Playing with the new camea

I finally got my new camera, a Nikon D3100, and I got a telephoto lens to go with it. Now to figure it all out! It'll take me a few days, I think.  Of course, I had plenty of subjects to practice on!

 *Ahem * did you notice it's green here? Not white? *

Then it was off to the pasture.... where Josie was happy to do some streaking for me after a few days of rain and being cooped up.

She really got fuzzy!  She is turning into my little buddy. Every time I go out to the pen she whinnies to me- in a very raspy, unfeminine voice, I might add. and she is nice to handle. She was even pretty good for her first trim with Shayla a little while ago. 

And then there's Rio... he had just taken a drink of water, and if you all remember this little idiosyncrasy he has of sticking his tongue out during and after drinking, you can see that he is sticking his tongue out in this photo.

 Beamer was way too muddy to take photos of, maybe I'll clean him up for a photo shoot this weekend. I put the telephoto lens on and zoomed in on the town in the distance, with the grain elevators catching the late afternoon light.

One thing I learned was to make sure I use the viewfinder for the burst shots, not the monitor, so that I can follow what I'm shooting. There's lots of bells'n'whistles for me to learn.

Wonderful Wednesday

A couple of good things have been happening around here that have put a smile on my face.
Like the fact that it snowed, and then melted.....

The low lying fog looks like cotton wool...

Snow's all gone!

I advertised Gussie on Facebook, because I just couldn't find an affordable way to get her over to Saskatchewan, and today I sold her- she will be staying in BC and going to a darn good home where she will be patterned on the barrels, and do some roping and ranch riding. I am happy that she is going where she will be able to reach her potential, because she is a talented big red girl. The neat thing is that the young lady who bought her prefers geldings... but really liked Gussie when she came and tried her out. 

Gussie and her new owner

She will be coming to pick Gussie up before the end of the month.

We also have more good news: we have found another place to live, so we'll be moving soon. Details later!

Horsies crocs

For those who might be searching for the Horsies Crocs, here is the only place I have found them for sale online: http://buckscountysaddlery.com/product_info.php?cPath=1&products_id=99000996

Rollin', rollin', rollin'

Blah yucky wet weather has stymied my plans for riding, but I'm hoping to get my butt in the saddle tomorrow.
Before it started raining, I got some fun photos of Beamer having a dust bath- carefully supervised by Tess.

Oh yeah, feels good! Now to shake the dust off.....

Those of you who always look at a horse's feet first will notice the arched hairlines on his front feet. It's something I have been working on with little success, so today when Shayla trimmed him, she put a good rim notch on, and he got a white lightning soak too. We'll have those feet improved soon! His feet have already improved a lot since I got him on the ABC Hoofprint trim, but it's still a work in progress.
I still haven't hauled Belle to Alberta, the weather is plumb nasty for travelling. We get rain, everywhere else gets snow and the roads are not ideal for pulling a horse trailer. So I'll just have to wait until we get a good week, or a good meltdown.
Anyway, I'll leave you with this parting shot..... it might be winter for some, but it's still fall here!

Solo

It's been a while since I've ridden a two year old- last one was Chickory, at least a couple of years ago. Since I'm a little rusty, I've been cautious with Rio. I took him over to a local arena a few days ago, and did a schooling ride, then the trail ride with Shayla last weekend, then Monday I decided to saddle him up and ride him around here.

It was kind of like saddling up an old broke horse.

Stepped aboard without a warm up, and headed out.

No muss, no fuss.

As you can see from the video, Rio seems to enjoy getting out. He was so well behaved. No silliness. Cars going by? No problem. The other horses calling? No issues.
Good boy, Rio!
Some of you may remember that I offered him for sale via my blog as a weanling, $500 off the mare. Well- now, I wouldn't take $5000 for him. My husband loves him, in fact he has always been smitten with this colt, and I can really see them becoming a team once I get Rio more experienced.

We have another trail ride planned for the weekend, as long as the weather isn't too bad. If I can get 3 or 4 good rides in him every week, I think we'll be ready for the clinic in January.

Wordless Wednesday

What to do on a windy day

Alberta got hit with a snowstorm on the day I was to haul Belle, so I'm waiting a little longer before I take her over there.
The same storm that blew snow into Alberta was a windstorm here, yesterday I woke up to branches all over the lawn, 45 gallon steel drums rolled around the yard, slam-dunked flower pots, but the only thing that got destroyed was the rickety old shelter that used to be in Beamer's pen. The only reason it wasn't still in his pen is that I had to make his pen smaller using my round pen panels when the place changed ownership and the former landlord took all his corral panels away. Good thing, or Beamer would have been in it!

It was too windy to ride yesterday, too bad because it was nice and sunny, so I had to content myself with some wind-blown mane photos. 

The horses all enjoyed getting out of their shelter, I had them penned up for about 24 hours during the worst of the wind.

And the race is on! This is what keeps Reba so healthy at 12 years old, she loves to run with the horses.

Josie might be little, but she has speed!

Striking a high trot....

Rio trying to antagonize Gussie, who just ignored him; apparently it was time to graze, shenanigans were all done!

Poor boy!

 Oh well, can't beat 'em might as well join 'em!

Sunday Stills

Fall foliage.... perfect challenge for what I've been doing this week, lots of time outdoors even though we've been fogged in for nearly a week now.

This is the rosebush that I planted on Stella Belle's grave, it is a white hansa rose.

The yellow maple leaves needed a little contrast, according to Reba!

A couple of maple leaves caught up in the Italian Plum tree that still hasn't changed color yet.

Purple and yellow maple leaves- not too many red ones here.

A scene from Saturday's trail ride.

Tess's birthday and a real Rio trail ride

My good dog Tess turned 7 years old today, so I did a little photo shoot in the fall leaves. She has this habit of looking at me with what I call the "up periscope" look, her nose up- really she's not in the least bit snooty!!!

She is the bestest dog....

She got to come with me today...

for Rio's first real trail ride, 2 hours through the woods near the airport.

My first Rio ear-cam shot!

Tess is so good, she just follows behind, doesn't go diving off the trail and running through the bush so she's a good one to take on a colt's first outing.

Shayla and her friend's dog Shilo came along too, her horse Allie is a 3 year old, and did a good job of being a nice steady horse for Rio to follow.

The fall colors were lovely even if it wasn't a sunny day, so I'll post those photos in tomorrow's Sunday Stills challenge, which is "Fall Colors". We did take posed photos of each other though, with the beautiful yellows as a backdrop.

I was very impressed with Rio, he did very well, looked sideways at a couple of things, but no issues. We went in the lead near the end of the ride, and he stopped when there was a log across the trail even though he had been across a few already following Allie this was the first one that he had to cross on his own, but he did go. 

A couple of good young horses! What a good day it was- good horses, good company and good dogs!

Almost gone....

Coyote Belle passed the 5 panel test for genetic disease, as I knew she would, so she will be en route to her new home this weekend.

There's that 12 o'clock dog again....

We will head up to Janice's on Sunday and over to Alberta on Monday. I'm trying to get everything coordinated to get Gussie hauled at the same time, but so far things aren't meshing.

 and again....

Dang I'm going to miss these mares. 

Photo op

A friend of mine was looking for a certain type of horse photo to do a painting, so of course, I was happy to oblige!
Gussie made the best model, with her flying, flaming mane.

And of course, one photo leads to another....

and another.... this one is a little fuzzy but I had to include it because she is so good at flippin' lip at me!

Rio had to get in on the act too-

and mama Belle had something to say too.

And really, did you think I was going to leave Beamer out????

Not a chance!

Riding Rio

Things worked out good today, Shayla came over in the afternoon to finish trimming Josie and trim Belle so I hijacked her and we went for a ride on the boys instead. She rode Beamer and I got my first ride on Rio.
Finding a log to stand on when I mounted was a really good idea, he is one big boy! He stood quietly for me, and we moved right out on our trail ride; no longeing first, just get on and go, even though he hasn't been ridden for two months.
Good boy, Rio!
I felt right at home on him, nice and relaxed, he kind of reminded me of his grandma, my good mare Sundee. The dogs came along  and we had a really enjoyable Sunday ride.

There were a few cars and pedestrians, but nothing bothered him.
We worked on getting Beamer to ride side by side without doing any stud talk, he was pretty good, and I think if we can do this often it won't be such a big deal and he will relax.

I found a nice level spot to ride and check out his softness- definitely have some work to do on getting him to bend in the ribs.

I has a happy!

I foresee lots of fun with this horse, and I think he will make a good horse for my husband.