Krazy B Ranch - Quarter Horses, Paints, and Arabs

My Birthday Ride

2009-08-25T08:40:00.004-05:00

Yesterday was my 47th birthday. Yesterday I had a lot of mixed emotions and I fought tears all morning. Why? I have NO idea, but it was there.

Then some friends, my husband, and my parents made the day better. Dan and Clarissa planned a small ride, Jay coordinated (smirk) and Mom and Dad started a rack of ribs early in the day so we could eat before the ride. Oh! and we stopped in afterwards for cake. :-D

The BEST gift, however... came from my dear friend Janie. She and I have had our battles in the last year or so. She's dumped me twice and I've been working diligently to help her get over her head-shyness.

I took her to the playday just to hang out on Saturday and she was a bit wound up. She fought me, and we danced. She was vocal looking for "her friends" and I went along with it for the most part. She wasn't the dream-girl I know on that day. But tonight? She didn't miss a beat.

I left work about 5 minutes early because I was anxious to get home to ride. As I pulled into the drive I see a pretty sorrel face with a pretty white blaze peeking around the trailer at me. Right then I smiled. She loaded perfectly and we headed out to my folks to eat before the ride. We got to Branched Oak and she unloaded like a veteran and stood kindly while I saddled up. She was relaxed, I was relaxed, and she moved out as lead horse for most of the ride.

Then we get to the good part. There's a sandpit with swallow nests. Those who have been there know it's a small area, but it's very steep in some parts. And it's sandy. Sand is loose. Ok... that said..... I will continue on.

My friend, Jamie, was the brave soul last time I was out there and she took Cherokee up a slope and over the top that you had to step up about two feet to get over the edge. We followed that day and I was tickled to death. So tonight the four of us rode in there and I thought I'd do that again! YEAH! lol

Only! I don't know if Janie suspected that that particular route was unsafe or what, but she headed up the slope I guided her to and instead of going what I thought was "the easy way" she instead headed straight where I had initially pointed her and went up what I thought was THE HARDER WAY! And we did it twice. :-)

Here I have a beautiful young horse who has the brains and athletic ability to take you safely through something like that. I have NO doubt this horse would be a blast at Whoa Cripes or any other extreme trail I would find.

When we got back to the trailer I rubbed her down completely and gave her the biggest hug I could muster. She truly gave me the best gift I ever could have asked for tonight. The pictures aren't clear because the sun was going down and we were down in a valley. But I will cherish them nonetheless.

2009 Lancaster County Fair

2009-08-09T21:11:00.002-05:00

Vanessa and Annie executing the gate to go on to win Reserve Champion in Elementary Trail!

The best old horse in the world waiting for his turn at the Working Ranch Horse portion of the Fair!

Vanessa and Spike showing off one of the three trophies they won at the Working Ranch Horse show. They won Goat Tying, Working Cow Pattern I and got Reserve Champion in Working Cow Pattern II. One of the COOOLEST parts of the show was the fact that they caught their calf in Breakaway roping. I was so excited I messed up the camera and ended up photographing the ground instead of their ride. :-)

Heather/Dudley and Vanessa/Annie at the 2009 Lancaster County Fair. Pretty girls and pretty horses.

Vanessa and Annie sporting their Trail trophy.

Vanessa and Annie with identical expressions on their faces as if to say "Can we PLEASE be done taking pictures now?"

Makena crashed out. Fair is exhausting!

Vanessa/Rosebud and Heather/Prince lined up for placings after their Reining patterns.

A llama walked by lol. One would think neither Buck nor Jay has ever seen a llama before!

The Capital City Bit and Bridle 4-H Club dirty and tired after a long week of Fair!

All That and a Bag of Chips

2009-07-11T14:28:00.006-05:00

My two best riding buddies and our hubbies headed up to Oak Creek Trail Friday night. There was supposed to be a full moon. Rich and Michael haven't ridden much so we put them on the trusty steeds named Cherokee (the appy) and Rosebud (the paint).

Rich was quite pleased with the fact that his daughter painted up Cherokee with blue handprints on his butt in fine indian style! Rich is part Sioux and he was feeling right at home on his painted appy!

We loaded up our saddle bags. I was riding my 4yo Paint mare, Janie. She's getting quite good at being "pack horse". I had a drink holder and two bags hanging from the horn. I also had a big bag of chips wrapped inside a jacket and tied behind the cantle. Each time we would trot or lope we risked breaking chips because they were making nice annoying shaky-rattly noises on her rump, but she handled it like a pro.

We came to a water-crossing. Jay and Buck flew through. Not much bothers Buck. Rich and Cherokee hesitated slightly but Cherokee went through really well. Marie took Michael up to the limestone and around because we knew Rosebud would take a flying leap over it and figured Michael probably wouldn't be on the top side once she reached the other side!

Prince hestitated so Janie and I walked past them to see if he would follow. She hesitated only slightly then moved forward. I actually thought she was going to walk through, but I was wrong. She took a leap and I'm grateful for prominent swells because I wasn't quite as ready for it as I thought I would be.

Deb had a bit more of a difficult time. Prince has come a looooooong ways in the last few years but he still things that water and mud just isn't worth his time crossing.

The picture tells the story and you can see it on my youtube! Prince was ok, Deb was ok.. albeit she got really dirty lol. But I about crapped when I saw them disappear from sight! It's a good thing this wasn't a river with a current or I'd have been racing down the shoreline trying to find a large limb for her to grab! :-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-gKEF8hfok

Soooooo down the trail we went. I'm not really sure what type of foliage this is on Prince's head, but it makes for a dandy bridesmaid hairpiece. He wore that thing the entire rest of the ride.

At last! we reach the fine burg of Loma! Most famous for the filming location of Too Wong Fu, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmahr (or something like that). It's a really cute town. Other than one day where a dude pulled up waving a gun at me asking "Where's Big Jim?" it's full of really nice people! Actually gun-guy turned out to be nice too, he was just looking for a local fellow who does gun repair. But it was quite an interesting experience so say the least!

Ok, I digress.

Deb had packed two pie-tins FULL of excellent taco-y bean dip. I heard her mention dip and thought I saw her put something in Buck's saddle-bags, but I had NO idea that it was this yummy treat! So I untied the bag of chips from Janie's saddle and we munched to our hearts' content! None of the chips were even broken! :-)

Marie was feeling fine.

Rich reminded me of Prince's fart cloud at the exact moment that Deb wanted me to take a "nice picture" of them.

Betty is the proprietor of the bar in Loma. What a nice woman! She loves when we stop to visit her. She was even telling one of the local guys about the time Jay and I were on the trail and got caught in a thunderstorm. We waited it out in the bar with her while watching the radar on television.

She was happy to see us and gave Jay a nice big zuchini!!!! (how in the HELL do you speel zookini? lmao.. giggling at myself)

Marie is suddenly back in love with her long-time boyfriend, Michael. I must say, he did a damn fine job riding Rosebud for 14.7 miles just to please her. Methinks he's okie dokie.

Buck faked us into thinking he was tired. However.. as always... he was the first one back to trailer by a long shot.

We were getting ready to head out of Loma and make the return trip back to the trailers. It's midnight now and very dark. The full moon is hidden by cloud cover. Oh well!!!!!! Mount up Outlaws!!!!

I always wonder about the rumor of mountain lion and hobo-ghost on that trail though. But I haven't seen either yet! :-)

Jay still has his zooooooookini. I have no idea where it is at the very moment, but he had it then, by gawd! Since I'm the one usually sporting the camera, Jay was kind enough to take a picture of me with the rest of the group. I look like a tiny-person!!!!!! (that's me on the far left) Janie's not a small horse and I'm not a small woman (ok, I'm short... but not small!), but I guess standing next to 16-3 Gus we're dwarfed. I might start calling myself my own mini-me.

It was a beautiful ride back. The fireflies were out in full force and I got to see the moon briefly at one point. Janie was a rock-star and really moved out at a nice long-strided walk. A couple of times I relaxed, dropped my shoulders and head and took a little doze.

Lucky for me the mountain lion and hobo decided not to make an appearance during those times.

We got back to the trailers around 3:00 a.m. but I got to spend some really quality time with my horse and good friends.

The Need for Speed

2009-07-05T23:50:00.005-05:00

My first car was a 1969 Ford LTD. It was a puke-green color, but the back seat served as my "tack room" and it had an 8-track tape player BUILT IN TO THE DASH! YEAH! I think I wore out three cassettes each of Eagles Hotel California and Boston "Boston" in that car. The coolest part was that it had glaspacs???? which I'm told are mufflers that make a super neat noise. I wasn't real sure about that.. but I did have to carry a spare can of gas and jumper cables wherever I went. :-)

I spent a couple of years driving a Ford Escort. Yee freaking Haw. But it did get good gas mileage back in the day when we thought that $.79 per gallon was expensive.

Then........... omg......... I found the car of my dreams... or so I thought. Rambling along in South Omaha, I stumbled across a small car lot that had a 1974 ultimately teal-blue Camaro. YEAH! I dragged my brother up to check it out and I paid the $1,500 dollars and brought that heap home. I looooooved that car!

I had that car for several years before my ex decided it was too antiquated for his rapidly increasing social status so we sold it to a neighbor kid and he found me a 1984 PERFECTLY blue awesomely lovely 1984 Camaro.

I must hand it to my ex that although he hated me, he did appreciate some of my eccentricities for a while.

Due to some very unfortunate and very bad-karma circumstances (a guy backed into Jay's truck and I chased him down), I killed my 1984 and cried my heart out for months over the ordeal. Luckily, the car didn't kill me in the accident because I came out with just a few bruises, two black eyes, and stitches in both knees. My car was totalled. It does make me wonder why everything bad that happens seems to be something that involves Jay. But that's another story!

Sooooooooo I headed back to the lot for a replacement. I found a perfectly gorgeous 1989 model but in a color that didn't thrill me. A week later when I went back for some warranteed maintenance I looked down the line and there was a blue Camaro that was shouting "You are a week late and you miiiiiiiisssssssssssseeeeeeeeeeeedddddddddddddddd meeeeee!" Yep, I did.

(only in maroon color although this is MUCH prettier)

But the maroon car was a screaming bitch and I had one hell of a time with her. Unfortunately, I succumbed to testerone influence and traded her in for a truck for my "new love". How stupid of me. As a result, the man in my life then drove an awesome huge beautiful black Chevy Truck and I settled then for a P.O.S. Toyota Celica that was cute but did NOT function well on anything but clear clean pavement (some day I'll tell you about my snow-driving experiences.... the Camaros always got me through).

...... Ok, I digress.

Tonight a friend showed up in his 19-something Iroc. I didn't even think to ask him the year because I was drooling and wetting my pants so bad as I was circling her and peeking in the windows. My daughter and a friend of mine separately offered to wipe my mouth because I was beside myself with awe.

I was afraid to even touch the machine. But I did.
I peered through the window.

I gazed at the beauty.

Then............ the friend who owns the car said "the keys are on the seat". That's all it took.

I got in. I sat there. I adjusted the seat thinking "I'm home". I adjusted the mirror. I looked at the keys. I put the keys in the ignition. I fired her up.

Bye now (vroooooooooooom) :-)

I backed out of the parking lot and thought I was just going to go around the block. F! the block, I headed out of town.

I got her up to 90 with much more left. Since the totalization of my 1984 I'm extremely hesitant to push the limits... so 90 was my limit but I sooooooooooo wanted to just keep flooring it and keep going. I'm such a chicken!!!!!!!!!!! I now leave the speed up to the horse because they have a brain when mine fails to think rationally.

I drove three miles out of town a lot faster than Buck, Janie, Jay and I got two days ago lmao. And it was AWESOME!!!!!!!!!! To feel that kind of horsepower under you is an incredible feeling and there was so much horse left above that 90 that I was beside myself wanting to push to the next level.

I turned around at an intersection and headed back to town. I tested the limits again on a straight-away and took her back up to 90 again. Ohhhhhhh to have a nice flat run where I could push it further... but alas... I had to back down.

I passed a friend's house and honkhonkhonked! I stuck my little hand out and waved as big as I could! :-) I'm sure she wonders "who is that maniac in that black Camaro???? (hee hee) it was me and I can't wait to tell her.

I rolled back in to town and turned into the lot. I then learned that I am only the third person who has ever been allowed to drive that car and I was positively BEAMING!

Horses and horsepower. The need for speed. I think I must have a death wish lmao... but man it sure gives me one hell of a thrill even at the puttery speed of 90.

Gawd, that was fun.

Circle T-P Ranch on the 3rd of July

2009-07-04T09:56:00.012-05:00

I think my sister-in-law is related to Larry the Cable Guy! Ok, she's not, but I have to laugh when a friend compared this situation to the entire City of Lincoln rearranging the 4th of July Holiday because of his concert.

My s-i-l is a doctor. She's a very good doctor! and she works hard and many hours. She is on call on the 4th. Sooooooo my brother asked if we could have our family 4th on the 3rd. Ok... got nothing else planned since our trip for some extreme trail-riding out west got put on hold. Sure, we'll do that.

Vanessa worked all day with Mom making chocolate-dipped strawberries, decorating a cake, peeling cucumbers, cleaning the patio furniture, etc.

Jay and I decided to ride two horses to town. Perfectly marvelous idea other than the fact that we didn't think of it sooner. Heck it's only four miles... we can be there in less than an hour.

So we saddle up and we're trotting trotting trotting. Ok, Janie and I were trotting trotting because Buck has such a fast walk you HAVE to trot and sometimes lope to keep up with him! I swear he's not QH but some gaited variety. He's such a funny guy.

On the way we realized, oops, it's five miles, not four. We never think about the mile back north when you get the four to the west. Oh well. We were only 45 minutes late :0). And not EVEN that late because my middle daughter drove up just as we were a block away! Heck, we're not late! But I SWEAR we rode faster than five freaking miles an hour. I'll bet Janie would agree with me.

We rode through the back entrance of the place and tied off to a tree. The horses seemed content there, got a drink, munched some grass, and then stood with legs cocked.

I took some pictures in the yard. Dad had the fountain running. He built it himself and it's such a soothing touch off the back deck. In addition, I was reminded of the swarm of bees he captured a couple of weeks ago! A swarm appeared and because Dad used to be a beekeeper of 400 hives, he gathered them up and put them in a hive of their own in the back yard. I had to get pretty close to get a picture of the guards by the entrance. Bees are truly an interesting society.

"Yay let's go and get some fireworks!" shouts my brother. (head cocks around) fireworks? I thought we weren't going to do the full-blasting thing we usually do. I just came to eat! "Nope" I'm told. (sigh) ok, my horses have been in holiday parades with people shooting off fireworks, they'll be fiiiiiiiiiiiine.

And they pretty much were. Some of the screechers and big boomers that caused Janie's head to come up pretty high, but she stood her ground and didn't pull back. I knew my brother had bought a giganto 300shot booming thing, so Jay and Dad drove back to our place and brought the trailer so we could put the horses in there so Janie could munch on some grain and hay without me worrying she'd pull back on her rope and flip herself over. They were cozy little kittens in there all night. It was good practice for them should I ever decide to attempt mounted shooting HA!

I got to see my grand-puppies! Zoe is THE cutest little corgi and I can't wait to puppy-sit! Ziggy is probably the most handsome weimeraner I've ever seen. He's only 7 months old and he's huge already. He's going to be a big boy! He's a little "dim" and he reminds us all very much of our viszla, Bronc, that passed away a few years ago. It's a sweet memory to look at Ziggy and his antics and remember Bronc.

Zoe was pretty interested in the horses. She wouldn't get too close, but I was worried she'd get more and more brave so held tight to her leash.

Soooooooo we ate, we shot off fireworks and then it started to pour rain. I had really been looking forward to a night-time ride back home, but I was glad we had the truck and trailer at 10:30 in the rain.

It ended up being a nice night with the family (and Larry's sister lmao). My 4yo niece is cute enough to squeeze to pieces. And she's SO smart! It was a hoot to sit and listen to her comments.

"That firework looked like a hula-girl!" "That firework looked like a firework!" "Now that's what I call dancing butterflies!" Now if I can just get her interested in ponies ;-)

Funny Farm

2009-06-18T09:36:00.003-05:00

Pretty, pretty lady... but needs to take lessons from Prince in order to stay CLEAN!

Mulberries are yummy!

Hay is yummy too.

Oops... got my foot stuck. Oh well. Cool piece 'o hay, huh?

Got my head stuck in hay. (whispers to herself "blah blah blah")

Let me eat these oats and get the hell away from me. moo, snort, grunt, stomp, head-butt.. ok fine, pull that icky hair off me... aw yes, that feels pretty good actually

My Girls

2009-06-13T20:20:00.003-05:00

These are my girls. These are my beautiful and talented girls. They are unique from one another and yet so similar.

One less-than-kind person commented a while back that my horses mean more to me than my daughters. When I watched my girls together today, all I could do was beam with maternal pride and love.

They weren't competing, they weren't being fawned over for individual accomplishments, they were merely being sisters with love, hugs, and laughs that makes my heart nearly burst with pride and happiness.

Some higher power chose the best of me to pass on to them and left the crap on the floor. THANK YOU HIGHER POWER!

Because......... these are my girls.

I'm a Banana.

2009-06-11T10:28:00.004-05:00

It STILL makes me laugh.

Aw, Shit!

2009-06-03T10:44:00.003-05:00

You know it's going to be a bad day when your piece 'o fluff dog runs in from outside, shakes shards of poop all over the bathroom floor and then turns his butt to you for help because a huge wad of poop is stuck to his butt hairs.

Then you place him backwards between your knees over the toilet with scissors in hand and lean over to try to find the best place to start snipping. Naturally the stench wafts straight up into your face assaulting your newly awakened senses first thing in the morning.

You puke over the top of him, brush your hair out of your eyes and continue to maneuver scissors between feces and rectum hoping you don't take a chunk out of tender flesh and praying you don't stab the turd thus releasing a fresh wave of aroma.

Yep... it's going to be a good day (sarcasm)

OR! I could be optimistic and say "If I can deal with shit like this first thing in the morning, all the rest of the bull should be a cakewalk." :-)

Spike's Little Clone

2009-05-17T08:12:00.003-05:00

I've always said Maggie is the spitting image of Spike so I took some pictures tonight.

The sun was going down so the lighting isn't the best. And please disregard the white crap all over them. Jay decided a dusting with Sevin would keep ticks off them. I think he overdid it just a tad. I hope I don't have dead horses outside right now.

Anyway... This was the first time Spike actually "met" Maggie. He wasn't totally thrilled about it, but he let the baby eat out of his tub. Hers was RIGHT there, but I guess his looked yummier!

Brushing and Clipping and Loading!

2009-05-16T17:39:00.005-05:00

It's a beautiful day in Nebraska. It's a perfect day to take a nice long ride. It's also a perfect day to drag colts out and play.

My goal was to snag up my sweet yearling filly and really play with her. She had other ideas. What a brat. I never did get to her, but tomorrow's another day. Instead, I took the first horse who came to put her head in the halter. And that was my pretty palomino filly named Sage.

I brushed and combed Sage until I could get all the loose hair off her and got the tangles out of her long luxurious mane. It's down past her shoulder and it's gorgeous. I clipped her bridle path and one foot. That was about all she could stand lol. Then I worked on trailering. We'd get half-way in and that was all she wrote. I was home alone and we were at a stand-still.

Hubby pulled in and helped me for about three minutes until my best bud and her daughter pulled in. Hubby made out like he had been working for HOURS and this "mare" wouldn't listen. Deb asked if I wanted help. Well sure! if you got a few minutes!

And that was all it took... just a few minutes with two of us encouraging Sage to load and unload.

Sooooo I gave Sage a treat and turned her back out to the pen.

My next victim was the little rescue Arab we call Mike. When we picked Mike up from his foster home they told me he was "a little wild". He's ornery sometimes, but he's not wild. He had huge snarls in his long mane that took me a while to get out. He very obligingly let me trim his bridle path. Then he walked over the bridge with me with little fuss. He's such a freaking puppy that we had to have a talk about personal space a few times. But he is so eager to please and loves the attention so much that he'll do anything you ask.

He has only been in a trailer once. That was the day we brought him home a year ago. You would never know it because he jumped right in today. He's a funny goofy guy and I think he'll be a lot of fun to watch evolve.

I turned him loose and sought out my next victim. I tried to get Maggie the yearling again, but she was having nothing to do with me today... brat. But what's this? My fearful wonderfully-bred Arabian, Tres, came up to me. I clipped the lead on him and opened the gate.

Well hell (lol).... this dang colt will NOT cross the invisible gate-line to leave the pen. I hollared at hubby to come help me. No-go says Tres. Ah ha! Mr. Blueberry came seeking the halter. We tried leading Blue over the invisible line in hopes Tres would follow. Nope. We tried taking Tres sideways across the invisible line. Nope. We tried waving a halter behind Tres to get him to cross. Nope. (sigh) Ok. At least he was willing enough to follow me UP to the fence so I took advantage of him letting me pet and rub on him inside the pen.

And since Blue was then haltered for use to try to get Tres out.... we took him instead.

This colt is really really pretty. He's actually my Dad's colt, but I've always liked him. I'm told stories that he was a hellion as a yearling. I was told that he was jumping over panels, trying to breed his mamma and had a halter growing into his face. You would NEVER know that by working with this guy. Dad took an interest in him and I give all the credit to his gentling to Dad. This horse wasn't a rebel. He shows no signs of aggression. He goes along with whatever you throw at him. I think he was scared shitless and opting for fight and flight in the rumored stories.

Look at him. Somebody missed out on a really nice horse. Dad saw it and now he's here with us. Cute cute CUTE!

I brushed him all purdy and then flicked on the evil clippers. Pshaw.... now he has a nice pretty bridle path. He leads like a dream and we worked on setting up for halter and showmanship. Gosh he's sure pretty. It's too bad we don't know his lineage. I'm told he's grade... but what the hell. The horse has a good mind and that's more important to me than papers. He had only been loaded once or twice in his life and he hopped right in the trailer like nobody's business. What a good boy.

We went to catch Maggie again. UGH... what a brat! I didn't want to give up on catching her, but here stood Rojo eager for his turn.

Rojo is full brother to Sage. He's short, he's stocky, and he's smart. But he makes you work for things. I brushed and brushed and got him all purdy. Then I got the clippers out. He didn't mind until I moved them toward his bridle path. Argh... you want to argue? I'll argue. It took me the longest to do his... BUT! he is the ONLY one who let me clip his muzzle! So he earns extra points for that.

Then Hubby took him for a stroll over the bridge and he did great. We hadn't worked with trailering with him for a long time either, so in we went. His first trip in was near perfect. And he backed out nicely too. The 2nd trip in wasn't so perfect and he held tight with front legs in and back legs out. He must have stood there like that for a good 15 minutes. Finally I put a shoulder into his butt and he hopped in. We gave him a treat once in and let him stand there for a while. He backed out very well and he got big neck-hugs that he likes and he was done for the day.

I regret not going back after the brat... and I worry that I freaked Tres out trying to get him to leave his safety zone... but there will be another day for those too.

I think Wink was a little put out that I didn't play with him. But he's got a lot more ahead than I wanted to fiddle with today.

All in all, it was a very productive day with some babies I hadn't messed with in a while. I'm dirty and hairy and my fingernails are black from the good ole dirty I hand-groomed off these babies. One weekend when I came back from college I came bopping into the house all happily dirty from horseplay and my Mom said "It's like when you were a kid... coming home happy and dirty." Yay!

And, as always, I catch Hubby doing something hubby-ish. Instead of walking OUT of the trailer to retrieve his drink, he opts to squeeze his manly shoulders through the trailer window. Men... (sigh) ya gotta love 'em.

Wallie The Goat

2009-05-09T18:56:00.003-05:00

Thursday night Raye arrived at Nate and Jamie's around 10 p.m. Jamie called and said "Your goat is here!" Soooooooo Jay, Dan, Clarissa and I tossed a large wire dog crate in the back of Dan's truck and motored over there. Nate was busy making shadow bunnies on the side of the barn with his flashlight while we tried to get to know Wallie sitting on the ground there in the dark.

We were going to load him in the crate, but noooooooooo! Raye turned to Clarissa... handed over this 50 pound nine-week old goat and said "Just take him in the truck with you!" It wasn't that we had much choice... Clarissa was suddenly in the back seat of the truck and I was crawling in the other side laughing! Omg... we laughed the entire way home as Wallie sat on Clarissa's lap! Sooooooo! when we got home we put him in the barn in this nice big crate with some food and water.

(this pic was taken with my cellphone, but there's a goat between these two!)

We checked him the next morning and he seemed fine. Vanessa was at G-ma's and she couldn't wait to meet Wallie! We were a little concerned about him as we pulled up after the Mother's Day ride because he had been in the crate all day.

Um... guess again! We pulled in tonight and heard some "baa-ing" and the little turd was out in the yard looking around for someone! Vanessa jumped out of the truck and ran over to him. He let her grab him and pick him up. She set him on the ground and ran away and that danged goat ran and followed her everywhere. Up the front steps, tried to get in the house... down the steps... around the yard, everywhere.

Then.... well hell... it was time to put him away so Vanessa could get in the shower and get to bed. That freaking goat is out in the barn now BAAA-ING (notice the capital letters) BAAAAAAAAA-ING (notice the larger font) because "he's lonely". When Ness walks into the barn and sits beside him, he's ok. As soon as she walks away he cries like a baby. Omg. Now... ordinarily (as in with a puppy) I'd give in and say "fine, bring him in with you and he can sleep on the floor next to you". But can you really do that with a goat???????? Pry not! So he's out there crying his little goatie-eyes out. I told Ness she could camp in the barn. If I didn't have to work tomorrow, I'd camp with her. Jay's having a fit at the idea... soooooo poor Wallie will have to learn to bark with the dogs for tonight. I hope the neighbors can't hear him lmao.

But he's REALLY REALLY CUTE! and Ness looooooooooves this new little goat! This is going to be fun lol.

Heck, he may even hop in the truck with us tomorrow to go to the show!

2009 Annual Friday Before Mother's Day Ride

2009-05-09T17:58:00.007-05:00

Mom and Dad rode the entire 14.7 miles! WOO HOO!!!!! I'm sunburned and happily sore. They were going to go home and soak in the tub. Mom was so cute. She is so accepting to anything I tell her. She was a little worried that she would be the only one wearing a helmet. HA HA HA I said.... noooooo no no no... you won't be the only one... TRUST me on that. And she toted that thing the whole day. I felt bad for her about 3/4 into the ride because I knew she was feeling the pain... but she was a trooper. And I think she's pretty danged proud she did it.

When we got back, Deb and I were whining about our sore spots... then Deb said "Here we are whining and your Dad isn't whining a peep." So she went and asked him how he felt. He kinda groaned and nodded and said he was sore.. but he didn't whine!!!!!! HA! Cuz, ya know... there's no whining in horses! :-D

I learned there were a total of 128 riders.

Naturally, I didn't get pictures of everyone. I didn't even SEE my friend "TV" until we crossed the big bridge at the end of the ride. Heck, I didn't even see my HUSBAND other than the beginning.... the middle... and then the end. And not even then so much as he was having too much fun socializing with everyone! Vanessa found a gold horseshoe and the gift bags are GREAT! Thanks to those who donated! Deb made me laugh like she always does. Delisa said my butt looked good in these jeans (lol).

Terri was kind enough to hang with me the first half of the ride to help watch out for Ma and Pa. It was great riding with her. I only get to see her a few times a year, and it's like we've been friends all our lives. We missed our other friend, Colleen... but we talked about her! Terri's horse, Donovan, is a sweet guy.

Oh! Vanessa is completely in love with Tanya's Cinc. She even swept him away after dinner and rode him around bareback for a while. She threatened to sneak LG into Tanya's trailer and take Cinc and see if Tanya would notice the difference. I must admit... I really like Cinc too and would be thrilled to have that boy in my herd. Judging by this picture, it appears Jay's liking the scenery too! HA HA! One cool thing about my friend, Tanya is the fact that while she's so pretty, she's such a fun nut that we just can't hate her for being beautiful. :-) Besides.. I have pictures of her climbing out of a dumptser (snort!)

Janie started out pretty high and excited but she was steady and reliable on the 2nd leg of the trip. She and I even went trailing on our own when I told Ma and Pa to stay up on the limestone on the way back in some areas. She did me proud. One step closer to perfect, right?

It was great seeing everyone. I spent some time with Marie and her family after the ride. Her G-ma is a hoot and her Mom and Aunt are hysterical. Aunt Amy arranged for a horse for Marie's Mom to ride.... but she failed to tell her he was just a 3yo. Julie rode that horse like he was seasoned because she didn't know any better... and he went along with it!!! lmao. "sisters" (snort)... ya gotta love 'em. That just goes to show ya... a lot of it is in how you anticipate the ride will go. I thought it was most cleverly funny! :-)

I'm sunburned and sore today and it feels great.

Janie

2009-05-06T18:41:00.004-05:00

Most of you who read this know about my Johnnie horse and his horrible demise. It was something I never want to go through again, but his passing has led us to some other horses with great potential.

Enter Janie. I'm sure I was emotional and overwrought when I saw her standing at a local sale just two weeks after Johnnie's death, but there she was and she reminded me SO much of Johnnie that I wasn't about to let her go to someone else for a mere $250.

She's very nicely bred with Obvious Prophet as her grand-daddy. She's pretty sweet, but boy does she have some issues! We've had her for 15 months now and she still has fits when I touch her ears... BUT she's much much better about her feet. There were many times when I'm certain she was hoping my brush or carrot-stick were my head when she lashed out with those hind legs.

She had a big bump on her face when I first met her and we were told they had some trouble trailering to the sale. I didn't ask for further details, but it made me wonder. Heck, she loaded fine into my friend's 3-horse slant to bring her home. Maybe it was the drugs? lmao.... dunno.

Soooooooo... over the year we've ridden her, gotten bucked off... realized that she did NOT like a bit or headstall put on. We backed down to a bosal, but the first several times we had to unbuckle the headstall to get it on her.

Once it was on, she was ok, but she was pushy with her head.

She and I had an episode where I got over-confident and hopped on her bareback next to the trailer. The tack-door was open and we skittered into it... it caught us (I swear to everything I find holy, that trailer door is out to get me) and off we went in a bareback buckfest with me stupidly grabbing on with spurred feet trying to hang on. That didn't work.

I must admit I stepped back and took a second look at her and I had some hesitance wanting to get back on her.

Enter, hubby Jay. He's a cowboy from years and years of being put on green stuff from a young age and his testosterone led him to take on Janie as his own. He worked quite a bit with her and took her out on quite a few trails too! That's all grand and fine other than he broke his ankle in January of this year, and he doesn't trust that lack of strength yet to start working with her again.

Sooooo here I go again (snort). I've been playing on the ground a lot with her over the winter. I got her to let me stick my fingers in her mouth.. and from certain angles I can touch her ears. She's doing GREAT with her feet too (carrot sticks are a wonder distance tool). The farrier had very few problems with her last week.

Anyway... since I started playing with her, I found myself really wanting to ride her again. She's so dang pretty and I know she can do a lot more than moseying down a trail (although that is one of my favorite past-times). But I just have a feeling that she can grow into something so much beyond that.

After all the ground work and bonding, I decided it was time for me to suck it up and take her on again.

So off we went! Ok, so our first outing last weekend didn't go QUITE as I had planned when she planted me after getting poked in the butt by a dead branch. But the next day on the trail went GREAT!

On that second adventure of the weekend, I had her ponying the 23yo gelding... backing to maneuver in a small area... tiny sidepasses... she was willing to try to take me up a sand cliff, and she bounded up a smaller steep trail as eager as you please! Then she came back down very controlled and happy.

She has a very sweet collected trot and she pays attention to her surroundings. She's not "slow" like her former owners led me to believe. I know she has some pep, but she prefers to move along at a fairly nice pace.

I will ride Janie at the annual Friday Before Mother's Day Ride coming this Friday. I'm really looking forward to spending more time with this girl and seeing what we can do.

My Family

2009-05-03T10:51:00.005-05:00

Dad is now retired and spends a lot of time out here with his three horses and gentling all the young horses we have on the place. He's very good at that and he is a lifetime horseman who has taught me a lot whether I agree with all he says or not!

Mom is recently retired and it dawned on me not long ago that she may have felt left out all these years when we were off riding somewhere and she sat on the sidelines and watched. She made a comment that she would go with us if she could ride Spike. It went completely over my head when she said it. It dawned on me several hours later that she was trying to hint that she wants to ride too!

I think it's fabulous! Her mother didn't get her drivers license until age 60... and now my Mom has found a new hobby that has her smiling and giggling and that's not something I've seen a lot from her over the years. It truly makes my heart swell.

I invited her to ride on the annual "Friday Before Mother's Day Ride" that a friend of mine started up several years ago. It's a ride that has drawn over 100 women in the last couple of years. You start in one town... ride approximately 7 miles down a converted railroad track to another town... eat lunch, socialize some more and then ride the 7 miles back.

I told Mom we could have a trailer at the half-way point if it got to be too much for her. She said "If I'm going to do this, I'm doing it all!" That made me smile. But in the MEANTIME she's coming out and riding to get herself into some riding shape before the big one. She's doing great. I've been teaching her some little things at a time and she's a very willing and eager student.

Yesterday we had a debut with a ride at a local lake. There are miles of trails and you could spend quite a few hours out there puttering around. We ended up riding about 2.5 hours. I thought that was a good start and both she and Dad hung in there like champs.

ME, on the other hand.... had an episode with our green 4yo Paint mare within the first 1/2 hour! A sharp stick poked her in the butt and sent her into accordian-style bucking and blowing. I lasted about six jumps (according to my husband) before I lost my seat and gravity took over. I must admit that I consider myself a pro at "landing". Lord knows I've had enough practice in my 47 years of learning horses the hard way. I did bounce my head on something, but I'm not sure it was the ground when I landed, or when I tried to do a back somersault to tuck and roll out of the way of my still frenzied horse.

Anyway... it's all good. The mare settled and stopped with the other horses rather than fleeing the scene (yay). And she stood nicely for me to get back on. And then we rode for another 2 hours! So it was just a random stick-in-the-butt incident that turned out ok.

Oddly enough... nobody was really worried about me lmao!

Oh well! Today we'll try 'er again. :-)

A friend of mine who is a CTR veteran came along and was kind enough to take a family picture of us. Starting from the left is Dad on Sunny (aka LG), Vanessa on my Rosebud, Mom on Vanessa's Annie, Me on Janie! and Jay on good ole Spike.

This photo is priceless to me. My only regret is that it doesn't include my other two daughters. But it's one I will cherish.

What a Good Boy!

2009-04-30T10:32:00.004-05:00

Wink was hanging out watching the action in the yard with my Mom and daughter playing with some trail obstacles. So when they headed out for another round through the field, I snagged up a halter and got the boy out.

I led him over the 4x4, over the planks, over the logs.... then tied on the lead and led him over the steps to climb on. I'm really enjoying this colt. His whoa is getting a lot better and that danged boy walked right over the planks for me without any hesitation.

We still have some "give" issues but not very much. He's bending for me, he's whoaing pretty good, and he even backed a few steps for me with just a nylon halter and some thigh pressure!

Spike squealed at him once and Wink skittered behind me to save him lmao. But that's ok. Spike got over it, and they will soon realize that they will be long-mile trail partners.

I HAD A FREAKING BLAST TONIGHT! Look at the one picture where Spike and Annie are watching Wink go over the planks lmao. I think it's hilarious.

I look like a giant cow riding this tall narrow colt, but he has a lot of growing to do and I plan to shrink (gotta stay away from the donuts smothered in strawberries and cream).

Man, I had fun tonight. Fun, fun fun!!!!!!!!

I Like Your Pony!

2009-04-25T19:57:00.004-05:00

Makena got a pony! Our friends borrowed our trailer last night and made a road trip to surprise their daughter with the CUTEST pony! She's 7 years old (hmmm the pony and Makena are the same age). She has a bit of white hairs on her her withers which tells me she's been ridden more than just a few times.

But she was a little sassy tonight! I'll give her some slack that she arrived late last night and thrown in a shed with horses all around whinnying to her. She's in heat, and she's wondering about everything around her. She's a light on the front-end which I don't like... but we'll change up the bit and see if we can get that stopped with less pressure there.

Ness did a good job riding it out of her before Makena got on. Ness stuck with Makena the entire time she was on this pony to make sure she would stay safe. Makena was THRILLED! In fact, when we pulled up tonight, she came running with a huge grin on her face yelling for Ness to get out of the truck and come see! I am not thrilled about the light front-end, but she came out of it while Ness was riding her.

I'm kinda wondering if they taught her the rearing trick... it seems might automatic rather than aggressive really... but we'll see how it goes. Ness even loped the little turd lol. She's a cute cute pony! and look at the smile on Makena's face.

Yay Makena!

A Cow Riding a Horse

2009-04-22T22:23:00.007-05:00

Ok... so I know I've been on a feeding frenzy lately, but tonight's pictures made me realize that I REALLY need to drop some pounds before my daughter's wedding in September! MOOOO!

However! I had a great night with my Mr. Wink. I brushed him shiny, even with some Show Sheen. I got his tail totally brushed out while we pretended we were ground-tied. Then my friend's trailer was close to being hooked to her truck, so a few cranks set it back down and we practiced loading. He has been loaded twice before in his life. The last time was about a year ago when Dad brought him here. Here's a picture of Wink's butt with resting leg wondering if there's a treat up front!

It took a while to back him out because that was a huge giant step, ya know. But he twisted his head around to look at me behind him and finally took the plunge. Then we petted and loved and we loaded again! He did a terrific job!

Sooooo I led him around some more and took him over to the steps Dad dragged out here to help him in mounting. They are really some cool steps and don't tip over easily like some mounting stools. Although you can't haul this one with you. That would be just a tad awkward lugging them around. But they work great in the yard!

We flexed around, did some figure-eights.

I really hadn't planned on getting on him. It just happened that way. I kept looking at the hard rock driveway and plotting for my dismount.

The closest we came to that was when he decided the hose was much more terrifying when I was on him than when I lead him over it. He whipped around, took a few big jumps and completely forgot what the one-rein stop and "whoa" meant. We struggled for quite a while and he headed toward my friend, Clarissa, as if she were going to save him.

Clarissa stood her ground, gave him the evil eye and stuck her arm up at him. Finally I got his attention a bit again and got him turned around the way I wanted him to go.

Just prior to that when we were making such nice figure-eights I thought "I betcha I could take him out on a trail ride tomorrow!" Ok, so we probably could, but I need to put a much better whoa on him or who knows where we'll end up. Hubby and friends think that if we take three of the older steady horses, Wink will follow along without trouble. They may be right. I'm game to try it. (checks to make sure her health insurance is paid up).

All in all.... it was a spontaneous night with Wink. I hadn't planned to ride at all. I just wanted to play. But gosh.. he was RIGHT there by Dad's mounting-steps and I couldn't help myself. And, really, other than the spinning-bolting-try-to-run-back-to-the-pen episode, he was really good!

This was the first time I have ridden him outside of the round pen.

Hubby says "Next time I want to see you run across that field and straight through the pond."

Uh... yeah. You first. lol

First Rides

2009-04-10T21:19:00.011-05:00

(disclaimer: My regular camera is NOT working properly so the photos here are off my cellphone and taken by Jay-O and not the best quality....)

When I was 16... I rode colts for Dad. When I was 16... I rode colts because I wanted to ride those dang colts! When I was 16 I was a lot dumber and a lot braver.

Nowwwwwwww.... I'm not claiming I'm any smarter now, but 30 years later... but I find myself with a really nice bunch of colts. And guess what? I'm riding them! I will admit that I've armed myself with a bit more knowledge and take things a bit slower than I did when I was 16. And it's working.

I have a really nice herd we call the A-Team. They consist of some very nice show mares, some excellent old speed/rope geldings, and they are all just really good all around go-to horses as well.

Then I have the B-Team. Over the last couple of years, I've picked up some really nice young horses. There are three 3yo geldings. Two are mine, one is my Dad's. Then I have three 2yo babies... of which two are Arab geldings and one is an adorable Palomino filly by a horse a friend owns. The 2yo Pal and the 3yo Sorrel are full siblings from a friend's stud who I admire implicitly. These are two of the last offspring he had before my friend decided to geld him. I'm am honored to own these colts.

Tonight I got home from work and went to the house just to decompress after a long week at work. I was sitting at the computer vegging out when some friends pulled in. My own 12yo daughter was at my folks's house spending time with Grandma. But her best bud came over with her Dad and came in to the house to see what I was doing.

The "guys" were supposed to go to the saddle club to work on the new arena, and this young lady sure wasn't looking forward to hanging out over there. So I asked her "Do you want to play with colts with me?" "Sure!" she said. So we went outside, gathered up tack we wanted and headed to the round pen.

I let the horse choose me. My Poco Bueno gelding, Rojo chose me first. And I'm glad, because it's his turn anyway.

He has been saddled and he has done ground work. One thing he HATES is when I bounce around him. So we had a little session on bouncing when he couldn't run away from me. It took less than a minute before he stood still, sighed, and looked at me. Yay!

He saddled up fine and we longed a bit with the saddle and an O-Ring. No problems there.

Sooooooooooo.... I was in the round pen... just Rojo and me. We saddled up.. I bounced around. I got on. That stocky little red horse was wonderful. We walked and we trotted. No buck... a tiny bit of confusion on what I was asking from the bit, so we'll work on softness there. But he tried his little heart out to do what I asked.

Hubby and Father were down in the yard yakking until they finally realized what I was doing so they came up to watch. Rojo and I demonstrated all we'd accomplished this night. I am SO proud of that Rojo horse. He's smart. Ride #1 was a success.

Dad was happy for us, so I asked if he wanted me to work with his Blue horse a bit. I had already been fiddling with this 3yo from the ground but hadn't been on him yet. So I led Rojo over to where the other colts were chowing down on hay and caught up Mr. Blue.

We showed Dad how nicely he transitioned in his walking, trotting and whoaing on the longe line. We did get some lope, but I didn't push it.

I have been so impressed with this young gelding that I went ahead and tied him to retrieve my saddle. He saddled with no incident. He took the O-Ring fine, although we had to punch some holes in the headstall to fit better, but he took it all in stride.

We flexed, we turned, we walked, we trotted. At one point when we started to trot, he got confused and nearly ran over Dad. I yelled "Watch out!" and we skittered by at a very fast trot. Blue headed straight into a panel and put the brakes on. Thank goodness for the barrel-saddle that fits my butt and legs really nice. That thing helps me balance and hang on. I did tip forward and sideways a bit, but that little colt stopped for me and I regained my center. Then we moved forward again in a nice walk and then some more trotting.

Not a buck, not much of a fuss. And when I dismounted, mounted, dismounted, mounted again... he stood right there with ears flicking listening to me. Ride #1 was a success.

Soooooooooooo for a night where I was starting out just vegging and being lazy, it turned into an INCREDIBLE night of really sweet progression with two of the 3yos that got their first rides tonight.

It just doesn't get much better than this. :-)

I thought poking them with a spoon was bad!

2009-03-23T10:16:00.004-05:00

By the way, it is not DEAD

I would really hate to be the one to try and rescue him. I am pretty sure this qualifies as one of the things that really pisses a badger off!

2009 Nebraska Horse Expo

2009-03-22T11:03:00.005-05:00

Well, another year of Expo is done and it was a lot of fun. Vanessa got to ride in the Mane Challenge competition, the Youth Rodeo and participated in two clinics. One clinic was with Richard Shrake and the other with Julie Goodnight.

Day 1 we got there and I groaned at the work ahead of me getting a Paint horse cleaned up for show. We bathed, we clipped, we banded, we froze our butts off! We must have done a pretty good job though because Mom overhead a guy telling his buddy "See those two horses back there? they are stalled all time because look at how clean they are." WOO HOO! Yep, we must have done a fine job.

Day 2 Vanessa and Annie competed in Western Showmanship and then rode English in the Pleasure class. In classes of 20 entrants, they placed 5th in Showmanship and 4th in English. Vanessa was the youngest rider of the entire group. I was very pleased with how they did.

After the Pleasure class, we had to rush rush rush to get Vanessa back in to Western clothes and get the two speed horses over to the other arena for the rodeo. I already had them saddled, but we didn't have much time in between. In the rushing, Vanessa's nerves shot up. She suddenly didn't want to do Break-Away roping. After some fussing and arguing that it was her idea, not mine... she calmed down and went in. She didn't catch her calf, but she looked pretty good trying! Spike looooooooves that stuff and you can see the determination on his face. I love how his forelock is sticking straight up in fine Don King fashion.

She did catch her goat, but she had a bit of a snag on her dismount that cost her time so she didn't place. But her goat stayed tied! and that was one thing she knew she had to accomplish.

Barrels and Poles went ok with Buck. Buck has pretty much had the winter off to get fat.. and he has certainly accomplished that! They ran clean patterns though and it was a good first time out.

Day 3 was Trail class. It wasn't a horribly difficult pattern, but it wasn't a piece of cake either. There was a lot of precision required. Although they performed their pivots perfectly outside the arena, Ness and Annie had some troubles with it once in the class. They touched a timber in the sidepassing, but everything else was nice and clean. I was surprised she didn't place and went to try to find the judge afterwards to see if I could look at the score sheets in order to see what he saw that I missed. I would have placed her around 5th or 6th probably. Oh well! The judge's word is final!

This was the day they got to fill in a vacant spot in the Richard Shrake clinic. At first I was bored and wondering what he would have them do. It ended very exciting though because after he put the three girls through a few exercises, his assistant took their bridles and had them lunging using their seat and not their hands. I LOVE this exercise because it really does help the girls realize how much they depend on their hands.

He had them posting at a trot while trying to find the beat of the stride with their hands. Then he had Vanessa pretend to swing a loop at a lope. Then he asked her to swing with both hands. Then he asked her to do them opposite directions lol. She was trying and it was funny and then he laughed and said "Ok, that doesn't do a dang thing for you, but I wanted to see if you could do it."

As Vanessa continued to lope on the lunge line he said "Ok, now put your hands on the horn and swing your leg off in a dismount." I saw her head whip around and ask him "WHAT???" but she took another round and attempted it. She miscalculated the stride and the lift of her leg over her pleasure saddle and landed on her butt in front of Annie. Annie stopped promptly as the crowd said "oooooooooo". I yelled "SHE CAN DO IT!" and she got back up there. She started in again and did twice perfectly. The crowd applauded and I was very proud. Mr. Shrake told her "Good job."

Later that night I very successfully embarrassed Vanessa on the dance floor. Oops lol. Heck, I was having fun!

Day 4 we got up bright and early again for Vanessa and Annie to join in Julie Goodnight clinic. I think I got more out of this than Vanessa did. I liked listening to Julie explain why we ride in the positions we do and how to change what we're doing wrong.

When that was finished, we ran back over to the main arena because our friend Dan was going to ride Spike in the Stake race. It was AWESOME! 23yo Spike FLEW and rocked the house. They got the fastest time earning 1st place points for the Quarter Horse team. I was so proud of them. I was jumping up and down screaming as they were running to the finish line. That old boy still has some wheels.

The Awards for the Mane Challenge resulted in the Paint team that Vanessa was on to get 3rd place. The Quarter Horse team got 4th. The Paint team had 32 points, the 2nd place team had 33, and the winnig team had 34. It was very close.

I'm thrilled for the 1st place team because a young man who was obviously not as comfortable as the rest being in this competition helped them to win it. I think he was trying hard not to beam with silly joy lol.

It was a long, exhausting, and wonderful weekend full of horses, friends, and laughs. I'm looking forward to 2010.

The Dogs

2009-02-28T17:52:00.006-06:00

It snowed last night. On average we got probably 3" of snow. Some areas drifted in to maybe a foot. Not so bad really. The big dogs were blasting through it playing and scooping up bitefuls as they ran.

Shaddick, the Doberman, looooooooves to run. And for a short-haired dog, he loves the snow too. He was having a blast. Lou, the Mastiff/GSD, doesn't mind the snow at all. Shaddick tried to get him to play.

Chandler is my tiny Yorkie. He weighs about 4.5 pounds soaking wet. Ordinarily I don't let him out while I'm doing chores because his focus is being near me and he's not very smart about staying out of the way of hooves.

He had snuck out when I left the house. The snow kept him on the deck for quite a while. At least I knew where he was at all times because he was barking at me.

I was filling a water tank when I realized the barking had stopped. Hmmmm. I turned toward the house and found Chandler trying to get to me. LOLOLOL... I felt bad for him, but he was so determined he ran straight through a drift and got stuck! I couldn't help but laugh at him.

Finally he couldn't get any further so I scooped him up and set him on the ground next to me. He looked so pathetic and cold that I took pity and unzipped my coat. I stuffed him in between my outer coat and my bibbies. He rode there for the next hour as I finished chores.

By the time we finished, he had stopped shivering and had slid down far enough that I could barely see him.

Trolls

2009-02-24T20:01:00.009-06:00

Most hardcore trolling is mocking people for being, well, human beings who dare to do things trolls find unacceptable, like be female, have hobbies, grieve dead loved ones, or have the audacity to have more fun in life than they do.

Yes, sometimes I'm ridiculous... and yes, sometimes I'm sad. Sometimes I'd even go so far as to say I'm ridiculously sad! But I'm certainly not sad enough to go around posting rude remarks about people while hiding behind an anonomyous moniker. Pot... kettle... black.

Why am I writing this, you ask? It seems I got my first fan mail yesterday on a post that was really designed from the realization that my three daughters have grown up in a blink of an eye. My two older daughters are in their 20s and have their own lives in which they prefer to remain private. My youngest daughter still lives at home and is a huge part of the horse-side of this family.

Nowwwwwwww... one may think "Hmmmmm this blog is all about horses!" Why yes, it is!! This blog was inspired by several hundred of my fellow horsewomen friends with the idea of posting my silly stories and adventures about horses in my life. It wasn't created to brag about how my oldest daughter is a successful architect, or that my middle daughter is in her third year of college majoring in actuarial science. No... it's about horses in our lives and how happy I am that my youngest daughter is able to share that passion with me.

Now, because someone who seeks out my blog in a lame attempt to find something to pick out as ammunition (for what.. I have yet to unveil), I suddenly have fan mail! WHOOPEEEEEEEE!

This is really quite flattering!

What I find most interesting is the fact that I would never even consider writing something rude like that to or about someone else. Yet, here we have someone who obviously can't read or interpret the English language. I put lots of pictures in there for people like that... but sometimes not even that helps.

Horses happen to be a bond that allows the three members of this household to do things they enjoy TOGETHER as a family. If that's so wrong, then yes.. I must be ridiculous and sad. I rather doubt it.

Growing and Growing Older

2009-02-21T13:13:00.007-06:00

I just recently learned that my oldest daughter is getting hitched. She is in love with a very nice young man and I'm thrilled for her. It's bittersweet, however, because it made me think about how old I'm getting and how fast my girls have grown.

My youngest will be 12 years old next month and while I was looking at some old pictures today, it dawned on me just how much she's grown in just the last few years. I'm so very proud of her and she's growing into a beautiful young woman. But, again.. it's bittersweet because I know that "tomorrow" she'll be announcing that she's off to get hitched as well.

She and her closest friend are really turning in to beautiful young women and very capable young horsewomen. When they don't need us anymore what ever will I do with myself?????

I guess I'll wait for grandbabies to watch grow too.

In the meantime..... we will ride.

Herd Acclimation and Dynamics - Fun!

2009-02-14T11:14:00.005-06:00

Oh yeah, Oh yeah... I am THE KING!

Hello? Who are you???

Oh yeah? C'mon Big Boy... LET'S DANCE!

I think I'll just stand over here.... by this tree. Yes, this is a very nice tree and I think I'll just stay RIGHT here!

Hey! Who's that grumpy old guy?

Listen here, boy... if you're smart, you'll stay RIGHT where you are.

Not a problem, sir Mr. Spike. I kinda like it waaaaaaay over here behind this feeder. It's a very nice feeder (munch munch).

Boys.. (sigh).... will you pleeeeease pet me now?

All this drama. I could really use a drink right about now.

C'mon Rojo! He's no fun, DANCE WITH ME!

Goat-Tying and Roping Girlies

2009-02-08T22:20:00.007-06:00

Lancaster County is awesome that they offer clinics such as this. We didn't take one of our own horses, but there were some available for the girls to work on trotting dismounts for goat-tying. I would really like a more intermediate clinic for girls like Heather and Vanessa to attend, but this was FABULOUS for those just learning the tricks.

Jayda was travelling back from her great-grandfather's 95th b-day so she couldn't go, but Makena went with us! Last night Vanessa showed her the method of tying with the goat string. She picked it up in about two minutes. Last night they were practicing on their own feet, and today it was with an actual goat, but the goat Kena had was a dream. They used him just for the little girls because, although not a fainting goat.. he was a lazy goat and liked to just lay down for them lmao. Makena did a really good job today.

Ness and Heather were hitting their bales and dummyheads pretty consistently. One of the instructors (cute early 20s boy who sends them into blushes) spent time with them just on fine-tuning their throws. Jana's daughter, Ashley, had me laughing. She was sure trying hard, but she had a new and stiff rope that was difficult for her to coil. I didn't realize that was the lesson they were working on and I walked over and coiled her rope for her lmao! oops! So after I realized that, then I just tried to be helpful by making suggestions to her. She is so dang cute and she was so funny to watch and listen to. I have no idea why I didn't get pictures of Jana's other daughter, Allison. Allison is one who is so entertaining in what comes out of her face that I think I was just intent on listening to her while my camera sat idle in my hand.

I got a real cute picture of Heather today. She looks so grown up and pretty in cowgirl style. It's not easy to get pictures like that of her because once she knows you're taking a shot.. she'll make a doofy face. I really love this picture of her. Oh...! lol Last night when we were teaching Makena the tie we told her to throw her hands up as soon as she was done. We said "Show us your SUPER STAR!" and we'd all laugh as she would toss her hands in the air. In one shot I had my camera still in one spot and she jumped up when she was done. I hollared SUPERSTAR! and she started to lift her arms. Justy (one of the instructors and a very well-known barrel racer in these parts) was laughing (she kicks Buck's and my butts by seconds when we attempt to run with her). It was really cool.

Shelbert (aka Shelby) who is one of our junior 4-H leaders rode along. She is certainly one very entertaining teen girl. And she is also one girl who I wouldn't hesitate to say "Go pick the horse you want to ride" because I know that girl can ride ANYTHING! She went along and she rode Heather's Cherokee today. She gave Heather some pointers on how to hold her hands softly with slight cues to get him to side-pass for her. Heather listened, and boom... off Cherokee goes sidepassing. That was a really good feeling today too.

It's days like today when it doesn't matter if my own legs are on either side of a horse. The girls I adore were out there learning and having fun. It was great.

My Gawky Pre-Teens

2009-02-07T18:39:00.006-06:00

Nice day. Pulled Wink out mostly because he was so annoyingly attentive and he slipped his head into the halter. I wanted to bring him outside the pen just to hang out with the peeps. Ness led him around a few obstacles in the yard. They went around the "still-not-finished" hitching post... wandered around the well-head past my concrete drunken-man who appears to be flipping people off (but really it's just his jug and cigar). They went across hoses and extension cords, and between vehicles.

Then Ness tossed the lead over his neck, tied it on, and asked for a leg up. Ummmm ok! She got on the off-side... stepped on my hand and got poop on it... and they puttered around the yard a bit with just halter and lead. They did that a couple times and then he decided to toss her a buck. She got through the first one as I shouted for her to just slide off. She got halfway through the 2nd buck as she was sliding off and landed on her feet. He stopped and stood. I walked over... saw he was settled just fine, and told her to get back on. She lifted her leg for me and I hefted her back on. He didn't try bucking again. I walked with them as we went the full way around the house and he was fine.

I took a few pictures. He is totally downhill because they ... well they were downhill. So here I got two tall lanky pre-teens working together lol.... but they did a really nice job.

I grabbed a bag of cotton-balls that were sitting there from some doctoring of warts (gross)... and started to wave them in front of him. He didn't care, but he was holding his breath. My arm about fell off before he FINALLY took a step toward me. He didn't sigh... but he came forward so I stopped and praised him. Then I got the lick and chew. Good boy.

He's going to be sweet.

At one point Ness said "He doesn't move very well off my legs"... but apparently he did because she got him to move quite fast at one point lol.... I told her really does move off your legs and to feel how sensitive he is at this stage. That's a lot easier than having to use a spur or to wear your leg out pounding a dead-side. Light legs, baby... light legs.

He'll get there. And then! he fell asleep while she was sitting on him. Good boy.

Growing Up

2009-02-01T10:13:00.006-06:00

When I was a mere 9-month old baby, Dad took me for a ride on his old horse. While horses are in my genes, that is probably the very moment when they got in to my blood as well. Nowadays, people would cringe at the idea of a baby on a big and dangerous horse. We both survived and to this day horses are still in our blood. I am now 46 and Dad is 66 and we still are both very passionate about our equine friends.

As I grew, I was on the constant lookout for a horse. If we visited someone, I would look to see if they had a horse. If they did! off I went! It didn't matter if that horse was broke. It didn't matter if that horse was big or little... I had to go see it. Driving down the road, I would look at herds of cattle and see if I could spot a horse amidst them. I was addicted.

We had some friends that had a naughty but wonderful palomino pony named Rusty. We spent a lot of time on their farm when I was growing up. The boy who lived there is now married to my cousin. They still live on that place and that place is where my dear Johnnie is buried. I have a lot of memories in the land there.

Rusty taught me a lot. He taught me that although ponies are small... that doesn't make them any easier to get on if they don't want you to. And although ponies are small, that doesn't make the ground any less hard when you hit it! And although ponies are small, they still weigh a lot and have sharp little hooves that will run over the top of you as you are writhing on the ground trying not to cry. You gotta love ponies! lol

One memorable experience I have with Rusty is the night we discovered electric fence that had just been put up. Neither of us realized this until we ran smack in to it. It was dark out. The folks were in the house visiting and as always... I ran to fetch Rusty. It's funny how now I would be a nervous wreck knowing my 6yo daughter was outside in the dark riding off on a cantankerous pony. But they didn't seem to mind! I guess they thought I was occupied and out of their hair?

So Rusty and I were running around in the dark when suddenly he went straight up into the air. The last thing I remember before I went flying was the pretty blue arc of electricity that outlined his perfect fuzzy little ears before I hit the ground. HOLY COW! that smarted.

Rusty was old at that point and he died a few years later. He sure was fun and taught me a lot about horses.

When I was eight years old, Dad told me we were taking a drive. We drove out to the country and on to a place where I knew there were horses. We pulled into the drive and the man was holding a scrawny straggly but BEAUTIFUL 2yo stallion. Dad said "Well? what will you name him?" Omg... he was mine???? He was MINE!!!!! I said "His name will be Rowdy."

That started a whole new adventure in my life. I was in love for the first time in my life and I couldn't have been more ecstatic. I got on him bareback and Dad led me around the place. One interesting note, is that I now live on that place where we found Rowdy 38 years ago.

Rowdy and I had many many adventures. He wasn't broke, but by gawd, I rode him! I rode him everywhere. At first Dad forbid me to get on him when he wasn't around. Yeah, like that was going to work. I was on that horse every minute I had a chance. I rode him with a piece of twine because I didn't have a bridle. I rode him bareback because I didn't have a saddle. I rode and rode and rode. He bucked me off many times, and he bit me, and once he even kicked me. I didn't care.

As we grew older, we grew together. I got a bridle, and I got a saddle, but I still had to ride bareback until I was strong enough to get that saddle up on his back. That took quite a few more years.

Rowdy and I would run errands for Mom. We lived on the edge of town, so Rowdy had a pasture out back. Mom would send us downtown (it's a very small town) to my aunt's grocery store to pick up things. We would trot down the hill and I would tie him to her back fence in the alley. I'd go get the purchases she wanted, bag them up and perform a precarious balancing act on the fence while he tried to master the step-away-just-as-she jumps maneuver.

The picture here of Rowdy is one in that alley. My aunt came out back, took a picture, and had it made in to a calender for me. I still have it.

Rowdy and I went on to try the show ring. There are so many stories that I can't put them all in here at once, but let's just say that he won me and several other young girls our first trophies. Everyone loved Rowdy.

He was pretty much conformationally incorrect, but he would do anything for you. Being a horse, he was pretty good at doing what he wanted if a novice rider was on him. I'd shout his name, he'd look at me... you could see him sigh, and then he'd behave. He was so fun. He had so much personality.

A few years later, Dad brought home 10 Arabs and half-Arabs from Missouri. In that bunch was a 4yo gray mare who became mine. She had never been touched by human hands until we got her. A year later she won Grand Champion Arabian in halter at our County Fair. I had number 124 on that day, and I believe it was Friday the 13th. I still wear #124 at shows. I don't always win, but it's a tribute to her.

She was lanky when we got her and Dad thought she looked like a spider. A friend of ours who was from the Rosebud Tribe in South Dakota told us the Sioux name for black spider was Unktomi. Dad heard it as Icktomia and she was then called Icky for the rest of her time with us.

She went on to be an all-around horse for me. We won at showmanship, placed ok in pleasure, placed well in horsemanship, and she was fast like the wind and we did well in speed events too. We bred her after a few years and I got to witness the birth of that foal. A few of the younger girls also borrowed her for shows after I went off to college.

There are a lot more stories about her too, but I'll save them for another day. In the meantime, let's just say that she was also instrumental in my journey of horsemanship.

There have been a lot of horses before, during, and after these three. These three are special because of the bumps, bruises, mistakes, challenges, and accomplishments occurring in my youth.

Tributes to Rusty, Rowdy, and Icky. You did an excellent job and I thank you.

My Bossman

2009-01-31T18:41:00.004-06:00

There was a man in my life who came to mean a lot to me. He expected a lot and he gave a lot.

7.5 years ago he hired me over the phone without even meeting me. He had the rep of firing "assistants" within two weeks and I was apprehensive about going there. Some co-workers teased him about being the male version of Murphy Brown.

The job title was data-entry at that time and I thought that would be a freaking piece of cake compared to the pressure of insurance sales. Cripes, I could do that in my sleep. Wellllllllll.... it quickly turned in to much more than data entry. In all honesty (and he would agree if he could tell you... I am over-qualified and under-paid).

But, he and I grew to be very close and we were an awesome team. We would argue and fight often but we always knew where one another stood. We would annoy one another to all ends and then turn around and hug because we cared.

He was upset one day in mid-December. He even fired me. I knew he was ticked off... and now I know that he had a lot on his mind and things weren't going well for him. I wish so badly that he would have let me know what was going on. I'm so glad I didn't just walk out on him. I stuck to my guns like I have always done with him and now I hope I'm making him proud by keeping the department running like he wants it run. I have a strong feeling that the day he was that mad at me, he was testing me to see if I would stick it out or run. I'm glad I didn't cave in to that. I know now that he can maybe rest in peace that I will continue his bad-ass diplomatic ways and continue to do well for the job.

His job was his life.

I was angry when he said I need to choose my priorities. I know that MY priorities are my family and horses... and my job is the way I maintain that. I realize now that his job was how he maintained his self-worth and that is what he expected of me as well. Our conflict lay where I don't live for my job, but my job allows me to live for my life. And that makes it all worthwhile.

That was our difference.

I'm still very dedicated to my job and I strive to make him proud even in his death. I will continue to work hard to keep things going as he would have done and sometimes I have to pull the bitch-card to do so... but he was succesful in that position and I will try to carry that on. He would become irritated at the passion I have for my lifestyle, but I know that it's only because he thought it distracted me from what he felt needed to be done for what he required. I have a difficult time with that.

I don't know what will happen now. I believe he groomed me to take his place when he left. We sure never thought his departure would happen this way. I made him a promise years ago that I wouldn't consider any other positions until he retired. I held my part of the bargain and now he's gone. Unless I get the support from higher-management that I need, I will be looking for another job soon. I stayed there for him, and I am highly doubtful I will be considered for his position.

My husband gets upset when I say this... but I don't have a penis. And that dingle-dangle seems to carry a lot of weight (lol that's funny) in the industry I work in. One friend told me I needed a sock. I told her "and a potatoe too". Har Har.

Now he's gone. He can't tell them "Pam can do it!" He can't tell me anything. He can't answer my questions or yell at me down the hall. I can't tell him I miss him.

He was truly a very nice man and he has tolerated me as much or more than Jay has. He has my respect and my love. I'm feeling a bit lost at the moment. He was a rock to me. That rock is now swept under the water and I feel I need to start piling pebbles to build my own rock under my feet.

I really miss you, Big Guy. I will never forget you.

I Always Wanted a Cyster

2009-01-28T18:15:00.005-06:00

Not this kind though. Actually I found I have quite a few "siblings"... although they have no names yet.

About a week and a half ago I noticed a sore spot in my left breast. "Ow", I said as I scrunched my face and waited until I could find a private spot to investigate further. Holy Crap, there's a huge lump in there! Where did that come from and when did it decide to raise its ugly head???

With everything going on in my life, I tried to ignore it. Hubby broke his ankle and had to have surgery on his leg, Bossman decided to die on me, and my life suddenly got really really busy. Who has time to make an appointment. And! I didn't want to distract from the other things going on that were important at the time.

So after things seemed to settle down a bit (a very tiny bit), I got on the phone and called my doctor's office. They wanted to see me right away. Hmmm, ok. That's strange because it usually takes at least a day or two to get in to see them.

So I went in and got an exam. Before the doctor was even finished she said "Ok, which hospital do you want to go to?" WHOA THERE! Back up a bit there, missy! What do mean "hospital"? What's going on?

This particular doctor is of Indian persuasion and sometimes it's difficult to communicate. For instance, when she introduces herself, it's not "Hi, I'm Dr. Blah Blah." it's "This is Dr. Blah Blah." Which I think is kinda funny, but I tried not to laugh.

Ok, I got off on a tangent. So ANYWAY! She's looking at her watch wondering if she can get me in to the hospital that day. Let's just say I'm a little more than freaked out. It was too late for that day so she made arrangements for me as early as she could for the next morning. A biopsy, mammogram, and ultrasound were scheduled.

Holy crap. All this for one tiny little boob.

If you've ever seen the movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" you may remember the part where the main character's aunt tells her new in-laws about her lump. She had a lump and they did a "beebopsee" and took it out. When they took it out they found hair and a spinal cord... it was her twin. My 12yo daughter said "Hey! maybe you have a twin in your boob!" Mmm hmmm, thanks for that!

Anyway, I didn't know if I had to be admitted to the hospital, outpatient, what. I asked her if I could go do this by myself or if I needed my husband to go. With our communication barrier she says "Oh No! your husband can't do this. I can't even do this! That's why I'm sending you to the hospital!".

(sigh).... No No NO.. what I MEAN is do I have to take someone WITH me to these procedures! Ok, so we got through that issue finally.

Then she told me the lump was easy to find because "you do not have the (pause) massive (hand gestures) breasts that some women do". Uh yeah... that's pretty obvious, but thank you for pointing that out!

Since my hubby is still hobbling along on one leg and two crutches I told him he didn't have to go. I would be fine going by myself. Then one hour before I planned to leave work to head in there, I get a phone call that my Dad wants to go with me. No! No! NO! I don't want my Dad in there!!!!!! I know he means well and wanted to be there for me, but I really wasn't in the mood to have him get philosophical about my boobs!!!!!! (groan) So, because he felt that someone should be with me, poor hubby drove himself and crutched in there to meet me.

I always feel guilty when someone has to spend that kind of time on me. He couldn't go in for the mammogram or ultrasound (not sure why), but he did get to come in for the final procedure.

The mammogram showed odd things. But don't you love those little pasties they put on your nipples that have the cute and tiny bee-bee on the end? It would be more fun if they would blink. I had a difficult time getting my body close enough to the machine for it to properly squish my lack of massivity into the clamp. I couldn't find a place to put my face!!!! When I got closer, there was equipment in the way of my head and I was contorted all around just to get it in there. The tech was moving my hips, turning my waist, getting my hair out of the way (shoulda worn my cap), adjusting my arms, pulling my shoulders back and forth, trying to get my tiny boobages lying flat on the platter, and then trying to help me find a spot for my face. I asked the tech if it was easier with bigger ones and all I got was a "huh uh".

In any case, they then shipped me off to ultrasound. I was a little apprehensive when a young man came out to get me for that part. Gawd, I'm not usually shy about my boobs, but my muffin was totally spilling over the tops of my jeans and that just wasn't something I wanted to prance around showing off.

The ultrasound went ok though. The young guy was really nice and made it clear that mine was just another boob and he made sure to keep my muffin covered :-). He confirmed what was suspected and found about eight or nine cysts in that one boob! What the heck???? Two were quite large being a couple-three centimeters large. The picture I saw on the monitor looked like a ghost with two black eyes. I was supposed to get a copy, but we all forgot by the time I left there. Here's a nice example of what I saw today only there were two this size fairly close to one another.

Because cysts are benign, they told me a full biopsy would not be necessary but that they would aspirate the fluid out of the two large cysts. I said "Ok". They were quite painful and they couldn't guarantee that that pain would disappear, so we decided to suck those babies out and make them smaller.

Then to make matters worse, the doctor who came in to actually do the procedure was dang near a freaking Doogie Howser. And to top it off, he was cute too. Argh. Why couldn't I get some wrinkled old guy who had seen more boobs than Hugh Hefner? I had to keep reminding myself that I was merely another 46yo boob on the table and not to be embarrassed. It wasn't easy, but I pulled it off.

I must admit I was a little dismayed in the fact that my cysters were making my breast appear larger and I was quickly about to lose that. But I thought about my smaller and neglected right boob and realized the size difference may throw me off balance for riding, so out they come!!!!!

The worst part was probably the lidocaine they injected prior to actually sticking the looooooong (ok not so long because I do not have massive mammories) thin aspirating needles deep into my breastage. He had to stick me four times to get the two pockets of fluid. Two loads of lidocaine and then twice to aspirate. Then my boob was all swelled up because of all the painkiller in there. HA! The ultrasound guy laughed and said "See? you were worried we made you smaller, and you're bigger!" Har Har.

My best friend has some of those (pause) massive (hand gesture) breasts and she got a reduction a few years ago. We tease her about her 4" lift-kit. They are still marvelously large breasts now and we use them to our advantage. I know that sounds weird, but when we're together, they do come in handy at times.

Now I can say I had a reduction too!!!!! My cysters were basically reduced to two small gaps and with any hope they'll stay that way.

I was told to restrict my activity to "normal use" and then he said "no throwing bales". Well hell, chores ARE my normal use. He nixed that and said to go home and rest. So I did. My wonderful 12yo daughter finished show-horse chores. My friend who boards here showed up so she supervised. It all went well and although I'm sore, I'm happy that it was nothing serious.

Git 'Er Done

2009-01-25T07:59:00.006-06:00

I've recently realized just how spoiled I have been by my husband. It's not that I chose to fall in to this spot, but our schedules turned out to allow him to get home sooner than me and he would always start chores and have them mostly finished by the time I got home. It worked well for those evenings when we had a horse event to attend and then he would have the trailer hitched, horses caught and be ready to go! What a deal for me!

However, two weeks ago my husband slipped on some ice and broke his ankle. Well hell... this is not good! My days of leisure seemed to have come to a screeching halt! After one week of hobbling around on crutches with a broken bone, he went in to surgery and came out with a plate and eight screws holding his foot to the rest of his leg. Waiting on him has reminded me of having a baby in the house again. The constant checking, feeding, changing! (ok, not diapers, but helping him to dress and such) and monitoring have both my 12 year old daughter and me running constantly.

It makes him crazy that he can't help out so he'll perch himself on a chair outside and shout orders to us. We quickly learned to feign deafness because we know exactly what to do and are usually in the midst of that certain chore as he's offering instruction. I guess it makes him feel like he's contributing? Heck, I don't know... but we just go on with our business.

The only part that I realized would be difficult for me to handle was the task of moving round bales. My gawd those things are heavy and non-forgiving. The horses sure do love them though. We are lucky to have bought 50 bales that were cut right here adjacent to our place. But the hayguy just left them out in the field so we take the pickup out, hook a chain on, and drag it to the feeding area. Not so bad if it's 60 degrees out and sunny. A horrifying experience when it's 10 degrees and freezing rain or snow. Boy that chain gets cold on the hands. You have to take your gloves off in order to hook it on. Brrrrr!

So far I've been fortunate to have local guy-friends come over and take care of that for me. Or my Dad struggles to do it. He offered to do it yesterday but he's not in the greatest shape either and it takes forever. He will try to go do it himself before I even realize he's out there. Then he comes staggering in telling me how bad he hurts. What the hell is it with men anyway? Is it bravado to see just how bad you can damage yourself????

So yesterday I told him I had someone coming over to do it. That kept him home and safe. I had fully intended to do it myself when I saw my best girlfriend sign on to the computer. AH HA! maybe her hubby can come and help me! She wrote back that they had the skidloader at the house that day and this would be the day to do it YAYAYAY!

So friend's hubby came over with the skidloader. It's such a cute little thing. Small but mighty! I was a little worried when I saw the back wheels come up from the weight of the bale though. I guess it couldn't have tipped far, but I had never seen one do that before. It was bucking lol.

As I was standing at the far south gate waiting for Rich to come back through, LG became fascinated with the fact that I was standing "over there" and was perked up and staring at Rich and the giant bale. He looked SO pretty there all attentive.

Rich put one bale in for the A-Team and had to beep-beep them to keep them out of the way. I'm sure they thought they were starving. Look who's there trying to snag a bite... IVAN! lol

We put the 2nd bale up behind the colts pen so it will be easy to drag it in from there. Lou found me out in the field and loped around biting snow as we ran along with Rich. It's beautiful outside. Ok, so it's only about 9 degrees.... but I did some running that got my blood flowing. At one point I took off running across the pasture to the south gate. It's been years since I actually ran. Heck, I used to do it for FUN! I started to get out of breath, but since he was driving behind me I cowgirled up and kept running. I was determined not to let him see me huffing and puffing. I MADE IT! Whew!

I needed to get the feeder over the top of the bale and he asked if I wanted him to help me. I pondered for a second and said "yeah". I went over to it and he was still standing talking to my hubby. I got it hefted up (whoof) and pushed straight up as far as my arms would reach. CRAP! I'M NOT TALL ENOUGH LOL! I never was good at math and it dawned on me that an eight-foot feeder was not going to be set on end by a 5-2 chubby woman.

I got it partway and I couldn't push it high enough to get it on end lmao! Rich stood at the gate and laughed at me. I was just kinda stuck there for the moment. So he came over and pushed on the other side so it was on end and could roll it to the bale. I was downhill (dumb dumb) but I'm not so sure I could have gotten it high enough even if I had started from the other side. So he rolled it over and set it over the bale and then I proceeded to remove the strings. Too bad I didn't get a picture of that part! My camera was in my pocket and if had let go with one hand I probably would have lost it and would have had to jump to the middle so it didn't crash on my head.

By the time I was finished with all the chores I had a wonderful sweat going on. I even unzipped my heavy coat to cool off. All bundled up, it felt like it was about 60 outside. It felt great.

Hmmmm I should have weighed myself.

In any case. I CAN do this and it makes me feel great that I can. I'm very grateful for my husband and all the help offered, but I'm even more grateful that I was reminded I'm not a piece of fluff who lets the man do all her work.

I feel good. :-)

OCR John Wayne "Johnnie" May 2002 - January 2008

2009-01-13T20:15:00.006-06:00

From time to time, people tell me, "lighten up, it's just a horse," or, "that's a lot of money for just a horse". They don't understand the distance traveled, the time spent, or the costs involved for "just a horse. Some of my proudest moments have come about with "just a horse."

Many hours have passed and my only company was "just a horse," but I did not once feel slighted. Some of my saddest moments have been brought about by "just a horse," and in those days of darkness, the gentle touch of "just a horse" gave me comfort and reason to overcome the day. If you, too, think it's "just a horse," then you will probably understand phrases like "just a friend," "just a sunrise," or "just a promise."

"Just a horse" brings into my life the very essence of friendship, trust, and pure unbridled joy. "Just a horse" brings out the compassion and patience that make me a better person. Because of "just a horse" I will rise early, take long walks and look longingly to the future. So for me and folks like me, it's not "just a horse" but an embodiment of all the hopes and dreams of the future, the fond memories of the past, and the pure joy of the moment. "Just a horse" brings out what's good in me and diverts my thoughts away from myself and the worries of the day.

I hope that someday they can understand that it's not "just a horse" but the thing that gives me humanity and keeps me from being "just a woman." So the next time you hear the phrase "just a horse" just smile, because they "just" don't understand.

I miss you Johnnie... Rest in peace my friend.

I hope you had the time of your life.

Tall Black Colt - Ride #4

2008-12-13T18:34:00.003-06:00

I suggest that when you choose a personal photographer, make sure he's not one who gets a kick out of seeing you dumb :-)... i.e. me stuck on the panel laughing because I couldn't haul myself back up and still hang on to my horse.

TBC was a good boy today if maybe a little sassy. Let's just say he was feeling his oats. Nothing bad but just a little more energetic than the last few times. He does better with a rope halter than the flat nylon.

He did fine though! And then when we were done, I took his halter off and walked away. He followed me to the gate. I opened the gate, he walked out, got past me... and stopped to wait for me. What a good boy.

Tres Jamaal

2008-12-13T12:47:00.004-06:00

Tres is learning about life on the Krazy B Ranch very quickly. He tolerates things from afar but hasn't yet realized that approaching us means rubs, treats, and attention. He hangs back. But he's assimilated himself into the colt herd fairly well.

I was out there a bit ago and I saw him lay his ears back at one of the dogs. I THOUGHT it was the dred-lock poodle, but when I came and looked at my photos, it was my danged Chandler! who does NOT understand that he can be trampled very easily.

If it had been Rosebud there, Chandler would have a squashie hoof-print in his midsection.

More Mikey

2008-12-13T12:38:00.003-06:00

He came from a dam who was rescued from slaughter a couple years ago. He was born on the 4th of July and the people who foaled him called him Firecracker. I thought he looked like a "Mike"... so there it was. They said he was "a bit wild". Pshaw.

He recently snagged himself on something and nearly lost half his eyelid. We called the vet and stitched it back on. I think it's gonna hold. I left the sutures in longer than normal because I wanted to be certain it had the best chance to take hold. I think there will be a scar, but at least he can close his full eyelid and still has his lashes!

He's a cute little turd and so very tolerant and sweet.

Coltish Ways

2008-12-13T11:18:00.011-06:00

While Ivan and Spike took Clarissa and Dan to Chance Ridge to ride last night, Jay and I got something to eat, came home, and played with colts in the dark. We didn't accomplish much other than petting and playing, but it's always fun to play with the colts.

Tres, the gorgeous young Arab, is warming up to his life here. He's getting better and better about allowing us to approach him and moving our hands over his body. He's definitely going to take a lot more patience than some horses. He's soooooo pretty though.

Little Mags is a ball of fur. She reminds me of a bear rug. When you dig your fingers into her hair, it's difficult to find where the hair ends and her body begins! Jay says she looks like a mule :-). I think she's beautiful.

Speaking of mules, I got a shot of TBC (Tall Black Colt) with Jay. There are bad angles and low light so TBC looks muley and Jay looks like Colonel Sanders. TBC was NAUGHTY last night. As I was petting someone else he came up behind me for his attention. He does that all the time, so I didn't think much of it until I felt teeth grab the skin on the back of my hamstring. HOLY CRAP! I swung my arm around at him and screeched! Jay was laughing wondering what happened, so I walked over and demonstrated to him :-) (hee hee).

I took Mike's band out of his forelock and I really need to take his stitches out today. His eyelid healed FANTASTIC! I'm so happy we tried to save it. I don't think he will have any problems with it at all.

At one point I was standing with Tres, talking calmly and petting him. Somebody kicked the feeder and that set off a chain-reaction in the herd. Great. Just when I was thinking Tres might be trusting me, the entire herd of colts takes off at a dead run through the pen. Naturally his instinct kicks in and he tears away from me. They were gorgeous in the moonlight and I wish I had had my camera out at that time. They circled around and came back toward me looking for the source of the noise. Nobody would go back to the feeder until I walked over there first and then they realized it wasn't going to eat me, so it must be ok.

Rojo was a lover last night. I kept trying to get a picture of him, and the best I got was his face trying to get closer to me!

Red is one cute stocky little thing. I saw him trotting around the other day and couldn't believe the sweet slow collected pleasure trot I was witnessing. I wonder if I caught a glimpse of something or if he was just being collectively lazy. He's sure packed with muscle though. Cute.

The A-Team was across the fence looking for attention. Look at how LG stands... all cocked out and hangin' out like one of the guys. Then Annie is next to him all pretty and standing square, poised like the beautiful girl she is.

Ya gotta love 'em. Today is fairly mild (although the wind just opened our storm door and let the cat in) and I hope to get some good time in with them.

BRRRR-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R

2008-12-09T15:01:00.003-06:00

Ok, so it's not HORRIBLE outside, but it's pretty brisk! The windchill is only about ohhhhhhh 7? above zero?

Long long ago when I was but a wee child I walked home from kindergarten. There was a nice path to the street OR you could take the shortcut through the ditch. I seem to remember snowfalls we got when was little to be much more than the snow we get today. It could have something to do with the fact that I was only 3' nothing tall. I took the shortcut one day and my tiny little legs sunk into the snow. They couldn't reach the bottom of the drift to the ground and the snow was up to my patootey.

I yelled and yelled "DADDDYYYYYY DADDDDYYYYYYYYYYYYY" for what seemed like forever before he looked out the window. We only lived kitty-corner to the school. It must have seemed a lot further in those days if I deemed it necessary to take the "short-cut". He mumbled over to me asking why in the H I didn't take the path!

You know when you are a kid and you KNOW you're stupid and any answer you come up with sounds even more stupid? so you just say "I don't know."? That's all I could come up with. I think that answer is the one answer that most often makes parents crazy... but I understand. Sometimes an "I don't know" that's earns you a whack upside the head is a lot easier than trying to explain how really dumb you are.

That would surely cause the parents to realize they failed in geneology and that I should have been drowned at birth. So I'll settle for "I don't know" and I don't get too upset with my kids when they use it.

TODAY, it is pretty frigid out. My daughter has a decent trek from the road to the house when she gets off the school bus in the afternoons. I've seen worse though. I've lived through worse. She'll be ok. In addition, she's a jock and she's been running it. It just takes her a few minutes.

Dad is beside himself with worry that she will catch frost-bite and is trying to get his errands done so he can get there when she gets off the bus. What happened to this man? Where did the grumbling short-cut curser go? Besides, he's going to make my kid soft, dangit! HA HA!

What I find interesting is that when I was her age, I was helping him haul hay in a flat-bed jeep with no heater and proceeded to get it stuck in deep drifts. Don't think I didn't get the evil eye over that one!

Now, where did I put those coveralls?

How Do You See Yourself?

2008-12-08T20:14:00.009-06:00

My husband and I were at a company function last weekend. A friend brought his new girlfriend whom I had never met. Hubby made some comment about "your twin over there". Once I figured out who he was talking to I guffawed. She's very cute if you like Bratz dolls. I had to laugh because I was dressed to the hilt in business suit, full makeup, perfect hair, and tall black heels. I sure don't see many Bratz dolls in that attire. Maybe if they dressed one up as an attorney-looking image???? dunno.

Most of the time I see myself as a Cabbage Patch doll. Cute, funny, a little floopy most of the time. If I sit too long, I flop over. People like to hug me, and my hair is always a mess.

The image I like to think of myself as is the strong as steel, mean as a snake, don't fuck with me type of woman. I walk around with a pissed off look on my face and little do people know that at any given moment I can burst into a gale of laughter that sails through the noise of a crowded room with the ease of goo through a goose.

If I had lived in the 1800s, I surely would be the woman with the gun. Mean and tough in a way that would make women run and make men step aside in hat-tipping admiration. Loyal to the marrow of her bones and able to dole out vengeance to those who brought harm to her loved ones. Heck... bring on 2009 because that's the way I like to think of myself. :-)

I like the fact that my husband thinks I'm a sexy trampy looking thing at times, but that's really not the image I'm shooting for.

Gimme the gun ;-)

Gotta Have It... WANNA Have It

2008-12-06T01:05:00.004-06:00

For all my riding life, I've hauled around a 2-horse bumper pull trailer and that was GREAT! Dad bought a small blue and white something or other that I pulled the heck out of in my teens and that dang thing is still around. It has been sandblasted, repainted, painted again, the floor replace, a door replaced because a 2yo and I managed to rip it off the hinges and it still keeps on kicking. I've taken it down the road and patched tire leaks with bubble gum.

We since bought another 2-horse bumper pull that is much newer and much taller than my old stand-by, but it still doesn't help when Jay, Ness, and I all wish to go ride together. When we all go, or Ness needs more than two horses at a show that means we hook up two vehicles and hit the road.

Wellllllll that just doesn't make much sense, does it now? Noooooooooooooo! you might say in chorus with my sing-songing.

Sooooooooo! I've been on the lookout for a good deal on an ultra nice big-ass trailer! (grin)

I am convinced that we need LQ because let's face it... when we're at a show there are times when you just need to hide out, plop your butt down somewhere out of the sun, in the cool air, and close the door. In addition, if you wish to drive more than two hours away from home for an adventurous trail-ride, it would be really cool if you could just pull up, hook up, and plan to camp out for the night, relax, maybe ride some more in the morning and then head home! Am I right? huh? HUH?

So here I found the PERFECT trailer for us. It's a 30' long 5 horse with ultimate LQ for a very reasonable price. Jay is ever-so hesitant about spending money and he thinks that we can still get by with the 2-horse and sleep in the bed of the truck. That's fine and dandy with me, but omgosh! I have friends who like to go toooooooo!

So I decided that if I get this trailer, then Deb, Marie, Clarissa, and I can easily fit in the gooseneck bed, the girls can comfortably sleep on the fold-out sofabed and Jay, Dan, and Rich can hear us just fine when they are either in the cab of the truck or in sleepy-bags in a tent outside the LQ door lmao.

So what's the argument???????? Heck! I sure can't figure it out!

He thinks that this is too much trailer to pull with our 3/4T pickup. Pshaw I say. When we first got married he bought a giant 3/4T and I saw no need for it. His reasoning was the fact that someday we may need to pull something.

TA DAAAAAAAAA! Now we have a different 3/4T but it still has the same destiny, right?

In any case (wow, I say that a lot)..... I think I need this trailer. Doo and I look so good in the window! and my horses look happy peeking out drop-downs. Yes, I do believe it's destiny. :-)

Toot! Toot!

2008-12-05T12:10:00.004-06:00

There are some things in life that you just can't help but laugh at. Farts happen to be one of those wonders of nature that almost never fail to entertain. It's cute when a baby farts, little boys make it a finely-honed skill, little girls "fluff" (ok, most little girls... the little girls I know can rip them with the best of the boys). Men are proud of their creations and women usually wrinkle their noses in disgust.

Deep down I do believe that although there is nose-wrinkling by women who call themselves "ladies" you can't tell me that they haven't lifted a leg in a good rip-roar a time or two and then laughed wishing someone was around to share it with!

My aunt and grandma used to go to the Bingo Hall and sneak farts as they walked by people. It was a game for them to turn and watch as the others tried to identify who was rank enough to let one of those rockstars loose in a crowd.

They would discuss the fact that sometimes if you fart while wearing pantyhose, the little bubble of scents would creep up your buttcrack seeking an escape route. Gawd I miss them!

A guy here at work who is usually slightly refined-acting coughed and farted simultaneously the other day as he walked down the hall. Trying not to point and laugh is a very difficult thing for me. It reminded me of a wonderful toy a friend sent though.

Turn up your speakers and enjoy!

http://www.fart-sounds.net/fart_sound_board.htm

O'er the Fields We Go....!

2008-12-04T21:57:00.006-06:00

I went to the barn tonight to check on Mikey's eye. It looks GREAT! I didn't even put the eye cream on because it looks so normal and fine that I didn't think it needed it. The sutures are loosening up and I believe in a few days I may attempt to take them out!

I spotted my jinglebells hanging on a hook. Hmmm.

Last year at this time I told Jay that all I wanted for Christmas was a string of jingle-bells. Sooo he went to the tack and feed store of the one and only Brenda Messick! and she lined him up with a beautiful set of jingles just for me!

That night he presented them to me and I immediately ran out to try them on my Johnnie. He didn't give a flip. I grabbed his bridle and Jay caught Buck and we went for a moonlit snow ride with my bells a dingling.

When we got back to the yard, Jay slid off Buck and I stood there holding both horses. I slipped the bells off Johnnie's neck and slipped them on to Buck. Then I hopped across from Johnnie to Buck and we mosied around the yard for a while. It was so fun!

Buck was wondering "(yawn) what now?" and Johnnie was bored lol. I do love the photo Jay got of us that night though. It's special because EVERY picture of Johnnie is special.

Tonight I snagged my bells off the hook and jinged them at Mike. He looked at them, but didn't flinch. I touched him with them... nothing. So I slipped them over his head. LOL... nothing.

Once he realized there was something ON him that was making noise he backed up. When he got to the wall he figured he should investigate so he turned his head around to see if they were something he could eat. The pictures are sucky because of barn orbs, but he pleased me by his tolerance of one more new thing.

Maggie did NOT like them (snort). I hung them in her stall while I was out there. I jingled them at her. I tossed them on the ground so she could investigate on her own. Nope... nothin' doin'. There was no panic but there was certainly no "Ooooo look at the purdies" either.

Man, it was cold out though. Even in the barn I was freezing, so our jingle lesson was cut short by my lack of insulation. Next time! coveralls :-)

NO WAY!

2008-12-04T21:35:00.005-06:00

HA! Fooled ya!

It's 9:35 p.m. and unless the Men in Black come busting through my door while I sleep, it appears I made it through Day 3 without a run-in with the law. YAYAYAYAYAY (does happy dance!)

I always heard bad things come in threes so I was just certain some badged crime-fighter would be found lurking behind the corners of my circle. Are there pills prescribed for paranoia? If so... sign me up. :-)

I really want one of those hats. It would go great with my "Security" sweatshirt! Ohhh Santa!!!!!!!!!!!

What Next? FB freakin' I????

2008-12-03T22:33:00.004-06:00

So here I am, MINDING my own business driving home from work. I pass a State Patrol car, look down at my spedometer and don't think I'm speeding. The car turns around and follows my rear end. Omg Omg.... what the hell did I do NOW??????????????

Trying not to drive in a paranoid fashion I flick on my cruise control in case I have a knee-jerk reaction and hit the accelerator by accident. It doesn't matter because one-half mile later "woo woo" and the lights come on in my rearview mirror.

AAAAAAAAGHHHHHHHHHHH!

I rarely RARELY get stopped for vehicular misdemeanors. WHAT NOW????????? (waaaaaaaaaah).

I roll my window down and ask sweetly (oh crap.. it's a woman officer... that's great, JUST great) "What did I do?"

She says "I'll tell you after you show me your license, registration, and insurance."

Um.. ok.

I had already unbuckled my seatbelt, which I realized I shouldn't have because I was asked about it. Then I had to contort myself across the console in order to try to pretend I was Stretch Armstrong to reach my tiny purse that had fallen on the floor-board and slid to the furthest depths and lengths of my truck that had suddenly doubled in width. Then I couldn't get my glove box open because a CD case had jammed inside it. I turned to the lady-cop and tried to give her my best "hee hee" smile. She wasn't amused.

I found my info and to my dismay.... NOTHING CURRENT WAS IN MY LITTLE PACKET!

Omg.... I'm so freaking going to jail... why meeeeeeeeeeeee? WHY MEEEEEEEEEEEE?

I stuttered and murmurred around as she gazed at me with non-interest at my stammering. So she took what I had on me and went back to her car. I think I sang the theme to Jeopardy more than 50 times as I tried to pretend I was calm and relaxed.

They really don't care that you "oops forgot" to put the stinkin info in your vehicle. So now I have a stinkin' court date. JAY'S FAULT!

She laughed when I asked "Can my husband go in my place since he usually takes care of this and I feel it's his fault?" (as I try to smile as sweetly as a woman can smile at a woman without being punched in the face). She laughed and said that that would probably be ok since his name is on the title anyway.

But HEY! She didn't bust me for speeding!!!!!!!!! :-D

If I see men in black walking toward me tomorrow, I will surely shit my pants.

Gift Horse

2008-12-03T21:46:00.004-06:00

I always heard you shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. I never really knew what it meant until tonight but my gawd it made me laugh when I saw it! Ok, so that's really not what it means, but it was certainly entertaining to me.

Mikey is notorious for trying to grab articles of clothing off your body or anything you lay around. I've been working on space issues with him because I really don't want him to be a puppy-dog who thinks he can sit on my lap and get his belly rubbed. We brought him home in late June or early July and he's been affectionate. Since we've put him in the barn to recover from eye surgery he's been horribly/wonderfully affectionate!

Jay thinks it's funny. I'm laughing at Jay waiting for him to get pissed and yell when he gets his ear bitten off lol. We will then have to change his name to Earl and drop the L.

Last night Mike tried to snatch Jay's hat off his head. Tonight Mike was nosing Jay's ear. I gave a loud "ahem".... and reminded him "remember the feel of his teeth on the bill of your cap?... well that's what you're going to feel ON YOUR EAR if you continue to think this is funny!"

It was really funny though. Mike and Jay were making kissy lips at one another. To all you horse personality analysis folks.. what exactly does this mean?????? To me I see "Gross, your ear tastes icky and your breath stinks." (shrug) But it's still FREAKING CUTE LOLOLOL.

Mike's eye is healing really really well (as you can see in the photos) and I really have to wonder what type of horse he'll grow in to. I read someone else's blog today about puppy-dog horses and how a woman taught her weanling how to jump up and put it's front legs on her shoulders. Dumb woman didn't stop to think that the was going TO GROW! I won't let Mike do that because, let's face it... he'd squarsh me.

I DO look forward to his curious and friendly behaviour though. I had my doubts about him for a while. He grew a giant hay belly and he was such a goofball looking thing that I was wondering if I would win the Fugly award if I ever took him anywhere. He's really blossoming right now though. Funny that an injury brought this out in him. Weird.

But Mike is so fun and cute, and he is beginning to respect my elbow in his face. Now if I can convince him that Jay's lips really aren't that fascinating we'll be good to go lmao.

Enjoy the photos. :-)

A Pony for Christmas

2008-12-02T15:26:00.003-06:00

I found this pony on the internet. I LOVE this pony!!!!!! I don't know what it is about it, but I think that this is THE dang CUTEST pony in the world! He strikes me and I really really REALLY want to go get this pony and bring him home!

I can picture "my" pony and I trotting trotting down the road with manes flying and big ole horsey grins on our faces as we wave at passers-by heading toward a destination yet unknown. People will say "Hey! here comes Pam and her Pony! YAY!" and throw parades lmao. It will be the Pam Pony Parade! Maybe we can have one in Prague!

I'm sure I will never even get to meet this pony, but I fell in love with him at first sight. We would have sooooooo much fun. Because I know it's a very long shot of getting him, I thought I'd at least dedicate a post to this little pony who should be mine.

Isn't he just the cutest thing you've ever seen?

BLOOD PRESSURE!!!!! GAH!

2008-12-02T14:28:00.003-06:00

Here I am sitting at my desk in my cute little very cluttered office, MINDING my own business while working away like a happy little clam and a Sheriff's deputy walks in asking "Are you Pam?"

The blood simulatenously drains and rushes from and to my face and my heart jumps to my throat. My mind is racing "Omg... what now???????" I gulp and say "yessss?" and I feel like a cartoon character that has dialog bubbles with arrows pointing at my head screaming in neon "GUILTY! GUILTY! GUILTY! GUILTY!" on one side and "I DIDN'T DO IT, I DIDN'T DO IT, I DIDN'T DO IT!" on the other side.

It turns out the dude just needed some info on quantities of fuel that were delivered to a customer back in September that have allegedly been stolen.

By that time it was too late and my blood pressure was screeching through the top of my head like the end-of-day whistle on the Flintstones when it's time for Fred and Barney to head home from a long day at the quarry.

GAAHHHHHHHH!

Then to make matters worse, I look on this person's account and see that he had been credited back for the gas and diesel he was originally billed for. What the heck? Hmmmm, working in the insurance industry for over 13 years has made me a huge crime-fighter against insurance fraud so I asked the deputy if he would hang tight while I investigated this further! I marched away before he could answer me.

When I came back with copies of tickets and made a couple of phone calls he was trying not to giggle at me. By then I had regained some composure but still felt like an idiot because I just KNOW he could see the terror on my face when he walked into my office. He apologized repeatedly and then laughed at the idea that someone could easily haul away 400 gallons of fuel. I was still nervous and let out a huge HA HA HA HA kind of like Monica on Friends when Chandler is faking laughter at his boss. (sigh) gawd, I'm such a dork.

I sooooooooo wish I was better at hiding my emotions! People who think I'm a sneaky conniver have NEVER seen that side of me. I suck at poker too.

Since I've had this stinking cold, all I can hear very well is the pounding of my heart through my ears. It sounds like a bass drum in my head right now! If I only had a tamborine to ring a few bells in there, we could start a band.

Harmonica anyone?

The Road to Recovery

2008-12-01T19:42:00.000-06:00

Mike's eye is looking REALLY good. I honestly thought that stitching it three days after the injury would be too late, but apparently the dead flesh that was trimmed off may be attaching. YAY!

I put the medicine in his eye, so it looks a little "gelly" in the photo and it only has the slightest amount of goob collecting. I don't think that's too awful bad considering his eyelid was 85% ripped off his head. I forgot to ask Dr. Adam about removing the sutures, but I'll watch them and when it looks like it's healed nicely and the sutures are loose, I'm sure we can take them out easily enough.

Adam did a really good job. I think little Mikey just may end up with a normal eye! :-)

Mike really loves the attention he's getting while away from the rest of the colts. He gets attention out there, but not as dedicated.

I have made fun of Mike and how he doesn't compare to the new Arab we brought home recently, but dang! he's really looking nice right now and I even made a comment that he's just as dang pretty in his own way. He's beautiful when he spots something of interest and perks his ears up and arches his neck. He's filling out nicely too.

He tried to yank Jay's cap off his head tonight. You have to watch him or he'll grab things and run off with them. Dad leaned his crutches on a tree one day and Mike had one of them and was carrying it away.

Weanling Maggie is in the barn with him to keep him company. She nickered when I walked into the barn. She's certainly going to be a nice horse some day too. She's sure a cutie.

Mikey Fay Baker

2008-11-29T16:10:00.000-06:00

Dr. Adam came over today with plans to cut off Mikey's hanging eyelid. When he looked at it, he pondered and thought there's enough live lid there that he thought maybe we could save it. He felt horrible that he didn't come look at it on Wednesday night but said we could try.

Sooooo he dosed him up with sedative and started in on numbing the area with a local. Poor Mike was so doped up I thought for sure he was just going to plop to his belly. Dad held his head and I banded his forelock in the finest Cyndi Lauper style to keep it up out of the way.

At one point the needle popped off the syringe and numbing solution can FLYING toward Jay and me. Miraculously none hit us. It was kinda funny and prompted Jay and Adam to discuss all the accidental injections they received during "vetty procedures". Jay has been inadvertantly vaccinated for black-leg. He says that's why his legs are so white (snort).

Dr. Adam trimmed off external dead and dried tissue from both sides of the lid. Then he proceeded to the stitching. I must admit that does take some skill to avoid poking out the eyeball. I was amazed. I told him that Colleen would be sad that she couldn't have the chunk of eyelid we had planned to cut off, so I took pictures for her instead! He laughed :-)

Mikey is no longer a "free horse". But that's ok. He isn't what you would call a valuable horse but he's so dang sweet that you just have to give him a chance. OH! He's not going to that new home because I found out that THEY thought I was talking about Maggie. Um... no.

In any case, Mikey will stay here. Especially now that he has a special need to watch out for that eye. Dr. Adam commented several times that he was a really good little guy.

We were trying to think of how we can keep that eye protected while it heals. I ran to the house to get the fly mask that Shel gave us at the Wahoo sale. It's big enough that it shouldn't rub on his stitches and will help to keep dirt and other crap off it. He looks like a TOTAL dork with it on though lmao.

I have bute, cream, and powder we will administer over the next week or so. If the eye starts to look "off" at all, Adam said he would come over and we'll try something else.. or then cut it off. It sure would be nice if it would stick though. I wasn't sure how I was going to glue fake eyelashes on him... but I thought those with glitter would be cute!

Flying

2008-11-29T13:13:00.000-06:00

We have this horse. We have this WONDERFUL and crazy horse lol. We don't own him, but he lives with us and we hope he will live out his days with us. He is owned by a marvelous 9-fingered man whom I've known my entire life. We laugh that he used to babysit me. He once got in trouble from my parents for doing my homework for me. I can't recall the grade I got lol.

"Buck" is this horse who we've had soooo much fun with the past couple of years. I first met Buck when he was a 4yo. We were at the local watering hole and Buck was out in the trailer. One of my best friends at the time was with me. Since we're all pretty much related through marriages, etc. in my hometown, she and I knew that Rick wouldn't be angry if we went out, unloaded Buck and rode around!

We rode double-bareback through town laughing and having a jolly old time. Then her hubby came out to join in the fun. He doesn't ride (lol oops). He puffed up in bravado fashion and got on Buck. He didn't stay there for very long, but he rode him for about three steps lmao! I've never seen anyone fall off in such slow motion before.

Fast forward about oh... ten years? Rick and Buck had spent a lot of time attending rodeos, team-pennings, roping jackpots, etc. The stories about Buck are very entertaining. He looooooved to run, but sometimes forgot to stop. He never tires... NEVER.

You could ask him to climb to the roof of the barn and he would. You could ask him to jump off a cliff and he would. You could ask him to slow down and enjoy the scenery... THAT will never happen lol.

A few years back Rick and Buck were at a team-roping event and Rick lost his thumb. I'm told it was quite fascinating because it ripped the tendon out clear up to his elbow and the thumb was still tangled in the rope that the steer was dragging through the dirt. In any case, Rick's roping time was put on hold for a while. DURING that time, he offered Buck to me to ride in speed events!

Me: "Um, are you serious?"

Him: "Hell yeah.. he's just standing around getting older and fatter."

Me.: "That would be so coool!!!!!"

Him: "You know where he is, go get him."

Me: "Awesome!"

Him: "Good luck getting him stopped."

LOL okayyyyyyyyyy.

So I went and got him :-).

By that time we figured ole Buck had to be about 17 years old. OH MAN IS HE FUN! I had taken him to the arena and ran a few practice runs through barrels and poles before our first show. Apparently I didn't let him out like I should have because at our first show we had people rolling on the ground as we used up every inch of that arena trying to get through the patterns lmao! Omg... I think we knocked four of the six poles down. I honestly think he likes the sound of the pole when it hits his head. I've since learned that he LOVES the sound of buckets flying when he kicks them through a keyhole pattern.

By the end of the season we had each other figured out fairly well. We sometimes even made it through the poles without knocking ANY down! He helped me win the high-point buckle at our local saddle club and I was beaming.

Now my 11yo daughter is riding him and she rides him much better than I ever did. Some people look at me cockeyed and wonder what kind of mother I am to put my child on the "psycho horse". Aw heck... Buck isn't psycho.. he's just very tightly wound lol and Vanessa rides him very well.

When you run him flat out, it feels like you are flying. I can honestly say I've never been a horse that I've was so sure-footed that you could put your ultimate trust in them like you can Buck. It's such a rush. HE is such a rush.

Blogging

2008-11-29T12:24:00.000-06:00

When I think of blogging, it makes me want to put on large wooden shoes and dance on a stage with several of my closest friends. My gaze travels to these hideous shoes a friend sent me from Holland. Omg... if I tried to dance in these things I would either break a leg or the large piece of wood I've slid my foot into would surely fly off into the air and hit someone in the head.

Yes... these are my feet in these painted tree-remnants. Who knew a size 6 in Holland meant size 10 in the U.S.

On a positive note, if I were ever lost at sea I could probably float to shore with these babies.

We'll stick to blogging. It's much safer that way.

My Turn to be Thankful

2008-11-29T10:50:00.000-06:00

I've been reading others' blogs on how they are thankful that horses are in our lives. It inspired me to jot down my thoughts.

Growing up, my horses were a part of me. It wasn't just that "I had horses"... they were a part of who I was and how I lived my life.

When I graduated from high school, I moved 500 miles away to college. Man, I missed my horses. I hooked up with a girl who was just as far from home and missed her horses too. So, we joined the college Rodeo Club lol. We didn't have our horses there, but at least we were able to spend time with other horsey folks. The bad thing was that it seemed not many other of the members of that club had their horses there either! Most of our time was spent partying with this group and just talking about horses. It helped, but it wasn't enough.

Each time I would visit home, my first stop was at the barn and whoopin' it up with my Rowdy horse. I'm sure he wondered "Now why don't she write?" Gawd, I missed him.

Then I got married and moved to Omaha. While much much closer to my horses but still an hour away from them, I pretty much remained horseless. Then babies came. I had dreams of them riding through the fields with me... teaching them to show! oh wow, we had such plans! Then it dawned on me that horses weren't in the business plan in my husband's mind. At that time, I wasn't sure I would be able to have horses in my life again. It was an empty feeling and very depressing.

One thing led to another and my husband and I divorced. Part of that was the fact that I don't make a very good trophy wife. Did you know trophy wives aren't supposed to speak unless spoken to? lmao... omg... imagine how THAT worked into my personality. You can guess the rest.

Then I met Jay. Jay walked into the room in all his cowboyness looking sexy as hell. I had been at a business meeting all day and was decked out in suit and heels with perfectly coiffed hair and full makeup... toting a briefcase. He wouldn't look at me. I elbowed a friend when I saw him and claimed him as mine. I spent the rest of the evening working ALL my charms on him and I think I stuffed 20 business cards in his pockets. He still wouldn't pay attention to me UGH!

Later I learned he was scared to death of me ROFLMAO!!!!!! That was after we had our first kiss on the middle of the dance floor.

Ok, so I digressed....... (enter Jay) into my life. And, enter horses back into my life.

He and I married, bought a house, bought a horse, brought Vanessa into our lives, bought another horse then packed up and moved "back home" to the area I grew up. Soon two horses turned into three, etc. Vanessa is growing up with them in a way that I had dreamt for with my two older daughters. She has far surpassed any savvy and skills I had at her age and I couldn't be more proud.

Now I can walk outside my front door and hollar "WOO HOOOOOO!" and you'll see several young horses' heads pop up and start to make their way to me. It's a fabulous feeling.

If I should find myself horseless again in my life, it would surely drain that life out of me and I would shrivel into a bitter husk of despair.

Ok, that was a little dramatic, but that's my story, and I'm sticking to it!!!!! :-)

Sick!

2008-10-19T10:42:00.000-05:00

I've been sick for over a month. Nothing that has knocked me down completely for that entire time, but I'll go along thinking I'm making progress and WHAM... it knocks me down again. At this moment I can barely hear anything but the ringing inside my head and the blood pulsing through my veins. My footsteps sound odd and thumpingly echoey. The doctors say "It's a virus that has to run it's course." Well HELL... how many times is it going to run?????????

GAHHHHHHH!

Gosh, what to talk about...

2008-08-19T12:16:00.001-05:00

First post... first time on my blog. Can I edit these as I go? Can I delete, can I scream in horror and remove them from eyes of beholders? This will be an adventure.

This will be an adventure of the life on the Krazy B Ranch. Note that's "krazy" with a CAPITAL K! It suits us.

I'm nuts, hubby is certifiable... and the kiddo is afflicted by pre-teen hormones. That qualifies her to fit in with the krazy bunch lol. Parents? Wow... each by their own merit qualify in one way or another.

AND MY FRIENDS!!!!! Ya gotta love 'em. They are nearly as warped as moi! :-)

That's a start.... better get back to work.