I did not go anywhere

We have been having telephone line problems for 3/4 days. I think its repaired as of this morning. Our friend Jim Spring who is unemployed at the moment but knows this stuff came and thinks he found the problem outside.. When the phone is out, so is my computer.

This past weekend I worked at a horse show out in the Spokane Valley at the Valley Mission Arena. What a change of weather. Saturday we ate dust and it was very warm. Was glad I had worn my baseball cap and sunglasses. HOWEVER on Sunday the bottom picture explains it all. I thought I had dressed warm and dry enough but went thru 3 outer wear outfits and was soaked thru by the end of the day. The longer the day went, the fewer the competitors. It was awful.

Isn't the little mule a cutie in the top picture. Her name is Gidget. I believe she won high point English 5 years and under. She rode her in a D Ring snaffle bit.

Our Katie rode Lena and did OK. Some 4Th. and 5Th. It was good practice and this was her first show and the other horses have been showing all year. Katie was a little nervous I think and that made Lena nervous too of course. If she had shown in a couple more classes she would have done better. She is preparing this week for next Saturday and the Panhandle Back Country Horsemen Trail Challenge. I think she will do better at that. At least at this point.

After 2 days off because of the downpour of rain Bob worked with Rusty today. She thought at first that NO WAY not today but Bob said oh yes you are. He got a halter on her. Its Dixie's but it was handy. He got her into the round pen and worked her on a long line. She did not want to go to the right and had a hissy over it but he persisted and pretty soon she was going each way easily. She turned and faced him easily too and after about 45 minutes had unclenched her jaw and was relaxing. By the time they were done he was handling her on both sides and he led her down the aisle way back to her pen on a loose line. Very very proud of her. She certainly is not as easy as Sierra but she is 3 and she was 1.

Thursday evening the 25Th. this week is our Mustang Horse Club meeting at Perkins restaurant at 6:00 PM. The restaurant is at Mission and Argonne just off I90. Would just love to meet anyone new. We are still a small group but growing. Old timers, will be glad to see you too.

Friday evening

The top picture is my favorite of Liberty. She has gotten so sweet while Tyler is working with her so often. He still needs to get on the first time.

The bottom one is Rusty doing that slow wonderful western jog that will be so fun to ride. I went into her pen and was determined to pet her. I had to get the rope on her and flip it over her nose to make a halter. That worked quite well until she got stung on the chest and just about mowed me over. Not her fault though. I know it hurt. Lena got stung in the pen beside her and was going a little crazy too. I did get up to her shoulder and took the rope off and let her go and let her out into the round pen away from the swarm of little bees that were after then. Felt so bad for them.

This is the last horse show weekend of the season. I am working the gate both days. I have a good voice I guess. Loud anyway.

I am back

These are my 2 elderly uncles that we went to see. The top one is my Uncle George and the lower one is Uncle Lyle. They are both 92 and in fair health. Uncle George is by far the most active. One is in Portland, the other in Puyallup. We also took a few minutes and stopped in to see Bob's brother in Puyallup. And we drove up to Marysville so I could get a grandson fix. Oh Nikki our oldest daughter too. Lane was mad we had to come home so soon.

When we got here Katie was here riding Lena and Tyler had fixed the alleyway so we could get Rusty in the round pen. Bob worked with her for a while and she is going to have the nicest western jog. It took her about 2 turns to learn to turn to the inside and about 3 or 5 laps to learn to stop and look at him. It was pretty awesome. I imagine after she has breakfast in the morning he will be back working with her. She seemed so much more relaxed with more room to move.

Then I had to go say hello to the other horses. Yuma is always the first one to say hello. He is so pretty and shiny. He does not get all shed out until the beginning of August and then its time to get fuzzy again.

I am very tired. That was a 950 mile 3 days.

A sunny Monday

These are pictures from our trail ride. I did not take any during the BBQ. I just was too busy doing stuff and talking to people and I forgot to pick up my camera. Again, it was a great ride.

Bob announced this morning that we were going to Portland in the morning. I know we had been talking about it since January. I have a 92 year old uncle there that I really need to see. He used to live in Hermiston and we could go down there for the day. Not so easy to see him in Portland. He is my mothers baby brother. He has 6 kids but only one seems to pay much attention to him. They live near his youngest daughter. Then we will go up to Puyallup to see my other living uncle. He is 92 also and is my dads baby brother. They both are dear to me and I am thrilled that at 70 I still have living uncles that I can visit with. We will be home Thursday evening.

Bob worked a long time with Rusty today. He put the rope halter on her like Kitty Lauman uses. The one she uses that she uses a rope with a ring and puts it around their neck then puts it around their nose. Rusty did not like it at all and pitched a real fit to start with but by the time he was thru she was kind of leading and coming up to him with just a tiny bit of pressure. He took a brush and brushed her on both sides with it. She did not like it too much but she did not bolt off. She stood there while he took the halter off and the rope from around her neck. I did not do anything with her. I had laundry to do and packing to get done and give a riding lesson and make some phone calls, go to the bank and deposit the ride money etc.

I may be on line Wed. evening and can add to the blog but don't know. Depends on when we get to Nikki's. Will be home on Thursday though.

Sunday evening

I intended to write here last night and tell all about the ride but was so tired I went to bed. Just skimmed over e mails and that was that. I don't even have the few pictures I took off the camera yet. Not feeling on top of the world this evening but will live.

Our ride was wonderful. We had 45 riders besides Bob and Tyler. A few things we will know next time what to do and what not to do but for a first event of this nature I for one was quite proud of it. 3 people somehow got lost and were really mad. For some reason it was my fault. It made me want to yell back at them but I took a deep breath. I offered them their money back but they declined and said they would have lunch. Then they left. Made me grind my teethe. Parking was a problem but it worked out and other than a couple of people who did not want to go with the plan to get everyone out safely it went well. The main problem with exiting was a horse that would not load. A man who wanted to "help" took a piece of small plastic pipe and hit the horse with it several times. Did not work of course. Ultimately they brought the truck/trailer up and to the main area and the horse would not load. She finally reared and came down on the edge of the back of the trailer and I thought she was fatally wounded. They walked her down to a farm but I don't know the end result. I hope and pray she is OK.

At the same time the mare was not loading a big appy gelding decided he wasn't going home either but Tyler got him in. He was a big horse and a small trailer. Both were young horses and neither had loaded good to come.

Other than those 2 instances, things went pretty well. Some got stung on the trail and some horses got stung. One guy got dumped off his mule but not hurt, just tore his nice shirt. The trail was fine and it was a beautiful day. We had lots of food, people ate all they wanted, we visited with alot of new friends and we got to share our mustangs and talk about mustangs to alot of people. There were some mustangs on the ride but most were not. It was open to everyone. We had ponies, big horses, arabs, mules, you name it. And we had fun around the bbq for lunch and most had a great time.

I guess what I learned is that you can't please everyone and we did the best we could. I will be posting the end results at out Inland Empire Mustang Horse Club (maybe no horse in the title) Yahoo site for those who are interested. That is where we post alot of stuff - our meetings ect. Feel free to join it and keep track of us. Or better yet come to our meeting on the last Thursday of each month at Perkins at Argonne/Mission just off I90.

Rusty got pretty well ignored other than being fed this weekend. Oh yes, she got fed twice this evening - Lena too. They lied to me and told me they had not eaten. I thought Tyler had forgotten. So I fed them again. Tyler did go in and pet her today. He got onto her right side which I have not been able to do since week one. Bob has not had time much to do anything. He has been working nights as security at the fair and has not been too successful at sleeping during the day. His last night was last night so maybe our lives can get back to normal.

Our grandson Lane had a birthday today. He was 10. I asked him what I could get him and he told me catapillars that turn into butterflies. Can I buy them? Never had that request before. He is a bug boy. If he does not turn out to be a bug adult what ever they are called I will be shocked. He likes to come here because we have big grasshoppers.

A hectic day

What a busy day. Did not realize all I needed to do before the Mustang Club Ride tomorrow. Need to get up early and early and I don't always get along well. Better than Tyler though and he needs to get up early too. Katie will be here by quarter to 7. I want to be on the road shortly there after.

Am watching a draft horse show on RFD TV. Am so impressed with those big horses. We used to have a part shire gelding named Beuford. He was such a wonderful horse. He was our son Tom's riding horse but then he discovered girls and cars and Beuford got left in the dust and we sold him.

Rusty still is not being good to me. Bob worked with her for a long time. She let him touch her on her right side which has been a nono. She still swings her rear to me. I did get both hands on her neck and brushed her mane with me fingers and rubbed her back to her hip. Finally I left at that point. Tyler did well with her too. She must be a mans horse. Tyler rubbed clear down her front leg and took ahold of the pastern. She just let him do it. He is so proud of himself when he can do stuff like that.

Dixie and Raven are in stalls for tomorrow and Lena is in the round pen. All waiting to load. I gave Dixie some oats. Since we had her teeth done she is gaining some weight. I am so relieved. It was beginning to worry me. Tyler is going to ride her tomorrow and he hasn't before. I hope he can stay off her face. He is riding with a mechanical hackamore. Have not tried to put a bit in her mouth since her teeth were taken care of. She seems to like that best anyway.

Remembering 9-11-01

I remember like it was yesterday. I was awaken by Bob turning on the TV in our bedroom and telling me to wake and and watch. I remember wanting to throw up when I realized the objects falling from the Towers were human beings. I remember sobbing when the Twin Towers fell. I could not, and still can not imaging how human beings could do that to other human beings. What a loss of lives, of peace, and of hope. Its a day that will be in our great grandchildren's history books.

Enough...................Just a day of reflection.

I worked with Rusty. Bob did not get up in time. She does not like me. I had to run her around the pen several times before she let me touch her. I got the rope on her and she threw one of her tantrums. Bob says I am letting her win but I don't think so. I just can't seem to make headway with her. Spent about an hour with her trying to just pet her and rub her head. She just won't have it. I can walk up and lay the rope all over her but when I reach out my hand its bye bye. I finally got petting her neck down but I could not touch her face and that is where she let us touch her first. It is getting to be a battle. I try to keep my emotions in check. What I want to do is yell at her. The only time I have raised my voice is when she turned her rear at me and took a pop with a hind foot. I yelled then and got after her.

Katie had a great lesson on Lena today. I made her ride in her own saddle. She sits in it so much nicer. She likes one of Bob's but her equitation stinks in it. We worked on up and down transitions from walk/trot/walk. Tomorrow she can just ride in the arena or across the the road and relax with her. We are trading yard work for lessons. It works for both of us.