Merry Christmas from the Wild Ones!

 Last Saturday, I got really excited when I woke up to snow falling. In all of the years that we've done Christmas pictures with the horses, we've never had fresh snow on the ground.

However, Colorado was being Colorado, and within hours the snow was gone. Sunday, the day we chose to take our pictures, was gorgeous, bluebird sky, 50+ degrees, no wind. Absolutely perfect day for taking pictures, except for the lack of snow.

I crocheted the horses Christmas hats a couple of years ago, but Miss Pearl and Copper kept shaking theirs off, so this year, I added strings to tie them under their throats. Those strings were magic - suddenly the horses thought the hats were part of their halters and weren't bothered in the least. Goofy horses.

I went on a Christmas hat crocheting binge this year, and made hats for all the cats in the family, then thought, why not?, and made one for Mary Kathryn, the hen.

Before the chaos of the horses started, we began picture taking with Mary Kathryn. She did not approve. 

L.E. and Mary Kathryn

She's the only hen I like and will touch. It
helps that she comes running to me when she
sees me. (I'm not special, she loves all humans.)

During our dress rehearsal a couple of weeks ago, she kept shaking it off, so I added a string to tie it under her 'chin' and behind her head thinking that would work. I had a plan - I was going to have L.E. put her down under the arch and get cute pictures while Mary Kathryn ran to me.

Here's the thing: Mary Kathryn has survived bobcat and hawk attacks. I don't know why I thought she wouldn't be able to outsmart the hat.

L.E. put her down, and Mary Kathryn said, "no, thank you".

Hen: 1, Humans: 0

Well, at least it was funny (to us, MK is still mad at me). The horses were next, and things went much better with them.

Copper just adores hims daddy.

Skeeter is a mare,
adoration isn't in her vocabulary.

The 'kids' look like teenagers dragged to
an event they don't want to go :D

L.E. and Miss Pearl (who
does not believe in posing
under the arch).

L.E. and Fred the Farm Dog

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Surprise Horse Cookies

(Cross-posted from It's a Horse Life.)

Two weekends ago was our annual Baking Weekend at the lodge. It's always a big to-do, and we always crank out a lot of cookies, but we've never made cookies for the horses before. The Friday of Baking Weekend, I had to drop Jay off at the airport on my way up to the lodge, and as I was driving, I drove right past the barn where my friend boards her horse. I looked at the facility and immediately thought, "we should make some horse cookies." Now, why I thought about it when driving by my friend's horse's barn and never while looking out the window at our own horses, I'll never know, but the idea took root.

I was running ahead of schedule, and hungry, so when I stopped to grab a bite to eat, I looked up horse cookie recipes that wouldn't require me to go to the store to buy more ingredients. There were a lot of yummy sounding ones, but the one I landed on was this one:

This seemed easy enough, and we had all of the ingredients, so up to the lodge I went with my additional project in mind.

Luckily, I got up there before everyone else, so Mom and I had undisturbed mother/daughter time to whip out these treats for the horses. They came together very easily and quickly. 

I quickly wrote down the recipe on a white board so we didn't have to keep going back and forth to the video. In the video, she said to bake them at 315*F, which Mom and I decided had to be a mistake, so we baked ours at 350*F. Very quickly, we smelled burning molasses, and turned the oven down. If you chose to make them, follow the video's directions.

We dug through our cookie cutters and found a cowboy boot, cowboy hat, and a horse to use. Not that the horses care about the shapes of their cookies, but they made us smile. We chose to leave them unfrosted, as none of our horses need the extra sugar, and we didn't want to bother with the mess.

I did taste one, just because, and it's not horrible to my human pallet, but not great. The horses, however, greatly disagree and think they're about the best cookies on the planet. Washoe and Alloy got the first taste of the cookies after they loaded into their horse uber, but the rest had to wait until they'd finished with their Christmas pictures yesterday.

This is a simple and easy recipe to make, and the horses give them four hooves up.

L.E. and Miss Pearl

Yesterday, when I pulled into the driveway, I saw L.E. and Pearl out riding in the backyard and it took my breath away, it was so beautiful. She had just passed by the no-watermelon arch as I pulled in, and they were perfectly framed.

Instead of continuing on to my parking space, I threw my car in park, jumped out, and got all bossy, telling her to do it again! I was hoping I'd be able to take a couple of pictures. I am by no means a photographer, but I needed to take these pictures.

Almost...almost...

... got it ...

... just to be safe, I took another one.

L.E.'s safe space is across the street in the arena; riding outside of the arena causes her some anxiety, so she's been working hard on getting comfortable riding in the backyard. Riding at home isn't new to her, we've done it together for a few years, but it's not comfortable for her. It's funny, because anywhere outside of the arena is where Skeeter and I feel best, and we feel confined within the fence of the arena. L.E. and I are opposite in that way, but because we're opposite, I know what a big deal it is for her to ride solo in the yard.

Eventually, we'll be riding the farm roads. L.E. might never want to ride the mountain trails with us, but it'll be fun to hack out on the farm roads.

And, just because I love the pictures, here are a couple more.

I cropped it a bit closer, to remove the buildings and focus on L.E.

Then L.E. cropped it even more,
and the finished product is incredible.

I'm Not Sure I Deserve Skeeter

It's been two weeks since I've had a chance to climb back up on Skeeter. (As I typed that, it sounded like I was going to confession - ha!)

Maybe I needed the almost two years without riding to appreciate what a gem of a mare I have. I mean, she's still pushy on the ground, and opinionated, but she really is a special horse and I'm glad she chose me all those years ago.

She eagerly met me at the gate when I called her, and remembered her manners as we were leaving the pen. Last time, she got in big trouble for trying to push past me instead of waiting until she was asked to follow. We did have a bit of a discussion about approaching the hitch rail. She prefers to be tied to Pearl's hitch rail, because then she cleans up everything Pearl has dropped out of her bowl. When we walk by Pearl's rail and head to our own, she gets sad and stubborn. It didn't take too much to remind her that she needed to walk up nicely to her own hitch rail, but it's definitely something we'll have to work through.

She stood like a rock star while getting groomed and saddled. Which, she should, being an old broke horse, but we're out of practice.

She still doesn't like the mounting block, and prefers me to mount from the ground, but until she loses some weight and I gain some flexibility, that's not going to happen. I'm super thankful for all of my Estes training, though, since Skeets likes to walk off as I mount from the block. She doesn't when I mount from the ground. Do I know that I should dismount and keep at it until she stands still? Yes. Am I willing to invest the time in that right now? No. That's something that we'll work on when it's just the two of us, not when L.E. and Pearl are waiting on us. Yes, I know that makes me a "bad" owner/rider, but frankly, at this point, I'm picking my battles.

We only rode for about 15 minutes around the backyard, working on serpentines, figure eights around a tree and the mounting block, a few laps each direction. When she wanted to pick up a trot, I let her and kept her going a few more steps when she wanted to come back down to a walk. My body is remembering what it's like to be astride and I was much more relaxed this time. Still had to remind myself to breathe while posting, but that'll come back as well.

L.E. and Pearl

It's not a ride if I don't get a picture of her derp ears.

Our backyard has changed a lot in the past couple of years,
the horses don't seem to mind the changes.

The pallets that make up the walls of the greenhouse used
to be our bridge obstacles for the horses.

The ride was short and sweet, and I asked Skeeter to drop me off at the mounting block. I don't recall the last time I dismounted onto the mounting block, actually, I'm not sure I ever have. After a moment of confusion she stepped right up and allowed me to dismount without moving a muscle. It felt very weird (for both of us, I'm sure).

After our ride, I wanted to take her through the archway in front of the greenhouse. It's something I want to work on, because I want to take our Christmas pictures there and it didn't go so well last year. I had laid cardboard down to kill the weeds, and none of the horses liked walking on the slippery cardboard. This summer, I was able to get the flagstone put down and some creeping thyme planted, so it's more like real ground instead of cardboard ground.

L.E. was kind enough to take pictures for us, and I'm so thrilled with how well Skeets did walking through the arch.

You can see how thrilled she is. Willing,
but unimpressed.

Even less impressed with forced cuddles ...

"Ugh, Mom! A kiss?!"

"Are we done yet?"

Funny how she never balks when we're done riding, and we're headed back to her hitch rail to get undressed after a ride, isn't it?

Someone looks pretty proud
of herself, doesn't she?

"Don't forget my 'good girl' treat, Mom."

She's so out of shape that even the short time we rode, she lathered up between her legs and couldn't wait to throw herself on the ground for a good roll. We'll keep with the short rides for a bit, and gradually increase our time as her fitness improves. Now that we're both middle aged, it takes longer than it did when we were young 'uns.

I Finally Rode My Horse!

The last documentation I have of riding Skeeter was from November 13, 2023 at my neighbor's arena. I rode with the Bionic Cowgirl and L.E. I always take pictures of our rides for documentation, even though the pictures are basically always the same, and kind of boring. However, I'm glad I'm in the habit of it, so I could look back to see how long it's been since I rode.

671 DAYS!

That's almost two years. Holy cow, I feel bad about it. But you know what? I have the most amazing, pain in the ass mare you'll ever meet. I pulled her from the pen, did about five minutes worth of ground work (no longing - I don't believe in it for "getting the wiggles out") with her, to make sure she was paying attention to me, then saddled her up.

The saddle used to fit. It used to fit quite nicely. Almost two years ago. Now that she's been sitting and is chonky, her clothes don't fit at all. 

She is a big girl right now.

Unlike human clothes, though, just letting out the cinches a few notches, and loosening the breast collar, made her saddle wearable. Does it fit well enough for a two hour ride on the mountain? No. Does it fit well enough to piddle around the yard and the farm roads to get exercise to start getting the weight off? Yes. She stood like the well-broke horse she is while I adjusted everything. 

We did just a few more minutes of ground work while we waited on L.E. and Pearl to get home from their lesson. While we were waiting, I thought I'd get her bitted up. Y'all. The girl's face got fat! I had to let out the bridle by a hole on each side. I probably should have loosened her chin strap as well, but she did okay with it, and I'll double check it again next time we ride.

As usual, she gave me some attitude about wanting to use the mounting block. She much prefers me to mount from the ground. However, with her increased girth, the stirrups are about an inch too high for me to reach from the ground, not that they were ever easy for me to reach to begin with. After a few refusals at the mounting block, we got our poop in a group and I climbed on my horse for the first time in forever.

Obligatory between the ears pic.

L.E. was kind enough to take pictures of us.

Ignore the brimless helmet - my hell hat brim
came off and I haven't replaced it.

We rode for only about 10 - 15 minutes, but it was enough to get started. Enough to remind both myself and Skeeter that we can do this. It's hard for me to look back and see all of our great rides on the mountain, and then realize we're back here, not quite to square one, but close.

The plan is to ride at least once a week, now that gardening season is wrapping up. While I don't mind her going into winter a bit on the heavy side, this is extreme, and we've got to get some weight down before bad things start to happen.

Oh, Miss Pearl

Bill always said that horses are born looking for ways to kill themselves. Our horses are pretty good at not killing themselves, and rarely put themselves in situations where they might die. Notice, I said "pretty good", not great, not excellent, just pretty good.

Every once in a while one of them has to remind us that they are still horses, and are still looking for ways to kill themselves.

This time, it was Miss Pearl's turn. Jay and I had gotten home from a quick long-weekend trip, and were being lazy. I was lounging in bed, doom scrolling on my phone, when a text came through: "Pearl is stuck, can you come help me?"

I immediately jumped out of bed and into my jammies to go help L.E. with whatever Pearl had gotten herself into. For some reason, my brain told me that she'd gotten her grazing muzzle stuck on the hay net. I don't know why that image popped into my mind, but that's what I was prepared for.

What I was not prepared for was to walk out of the house to see her standing like a Breyer horse statue - head not stuck by the grazing muzzle in the hay net - by the feeder with L.E. next to her. It took me a second to realize that it was her hooves that were stuck. Miss Pearl is the only horse in the herd that has shoes. Skeets and Copper are barefoot, and until this spring, so was Pearl, but she had some lameness issues and L.E. had fronts put on.

Not one, but both, shoes tightly caught in the net.

The 3 Mustangeers had absolutely destroyed their last hay net, and with all of them getting chonky, we'd *just* replaced the old net with a new, larger, extreme slow feed net. Larger was nice, because it fit so much easier over the round bale, with a little room to grow. One of the reasons they were able to destroy the old net was because when we put it over a round bale, it was basically a stuffed sausage, bursting at the seams. The new, larger net was so nice - no fighting to get it to fit over the bale - but it also meant that there was some excess net that the horses could pull out of the feeder as the hay got low.

I know the risks of shoes and hay nets, but I just never gave a second thought to Pearl having been shod all spring and summer, plus a bit of excess net might lead to the situation we now faced.

Initially, I thought we'd be able to just cut a few strands of the net, to free her up enough to lift a hoof and untangle the rest. Let me tell you, when Pearl does something, she does it well. There was no room to cut just a few strands.

L.E. and I took turns cutting and cutting and cutting our brand new (one month old) hay net to pieces to free Pearl. 

I have never been more thankful for Pearl's training. Jessica, Pearl's Mustang Makeover trainer, hobble trains her horses and that hobble training saved us from a disaster. Pearl got stuck, and then stood patiently while we cut her free. She never panicked. Occasionally, she'd try to lift a hoof and back up a step, but never did anything more. Copper was completely oblivious to the goings-on and continued to eat, leaning into, and shifting the feeder, which was less than helpful. Even then, Pearl was a rock star.

When we got her free, she didn't bolt, she walked off calmly with L.E., showing off her fancy accoutrement on her shoes.

The highest of fashion for horse shoes.

Doesn't she look bothered?

Serendipitously, the farrier was already scheduled to come out for Pearl. L.E. and the farrier had discussed whether or not to continue with shoes, since her lameness has resolved. Pearl and the net made L.E.'s decision for her. When the farrier arrived, L.E. looked at him and said, "get those mothereffers off of her!" He took one look at Pearl's feet, laughed, and said, "hay net".

I was able to temporarily sew the massive holes we'd cut into the net together using baling twine. (What in the world would a horse girl do without baling twine?). I've ordered another extreme slow feed net from HayChix, and Pearl is now barefoot. I think we're safe for a bit.

Riding in Costa Rica (6/5/23)

On my last post, I didn't mention that these rides are past rides, and I'm just now getting back into blogging/getting caught up. I haven't been riding my own horse recently, so I might as well re-live and share these.

In June of 2023, my sister, her boyfriend, my cousins, Jay and I went to Costa Rica for our "birthiversary" trip. Nebalee, her boyfriend, and Jay all have birthdays within just a few weeks of each other, and our anniversary falls in that same timeframe, so we started taking "birthiversary" (birthday + anniversary) trips in 2022. Our first was Key West (2022), then Costa Rica (2023), Cancun (2024), and Marco Island (2025). Of those birthiversary trips, I've only exercised my "I get to ride" rule once, and what a ride it was!

The trail ride in Costa Rica is my all-time favorite ride. And after nine seasons as a wrangler, I've been on a lot of rides, so that's saying something. I had a vague idea of wanting to ride on the beach, but hadn't done any research into where to ride, so it was serendipitous that our AirBnB happened to be right across the street from the entrance to The Monkey Farm. All along the drive up to our AirBnB, I'd been seeing hand-painted signs for horseback rides, when I saw the sign for the Monkey Farm directly across the street from our driveway, I decided that's where we had to go. We couldn't see what the farm looked like, and we knew nothing about it, but, by God, we were going to ride there!

I promptly made online reservations for the next day, and at our appointed time, Jay and I walked across the street and down a long driveway to the farm. This is a riding blog, so I won't go into the amazingness that is The Monkey Farm, but I do encourage everyone to follow the link and check it out. They're doing some really good things for their community.

We got a little orientation to the farm, and I fell in love before we ever stepped up on the horses. Their equine program is was inspired by the film, "The Mustang", which I've never seen, but know the gist. Our horses came from a similar prisoner program in Canon City, CO. Take a look at the tack - all of their horses are ridden in halters and lead ropes - not a bit to be found.

Yep, wranglers worldwide are the same :)

We opted for the beach ride, about an hour and forty minutes through the jungle and down to the beach. The wranglers have to earn their way up the ladder to taking rides out, and one of the things they have to do is learn to speak English, as well as take classes to become a licensed trail guide (more on that later).

Headed out from the farm.

We stopped at a bluff overlooking the water.

Riding down from the bluff, headed into the jungle.

We had hoped to see/hear some howler monkeys while in the jungle, but just as we entered, the skies opened up and we got caught in a deluge! It was the most amazing thing ever. I've ridden in my fair share of rain and in Colorado, it sucks. 

A lot. 

Colorado rain is cold, and feels like needles hitting your skin. It's a freaking miserable experience that I wouldn't wish on anyone.

Getting caught in the rain in Costa Rica? It was like a warm shower. The water just poured down onto us. We were dry one minute, absolutely soaked through the next.

Jay wiping the rain from his face as it started.

And now, completely soaked. The wrangler had
to dismount to unlock the gate crossing the trail.

I was grinning and laughing like a fool the whole time!

We didn't see or hear any howler monkeys, but the trip through the forest was unforgettable. We laughed like kids stomping in rain puddles the whole way. 

If you look closely in the first clip, you'll see the rain falling as we cross a little clearing. Believe it or not, the rain had lightened up by that point.

The experience of experience of riding from the jungle onto the beach? Freaking amazing! It was like the jungle just opened up and spit us onto this cute little beach. We'd visited the beach before - it's the local beach for the area - but riding it was totally different.

I tried getting some video of my little paint mare walking through the surf, but you can see that it wasn't her favorite thing to do. That should have been a clue.

We rode down to the end of the beach and turned back. I was still having the best time ever. My mare was super light. A little nervous, but still really light and responsive. I was messing around with my phone, trying to take more pictures of Jay riding on the beach, and wasn't really paying attention to my riding. Remember me mentioning that the guides in Italy kept yelling at me (us, the other riders, too) to put my phone away? I should have brought that rule along with me to Costa Rica.

Headed back to the trees.

See those worried ears? I should have paid
attention. That was clue #2.

I felt her get a little jiggy, and dropped my phone (it was in a waterproof pouch on a lanyard) back down to my chest to reach for the rein with my other hand to settle her, but I was too late. She caught sight of a cluster of flat rocks that the surf exposed and up she went. I can sit a rear, and have done it plenty of times. The rear and spin? Yeah, I'm no good at sitting that. I was suspended in the air like Wile E. Coyote for half a second while she spun right out from under me, then I met the beach.

Other than just a couple of scrapes and being mad at myself for not paying better attention to a horse that clearly wasn't in the mood for rain and the beach, I was fine. The wranglers were amazing! One caught my mare, who only retreated up the beach away from the water, and the other checked me over. 

They were so upset that I'd come off, but not at me. I'd been told, when I first started taking out rides, that most of the time, if a rider comes off, it's the wrangler's fault for not seeing the problem develop and fixing it. I get the feeling these guys got the same lesson. I assured them it was completely my fault for not paying attention to my mare and that I was fine. They gave me a really good once over, checking for injuries and concussion, before deciding I was fit enough to get back on a horse. Their licensure obviously covered basic first aid, in addition to all of the other stuff they had to learn. They wanted me to switch with them, and ride one of their horses, but I insisted on getting back on the mare. She was calm enough, and allowed me to mount without a problem. 

As we headed back to the trail, there was a small stream that was running fast from the rain, and she started to get nervous. While I was confident I could work her over the stream without any big issues (or coming off again), the wranglers were still pretty upset about me coming off, and asked me to switch horses again. I relented and switched with them. 

You can learn a lot about a person's horsemanship by watching them when things don't go according to plan. Let me tell you, these guys were amazing with her. When she was caught after I came off, instead of being angry and correcting her, he soothed her and made sure she wasn't injured. When I switched horses at the stream, the lead wrangler worked her calmly until she was willing to cross. Never once did he lose his temper or get impatient with her. It only took her a couple of false starts to cross and we were on our way.

Despite my fall, and maybe because of it, this is still my all-time favorite ride. 

Still all smiles, but with a great story to go home with!

I never ride in shorts, but since that's all we had with us, that's what we rode in. Jeans might have saved the back of my knee from the tiny little scratches it got, but riding in wet jeans is a whole level of hell I don't like to visit.

I knew this was going to develop like a polaroid, so I took
daily pictures.

Baby little scrapes from the saddle. I promptly forgot about them.

Because our experience at The Monkey Farm was so amazing, and I fell in love with their mission, I made the everyone go back for a farm tour at the end of the week. It gave me a chance to check in with the wranglers, and assure them I was still fine, as well as getting to see the rest of the farm's operation.

It was good to get to laugh with them again.