Thursday

This is on a wall in our house so we don't ever forget. Not that we would but I sure like the poster anyway.

Kind of a lazy day. Didn't do too much inside or out. It was a nice day. I did go out and catch Dixie and put her in for her evening treat. She is getting easier to catch knowing there is a treat at the end of the lead rope.

Bob worked with Rusty today. If he were going to be here tomorrow he would have saddled her but he is leaving to go elk hunting tomorrow. I would rather he got an elk than a deer but he will probably get one of those later. I will work with Rusty while he is gone but I don't know if I will get her saddled or not. If I had not sold my English saddle I would use it to saddle the first time. It was light weight. We do have a youth saddle that we have used on occasion to put on for a first saddle up. That's a thought too. I need one I can handle with one hand. I may be getting ahead of myself though because she hasn't liked me too much. It has gotten better but I am not high on her favorite people list.

A sunny Wednesday

These pictures are of Bob's second time with Rusty today. The first time he trimmed both of her front feet. Her left side was easy. She lets him take that foot all the time. The surprise was the off side front foot. It can be tricky but she gave it to him when he said "foot" and let him trim it. He did not file them, just used the nippers. The rasp will come next time. They sure look better.

Then he was outside about 3 and I was finishing up some chores in the house and my cell phone rang and it was Bob asking me to come down to the round pen and bring the camera so I did. He had a wonderful time on Pepper with her. She led the best she ever has and as you can see he did a lot over the back of her. At one point I thought he was going to slide his leg over but he didn't and I was glad. I don't want him hurt again. Three times since May is enough.

When he was done with Pepper I changed saddles and put mine on him, donned my helmet and went for a ride. Across the road is nothing too exciting to look at except deer tracks and gofer holes and an occasional badger hole but its close and just a relaxing walk. Pepper does not mind going by himself which is far different than when I did it on Dixie. She does not go alone well. Pepper does not much care, just don't make him hurry and he is happy.

So it was a good day, the laundry is folded, the kitchen is cleaned, I did some sewing, the sun shone and I feel good.

Tuesday

This was a beautiful fall day. The sky was beautiful. This morning it was cold. But warmed up as the day went on. With the going down of the sun it got cooler again. My picture today is Bob and Tyler doing some of the fall work. They got a lot done. Tomorrow is supposed to be another nice howbeit cool day so maybe they can get more done. I am glad Tyler is here or I would have had to been driving one of the tractors.

We were really worried about Rusty today. She did not eat good last night. Could find nothing that looked bothersome. Went all over her. Her gums looked good, her temp normal and she was pooping normally. Then this afternoon we was the Oliver (my goat) had not eaten his hay either. He had just picked at it. Must be something in the bale of hay. Bob set that bale aside and we opened another. Will see tomorrow morning if they ate their supper. Bob was up and down all night with Rusty but nothing showed up. She lays down a lot but is not colicing. We gave her extra salt because she did not seem to be drinking as much either. I imagine he will be up and down with her tonight too. I am glad she is gentled enough to touch her all over like that. Until we found Ollie not eating either I kept thinking of Arlene's horse with Pigeon Fever. Don't think that's it now. Or do goats get it too?

I am feeling good today. Made an apple cobbler last night and decided to try something a little different. I added a can of whole cranberries to it. It was so good. I say was because these two guys of mine attacked it with a vengeance. I got one small piece. I got the idea when I went to the Mennonite Sale a few weeks ago and they had some apple/cranberry pie for sale. It is really good.

Rainy day and Monday

I am about to boot my computer out the window. I can not get it to load pictures at all this evening. I have six I wanted to load. I will try again in a while.

If any of you don't look at Spring Creek Basin Weblog, you should. She takes the most beautiful pictures of the mustangs in the wild. Spring Creek Basin is in southern Colorado I think. I love her pictures. Take a look at them. Also when he has time Matt at Pryor Mountain Mustangs has great pictures to.

I feel better today but it was in the house day. Bob tried to catch Dixie so she could get her grain and supplements but he could not do it. He is more frustrated about that kind of thing than I am. She may find herself in the round pen or the arena by herself. What a twit.

Well I got one to load so far. Maybe I don't have to kick it out the window. It might hurt my foot.

The bottom picture is Laura and her Arabian horse Mystic. Love that picture even if I did take it. The middle picture is of Tyler and Jim. The top picture is Cindy on Dolly. I think this will be all I can get loaded. I think there is a picture of everyone that rode.

Got kind of bummed today when Bob told me our good friends Bernie and Sherrie had called Saturday and asked if they could pick Bob and I up and go for a ride with them down toward Ritzville. Of course we were both busy and could not but any other day almost we would have loved to have gone. They thought they were moving to Montana soon but the job Sherrie had put in for a transfer to did not happen. I am sorry because they really want to move, but happy that they will still be here for a while. They are very dear to us.

Katie called today and is quite sick. I am sorry. Miss the Blondie around here.

Sunday evening

These are all the pictures my computer will let me load. Its dial up, what can I say. I will do more tomorrow.

The top picture is Andrea and her wonderful mustang Tonka. He is such a nice horse and does whatever she asks him. The next picture is Andreas friend Melissa who rode Andrea's horse Soxy. Soxy had some trouble with the hills but gave Melissa a nice ride anyway. The bottom picture is the group who went on our Mustang Club Ride. Of course not everyone rode mustangs but that was OK. We had fun on the horses. From the left Cindy on Dolly, Darlene on Jewel, Laura on Mystic, Andrea on Tonka, Melissa on Soxy, Tyler on Raven and Jim on Pepper. It was his first ever ride. Pepper took care of him just fine. I will try to get more to load tomorrow. I don't know whats up.

Of course I went on the ride too, someone had to take pictures, so I am not in any of them. Dixie was good and did well despite, bikes, hikers, dogs, cross country skiers on wheels and cars..Nothing too much shakes her up much. Unless its going off in a direction no one else is going and then she gets upset. I love my barefoot horse. She just goes and goes. I do need some shims in the front of my saddle though. Her withers are so high.

I came home from the ride and went right to bed after taking care of Dixie. I did not feel so good all day and by the time I got home I was downright miserable. I think it was a reaction to the flue shot. Feel better today but still have the headache and am super tired.

Friday

I wish I knew how to add the pictures and write about each one instead of them all loading in a row.

Here it is Friday already. Bob is away all weekend at a Search and Rescue weekend training. The bottom picture is what he accomplished with Rusty before he had to leave this afternoon. She did not mind it at all. Looked a little surprised at first but it was really no big deal. I have been messing with her mouth and that is no big deal either. I wish I knew about teeth and age of a horse. She is cutting teeth just a little behind the ones she had. Mares don't get wolf teeth do they. I think I heard that. I need to google it and see if I can figure it out. The bars of her mouth are much longer than our older horses. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm.

The second picture is Tyler resting (dozing). He is not the most ambitious 20 year old I have been around. It was sunny and warmer today and I did not blame him for catching a few winks while Grandpa was working the horse. He is good young man and Grandpa works him pretty hard most of the time.

The last picture is what Tyler was doing before he rested. My raspberries that I have asked for for several years. The people where the cows have been on pasture gave him a bucket full. I must remember to water them tomorrow.

Tomorrow is our Mustang Club sponsored ride. Ride any kind of a horse you have. We just are putting it on. Bring your lunch, a snack or whatever and come ride in Riverside State Park. Its free, just to have fun before the weather gets too bad. We will live the Trail Town Trail head at 11:00 AM. I wanted to get a trail map but that didn't happen. We will have a great day. Dress warm. See you there.

A new me

My shoulder length hair went away today. It was giving me some bad headaches. I pulled it back in a clip most of the time and I woke up with a headache. This will be easier to take care of. I am not too talented with hair. My hair is so terribly thick and heavy that growing it long just does not work. So anyway, this is the new me.

Dixie and I went for a little trail ride by ourselves this afternoon. She did not like going by herself at all. She kept stopping but went when I touched her sides with my heel. Didn't have to kick at all, just touch her. However coming home was a little more challenging. She wanted to hurry but I wanted to walk quietly. The quietly did not happen but we walked. She did not jig, just walked but she didn't want to. She can toss her head pretty good. When I was ready to cross the road to our driveway a car was coming so she had to stand for a minute and she pawed the ground and did the mustang snort but she did what I asked, just did not like it.

I put a different saddle pad on because it was on the top and we were only going to be gone a little while. I put my hand in under the gullet of the saddle to check it for some reason and found that saddle pad will not work. It is a cut back pad and the saddle was sitting on her withers. I felt bad. Her regular pad is thicker and the front six inches are built up. I will have to be really aware of that. She has high withers and has not put all her weight back since her teeth were done.

And I tried to 45 minutes to catch her. Tyler had to help me catch her. She is in a stall tonight. I was really mad at her. She has always been good with me. Not today. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr.

I made a big pot of potato soup for supper tonight. It just felt like it. Its my favorite food I think.