

It was a good day and a good lesson! Thanks Shayla!

All the photos were taken with my pocket camera; I think I'm getting spoiled with my big camera for the lovely crisp photos I get with it. But this little one is so handy!

Moving on

At dawn this morning, the lady who was hauling for me pulled in; we loaded up the girls and off they went. It was pretty tough for me, and I must admit to some leaky eye stuff; but I contacted the new owner of each of them and they were both really happy with their purchases.

So now, there are 3. Rio, little Josie, and Beamer.

I rode Rio yesterday, and we had a little issue with a ditch, apparently his Lordship thought he shouldn't walk through it- we're talking a really wide gentle ditch that is an extension of our lawn, for cryin' out loud! His version of resistance is pretty funny, it's like slow motion compared to some of the snappier horses I've ridden. A fade to the left, around a tree where a branch snapped on my helmet and made him scoot forward- again in slow motion, or so it seemed- and then instead of making an issue of it, we went  a different route. When we returned, I dismounted and led him through the ditch a few times; next time I ride, we'll try it again. If he stays true to form, he'll waltz right through it.  That has been the pattern with him; he'll take exception to something, and then it's no problem the very next time.

Josie looks little compared to Rio, but she has actually grown quite a bit in the last couple of months.

I know this photo is a bad angle, it makes her neck look really short, but I love it because  the action with the dog going the opposite direction.

Like every weanling I've ever had, her new winter coat is really thick and fuzzy.

I've been having fun with my new camera, but I don't dare pack it on Rio- I will on Beamer next time I ride though. Having a telephoto has really made me happy- I can shoot the moon now! Just waiting for the full moon and the dark to see if I can get as good a moon shot as Ed does. This'll have to do for now:

Also, I can finally zoom in on the resident barn owl- next thing is to get a good photo of her in flight.

Tomorrow Shayla and I are heading up to see Janice. Shayla will be doing some body work on Jazz (Rio's full sister).