Rocky Mountain Yankee

Why Is It Still Winter?

2011-02-03T14:28:00.000-05:00

I no longer have any use for winter. The holidays are over, the decorations packed up and stored away until next year. The snow and cold air can go with them!

I have started to feel somewhat normal so I headed out to the barn yesterday. I was sunny, slightly warm and very windy. Rosie seemed pretty glad to see me. This barn doesn't turn out when the weather has been nasty or if there is ice on the ground so who knows how long it has been since she was turned out. She was eager to get out and I think would have haltered herself if she could. I cross tied her and brushed her quickly just to get the shavings off of her back. While I was doing that I noticed the darn goat had been chewing on the end of the breakaway strap for her halter. Grrrr. While there isn't damage that affects the use of the halter it still annoys me. I just generally don't like goats. This one lives in the stall next door with the barn owner's son's pony. Occasionally the goat is let out to wander. She doesn't go anywhere but she does chew on things and she can reach the halters because they are hung up outside each horses stall. One day she came out to lick the salt off my truck. That didn't bother me but I was afraid of what she might do next. I had visions of her standing on the roof. Now I know why my mom wouldn't let us have goats when we were kids.

Anyways, after cussing the goat and picking out Rosie's feet we headed to the indoor arena. I figured I was in for a show when Rosie got all looky-louey and snorty at a girl carrying a harness. She didn't disappoint! She trotted around for a good five minutes doing her best Arab impression with her tail flagged and alternately arching her neck and then flinging her head up high. After about 10 minutes she decided anything more than the usual slow trot was too much work and settled down nicely. I made her change directions a few times and trot and canter for another five minutes or so for a total of about 15 minutes of lunging. I quit there because I didn't want her to get too warm as we had hit our high temp at 8 a.m. and it was steadily getting colder. She was a bit warm so we walked around for a bit before I put her away and gave her some treats. I think she would have liked to stay out more but there was no way I was riding that fresh of a horse with the arena banging around in the wind like it was. We had gusts up in the 50 mph range here! I thought I was back in Wyoming. I am hoping to get out and ride tomorrow, the temp is supposed to be 37 degrees for the high. Plus, I told my daughter that if it was warm enough this weekend I would take her out to ride Rosie in the new saddle she got for her birthday a couple of weeks ago and there is no way I would let her ride a horse that fresh. She will hound me mercilessly until she gets to ride so that is my motivation.

I hope everyone else is having a better winter than I am but I see even Arizona is pretty cold so I don't know where the warm air has gone. Hopefully it comes back from where ever it is hiding soon! I guess I also have to say "Go Steelers!" for the Super Bowl this weekend. It doesn't matter to me one way or the other but the people in this area tend to get a little grumpy if their team doesn't do well. My daughter has Steeler fever and decided to get the dog in on it too. Poor dog, honestly.... :-)

I Wish I Could Say...

2011-01-28T19:33:00.000-05:00

that my lack of blogging is due to copious amounts of time spent riding and fussing over my horse but that is most certainly NOT the case. We have been sick. My daughter and I have been to Urgent Care numerous times over the last three weeks. It started with pink eye for here then moved into very sore throats for the both of us and an ear infection for her. Then she had an allergic reaction to her eye drops. By the next weekend of course I had pink eye. After mostly getting the pink eye beat back I developed a sinus infection. Then we both came down with another head cold. Today my poor baby was on the couch, unable to keep anything in her stomach. And her eyes are getting red again. I'm not sure yet if she is getting another case of pink eye or if her eyes are just red because she is tired. It is common for her eyes to be red when she is tired so I am just crossing my fingers that that is the case.

Before all off this illness descended upon our household I did manage to get in a couple of rides. The second one was the best, starting out in the indoor just fiddling around and then moving outside. In the indoor I was working a little on turns on the forehand. Rosie knows how to do them but always tries to walk out of them. At first she acted like she had no idea what I wanted from her so I got down and moved her haunches around her forelegs by putting my fingers into her side and removing them when she crossed her hind feet over. She did this quite well and without hesitation. So I hopped back into the saddle and asked her again. At first she still acted like she didn't know what I wanted so I asked again and this time she did it. We practiced that for a bit along with some sidepassing and working on going past the scary arena corners with out cutting them completely. I'm not much for arena work so we headed outside to go cruise the open field behind the barn. I wanted to do this partly because I like riding up there and partly because there was snow on the ground and I hadn't yet ridden Rosie in the snow. Not that she hadn't seen snow, she had many times in Colorado and a little bit here but we hadn't had a chance to ride in it yet. It was pretty chilly up on that hill but we still had a good time. Later I figured out with the wind chill it was about 6 degrees out. Brrrr. We went out to dinner with some friends of ours later that evening and I just could not get warm and of course they sat us near the door. It was the only table they had that was big enough for seven of us but boy was I chilly! I'm still glad I went riding though. I love riding in the snow! I just wish it didn't have to be so darn cold to do so! I wish I had some pictures but I was the only one crazy enough to be out that day so there aren't any.

Year in Review, Continued

2011-01-01T15:31:00.000-05:00

Lets see if I can bust out a few more months on this year gone by.

March: I don't remember anything in particular about March and I don't have many pictures from that month. If I don't have any pictures, then not much happened. I take at least a small camera everywhere. So I guess we will just say that the snow melted and spring spring.

Some lovely crocuses from my front yard.

April: By this time we are all getting a little spring feverish. Outside we go.

We even made it to opening day of the Pittsburgh Pirates. They even won! I don't think I would attend opening day again though. It was basically a drunk fest for the college kids and my daughter got to hear some very colorful language. I guess that is a part of life but I still didn't enjoy it. We have attended at other times of the season and had a very nice time.

My beautiful old dog getting some fresh air.

We also went to Phoenix for my husband's grandmother's 90th birthday. I handed my daughter the camera while we were having dinner at P.F. Chang's to keep her entertained. I have a lot of pictures that look like this.

She actually got some nice pictures of the other family members but since I have no idea if they want to be splashed all over this blog this is the only picture I feel comfortable posting. I also managed to get in another state on my "I Want to Ride a Horse In All 50 States" quest. Apparently we found some tequila while wandering around in the desert because that is the only way I can explain the position of that helmet. Next time I will try and fit my own helmet in my suitcase.

Drifter and I in what is left of the desert in Scottsdale.

Phoenix was warm and beautiful as usual.

Unfortunately Pittsburgh experienced some wild weather while we were gone and we came home to this little mess on our roof. We got it fixed quickly though and nothing else was damaged thankfully.

To be continued...

Year in Review

2010-12-29T17:08:00.000-05:00

As I think about this year that is almost over nothing really major jumps out at me. I'm just glad we didn't move again. So hopefully as I go through writing this post some things will come to mind that will make this year stand out a little.

January: My little Rose Petal was in Florida being trained to be a productive equine citizen. As I look back at the pictures, I see how much she has matured over the last year. She still looks like a baby in some of these pictures.

We set up a fish tank. It was something I had been wanting to do for years but the circumstances were never right until now. My daughter and I spent a lot of time doing this that first month.

My little girl turned four and there was cake. The yummy chocolate kind with chocolate frosting. Now if only I could teach her to make this for me.

My daughter got Candyland for her birthday. So guess what we played a lot of? She enjoys it though so we play.

February: Snowpocolypse. Need I say more?

The poor dog can't even find a place to pee!

Tough going for toddlers!

It started as a Ford Explorer...

A short drive into the city to dig up some dinosaur bones. We originally went in for a whale exhibit but I she had just as much fun with the dinosaur stuff. The Carnegie Museum of Natural History is a pretty nice place to visit if you get the chance.

My trip to Florida to see Rosie while she was in training. This was such a wonderful trip! Even though it was pretty cold in Florida I had a great time.

Wow, this is getting kind of long. I think I will break the memories up into two month increments just so I have some hope of getting most of this posted before March.

Back to Normal

2010-12-29T14:00:00.000-05:00

Well, the in-laws headed home yesterday after coming in for Christmas. It was nice to see them but it is always nice to get back to normal too. Unless you are my daughter who goes on a crying jag every time we have to leave family. It's hard living so far from any family.

I made it out to the barn to see Rosie today. I hadn't seen her since the Monday before Christmas. It's times like these that I really wish I could keep her at home. To be able to just give her a pat while feeding or something would be better than not seeing her for over a week. Someday I will have my own place. I didn't ride, I tweaked my back before Christmas and it is still really bothering me. Stupid sciatica. If it keeps bothering me I guess I will have to head to the doctor. What a way to ring in the new year, but chronic pain isn't high on my list of things to do. Anyways, back to Rosie. I took her out, brushed her and then lunged her for a bit in the indoor. She was happy to get out and kick up her heels for a bit. The barn where I board does turn out every other day. Mostly because they don't have enough pasture space to turn all the horses out everyday. It's not my ideal but all the other positives outweighed that negative. On the days that I know she is going to be in I try and get out there and at least let her graze on the lawn for a bit. Rosie did well lunging as usual. I even took her down to the scary end of the indoor. You know, where the horse eating monsters live. She tried to cut the corners a bit at first but eventually she went fine. After we finished lunging I walked her over to the Cave of Death or as I call it, the corner of the indoor.

After it was determined that we weren't facing certain annihilation we walked calmly out of the arena to go eat some grass. What little of it there is this time of year anyways.

The new year is already filling up with things to do. My daughter's birthday is towards the end of this month and she wants to have her party at Chuck E. Cheese. Heaven help my agoraphobic self. Then there is the usual doctors/dentist/oil change appointments that have to be taken care of. Stay with me now, I know the excitement is about to send you off your chair but please contain yourself.

Hope everyone is staying warm and busy! Here's to hoping for some decent weather soon so we can get out and enjoy it!

Me-ology

2010-12-23T19:52:00.000-05:00

Rules: YOU! Yes, you, reading this. You’re tagged. Now that you know more about me than you ever wanted to know, play the game, it’s fun! Let others know a little more about yourself, re post this as your name followed by “ology.” (Or if you are paranoid about putting too much info out there just put "me" in the title with the "ology")

FOODOLOGY:

What is your salad dressing of choice? Blue Cheese

What is your favorite sit-down restaurant? Darby's, Belfast, Maine

What is your favorite fast food restaurant?  It depends on the day but usually Chick-Fil-A or McDonalds

What food could you eat every day for two weeks and not get sick of?  Blueberries

What are your pizza toppings of choice?  Cheese, cheese and more cheese!

How many televisions are in your house?  3

What color cell phone do you have?  Black

BIOLOGY:

Are you right-handed or left-handed?  Right.

Have you ever had anything removed from your body?  Yes

What is the last heavy item you lifted?  Nothing for a few days, I tweaked my back while sliding a box out of the way.

Have you ever been knocked unconscious?  Only with anesthetic.

Have you ever fainted?  No

BULLCRAPOLOGY:

If it were possible, would you want to know the day you were going to die?  No.

If you could change your name, what would you change it to?  Wouldn't change it I like my name.

How many pairs of flip flops/thongs do you own?  Many, I love flip flops in the summer.

Last person you talked to?  Ryan

FAVORITOLOGY:

Season? Summer

Holiday? All of them

Day of the week? Saturday

Month? September

Colour? Purple

Drink? Coke

Alcoholic? Jolly Rancher

CURRENTOLOGY:

Missing someone? Yes

What are you listening to?  Caillou (I have a five year old, it can't be helped.)

What are you watching?  Well, my daughter is watching Calliou but I wouldn't really say that I am.

Worrying about?  Not much at the moment

What’s the last movie you saw?  At the cinema - Tangled. At home - National Lampoons Christmas Vacation.

Do you smile often?  Not as much as I used to.

If you could change your eye color what would it be?  Green's the perfect color so no need to change them.

What’s on your wish list for your birthday? Well, since my birthday doesn't come around again for basically a year I have awhile to think about it but maybe a nice saddle.

Can you do a chin-up?  I have no idea.

Does the future make you more nervous or excited?  Nervous

Have you been in a car wreck?  Just a fender bender

Have you caused a car wreck? No

Do you have an accent?  Occasionally I slip into my Mainer accent and drop a few R's.

Last time you cried?  Don't remember

Plans tonight?  Not a whole heck of a lot.

Have you ever felt like you hit rock bottom? No.

Name three things you bought yesterday? Plant pots, my daughter's first Breyer horse, and a bang trim for my daughter and I.

Have you met someone who changed your life?  Yes, several people

For the better or worse?  Who knows, I'll have to wait until the end to know for sure.

How did you bring in the New Year?  That was awhile ago, I don't really remember. Probably just fell asleep on the couch watching t.v.

Would you go back in time if you were given the chance? I probably would, yes

What songs do you sing in the shower?  Nothing

Have you held hands with someone today?  Yes

Who was the last person you took a picture of?  My daughter and her friends at a Christmas cookie decorating party.

Are most of the friends in your life new or old?  I would say a good combination of both.
Do you like pulpy orange juice?  Eck no, it tastes like hair!
Last time you ate peanut butter and jelly?  I don't even remember.

What were you doing at 12 a.m. last night? Stumbling to bed after falling asleep on the couch while watching reruns of Everybody Loves Raymond.
What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up? Crap, I have a lot of cleaning to do today.

Cold

2010-12-13T14:33:00.000-05:00

Not much going here lately. I don't think I have been able to get a ride in since the last time I posted. We did a ten day trip over Thanksgiving that took up a lot more time than just the ten days we were gone, what with having to get everything ready to go, unpacking when we got back and then the Christmas shopping rush. I'm still not done with shopping for everyone. I am getting there though.

While we were in Colorado I got to visit my favorite tack shop, Brighton Feed and Saddlery. I love love love this place! I haven't found another place like it here in PA. If you are in the north Denver area and have time you should really stop in. Unless you ride English, then you might not find much of interest.

My birthday/Christmas present for this year is an easy entry cart! I got the harness last year for Christmas so this year I needed the cart. Now I can continue on with the driving that I had Rosie trained to do.

It is cold and snowy in the Pittsburgh area today and is supposed to remain that way for the upcoming week. I don't see a whole lot of riding in my future. Just running out to kiss Rosie on the nose will probably have to be good enough!

Okay, Break's Over!

2010-11-11T19:05:00.007-05:00

can't believe the last time I posted was the Fourth of July. I guess I took the summer off from blogging without meaning to. It's hard to sit in front of the computer when the weather is nice and the days are long. Now that it is colder and darker I will probably feel more like typing out a post.

Rosie made it here from Florida without incident. The initial barn that I had picked to board her at did not work out. It was just too far from my house. I was spending more time in the vehicle than anywhere so I found a barn that was just four miles from my house. It was more expensive but I actually get to spend time with Rosie instead of my truck so that makes it worth it. The new place also has an indoor arena which at first I thought I wouldn't use except maybe occasionally in the winter but I have already utilized it twice.

Rosie in the pasture at the first barn

I did manage to get some riding in. Mostly around the place where I board but I did manage to get to a poker ride that the local trail riding club put on this past June. It was hot and humid but since most of the ride was under the canopy of the trees it was bearable. If it had been out in the open I would have had to quit for mine and Rosie's safety. By the end of the ride I needed to use the bathroom but was so sweaty and sticky from the humidity I was afraid I wouldn't be able to get my pants back up. Okay, I know, that was way to much info but I am trying to paint a picture here :-) I did manage to get someone to take our picture during a break on the ride.

Taking a break during the poker ride

Rosie did wonderfully in this ride, I was so impressed with her! It was the first time she had been on a trail ride with more than two or three horses, there were about thirty at this ride. She also hadn't really been on a ride with a lot of hills but she was completely hill broke by the end of this ride. There was a lot of steep terrain at this park. By the end of the ride every time we went up a hill my saddle slipped back and when we went down the hill it slipped forward. I was cursing myself for not remembering my breast collar but as it turns out the breast collar I have is too big for Rosie anyways so I am on the hunt for another one. She is a little smaller than my last horse. Rosie had no problem going up hill but at a couple of the steeper descents she stopped at the top and was like "are you sure about this?" but she went down when I nudged her. She did the stream crossings wonderfully and there were several. She wouldn't drink though and that kind of bothered me since it was so hot.

I did find a couple of things we need to work on though. The first one is not rushing down hills. She was a little insecure I think so we got a little rushy going downhill. We also need to work on not being so pissy about horses behind us. She didn't kick anyone but if someone got to close they got the ugly face and the swishy tail. She was better by the end of the ride but that also could have been because she was pooped.

I had hoped to make it back to this particular park this summer but didn't. Life just got in the way. Plus I need a refresher course in hauling a trailer. It has been about 12 years since I have done it. Not to mention the roads here terrify me, they are so narrow and winding just the thought of hauling a horse trailer on them gives me heart palpitations.

So once again summer screamed by and I didn't do all the things I thought I would do. Do you every really get to do everything though? I usually don't. I spend all winter dreaming stuff up and then I am lucky if I get to do a third of it. I will take what I can get though!

Happy 4th of July!

2010-07-04T14:19:00.003-04:00

Hope everyone has a safe and happy Independence Day!

I also hope everyone that wants to, gets to do something a little "horsey" today.

I got this nifty little graphic here.

We're Mobile

2010-06-29T13:30:00.003-04:00

I finally, finally was able to convince my husband that I needed a horse trailer. After haunting Craigslist and other horsey type sites I finally found a trailer that was in good shape and in my price range. Why is the price range thing always so hard?

So here it is, my first horse trailer as an adult! It is a five year old, barely used Moritz two horse slant load trailer. I think I should be able to get a lot of years out of it, it is in great shape. I hope to get a cover for it so I can sort of have it under cover this winter.

More to come!

Florida Wrap Up

2010-04-25T16:06:00.003-04:00

My last day in Florida came very quickly. Luckily I had booked my tickets so that we were able to get a ride in before I had to head to the airport. Always thinkin' that's me! Ha, yeah right!

Anyways, Sunday morning before the flurry of packing we saddled up and headed to a local ranch that allows riding on its property. We basically just meandered around checking out different trails. I think at one point we were trying to find a lake but then it was decided that no one knew where it was. So we just found silly little things to do like climb hills.

After we had ridden for awhile one of us finally looked at a watch and realized we had better get our butts home if we wanted to fit in a driving lesson before I had to go. We hustled back and did a quick half hour driving lesson. My arms couldn't take much more than a half hour anyways so it worked out okay. We unharnessed Rosie, then went in the house to eat lunch, shower, finish packing and head back out the door. I kissed Rosie good bye for the next couple of months again and told her I would see her soon in Pennsylvania.

First Driving Lesson

2010-04-10T14:40:00.008-04:00

On my second day in Florida I received my first driving lesson with Rosie. I was a bit nervous. I have driven a couple of horses before but never for very long. I am very paranoid about doing something wrong with Rosie and messing up all the training that has been done with her. I know this is something that I am just going to have to get over but for now I am a paranoid, anxiety ridden freak! Anyways.....back to the driving.

First we went over all the pieces of the harness, where they go and how they should fit. Yikes, I am going to need crib notes for this. Once the harness was in place we hooked up the cart. While we are hooking up the cart AT is going over not just how stuff should fit and where it goes but how a harness horse should behave and certain rules that must be adhered to for everyones safety. For instance, no one gets into the cart before the driver. This is a good rule, you wouldn't want the person with the reins getting left behind if the horse takes off with someone in the cart. After getting into the cart we discussed how a harness horse should never anticipate what you are going to do. No walking off on their own as you are stepping into the cart, etc. They can cock a leg or shift to get comfortable but other than that, nothing. Once we were in the cart and ready to go it was time for our photo shoot! AT daughter really likes to take pictures and when I handed her my big Nikon she went to town! Which is fine by me, I love pictures. Here is a sampling.

Isn't she so cute in her harness? The brown reins with the black harness is the traditional look. I have no idea why.

Here we are ready to go!

Upon the conclusion of our photo shoot we headed off to tour the property. AT trainer drove Rosie first while explaining to me all the different cues and voice commands. There is so much more to driving than I first thought. The reins were then handed over to me. Poor Rosie didn't know what to think when she felt a different set of hands on the reins. She handled it well though. I was a little bit drunken in my driving which is common with new drivers. We drove for a bit though, doing lots of turns and some gait changes. We also got to drive through the water! I love driving through water, it's so cool! After my arms felt ready to fall off, we drove back to the barn, put the harness and cart away and saddled up for a ride. We didn't take a break in between because it was forecasted to rain for most of the day with the morning and evening being the best time to be outside. We had already made plans to go to the dinner show "Arabian Nights" that evening so we had to get our horse time in that morning.

This time for our ride AT daughter was able to join us on her lovely palomino mare. We rode out from the house, down the road a little ways into the woods and onto some trails. We had a nice ride through the trees and at one point even saw a feral hog! I saw it first and thought it was a dog. It was all black and staring at us with it's ears perked up. Once it noticed us looking at it, it took off into the woods. We rode around for a little bit more but it started to rain so we wrapped it up and headed back to the house. Since it was raining, after lunch we decided watch horse movies. Did you really think we would watch anything else? First we watched National Velvet. Classic, classic movie. Then we joined The Black Stallion at the part where they are rescued from the island. Even if you aren't a horse nut, the cinematography in The Black Stallion is beautiful. I highly recommend it. The Black Stallion Returns was on after but we had to get ready to go Arabian Nights. So many horsey things, so little time.

Stay tuned for day three....

Oh Happy Day!

2010-03-25T15:01:00.013-04:00

At the end of February I was able to take a trip to Florida to see Rosie. I was able to stay at the trainers house because she is awesome like that so it was almost like having my horses at home again. I also traveled alone which was a unique experience for me.

I flew out early on a snowy Friday morning. While the east coast was getting pounded with yet another snowstorm, the snow accumulation in Pittsburgh wasn't as bad. When I booked my tickets I was fortunate to be able to get a direct flight into Orlando. I think if I had had to connect anywhere on the east coast that day I wouldn't have made it. My flight got into Orlando just a little late (we had to de-ice, no complaints from me) but I was still there by 11:45. I connected with AT (Awesome Trainer), we headed to her place, ate lunch, loaded up the horses and headed out to ride at a local park. I was so excited to see Rosie! She has gotten taller and whiter. She also grew quite a winter coat for being in Florida. I guess that area has experienced a much colder than normal winter this year.

This moment was surreal for me, finally getting to throw a leg over Rosie! I think she was a little confused over her new rider but she handled it fine.

We soon were all settled and ready to hit the trails at the Lake Lizzie Nature Preserve. What a beautiful park this is. The local trail riders of Osceola County are very lucky. Wide sandy trails and very quiet. We met one group of bird watchers from Ohio and that was it. They asked us for directions and we almost sent them to the wrong parking lot but we got it figured out and nobody got lost. I hope.

We rode along for awhile and finally got to Lake Lizzie. Of course we had to get in it. Rosie didn't even bat an eye. I love this horse! I kept a close eye out for gaters. Not that I really know what I am looking for until it is coming at me with its mouth open but whatever.

We let the horses get a drink and played in the water for a bit until Rosie started wringing her tail and getting Gumby legs. I didn't bring my swimsuit so I didn't exactly want to get wet. I hustled her back to dry land quickly.

A view of Lake Lizzie from the shore

On our way back I spotted a cool looking tree that I just had to photographed under. I have a thing for trees in Florida. I love the way the Spanish Moss hangs off of them. I could stare at them forever. But we had riding to do, so we took the picture and moved on.

I wonder if Rosie has to pee?

Just after this tree there was a big sand hill that we decided to play on. Gotta get your hill work where you can in Florida. Rosie was a little unsure as to why we were doing this when she could see the nice, flat trail obviously did not go up this thing. I'm going to try and post a video but I have never done this before so hopefully it works.

After this we kept it pretty tame and just moseyed back to the trailer. It was a gorgeous day, bright blue sky with no wind. Surprisingly I wasn't all that sore from my first ride since October. The thing that hurt the most were my ankles because I brought a crappy pair of boots that I had forgotten why I didn't like them. During the ride I remembered. When I put my heels down the leather digs into my ankles. Once I got blood flowing to my feet again everything was all good. After arriving back at the trailer we unsaddled the horses, loaded up and headed home for dinner. It was an awesome day!

Women and Horses

2010-02-03T14:05:00.002-05:00

This is an good article written by Julie Goodnight on the connection between horses and women that I found very interesting. One point she brings up that I had never thought of before is that women can understand the prey role that a horse lives in because women themselves are often prey in this world. Read on if you like. Women and horses.

Visit

2010-01-31T14:06:00.002-05:00

I have booked my tickets to go see Rosie towards the end of February. I can't wait to get down there and see her! Plus, I will be traveling alone while the husband is on kid duty at home. Because I am going alone I won't be in Florida for very long but that's okay, the fact that I get to go at all is wonderful.

Another bonus: it will be warm in Florida. I am counting the days.

Finding That Perfect Barn

2010-01-25T14:19:00.007-05:00

I am once again on a quest to find a barn suitable for my little Rosie and I. Really, we just need to stop moving. Well, one more move to Maine would be nice and THEN I'm finished. But that is a whole other blog post. Back to finding a barn. I have begun to outline on paper what has been rattling around in my head for the different wants and needs in a boarding stable.

First the MUST HAVES. These are things that to me are non negotiable and I will break them down into tangibles and intangible.

Tangible

1. Daily turnout. This is a deal breaker for me. I have even passed over barns that will let me come turn the horse out myself but I was required to stay there for the duration of her time in the pasture. To me a horse in not meant to be in a stall 24/7 unless put there by a vet. I know some people compensate with regular exercise but that is still not going to work for me. A horse needs to be a horse.

2. Arena. I need at least an outdoor. Doesn't have to be anything fancy although I don't like to work in a round pen made of barbed wire. Yes, folks I have actually been presented with this option and no, they were not kidding. Sometimes you have to do things that require an enclosed environment for everyones safety.

3. Cleanliness. Not just the stalls but the area surrounding the barn. I don't like a lot of stuff laying around. To me that is just an accident waiting to happen and it makes me nervous. One barn I boarded at had so much stuff and the owner was always going to fix it. Never happened.

(This is not the place where I boarded, this is just a random picture off the internet, thank God!)

4. The other horses must look good. Sure you are always going to have a oldster or a hard keeper but all in all the horses need to look well fed and healthy.

5. Feed supplements. You know how we horse people love to supplement! The only extra thing I give Rosie is a daily feed through wormer but I need to the barn to feed it so I don't have to run out there everyday just to feed wormer.

Intangible

1. Friendly people. What seem like friendly people to me may seem nosy to someone else or vice versa. This one is kind of hard to gauge.

2. I must feel safe. Whether it is the aforementioned junk or crazy people I can't feel like I am going to get in a wreck or be done bodily harm by a person rather than a horse. This is something that is also hard relay in words. More of a gut feeling thing.

Now, the things I would prefer to have but are not deal breakers.

1. Stalls at night. Now given my earlier rant on stalls this might seem odd but it is nice to know that in the course of being moved from stall to pasture and vice versa someone is physically laying hands on my horse to hopefully see how she is feeling and if there are any injuries or lameness that needs to be attended to. I also like it when horses are fed individually in stalls, that way they are getting their share, no more or no less.

2. Close proximity to trail riding. Now that I think about it this one might have to be moved into the must haves section. I like to have an arena handy but I prefer to trail ride.

3. Tack lockers. Stuff walks off in a public boarding barn. You need a place that you can lock up.

4. Indoor arena. In parts of the country that are visited by winter such as this area and indoor comes in mighty handy.

Now on to the stuff that would be nice but certainly isn't going to send me running if a prospective barn doesn't have it.

1. Hot water in the wash rack. I don't like to take a cold shower so I don't imagine the horse does either.

2. Free trailer parking. It would be nice if it were free but most places do charge a small monthly fee.

3. Within 15 minutes of my house. I don't think this is going to happen but it's nice to have dreams.

4. Close enough to a park with bridle paths that I can ride there, safely.

And all this for a reasonable monthly amount! I don't think I am asking too much, do you? Ha!

Please feel free to add your thoughts to this post. Everyone has had different experiences and can bring something to the table that I may not have thought of.

Happy New Year!

2009-12-31T18:16:00.003-05:00

I hope everyone is celebrating in a fun and safe way.

My hopes for 2010 and the new decade to follow are that I hope this decade is a little calmer than the last has been. Both for my life and the world in general. The last year, and decade for that matter, have gone by in what seems like a whirlwind.

Tonight I will be making Pioneer Woman's Sleepin' In Omelette. You can check out that recipe here. Pioneer Woman is my latest love. You can't go wrong with any of her recipes. Unless of course you are trying to loose weight. Then things would be going very wrong. Tasty, but wrong.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

*Edit: I meant to say that I totally stole this picture from my friend over at Adventures in Occipital Nerve Stimulation but obviously totally blanked it! Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?*

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-24T19:08:00.002-05:00

Merry Christmas to everyone out there in blogland!

Love,

Rocky Mountain Yankee and Rosie

Happy Birthday...

2009-12-06T17:23:00.004-05:00

to me!

My trainer and her daughter set this up with Rosie for me. Isn't it the cutest thing?

Answers to the Equestrian Bucket List

2009-12-04T18:14:00.003-05:00

Okay, as promised yesterday here are the answers to my Equestrian Bucket List!

1. Gallop along the beach. I have never done this but would love to! There is a beach in Maine that allows horses over the off season and I often daydream of riding there at some point.

2. Win a blue ribbon, even if it’s for the egg and spoon race! I have won a few blue ribbons at the local shows I used to attend and it is a wonderful feeling. I hope I get to repeat that feeling someday with Rosie.

3. Enjoy an evening of equestrian theater, from major touring productions such as Cavalia to local performance troupes. I was able to see Cavallo once when we were in Vegas and it was wonderful. I hope I get to see something like that again.

4. Try your hand at cattle work. Find out what it means when they say a horse is “cowy.” We did a small section on this in my riding lessons in college and it was a lot of fun. The horse I was riding really locked onto the steer and worked it a bit but then started crowhopping! Everyone laughed because this was a horse that was used almost exclusively for the beginners at the college. He had never done anything like that before! I would like to try a horse that had been trained on cows and knew what it was doing.

5. Jump! From crossrails to cross-country obstacles, experience the thrill of soaring over fences. I have done enough jumping to know that I don't really want to do anymore of it other than jumping over fallen trees on the trail. I think the highest I have ever jumped was about three feet.

6. Fall off and get right back on again. Conquering fear is empowering. Done it. Hope I can always do it.

7. See the majestic white Lipizzan stallions of the Spanish Riding School. I have seen them several times and will go to see them again if they land in my area.

8. Come to a sliding stop on a well-trained reining horse. This I would love to do! I have done some spins but never a sliding stop.

9. Take a lesson with your equestrian idol, _________ (you fill in the blank.) Hmm, this one is a thinker. I don't know who I would choose.

10. Nurse a horse through a crisis and back to full health. I have been a helper to a person doing this more than once and frankly it looks exhausting but rewarding.

11. Experience the smooth ride of a gaited horse. This I have done. I have had the pleasure of riding a Paso Fino, a Tennessee Walker and a Missouri Fox Trotter. The Walker was my favorite. I even considered getting a gaited horse before I purchased Rosie.

12. Watch the horses come through the Head of the Lake on cross-country day at the Rolex Three-Day Event. Maybe someday.

13. Have the courage to do the right thing for your horse, even when it’s not easy. I have done this and it isn't easy.

14. Attend the Kentucky Derby dressed to the nines—including hat! Can't wait to do this!

15. Tackle a trail accessible only by horseback and enjoy the view. Hmmm, not sure if I have done this or not.

16. Take your dream vacation on horseback. I think Lysh and I will have to do this someday together.

17. Master the sitting trot. I used to be able to, not sure if I still can.

18. Ride a fine-tuned horse in your discipline of choice, be it dressage schoolmaster or barrel champ. I would like to try one of any discipline except maybe saddle bronc. ;-)

19. Watch polo. Even better, try your hand at it! I haven't seen this and Midland even had a polo team but I could never pin down when they were playing.

20. Feed, muck, groom, ride. Repeat daily. Done this, can't wait to be able to do it again.

21. Wake up to a whinny every morning. Oh how I wish!

22. Fly down the track on a Thoroughbred. I haven't done this and I'm not sure if I would have the balls to actually do it.

23. Meet one of your favorite famous horses in person. I don't know if I have a favorite...

24. Ride bareback, bridleless ... or both! I have ridden bareback many a time and bridleless a few times when I probably shouldn't have.

25. Share a bond with your horse that’s deeper than words. Maybe someday

Now here are a few that are on my own personal list.

* Ride a horse in every state. So far I have Maine, Colorado, Wyoming, and Texas.

* Ride Rosie at least once in every state in the lower 48. I hatched this scheme when we were in Colorado which seemed to be a more central location for making this work. I'm not sure if it will work now but I am still going to try and give it a go.

* Have good times with my daughter and horses when she gets a little bigger.

* Try horse camping.

* Keep my horses at home again.

Hmmm, that is all I can think of for now. I'm sure I will come up with 15 other things once I post this.

The best view in the world!

Equestrian Bucket List

2009-12-03T19:02:00.002-05:00

I can't take credit for the list below. I hijacked it off one of my favorite blogs Saving Faith I thought it was interesting none the less!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The movie "The Bucket List" follows two terminally ill men (played by Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman) who embark on a journey with a wish list of things to do before they “kick the bucket.” Here’s our equestrian version of a bucket list—25 ultimate things to experience in a lifetime as a horse lover.

What's on your equestrian bucket list?

1. Gallop along the beach.
2. Win a blue ribbon, even if it’s for the egg and spoon race!
3. Enjoy an evening of equestrian theater, from major touring productions such as Cavalia to local performance troupes.
4. Try your hand at cattle work. Find out what it means when they say a horse is “cowy.”
5. Jump! From crossrails to cross-country obstacles, experience the thrill of soaring over fences.
6. Fall off and get right back on again. Conquering fear is empowering.
7. See the majestic white Lipizzan stallions of the Spanish Riding School.
8. Come to a sliding stop on a well-trained reining horse.
9. Take a lesson with your equestrian idol, _________ (you fill in the blank.)
10. Nurse a horse through a crisis and back to full health.
11. Experience the smooth ride of a gaited horse.
12. Watch the horses come through the Head of the Lake on cross-country day at the Rolex Three-Day Event.
13. Have the courage to do the right thing for your horse, even when it’s not easy.
14. Attend the Kentucky Derby dressed to the nines—including hat!
15. Tackle a trail accessible only by horseback and enjoy the view.
16. Take your dream vacation on horseback.
17. Master the sitting trot.
18. Ride a fine-tuned horse in your discipline of choice, be it dressage schoolmaster or barrel champ.
19. Watch polo. Even better, try your hand at it!
20. Feed, muck, groom, ride. Repeat daily.
21. Wake up to a whinny every morning.
22. Fly down the track on a Thoroughbred.
23. Meet one of your favorite famous horses in person.
24. Ride bareback, bridleless ... or both!
25. Share a bond with your horse that’s deeper than words.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Which ones have you already done? Which ones would you love to do? And what's on your personal bucket list that isn't listed above?

I'll post my answers tomorrow! :-)

History Comes To Life

2009-11-19T18:26:00.007-05:00

This past weekend we went to see a little bit of history that had sailed into Pittsburgh. The Nina and Pinta replicas made a two week stop to the North Shore here. I decided it sounded like an interesting thing to do so into the city we went. We are still having a few issues making our way around Pittsburgh what with all the bridges but this time we only circled around once before finally finding our way. The weather was absolutely gorgeous! The sun was out and it was in the mid 60's. We couldn't have asked for anything better this time of year. Being on the water was also really nice. Other places we have lived there hasn't been a whole lot of water to see.

I thought this shot was neat with the very old looking ship and the very modern skyline of Pittsburgh in the background. This is the replica of the Nina, the smaller of the two ships and the preferred vessel of Colombus. He logged over 25,000 miles on the Nina. Can you imagine?

One thing that really strikes you when you see these ships up close that doesn't come through in the photos is how small these ships are. The Pinta replica has been built fifty percent larger than the original and it is still on the smaller side. It was really interesting to be able to walk on these ships and put yourself in the place of the men that sailed them here from Europe. How cramped the quarters are, how they had to live on deck because down below was used for food and animal storage. It could not have been a pleasant voyage. Carnival cruise ships these things were not. If you want to find out more about these ships and where you might be able to see them next check out there website at The Nina. My daughter was a little unsure about these ships, she kept thinking she was going to fall off them. I'm not sure where she came up with this but such is the mind of a three year old.

20 Years Is A Long Time...

2009-11-12T14:05:00.005-05:00

What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies. ~ Aristotle

This year is sort of a milestone year for my best friend and I. We have been best friends for 20 years. Lysh and I became friends when we were assigned to the same home room in the fifth grade. I knew who she was before then. She had a pony. We had also been in the same Brownie troop in past years but had never gotten to know each other until the fifth grade. Slowly we became inseparable along with another girl in our class who was horse crazy. We played Breyer horses out on the playground, read horse books, and tried to draw horses whenever we could. Neither one of us are artists.

The next summer presented a test to our young friendship. My family was moving to horse property in the next town over. We would not be going to the same school anymore. We wrote letters, made phone calls and spent the night at each others houses and kept our friendship going. There was rarely a Saturday night when Lysh and I weren't together.

She's going to kill me for posting this picture!

Lysh was there when I got my first pony, and I was there when she got the horse that would see her into her adult years. We progressed from loving horses to liking boys. We should have just stuck with the horses. In about the middle school years we began showing at a small local club and it became an obsession with both of us. Neither one of us had fancy clothes or horses but we had a lot of fun. I think both of us still have all the ribbons and trophies won at those shows.

Lysh on Buck and Meaghan on Angel

Pairs Class August 1, 1993

Countless hours were spent riding up and down country roads or through trails in the woods. We think back to some of the stuff we did and wonder how one of us or one of the horses weren't killed. We made it through the high school years. Barely. That first winter after graduation she joined the military. I will never forget the sight of her pulling away from the curb on that cold day in Portland, the taxi taking her away to basic training. The next fall I went to school in Colorado. Completely separate time zones. We had never been so far apart. Calling cards were purchased and phone calls made. We sent letters stuffed with shiny confetti in hopes it would make a mess in the recipients lap!

Through the years we have both married, had babies and moved to various locales across the country. For awhile we might talk to each other once a month on the phone but kept up through e-mail and letters. The last few years we have come together again, talking on the phone almost daily and plotting various things that usually don't come to pass. There is something with us that just clicks. Something I have never had with anyone else.

Are we not like two volumes of one book? ~Marceline Desbordes-Valmore

Here's to the next 20 years!

Rosie's One Month Report Card

2009-11-11T17:21:00.003-05:00

I talked to AT trainer last night about Rosie. She said my little Rose Bud is doing wonderfully! After talking with me about Rosie's teeth she decided that she would change out bits to see if Rosie just didn't like the bit she was starting her in and that did the trick! AT said she had Rosie going walk, trot and canter, with saddle and bareback with a halter. I'm so excited! She also had taken her out on a few trail rides with horses and alone and she did great at both. Didn't fuss over not being with other horses or anything. I can't wait to get this horse back in the spring! Next month AT is going to continue to ride her but the concentration will be on driving for the most part.

AT is going to try and have her daughter take some pictures of Rosie working this weekend so hopefully I will have something I can post soon. For now here is one I took back in August on the last day that I saw Rosie.

I'm Not Dead!

2009-11-09T16:48:00.002-05:00

Yikes, I really need to update more frequently than this! First, Rosie updates. Rosie arrived in Florida safe and sound and spent a few weeks adjusting to the Florida climate. She also made friends with the ponies that my trainer keeps at her house for her grandkids. I need to call and get an update but last I heard my Awesome Trainer (henceforth I will refer to her as AT because it is just easier) had been riding her around both with saddle and bareback. This is why I love this trainer, I had been meaning to mention to her that I would like to be able to ride Rosie bareback but kept forgetting and here she is like reading my mind. Originally she was going to work on driving with Rosie first but for whatever reason Rosie wasn't taking to the bit like she wanted so AT decided to work on the riding stuff. I'm pretty sure Rosie's teeth don't have anything to do with her bit issues as I had her teeth floated and her wolf teeth pulled back in August before I left Colorado.

We are all settled in our new home in the Pittsburgh area. It has been a whirlwind couple of months let me tell ya! After leaving Colorado we spent three weeks in a hotel until we could close on our house here. Then I spent two weeks here unpacking and getting everything in order after the move and then it was on to Maine for three weeks so I could see my family. It probably would have been smarter to stay here longer than two weeks before going onto Maine but I wanted to get up there before the weather got really yucky. We had a great time up there! I was so nice to be able to see everyone and have a little bit more time than usual. I got to go riding with my best friend three times! Usually we are lucky if we can squeeze in twice. I also got to see pretty much everyone in my family except for one younger cousin who has just started college and has a very busy life right now. We were also in Maine for Halloween and everyone in my family got a big kick out of seeing my daughter all dressed up in her lion costume. I was great to be around my family and friends for so long. Even after being out of Maine for eleven years I still miss everyone terribly.

I will try and post later of the first ride that my friend and I went on in Maine. It was a blast!

Big Doin's for Rosie!

2009-09-15T15:46:00.002-04:00

When it was decided that we would be relocating to the Pittsburgh area I began to hatch a little plot in my brain. The trainer, Teresa, that I used to train my last horse, I absolutely loved. She was kind but firm and did a fantastic job. When I bought Rosie I thought wistfully, "boy, I wish I could just send her to Teresa when the time comes for training." But we were in Texas and Teresa had moved from Maine where I had first met her to Florida so my I knew that having Teresa train her was a total pipe dream. Fast forward to two moves later and I approached my husband with the idea that since we are having Rosie shipped from Colorado to Pittsburgh anyways how about she takes a side trip and spends the winter with Teresa in Florida getting trained to be a productive equine citizen and then she will be ready to go for me next spring. Long story short since I am typing this put on my iPod, he went for it! So today my little Rose Petal got on a trailer bound for Florida! I'm so excited for the both of us and while I know I will miss her this winter it will be so worth it when next spring rolls around.

Big Changes

2009-09-04T17:35:00.002-04:00

I have been meaning to catch up on all the things we have done this summer but one big thing is preventing me from doing so. We have been transferred to Pittsburgh. Yes, you read that right, Pittsburgh. So, do I need a name change? Appalachain Yankee perhaps? (Is Pittsburgh even in Appalachia? I must research this.) Steel City Yankee, maybe? I don't know, I still like the sound of Rocky Mountain Yankee myself so I believe I will stick with that for now.

Anyways, the brief details on the move are that my husband was offered a promotion but with the promotion came a move. We didn't really want to move but who can turn down a promotion in this economy? So we are currently in limbo having sold our house in Colorado and not being able to close on the one here until later this month. Sadly, it is not horse property although that is something I did petition for. Loudly. Sigh.

I probably won't be on here much as I can only use my husbands work computer and he is not supposed to frequent such social sites as this so what I am doing right now is a no-no. Hopefully it will slip under the IT guys radar. I should be back up and running in about a month. Catch ya'll later!

Florida: Day Two

2009-07-25T11:40:00.006-04:00

On our second day in Florida we (meaning all of us, myself, my daughter, mother, grandmother, aunt and uncle) had planned to head to the beach in the morning before my cousins wedding at 2:00 that afternoon. After our brief sashay onto the beach the day before I couldn't wait to get back! We decided to head to Henderson Beach State Park in Destin which was about a half hour from our hotel in Niceville.

Oh my, what a treat! This is the nicest beach I have ever been on! Beautiful white sand, but I don't travel a whole lot so that may not mean much. There are some sand dunes between the parking lot and the actual beach and when my daughter saw them she said, "Look, snow!" That is how white the sand is there. And soft, oh my goodness, it was so soft. We found a good place to park our towels and put on sunscreen before we went to test out the water. Someone had dug a small hole in the sand probably the day before and my daughter decided that looked like a good place to play.

I was once again able to get my toes in the sand. Just thinking about it now makes me want to hop a plane to Florida!

I then let my daughter bury said toes in the sand. She thought that was a pretty good time.

And yes, we were the whitest people on the beach. We almost blended in with the sand. You could definitely tell we were not from Florida. After a little time spent playing into the sand we ventured down to the water. At first it seemed chilly but then the longer I was in it, the more comfortable it was. My daughter initially wanted nothing to do with the water. I think the waves coming at her even though they were pretty small was a little concerning for her. Then once she figured out she could get people to hang onto her hands so she could jump up when the waves came through she decided this beach thing wasn't so bad after all. Sometimes she made it while trying to jump the waves and sometimes she got a mouthful of water. We spent a good two hours at the beach and were having such a good time that we didn't want to leave to go back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding. We halfway contemplated going in our swimsuits just to get an extra hour in the sand but decided we might not get invited to anything ever again if we did that. We also tossed around the idea of going back to the beach after the wedding but by the time the wedding was over we were too tired to pack all of our beach stuff back up and drive the half hour to the beach again.

The wedding was lovely but since it wasn't my wedding and my cousin doesn't know a thing about this blog I'm not going to post pictures of it here. I'll just say the bride was gorgeous and the groom was beaming and leave it at that.

The next day everyone pretty much cleared out to head back to their respective parts of the country. I headed back down to Destin to do some shopping as I needed to kill some time before our 5:00p.m flight. I went into a Bass Pro Shop for the first time in my life. It was interesting but since I had not one ounce of space left in my suitcase I really couldn't buy anything. That made shopping kind of pointless. I did however manage to squeeze a t-shirt from the Hard Rock Cafe into my carry on. I seriously thought about heading back to the beach but since I had no hotel room to return to to clean us up I decided had better not. I really wanted to though.

That was pretty much our trip to Florida. I am totally hooked on the Emerald Coast as it is known and I can't wait to go back! I had been to other parts of Florida before but the Destin/Ft. Walton Beach area is my favorite area by far.

Playing catch up

2009-07-22T17:01:00.006-04:00

Wow, I really need to stay on top of this blogging stuff because now I have a bunch of stuff that has happened and it is going to take me days (or months) to get it on here!

First off, the Little Monkey and I went on a little adventure just the two of us back in June. I decided that I wanted to go to my cousins wedding in Florida so off we went. It was more like a family reunion on my mothers side then a wedding. Myself and my daughter were there, my mother, my grandmother and two of my mother's sisters were there. My mother is one of five so getting them all in the same place at the same time does not happen often and didn't happen this time but three out of five is pretty good. The wedding was to take place in Niceville, Florida at the beginning of June. My daughter and I had never traveled to a place by ourselves where there wasn't anyone to meet us on the other end. The rest of my family was coming in to different airports at different times so we were really on our own. I was excited but nervous at the same time. I would have to handle the Monkey and all our luggage completely by myself. Our flights were all okay and we got the rental car fine but then I-10 from Pensacola to Crestview was closed. And it was getting dark. I couldn't read the crappy map from the rental car people because I was driving. I started to get a little panicky but I called my best friend in the whole world WV Girl at Heart and she fired up her computer, loaded Mapquest and guided me in. I owe her a huge THANK YOU!! And if you are wondering why I didn't call my husband, I did. He was golfing, so no help there. The lesson to take away here is always map an alternate route before leaving for your trip because you never know when the interstate might be shut down. And it will be getting dark. And you are traveling with your small child. And every true crime story you have ever seen on television is suddenly in your mind. But enough about that.

Our first day we decided to head down to Ft. Walton Beach to the Gulfarium They had a small dolphin show and it was pretty entertaining. It would have been better if I hadn't been to

SeaWorld in the past. The Gulfarium looks like a mom and pop operation and while it was nice, really how do you compete with SeaWorld? Anyways, this is a picture I got of one of the dolphins jumping.

Just look at the gulf in the back ground! It was beautiful! After the Gulfarium shows we were able to meet up with my aunt, uncle and grandmother for lunch. After living across the country from my home state for 10 years now it always give me a thrill to be able to meet up with my family for simple things such as lunch. Things that most people probably get to do with their families at the drop of a hat. The restaurant that we ate at was right on the beach and we were able to get the breeze in our hair and watch the waves roll in. I pretty much thought I had died and gone to heaven! After lunch we had to go down and check out the beach since it was right there. I personally was dying to get my feet in the sand. There just aren't many opportunities to do that here in Colorado. So there they are my feet in the sand. It was wonderful let me tell you!

My daughter was a little hesitant at first but then she dug right in!

We stayed at the beach for a little while but we weren't really dressed for it and I didn't have any toys for the Monkey so after awhile I dragged my reluctant child back to the hotel in hopes she would take an afternoon nap (which she did not) and to meet my mom who flew in a day later than I did.

There is more but this is getting long so I think I will wrap it up for now and do the rest in another post later.

Honest Scrap Award

2009-06-30T10:37:00.004-04:00

Once Upon An Equine presented me with the Honest Scrap Award. Thank you!

Once Upon An Equine has two lovable equines at her place. One Percheron mare named Misty who is just starting to figure out what these two legged creatures want from her and a Norwegian Fjord gelding, Marley, who has figured out a few tricks to outsmart his human counter parts but is being worked with to become the good citizen we all know he wants to be! Check out Once Upon An Equine at her blog!

The Honest Scrap Award comes with a few fun rules that recipients must follow:

Recognize your award presenter and link back to their blog in your post.
List 10 honest things about yourself.
Present this award to 10 admirable bloggers and link to their blogs.
Leave a comment on your recipients' blogs to let them know to visit your post to retrieve their award.

Alright, let the fun begin!

1. Whenever I fly I prefer to drink tomato juice. I have no tomato juice whatsoever in my house. I never drink it at home or when I go out to eat or anything, just when I fly. I don't turn it into a Bloody Mary on the plane, just straight tomato juice. I don't get it either.

2. Kirk Cameron was my first celebrity crush. I watched him on the show Growing Pains when I was in about the third grade and I was madly in love. Until I read a biography about him that said he was allergic to any animal with hair and his only pets were reptiles. That's where it ended for Kirk and I. He was crushed I'm sure.

3. I'm a pickup gal. I love my truck. I have a Ford F-150 that we bought brand new when we were first married and I plan on driving it until the wheels fall off. I don't think I can ever go back to driving a car. I had a rental car recently on a out of town trip and I couldn't wait to get back into my truck.

4. I have a hard time throwing anything away that has to do with horses. This is evidenced by the stacks of Horse & Rider magazine living in my basement. My husband would love to chuck them but I might need them someday!

5. I'm usually hungry. I can eat all day long and then eat some more. If we are out I will eat even if I'm not hungry just incase food isn't available later. Most of my friends hate me for this because I rarely gain weight. It's a genetic thing. Both of my parents are very slender.

6. I like a little clutter in my house. Perfectly spotless houses make me nervous.

7. I secretly want to be Martha Stewart (minus the jail time, of course!) but don't have the patience or ambition to be that perfect.

8. I think I finally figured out what I want to be when I grow up but it is still in the planning stages so I'm going to keep it under my hat.

Can you tell I am running out of things to talk about?

9. I hate to fly but I like to travel. So I fly when I have to and drive when I can. My driving has been curtailed since having my daughter but I am looking forward to the day when she is old enough to do some long stretches in the car.

10. I still have every single ribbon and trophy I won showing horses as a teenager. They are dated and have the horses name and the class entered written on the back. OCD much? They are some of my greatest treasures as I no longer have any of the horses that those ribbons were won with.

Whew, ten, I made it! It has taken me all afternoon to write this post but it was fun! Now it's your turn! Even if I don't list your blog here please feel free to give yourself the Honest Scrap Award and play along. Also, since this is my blog and I make the rules here I am not going to pick ten blogs. Because I don't want to, that's why.

These are the lucky bloggers I am selecting though:

1. Horseypants

2. Pony Girl Rides Again

3. There is a Horse in my Bubblebath

4. Westwood - A Family Farm + More!

5. when lilies fly: horse blog & philosophy

6. WV Girl at Heart

7. Zephyr's Wonderful Wanderings & Wonderings

Now lets hope I linked everyones blog correctly!

Happy Anniversary!

2009-05-26T16:31:00.004-04:00

Today is my husband and I's (is that proper grammar?) eighth wedding anniversary.

I know to you people who have been married longer eight doesn't probably seem that long but

it's longer than some have made it and that includes friends of ours.

He had flowers delivered to me this afternoon.

Red roses, my favorites.

I must break out the big DSLR and take some pictures of these beauties.

I guess I will keep him for another year! ;)

Here we are in Phoenix in December of 2008.

Spring Vaccinations

2009-05-21T19:55:00.003-04:00

Today my little Rosie Toes received her yearly vaccinations. She got the standard Rabies/Tetanus/Eastern/Western combo and then West Nile. I wormed her also. Has anyone tried the tapeworm dewormer before? I don't really think she has them since we were in such a dry place in Texas but she had also never been dewormed for them before so I tried the Equimax stuff. Then my poor Rosie had to suffer the indignities that any woman of child bearing age has had to endure. I had her palpated. Granted our OB/GYN's don't usually go through our rectums but it is still pretty similar. If some of you are wondering why on earth I had this poor horse palpated you can catch up here. I explained to the vet what had happened and so she palpated her and said that while she couldn't be one hundred percent sure with out doing an ultrasound she didn't think Rosie was bred. She also didn't see any reason to do an ultrasound so I'm pretty sure nothing occurred. Which is what the barn manager told me but I figured since the vet was there I should probably just cover my own ass. Huge sigh of relief from me. Horses, I swear.

We also walked the gauntlet between the two stallions so I could get her out to her pasture. I had expressed my displeasure to the barn manager regarding the placement of these two stallions and the fact that I didn't feel safe walking my own horse down between them. He said that while he didn't have anywhere else to move the stallions to he or the barn worker could go get Rosie for me. I guess it is an okay solution but it is one that leaves me feeling like a loser for not being able to handle my own horse. So today I decided that I was just going to buck up and her out there myself. I brought in a little reinforcement though. Normally I use a rope halter on her but today just for the purpose of taking her out to the pasture I got a regular nylon halter and put a chain over her nose. I had never put a chain over her nose before but figured, what the hell, it will either work or it won't and if it doesn't she will spend the rest of the day in her stall. We started down the alleyway, the stallions started their usual crap and she started to try to get ahead of me. I gave her a little tug, enough for her to feel that there was something over her nose and she came back to me. I had to come onto her a couple more times and we made it down the alley at a trot but we made it without any of the craziness of last time. I also don't think she was in heat this time but I am not positive. Just to reassure anyone who might be worrying I have used chains on horses in the past without incident. In fact I had a mare who you absolutely could not lead with out a chain over her nose. As soon as you put the chain on she was as easy as pie but she knew if you had put the chain on or not.

And just because I haven't posted any pictures lately I will post this one of a flower I took at the Botanical Gardens in Grand Junction. Don't ask me what it is, I have no idea!

Invalid

2009-05-13T10:09:00.004-04:00

I participate in the Pampers Gifts to Grow program which basically you enter codes off the packages of diapers and after you accumulate so many points you get prizes. I went to enter some today and it asked for some basic information such as gender, age and occupation. Well, I typed "stay at home mom" in for occupation and when I hit enter to submit the information and it kicked it back to me saying the "occupation entered is invalid." Thanks a lot Pampers, if a diaper company doesn't even recognize it as a valid occupation why should the rest of the world?!

Suburban Nightmare

2009-05-12T20:47:00.002-04:00

Note: Rant ahead, just so you are forewarned!

I currently live in a standard generic American suburb. Not by choice. I grew up on 160 acres of fields and trees in Maine. There was also a farm house that was, shall we say, a handyman's dream. Despite the difficulties of living in a circa 1840's farmhouse during the harsh Maine winters I loved our property. There was plenty of room for the horses, chickens, dogs, cats, and kids. I could get in a good trail ride and never leave our little slice of heaven.

Fast forward through the next eleven years in which a teenage girl with big dreams and wanderlust heads west to go to college and seek her fortune. Things take a a different turn than planned and she ends up married and following her husband around the various oil field hubs in this great nation of ours. Enter suburbia.

The first town we moved to after getting married was in the high desert of southwest Wyoming. Trust me, the scenery is not what you think of when you picture Wyoming. The town was surrounded by federal and railroad owned land. There was very little privately owned land and what there was was out of our newlywed price range. When we moved to Texas I had put my only horse down nine months before we left Wyoming and I was three months pregnant with my daughter. I had convinced myself after having to put my mare down that I was taking a break from horses so we didn't even look for horse property when we relocated. The horse bug came back (I really don't think it had ever left) while in Texas and when we planned this move to Colorado I swore we would be getting horse property. I had purchased Rosie six months before and DID NOT want to board again. As we began looking for our new home in the Denver area we found that nearly everything was out of our price range and what was in it was still at the high end. My husband, whose degree is in Finance with a real estate concentration, was also a mortgage lender before this oil field gig kept running the numbers and our choices were low end horse property with a huge mortgage or a house in a subdivision that would be nearly paid for. With me kicking, screaming and crying the whole way we moved into suburbia. Again. In hind sight given what has happened with the economy since last August it was probably the smartest move, but don't tell him that I said that.

We ended up purchasing a new spec home and the backyard was not landscaped. We decided to finally do things the way we wanted since we had a clean slate to work with. We put in a deck and did some upgrades with the trees and concrete curbing and such. We accomplished all this last fall just in time for cold weather to set in. We waited all winter for warm weather to roll around and now that it has we have discovered that we have an annoying problem. Sadly, we can't call the deck guy or the landscapers to fix this issue. The problem we are having is with a little, blond five year old boy. What could be the problem you say? Well, let me enlighten you. Everytime we set foot in our backyard and he is in his, he knows it. Within two minutes (usually less but I am feeling generous) he either invites himself to our house or asks if my daughter can go over to his house. Usually he invites himself to our house first. The way everything is situated this boy has a toy he can climb on and see virtually everything in our backyard. Our back door is on the side closest to his house. Everytime we set foot in our backyard and he is in his, he knows it. Tonight he had the audacity to ask "if he was invited to our house" with his father standing right there. Now here is the part that really gets to me. This is not the first time he has done this with his father right there and you know what his dad does? Nothing. He usually says something like what he said tonight "Probably not tonight, it's getting close to dinner time," to which my husband agreed even though we had eaten an hour prior. If he was my kid I would have said "no, and you are being rude" and left it at that. It's pretty obvious this kid runs the show. So now it's pretty clear that not only am I going to have to keep my kid in check I am going to have to keep theirs in check too at least as far as coming over to my house goes. It doesn't stop there. If he can't get either mine or my husbands attention to ask if he can come over he tells my daughter to go ask one of us if he can come over. Luckily she is still too young to know what he is talking about and never asks. Wait, there is more. Once it is established that he can't come over for whatever reason, if we are sitting on our deck which is probably a grand total of 25 feet from his play set that he stands on and rapid fires questions at us until we retreat inside. We spent thousands of dollars getting this yard the way we wanted it and now we can't bear to be outside. It is only May. What am I going to do once school is out and he is home all day? I think he goes to half day school of some sort, not sure if it is kindergarten or like a preschool something or other. A few weeks ago when I had purchased some flowers and seeds for my daughter and I to plant, kind of a mother-daughter activity, he hollered at us over the fence for her to come talk to him the ENTIRE TIME. Tonight I found myself encouraging my daughter to come inside on a gorgeous early summer evening and watch t.v. just to escape him. Thumbs up on the parenting there.

Now, I know your probably thinking "go talk to his parents." If you actually knew me you would know how non confrontational I am. I don't even like to call people on the phone, I prefer to do everything by e-mail if possible. I don't know why I am like this, I just am. I guess I just keep hoping his oblivious parents will take note of what he is doing and put a stop to it. Here is to wishful thinking. Oh, one more little factoid, when he comes over he brings his three year old sister with him. Suddenly, I have three children running around instead of one. I have realized something about myself since becoming a parent to a pre-schooler. I really don't like other peoples children. I don't dislike all of them, just most of them. My friends kids I don't mind because we are all mostly of the same mindset and behavior such as this would not be accepted. I used to work at an elementary school and the kids there had to listen to me. Now, if I can't discipline them I don't want to be around them. Why, oh why can't I be surrounded by acres of waving green pasture with my horses grazing peacefully as I sit on my (silent) deck and enjoy a glass of iced tea on a summer day?

Well, that is my rant for the evening. I hope everyone else's outdoor activities are going better than mine are. I also hope my neighbors aren't reading this. Or maybe I hope they are....

I can't think of a title...

2009-05-05T23:36:00.002-04:00

I made it over to check on my Roany Pony tonight. She was taking a nap when I got there. It never fails to amaze me how much horses look like beached whales when the lay down. At first she was still kind of sitting up but then she stretched out flat. I didn't have the heart to get her up. I was out of the house and there were no children there so really I didn't much care what happened. It was relaxing just watching her sleep. After a bit she got up, shavings all in her forelock and mane, so cute. I just brushed her, checked her legs and picked out her feet. We are going to visit the in-laws so I just wanted some barn time before we headed out. I tried to get a couple of pictures but my camera battery was beyond dead. Her legs are healing nicely and I can see new pink skin underneath some of the scabs that are starting to come off. She did cough a few times, so I need to keep an eye on that. I have never noticed her coughing before.

Well, everyone have a great rest of the week!

How did Monday get here so quickly?

2009-05-04T11:14:00.003-04:00

Where do the weekend go? I swear time speeds up once Friday evening gets here.

Saturday the weather was not cooperating so we did some errands around Fort Collins, then just headed home. Sunday the farrier was coming to the barn so I had to get my butt in gear. I was a little nervous about going to the barn after everything that happened last weekend. I guess you could say my confidence is a little shaken. When I got to the barn both of the stallions were in there getting shoes on so I was able to retrieve Rosie from the pasture without incident. I brushed her and fussed over her until the testosterone level in the barn went down a few notches. When I got in the barn only the black stallion had left and the red one was still in there. Thankfully he was in front of us so I could keep an eye on him. What I am about to say is probably going to offend some of you out there but I really don't think Arabians are ever going to be the breed of choice for me. Both of these stallions are Arabians and I just don't think I have the temperament to deal with them.

Rosie did well with having her feet trimmed. Before she was always good on the left but by the time they got around to her right side she had had enough of the hoof trimming thing. Yesterday she was good all the way around. Maybe she was distracted by Studly being a dingbat in the cross ties in front of her. Whatever it was, she was good. Afterwards, I lunged her for a bit and then worked on desensitizing her to the lead rope a little bit. Before last weekend's incident she really didn't have much of a problem with ropes being around her legs but now she is pretty worried about them. I spent a few minutes just throwing the rope around her back legs until she calmed down and stood still. It took a bit but she finally did. I did her left side first and then her right side. Her left side took a little while before she was comfortable so I figured her right side would take a really long time but I only had to spend about two minutes on it and that was probably longer than I needed to. I guess it makes sense though, the worst cuts and scrapes on her left hind leg. While I was applying some fly spray to her after our round pen work the barn manager brought the red stallion out of the main barn to be put in his stall in the south barn and Rosie still gave him googly eyes and peed everywhere so I guess she is still in heat? I thought a heat cycle only lasted about a week which I guess is where she is at but enough already!

A few more details...

2009-04-30T16:14:00.002-04:00

I just wanted to thank everyone that commented on yesterday's post. Hopefully all the positive thinking will give me a dingy, in heat mare again in a few weeks.

I know some of you are probably thinking, "geez, I think I would move if that happened to me" and don't think I haven't already thought about it. A couple things stopping for now though are that, other than this incident, nothing like this has ever happened. This barn takes great care of my horse. She is in great weight, she is turned out with a group of horses that gets along and she has never had more than a few bite marks before. I have also signed a year long contract that isn't up until next September or October. Although I'm sure there would be a way to get out of it if she turned up bred! I like the barn manager, I like the facilities and other than wishing it was a little closer to my house I haven't had anything to complain about. One more little factoid: the stallions weren't there when I first brought Rosie up here. They didn't show up until January or February of this year and Rosie has been there since late September. I hoping this girl with these two studs will just move on to the next place. I have met her once and she seems kind of like that type. I meant to put all this stuff in yesterday's post but it was getting long winded and I was tired of typing.

One final note for the day, yesterday was Rosie's birthday! She is now officially two. Hope she isn't knocked up!

She needs a padded stall

2009-04-29T21:21:00.006-04:00

It's a good thing that I got to work with Rosie last Wednesday because things went downhill after that. I didn't make it over to the barn on Saturday as it was pretty gloomy out and I was coming down with a cold along with my daughter. Saturday evening I got an e-mail from the barn manager saying he had tried to call me during the day but apparently didn't have my updated information from after our move. Someone (don't know who) left a gate open on the pasture and Rosie had gotten out. She got some cuts on her legs but he and the other man who works at the barn had scrubbed her legs with Betadine and put a spray on bandage on and that she would be fine, no need for an emergency vet call. Okay, I understand stuff happens but who in the heck is going around leaving gates open? Does this just not defy common sense?!

Needless to say, on Sunday I was itching to get to the barn but since it wasn't an emergency and my husband had stuff he wanted to get done I didn't make it over until after lunch. *sigh* I really wish I could keep her at my house. Anyways, I get over there and go to the pasture and catch her. On the way to the barn we have to walk past a couple of paddocks where there are stallions being kept. I have never had any problem at all getting her past these paddocks. This day however, I was walking along and then all of a sudden Rosie had pulled back or something because I felt the line jerk and backwards and then she came forward and hit me with her shoulder. I pushed her back and she was still acting weird, looking over at the black stallion. I thought, okay, that is strange, maybe she tangled with him yesterday when she got out and is worried. Finally we get over to the round pen so I can look at her legs and she is acting like a fruit loop. She just about plowed me over trying to get away from a lunge whip with a bag on it that way laying on the ground, like she had never seen it before. I didn't want to lunge her but she was acting so strange that I didn't feel safe standing next to her so I sent her out to trot a little bit. She actually didn't even look sore. I called her back in and took a good look at her legs. It looks like she got some wire around her legs. There is quite a bit of hair missing and few places that are little scabby but the barn manager was right, nothing to make an emergency vet call over.

At this point the weather was changing, a cold front was coming in and she was still being fruity so I headed out to put her back in the pasture. Well, this didn't go well. To get to the pasture you walk down an alley way first with a riding ring on either side and then as you get further down towards the pasture there are two paddocks facing each other. In the paddock on the south side is the black stallion I mentioned before. What I didn't think about was that there is a sorrel stallion in the paddock on the north side. As I get closer to these paddocks Rosie is getting harder to handle. Once we get about 50 feet in between both the paddocks she is spinning circles around with urine flying out the back end and both stallions coming at her. Now it it's me what her problem is, she's in HEAT! Great. All I can think is A) I hope I don't get killed and B)I hope she doesn't back up to one of these pens and get bred. Now, I have retrieved and returned this horse to this pasture with these two stallions in these pens and never had anything like this happen. Of course, she hasn't been in heat since the two studs showed up either. So back to her stall we go. I just put her away and then waited for the barn manager so I could talk to him about everything because at this point I am wondering if she may have had a little "encounter" with either of these stallions while she was out the day before.

While I am waiting for him to show up I called my best friend to see what she would do and went out to do some investigating around the stallion paddocks. There wasn't anything suspicious around the paddock of the sorrel stallion but I did find some fresh hoof prints around the end of the black stallions paddock. They looked like they had been made with some force.

Finally, the barn manager got there and I got the low down on what happened on Saturday. He had been doing a pony birthday party (that is a service the barn offers, I think I might do my next birthday there!) when Rosie got out but the barn worker had seen her pretty much right away and went and got her. He also said that she was over by the black stallion. So I asked if he thought I needed to get her palpated to see if she might have been bred. He said he didn't think so, that the other guy had been pretty much on top of things and gotten to her right away. At this point we are both kind of thinking that she scratched her legs up on the fence either rearing up at or kicking at the stud. I'm just hoping that inexperience (Rosie's) and old age (the studs) will save me from having to abort a foal. I will not have my now two year old having a foal next year. I know some people would argue with me on this but right now I feel Rosie is too young, I don't want a foal and the horse market is in the crapper anyways. Now just is not a good time to be breeding, intentional or otherwise. So everybody cross your fingers and hope she comes into heat next month. Here is a picture of her legs on Sunday. The worst leg is the one on the right side of the picture which would be her left let. There is silvery medication on there so it is kind of hard to see the scratches.

I went back over on Tuesday night to check things out and she was still in heat and dingy but I managed to hose off her legs and get a better look at things. The left leg is going to take longer to heal than the right but I think she will be okay eventually. There was also seem heat in the left leg I think, I have never tried or had to feel for heat but it definitely felt warmer than it should have. Here is a picture from Tuesday.

I am hoping to get over and check on her tomorrow. I really wish I could see her everyday but I just can't. Suburbia is going to eat me alive. That is a post for another day however.

Escape to the Barn

2009-04-24T19:49:00.002-04:00

On Wednesday evening I managed to escape to the barn for a little bit. It felt like I was out past my bedtime on a school night or something. I don't usually go the barn in the evening but with the extended daylight this time of year I made a mad dash for the door.

Rosie and I had a pretty productive evening all in all. While I was grooming her I noticed she had a small cut on her right hind leg and it appeared a little swollen but didn't seem to be bothering her so I decided to just keep an eye on it. After grooming I got her all rigged up in her surcingle so we could do some ground driving. Last time I attempted this I couldn't figure out how to make her go forward so we just worked on flexing and getting used to the idea that I didn't have to be at her head the whole time. I talked to a couple of friends who have waaaaay more experience working young horses than I do and they gave me a couple of pointers on how to get her moving. So, I got her all ready to go and then moved into a position that was more like a lunging position than a driving position. I also used the lunge whip to encourage her forward as I would when lunging her. It worked! We achieved forward movement! I just kind of putzed around the round pen with her and we even worked up to a trot before just working on some flexing and calling it a night. We worked on flexing because she started to brace against the lines so we went back to what we knew.

I'm hoping to get back out there and try it again this weekend but the weather isn't supposed to be all that spectacular. Scattered thunderstorms are predicted for tomorrow and then just partly cloudy on Sunday. I am no good in a thunderstorm. I hate lightening, I just find somewhere to cower.

Well, everybody have a great weekend!

Wet weekend

2009-04-21T22:33:00.006-04:00

This past weekend it rained pretty much all day Saturday after it had already rained all day Friday. I was getting pretty stir crazy by Saturday as I hadn't left the house since Tuesday for various reasons. I got out and did a little shopping on Saturday then went over to the barn to turn Rosie out in the outdoor arena for a little while. When the weather is nasty they don't turn the stalled horses out into the big pasture because there is no shelter out there for them. I knew since Rosie most likely hadn't been out since Thursday afternoon she would probably like to get out and stretch her legs a little. She does have a small run off of her stall but that is nothing compared to the big pasture. When I got to the barn it was still raining but nothing unbearable so I went ahead with my plan to turn her out for a few minutes. On the way to the outdoor (which is a whole 15 feet) from the barn there was a good sized puddle and I found out that my little spotted pill didn't like the idea of getting her toes wet. We managed to get through it without Rosie leaping on top of me. Once in the arena Rosie acted like she wasn't quite sure what to do. For one she doesn't get turned out in the outdoor arena and another she was all by herself. She seemed to be worried about the fact that there wasn't anyone else around. After about 10 minutes in the rain I decided to bring her back in as she wasn't doing anything more than looking for spare bits of hay anyways. I expected to see a little more action out of a two year old that had been stalled for two days! On the way back to the barn we again had to have a little conversation about the puddle. Since I didn't have my water proof boots on I didn't push the issue too much but decided that if it was nice the next day that we would have a little meeting of the minds about this puddle issue.

Sunday dawned clear, finally! After church I headed over to the barn to work on our water issue. At first she thought she could just push me out of the way and not put her feet in the puddle but then felt the sting of the end of the lead rope on her behind. I don't like pushy horses. They are big enough as it is and I am rather petite so I don't like it when they get pushy. I had worn my water proof boots so after I stepped into the water and proved to her that the Thing from the Black Lagoon wasn't going to jump up and kill her she decided that maybe it wasn't so bad after all to stand in the puddle. We walked through so many puddles, I'm sure the other people at the barn thought that I was nuts. Then into the partly flooded roundpen we went! Yay, more water! At this point she did fine. She tried a couple of squirrely maneuvers but nothing that couldn't be handled and pretty soon, into the water she went. She really didn't give me all that much trouble and then we worked on some other stuff and called it a day. It was a good day, all in all!

All the water outside of the roundpen is not usually there. There is a small pond over towards the left that normally you can't even see from the roundpen but with all the rain it flooded the horse pens and started to sneak into the roundpen. If the rain hadn't stopped I don't know how far it would have gone!

Just got back...

2009-04-17T12:55:00.003-04:00

from checking on Rosie. She is fine, just like I thought she would be. She was wet so I know she had been standing out in her run at some point but when I got there she was in her stall searching for remnants from breakfast. I gave her a couple of carrots and some pats on the head. We didn't stay very long. Her stall is on the north side of the barn so when I open her stall door that combined with the open door for her run turns into a pretty nifty wind tunnel. Not good for a contact wearer such as myself. I think she would have liked to have gotten out and run around a bit but there was no way I was going to try that while I had my daughter with me. I did snap a quick picture. It isn't that great but I will post it anyway.

Things must be pretty nasty north of here. On the way home I heard that I-25 is closed from Wellington into Wyoming, US-85 is closed from Ault to Wyoming and CO 287 is closed from Ted's Place to Wyoming. Soooo, if you are trying to get to Wyoming from Colorado today you are pretty much screwed. I have been on those roads in the winter before and I was terrified, I can only imagine what it is like for the authorities to close them. I did see some snow flakes briefly on the way to the barn but it didn't stick and quickly turned back into rain.

Rain, Rain...

2009-04-17T10:38:00.004-04:00

Well, I'm not going to say go away because any rain here is appreciated. It is a dreary, windy, cold spring day here on the front range of Colorado. I hear the mountains are getting quite a hit of snow. They can have it, I'm done shoveling. I'm going over to the barn later this morning to check on Rosie and make sure she isn't cold. She has shed out most of her winter coat and while I am sure she is fine, just to ease my mind, I am going to go make sure. The temperature here today is currently 35 degrees with rain and a 15 mph wind which according to The Weather Channel makes it feel like 25. Yick. A nice day to stay inside with hot chocolate and a good book. I am going to post a picture from our trip to Ruidoso, New Mexico because it was warm that day and I need a little warmth. The first picture is coming out of Ruidoso headed towards Roswell. The second picture is of the temperature in Artesia, New Mexico. Very warm.

Spring Cleaning

2009-04-13T17:38:00.007-04:00

Last week we had a really nice afternoon and I decided that I had a saddle that needed to be cleaned. Really I just wanted to be outside and doing something of the horsey type. Since I can't keep my horse at my house, cleaning a saddle was the closest horsey type thing I could find to do. I really miss cleaning stalls. (This whole horse thing really is a sickness, isn't it?)

My husbands old roping saddle needed to be cleaned the worst but since I didn't have the back strength to haul it up the basement stairs and out to the deck I decided to clean my English saddle. It wasn't really that dirty but it did need to be cleaned. So I hauled it upstairs and got everything set up on the deck.

I stripped the saddle pad and girth off and got down to work. Before I knew it I had a little helper show up.

We got the saddle all spiffed up and I threw the pad into the wash as it was covered in the hair of the last horse that I used it on. In thinking back on which horse the hair belonged to I realized that I haven't used that saddle in about five years. Yikes! I need to start taking lessons again to get my butt back in shape! My riding in the last five years has been pretty sporadic but that is a history lesson for another day.

Sadly, I don't have a picture of the finished project. I had to hurry and put everything away as my daughter was getting a little over zealous with the cleaning. She kept dunking her sponge in the water and squeezing it out over the saddle. Finally, when everything within a six foot radius of her was soaked I sent her to play in her sand box so I could clean up. At least she likes to help, right?

Relief...

2009-04-07T21:34:00.002-04:00

My brother is the adventurous soul in our family. Last week he flew off for a vacation in Italy. If you have been watching the news lately you will now understand the title of this post. If you don't watch the news I will tell you that there was a roughly 6.0 magnitude earthquake in Italy that killed around 200 people last I heard. So of course we have been trying to get in touch with him since yesterday morning when we found out about the earthquake. He finally contacted us late this afternoon to tell us that he was fine and he had been in Rome when the quake hit. He said it woke him up but didn't do any damage to the hotel he was staying in. He also said he is having a great time and he loves Italy. Can't ask for much more than that!

I must add, I don't think I will ever vacation with my brother. Last year when he went to the United Kingdom on vacation they had the worst rain and wind storms that they had seen in like 60 years. Now this year it's an earthquake! All I can say his, I am glad that I am on the other side of the world from his vacations!

The Trail of Billy's Last Ride

2009-04-06T15:22:00.003-04:00

I subscribe to a magazine called Trail Rider which contains tons of information about trail riding with horses. This is the magazine that I am the most eager to get each month in the mail. They usually feature a few different places to trail ride each month complete with descriptions and pictures.

In the April 2009 issue they profiled an organized ride that I would love to attend. It is called The Trail of Billy's Last Ride and it follows the trail that Billy the Kid took when he broke out of the jail in Lincoln County, New Mexico and ran to Fort Sumner where he was shot dead by Sheriff Pat Garrett three months later. It crosses some pretty wide open country in eastern New Mexico. Over the course of seven days you ride 125 miles and can take your own horse or rent one from the ride organizers. This just sounds like a really cool way to spend a week! Just as a side note I am in no way affiliated with anyone who puts on the ride, this isn't an ad, just something I have been thinking about lately.

About a year or so ago, I decided that I wanted to at some point in my life, ride a horse in all 50 states and try and ride my own horse in the lower 48 states. I have no idea if I will accomplish this goal but this ride would put me one more state down! Just in case you are curious, I have ridden a horse in Maine, Alabama, Colorado, Wyoming and Texas and have ridden my own horse in just Maine and Wyoming. Two down, 46 to go! Since Rosie won't be two for a couple of weeks she hasn't been a party to any of my rides yet. But she will be! I have big plans for her spotted butt!

I would also at some point like to do the Chief Joseph ride that the Appaloosa Club does every year. Owning a registered Appaloosa has made more aware of the heritage of the breed and since I am a history buff the whole thing just sounds really cool. My ideal would be to ride the entire length of the Chief Joseph ride which is 1,350 miles total. Each year the ride covers a different 100 mile section of the 1,350 miles of trail.

Anyone else have favorite rides that they do every year? A ride you would love to go on? I have many other rides I would like to do and this is just a small sampling of them.

What month is this again???

2009-04-03T15:41:00.002-04:00

We are scheduled to get another large snowstorm this weekend. *sigh* I thought this was supposed to be spring time. I know, I know, spring time in the Rockies can be interesting. I just wish we had had these storms in January and February when I was more mentally prepared for them. I probably won't get to the barn if it is as bad as they are saying. We are only supposed to get like six inches of snow but we are also getting 20-30 mile an hour winds with it. I don't drive in that kind of stuff unless it is absolutely necessary. So, I have a stockpile of books and as long as the power is on things will be okay. Hope the weather in your neck of the woods is a bit nicer than mine.

Wow, it's been awhile...

2009-03-25T20:23:00.007-04:00

I guess I just really haven't been in a blogging mood lately. Sorry everybody!

First, I must tell you about the Clinton Anderson clinic because I think that is basically where I left off in my blog. It was so awesome! I would highly recommend going to one if he is coming to your area. If for nothing else, the liberty demonstration that he does at the beginning. It was amazing. I now understand why his horse Mindy has her own cult following, what a nice horse. There were also ample opportunities to go meet Clinton, have your picture taken and get an autograph. All of which I did! Really, how was I supposed to resist that? Here is the photographic proof.

I hope my friend Sheila doesn't mind me posting her image on here. She graciously allowed me to put my arm around Clinton. Hey, us married folk gotta have a little fun! The first day of the clinic I took my little point and shoot digital but I didn't like the way the pictures turned out so the next day I decided to take my digital SLR to see if I could get any better pictures. Happily, I was able to.

Here is one of Clinton on Mindy bareback. He was demonstrating some of the tricks that he had recently started teaching to her.

Probably the demonstration that sticks out most in my mind was the trailer loading one. It could be that it sticks out because it was the last one that I saw but I don't think so. I think it sticks out because of the horse that they used. This horse was huge! He was big, dark bay and ornery. And of course the little blond thing that he drug into the ring with him was wanting to use him for barrel racing. Is there some requirement that I haven't read that every barrel horse must be batshit crazy in order to be a good barrel horse? I mean really people. Sorry, I'm not trying to bag on the barrel people but I have just seen so many that have no manners whatsoever but that is "okay" because he runs barrels. Anyways, moving on from my rant, this horse had a habit of rearing up and striking out when faced with getting into the trailer. His owner, who had just recently purchased this horse said that their method of loading him consisted of building a chute with panels and running this horse into the trailer. Needless to say, he made for an interesting demonstration. And yes, he got in the trailer willingly after Clinton worked with him.

I was also pleasantly surprised at the kind of people who came to this clinic. I figured it would be mostly middle aged women but it wasn't. The ratio was about 40/60 men to women which really surprised me. And the next thing was that there were all ages there from teenagers up to people who were retirement age.

Okay, that was February, now onto March. The excitement for March was the Rocky Mountain Horse Expo! Even when I lived here before I hadn't made it to horse expo. I made sure this time that I was able to attend. The first day which was a Friday, I took my daughter down so that she could see the horses. We wandered around the trade floor for awhile before heading over to the Events Center where the horse demonstrations and stalls were. We watched Craig Cameron for about a half hour. He is really good! I had watched the Extreme Cowboy Race before and a couple of his shows on RFD-TV before but I really liked him in person. He has a great sense of humor and explained everything he was doing. You have to really pay attention though, because he knows what he is doing and he does it quickly. After lunch we wandered down into the barn area to check out the horses stalled there. We saw some of the Norwegian Fjord horses, some Arabians and then we found Appaloosa Alley. They had some gorgeous horses (none of which I have pictures of, I didn't want to scare anyone with the flash and get yelled at) and they had, are ready for this? CORGI PUPPIES! They were so cute and my daughter loved petting them! There were ten when Expo started and by Sunday I only counted three. I'm guessing the others found new homes. Personally, I could have tucked one under each arm and gone home happy. Over the next two days my friend and I were able to catch clinics given by Craig Cameron, Jason Patrick, a trainer out of Steamboat Springs, Colorado, Debbie Bibb from Florissant, Colorado and Art Kiger from Nebraska. They were all great and I wouldn't hesitate to see any of them or go to one of their clinics again.

One other person who I was able to see speak was Temple Grandin. If you have never heard of her she is a really neat woman. She is a professor at Colorado State University and teaches livestock behavior and facilities design. She is also autistic. I really wanted to see Dr. Grandin speak as I have a cousin who has Asperger's which is a high functioning form of autism. It is very encouraging to me to see someone with autism go to such high levels in life. I mean really, most of us "normal" people don't get achieve a doctorate degree let alone someone with a disability that can be socially crippling. Here is the link to Dr. Grandin's webpage. I was also able to catch up with her at Blue Ribbons Books and get to sign a couple copies of her latest book for me! I will sending one to my aunt for her birthday. Even though my aunt isn't a big livestock person she knows who Temple Grandin is.

One last person I got to meet was Kim Starling who wrote "Get Out of the Ring" a wonderful book on the horseback riding trails in and around Rocky Mountain National Park. She was very nice to talk to and signed my book for me. I would have liked to have stayed and talked to her longer but we were late for our Craig Cameron clinic so we had to go. Thanks to Brighton Saddlery for having her at Horse Expo!

Okay, well, I had better wrap this up, it has become quite long. I will try to be better about writing in the future, I promise!

(Almost) Silent Sunday

2009-03-22T20:38:00.003-04:00

We tried a little ground driving today so this was my view...

Horsey Questionnaire

2009-03-19T14:18:00.006-04:00

I saw this horse questionnaire on Once Upon on Equine's site and decided it looked like fun. Feel free to join in!

1. How old were you when you first started riding? I started riding a real horse at about the age of 12 but I rode the hell out of my rocking horse as soon as I could get on him by myself.

2. First horse ridden: I believe it was probably a rental horse in Alabama.

3. First horse trotted on: My best friends pony, Starlite.

4. First horse cantered on: That would also probably be Starlite.

5. First Horse fallen off of: Star wins again! I was riding double behind my best friend, Alysha, when she urged him into a trot. Well, I started to lean sideways and took Alysha with me. We always did like to do things together.

6. Most recent horse fallen off of: Gosh, it has been awhile, probably my old mare Angel.

7. Most terrifying fall: Falling onto the pavement when a dog rushed out and scared my pony while we were cantering along the side of the road.

8. First horse jumped with: Probably Star.

9. First horse who ran away with you: Either Star or Applejack.

10. First horse that scared the crap out of you: Applejack

11. First horse shown :!) Shiloh, a big bay Appy with a blanket. We got fifth place. I was in love! With Shiloh and with showing.

12. First horse to win a class with: Either Duke or Angel.

13. Do you/have you taken lessons: Yes, sporadically.

14. First horse you ever rode bareback: Starlite, again.

15. First horse trail ridden with: Either Star or Applejack.

16. Current Barn name: I don't really feel comfortable putting the name of my barn out there for the world to see on the internet.

17. Do you ride English or western?: Both

18. First Horse to place at a show with: Shiloh

19. Ever been to horse camp?: Yes, 4-H. I was fun!

20. Ever been to a riding clinic? Not one that I have participated in but I have watched before.

21. Ridden sidesaddle? Not with a real side saddle, however I have hooked my leg over the horn of my western saddle many times.

22. First horse leased: Applejack

23. Last Horse Leased: Applejack

24. Highest ribbon in a show: 1st

25. Ever been to an 'A' rated show?: I guess not an 'A' rated show as I don't do the hunter jumper thing but I have shown at a Paint Horse breed show before.

26. Ever competed in pony games/relay races?: Yes.

27. Ever fallen off at a show? Sadly, yes, twice.

28. Do you ride Hunter/Jumpers?: No

29. Have you ever barrel raced? Only at local play-day gymkhana type things.

30. Ever done pole bending?: Again, only at local play days

31. Favorite gait: A nice comfortable trot.

32. Ever cantered bareback?: Many times. I didn't own a saddle for the first year that we had my pony. Just couldn't afford one.

33. Have you ever done dressage?: Just played with some of the test before, nothing serious.

34. Have you ever evented?: No.

35. Have you ever mucked a stall?: Many a time.

36. Ever been bucked off?: Yeah, who hasn't?

37. Ever been on a horse that reared: Yes, thanks, Applejack.

38. Horses or ponies. Probably horses.

39. Do you wear a helmet?: Mostly. I am a mom now, no good reason not to.

40. What's the highest you've jumped: I don't often stop to measure the logs in the woods but probably about three feet.

41. Have you ever ridden at night?: Yes, moonlit snowy nights are awesome!

42. Do you watch horsey television shows?: Every chance I get.

43. Have you ever been seriously hurt/injured from a fall?: Thankfully, other than my pride, no.

44. Most falls in one lesson: I don't think I ever fell off during a lesson. Come close but never actually came off.

45. Do you ride in an arena/ring?: When it suits me.

46. Have you ever been trampled by a horse?: Again, come close, but thankfully no.

47. Have you ever been bitten?: Been nipped but never a full on bite.

48. Ever had your foot stepped on by a horse?: Yes, many times. One time in particular my mare was wearing rolled toe shoes. I think she broke my toe, it felt floppy for a few days but I didn't bother with the doctor.

49: Favorite riding moment: There are so many, I can't pick just one.

50. Most fun horse you've ridden: Either my mare Angel or my friends horse Buck. Although, Dandy and Grit were really awesome too. Except for that time that Dandy took me through the apple tree, gave me cut under my eye and people gave my mother dirty looks for days about it.

The picture below is me at about age 15 with my mare Angel and my pony Applejack. Good times!

Photo Giveaway

2009-02-26T10:58:00.002-05:00

Chronicles of a Country Girl is having a photo giveaway over on her blog and it is definitely something worth checking out. Her photos are beautiful, in fact I purchased a couple a few months ago and they are really lovely. Here is the link to the photo giveaway. All you have to do is stroll on over there and leave her a comment to enter. Then if you mention it on your blog she will give you another chance at winning! Hurry on over the contest ends today at 6 pm Eastern time!

Not much to report...

2009-02-19T17:50:00.002-05:00

Not a whole lot going on around these parts lately. We had a nice weekend, except that my daughter has been fighting a cold since last Tuesday and came down with an ear infection early Saturday morning. We took her to Urgent Care, got a prescription for antibiotics and she is now on the road to recovery. My husband and I decided to just do lunch this year for Valentines Day and we took the kiddo with us. We were all each other's Valentine's. It was pretty nice. I didn't end up working Rosie on Saturday what with the unexpected visit to the doctor's office and lunch. Plus, it was not a very nice day, windy and cold. Not my favorite kind of weather.

Sunday I did go over to see Rosie. I made sure she still remembered how to trot on the lead and then I just free lunged her a bit and gave her a good grooming. She is shedding a bit more each time I go over. I didn't quite need the shedding blade yet, the rubber curry worked great. This week is the week that she receives her psyllium supplement to keep her guts clear of sand. When I bought Rosie we lived in Midland, Texas and the soil was very sandy there so she had been on a psyllium supplement since she was a baby. I have continued it here in Colorado to make sure her gut is cleaned out. At some point I will probably discontinue use of it as I have contacted the local cooperative extension and they have said that I don't need to supplement with psyllium in this area. Anyways, since it is only given to her for one week out of every month I have elected to just give it to her myself instead of reminding the stable to give it to her. It would probably be easier to just let them do it but this way I KNOW she gets it and I still feel like I am somewhat involved with the care of my own horse. Don't get me wrong, the stable where I board is great and would probably get it right but they have a lot of horses to worry about and this is one less thing for both of us to worry about with me giving it to her.

This coming weekend I know I won't get to work Rosie because I have tickets to go see Clinton Anderson in Fort Collins! I am so excited! My roommate from college is going with me. I don't think she is nearly as star struck as I am because she doesn't get RFDTV so she doesn't watch him very often. Me, on the other hand, am so excited I can barely stand it. I'm hoping the weather is going to be decent because even though we are going to be in an indoor, I really don't want to freeze to death for two solid days. I will have a full report on Clinton on Monday!

Potty training

2009-02-13T20:34:00.003-05:00

Any one got any advice for potty training a girl because I am seriously at my wits end. She just isn't getting it. We have talked about it, read books about it, had our most private moments viewed by little eyes and nada. We've also tried bribing, to no avail. I know she will eventually be potty trained but for the love of Pete she just turned three! According to family lore I was trained by 18 months. I was also being taken care of by my grandmother while my mother worked and she already had four kids under her potty training belt. Why isn't she picking up on this? I have tried everything I can think of and I am seriously scared for the future of our carpet and upholstered furniture.

Abuse at shows

2009-02-12T21:17:00.003-05:00

Recently I had been thinking about trying to show my mare at Appaloosa breed shows. Not because I thought we would end up at the World Show or anything but because she is registered and I thought it might be fun to try my hand at a little higher competition than what I had previously show at. I grew up just doing little local shows with my grade Appy/Paint mare and had a blast.

In doing research on what it takes to make a horse competitive at the higher levels I found myself uncomfortable with what I was seeing. Halter horses so huge they can't do anything else but stand still and look pretty. "Pleasure" horses who looked like they were broken in more ways than one. Horses pushed to the point that their brains were fried. And then I learned the "training methods" used to achieve these "desired" results. Enough to turn my stomach repeatedly. I love my horses. They are not money making tools by any means. They are strictly for my enjoyment. About a month and a half ago I happened to watch some of the Western Pleasure classes at the National Western Stock Show in Denver. The walk looked like a walk, the trot was not the wog I had expected, it did look like a nice jog and I was beginning to have a little hope that I might like what I was watching. Then they called for the "lope with forward motion." I started to snicker until I saw the horses begin to "lope." Somebody call a vet!! Every last one of those horses looked like they needed an x-ray and a couple of months of stall rest. Now this is probably standard practice but this was the first WP class I had seen at this high of a level that wasn't a grainy YouTube video. I thought I knew what to expect but boy was I wrong. These horses looked pathetic. And what I saw people do when the judge wasn't looking made me damn sure that I didn't want to go down to the warm up pen. If you want to know what goes on behind the scenes go read mugwump chronicles today. Make sure you read through the comments to where she mentions seeing a top trainer beat a horse with a logging chain. Now if you are just going to get the dish on names don't bother because she isn't that kind of blogger. She just writes about the things that made her turn away from showing.

Since my Stock Show experience I have been seriously looking at other avenues of competition. I just can't stomach the conventional show system. One organization I have looked into is the American Ranch Horse Association This is an organization that claims on the home page of its website to offer "a family oriented, friendly competitive atmosphere for those that are dedicated to the true versatile ranch type horse." They seem to promote a more natural state for the competitive horse, i.e. no hoof polish, only basic clipping of the bridle path and outside of ears, stuff like that. In fact one show bill I saw reminded its competitors in bold that there was to be no hoof polish or any other sort of artificial enhancement on the horse, all it had to be was clean. This is very refreshing to me. I wish that there was a group here in Colorado for the American Ranch Horse Association, I would love to go watch one of their shows. Another site I was just visiting today was the Cowboy Mounted Shooting Association. They have a couple of groups here in Colorado and I plan on going and watching one of their competitions here within the next month. One additional sport I am looking at is Competitive Trail Riding. This just sounds fun! I will need to get back in shape however before I even think about trying that.

Now, I don't need to compete, I am perfectly happy just trail riding my horses but belonging to a group of like minded individuals with a little healthy competition is pretty fun most of the time. I enjoy the camaraderie of it. But I will not abuse my horses. Now that isn't to say that abuse hasn't happened at any of the events that I have listed about because I'm sure it has. Whenever people, horses, and competition come together the horse seems to get the short end of the stick. They just seem a little more removed from it to me. I may do a little more research on these groups and find that people in general just disgust me (this is a distinct possibility), or I may find that I really have a good time and the horses come out healthy. I'm sincerely hoping for the latter.

My barn buzz is wearing off...

2009-02-11T20:00:00.004-05:00

I really wish I could get to the barn more often during the week. With my three year old daughter at home with me and my husband working full time, a mid-week visit to the barn is a rare thing for me. By the time Wednesday (or Monday mid-day) rolls around I am free falling from my barn high. I start to get that anxious, pacing, caged tiger feeling. My clothes are too tight and the house to small. And heaven help the next person who says "Mom." *sigh* Just a few more years until kindergarten. Don't get me wrong, I love my daughter and I like that I get to stay home with her and watch her grow up but somedays it's just too much of a good thing. So since I can't get to the barn this evening I will share the events of last weekend at the barn to hopefully tide me over until this weekend.

On Saturday I enlisted the help of my old college roommate, Sheila. I have been wanting to get Rosie trotting on the leadline for awhile. I had grand visions of entering some halter classes this summer, not because she is a halter horse but just for the experience. However, I have no way to get to any shows sooooo, that little fantasy is on the back burner for now. I still wanted her to trot on the lead with me though. Rosie is a pretty easy going horse and really doesn't see the need to expend energy needlessly so my efforts in getting her to trot along beside had proved futile. I had heard that one way to get them going was to have one person do the leading and then another person come up behind them with a whip of some sort to provide a little encouragement. This was the route that we decided to go. Rosie totally understands lunging so we had that on our side for this little training session. At first she was like "you want me to do what?" but then with a little wave of the lunge whip and a lot of clucking she finally figured it out. Not before Sheila and I were totally out of breath though. We had to trade being the leader and the whip person back and forth a few times. It had to be the altitude, right? Anyways, Rosie picked up trotting on the lead pretty quickly, which our out of shape bodies were quite thankful for.

Next we moved onto putting a saddle pad and surcingle on. I had done this once before with Rosie but it was like back in June and with our move this summer I just hadn't gotten around to doing it again. The only thing she really seemed to care about was the tightening process and all she did was turn and look at what I was doing. I didn't cinch her up real tight, just enough to keep everything from sliding all over. After I got it on, I sent her out into the round pen and free lunged her for a bit. She did just one small yee-haw kick and that was it. I didn't lunge her for too long as it was in the 50's and she still has a pretty good winter coat. Here she is looking like a big girl with her saddle pad and surcingle on.

She really doesn't move around with her head down like this, I think she was looking for some food. As you can see, she has missed a few meals!

Well, that was a nice little trip to the barn in my brain, come on Saturday!

Double Chocolate Bars

2009-02-09T17:41:00.002-05:00

This is the recipe for the Double Chocolate Bars that I was craving last night while writing my Simple Woman's Daybook entry. They are super yummy and rich so if you are into that kind of thing these will be perfect for you. They are also very easy to make, only four ingredients. If you want to print out the recipe you can go here to Taste of Home where I found it.

Here is the recipe:

1 package (16 ounces) cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookies, crushed (I used Oreo's)

3/4 cup butter, melted

1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk

2 cups (12 ounces) miniature semisweet chocolate chips, divided

Directions:

Combine cookie crumbs and butter; pat onto the bottom of an ungreased 13-in. x 9 in. baking pan. Combine milk and 1 cup chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl. Cover and microwave until chips are melted; stir until smooth. Pour over crust. Sprinkle with remaining chips. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until chips begin to melt but do not lose their shape. Cool on a wire rack. Yield: about 4 dozen.

I love the Taste of Home website. I have found many yummy recipes there.

The Simple Woman's Daybook

2009-02-08T21:14:00.006-05:00

FOR TODAY February 8, 2009...

Outside my window... it is dark and there may be snow for tomorrow morning

I am thinking... I hope the cat doesn't claw my leg while he is sitting in my lap

I am thankful for... a great weekend

From the kitchen... those double chocolate bars are calling my name

I am wearing... Air Force Academy sweatshirt, black sweatpants and my L.L. Bean slippers

I am creating... always scheming something

I am going... to make my weekly menu and grocery list tonight. Really I am.

I am reading... Saddle Up, Colorado! By Sherry and Scott Snead

I am hoping... I get my grocery list done before tomorrow morning

I am hearing... too much television noise

Around the house... things aren't too messy

One of my favorite things... a good weekend

A few plans for the rest of the week: hmmm, that's a good question, I don't know

Here is picture thought I am sharing... This is a picture of a mule deer that I took back in December when my best friend was visiting me. We were driving around Horsetooth Reservoir when this guy obliged us with a photo op.

You too can participate in the The Simple Woman's Daybook by going here.

ABC is not my favorite network right now.

2009-02-07T18:54:00.003-05:00

My husband and I really loved this show on ABC called Dirty Sexy Money. It was about a lawyer working for a rich, socialite family in New York. Not something I would normally watch but it had Peter Krause in it and we really liked him in Six Feet Under so we decided to give this show a try when ABC premiered it. We were hooked from the first episode. Now, we find out that they have cancelled it! They always do this to our favorite shows. Anything that has even remotely clever writing seems to disappear and be replaced with yet another reality show. I am so sick of reality shows, I think most of them are so dumb. Well, I guess I just got another hour to do something besides watch t.v. on Wednesdays. Sucks to be the advertisers on ABC if you were trying to target me, because I'm not watching.

Feathered Fantasy

2009-02-05T20:38:00.003-05:00

I have this dream, a dream that I indulge in from time to time, sometimes during the night and sometimes during the middle of the day. There are feathers. Red feathers, black feathers and sometimes buff colored feathers. They are everywhere and I run my hands over the silky smoothness of them...

Now I will let you in on a little secret, I have strange fantasies. No kidding, your probably thinking. My fantasies involve.... are you ready? Chickens. Yes, chickens. I want a little flock of hens to call my very own. Just a few. Enough to give me a couple of fresh eggs every morning. My favorite breeds would be Rhode Island Reds and Barred Rocks.

Aren't they beautiful? Sorry I couldn't make the picture of the Rhode Island Red a little smaller. It just didn't work. Anyways, we had chickens when I was kid and although I thought they were messy (my mother let them have free rein of our entire place) we didn't really have a problem with bugs and the eggs were great.

Sadly, I currently live in suburbia and chickens are considered livestock. I say sadly for more reasons than one but let's just stick with the chickens for now. Oh, and don't think that I haven't thought about just getting some and trying to hide them in the garage cause I have. I don't think it would work though as most of the houses around mine are two story and can see right into my backyard (no topless sunbathing for me!) so if I ever let them out I would be so busted. Nevermind the fact that when they are laying eggs they tend to be a bit vocal about it.

So for now I just let my little flock live in my head, peacefully clucking and scratching just waiting for the day when they can be more than a fantasy....

I hate cats....

2009-02-05T14:56:00.004-05:00

At least for today anyways.

This is a picture of myself with my current furball. Wow, it's not the best picture of me but that's okay. Current Furrballs' name is Kitty. Real original, I know. I got him from the Humane Society in Fort Collins eight years ago and he came with the name Bacura. That just didn't roll off my tongue and he answered to Kitty so it just sort of stuck. I just want to know, why is it that this cat cannot throw up on the linoleum? He will throw up usually somewhere in between five feet to five inches of the linoleum but never actually on it! I am so tired of scraping it off the carpet.

A little background. We bought the house we are in now brand new back in August. We aren't even in this place a week and he has blown chunks on the carpet. WHY???? Another problem is that my husband really does not like this cat. It could have something to do with the cat using his stereo speakers for his own personal nail sharpener.

As you can probably tell from the picture, this cat is a long haired cat. I feed him special hairball food so that he can pass the hairballs through more efficiently. I should brush him but I don't. He doesn't really like it and will bite with very little warning. I have had him shaved a couple of times and that really seems to help with the throwing up. However, I had him shaved back in October and his fur isn't all the way grown in yet so I don't think it is time for another shave just yet.

*sigh* Sorry for the ranting just needed to vent as I walked up stairs after lunch and found a nice pile of puke on the carpet. Not exactly what I wanted to see just after eating.

Best Laid Plans...

2009-02-02T20:56:00.002-05:00

This past Sunday I had made in my head a plan to go to the barn and see Rosie even though it was supposed to be cold. Even though I like to have a change of seasons I am not a big fan of actually getting out and working in the cold anymore, at all. Part of that could be because since I have had my daughter none of the old pants that I have will allow me to put a pair of long underwear underneath them anymore and I just haven't bought any new pants big enough to put a layer underneath. Really, I'm just thankful that I can still wear some of my old pants after having a kid.

Anyways.... it was supposed to be in the mid 30's and calm so it sounded like a good day to go to the barn. Before heading out I was in the kitchen finishing up some dishes when my husband called down saying that my daughter wanted some popcorn that I had left on my computer desk and could she have some? I said sure since he was right beside her. About ten minutes later he called down and asked me to come upstairs. When I got upstairs my husband relayed to me that he thought our daughter may have shoved some popcorn up her nose. Okay... what makes you think that? She looked at my husband and said "Daddy, stuck" with her finger nearly up to the second knuckle in her nose. Alright. I ran back downstairs, got the flashlight, go back upstairs and looked in her nose. Sure enough, way up in there is an un-popped popcorn kernel. *sigh* There is no way that I can get this thing out myself. Obviously, I'm not going to make it to the barn today. Luckily, our doctor's office has walk-in office hours on Saturday and Sunday in the mornings so I didn't have to take her to the emergency room. Another lucky thing is that the doctor was able to get the kernel out on the first try with some long tweezers. I don't think she would have given him another shot to get it out. After the kernel was free of her nose she said "that feels better!"

Kids, I swear!

The Simple Woman's Daybook

2009-02-02T12:31:00.005-05:00

FOR TODAY February 2, 2009...

Outside my window... the sun is shining

I am thinking... we shouldn't have kept our three year old out so late last night because I am paying for it today

I am thankful for... nap time

From the kitchen... it will be lunch time soon

I am wearing... my new button necklace that I got from BoutiqueByBonnie a brown striped shirt, jeans and my L.L. Bean slippers

I am creating... still nothing

I am going... stir crazy

I am reading... Clinton Anderson's Downunder Horsemanship for the umpteenth time

I am hoping... that things work out

I am hearing... my daughter talking to me

Around the house... there are toys everywhere

One of my favorite things... friends

A few plans for the rest of the week: A few appointments to rearrange, hope to get to work with my horse, clean the house a little

Here is picture thought I am sharing... This is the shell of a Galapagos Turtle that was at a zoo in Phoenix. The only reason I thought to put this on here was that Chronicles of a Country Girl posted a macro shot she took of a shell and it for some reason reminded me of this picture.

This post is provided by The Simple Woman's Daybook.

Saturday's

2009-01-31T21:40:00.004-05:00

Saturday's can be busy around my house or very, very quiet. I suppose it is that way with everyone.

Today I had every intention of going out and playing with my Rosie pony. The weather was supposed to be gorgeous, in the 50's. I wanted to go out in the morning before the wind kicked up and made things uncomfortable. I am kind of a fair weather person. I feel I put in my dues with cold weather growing up in Maine. Things took a little different route however. You see, my husband received a bunch of gift certificates to Men's Wearhouse for Christmas because he wanted to get a new suit and he decided that this was the weekend to go in search of said suit. Plus, he said he would take me out to lunch. For those of you who don't know me, after horses, going out to eat is my second hobby. I love to go out to eat. I think it has something to do with the food magically arriving at the table and then the dishes being whisked away when you are done. As much as I wiggle my nose this just DOES NOT happen at my house. I have even gone so far as to leave the dishes out over night so that fairies can come take care of them but evidently fairies have better things to do with their time. So we trucked on up to Fort Collins for lunch and a suit. Mission accomplished across on both fronts.

After getting home, changing, and putting my daughter down for a nap I was back out the door to see the Rosie Pony. I first made a trip to the feed store to buy some Cowboy Magic Green Spot Remover though. One side of Rosie is getting kind of nasty where she poops in her stall and then lays in it. She gets pasture turnout time during the day but I guess she doesn't want to waste it sleeping. Or maybe she has decided that sleeping on the ground is beneath her and she needs some nice comfy shavings to rest her head in when she getting her REM sleep. Finally, I get to the barn around four and guess what? The wind has kicked up. Not just a little breeze, I mean the tarp on the big hay pile is straight out flapping in the wind. This big hay pile is also on the way to the round pen that I typically use. I really didn't feel like getting killed so I decided that today would be a good day to stay in the barn and put some elbow grease into grooming my little Appy beast.

I brushed and brushed until my arms felt like noodles but there was still dirt coming off of her. Not much I can do about it until it warms up enough for a bath, which is probably going to be awhile. Rosie was good, she stood there like a gem. Usually if it is windy and she hasn't been worked she is antsy. Maybe she was good because I tied her up outside of her buddy, Jett's stall and they were able to converse a little. I remembered to bring in the Cowboy Magic bottle but I forgot about the rags until after I had already tied Rosie up and there was no one in the barn to keep an eye on her while I ran back out to my truck. She probably would have been fine but I didn't really want to take the chance of something spooking her and her pulling back. At the previous place where I kept her I used to tie her up and wander all around so that she would know I didn't need to babysit her but that was also at a private persons house and there really wasn't anyone around for her to hurt if she flipped out. Here there are always other boarders around or kids taking lessons and I just don't want to get anyone hurt. So I just brushed the crusty area really well. It is still stained but is not all stiff anymore. I also picked up and cleaned out all four feet, brushed her head and played with her ears a little. All in all a pretty good grooming session.

As a side note, Rosie has a new little sister! She was born in Texas two days ago in an ice storm. She is also solid! Both of her parents are Appy's and have had five babies previous to this one and none have been solid. I just got pictures of her today and boy is she a cutey even though she is solid. If anyone out there is looking, these babies have really good minds. I can't tell you the number of stupid things I have done with Rosie and gone thank God she is as good minded as she is or I would be a pancake right now.

Camp St. Malo

2009-01-28T11:31:00.004-05:00

Thank you to all those who posted comments on my procrastination post. It's nice to know that I am not alone. My hopes for a cure, however, have dwindled!

I had a question about the picture that I posted along with my Simple Woman's Daybook entry. The picture is of the Chapel on the Rocks at Camp St. Malo. Camp St. Malo is a Catholic Retreat, Conference and Spiritual Center according to it's website which can be found here Camp St. Malo The Chapel is still in use. In fact the day that we were there and I took those pictures there was a mens choir practicing inside and you could hear them outside. The doors are unlocked and you can go inside for a look around but they do ask that you please close the door as they have had problems in the past with animals entering the chapel. It is a very lovely chapel and has been well kept up. My pictures may have made it look harsh or deserted because I was taking them at about 11:00 in the morning which is not the best light. I also do not have Photoshop or any photoediting software so those shots are straight out of the camera.

I would highly recommend stopping here and looking around if you are tooling around the scenic back roads of Colorado. Camp St. Malo is located on Hwy. 7 also known as the Peak to Peak highway. It is about 4 miles north of Allenspark and you can't miss it, the chapel sits very close to the road. It is easier to see if you are coming from the south. Coming from the north I think the driveway is right next to some trees so you might miss it and have to turn around to actually pull in and park.

We made a day of going up there and went onto Estes Park for lunch and a look around the Stanley Hotel. The Stanley Hotel was the inspiration for Stephen King's book "The Shining." I was a Stephen King fan during my teen years, what with us both being from Maine and all, but I have gotten to be a scardey cat in my older years and just can't read his books anymore. One other notable thing is that F.O. Stanley, the man who built the Stanley Hotel (he was also the creator of the Stanley Steamer. The car not the cleaning service.) is that he was also from Maine. I believe he had contracted TB and had moved to Colorado for the dry air. Here is the link for the Stanley, they have much better pictures than what I took. The Stanley Hotel

Is there an AA for procrastinators?

2009-01-26T15:07:00.003-05:00

If there is, I need to start attending immediately! Or maybe I will just catch the next meeting, because it is really cold and snowy out there and I hadn't planned on going anywhere today.... Is this sounding familiar to anyone out there?

A prime example of my procrastination. Today, I intended on making one last batch of peanut butter cookies with some dough I had in the fridge. I pulled it out and thought, gee, when did I make this? I realized it has been in the refrigerator for a week today. I smelled it. It smells kind of sour. I don't think this is how peanut butter cookie dough is supposed to smell. In the trash it goes.

Another example. I made an Irish Chain lap quilt for my daughter for her first birthday. Correction, I finished the top part of the quilt and gave it to her fully intending on getting it put together and quilted in the near future. She turned THREE last week and where do you think that quilt is? It is in a box waiting to be sent off to be finished.

My first memory of my procrastination causing an issue was when I was in the fourth grade. We had been assigned to make a model of the human digestive system. We were given plenty of time to complete this assignment. When do you think I started mine? Ding, ding, ding! The night before! You are correct! I remember my mother searching our house for bits and pieces of yarn or foam of any sort that could be assembled into a reasonable looking model of the human gut while I sat tearily hating Mr. Cooper for assigning us this stupid project.

Right now I am using this blog post to procrastinate on folding laundry. When does it end?

The Simple Woman's Daybook

2009-01-25T20:05:00.009-05:00

FOR TODAY January 26, 2009
Outside my window... it is dark and cold
I am thinking... I had a nice time while my mom was here.
I am thankful for... a nice warm house
From the kitchen... only leftovers for dinner
I am wearing... my blue Campobello Island sweatshirt, old black sweatpants and my L.L. Bean slippers
I am going... to try and get everything on my to do list done this week
I am reading... horse magazines
I am hoping... that it warms up a little this week
I am hearing... a too loud movie that my husband is watching
Around the house... everything is a disaster
One of my favorite things... is Bailey's and hot chocolate
A few plans for the rest of the week: Just to make it through the week
Here is picture thought I am sharing...
This is a picture that I took a week ago on a drive to the mountains. I believe it is called the Chapel on the Rocks at Camp St. Malo.

http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com

Blog break

2009-01-18T21:33:00.001-05:00

I will be taking a little break from blogging this week as my mom is in town visiting us! Hopefully I will have some fun things to talk about next week as I will hopefully be making two trips to the National Western Stock Show this week! Catch up with ya later!

Horse Treats

2009-01-13T18:27:00.017-05:00

It seems I am a blogging fool today, what with this being my third post and all.

Anyways, onto the horse treats. Today I made some horse treats for my little beauty. From scratch. My family doesn't even get this most of the time. I decided to try this because

1. I saw the recipes in Horse Illustrated a couple of months ago and

2. The horse treats Rosie likes are are like $3 a bag and only have about six treats in them.

Which is okay if you only use them once in awhile. I tend to use them more often. I didn't used to. When I was a teenager and had horses my mom was the treat dispenser. In fact I thought people who made treats for their horses had way too much time on their hands. My, how times have changed!

This is the recipe I used:

Carrot/Apple Horse Cookies

1 cup grated carrot

1 cup grated apple

2 Tbsp. corn oil

1/4 cup molasses

1 tsp. salt

1 cup rolled oats

1 cup flour

Combine the grated carrot, grated apple, corn oil, and molasses in a mixing bowl and blend well. Gradually fold in the salt, rolled oats and flour and continue blending. Drop the dough by spoonfuls two inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes or until lightly browned.

I got this recipe from the November 2008 issue of Horse Illustrated.

Getting started: Assemble ingredients

Let me just say that I love my Kitchen Aid mixer. It is so very handy to just dump the ingredients in and walk away while it mixes everything together for you. I highly recommend one if you are at all thinking about getting one.

First four ingredients blended together:

Then the remaining ingredients are then mixed in and it looks like this:

Once everything is all mixed together it is time to put them on the pan and into the oven.

And this is what you are left with!

Kidding, kidding!!!

Here is the real final product:

Look good enough to eat don't they? Hopefully Rosie will think so too.

These do need to be refrigerated or they will go bad. I put some in the fridge and then some in the freezer. I got 20 cookies out of this batch.

I had to laugh, when my husband came home he hadn't even made it to the kitchen yet and he said "you made horse treats didn't you?" So I said that I had and then he responded that he wished that I made regular cookies as often as I made horse cookies. Now, he isn't totally deprived, I just made Oatmeal Scotchies last week. Before that though I can't remember the last time that I made people cookies.

Not much happening...

2009-01-13T16:03:00.005-05:00

around here but wow, I really need to do an update! I started this just to kind of chronicle daily life, not that mine is that exciting but very few things ever seem remarkable while you are just going about your business. It isn't until you look back and say "wow, that was a really neat time, I wish I had written more stuff down."

I haven't had much time lately to work with my filly. It has either been to cold/windy (it is after all winter here on the front range of Colorado) or I haven't been able to get anyone to watch my daughter. My husband works full time so that leaves large sections of time where it is just me and the kid hanging out together. Which is fine, that is what a stay at home mom does, but when we have a nice day I ache to get some time in with my horse. Oh well, life goes on. I did get to spend some time with her on Sunday though. I tried to groom her well and get some of the dirt off but I think that the yellowing on her haunches will stay till spring. It is just too cold to give her a bath and I don't blanket her so she will just stay stained. I always told myself after my last horse who was a sorrel and white tobiano Paint, that my next horse was going to be a s*#t brown horse so I didn't have to deal with manure stains anymore. Well, what did I end up with? An Appy. One who roans out more each spring. One who will probably be more white the brown as she ages. Oh well, maybe the next horse will be a lovely s*&t brown. Given my penchant for colored horses it probably won't happen.

My mom is coming for a visit this week. She lives in Tennessee and hasn't seen my daughter since she was 18 months old. Considering that my daughter will be three next week, it has been awhile. I'm not sure what we are going to do while she is here. We have tickets to a rodeo at Stock Show so that will take up one day. Maybe a visit to the Butterfly Pavilion or the Denver Zoo would be nice if the weather holds up. Or maybe the aquarium if it doesn't.

I have to post another picture of my Appy beast. She is just too darn cute not too! This one I snapped on Sunday after I had brushed her. I meant to bring my Show Sheen with me to do her mane and tail but forgot it. I put it in my basement because it had frozen out in the garage where I keep all my horse stuff. I did happen to bring my thrush treatment though which was good since she appears to be a little thrushy in her front feet. Which is what that green stain is on the wall of the barn down by the floor. I had set it on the tack trunk while I was holding her foot up waiting for it to seep in. She had started to nudge my back with her nose and it was making me nervous as she used to bite when she was a baby and you were doing something she didn't like so I started pushing her nose back with my elbow. Well, she must have decided to go after to bottle of thrush stuff instead. She hit it with her nose, got green stuff on her face, sent the bottle flying into the wall and got green stuff all over the wall. When I realized what she had done I sort of had mini stroke because I thought "geez, here I am under her feet and she is sending stuff flying everywhere. At least she had the good sense not to spook at it after she knocked it over." Count your blessings, where you can get them I guess!

The Simple Woman's Daybook

2009-01-13T15:39:00.008-05:00

FOR TODAY January 13, 2009... (A few days late)

Outside my window... melting snow

I am thinking... do I want to go back to school? How will I manage it with a small child?

I am thankful for... bleach (don't ask, you probably don't want to know)

From the kitchen... dirty dishes needing to be washed

I am wearing... purple CSU hooded sweatshirt (hmm, I am sensing a theme here), light blue jeans and L.L. Bean shearling slippers

I am creating... a clean house, I hope.

I am going... to go get a drink soon.

I am reading... Western Horseman

I am hoping... that everything goes alright with my mom's flights on Thursday.

I am hearing... my dog snoring and she's downstairs

Around the house... silence, except for the dog snoring

One of my favorite things... nap time

A few plans for the rest of the week: Get the house cleaned up, pick up my mom on Thursday, hopefully get to see my horse.

Here is picture that I am sharing... my dog, Angel, playing in the new snow that we had yesterday. She is so glad to be back where it snow's. I have never seen a dog enjoy snow as much as she does!

This idea is courtesy of The Simple Woman's Daybook located at www.thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com

I am still relatively new to Blogger and I have no idea how to put in a link where you can just click on it, sorry! I need some educating I guess!

2009-01-06T20:22:00.003-05:00

Adventures of a Horse Crazed Mind posted this photography meme on her site and tagged everyone who reads her site with it.

The rules are:

1) Go to your picture folder, or wherever you store your photos on your computer

2) Go to the sixth folder and pick the sixth picture.

3) Post it on your blog and tell the story that goes along with the picture

4) Tag five friends to do the same thing, and leave a message on their blog that they have been tagged

I tag everyone who reads this blog, all one of you out there!

Anyways, this is my photo:

This was taken on I-70 headed west. We were on the way to my in-laws house for Thanksgiving. I had never had the chance to take pictures on the way over before so I made sure I brought my camera this time. It was a bright sunny day and the mountains were beautiful. My husband and I remarked at the lack of snow for the time of year. We should have kept our mouths shut. On the way back over we ran into a snow storm and what normally is a four hour trip took eight hours. Not easy with an almost three year old going stir crazy in the back seat. We made it home safe and sound though, so no big deal!

So, tag, your it!

The Simple Woman's Daybook

2009-01-04T20:35:00.005-05:00

FOR TODAY January 4, 2008...

Outside my window...I see the street light glowing orange against the dark of the winter evening

I am thinking...I hope I do this right

I am thankful for...my daughter sitting on the floor next to me healthy and safe

From the kitchen... pizza that I am ignoring that needs to put away

I am wearing... a purple CSU hooded sweatshirt and sweatpants

I am creating... nothing at the moment but have plenty of ideas swirling my brain

I am going...to take my daughter to story time tomorrow

I am reading... I am in between Twilight books right now, I hope that my step-mom hurries and sends me the next ones in the series

I am hoping... for a quiet evening

I am hearing... Go Deigo, Go

Around the house... the Christmas decorations need to be put away

One of my favorite things... HORSES

A few plans for the rest of the week: Get the Christmas decorations put away, clean master bath, find a way to sneak down to Stock Show early

Here is picture thought I am sharing...

This is my lovely, coming two year old Appy filly Rosie. I was just goofing with the camera the other day after working her. She was following my around wondering what in the heck I was doing. Please ignore the dirt on her side, she spent a fair amount of time in her stall around Christmas time when the pastures were too icy for turnout.

I'm SOOO Excited!!!

2008-12-06T11:08:00.004-05:00

I JUST GOT TICKETS TO GEORGE STRAIT!!! I have wanted to see George Strait for about 15 years now and I finally got tickets to see him at Cheyenne Frontier Days this July!!! We almost got tickets to see him when he was in Lubbock and we were living in Texas but we didn't know about baby sitters and the tickets were outrageously priced at the time so we didn't go but now we finally are! Boy, could I use anymore exclamation points in this post? I can't help it though, my hands are still kind of shaking from the excitement and I am having a hard time typing. To top it all of today is my 30th (gasp!) birthday today. What a great day already and it is only 9:00 a.m.!

It was by complete accident that I even found out that he was coming to Cheyenne this year. As I said it is my birthday and my Dad called this morning at like 7:15 to wish me a happy birthday. We got to talking about when he is coming out here and what he would like to do while he was here. We are in close proximity to both Greeley Stampede and Cheyenne Frontier Days and I was looking up the dates for both events this year for him. Low and behold, on the Cheyenne Frontier Days page is King George with that grin (you know the one) looking at my no showered, bathrobe wearing, squinty eyed because I don't have my contacts in self. And better yet, tickets went on sale THIS MORNING at 9:00 a.m. Don't have to tell me twice, I was all over that!

Come on July!!!

Things I've Learned About Horses

2008-11-30T21:30:00.003-05:00

I didn't come up with these myself, in fact I stole them off a horsey forum that I frequent but I do agree with most of them.

1. People who don't take care of their own horses will be the first ones to tell you how to care for yours.

2. You should never buy a cheap girth!

3. A handsome horse who's badly behaved will become a lot less attractive in about 15 minutes.

4. People who think they have nothing more to learn about riding hit the ground the hardest.

5. Children and ponies are natural allies and often have identical dispositions.

6. The richest horse people most often look the poorest.

7. The closeness of a horse is one of the sweetest smells in the world.

8. A solitary ride through the woods is more beneficial then six months with the best psychiatrist.

9. The worse a person rides the more likely they are to blame it on the horse.

10. The best thing about going to the barn first thing in the morning is that horses don't care how you look.

11. If a dealer insists a horse is worth twice what he's asking, he's usually worth half that much.

12. The best way to appreciate how another person rides is to get on their horse, but it can also be a quick way to get hurt.

13. I can recognize another horse person no matter what town, city, state, county or country I visit.

14. You can never have too many hoof picks.

15. It is not wise to argue with something that outweighs you by 1,000 pounds

16. I'd rather have a horse with a perfect mind than a horse with a perfect head.

17. If you think you have left the water on in the barn, you have; if you think you have closed the pasture gate, you haven't.

18. When someone asks you if you like their horse, always say 'yes'.

19. The happiest people I know own horses, dogs, cats or at least one deranged goat.

20. If you're looking for the perfect horse, you will never own one.

21. Owning a horse can either make a marriage or break it.

22. I'd rather lose my lipstick than lose my curb chain.

23. You shouldn't talk about your first place ribbon to someone that came in second.

24. If someone says that horse has a little buck, it has a BIG buck.

25. If we need rain, schedule a show.

26. I've never warmed up to someone who didn't want to walk down to the stables to meet my horses.

27. A clean stable and a sparkling horse are among life's great pleasures.

28. Free horses can be FAR too expensive.

29. No matter how badly behaved you are, your horse always gives you a second chance.

30. A more expensive horse doesn't make a better one.

31. I will never ever have an empty stable and I have accepted that fact.

32. Losing a horse can break your heart, but it will have been worth it. If you can't imagine life without a horse... DON'T!

Pretty quiet

2008-11-19T12:08:00.003-05:00

Sorry I haven't posted lately but not much is going on. My daughter and I got our flu shots yesterday and that has been about the extent of our excitement around here.

I guess I have sort of started a new project. I have been trying lately to really pay attention to coupons and sales so that we can save money on our grocery bill. We usually average about $150 a week on groceries for our little family of three. To me it seemed like we should be able to do better than that. I picked up a subscription to the Denver Post Sunday paper for the coupons and really started to study the sale ad for our local grocery store. Also, I go online and look for downloadable coupons. So far, since I have started this approximately two weeks ago I have saved over $90! For me that is really good! Usually I save like between five and ten dollars because I shop so randomly and without a plan.

One thing that is currently giving me knots in my stomach is Christmas shopping. I was hoping to have it ALL done before Thanksgiving but there is no way that is going to happen. I have my daughter pretty much finished, just need to pick up a few stocking stuffers, but really, what is easier than shopping for an almost three year old? I have like one thing each for my mom and Dad, a couple of things for my husband and that is pretty much it. I guess everyone else will be getting gift certificates. sigh. That isn't my favorite way to do things, but it seems to be the easiest. Any help in this department would be appreciated.

Good day

2008-11-15T17:56:00.008-05:00

I managed to make it out to the barn today to see my horse. It was a gorgeous Colorado late fall day, sunshine and perfect temps, not hot and not cold. The past two days had been a glimpse of the upcoming winter with high winds and a dusting of snow. This weekend and the upcoming week are supposed to beautiful though. This is a picture that I coerced my husband into taking on our way to the feed store. The mountains are so much prettier in real life, I can never seem to capture how beautiful they are on my camera. Oh well, I guess I will just have to keep trying! One can never have too many pictures!

Back to the horse. I haven't been able to do much with my little Rosie since she arrived here in late September. She was only here a week when we took off for Maine for ten days, then there was of course the requisite vacation hangover. Mostly though, it stems from not having any child care during the week. Then the weekend comes and my husband and I both have things that we want to do so sometimes it works out that I can get out to see her and sometimes it doesn't. Today it worked out. This morning I was able to get to the feed store to get her a halter and then after lunch I headed over to the barn.

When I arrived at the barn she was in her stall thankfully. She has kind of been a pill to catch out in the large pasture with all her friends. One of her "friends" in particular has been giving me a headache by ducking under the wire for the pasture fence after I take Rosie out and then coming down the alley behind me. I think that he thinks I am taking Rosie to the barn to feed her and he isn't about to be left out. The fence is electrified but I don't think there is enough juice running through it to bother good ole Thunder. I have told the barn manager about it so hopefully the situation will be fixed soon.

Today we just did mostly a review of what Rosie already knew to make sure she still remembered it. After brushing her and picking her feet out we worked on turns on the forehand to the right and the left then turns on the hind end also to the right and left. She tried to get a little pushy while working on the forehand. We hadn't been working on that as long in Texas and she had some trouble at the beginning trying to figure out what I was asking her for. After reminding her that she COULD NOT put her head on top mine and push me out of the way she figured out to cross her front legs one over the other and then I would leave her alone. I really don't ask for much, just do it right a couple of times and I will leave you alone! We also worked on giving to pressure on her poll and bending her neck around to both sides to create a soft neck. We had worked on giving to pressure on her poll before but I realized I had only been doing it from her left side so surprise, surprise when I tried it from her right side today she did do it but not as well as her left side. That will give us something to work on in the future. She did really well with the soft neck exercise which we had never done before. I had wanted to lunge her but all the arenas were in use and I didn't feel like hanging around to see when they would clear out. On a side note, the indoor arena that is being built where I board is coming along nicely! Nearly everything on the outside is finished so I guess they will be moving inside to put in the sand, sprinklers, and lights pretty soon. The estimated completion date is December 1st and it looks like they will probably make it.

All in all Rosie did really well for all the commotion that was going on. If nothing else boarding her will give her exposure to lots of different things. Today for instance, where I had her tied, there were kids getting horses ready for lessons, a cherry picker was working on the indoor arena which was about 150 to 200 feet away and the barn manager had a new green horse in the round pen that he was trying to work about thirty feet away. The mare had decided that sniffing and squealing with the horses pastured on the other side of the round pen seemed like a productive thing to do. She's getting an education just by being tied outside! Lucky for Rosie when we got back the hay fairy had shown up and left her dinner in her stall!

This picture, which is also my profile picture was taken a few weeks ago when I actually did get to lunge her. We had finished up at this point and Rosie was about to get a cookie. By the way, I hate the pants I am wearing in this picture. I bought them after my daughter was born because my pre-pregnancy jeans didn't fit and I wasn't about to wear maternity jeans three months after I had given birth. So I bought these at Old Navy and while they are jeans they have a lot of that stretch material in them and they have stretched in weird ways. I am just hoping to destroy them so I can get rid of them. Why don't you just throw them away you say? Well, did you notice the last part of the title of this blog? The part that says Yankee? Well, the word Yankee is code for can't throw anything away, ever, if it can still be used. That would be a waste and we yankees just don't waste things!

2008-11-11T20:33:00.004-05:00

One of my new favorite blogs to read, Chronicles of a Country Girl, recently posted a photography meme and tagged everyone who reads her blog. Since one of my interests is photography I feel obliged to participate. The rules are go to the 4th photo file and pick out the 4th photo inside of it and post it here. Since I have never posted a picture on blogger this should be interesting.

This is a picture from our vacation to Colorado last year. We were living in Texas at the time so we came to Colorado to visit family and friends. I was walking around the old section of Glenwood Springs with a friend when I spied this very colorful house and decided to snap a picture of it. I think the pink looks nice next to the Blue Spruce's.

She's awake!

2008-11-11T15:37:00.000-05:00

As I start my foray into the blogging world, I hear a little voice from the front part of my house. The sounds of nap time being over for today. Dang it, I spent too much time folding laundry! Wretched towels anyways. And really, who needs clean underwear every day? Can you tell housework is not my life's ambition? Well, I better get in there, I can hear here giving one of her stuffed animals the business, "Stop! I told you!" Wonder where she has heard that before?