Murphy Kicked Me Square In The Arse!

Cold. Nasty.  Not even Queen Estes wanted to be out.

The last few Sundays it's been really cold and nasty and I've had no desire to ride in it, so when I called Mom last night and asked her what the weather forecast was going to be like, I wasn't surprised when she said, "it's supposed to be sunny and fifty".  Why wasn't I surprised?  Because that's what they always say.  We agreed we'd play it by ear today.

Only, when RCC got ready to go to work this morning, I figured the weatherman had lied again and told him to take my car.  He's spending close to $300/mo on diesel for the truck, I thought the weather would be horrible up the hill (based on, oh, every Sunday since October 1st), so he might as well take my car and get 30 mpg instead of the 18-20 he gets in the truck.

I call Mom to let her know that I wouldn't be coming up to ride and she tells me, " it's 48 and there's no wind.  The sun is out."

Are you kidding me?  The weatherman was actually right?

So, here I sit, playing on the computer when I could be up riding in beautiful weather, just because I didn't believe what the weatherman said.

Thanks a lot Murphy.

You're a dick.

Aunt GunDiva and Her Horse

The things Queen Estes and I do for our nieces, I tell you.  I had planned to ride today when I went up to the lodge to help Nebalee make tamales, but after I talked to Mom this morning, I changed that plan.  It was COLD and WINDY (you know, like living in Wyoming), so I put on sweats instead of jeans to go work at the lodge.

RCC and I walked into the lodge and Asset came running out of the Owl Cove yelling (that's pretty much her only volume, BTW), "Aunt GunDiva, Aunt GunDiva!  We're going for a ride!"

Um.  Crap.  I had no intention of riding.  Did I mention it was cold?  And that it was windy?  Before I could tell her no, she ran off and announced to everyone that we were going for a ride.  By the time I'd put my stuff down, she had her helmet on and was ready to go.  Well, Asset ready.  Which means a helmet, but no shoes or coat.

I came up with a quick plan to just take her over to the pen, grab Estes, plop Asset up on Estes' back and walk her over to the lodge.  Hey, that counts as a ride for a three year old, right?

I grab Estee's halter, take Asset across the street with me and turn around to find Auto Bot standing at the fence with her helmet on.  Double crap.

Change of plans.  Again.

Fine, we'll go for a ride.  A short ride.  Around the block.

C-c-c-o-l-d

Really cold.  And windy.

Asset's getting too big to ride up front comfortably, so we had to switch.

Did I mention it was cold?  And windy?

Ok, in all honesty, Estes put out plenty of heat, so I was pretty comfortable except for the exposed skin of my face. 

But really, the things we do to keep our horse-crazed nieces happy.

Blah

I haven't had any horse time and it's showing.

Now Mom and I are talking about moving Queen Estes down to fat pasture, if Ida has room for her.  She's holding her own - weight-wise - but not gaining any and the cold hasn't even truly hit.  She would benefit greatly from being on fat pasture with her old herd and she'd be closer too!

I'm feeling the pinch, though.  If we do take Estes to fat pasture, we'll have to move her this upcoming weekend, which means I have very limited days to ride.  Tuesday and possibly Friday.  Not much time at all.

The bonus of taking Her Highness to fat pasture, besides the obvious, is that I'll get to see the babies.  Who aren't really babies any more - they're almost three-year olds.

Digger and Dakota at a year (two springs ago)

Dakota last spring -isn't she beautiful?

I do want those fillies something fierce.  They are smart and agile, though a bit bigger than Estes and I've placed them both on my PowerBall list - you know, the list you keep for when you win the PowerBall?  Yep, they're at the top of my list, right under "buy lots of property".

My plan for the winter is to get caught up on all the blog posts I didn't get done this summer.  I've got lots of pictures and took a lot of really good rides, but never sat down long enough to spit them out.

In other semi-fantastic news: Heidi Nyland Melocco, released the cover of Julie Goodnight's next book...

I'm feeling a give-away coming on.  I'm not sure when the book will be released, but Heidi will notify those of us whose less-than-perfect trail rides ended up in the book when there's a release date.  Let's just say that Estes was not always the perfect-for-me horse.  But, damn, I love that mare. 

It's Been A While

Not just for posting, but for seeing my mare.  In fact, it's been long enough that when I went out to see her the other day, this is what I saw...

She didn't even twitch an ear when I called her name.  Normally, her ears perk up and she looks for me when I step out of the Lodge and give her a holler.

So I climbed into the pen to get my hands on her.

I don't see you

The hay wasn't that interesting.  Trust me - I was out there WELL after feeding time - she should have at least acknowledged my presence, right?  Well, this is Queen Estes we're talking about.  She went about ignoring me until I backed her out of the feeder and made her interact with me on some level.

When I let her back into the feeder, she had a slightly better attitude...

There!  You happy? I unpinned my ears and will listen now.  Sheesh!

Guess I'd better make an effort to get her out of the pen this weekend.  At least the weather will be nice enough to go for a ride without the risk of frostbite.