Rhythm Riders

My youngest daughter, Macy, has joined the new drill team at Pony Club. They named themselves the Rhythm Riders and there are 4 teams of 2 or 8 riders all together. The first demo will be at the Dressage Rally this week-end, and if all goes well, they will do some exhibitions at a couple of fairs or other events this summer. The girls have worked really hard to learn this, and have done a great job. They will be riding to "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", "Now I'm a Believer", and "Rock Around the Clock". Its been fun watching them develop the routine and perfect their spacing and timing.

Thread the needle

Flank Turn

                                                                    Left to Left 

Paired Up

                                                                                       
                                                                                   

                                                            Pinwheel

Things to do on a Rainy Day

One thing I like to do on rainy days is visit some of my favorite blogs to see what new things have been posted. There are some fantastic writers, photographers, horse lovers and horse trainers out there that do a wonderful job of entertaining and educating through their blogs. Of course, I visit all of my friend's blogs, too, and they are listed on my page. There are bloggers on every subject you can imagine and are interested in, its fun to scout out new ones! The ones I've listed below are very active bloggers with something new to read almost every day, there are others I follow, but they tend to be more sporadically updated. Kind of like  mine, LOL!

Here are some that I love to read:

Mugwump Chronicles: http://mugwumpchronicles.blogspot.com/
Author is Janet Huntington,  is also an equine artist: http://www.cowhorseart.com/
She is a great story teller and keeps us on the edge of our seats. Her stories are written chapter by chapter and is hard to be patient waiting for the next part, especially since she has a couple of stories going at once and you never know which one will be next! Its worth going back and reading the completed stories of Sonita and Mort.

Life at Star's Rest: http://black-horse-design.blogspot.com/
Carmon is an artist who creates jewelry: http://www.black-horse-design.com/,
She lives in a yurt in the mountains of New Mexico and owns mustangs and gray hounds! She takes wonderful photos, shares her life experiences and tells wonderful stories too. Very fun blog to follow!

The Pioneer Woman: http://thepioneerwoman.com/
Ree is so talented in so many areas. The blog is full of beautiful photos, recipes, wicked funny stories, home schooling advise, its hard to know which section to visit first. I love her stories about the Bassett hound, Charlie! And the little punks, her kids! There are lots of tips on how to take/edit photos that are written so you can understand them, lots of recipes and beautiful photos you can spend hours looking at. And her sense of humor is wonderful. And we can't forget the Marlboro Man either!

The Daily Coyote: http://www.dailycoyote.net/
Author of: "The Daily Coyote" and "Eating Gluten Free" http://honeyrockdawn.com/books/
I listened to Shreve's book, "The Daily Coyote" on my MP3 player and never wanted it to end! Its a wonderful story, and it actually helped kick my butt into gear in deciding to sell the house and just go with what comes next! I love her philosophy on life and the love stories in the book.

Horse Training from the Ground Up: http://www.carolynresnickblog.com/
I absolutely loved Carolyn's book, "Naked Liberty"! It was wonderful reading and gave me a better understanding of horse behavior. Her blog is very educational in the style of horsemanship she teaches and the videos of  her students with their horses trained with her methods are amazing.

 So what are some of YOUR favorite blogs? I'd love to check out the ones you all enjoy reading!

Funny Manifesting

In Law of Attraction or positive thinking circles, putting a desire out to the universe and getting a result is called manifesting. This happens to me all the time on big things and little. The girls are great at it! The more you notice how just thinking, "Gee, I'd like ______ and then later realizing that what you'd thought about or wished for has shown up, the more it happens.

I have a style of bra that I just love and fit great, so of course they've been discontinued. I bought quite a few, but they are starting to wear out, so I've been half-heartedly looking, but kind of dreading shopping for bras again. My mom works at a rummage sale shop for Miles Memorial hospital and we've gotten some great things from the sale and now the shop. Well, she's been picking up bras for the girls there when she finds them, and the other day she showed up with a bag of 5 or 6 new/like new bras. Looking at them, they were all in my size! Although they were all different, all but two fit great. That never happens! She only paid .50 cents a piece so gave them to me. Yippee, no bra shopping for me and a new selection of blues, pink and nude bras. I love manifesting! Thanks Universe for saving me from a dreaded experience, LOL!

First Trail Ride with Apollo

I finally got a chance to take Apollo out on the trails in between rainy days. Amber rode Angel and insisted on riding the gas line, on the side that accesses the road, the MOST difficult riding on our property. I wanted to use the bitless bridle because none of our bits are quite big enough for him but wasn't sure it would fit. A few adjustments later, and I discovered it would fit, so decided to be brave and go for it. I worked with him a bit to see if he understood how it worked, but Amber was getting impatient and declaring she wasn't going to go if I spent any more time fooling around, so off we went. I did ride up and down the driveway by the pasture to make sure I had steering and brakes. Then off to the the back 40 we went. Apollo went everywhere I asked with no fuss! He jumped the water filled ditches, or slogged through the parts that were too wide to jump. There's 4 ditches to get to the road, so its great for building up the horses, going up and down the banks. We let the horses graze when we got to the road, then headed back. Apollo was a little stronger on the way back, cantering up the banks, but stopping when I asked. It was great fun! We then walked up the road and went on the new trailhead and walked the loop. There's some boggy, wet places there too, but no problem! He walked out and walked back, no different heading home than heading out. I love this horse! And he's very cute to boot, don't you think?!

Finally, A Place to Hang my Tack!

One of the goals of Alan's vacation this week was to get a tack room. We've been using the horse trailer, which is an open stock with no tack/dressing room, so every time we want to use it, we have to remove the tack and put it back when done. Not fun. So we recruited a friend and took the big bedroom set we've had for most of our married life out of the shed we had built in 2007 and moved it to Alan's sister's house, freeing up room in the shed. Just enough room for tack! All that was left to do was to move the shed from the middle of the property up to the front. No problem with Little Blue tractor! We made some tracks up the drive,

Making good progress

Where it needs to be placed, next to the horse trailer

                                                                                             Almost there!

Success! Life will be so much easier now!

The New Man in My Life

Ever since I found the trail head to miles of trails just literally outside my front door, I've been on a mission to find a new riding horse for Alan and I. Being limited to 4 horses and having half of those unrideable or not one we wanted to ride was becoming more unacceptable all the time. It was easier in the other house where our riding opportunities were more limited, but now we have access to arenas and trails within walking distance. So I've shopped (more than usual, LOL!) and tried one out that didn't work out and shook my confidence in even knowing or being able to recognize a good riding horse.

One day Alan and I went to the local sale barn and my friend there said they had a horse she thought we should look at. So although we didn't have much time and it was raining/cold, we went down to the back barn (not all the horses there are on the way to Canada, btw, they keep horses that have sold in one area, sick horses in another and a little herd on the other side) to pull out a gelding who was getting bullied but she really liked. He was a draft cross, bay with white spot and snip on his face, very nervous and prancing around. We were told his former owner was a young woman who had used him for barrel racing and found he was too slow. He was yahooed around a lot and expected to run when ridden. I wasn't really surprised he didn't work out as a barrel horse, LOL! He's only 15.2h or so, we didn't think he was big enough and he was being kind of an idiot, so we said thanks and left.

A couple of days later, the girls wanted to stop by the barn to visit their friend and look at the horses after Girl Scouts, so I took them over. Amber fell in love with a 2 yo roan filly who is gorgeously colored and very sweet. She was in a box stall, and in the tie stall right across was the gelding we had looked at. He kept moving his butt over and craning his neck around. I thought he was trying to scratch himself or had dropped his hay, so I went and scratched him and checked the hay. He had plenty, but as we played with the filly he kept doing that, looking at us from one side, then moving his butt to the other so he could crane around and look at us from the other. They all said he wants to go home with you! All the other horses in the tie stalls were just standing there munching hay, so it was pretty funny.

We decided to let Amber go back and try out the little filly on Monday and the gelding was still there. He had settled in really well and I was urged to at least see him go and try him out. So I did and we got along fabulously. He was whinnying to his girlfriends, but kept right on working and listening, didn't put up a fuss and seemed much bigger when you were riding him. I was wishing someone who knew more was there to give me some advise, and lo and behold, the girl's former riding instructor showed up and watched me ride him. She really liked him, said he moved really well, but he would need schooling. I was encouraged that she liked him, so put down a deposit and arranged to have Alan go ride him.

When Alan finally had a day off, it was cold and rainy again. We went to the barn and they brought Apollo out, Alan looked at him and I could see he didn't think he was big enough for him. He didn't want to ride and since this horse was supposed to be multi-purpose for both of us to use, I asked if they had anything suitable that was bigger. There was a very large black bay draft named Samson that we were shown. Alan really liked him and Samson seemed to take to Alan too. He walked him around some and then put him back. Samson was a little thin and had no muscle mass at all. He'd been a cart horse with limited riding experience. I said we'd make a decision and I would go back up to try Samson out. I planned to go the next day, but it was cold and very windy and I already had to ride at Horsemaster's, so I didn't get to the barn that Saturday and they're not open Sunday. So I headed up to the barn on Monday, just praying for wisdom and a sign for what the right decision would be for us. When I was halfway there Alan called and said he had a 3 hour break from work and he'd meet me there. I was so nervous because of past mistakes and questioning my judgement. We also had decided to trade in a mare who hadn't worked out for us that had come from that barn 5 years ago and presented us with a surprise colt! That was a hard thing for me to decide as so many people act like you're sending them to an express death at slaughter if you sell to a sale barn. But I really felt that would be the best chance for her to find a home because so many people go there looking to buy. Anyway, I got there and was told the decision would be easier since Samson had sold on Saturday! I also found out he was a kicker at mealtimes if any horse got near and he was also sick. So we tried out Apollo and Alan did like him after riding him. Its funny how much bigger he looks tacked up in the western saddle and when you're sitting on him. The rider at the barn took him out on the road right after tacking up and he walked by the pasture with his girlfriends with no fuss. He did whinny but walked right on by, no resistance. He did whatever he was asked and was not shy of cars or trucks. The rider is Alan's size, so he could see that Apollo looked good with a bigger rider. So then it was decision time and I was still unsure.

As an aside, I've ridden with an instructor at Horsemaster's 5 or 6 times now and she was instructing when I took my mare to lessons a couple of weeks ago so she could assess her and I. She pinpointed the exact issues I was having and said we may be able to work it out or may not. I am going to do some therapy on one of her mares and had bartered a lesson for therapy. I came so close to calling her and asking her to come and assess this gelding instead of giving me a lesson because I thought she'd be the one person who would be knowledgeable about my riding and issues with the other horse and be able to judge if the gelding would work out.

So a few things had already fallen into place, Samson was out of the picture, Alan surprised me by showing up and riding and the last piece was amazing.

I walked into the store, and who should be there but the very person I had wished for! She had seen Alan and I both ride Apollo and had ridden him herself. She gave her seal of approval and thought he'd be great for us! She described him as sane, sensible and sound, a big "little" horse. She told Alan he looked great on him too. I couldn't believe it. Then she said not to feel bad about trading my mare, that my friend that works there knew her and would advocate for her and she thought it was also a good place to find her a new home. I didn't even ask for that, but it was what I really needed to hear. This lady is amazing at reading horses and people, I'm so glad I'm getting to learn from her. So the deal was struck, we were very happy with the trade, Apollo loaded right up with Alan and now we start our journey! I feel confident that this was the right horse and the right thing to do. Let the fun begin!

Intent

I love these two pictures of the girls at the Games Rally last fall. I see both horse and rider intent on getting to the same place and getting it done together.

Amber on Dreamer

Macy on Kiwi

The Magic of Light

I have had the opportunity to discover for myself just how effective the power of red light therapy can be. When I went to Vermont two years ago to crew for one of the horse/rider teams on the 100 mile endurance ride, I ended up slamming my finger in the door of the pick-up truck first thing in the morning. I almost passed out from pain and an empty stomach. I got it doctored up and went on to tend to the horse I was in charge of, getting the cut wet and dirty multiple times through the day. When I got home my husband assured me it was definitely going to get infected and I should seek medical attention. I decided to try red-lighting it as it was a week-end and I wasn't going to get seen soon anyway. I couldn't believe how well the lights took away the swelling and throbbing in my finger/nail. Every time the finger/nail would start throbbing from the pressure of the trapped blood beneath it, I would use the lights and it would ease the pain. I took pictures that time too, but can't locate them right now. I had also reinjured my finger 2 days after the first event by hurrying out the door because of some horse emergency and closing the door on my injured finger. I almost hit the ground in pain that time and the cut was reopened. Anyways, my finger healed wonderfully and all of the old blood under the nail was reabsorbed, turning from black to purple to light purple to pink and then gone! I did lose my nail as the blood had seperated it from the nail bed but never had to drill a hole in the nail to relieve pressure and no infection in the cut on my finger.
Unfortunately, I didn't learn how to keep my fingers out of the way, and ended up shutting the same finger in my front door just a day after looking at it and thinking how nicely it had healed and and how well the nail had regrown! Same thing, slammed it so hard it cut my finger and gave me a bruise under the nail. I do have pictures of the healing process of this incident, I was confident that the lights would wield their magic on this injury and they certainly did. The first picture is a little gross, but the rest are amazing I think!

The day I reinjured my finger, 3/23/2009

After using the red-light for a week

The next day

Two weeks after injury and mostly healed. You can see the outline of where the old blood was and how it has turned lighter and lighter as the blood was reabsorbed.