Three in a Row

 Last year, I rode twice. I intended to ride more than that, but I blinked. Next thing I knew, the spring was over, summer was over, and we were headed into fall. I rode twice, blinked again, and now we're in a whole new year. How does that even happen?

As of last Sunday, I've officially ridden Skeets more than I did last year (and the year before).

L.E. and I took the girls for a walk around the back yard on the 1st. Probably not Skeeter's favorite way to spend her birthday, but she did it anyway. Back in September, she was so, so chonky that I had to let out all of her tack. We switched to an "extreme" slow feed net from Hay Chix, but I hadn't done any work with her since. I was pleasantly surprised when I tacked her up for her birthday ride - I had to size down the tack a bit. Not a lot, but enough to know that the new hay net is working.

She tolerated the forced kisses.

L.E. and me with the girls, post-ride.

I didn't take any pictures during the ride because I had gotten a new phone and was waiting on a case for it. With my luck, I would have pulled it out and dropped it.

Two days later, the weather was cooperative, so L.E. and I took the girls out again for a quick stroll around the back yard. Skeets has some opinions about riding, and I can't quite understand what she's trying to tell me yet, but hopefully we'll get it figured out soon. She'll go nicely around the yard for a while, then grab the bit and "take off" either west toward our neighbor's or south toward the pen. And by "take off", I mean quickly trot. She's a lazy girl at heart.

A between the ear pic.

Yay! Up on my horse!

For the second ride, I'd just finished painting part of Maggie's walls and was covered in paint, but I didn't want to go change, so I hopped on in my paint-splattered leggings and tennis shoes. I do not have a roughout seat in my saddle, so between having slick leggings on a slick saddle, I got a lot of practice paying attention to my core.

And, last Sunday, after Mom and I finished up in Maggie, we joined L.E. for another little ride. Washoe's back is ouchy, and we're waiting on the chiropractor, so Mom didn't throw his saddle, she chose to hop up bareback for a short ride around the yard and up the farm road the tiniest bit. A little exercise is good to keep him moving, and he was perfect. I've long called him the Wonder Idiot, but he takes really good care of Mom.

I swear, Pearl knew I wanted a picture of both horses and
deliberately kept trying to block my view of Washoe. Can
you see how pleased she looks that I just moved to get the picture?

The sun glinting off L.E.'s stirrups makes it look like
there are floating orbs around her.

I had to get supper started, so Mom and L.E. got to ride longer than I did. I did eventually get out to join them. Mom rode just a few more minutes on Washoe, then traded him out for Big Al.

I love her derp ears. They make me giggle.

Mom worked with Al at the mounting block, leaning across
from both sides. Also, I love the sun dog in this picture.

After playing at the mounting block, they went for a quick
walk to gather some leftover corn cobs.

Mom chose not to swing a leg over Alloy because he was too focused on what the mares were doing, and was completely ignoring her. Maybe as we do this more often, he'll relax and not care so much what we're doing so he can focus on Mom.

Skeets did have a bit of a temper tantrum and tried "taking off", but it didn't work any better than it had the last couple of times. There are times when I do wish I could read her mind. She's trying to tell me something, but I'm too dumb to figure it out. We'll get there eventually.

Million Dollar Idea Unveiled!

Alternatively titled: How to Potentially Kill Yourself and Your Horse

A while back, Mrs Mom made a "Trail Riders' Mounting Strap" for people who need a little extra help mounting while out on the trail.

I saw that and thought it would be cool if I could use something similar to mount while bareback, so I thought and thought and ran it by Bill and Mom.  My thought was that if I had something long enough, I could have Estes step on it, drape it across her back and use the loop to just step up.

Bill and I tried it with a tow strap, figured out how long we'd need it and I sent off my idea to Mrs Mom.

My Million Dollar Idea came in last week, but I wasn't able to get up to the lodge to play with it, so I told Mom and Bill to give it ago.

Being the good bloggers they are, the remembered to take video.  Bill and Ranger went first...
It might have worked better if Ranger wasn't so ornery.  After the first time, you can see him wait until Bill's ready and then he deliberately steps off the strap.  I love that horse :)


So Bill decided to out-smart him and tie the strap around his leg. 


After Bill had success, Mom and Washoe gave it a go.  They started with the strap under the hoof, too, but Washoe was having none of it.


So Mom followed Bill's lead and tied it around Washoe's leg.  Untying the knot looked a whole lot like horse yoga or something.


Yesterday, after I got off work from the Livery, I decided to finally try out my Million Dollar Idea on my own horse.  Knowing Mom and Bill had success, I was ready to go!

I was fairly smug about the fact that I knew Her Highness, Queen Estes would not step off of the strap until I told her to.  All of the hoof soaking we did last year gave me confidence that she'll leave her hooves where I tell her to.  And she did.  She stood like a pro the whole time I tried climbing up.  (And of course Bill didn't get any video of that!  I think he's trying to sabotage me.)

I tried and tried, but couldn't get my arse up. The failure with the strap was me. I don't know if I was just physically exhausted from working or I'm just a dumbass, but I couldn't get it to work out. So I tried the old tie-it-around-her-leg trick that worked for Mom and Bill.

Still a no-go.






I have my suspicions about why it won't work for me, but I'll hold onto those for now until I get a chance to try it again when I'm not so physically wiped out.

It's Baaaaaaacccckkkk...

...and I can't get the stench off my hands our out of my nose.

Yep, it's my old nemesis, Thrush.

Poor Estee has thrush in three of her little feetsies and Washoe the Wonder Idiot's got it in one of his feetsies.

I knew it was coming.  With all of the moisture, between the rain/snow/rain/snow, the pen hasn't had a chance to dry out.  Estee's club foot just begs for thrush to grow.  So, after a thorough cleaning, I sent Mom after the hoof knife.  Which has grown legs.

I finally decide I can take the knife to Estee and it's no where to be found.  Hopefully it will turn up before next weekend so I can clean up her feetsies.

Other than the discovery of thrush and the fact that Washoe the Wonder Idiot stepped on Mom, not once, but twice (he was kind enough to balance it out and step on each foot), it was a pretty good horse day.  Mom and I got to go out for the first time this season together.  Of course, there are no pictures of the two of us, so you'll just have to  trust me on this one.

It wasn't a terribly long ride, only about an hour, but it was beautiful.  In the thirteen years we've been riding in the forest, we've never heard the frogs singing in the meadow.  With all of the moisture we've had, the meadow has a small marshy area and the frogs have moved in.  I always feel so blessed to hear them singing - it's so rare - and to have them in the meadow is such a treat.

I may be cursing the moisture on behalf of Estee's feetsies, but I love that the froggies are happy and singing at the top of their lungs about it.

Graduation Day Ride

Warning: Media heavy post (videos and slideshow)

Last week, Mom graduated with her Associate degree - most of you know that.  Probably what you didn't know, is that rather than spending the day getting all gussied up for the ceremony, we did what any good horse lover does - we went riding!

Now, normally, I'm a picture-taking freak, but for some reason, I took very few pictures of this ride.  Wait - I remember why - because Estee and I were riding point.  We have good reason to believe that a moose has moved into the area.  Why do we think so?  Because the "elk" dropping are about ten times their normal size.  And they are everywhere.  Estee is a good girl who trusts her rider.  Ida saw to that and never abused the privilege (not to say that Mom and Bill have abused the privilege, but Mustangs tend to be a little bit more self-reliant), so when Jesse and Ranger weren't too thrilled about taking point, we did.  I'm thinking that probably none of the horses have ever seen a moose up close and there will be one hell of a rodeo when they do see one, but I'm excited.  I've never seen a real-live moose.

So when we went along the trench trail, I was extra vigilant and not taking pictures.  Riding up above the trench trail (which has also been taken off of the dude trail map due to erosion) is a tricky thing, as it's a very steep slope that we walk along.  I should have taken pictures, but I didn't, I was busy being on the look-out for the moose.

With all of the late season snow and run-off, I wanted to go up to the pond and see if we could hear the frogs sing.  The frogs only sing for a couple of weeks out of the wettest seasons, so it's a real treat to hear.  If you turn up the volume really loud, you'll be able to hear the frogs going to town with their singing.  I just love it; it's such a soothing sound to me.






Sorry, the sound quality's lousy, but I was using my point-and-shoot camera rather than my Flip.

Feeling almost as contented as the ride the day before, we headed back, this time with Bill in the lead.  Unless we wanted to backtrack and ride alongside the trench trail again, we had to head home over Pinky's Wash.  I call it Pinky's Wash because way, way, way back when I was a wrangler wanna-be, one of the wranglers named Pinky took me out for a wrangler ride.  It was fabulous; we rode hard and carelessly and made it out alive.  During one portion of the ride, we went down what I would consider a "wash", not a trail.  Pinky assured me it was a trail.  There are some pictures of it in the slideshow, only we're going up the wash, not down it.  I've been down it a couple of times and it never ceases to pucker me right up.  Up is okay; down is not.

As usual, I'm having issues with Blogger's picture function, so here's yet another slideshow for your viewing pleasure.

It's almost June!  Don't forget about the High Country Rendezvous!
Click on the tab at the top of my page for information - we're going to have a blast!

...And My All-Time Favorite Picture

Mom and Jesse

In Roosevelt National Forest, 2007