Where we stayed

Our trip to Alberta for the Stampede was also a bit of a celebration for us; we had our 20th anniversary on June 15th, and since we got married on horseback at the Anchor D Ranch, we went back there and stayed there the weekend. The owner is a good friend, and it's been 3 years since I visited, so it was nice to catch up.
This is a photo of the log house- hub of all the activity. Notice the pen in front of the house with the paint filly?

Well that painted baby is an orphan, she was found abandoned by her wild herd, no sign of mama. She was rescued from a bog, and  they tried to reunite her with the herd but they wanted no part of her. So Dewey went all the way to Grande Prairie to bring her to his ranch. (9 hrs. at least).  She pretty much has him twisted around her hooves!

She gets to visit in the evening.

That sign can't possibly apply to meeee.....

They were outfitting a whole bunch of riders the next morning. Of course for me, that meant photo op! Dewey says he has about 135 horses. They run weekend camping trips, day rides, hourly rides, and week long packing trips into the mountains as well as guided hunting trips.

We got to go along when he had to take a team up to his base camp to pull a wagon out. Here is the team:

 Ted and I rode in- Dewey led the roan mare and the black gelding followed, with Ted and I riding behind. My camera was out of battery, I should have checked before we left! so I didn't get any photos of that ride. But here are the horses we rode:

I rode the sorrel mare, Ted rode the paint. The mare is a quarter horse/Percheron cross, and the paint is a Suffolk Punch cross. It's been a long time since I rode a horse that big! They were both really good.

We rented one of their cabins- more like a small log house than a cabin! It was so relaxing to be there, especially since there was no cell coverage to speak of so we were unplugged for the weekend.

Summer is slippin' away

You could tell there was cooler weather this morning; my mares were my barometer: Gussie and Belle were acting like frisky foals!

They went ripping around, leaping,

 cavorting

and flat out galloping.

Lovely, silly mares!
I rode Beamer last night and today, boy is he ever out of shape, poor boy. Now that we are in to cooler weather, I will be riding more often- I just couldn't ask them to pack me around in that sweltering humidity that we've had for the last month.
Nitro is doing well with the gradual weaning program. The other day I switched out pastures and put him and Chickory in Rio's paddock, over the electric fence  from his mama and Gussie. I'm happy to say that he totally respected the fence and didn't try it even once. He did rip around his new digs though!

Life is good! I think I love the end of summer as much as the beginning of it. It's nice to see the results of your efforts when you see a healthy foal; when you look at your garden and wonder what you are going to do with the hundreds of little yellow tomatoes that one plant is producing, and dig up enough potatoes for 3 meals in one shovelful; when you look at all the flowers in their full glorious beauty- even if you didn't  plan on them getting that hugeomongous-

and especially when there  is just that little hint of cooler weather on the horizon. It energizes me!
 I still have a week of holidays, just need to decide where and what to do. Probably a couple of days down to Kamloops and Enderby to see my dad and some friends, and then somewhere with Gussie. Unfortunately I just got hit with a tax bill so I won't be going too far- maybe explore some of the local trails. I've lived here for 3 years now and don't know any of the trails yet.

More on my riding holiday

Janice tacking up Mattie

Thursday's ride was a lot cooler as there were thunder clouds and a few rain drops. My two dogs and Janice's Kali (who is a daughter of Tess and granddaughter of Reba) got to come with us. Janice calls this area the old airport, and you can see that it's nice and flat where we started out, but we quickly got into the treed trails.

Kali is pretty new at coming along on trail rides and she did really well- better than Tess, who crowded the horses when she was worried about the thunder and almost got stepped on a couple of times. We rode until we started getting mobbed by mosquitoes then headed back.
I didn't take many photos on this ride or on the Friday ride -but the Sunday Stills photo of Janice on Mattie is from Friday's ride out behind where Janice lives.
Gussie is barefoot, and I'm happy to say that she did really well, and didn't get bruised up at all. There were a few places where she had to step carefully, but her feet toughened up and we had no problems.
I brought along Beamer's Wade saddle for Janice to try on her horses, and it fit both of them really well; here's Mattie wearing it, and you can see it on Moxie in my post from a couple of days ago.

Pretty Morgan mare!

I plan on modifying the stirrups to put that twist in the leathers so they hang properly.
All in all it was a wonderful relaxing week, and talking it over with Janice, we'd like to invite our blogging  friends to come and ride with us. Either staying at Janice's and doing day rides like we did, or camping and riding more challenging places. Especially we extend the invite to our friends on the prairies, to come and ride any time it's convenient for them. If anyone from the US ever makes it up here on vacation- come see us, we'll be glad to show you the mountains from horseback!

Home from my holiday

We're baaaaa-aack! It's always nice to be home, but I sure did enjoy getting to go out and ride every day this past week. We got to Janice's Tuesday evening in time to go for a ride out back of her place; how nice to have bush trails just out your back door! The next day, we saddled up and hauled down the road a ways. Since it was a hot day we didn't take the dogs with us- much to their disapproval! I really liked this area, it had some lovely open land and a couple of Buttes.

Janice on Moxie leading the way

We made a quick stop at a scenic spot for a photo-op; that's the ever-present Fisher Peak in the background.

After that we wended our way to a ridge that overlooked the valley in the opposite direction, where we stopped for a break; Moxie hadn't broke sweat, but Gussie was soaked.

She enjoyed a lunch of native grasses. Janice took some photos of a hawk that we disturbed, and I found this little caterpillar- funny little thing with black beady eyes, but I couldn't get them in the photo- guess he was shy!

It was sure a pretty rest stop. There was an old dilapidated picnic table there, so apparently someone else appreciated the view.

Check out that tail- big chunks missing, maybe from rubbing, maybe from a pint-sized tail chewer, but I've never seen it happen.

Janice is like me- not too fond of having her photo taken, but she did allow this one:

Funny girl, Janice!

After a nice break we  headed back to the trailer, where I got a nice photo of Moxie- this is the horse Janice had in her recent Fridays for Sale post.

C'mon folks- everyone always says they want a nice trustworthy horse they can just get on and go places with- here she is! Whatcha waiting for? By the way- hay is plentiful here too.
Anyway, back to the story. The next day I did a run to town while Janice kept her greenhouse open for business; here's a sample of some of the lovely flower baskets she has hanging on her house:

She also has a country gift store with some really neat stuff in it, like these door toppers which just perch on the frame above your door:

and this felted mouse, made by our friend Margaret Ironmonger (the wife of the  man who made Beamer's saddle)

Anyway, that evening, we went on another ride, and this time we took the dogs, as it was a lot cooler- and who could resist these pitiful faces?

But- enough for today- more tomorrow! For more on this ride, check out this post from Janice.

Tuesday.....

Summer days

For the first time this year we took the dogs to the river; it's still high and murky so we only stayed a few minutes, just long enough to cool them off, and to introduce Merle  to the  concept of swimming.

I must admit I was kind of merciless to the poor li'l guy, I just took him out in about a foot and a half of water and let him go. He did great! The water was rather cold, so only twice in for him and that was enough. He got wrapped in a towel for the ride home.
The skeeters are back in full force, and I lit the smudge for them tonight after watching Belle throw herself down and roll in the dust and then lay there groaning and complaining; then she got up and went over to the other mares and just stood there and pouted. I watched long enough to make sure it was the bugs and not colic that was bothering her, then I fired up the smudge; I have it in the alley between  the pens and the smoke drifted in to  Beamer's pen first, much to his delight.

He stood there for quite a while, making sure he was covered in smoke perfume.
I'm officially on holidays now, and tomorrow I head over to Janice's with my red roan mare. It's too hot to do a lot of riding, and the mares are out of shape (not to mention the riders!) so we won't be doing anything strenuous, just some easy trails with nice scenery.

A Supremely good time

The road trip to the Canadian Cowhorse Supreme was a pretty good mini vacation for me- despite the endless hours sitting in bleachers (Note to Self- bring comfy bleacher seat next time!) We saw some darn good horses and visited with some good people, most notably meeting up with bloggers, Sherry from Fern Valley Appaloosas and Crystal (Ranch Riding blog)and her friend Charlene-the two ladies who went on the blogger trail ride with Janice and I last year. Sherry I have known for a while, but it was the first time Janice had met her.

From left to right- me, Sherry, Janice and Crystal- thanks,  Charlene for taking the photo!

But I'm getting ahead of myself a little. First, I drove to Janice's place about an hour and a half from our place, and while I was there I got a couple of photos - this is Jazz, a full sister to Rio, and in the background is her 34 year old horse, Tex.

Jazz, who some of you may remember as Sparkle, is turning out to be a solid looking mare, and a real beauty.

I was also entertained by the cat and pigeon game going on on the roof of the barn. 

It was a stand off; I don't think that pigeon is ever going to be a kitty dinner. We hit the road and about 6 hours later were in Red Deer. We booked into our motel and headed over to the Westerner show grounds- the only thing going on at that hour was the trade show and some riding in the reining ring. 

Sunrise outside the Tim Hortons coffee shop

The next day we spent the whole day there -about 14 hours. We watched the reining first, and got to see Tyrel Smith, (the son of the fellow who trained Beamer) ride. He's 23 years old, and was competing against some of the top Canadian trainers and placed 4th in both the classes he entered. Here is a video of part of his run.

I really like the way this young man rides; such a natural way to him, and a quiet manner both on and off the horse. My camera did better with video in the poor light so only 2 of the photos are worth posting. This one was a really pretty dun horse that caught my eye:

Not sure who this was, but it's the only other photo that turned out.

 If I'd known how good the videos were compared to the photos I'd have taken more videos. My favorite part  is the working cowhorse class; the fence work is fast paced and really gets the adrenaline up! 

This is a horrible blurry photo but kinda artistic in its blurriness, it definitely gives an idea of the speed involved.

We stayed for the horse sale, which was very interesting to me. The yearlings topped the sale, with several of them going in the $8000 -$9000 range and the sale topper was a yearling stallion by Sophisticated Catt who sold for $10,800.

 Well started 2 yr. olds were a tough sell, anywhere from $800 to $3900. The reining horses didn't bring as much money as the cutting bred horses- which isn't surprising, as there is more prize money in cutting than in reining, at least in Canada.

I managed to spend a little money at the trade fair (imagine that!) but not too much. A belt and a purse with a matching wallet, and a billet strap for my saddle. But one of the best things was that Sherry gave Janice and I copies of her book of poetry. 

It was a great couple of days but it's always nice to get home. 

3 more sleeps

Thanks to Crystal for posting the link to the live webcast for the Supreme- I've had it on all afternoon! They are showing the 3 yr. old cutting today. I can't wait for Thursday and heading out with Janice on our mini holiday. I don't think Janice and I have ever had a road trip together, and I'm sure looking forward to meeting up with some of our fellow bloggers.

Sunday Stills- Stampede Style!

Just making it in under the wire for this one! Today's challenge is people- the more the better. Well Ed, how about 16 thousand people?

This is a view of the grandstand at the Calgary Stampede, taken from the beer gardens next to the infield.

There were plenty of things going on in the Agricultural area, like this wether sheep getting his very first shearing for a sheep-shearing demonstration:

The gent doing the shearing was very proficient, it took less than 5 minutes for him to shear this sheep, and roll up the fleece- it was pretty cool to see. I'm sure the sheep enjoyed his new, cooler do; it's pretty hot out!

I just had to get a shot of these people, riding leopard Appaloosas, for Sherry at Fern Valley Appaloosas. I took this shot from way high in the infield grandstand.

And then there were the chuckwagon races! Unfortunately, as it was late in the day- like the song says, "When the sun goes down in Calgary and the wagons start to roll..." so my photos aren't the best. If you don't know about chuckwagon racing, there are 4 wagons, each pulled by a 4 horse hitch of Thoroughbred horses, they line up in the infield: they each have to do a figure eight around barrels set up in the infield, then head out on a half-mile race track, finishing up back at the infield. Each wagon has 2 outriders; one throws the campstove in the back of the wagon when the starting horn goes, and the other one is holding the lead horse. Here is a look at the dangerous job of the outrider that "heads" the lead horse:

Here, he has just released the team at the sound of the horn, then he has to leap on his horse, and he and the other outrider, who you can see behind the wagon, also do the figure eight around the barrels, then head down the track with all the wagons. It gets western!

This is Buddy Bensmiller, who was retiring after this Stampede. It was his birthday, and he won his heat, and all 16,000 of us wished him happy birthday.

More Stampede stuff tomorrow!

Bad internet!

I have been having trouble getting online, and can view some blogs but can leave comments on only a couple of them. We have to go to the city and get our internet stick upgraded. I have been reading your blogs, when I can get them to open!

Kai is ready to be weaned, hopefully on the new moon on the 8th. Then I'll kick Beamer in with Belle. I still don't have a saddle that fits him, so he is getting an extended layoff, which gives me more time to spend with the fillies. It's time to start Velvet's groundwork, so I plan on hauling her over to the round pen. And it's time for Chickory to get out of the round pen and into the bigger arena, so I have lots of horse stuff to keep me busy.

I saw the first snow of the season on the way to the reunion; this shot was taken from the Galena Bay ferry across the Upper Arrow Lake.

We had a great time, the dogs all got to come and play with my brother's border collie Lucy; they played Frisbee with anyone they could sucker into throwing it for them.

The food was great, there was a pig roast,

barbequed salmon, (beautifully presented!)

and lots of salads- and ample wine! But I was good and only had one glass. I don't like feeling fuzzy the next morning. I won't bore you with photos of people you don't know! They are all on my Facebook anyway.

Back home, it's starting to feel like fall, but no frost yet. We're starting to get our winter wood in, and the geese are starting to gather. Can we please have some more summer? It's going way too fast.

We've set the date

Janice and I have got our heads together and planned the date for the first Kootenay Blogger Ride. All those of you in blogland who want to come ride with us in the beautiful mountains of the East Kootenays, the date is the weekend of August 21 and 22. The ride is planned for Gailbraithe, and Janice is going to do a post showing the area. There is a good campground there, and we will be following the ethics of the Back Country Horsemen, of low impact on the environment. Sherry and Crystal, if you are still interested, make some plans now! We could arrive Friday evening to set up camp, have a good long ride Saturday and a shorter one Sunday to give everyone time to travel home, or do another long ride, stay over, and travel Monday. Bring friends! I'd also like to invite CCC and Linda, and anyone else who wants to take a weekend to just enjoy a quality wilderness experience with their horses. Janice says she could supply a couple of horses if someone who doesn't have a horse, or doesn't want to haul their horse across the border etc., wants to come and ride. Ed, we don't have a wagon, but we can put you on a good horse!

Steppin' it up a notch, and an invitation reminder

Back to the round pen with Chickory today. I started off longeing her unsaddled, so I could get her loping, which all went well. Then saddled her up and did the same thing. I must say, I was expecting her to get a little goosey loping saddled the first time, but as you can see from these videos, it really wasn't a big deal.

After that I bridled her and worked on the baby give, then added one more element- sacking out. I used the flag on her, and once again I was pleasantly surprised at how well she did. I'm waiting for her to blow; I expect it, especially since I know how jumpy she can be when things bother her. The goal of my training though, is to get her broke without having her come apart on me; a slow, systematic approach, building trust, so that looking to me to get her out of trouble over-rides her strong flight instinct. Because if I can't do that, she'll leave me sittin' in the dirt.

You might notice that I changed the halter on Chickory; I wasn't happy with the way the green one sat so low on her nose.

Side note- she did well loading and unloading in the trailer today.

After I brought her home, I brought Sparkle out for some trailering lessons. Janice is coming for her on Saturday, and I wanted to make sure she would load. I thought I had a video, but apparently I only took two stills; she loaded like an old pro!

And also I want to remind everyone that we are still looking for bloggers and their friends to come ride with us in the beautiful Canadian Rocky Mountains. The trails we will ride are maintained by the Kootenay Backcountry Horsemen, which I joined this year. Check out the link, Janice just put some new photos on that will wow you. C'mon, ride with us!