Why Is It Still Winter?

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...

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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!

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

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

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

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....