A cold Monday

No photos today. I barely went out the door. My body aches and have places on my body that are colors that should not appear on the human body. Black/blue/purple and shades of all three. Somehow my left hand is puffed up but its really nothing serious. It will all be gone in a few days and I will feel better tomorrow.

After being in the near 60's for a couple of days, it was cold today. In the low 40's. When I went to put the horses out this morning I just wore a sweatshirt. I about froze so this evening I put my heavy barn coat on. Spring is coming though. Grass is coming up. As I was raking up around here on Saturday there was green grass sprouting under the winter stuff.

Tomorrow on my list of must do's is to get my old saddle cleaned up to take to the tack swap this weekend. Rather Bob take, I will be in Puyallup at a clinic. I love the tack swap and always enjoy being there even if I don't buy anything. It seems to always be the start of the horse season here.

Nothing outside today, just was not up to it but feel like it or not tomorrow I must get back to Rusty. We have a horse in the round pen for a neighborhood guy so I will have to do other things. That's OK. The horse in the RP is an almost 17 hand Tennessee Walker that John got for free. He is huge (the horse) -like in tall, not very wide. He is sweet. When I fed him this evening all he wanted to do was to be loved on. His owner was disabled and could not care for him. I think he is used to lots of loving on. I love horses like that. Raven is out lover. The others like it but she won't leave you alone if your are in the pasture. She just wants a lot of attention. Red seems that way. Hes about 15 I think.

I hope to hear from Burns tomorrow. I am so anxious to get Sage here. ANXIOUS I say.

A day of surprises - not so good

Today we went for a ride with the Back Country Horsemen. It was a beautiful day. There were about 30 of us. A real surprise. Lots of mules on the ride. Am glad our horses don't came.

Pepper is always towards the tail. He wasn't too far back today but far enough the leaders had made a loop in front of us.

I was kind of in the middle at this point.

Now to the surprise. Not fun I can assure you. About half way into the ride there was a seep pond over the trail. Pepper goes through water without a problem. Well, not this time. He went in just fine. About half way across he dropped and was going to lay down. I got wet on one leg but got his pulled back to his feet. THEN he just flopped down on the other side and tossed me face first into the very cold, very muddy water. Physically I was not hurt, have lots of black and blue spots on my thighs and my left side but nothing serious. However, I was really embarrassed. I had to crawl, literally on my hands and knees out of the water. I could not get on to my feet. Pepper ran off, he new he was in very deep, I mean very deep doodoo. A nice man helped me to my feet, and out of the pond. Bob got back to me at that point. I was really starting to shiver. He began stripping my clothes. I kept grabbing them, what was going to do out in the middle of no where with no clothes. I got down to my undies, he put his jacket on me. My friend Marilyn, bless her heart had on two pair of pants and she gave me her outside pair and helped me get them on. I was shivering pretty good by that point. She also had on two pair of socks. They dried the inside of my boots with my shirt and I put on her socks.

Someone returned my horse, he had broken my favorite reins. Wiped the mud on my saddle, Bob tied my wet jeans, t shirt, sweatshirt and vest behind his saddle and off we went to finish the ride. I was pretty done by the time we got back. One good thing, my cell phone was in my vent pocket zipped in and it is OK but my small camera was on my wrist and it got drowned. It is dead, full of water. I did get the card out of it though and it is OK, that is where the pictures came through. I feel so bad because my sister got it for me a couple of years ago and I loved it. I love my big camera but I could take this one in my pocket places its difficult to take the big one.

While I was recovering, my sister called from Maui. I didn't talk to her. Bob had my phone in his pocket. She said they were having fun and it was beautiful. I would sure rather been there than crawling around in a giant mud puddle.

Lots of great people though that were concerned and stood around with their backs turned. I didn't care. Just had to get warm.

That is my word today WARM.

Sunshine and Saturday

These boys played off and on all afternoon. It was fun to watch them. I had trouble getting a picture because the lens kept focusing on the trees or the fence. Finally got an angle that worked. They are really good friends.
Wanna dance?

Oh, shes over there taking pictures. We had better behave.

Liberty laying in the sun this morning.

Oliver hanging out where the sun shone best for him. I took a picture of his broke off horn but it didn't work. It looks good now. He is shedding. See all the bunches of white hair. He rubs it off with his remaining horn.

Wrangler enjoying the sun this morning too. I put Pepper into the pen with him and the silly guy went over and made Wrangler get up. Naughty boy.

It was a great day, not only did we get along of stuff outside cleaned up and burned but we got some chores done that needed doing. Katie and Cameron came out and rode. She groomed a couple of the horses for me. Hair flying all over. She will come Monday and do stalls.

I worked on Rusty for about two hours today and she was awesome. I took my little stool and put it down beside her and she let me get up on it and lay over her. She was not tied anywhere, just had the lead rope in my hand. Put her in and out of the trailer a couple of times. Bob went and got some Shreiners for her leg. That is good stuff. Kind of spendy but it works good. She is beginning to get some proud flesh growing and that will not only heal her leg but stop that from growing. I led her all over, around things, over things and after we sprayed her leg we put her back in the trailer and put the divider in place. I tied her outside like I would any horse and then we cleaned out the tack room and did stuff around the trailer. She just stood there. After about half an hour I turned her out. It was a successful day with her. Soon, very soon we will put a saddle on her. I hope she does not remember bucking off one last year.

It was almost 60 today, same is predicted for tomorrow. Then snow by midweek. Freaky? Yes of course. But it is March in the northwest.

Friday

This is good ole Pepper waiting for me to put him out this morning. Even when he is naughty he is still our good ole boy.
Fancy and Fluffy sitting beside the generator in the the barn. They are so pretty but don't like to be touched..

Sages pen waiting for her. And, I am waiting for her too.

I worked with Rusty a couple of times today. She did good. Her leg was pretty icky this morning so I hosed it off and she let me. I did it again this afternoon and then put some stuff on it. She will just step up in the trailer now, no fight.

I have a lulu of a sore throat this evening. Bob has a miserable cold and this is how his started. I am not accepting that. I want the sore throat gone and then the other symptoms can just go away without inflicting me.

So those are my thoughts today. Sleep is what I am craving.

Thursday

This is my sweet sister Sharon and her husband "Dr. Doolittle" aka Brownie. They flew out of Nashville this morning early to fly to Honolulu and to get on a cruise ship for a week long cruise of the Hawaiian Islands for their 50th. wedding anniversary. I don't regret having the big party we had but that sure sounds fun.

Today I am kind of just looking back thru some of our pictures. I was too tired last night and have someplace to be this evening so decided I would just do my pictures now. I had no new pictures to post and thought what the heck, I have hundreds to pick from so that is what I did. I may have posted some before, I can't remember and I don't want to look thru 2 years of blogs to check. So here goes.
This is my grand niece Caroline and her horse Cricket. Cricket is a Kiger mustang. We adopted her about 6 years ago I think. Caroline fell in love with her. Carrie lived in Massachusetts at that time. She came two summers to stay with us. The second summer we gave Cricket to her. She did her first ride here before Cricket left. She went to Massachusetts first and Caroline took lessons and had training for Cricket. Now they have moved to Mississippi and Cricket moved with them. Caroline is now 17 and has a year before she starts to college at Ole Miss. In this picture she is showing her in 4H at the state fair. She took a third. They were very proud of her. I am going to MS in May to visit. I hope to be able to ride Cricket at least once while I am there.

This is a group of our critters eating. Yuma now has a friend he rooms with and Sequoia, the third from the top has moved on too. He is a little girls pony.

Bob working with Rusty off Pepper.

Me riding Ditto. I think this is the last time she was ridden. She is my dear old friend and at 29 years old is still going strong. I could ride her but she is retired except for a lead around horse with small kids on her. I promised her she would not have to work any more. She took me to the top in both English and Western when I rode her and she did pull a cart but hated it. So we quit that.

This was a couple of years ago. Not enough snow this year to do anything like this. Rosie loves to pull anything. Bob is rebuilding my cart for her to pull something really pretty. The sleigh is pretty too and looks quite handsome behind her.

Ditto and Liberty last summer or the year before. Liberty was abandoned a few years ago next door. I think Katie will be riding her in the next few weeks. Tyler could have but he was chicken. She is a sweet natured horse.

This is Raven. Bob's favorite horse. She would let anyone ride her but she gets a little spooky sometimes. She was given to us because they said she bucked. Never has, goes sideways on occasion but nothing resembling a buck. She is loving and affectionate too.

This was up in the Clearwater Mt.s last summer. Pepper is always about this far behind. It was absolutely beautiful up there. Bob and Katie are up ahead.

Rosie's eye. Love eye pictures

And Amelia. A fat and fuzzy old mare.

So that is my thinking Thursday.

Thankful Tuesday

Two things before I go any further. #1 When Rusty lays her ears back and looks like she is about to bolt, its not about me but Bob standing by the shed and putting the camera up to take the picture. For some reason that wigged her out. #2 Please don't bug me about my shoes. I know they were the wrong thing to have on my feet working with the horse. But they were comfortable and I didn't want to go back to the house to change. Lazy, probably but I did it anyway.

Rusty in the trailer. She did not go in as easy as yesterday and I did not fasten her in. Tomorrow I will do that again.

I layed further over her yesterday but just before this picture she had wigged out and I had to jump off the stool. Jump I said jump. I had not jumped that far in 10 years. I thought my legs were going to break but they didn't. She did not like Bob and the camera for some reason. I have been taking pictures of her for a long time. Something bugged her today though.

Starting my layover. Just before she made me jump out of her way. Don't guess I will do this without someone home again. She wasn't acting that way until Bob came with the camera. I don't know what was up with that.

This afternoon Bob did not have to work after all and we went for a ride. Katie came along. We went and looked over an arena and then back into the state land that we used to ride on all the time. I wanted to find the way to the bottom of the canyon but Bob and Katie wanted to go back so I did too. When I got back Bob caught Rusty and I ponied her around off Pepper. He is good at that. Just try and lock your feet girl, I will pull you along and he did. Need a shorter rope for Rusty though, if she had bolted I would have had trouble I think.

So through it all, today I am so thankful for the nice weather for the last couple of days. It was so good to get outside and do things without having to struggle with the coat and boots ect. I am thankful for the physical ability to do what we did today. I am thankful for good horses that pack us around. My word (s) today is Thank You.

A Buuuuuuuutiful Monday

No picture today. I had an awesome day today with Rusty but could not figure out how to take a picture when I was doing the hands on. Bob will be home tomorrow Until noon so maybe then either he or I will take pictures.

Rusty today was awesome. I almost could walk up to her in the pasture instead of her running to her little pen and then letting me walk right up to her. I know that sounds silly but that is what she does. I could rub her neck in the pasture and then she just could not let me touch the halter so into her pen we went. She can go in and out so its not like she is penned up. I already had Pepper tied to the hitch rail because I was going to ride, but didn't get to. So I put Rusty at the hitch rail. She didn't want to walk up to it but she did. I curried and brushed her and brushed through her mane. I needed to put more stuff on her leg and had been pondering how I was going to do that. Well, she just stood there and let me put the salve on it. I was so proud of her.

She was so calm I decided to cut her bridle path with scissors. She let me stand up on the step stool beside her and nip nip nip away. So then I decided she was so calm I moved the step stool closer to the center of her and layed across her. Probably not the best here by myself but she just stood there and let me. On her off side she was not as relaxed but let me. I was so excited about it. Then we went for a walk, down the road about 3/4 of a mile. She just walked along as good as good could be. Then home again. I walked over to the trailer opened the door and she stepped right in with me. Yeah Rusty. I petted her, hugged her told her what a good girl she was and I turned her back into the pasture.

That was my day. My back tweaked a little doing nothing late this morning so I did not ride. I could not have lifted up my saddle. Maybe tomorrow. Pepper needs some fat worn off.

Had a call from the BLM today and I got so excited but Lo it was asking me to go do a compliance check on a horse. Oh well. Soon, that is my word of the day today. SOON