Friends, an award, and third ride

Friends are such a blessing, and I seem to have a good bunch of blessings lately. Through my blogs, I have been in contact with some fine folks, many of whom I would dearly love to meet. One of them is Cowboy Coping Cowgirl, and if you haven't visited the blog of this true cowgirl, head on over! She was kind enough to pass on this award to me:

Thanks! You know I love Teddy Bears! Here are the rules:

1) make a post about the award, mentioning the person who gave it to you
2) put the award on your blog
3) Give award to 10 sweet bloggers

Since I would like to pass it to some of the same bloggers that she did, I 'm not sure I can do ten, but here goes:

1. Carson at the 7MSN Ranch- I love her photos and her burros are such characters, but my favourite is her cat Deets.

2.My friend Carol aver at All These Pretty Horses. She is a true friend, always there for me, generous and willing to help. She has a hunk of a blue roan stallion, and some fine babies from him.

3. Lisa over at Home on the Range; this lady finally moved onto her dream acreage where she can have her horses, host barrel racing, and live the country life- and keep working at her family Greek Restaurant in Saskatoon; next time I go that way I want to try their cuisine!

4. Karen over at Life at the Rough String. Living on an Alfalfa producing ranch, with a few cows and some darn fine horses, like her horse Colt that she is doing a 5 year project with.

5. Diane over at Retired and Loving it; this is Ed's mom- Ed who encouraged the inner photographer in us with the Sunday Stills Challenge.

And that's all for now, there are many more deserving bloggers, but time grows short- on to the rest of this post!

Today was my third ride on Chickory, and I changed it up a little. I am now using my Al Grandchamp bosal on her. I had my friend, Bobbi, lead me for a couple of minutes then turn me loose.

Chickory walked around slowly and carefully. She reined fairly well, and had a real nice stop and backup.

She stayed relaxed , I'm real pleased with the progress we made today. Next step- the trot.

Afterwards I went over to Bobbi's to help her get her first ride on her filly, we are following pretty much the same program.

Looks like we'll have a couple of nice fillies to hit the trails with next year!

7 things

Tagged! By No Hoof No Horse blog....(lopin on4). I am to share 7 things about myself that are currently not known to my blog-readers, and then tag 15 fellow bloggers.

Well, I'm not one to follow rules much, so I'll tell it like a story.

1.When I was a kid, there was an old cowboy by the name of Herb Harrop who had a herd of horses that kids could ride for a dollar a day. Me being horse crazy, I'd pester mom until she gave me a dollar just to shut me up, and off I'd go on a Saturday to go riding. In the summer, I'd go as many times as I could.

2. There was a little blaze faced bay mare that I rode; none of the other kids liked her because she wasn't very tall, she always had a foal at her side, and she wasn't a fancy color. (But I loved her red bay color!) She had a fancy name though; Lady Gaye.

3. Sometimes in late summer, when the foals were about 4 months old, they would stay in the pasture with a few old baby-sitter mares, and those of us who rode the dams would go on the rides without them. At the end of the day, we'd ride the mares back to be with their babies, and old Herb would come pick us up in his old Pontiac station wagon.

4. Sometimes I'd be the only one riding back to the foal pasture, so I'd let Lady Gaye run as fast as she wanted to get back to her foal. (Her milk bag must have been full, cause she'd run pretty hard!)

5. After doing this a few times, I knew just how fast that little mare was. Now, I didn't mention it , but I rode bareback in those days. Herb didn't have enough saddles to go around, and there were a group of girls who were, shall we say, the big shots,who always got their pick of the horses and the saddles. One of them rode a horse called Cowboy, a rangy red roan that looked like Go Man Go, and ran like him too. They would all match race each other, and Cowboy was nearly always the champ.

6. So one day, the girl wanted someone to race against, and everyone said no; they'd all been beat enough times already. So I piped up and says, "I'll race you!" They all looked at me, scornfully, on my little 14/2 hand mare, bareback, then over a Cowboy in his glorious 16 hand splendor, with his rider in a saddle. Mostly, they laughed.

7. They weren't laughing at the end of the race. My little mare took off like a bolt of lightning; Cowboy kept stride with her for about 40 yards, then he was eating her dust! I think we won the race by a couple of lengths, going away. For days after that, everyone wanted to ride my mare, but I wouldn't let them. Nobody wanted to race us, either.

I wish I still had the fearlessness of youth- and the balance- that it takes to ride bareback on a horse going flat out down a country road. I think in my mind's eye, I was Alec riding the Black.

I won't tag anyone, because I think we have all been tagged already, but if anyone has a story of their fearless youth to share, do a post on it!

Happy stuff

I am to write ten things that make me happy and tag ten people.

Thanks to Sydney, you all get to find out ten things that make me happy.

1. The most important thing in my life is my faith, for in God I find the source of all happiness.
2. My husband is a great blessing to me, and we have a very happy marriage.I hope I make him happy too!
3. Like Sydney, I'm a morning person; the early hours are a special time to reflect on the blessings of my life, and I'm always positive and ready to take on the day- especially if I got a good sleep!
4. My horses. I can't just single out my beautiful Beamer here, although he fills me with joy, because I take delight in all my horses, and I have had many wonderful ones. If I'm feeling down, even just a few minutes in their company can lift my spirits.
5. My dogs. Coming home from a 15 minute trip I am greeted with as much unrestrained doggy joy as if I had been gone for days. It always makes me smile!
6. Being able to help someone-sometimes even just a kind word is worth as much to someone as being able to give them financial or physical help; being charitable to others is a quiet source of joy.
7. Finding treasures in an antique store or second hand store. So much more fun than new things!
8. The lovely renewal of spring, when the leaves are bursting with fresh green, blossoms abound, birdsong fills the air.....sheer bliss on a spring evening to just sit and look and listen.
9. It always makes me happy when I have accomplished some task to the best of my ability and find out that I did it well.
10. And finally, babies! Of any kind! People, horses, dogs, cats, buffalo, birds, hippos, you name it, there is just something about a baby that is so endearing... until you have to clean up after them!

So there you have it! I don't always follow the rules, so I'm not tagging ten people, but if you want to play, copy the smiley face and have a go at it!

I ear I have an award!

I received this odd looking award from Back at the Ranch. She makes some very lovely jewelry, if you haven't visited her, go check it out.

I pass it forward to some of the artistic bloggers I love to follow:

Aussie Oklahoma over at Trapper Creek Daughter who is very talented with the camera;

Barb at A Cowboy's Wife for her writing, which can make us rejoice or move us to tears;

and to Sarah at Scary's West for the terrific photography of Montana .

'Ears to all of you talented people out there!

Another blog award!

Thanks, Sherry at Fern Valley Appaloosas for this award! I'm not much for following rules, so I'll pass it forward without 'em to :

KDW at Blackjack Land And Cattle

I always enjoy her stories and pictures, and often wish I lived closer so I could visit!

Blog award!

Thanks, Nuzzling Muzzles, for this blog award! It is always rewarding when others show their appreciation for all the hard work we put into blogging, so I am passing it forward to some blogs I really appreciate:

Linda at Just Another Day on the Prairie for sharing with us all the adventures and hard work that go along with being a ranch wife and for her great photos.

Tracey at Mustang Diaries for her stories of the trials and tribulations, tears and triumphs of working with mustangs

And to Barb at A Cowboy's Wife for her beautiful writing, sometimes heart-wrenching stories, and for being an inspiration to all who are struggling with hard times.

Passing on an award

Linda at Just Another Day on the Prairie kindly passed on this award to me. The text is a little strange because of the translation, but the jist is the closeness of the blogging community and supporting each other with recognition. So I'd like to pass it on to Tracey, Aussie Oklahoma, and Canadian Cowgirl.

The text that goes with the award:
“To translate the gift from Portuguese to English, it means:
“This blog invests and believes, the proximity” (meaning, that blogging makes us ‘close’ -being close through proxy)
“They all are charmed with the blogs, where in the majority of its aims are to show the marvels and to do friendship; there are persons who are not interested when we give them a prize, and then they help to cut these bows; do we want that they are cut, or that they propagate? Then let’s try to give more attention to them! So with this prize we must deliver it to bloggers that in turn must make the same thing and put this text.”

Thanks, KDW

This is from KDW at Blackjack Land and Cattle Company. I really enjoy her blog, and wish I had as many things to do a-horseback as she does!

So I am to pass it on, with these rules:

1. The winner can put the logo on her blog. 2. Link the person you received your award from. 3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs. 4. Put links of those blogs on yours. 5. Leave a message on the blogs of those you have nominated.

So here goes:

Mikey at The Horseshoeing Housewife - she has a great sense of humour and lots of adventure.

Callie at Midwest Horse -Callie, I know that you have received this award before, and you deserve it!

Nuzzling Muzzles- again, I know you already have this award, but I really enjoy your honesty and adventures with your Arabians.

W.O. W. at A Cowboys Wife -I love your writing style!

Aussie Oklahoma -This lady has a new blog, with some great photography; give her a visit!

OK, I know that's only 5, but it'll have to do; it's bed time!

Awarded!

Thanks to Callie at Midwest Horse Blog for this award. But I really don't live as far north as the tundra; just in central Alberta! Callie, your blog is always interesting, entertaining, and often informative.

Here are the rules:

1. Put the Logo on your blog

2. Add a link to the person who awarded you

3. Nominate 7 fellow bloggers for this award

4. Add Links to the recipients

5. Leave a comment to recipients or email them to let them know they have an award.

I'm passing it forward to:

Cheryl at Desert Horses for sharing her mustangs with us;

Fran Jurga at Fran Jurga's Hoofblog for a truly brilliant and infomative blog;

Tracy at Mustang Diaries, KWD at Blackjack Land and Cattle both of whom already have this award but I love their blogs so they're getting a double whammy!

and Janice at Own a Morgan to encourage her to blog more!