Sunday, December 28, 2008

a Horse Friend Network


http://www.equestrianlife.com/ - I joined Equestrian Life today and built a mini-profile. Right off the bat, I saw an article regarding leg yielding which was interesting and well written. Cruised around the site a little, and it looks like it might be fun to try.


Then, inspired, the gang and I went outside to ride. Kale on Sunny, Ivy on TC, Alaina on Diez and me on Splash. After yesterdays gully washer rain, the arena was still to mucky to do anything more than trotting. So, we wandered around the place ducking tree limbs and leaving big muddy hoof prints. Lovely afternoon and all the horses were good.


Sadly, we were rained out of the party lesson yesterday, so Splash didn't get any real work. Cindy is in town, so we met for lunch at Ron's in Claremore - (Cindy, Donna, Patty, Carol, Paul, Kathy, and me). We dilly-dallied and snarfed on Spanish fries. Yummy. Since Donna and I have some time off this week, we plan on a lesson/lunch on Tuesday. Splash's vacation is done.

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Happy Holidays!!!!


From the Cullens at Christmas time. A christmas picture. We're off to the All Academy Ball tonight in OKC but I got in some ride time yesterday. I worked both LB and Lakota in the round pen then road Lil. Lil was awesome, responding to every cue quickly and accurately. I even got some nice trots with just a squeeze of the legs. Well I'm off to get ready now, until our next ride- Happy trails! Marsha

Friday, December 26, 2008

'Twas the Day after Christmas


The pictures of the current conditions are very scary. So, here is one from the Night Before Christmas when Kale Santa was in charge of the annual reading.....

Merry Christmas to All and to all a Good Ride. xxxooo c

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Artic Air and Patty's Arena

Winter is really here and I am already ready for warm spring days and green grass. Splash is making incrementally slow progress but one ride a week is not really adequate for him at this stage. The weather on Sat. was supposed to be relatively nice with front coming late afternoon. The front blew in before 10am and we raced to Patty's to try to beat the real cold and get our party lesson in time. Patty's arena really helped block the wind and only Patty was really cold during the lesson.

Marsha rode Pico, Kathy/Casper, Amanda/Missy, Alison/2-yr old dun palomino, and me/Splash. Pico was a good boy for Marsha and Marsha did a good job with him - got a few nice canter transitions too. Casper settled down for Kathy after Amanda worked him a bit and Alison's new baby was great - even did a little spinning w/ Amanda after the lesson. Splash is still a slug. Spurs and the infamous german neck stretcher help and we had some decent trot work (still need more energy) but our canter transitions are BAD and keeping the canter is hard too. We did some leg yeilds at the walk and trot and Splash is very hard to keep moving forward. A little better was the excercise with "collection" along the short end "extention" along the long side. I might need bigger spurs.

And I sure wish I had a picture of our waitress's face when she heard about the German Neck Stretcher..... She imagined a rather wild scene. Think of what she could imagine with the 2-whip tango and bigger spurs...

Friday, December 19, 2008

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Future YaYa Riders Turn 10


Ivy and Alaina are practicing their yaya skills and are excited to be getting older every day.....

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Dirty Santa


So now I have to wait a whole year until I can play dirty santa again. Last night the GCC-ODS party was lots of fun - Ivy and Alaina and Miranda were the big little Junior winners and they were very excited. Denise and Jurgen and Patty and Silka and Patty and Danta got goodies too - Nicole and Elvis took Pico and me in First but they deserve it and we came in a happy 2nd. And, most exciting, Larry Couch won best Husband Volunteer. Way cool. It was so fun to see horsey friends and re-live the fab moments of 2008. Now, on to 2009.

Although the weather wasn't to cold today the wind was blasting out of the south which made for difficult lessons on Pico and Splash. Every now and then a blast of sandy wind would give Patty and me dermabrasion treatments but I don't know if that helped our complexions or just hurt. Pico had a spook right off the bat but then did really well while we worked on simple changes on serpentine and then on canter departs from the walk and downward transitions to back. To the right, Pico did pretty well even managing to change leads a couple of times a stride after taking the wrong one. Our downward transitions were very sloppy. Left lead, another story. Very difficult canter departs about 1/2 the time on the wrong lead. But we made some improvement and stopped for the day. Splash was not thrilled with the neck stretcher but did some fairly good stand/trot transitions. Canter caused displeasure and he bucked several times but the wind was so strong by that time that several dust'nados made riding difficult so we stopped as soon as we got canter without buck. Then, out of the wind Nancy, Patty and I went to Graham's for the usual good food and fun talk. Yaya.

Monday, December 8, 2008

YaYa Get Together



Well, the first holiday weekend of Dec. is behind us and Sherry outdid everyone with her dirty Santa gift. It is a good thing we are all "farm girls"... oooooolala! YaYa's got together without horses at Kathy Burrows' place and ate, drank, made merry, and talked and laughed and plotted our next ride. Sherry orchestrated a beautiful portrait for Jurgen for Rita as a token of our appreciation for hosting our rides all year long. And the Food! we all know how to cook. yummy. The dirty Santa game was fun and no injuries were reported. Thank you all for your friendship - I look forward to many years of YaYa's with you all. BTW - we really need to work on our yaya names soon. If you don't already have one, be thinking. Mine is the Empress Equine Obsessed, so if you remember your yaya name, please post. If you have suggestions for any un-named sister, chime in....

So ride time; I did get a little on Sat. morning before the 4-H banquet. I went to Patty's early with Pico and Splash and worked Pico first. It's been a while since he has been worked, so we were just re-acquainting. Then, Splash. We started without the neck stretcher and saw a little improvement but put it back on so I could work on pushing Splash out without fighting with my hands. We had a good lesson and although slow, I think some progress is happening. So, until next weekend. YaYa.

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Have you ever seen a zorse???


While visiting my cousin over near the Missouri state line, I snapped a picture of her zorse. She is about the size of a shetland pony and reportedly quite mean. I'm planning a trip up there to ride soon so I'll scout out the 120 acres only 1 hour and 15 minutes from here and let you all know if a larger trail ride is planned.
Gone ridin! ( who am I kidding, it's 39 degrees outside... but if it gets warmer this week you can bet I'll be riding!)
Marsha

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Brandied Cranberries - Happy Thanksgiving

I got this recipe from my friend Lisa in Houston last week and just made them this morning. Yummy!


2-12 oz packages fresh/washed cranberries

2 C sugar (a bit more if you want it sweeter)

1/4 to ½ C Brandy

Place berries in a single layer on a slightly greased 15x10x1 jelly roll pan

Pour sugar over berries and cover tightly with foil

Bake at 350 for 1 hour

Spoon berries into a large serving bowl and gently stir in brandy

Cool. Serve chilled or at room temp

It is also great as an appetizer pour over cream cheese with crackers.

Monday, November 24, 2008

Pampered YaYa's

Seven YaYa sisters - rode on a Sunday afternoon;

Paula rode along on a sorrel horse named Moon.
Marsha and Pico, Cathy and Splash...
Christiana and Ardie, Sherry and Jazz....
Nancy and Wisdom, Rita and Reese...
Rode into the sunset - into the breeze.

Over the culvert and up through the pasture.
The group road through the woods and splashed through the water.

Then to the back-40 down 'College' they rode.
And visited lambs wearing white winter robes.

Then finished the day with their friends, food and wine -
All back to their homes having had a great time.

PS - Thanks Rita for hosting us all and Arica for pampering us with great pasta. mmmmm.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

One Week After the BIG Show


Well, the Schooling show championships are past, but, with great pictures on Jeanie's website, we can relive the glory and the frozen fingers and toes ( http://www.onetulsa.ifp3.com/ ). My T4 had some rough spots near the start with some resistance to C. During our warm-up, while Pico was sniffing fake flowers at C, someone on the judges stand dropped a clipboard with papers making a flapping racket. Pico spooked of course and then we started our test. So.... good scores thru X and the one-loop trot serpentine and then. "not thru corner" at H and "not on track" after C.... he was trying to spook along the end and our 'discussions' looked disorganized as well as being off-track. Even so, our score for the test was 62.4 for a 3rd of 4 entries. Elizabeth had a lovely ride for her T4 and then Pico and I went in for the last test of the day. Both Patty/Dante and Nicole/Elvis stayed in the arena area so that Pico would stay calm - a really big help. Our F4 was a 60.0% and I was very happy with the Pico boy. No 8's in this test but 6 7's including the first halt at X, 2nd 10m circle, the walk and walk transitions, the first canter serpentine and the second extended canter (after a 5 for the first lengthen canter). Best of all, he showed some stretch at the walk and in the chewy circle thanks to Elizabeth's recent work on stretch.

So, today I picked up Pico from Beth's and took the boy to a lesson with Patty. Kathy was in Utah, Marsha near MO, Sherry on a Hunter Pace and Carol not feeling well so it was just me and Pico for the party lesson. We worked on simple canter changes and canter serpentines and then shoulder in along the long sides. Then, shoulder in along the short side, through the corner and then straightening across the diagonal (so far so good) then collecting before the rail and attempting to leg yield along the rail keeping the diagonal angle. Additional work needed for that last part, but we got it once so eventually, we can get it - someday. Over all, a great lesson and Pico was a really good boy. Tomorrow, to Rita's and Marsha will give Pico a try.

Then, after lunch at Simple Simon's Ivy and Alaina had a lesson, Alaina's first on Sunny. The girls made some progress with their mounts and will start coming every Sat. possible to get some regular lessons.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

One more try for the picture!

A wonderful day for a ride at Mohawk!

It was good to see everyone who made it to Mohawk today. What an awesome day for a ride. There were seven of us that made it, including Christiana, Rita, Anita, Paula, Leila, Marion and myself. Lil was her usual self at Mohawk. She didn't care for the water crossings but she was obedient. About half way through the two hour ride she thought we should turn back and go to the trailer... :) but once again she was obedient. Rita rode Winstan, Leila was riding Reeses, Marion rode Comet, Christiana rode Ardie, and Paula and Anita rode a couple of Paula's horses. Sorry their names escape me right now but they were very awesome guys on the trail.
If it works I'm including a picture. Hope the rest of the week goes by fast so we can all hit the trail again as soon as possible.
Happy trails!
Marsha

Sunday, November 16, 2008

The Dilutes



Kale was home for a really short visit this weekend and he made it to the Dressage Schooling Show Championships yesterday afternoon in time to see my second ride. Then he watched football with Steve last night and this afternoon he rode Sister while Alaina rode Sunny and I rode Splash before he headed back to Stillwater. You know Sunny is a palomino (single dilute of a sorrel/chestnut) and Sister a perleno (double dilute of a bay). I thought they looked good together in the winter grass on this lovely Sunday afternoon. Sister did pretty well at the walk/trot and on the trail.... But, cantering was not. Lots of kick-outs, crow-hops and other expressions of filly irritation. It was a fun ride anyway. Since I was riding the range at the Wild Orban Ranch, I missed the YaYa ride at Rita's but managed to sneak in a little social/snacking time with the gang for an hour or so... YaYa!

Friday, November 14, 2008

Schooling Show Championships EVE!

Marsha and Miss. Tender Lil – Lilly

Paula and Ferguson – Fergie

Denise and Jurgen fan Bluffview – Jurgen

Elizabeth and Pico

Patty and Dante

Cathy and Pico

We are all showing at the schooling show championships tomorrow. A whole day of fun with our horsey friends. Yippeee. Good luck everyone. YaYa!

Monday, November 10, 2008

Nov 1 Group Lesson

November 1st started off with a very foggy morning. It totally changed the view to the south of Patty's arena. For me, it proved to be a disappointing morning with Shiloh being off when I lounged him. On a positive note, it's only a stone bruise. On a negative note, it put paid to my getting to ride. Got a few pictures of the other riders since I was grounded. Photos can be seen at the following link.

http://appy2.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=20081101_group_lesson
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October 25 Show Photos Posted

I finally got the photos from the October 25 schooling show posted. I didn't get any photos while I was riding Shiloh and just being an exhibitor. Paul did get some of the costume class for us and some of me and Shiloh for me. Once my last class was done, out came the camera. I got some photos that I really liked. Can't wait to see the photos from the camera club that was there shooting. I'm sure those will be great. The following link should take you directly to the October 25 show photos.

http://appy2.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=october_25,_2008_schooling_show
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Teeth Floating and the Old Grey Mare


Why is the process of grinding hooks off teeth and grinding high spots off the horses bite called 'Floating?' If anyone knows, fill me in.


Anyway, a couple of weeks ago, Diez quit eating her daily ration. She is an easy keeper but not eating her food is NOT like her. Because I knew she was overdue for tooth care, I hoped that floating would bring back her appetite. Since she is 27-years old, I worried that something else could be amiss. I had a ridiculous work schedule with no room for vet appointments during office hours. So, I called Mika Ford who has a small animal clinic in BA but I had heard has a passion for horse dental care. Mika agreed to let me bring Diez to his place north of Collinsville last Tuesday night. He has mobil stocks and a driveway to work in as well as a headlamp attached to his forhead. I brought TC as well because I thought he could use a float too. Mika was wonderful! After Diez was sedated, he showed me some ulcers on the inside of her checks, described the condition of her teeth and explained what he would do. Then, he floated, telling me all the while what he was doing and why. Very educational. Then, the same drill with TC. Although not rainy, it was blustery and Mika took his time and did a great job. Then, the acid test. Would Diez eat again or was there a bigger problem. I am happy to say that Diez started eating immediately and has regained her normal appetite. So, if your horse needs tooth care, Mika is Great!
www.indianspringsanimal.com
918-455-4144
405-612-7223

Sunday, November 9, 2008

4 Days in a Row


Splash says he is really tired after working 4 days in a row. Thursday night - Ride Night and 4 little girls took turns riding him; Friday afternoon and Ivy took a ride; Sat. and I rode Splash in the lesson at Patty's; and Sun. Ivy rode again. Splash says "enough already!"
Really, Splash is slowly (very slowly) making progress. He also was worked at Patty's Monday night while Ivy and Alaina had a lesson. His steering is much improved and I think I will ride him next year for ODS schooling shows.

The lesson yesterday was shorter than normal because Marsha and I worked so hard as did our mounts. After warm up for horses and People, Marsha and I worked on a large circle together spiraling in and out trying to stay on opposite sides of the circle. Not as easy as it sounds. Splash moves off my leg fairly well, but slows to slug-speed whenever he can and a circle gives him his big chance to fizzle all energy. After the circles, we tried for extension along the long side and collection along the short. Although not really extended, Splash did give me some lovely trot work and was more consistant than he has been. We are getting more moments with give to the bit but still need a bit more work there - haha. Then, canter work which went without a buck and only a couple of dropped gaits. After that, we both got tired and the impulsion left the building with Elvis.

Today, Mallory and Roxanne come over with Raffles and Trouper. My arena is a little small for 5 riders working at once, so we took turns cantering. Mallory and Raffles looked lovely together and all 3 junior riders were looking good too. Ivy worked Splash and Alaina rode Diez in Jaime's old saddle (so her feet don't fit the stirrups yet). I worked Sunny and all I can say is Yikkes - rough canter especially since Sunny would like to express himself with bucks or crowhops at the canter. But he settled down and we ended with a very nice trail ride around the Wild Orban Ranch. The day was beautiful - cool but no wind. I would like to order up weekend days just like this one until spring springs. YaYa for now. c

Friday, November 7, 2008

Fall Colors


I took off a little early today so that I could get home before dark and work Sister in the round pen. The girls 'helped' from the sidelines trying to distract Sister from her work. Considering her long break since real work, I was happy with the round pen work. After we were finished with a brief session of lounging with reins tied to the stirrups, each girl sat in the saddle while I lead them around the pen twice. Then we stopped so we could end on several good notes. I don't know when I will have the courage to get on myself. Elizabeth worked with her some last summer... but....

Anyway, when we had let Sister graze a little, the girls wanted to ride Sunny and Splash. We took Splash to ride night this week and several girls rode him - Zoe, Ivy, Lara and Abby. All did very well with direction and walk/trot. All even managed to canter both ways briefly. Splash got a workout and the kids enjoyed him. So, i was hopeful when Ivy mounted this afternoon. Alaina and Sunny had some good work - particularly with jog work. They will be quite a pair someday. Ivy and Splash did well too. Ivy took Splash over cavaletti and a v. small x-bar at the trot and had very short canters both directions. I guess we will have to get them to a lesson or two very soon. Then, we ended with a little trail ride in the evening light. Lovely.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Book Tag - Borrowed from Nuzzling Muzzels

*Here are the rules:
1) Grab the nearest book.
2) Open the book to page 56.
3) Find the fifth sentence.
4) Post the text of the next two to five sentences.
5) Don't dig for your favorite book, the cool book or the intellectual one --
pick the closest.
6) Comment with your book info. and
7) Optional Tag five more none yaya people to do the same.

So, by virtue of my blogsend feature (emails to YaYa's when I post) I have sent this to more than 5 people.

Here is my Tag Results - kind of in line with my Galloping Gourmet persona:

OK, Steve made Pancakes from scratch this morning (we are out of bisquick) and left the Betty Crocker's Cookbook (1979 Edition) by my computer. Soooo, Page 56 has Curried Bratwurst at the top/left. 5th 'sentence' is: Place each bratwurst on 1 slice bread. spoon about 2 Tablespoons sauce onto each bratwurst..... (Sauce is: 3/4 c catsup, 1 T Worcestershire sauce, 1 1/4 t curry powder, 3/4 t paprika). Sounds yummy and supposed to be "hearty and homestyle with chilled Potato Salad or (yuck!) Hot Fried Hominy.... Very Interesting and fun game... c



Monday, November 3, 2008

Shiloh at Show

Shiloh had a great start going as a four-year old, and then came an injury. It's taken quite a while to recover from the physical and emotional aspects of that. He was convinced it would hurt!

We were ready to go this year. First he banged a back leg and added a puncture wound to the mix a month later. Our plans to make most of the schooling shows this year were out the window as we went back into recovery and rehab mode. On October 25, we made our first show of the season! My guy did really well, even in the costume class. It occurred to me after the fact that I might not ought to have done that with a relatively green horse [grin]. We did an Intro class. He was cooperative, forward and listening to my seat. I couldn't have asked for a better day or a better horse!
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Costume Class Montage

The day dawned bright and beautiful. Combine that with time with your horse and horsey friends and you have a nearly perfect day.

The costume class had many great entries; I've included a montage of shots of these. I think everyone is in this group except the chef. Cathy posted a shot of her and Splash in costume earlier.
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Sunday, November 2, 2008

Splash of Fall


We have had a fun weekend with beautiful weather. Trick or treating on a warm October evening. The girls and their cousins went house to house in a nearby subdivision and made a haul of candy - I went along dressed in my chef outfit without the horse but with a mouse in my necktie. Sunday we had company from far away - David and Jetta stopped by with Jan this afternoon and Steve smoked some ribs... yummmy.
We had an early lesson on Sat. with Splash, Krystal and Breezy, and Kathy and Caspar. Carol was gracious enough to let us crash her lesson but Shiloh was off on his front right. Hopefully, he will be on the mend and Carol back in the saddle soon.
Splash was sluggish during the lesson and Patty used the lunge whip to help his impulsion so that I could work on getting some give to the bit. He is so difficult to move-out and it is hard to make progress. He is getting a little better with taking direction but still dips his head to the inside to avoid the bit. I love him on the ground but he is very hard to ride. He sure is pretty though....
I am about to commit to riding Pico in the Schooling Show Championships. He is camping at Elizabeth Eaton's pasture and she is planning to ride him at the SSCs also. I am a little worried about the big indoor arena but it might be fun.
So, yaya for now....

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

PICS- I have PICS!!!
















YAYAs!





Here's a couple of pics that I thought were good from last week-ends show. Since I'm at a computer that will actually publish them - here goes!





Lookin forward to the SSC!





Marsha

Weekend Adendum


The good news is - the weather is beautiful. I really love bright blue skies and cool daytime temps and then get whimpy after dark and shiver waiting for summer. It is after the weekend, but the girls and I went to a lesson last night at Patty's so that their tests could be fresh and Patty could work with them on some improvements. They really listened and rode beautifully. TC and Diez had impulsion and were obidient (mostly) and the girls rode Pax de Duo practice and really had a good time. Meanwhile, Splash and I worked around the edges - my new combo of spurs and whip seem to be helping his response time and we had some decent transitions and minimal neck bending to avoid contact. We all worked on halt/salute transitions to end the session and Splash had some decent stop/walk transitions - of course his any gait/stop transitions are very fast if not anticipatory (no Whoa needed). So lets hope for a long fall with lots of Indian summer days. YaYa.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Spooky Glenbrook - 2008


Thank you Ken and Rita for hosting the 4-H horse club for the Halloween Fun Play Day. We started the events with the parade of costumes and had some fabulous examples to look at. Then we had some games including bean bag toss into the ghost spot, pumpkin juice relay and ride-a-ghost. Ken piloted the hay wagon down through the field fraught with scary sites and some treats. We finished a fun day with grilled hot dogs and pot luck. The day was sunny and cool with the wind from a mild cold front - great for late October.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Rocking C Halloween Show



Thanks to Rita, Patty and Larry for hosting a great show. We had a beautiful day at the Rocking C for the last dressage schooling show before the schooling show championships! Pico gave good rides to Elizabeth and me - we can all go to the SSC if I get the nerve to face that BIG - SCARY indoor arena at the Tulsa fair grounds. Christiana and Arde had a wonderful first outing, and they had fun in the costume class too.

And speaking of costume classes, we must have had the best costumes EVER. Christiana and Ivy were very impressive Knights of the realm. Alaina was an injured soldier and Miranda was a fairy ballerina. Patty was an F-15 pilot - complete with ground crew and copilot, Carol an Indian rider, Denise the phantom of the opera, Richel a funny farmer, and me - the Galloping (trotting) Gourmet. I didn't get pix for documentation but we were excessively photographed by Jeanie's photo buddies.

And! Carol and Shilo had a really good ride for their first show. And! Gabby rode Lily in their first dressage show too. They did a great job and Marsha looked good too. Really fun day! and we have the Glenbrook 4-H Halloween Fun show Tomorrow! Woo Hoo - a two horse event weekend.

Friday, October 24, 2008

YaYa Bad Weather Pusuits

Since you know I would NEVER jump in real life (on purpose), can you believe I like this sort of jumping?

http://horseridingcoach.com/jumporama/


PS - Patty sent me this link to broaden my horizons.... haha

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

YaYa Trail Song Book








I'm an Old Cow Hand by Johnny Mercer
I'm an old cowhand from the Rio Grande
But my legs ain't bowed and my cheeks ain't tanned
I'm the cowboy who never saw a cow
Never roped a steer 'cause I don't know how
I sure ain't fixin' to start in now
Yippee i oh ti-ay! Yippee i oh ti-ay!

I'm an old cowhand from the Rio Grande
And I learned to ride before I learned to stand
I'm a ridin' fool who is up to date
I know every trail in the Lone Star State
'Cause I ride the range in a Ford V-8
Yippee i oh ti-ay! Yippee i oh ti-ay!

We're old cowhands from the Rio Grande
And we come to town just to hear the band
We know all the songs that the cowboys know
'Bout the Big Corral where the dogies go
We learned them all on the radio
Yipee i oh ti-ay! Yippee i oh ti-ay!

I'm an old cowhand from the Rio Grande
Where the West is wild all around the borderland
Where the buffalo roam around the zoo
And the Indians run up a rug or two
And the old Bar X is just a barbeque
Yippee i oh ti-ay!

I'm a pioneer who began from scratch
I don't bat an eye in a suit or hat
They don't call me Elmer, they call me Satch
Yippee i oh ti-ay! Yippee i oh ti-ay! Yippee i oh ti-ay!

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Birthday Girls - YaYa




Well, we have developed a tradition of recognizing birthdays (as if we need any excuses for partying). Marsha and Kathy B took the second shift for October and Kathy sent me the picture from July. I think we look better by the day and we certainly know how to laugh. Who is next on the list - Rita knows.

I will miss riding at Rita's this week since I will be in Kansas but next weekend we will have a dressage schooling show at Rocking C on Saturday as well as a 4-H Halloween Play Day at Glenbrook on Sunday. Since I will be gone all week, we are working on costumes this weekend. The girls are excited and decorating bridles. I rode Pico a little yesterday before taking him to Beth's for the week so she can work him some while I am gone in hopes of making a qualifying score for the Schooling Show Championships in Nov. In the party lesson today I rode Splash and he didn't seem to be feeling 100%. Perhaps he was dragging since I gave him de-wormer last night. I used spurs which gave me better straightness and got his difficult lead canter first try. Marsha had some really good work with Lil and Carol was looking great on Shilo.

So, think horsey thoughts for me while I am in the north country and see you next week - YaYa.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Saturday, October 11, Group Lesson - The Stars!

A different view of our group ride last Saturday. These photos focus on the stars of our rides, our horses.

Splash, Cathy Orban's mount, looks incredibly elegant doesn't he? Cathy did ride him with spurs. They had a pleasant ride with less effort and stress. Here's hoping he'll outgrow the need for the spurs as he learns to move forward more willingly. He's really starting to have some "dressage" moments!

Pico and Kathy Burrows were a pair this Saturday. Took Kathy a few moments to get his measure, then she had him paying attention. He's always a good looking fella.





After Lil loosened up, she and Marsha had a good ride.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

The woods, the Woods, the WOODS!

The woods - the woods - the woods! Always scary, unless you're a fairy!

The hill - the hill - the hill! A troll lives there, his name is Bill!

The creek - the creek - the creek! So wet and evil it makes me shriek!

The field - the field - the field! there's nothing for it, I'm AGORAPHOBIC!

The tree – the tree – the tree! There’s something behind it, spin around and FLEE!

From Marsha - The sack...the sack...the sack!!! It might attack and break my back!!!

The shape at the end of the driveway... the shape... the shape!!! How will I escape???

The bee... the bee... the bee!!! Oh dear, I really must flee!

The clippers... the clippers... oh not so near me with those horrible snipping clippers!

From Joan - The bush … the bush… it must be haunted… Give me a chance and you'll be unloaded!

From Rita - The flag - the flag- flying high for some but for mine it is too LOW!

From Julie - The jump - the jump - behind it must be a skunk!

The cattle - the cattle - I think I will run the other way because it looks like they want to battle!

The Barn - the barn - the BARN! Very dark - AHHH Land Shark!

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Monday, October 13, 2008

Blog Post from Cindy - Duchess Desires A Freisian

Yesterday Tom & I went hiking, but we were the only hikers - everyone else we ran into was on horseback! Probably at least 40 riders in groups of 2 to 8. If I had a nickel for everytime I heard the phrase, "did you loose your horses?" Ha - ha! I saw so many gorgeous ho-ho's. Sigh, trail riding is really big up here, and there are so many great state parks that are set up for riding.

On the trail yesterday, most of the horses were very calm and friendly (looking for handouts - wish I'd had some carrotts!) but a few stopped & gave us wild-eyed looks & snorted a bit before walking on by. One horse was so funny - only her second time on a trail ride & she was totally freaked out when she saw us - jumping around & spooking. The rider stayed on like glue, but her trail mates were laughing their heads off. It's so funny that humans on foot would send her over the edge. I told the group that she probably thinks that the trail monster attacked & ate our horses & that's why we were on foot!! She was a great looking horse - half Freisian & half Morgan/Quarter horse. Another group of riders tried to convince Tom that he really should start riding (HA!) They were telling him all about Tennessee Walkers. Maybe next time we're in Tusa I could somehow trick him into spending 10 minutes up on one of Sherry's or Rita's Walkers. I can dream can't I?

We miss you Cindy! EEO

Sunday, October 12, 2008

SPURS! I tried to warn him.......







After weeks of struggle and several threats that I was going to try spurs, I did it! And, didn't get bucked off - always a plus. So, in our Party Lesson yesterday, I used spurs and was pleased with the result. Splash is not overly re-active but did give me more consistency at the trot and somewhat more responsive transitions into the canter. I am getting a little give at the pole although when I try to push harder into the bit, Splash ducks his head to the inside - always a new way to resist.

Today, Rita hosted the ODS group at Glenbrook for a show grooming clinic presented by Laurie H. and Paula W. Silver (makes anyones butt look smaller) was the patient demo horse for tail trimming, 2 kinds of braiding, ear clipping, and polishing. Jurgen helped some too with clipping and mane/tail management. They looked fabulous! Laurie recommends baby oil finishing (no drying effects) and also suggested a mix of Desetin and Furasan for scratches. And, contrary to light horse show prep, no trimming of muzzle hair, long eye area hairs, or hair in the ears. Diez will be delighted. Paula suggested a bar of benzol peroxide soap to whiten the tail - not to often since it is drying. It is great to learn new tricks. Naturally, we had yummy snacks and tea to savor during the demo.

The girls and I rode a bit at Rita's also. TC used a spooking incident to give a leap/buck combo but Ivy stayed on and worked him a little more. After the demos, Denise gave Jurgan a work out and spectators a show, Shenean gave Pico a try and the girls rode their mounts again. I walked with the girls down the hill and up into the pasture since Ivy has been a little timid after the time TC refused to calmly walk on down the trail. Beautiful Oct. day if a little windy and it sure was fun to hang with my horsey friends. YaYa!