Wordless Wednesday

Friends, Flowers, and a Filly

Thanks to Janice, I am going to be busy making things look pretty here in time for Ted's birthday party this weekend.

She was in town today and brought me plenty of flowers, some I ordered, and some were gifts. I managed to get a lot of my planters filled, and will have to finish off tomorrow.
Janice was also kind enough to do some pruning for me, including this pear tree which is blossoming but probably needs another pear tree nearby to cross-pollinate and produce fruit.

My friend Carol over at All These Pretty Horses had a lovely bay filly off her San Jo mare a  couple of days ago. 2 down, two to go for her!
My sympathy goes out to all the people who are affected by the wild fires raging in Alberta, fueled by the high winds. This has been a horrible year for natural disasters; earthquakes, floods, fires- what next? Plagues, I guess, and let's not have that happen!

New Link on the EHV-1

http://agr.wa.gov/FoodAnimal/AnimalHealth/Diseases/EQUINEHERPESVIRUS.pdf
Hat tip to Tracey from Mustang Diaries for posting this link on Facebook.

You never know the day or the time....

http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/depts-vth/announcements/index.aspx
The Equine Herpes Virus is on the rampage, many places are either under quarantine to keep it out, or under quarantine to prevent the spread. If you were planning on hauling to a show, you may want to check with your vet and the vets in the area of the show; many will be cancelled and some venues will be shut down. This is a neurological version of the virus, and some horses are being euthanized.
Sounds like a good time to stay home and just enjoy our horses.

Sunday Stills

Shoot high, shoot low- this is always a fun challenge because it gives me an excuse to lay down in the pasture and take horse photos, like these:

Rio

Gussie, just before our ride, 

and for go high:

It's not easy taking a picture of yourself riding, from above, and actually getting something in the frame!

Fun in the Sun

The Barrel-O-Rama was a lot of fun today; hot sun beating down, a stiff wind so it wasn't too hot, and more kids on ponies than you'll see anywhere! The grand entry was really cute- the biggest horse in front, and diminishing in size down to a mini pony; there were two lines, behind the Canadian flag all the ponies had red leg wraps and their riders wore red vests, and behind the American flag the ponies had blue wraps and the riders sported blue vests.

They actually did the crossover pattern without any wrecks, and all things considered, it was a really cute grand entry. And then every one of those ponies, including the minis, were entered in the barrel race.

Some of those kids could really ride and who knew ponies were so fast- even the minis!

This was the 6 and under class; some kids were led,

and some just rode for all they were worth! They all had a lot of fun, then it was time for the big girls to run, and I was busy picking up knocked over barrels. Forgot to put sunscreen on - stupid me.

Blogger, bones, blossoms, bugs and bits

When blogger was down for a day, I noticed that I lost some of the comments on my last post. Probably won't get them back either.
This evening when I was bringing Beamer in, I tripped over a bit of barb wire that was half buried in the ground and did a face plant- of course, I managed to get my arm out a little to break my fall, and heard that unmistakable little snap! of a bone cracking in my wrist- fortunately it seems as if it's only a minor one; I iced it for an hour or so, and it seems bearable. There is a lot of junk buried in the ground here; lots of bale strings and wire bits. We've been  cleaning it for two years now and there always seems to be more surfacing.

  The cherry blossoms are in full force, and the Magnolia trees are blooming. I'll try to get some photos of them this weekend. Of course, the bugs are back too; we have mosquitoes and plenty of these guys:

Rio is thriving, he has a lot of speed and likes to show it off- but he can stop on a dime too. I think he'd make a good reining horse, he's built right for it. He gets more handsome by the day!

and he has the cutest little nose!

I really can't wait to see what color he sheds out- I'm pretty sure he will be lighter colored than Kai; Kai is chocolate brown right now. 

Tomorrow I will be helping out at a big barrel-o-rama here, I'll be a barrel setter. My camera is charged up, I might be able to get a few photos. 

Wordless Wednesday

Dynamite and fireworks

The wonderful weather continues here, it was 25 Celcius (77*F) so after work I saddled up Gussie and went for a putt out to the pasture, as I wanted to get a count on the panels I'm moving  so I can reconfigure Beamer's pen. (There are over 20, should be enough!) The ride out was nice and relaxing, Gussie was content to stroll along without jigging or breaking out of a walk.

HOWEVER! when we got close to the mares on the way back, and they started galloping around their pasture, Gus got all wound up , shaking her neck and feeling like a stick of dynamite on a short fuse! I did my standard safety maneuver; take a short rein on one side, and tip her head towards my knee and circle. I feel that standing still on a horse like that is a recipe for disaster, and moving straight forward can really put them in flight mode; circling defuses the dynamite- they don't want to work, they'd rather go play with the horses galloping around. So then, to get her refocused, we did a lot of work on 60 ft. circles; I asked for softness at the walk, then the trot, correct leads at the canter, and then circles with 360* loops (spins) thrown in every quarter circle. The neighbor took a video of the start of our work; if he lets me download it I may show it. We finished up with nice softness at both the walk and trot, so it was a good session.

She was a tad bit sweaty, so she got a bath- first one of the season! and then about 20 minutes of hand grazing while she dried off. Of course, she rolled as soon as I turned her back out on pasture!

The shadows were really cool tonight

The neighbors were hosting a boy scout fireworks party this evening, and the horses were quite intrigued by all the ruckus.

Beamer kinda took it in stride, he looked, but didn't let it interrupt his most important task of chowing down on hay.

Of course, we can't just have one photo of Mr. Handsome! Hope you all had a good day today, I sure did.

Head on over.....

Hey everyone, did you know there's a foaling contest going on over at All These Pretty Horses? It's been on for a while, but only has 3 entries.Scroll down a couple of posts on her blog and you'll find the info on the mares who are due to foal. There are 4 mares to foal, and one of them foaled today; and isn't he just as cute as a bugs ear!

Of course, I was way off on my guess, but Crystal was close- she wins round one! There are separate prizes for each mare, so you have 3 more chances to win- go leave her a comment!

Riding, ravens and rolling

Finally had the weather and the time to saddle up and ride today.Gussie enjoyed a thorough grooming, and we headed out, both in the fields and down the gravel road. She is much more relaxed at the beginning of our rides now, and I spent some time on rating her speed at the trot, and softening at the walk. I notice that she flexes her neck well to the left, not so much to the right. When I get her teeth done, we'll check to see if that may be the cause of her issues to the right.

As we approached our home on the way back, there was a whole bunch of ravens and crows in the trees. There have been a lot of them hanging around our place lately.

They imitate the sound of cats, and spend a lot of time harassing the cats. One cat was in the tree this morning, and was surrounded by ravens, I thought they were going to gang up on her and attack her. She is just a little cat, belongs to our neighbor. I went out to investigate and the ravens flew off.

She did eventually make her way down and I think the ravens were annoyed that I spoiled their fun.
After riding, when I turned Gussie back out, all my labor at grooming was wasted- of course- she had to have a dirt bath.

Hope everyone had a good Mother's Day, I know I did, especially talking to my daughter this morning.

God bless my mom

I opted out of Sunday Stills today, mostly because today is Mother's Day, and I am missing my mom. I just can't get all fired up about doors and doorknobs as a subject for photography when I am thinking about my mom, and how I wish I could have been a better daughter to her, spent more time with her like my sister did, helped her more like my brother did, helped her financially like another sister did, loved her unconditionally like another sister does. I loved my mother, but kept at a distance from her, too busy with my own life and my own problems, selfish, willing only to do the minimal in keeping in touch. It was only in her last two years of life that I lived close enough to visit regularly, and even that I didn't do as much as I should have. 

Mom always prayed for all her children, and did penance for us. She had a very strong faith and deep love of God all her life. I think it's her prayers that brought me back to the church, after many years of a rather hedonistic lifestyle. She set a good example for us, and did her best to teach us right from wrong. She lived a hard life of poverty, and I never heard her wish for better things or complain that life was too hard; she'd just bear down and do whatever needed to be done.
I think that she found peace shortly before she died; the poem on my sidebar, "Happy Heart" was written by her about a month before she died.
Cherish your parents, and take the time to tell them you love them. They are a part of you as you are of them, and their passing takes part of you with them .

Play time

I apologize for the blurry photos, I really do need a better camera, but I think the images will give the feeling I'm trying to portray- happy horses, doing what they love- stretching out!

Wordless Wednesday

The best laid plans...

of mice and men, oft go awry....
I have good intentions of riding Gussie, but things just keep happening that put my riding on hold. For example, this morning when I went to put the mares out to pasture, I was surprised to see that Rio wasn't in the stall with his mama- he was with Gussie and Chickory in the rest of the mare pen. Huh? The only way he could have got out was if he was laying down next to the panels (the foaling stall is 20 X 20, made out of 2W corral panels, five feet high, and covered with plywood on three sides) and managed to get underneath. So that stepped up my plan of removing the foaling stall, as Rio is now big enough that he doesn't need to be kept separate any more, and the mares have their herd dynamics all worked out from being in the big pasture together during the day.

So my plan to ride was put on hold while I dismantled the pen, and baby-proofed the rest of the pen. That meant going through the shelter that is in the middle of the pen, taking down one front wall that was a little rickety, patching a hole in the back wall that Velvet excavated, removing or pounding in any errant nails, and removing the empty bale feeder that I had stacked against one side of the fenceline.

You can see in the background of this photo Beamer's rickety shelter and part of the cattle handling equipment

Then I got looking at Beamer's pen, and planning how I'm going to make some changes in there: he has a rickety shelter too, if you remember the wind actually moved it off its skids, and it's too low; it's actually a cattle shelter. So the plan is to remove it, and make Beamer a shelter off part of the overhang that houses the foaling pen area. Which means moving the remainder of the cattle handling equipment that forms part of Beamers pen, and bringing in the extra panels from the pasture....and that means that I probably won't get to ride tomorrow either.

The dotted lines show where the panels will go to make the new fenceline; the yellow outline shows the roof of the overhang.

It'll probably take two days to do the changes to Beamer's pen, so hopefully  Friday I can saddle up her red roan self and have some fun; Saturday we cut and wrap the beef.

Rio at 3 weeks

Rio turned 3 weeks old yesterday, and he's growing up to be a big strong and well behaved boy. Except when he discovers the electric fence isn't working, and then the mares discover it, and then I have electric fence tape spread all across the middle of my pasture! Ted tweaked the ground rod as it was rusty, but it still isn't working right- Rio was chewing on the tape again last night and not getting zapped. So I guess I'll have to get my tester out today and see if there is any power at the source; it's clicking like it is supposed to and I sure hope I don't have to buy a new unit.

He licks this wall.

We had a lovely sunny weekend, and on Saturday we butchered Url, so next Saturday we'll spend cutting and wrapping. Looks like we will have some good beef to serve for Ted's birthday party this month- Sunday May 22 we celebrate because his birthday is on a Wednesday, and the 22nd is the long weekend. We have family coming from Alberta, it will be a good time-hope the weather is good!. The local asparagus will be available, so that will be on the menu too. 

Sunday Stills- Rust

Our challenge today is rust- and to be a little creative with it. I found this to be a fun challenge, there are a lot of rusty things everywhere, and I hope you enjoy my take on this one.