Rain, rain, go away!

This last week, we had a downpour of 10.5 inches of rain in two days, which resulted in a cornucopia of mushrooms. Bear is looking like himself and enjoying the mudbaths he's taking...

Pet Squirrel

While working at a friend's helping to build a room for his daughter's new home, we encountered this little fella.

He's so friendly, we suspect his health, so we won't let him touch us, but he's all over our feet, and under our feet. I took him to the far reaches of the farm yard (about 150 feet away), and he's back in 3 minutes. We think of maybe taking him home, but nixed that as we have 5 happy, (hungry) kitties. Next day, the air conditioner men are under the house, and he is all over them too! One of them took him home for a pet. He must have been raised by people as friendly and unafraid as he was.

Angels on Horseback

Checking out the canter


Trying a movement

We have had an influx of vaulters at the Meadow Lakes Equestrian Center, their "home" base here in Kentucky for the competitions at the Ky Horse Park this month. Tonight they had a couple of girls from Johannesburg, South Africa, trying out three horses to use for this weekends competition. I'm posting one girl, the coach of the younger girl. We shall see them this weekend in lower level competition. I also met this year's North American champion vaulter (second year to win) from California, Alicin Devita, a real sweetheart. The California team uses only Warmbloods to compete, it gives them an extra measure of difficulty. I'm looking forward to seeing them all compete this weekend, a test for the World Equestrian Games next year!

Second Day

Bear in his field. This is the field I ride him in. You can see the slope of the hill we ride up and down, trying to wear him out a bit, and get him stronger.



He should be tired now...


Eating to get his strength back...

Carrie Dances, Bear Prances

Too bad I can't carry a camera while on horseback...I rode Bear for the first time in over two weeks. Unfortunately, I decided to not tie Carrie up while riding, due to her extreme unhappiness in being so tied. So, I ride Bear out of the barn paddock and Carrie is doing the dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy around and about the Nutcracker (Bear and Me). Jumping and twirling and leaping...Baryshnikov would have been jealous of this performance. I spoke sharply to her several times, to no avail. She was making Bear (who had not been around any dogs) a bit nervous, but it may have taken his mind off of me, HA! when Bud asked if I'd like him to tie her up, I agreed with alacrity. Then Bear and I got down to business, trying to ignore the dance of the mares, the digging of the water line, and any other distraction. He bucked twice, very shallow, very slowly, "Immmmm gooooing tooo buuuck nooow"! Ha ha! We ended on a good note after I rode him up and down the hill three times, and he was tired.

New attitude! After yesterday, we have a brand new attitude of obedience from Ellie. Still a lot of spunk, but no bucking and jumping today. Hooray.


New grass. The retired horses have been nibbling at the ground level in their field, so they have been let out into a new field where grass is up to their knees. Boy, do they nicker when I arrive so they can get into the new field every day. I can't leave them there overnight because there is no solid perimeter fence, just electric fence. They get to graze there a few hours every day, while I paint or do farm chores.


New sky. Gorgeous colors in the sky last night!!!!

I'm going to try to ride Bear tomorrow for the first time since he came home. He's been recuperating,putting on weight, settling down.

First Day of Re-training

Ahhh the joys of a good roll. But wait! Aren't we supposed to be in re-training? And who is that in the round pen with us? Mom? It is hard enough to re-start a career in riding with out your MOM horning in on all of the fun. In fact we can't do anything with out her sneaking in beside us and you CAN"T GET RID OF HER. so, here is the embarrassing documentation of my trainer's inability to train.



We are two of a kind. She just asked us to walk...




Leapin' Lizards!





This goes on for 15 minutes until trainer decides to give up and try another day. Maybe she'll be more sucessful in keeping MOM out of the round pen.

Too much work makes Jack a dull boy

OK,so it IS harder to do a blog when you've got farmin' to do! Namely, gardening, treating horses, harvesting and canning. Don't take that too seriously, though, I got all of 4 quarts of beans canned last night. It was my first time, and it may as well have been brain surgery for all of the instructions I had to follow. It took 3 hours to do from start to finish, 15 minutes of which was fighting the canner lid twice before figuring out that it has a front and back and the lid only fits on ONE way. I'd get it half way on and couldn't get the back to go down. Think computers are the only man-made marvel to go out the window? I truly thought about it, and if it wasn't borrowed, it may have ended up on the front lawn. So, every step documented...Then, when finally done, I lift out the 5 jars and one of them has broken out the bottom of the jar, leaving 4! Bud has gently suggested I go buy my cans of produce and not worry about canning. It looks a lot better all the time.

Homecoming

Don't I know you?


Hmmm


I DO Know You! Hi Sis!

After a 20 minute ride from the Meadow Lake Equestrian Center to home, Bear was apropriately greeted by his sis and her mother, with squeals of Delight? naa, squeals of who the heck are you? and this is our territory, Buster!
The electric fence I put up for a temporary boundary lasted about one hour, and noses were together pronto. They are still squealing today, but not as much, and there are some neighs when grazing, things are settling down, thankfully. Homecoming was great, we are all glad to be together again, and Bear seems to be able to hold a slow trot long enough for me to post. His canter is getting better, too, but I don't know where I'll be able to canter around here. He still needs strengthening in his back and our hills are perfect for that. I can't wait to ride him here.

Carrie(on)

Just look at her. Innocent looking, huh? Good thing there is no smell-a-blog. Carrie has taken to running off with a very gleeful expression, as if to say, "aren't you comin? There's a picnic just over the hill!'"


Unfortunately, the picnic consists of a dead calf hide, which she is making use of, as an eu de parfum, or eu de gross. Try taking a 45 minute ride in the car with that! Still, she looks innocent in the photo. Looks are deceiving.


The sunsets have been spectacular lately, this is just a couple of the many taken this week. I haven't the time to get them all resized for posting, so enjoy the few, if you didn't get out to see them.

Week Off

Do you see them? We are driving up the hill from the KY river on US 27, and this is what I see. First, a head. On the left, a head that looks what I think of as a cross between a lion and a man. I look for this every day for five years. Then, this year, I see a horse head right next to it. Just before the man/lion. Where did he come from?


Now, do you see them? The horse head looks like a chess piece.


Just a little reminder that the Lord is coming back soon. It is a comfort to me to see this every day.

I can't believe it's been a week since I've posted. There have been some major problems with my internet provider, and I've been gone for two days, too! I had the opportunity to go on a weekend trail ride/camp out in the Daniel Boone National Forest with some good friends, and one spouse. (not mine). We rode for 5 hours on Saturday through some beautiful forest mountain top areas, and Sunday for 4 hours through lower country farm areas, then UP a big hill at a 45 degree angle to the mountain top from where we rode home. Only had a few scalded areas on my saddle area, but otherwise in great shape! My borrowed horse, Paris, is a quarter horse who digs her feet in on the mountain going up and grunts repeatedly going down, ending in a snort. Funny! Saturday night we stayed in a friends old house, cooking on the stove and grill and sleeping in a comfy bed. We had a wonderful time, and now I am back home working with Bear.
Yesterday, I asked Bear for a canter from a walk, to which he responded with a few trot steps, then a nice canter which got faster and faster and faster! OK, let's walk! He's trying at least to be obedient. He also enjoyed very much the Georgia peach I got for him, slurping it down and looking for more.( I got a carton at the fruit stand for $1 for bruised ones). They may last another day...
Carrie missed me badly, but had a chance to bond with Bud. Now, they are on better footing with each other,and she dances around his feet,too.

Rain Yet Again!

Old barn at dusk


River mist

More rain! I still am not complaining since it seems to cool everything off for a while at least. I can't post pictures of Bear since I'm doing the riding now,but he is doing rather well lately. Maybe the illness has taken the edge off of him? Anyway we seem to be coming to an understanding about pace and half halts. Trail riding has been fun, but we are back in the arena for a while. I've had him in a canter twice this week, he really needs to work on his canter, since he takes about five strides and we are at the end of the long side! Yikes.
The old barn at the top is next door to MeadowLake, and seen for the first time the other night in the beautiful twilight.

Rain Again and Again

After the rain


A most welcome sight. Finally baled!


A good scratch


Mutual grooming initiated by the good scratch!

My posts have been intermittent lately, because of internet service problems, sorry.
We have had several days of afternoon rain, starting at around 6:oo and lasting for an hour or so. This all started because Bud and I decided to wait until the evenings to go to the farm.
We go our separate ways, he to the garden below, or fixing a new gate and I go to ride Bear. Bear is still on the mend, I am riding him, but not too long or hard. He's doing side pass at the walk, renvers and travers, turn on the forehand (shaky), and now trots on a light rein. He does a great halt just by my seat position. No photos of this, because I'm on him!
We have gotten soaked every day, but the evenings are so cool that I have gotten much delayed tasks done with minimum sweat. Like cleaning out the big run-in shed. And like putting compost on the garden and the hillside above the barn. Not for 90-degree-weather-tasks. It has actually been a joy to do.

Between the Storms

Bear at the gate

I guess Bear might as well be sick now, rather than later, as much as it's been raining here. I have him boarded at this farm so I can ride, knowing that someone will be around if I fall off on my head. But, I don't ride on wet grass for safety reasons. So, we're not wasting great riding days.
One plus, of him being sick, is that he now comes immediately when he sees me. He loves his little mash of food with antibiotics in it, 'cause I mix it with apple juice. A big horsie YUM. He met me at the gate yesterday, waiting for his apple and meal.

Ol' Buddy Ol' Pal

Two Buddies- Mom and daughter


Ellie and Audrey run, run, run

If you remember these two when I first put them together, Audrey being meanly chased all over the fields by Ellie, You might be surprised that they are great pals now. The photo of them at the top was chosen because of the two profiles to show their similarity of looks, but another (accidently deleted) showed them sharing a 1 inch patch of grass, a sure sign of good buddies. The running fit was started by giving them a bath, something they line up for at the gate every day. Usually, Ellie gets the lions share of water, moving her body to block it from her mamma.

Back to Work

Paint mare learns to trust the rider


Good looking gelding learns to carry himself


Instructor quiets a "hot"horse. ZZZZZZZZ


Black thoroughbred gets balanced through better balance of the rider

Just a few of the horses trained and riders taught this weekend. I wish I had taken more photos of the different horses and riders. Everyone learned things about themselves and their horses, I got to learn about all of them! Now, to translate this head knowledge into muscle movements and balance, and training, and thinking about the horse's next move and trying to anticipate that and correct it before he knows what happened, so he goes good without realizing why. And using his natural movements to get good reactions and claiming the results to him so he thinks I asked for it and got it.

Hospital duty

When it rains, it pours. I've spent the last week tending Bear who has a respiratory infection, known around here as "the snots". I've been thinking for the last month that he hasn't been feeling great. Last week, he coughed when trotting, and a few days ago, he had discharge from his nostrils. So, he's on antibiotics in his feed and in his butt! Hope he feels better soon. Brother has been in the hospital, too, with pneumonia, but is out of hospital today. Take care of yourselves, people!

Dawn on the Roads

Central Kentucky Farms

At Dawn

Gorgeous light!
I, and every other artist here, am blessed to live in an area that has so much natural beauty. It may not be as spectacular as, say, Jackson Hole, Wyoming,or the Teton Mountains, but acre for acre, I'll take the serene beauty of Central Kentucky over any landscape on earth. It's a shame I don't get out at dawn more often. Although it takes a bulldozer to do it, I always am glad I got up. Oh, for those thinking of moving here, please don't! Please come visit, stay a week, a month, take loads of pictures, but don't encourage the developers! We are losing so many farms...We love ya.

Haying time

It's haying time here, and not a moment too soon. I am personally tired of tromping through three feet of grass to get anywhere on our neighbors farm. (that's where I walk). It also makes it difficult to run away from the cows and donkeys. Our farm isn't going to be cut for two weeks. We are kind of at the mercy of the hay cutters, we get got to when they can get to us! So, at least I can walk somewhere!

A NEW LOOK!

In an effort to personalize my blog and make it prettier, I've changed a few things! I'm still "horse light"!

Retraction

Carrie heads for the road

Well, the new dog has something to say about her "Lady"name. She doesn't like it. Especially when she's trotting out into the road. She prefers the nice smooth road to the tall grass in the hay field, the pollen gets in her throat and makes her choke. In order to be as safe as possible, as soon as possible, she remains Carrie. So much for letting her loose now, too. She will remain on leash for a while while she's close to the road.
One other caviat about her name...it was my grandmother's first name. She hated it, and always went by her middle name-Florence. She was a very dignified person....never granny, nanna, even grandma, but must always be addressed as Grandmother. It's who she was. So, when I asked why she never went by Carrie(which I liked better) she said in a huff, "uhhh!I hate it!" So names are very personal, and sometimes are chosen by the addressee. So be it. "Carrie".

Already thinking the name change is maybe not going to work. On our little walk to see what Bud was doing on the tractor today, she ran into the road

New Name

Lady hiding in grass


Lady "gone" in grass


Lady enjoying her walk/run


Lady comes when called. She acts like she knows her name.

Name change! I think I'm going to call her by a great old standby; old fashioned farm dog name-"Lady". It suits her. She is fastidiously well mannered, looks hopeful when I carry food to where I'm going to eat, but lays down away from the table, doesn't hover panting into my plate. She will walk to the door and look at me, doesn't whine. Oh, she barked at Bud when he drove up in the truck. Two woofs, YES! One reason I wanted her was that she would hopefully bark when someone drives up. I don't know why, maybe the wind blows sounds away from me , but I sometimes don't know someone is here until they walk around the corner and scare the shadow off of me. So she's my little doorbell.
We took a walk to almost the top of the hill. I thought I'd not chance it with the donkeys up there. They are coyote chasing donkeys, I've seen them do it, but I haven't seen them catch one. I didn't want to take a chance that they'd try to run her down. She had a blast, running into the tall grass and playing hide and sek.