Spring!!!!

Spring has sprung! Things are growing in the garden. None of it is stuff I've planted yet this year. It's all come up from last year.

Elderberry 

 The garlic I actually planted in the planter

 The garlic that escaped getting dug up last year in the old spot.

 The lettuce that reseeded it self from last year.

Keith's favorite chives also survived the winter. 

Spearmint I think. It and the peppermint are running together. Not exactly sure which one is which yet.

 The walking onions. Nothing short of a nuclear blast right on top of them seems to kill them.

 Parsnips. Must have reseeded themselves from last year. I thought I dug all of them up??

  Rhubarb!! So totally excited. All three plants made it through the winter.

 Spinach totally suprised on this one as the entire plants wintered over in temps as low as -20 plus degrees.

 Swiss Chard plants also survived the winter. Not as suprised on this one as they are pretty cold hardy.

And finally I've been busy building raised garden beds from recycled lumber that we didn't use up when we replaced the front porch.  So here are my raised beds that I'm getting ready to plant other stuff in soon. I've got three of them this is just the two I already got settled in and partially filled.

I'm so looking forward to gardening season!

My new home away from home!

Well my new horse trailer arrived last weekend and we got around to starting to stock it up and getting it ready for spring and summer competitions. I've got a whole new list of things to get over time to make it even better. The biggest thing on the list will be a newer truck to pull it with.  

Here you see the back end where the black panels are actually removable plexi-glass. Removal in the summer allow for more airflow over the open stock type bars underneath.

And on this side we have the drop down feeder door with windows for the horses.

And the inside of the horse area

And the inside of the 'camping/living"area from the corner where we are going to put in an upright corner water storage tank. ( another wish list item)

And the view from the sleeping area where we want to put in a 2 or 3 inch memory foam covering the entire area. (another wish list item). The horse trailer I've been borrowing has a mattress stuffed up in this area and if you roll off the side of the mattress you get stuck. so we figured that completely filling the space with a memory foam pad would make it more comfortable.

And finally the Biggest selling point of all, a relatively new rarely used Heater/ air conditioner combo. That alone really got Keith interested in the whole trailer. Now we have to find a small generator to operate it when we are out camping. (one more wish list item).

The trailer was an awesome deal and I'm so glad I had a friend who thought enough of me to save it specially for me! I can't wait to start taking it out on the trails and having fun with Keith and the horses! It will make it's debut appearance at the April ACTHA rides hosted by Walkin N Circles Ranch. So if you don't recognize me because of the new trailer, you should be able to recognize me by the horse tied to it.

 She's a little hard to miss don't you think? See ya all out on the trails!

Can the ApHC survive?

 Based on the American Livestock Breed Conservancy website they list the "Parameters of Livestock Breeds on the ALBC Conservation Priority List" that includes the following:

The breed census satisfies numerical guidelines:

    * Critical: Fewer than 200 annual registrations in the United States and estimated global population less than 2,000.
    * Threatened: Fewer than 1,000 annual registrations in the United States and estimated global population less than 5,000.
    * Watch: Fewer than 2,500 annual registrations in the United States and estimated global population less than 10,000. Also included are breeds that present genetic or numerical concerns or have a limited geographic distribution.
    * Recovering: Breeds that were once listed in another category and have exceeded Watch category numbers but are still in need of monitoring.
    * Study: Breeds that are of genetic interest but either lack definition or lack genetic or historical documentation.

As of right now ApHC has been registering around 3500 horses per year. A 1000 horse drop in registrations just might put the Appaloosa horse on the watch list. Some members of the ApHC have developed a plan that would bring in more members and more registrations to a "half" or "color" section of the ApHC. Unfortunately several members are in opposition to this new portion of the registry because it would allow horses of unknown breeding with Appaloosa pattering to be registered. The new section would be run in a manner similar to the Pinto registry in that any horse of Appaloosa patterning would be eligible to be registered. This new section would bring in new members and new registrations and just might save the ApHC from the steep decline it's been in the past several years. The strangest thing is that the vast majority of individuals opposed to opening up a "color" or part bred registry of any kind within the ApHC are the same ones who actually approved of the registration of a colt who had a Paint registered sire. 

The ApHC is losing ground fast and some of it's own members refuse allow it to go forward and gain some of it's former popularity back.   If you are one of the few members of the ApHC left, you need to get in contact with your BOD member and let them know how you feel.