Catching up

Finally it was nice enough to saddle up a horse and go for a ride. The ground is still a bit slick and we still have snow and ice in some places. We had to take the ride slow because of the conditions, but Dream did good. We rode 4 miles and practiced a bunch of obstacles including a walk over the tarp and the bridge, the pin wheel, open gates and we even literally went and picked up the mail.  We are getting ready for more ACTHA rides this year. There are two planned for February, two planned in March, two planned in April and a single day ride in June so far. Dream is currently the only Appaloosa in the state that is in the top 10 horses and I hope to keep her in the top 10 for the ride year. 

Topper is fighting off hoof abcesses in both front feet. She's been in the 'sick' pen for almost a month now. She's getting better slowly and soon she'll be back in the main pasture with the rest of them. 

Ladybug and Booger Butt are doing fine. I'm thinking of taking BB on some of the up coming ACTHA rides to get him used to being tied to the horse trailer and get him around other horses. I've also decided that maybe I'll be selling Booger Butt. He's such a cute guy, but if I'm going to be breeding Appaloosas, I can't keep all of them. I want to breed Topper this year for a foal in 2013. I can't keep all of them and Booger is doing well in his training. He's ready for someone to take him to a higher level of training.

Snow Day

It looks like this at the house.

And it's still coming down. 

Jazzy is to lazy to get out of bed while Buddy has been out running around in the snow.

Catastrophy is attempting to confiscate my crochet. 

That's my snow day!

Stolen Horse Trailer

One of my friends had her horse trailer stolen from her boarding stable in Gallup, NM recently. Amazingly her horse trailer was specifically the target because multiple other horse trailers right beside this one were all left alone AND hers was the only one with a hitch lock on it. They took her trailer with the hitch lock and all.  The trailer was taken over night between November 11th and 12th. 

2- HORSE WHITE CM ODYSSEY ALUMINUM BUMPER- PULL

VIN #49THB112421058097

REWARD

CONTACT JACKIE AT 505-870-4671 Or Gallup Crimestoppers (505) 722-6161

Things I've learned from my garden

Okra flowers are AWESOME!

July ACTHA Ride

Last Saturday I took Baby Girl to her second ever ACTHA Competition. She did really well for her limited training and competitions. There were 64 total entries in my division, 2 riders either didn't show or didn't complete any obstacles. Three riders were disqualified for what ever reason so that left a total of 59 competitors earning points. Baby Girl completed all the obstacles but still finished 21st out of 59.

Our first obstacle was this huge white bridge and then we were to walk between two wooden long horn cows. Baby girl just wasn't sure about the white bridge. She hesitated a few times before she waked across the bridge, but she never really even looked at the wooden cows on the other side.

The second obstacle we needed to dismount, pick up a big white stuffed toy. Place it on the horse and remount the horse and then ride over to the assistant and give them back the big stuffed gorilla. Baby Girl did well on this one and didn't hesitate or spook.

The third obstacle was the vine simulator. They used a long white shower curtain that had the little magnets at the bottom of the curtain. It was a bit windy when we got there and baby girl was a bit spooked at the "vines", but she eventually went through both times within the time limit set for the obstacle.

We then rode over to the Slicker and hat pick up obstacle. This one we had practiced many times at home, but baby girl spooked a bit when I went to take the slicker off the tree limb. She settled well though and then we picked up the old hat with a stick and finished all in good time.

After that we had a log drag. We also practiced this one regularly at home, and things worked out well until I tried to get the rope hung back up at the end. I missed the branch and had to drop the rope, but we still scored pretty well. 

The next one we had never actually practiced before, but it turned out to be our best obstacle of the day. It was the Rope gate. We had to ride up to the gate, open it walk the horse through and calmly drop the rope and continue on. We got perfect scores on this one even though it was the one I was most concerned about in the beginning.

The last obstacle was a trot weave through cones. They had two silhouette cowboys at the start and one at the end of the cones we had to trot through the opening between the two, trot the cones and around the single one at the end and then back through the cones and the two cowboys. They set this obstacle up on a hard packed pea gravel road right next to a large open softer dirt area. Never figured out why they would set it up on the pea gravel when there was more softer dirt area beside it. Baby Girl wasn't to keen on trotting the gravel so we broke gait and didn't gain good scores on it. 

Overall I'm quite proud of my Baby Girl. She did well for her second competition. We do need more work, but that only comes with more time. 

Then on Sunday we attended a training clinic for another 4 hours and I got tips on working with her and practicing obstacles as we went along. It was a great weekend and I can't wait for the next ride!

Busy times here on the farm

Up until this past weekend we had not had any rain so my garden was looking pretty sad. I've been busy watering almost every day because the wind would blow and dry out the ground faster then the water could soak in. Now that the rains have started, I'm not needing to water every day. I've also been harvesting a few things here and there. We finally had some fresh lettuce for salads, the dill is ready to pick and dehydrate the leaves for dill weed. We had cooked Kale for dinner tonight. But the biggest thing is we finally got our first ripe tomato. Only one so far and it was a cherry tomato, but at least we did get a tomato. The rest of the garden is just barely getting going. Even the Rhubarb has been lagging due to the hot dry conditions. You know it's bad in the garden when even the weeds aren't growing well.

I've also got duck, geese and chicken hens all setting on nests. I've had one crop of young chicks and ducks that are at least two months old now and I've also got a new set of one gosling, three ducklings, and 4 Turkey chicks. The hens on nests have nearly 30 eggs between all the nests. The vast majority are all duck eggs, but one hen has her own set of about 8 chicken eggs and there is at least one goose egg in the bunch. I'll have to wait and see what all hatches, but if I do get over-run with ducklings, I think we will have duck for Thanksgiving Dinner. I'll also have to wait and see if I have any turkey hens in the batch of turkey chicks. I'm hoping for hens because I already have two Toms. If I get more Tom's then I guess it will be Turkey for Christmas dinner.

The horses are all doing well. I hauled Baby Boy and Dream Girl over to the vet for some wolf teeth removal last week. Then I'm off to an ACTHA ride this weekend, but Keith had some work stuff to do so he couldn't go. I got a new saddle for Dream because of her wide shoulders, but I haven't had a lot of chance to use it because I've been busy in the garden. Now with the heavy rains and thunder and lightning each night when I get home, I'm also not getting much riding done.  Pretty soon though I need to get Baby boy started on the trails. Until then I'll be in the house crocheting or reading books on my new birthday present.

The Experiment

Poor Baby Girl doesn't have much of a tail because of her Appaloosa genetics. I was wondering how I would be able to help keep her fly free this summer because there isn't much that I can tie into her tail that won't fall out.

Here is an example of how short her tail really is.

 I've already tried tail bags with fringe, but she doesn't have enough hair BELOW the tail bone or enough hair  to braid to help keep the tail bags in place.  So I needed to try something different. Then it happened, recently I was searching stuff on the internet and I found this website called Colorful Manes and Tails. They have synthetic hair extensions for fun shows, parades, and just dolling up your horse.  But I got to thinking that these little extensions might help Baby Girl, So I sent off a request for more information about the product.  The people were so friendly there that not only did I get more information, I got a sample to test out on Baby Girl.  

Here is the "hair extension" as you can see it's not very big, but originally these were intended for fun decoration not for semi permanent tail extensions.

However they easily clip into the hair and pretty much hide at the clip when put in. 

It's not much, but it did extend her tail just a bit. If it holds for a few days and not fall out right away, I'm going to order a few more and try them in several different spots on her tail.

 And you can also put them in your horses mane. Here is a shot of her short mane and that one long streak of black is the extension.

 I'll post an update on how these things work in a few days.

Welcome to the Top O the World

 Here is what happens in the middle of May when you choose to live on the Continental Divide.

Sunday ACTHA

Sunday's ACTHA competition was a bit better than Saturday as far as the wind goes, but it was WAY colder. Sunday I had on a t-shirt, a long sleeve cotton shirt, a wool vest and my lined canvas duster and I was still cold.

Many people decided not to show up because of the wind or the cold, but I rode anyway.

Our first obstacle was a sidepass.  Ladybug is still learning that one but she tried and even though it wasn't very good she did get a score on it. 

The second obstacle was to open and walk through the gate. If you kept control of the gate, they suggested you would get a better score. Problem was the wind was so strong it pretty much ripped the gate out of your hand anyway.  Here we are opening and coming through the gate. Thanks to Lisa from Lauging Orca Ranch for the photos.

 The next obstacle was a walk up and back down an embankment. It was a short fairly steep rocky hill and a pretty easy obstacle for Ladybug.  She scored well on it. 

After that it was on to the Pinwheel. That is a 2x4 board laid across two barrels. you pick up one end of the board and keep the other end on the opposite barrel as you walk around the two barrels and then place the other end of the board back down on the barrel you got it off of. I still need to work on that one. I dropped the board again. 

Then there was a jump trot up to a rail road tie and hop over. I don't think Ladybug actually jumped but she didn't hesitate and went over the tie instead of going around like some horses did. She scored pretty well on that one also.

The next obstacle was the bridge. I don't know if she stumbled a little or slipped off the bridge with one foot, but she came off one side and I just rode back around and lined her back up and went back over it. There wasn't any hesitation and she wasn't spooked about anything so I'm not sure why she went off the side. 

Our last obstacle was by far the best. They called it the mail carry. They had a small mailer box with a wire handle on it sitting on a barrel. Then an L shaped obstacle and a second barrel. you were supposed to walk up and pick up the box from the first barrel ride through the L and place the box on the second barrel. We scored perfect 10's with a plus each. 

Ladybug was again the only appaloosa spotted horse at the event. Everyone is starting to recognize her now since she's been to 8 local events and she's pretty hard to miss. Keith didn't get to ride this time because he had to go to a work related convention in Nevada. Maybe at one or more of the rides in June, I'll be able to take both Keith and one of the other Appaloosas. 

And for those interested my new horse trailer is quite comfortable for sleeping in. We haven't fully insulated it and I didn't have the heater hooked up to the electric but I didn't notice the freezing temps Saturday night into Sunday morning. Ladybug's water in her tub froze over night, but the extra water inside the trailer never did.  The only thing is that I didn't completely follow up on my check list and ended up leaving a few things behind. I'm working on stocking up the trailer before the next ride. Can't wait!

Saturday ACTHA Ride

Well I decided to brave the weather and take Ladybug on her first competition of the new year. I swear sometimes I think I must be crazy and this was one of those days. Even with the predicted high winds, I decided to ride sidesaddle in a dress. Yea buddy let me tell you,  riding six miles in 30 mph winds sidesaddle in a dress sure tests you and the mentality of your horse. Ladybug did totally AWESOME especially considering the overall conditions of the ride. We did miss a few obstacles but that was mostly because I had not practiced reaching down from the sidesaddle much before. 

Our first obstacle was a trot over unevenly placed logs. Ladybug did fairly well at that but she didn't go straight and missed a few of the logs. Part of that I'm sure was because of me leaning the wrong way due to the winds and pushing her off balance.   

The second obstacle was the curtain. The curtain is basically a tarp or banner cut into strips hanging from a roper over your head. This is one of those spooky obstacles even on a good day. Ladybug has already seen this one, but the winds had the strips blowing flat out above our heads. After a small hesitation Ladybug went right on under and spooked slightly at the end when the wind slacked for just a second and then picked up again so the strips popped out straight again. She jumped a little at the noise, but settled soon after. 

The next obstacle as seen below is the drag the two stall balls from post A to post B. We didn't finish that because I hadn't practices the correct way to lean over and pick things up from the side saddle. Thanks Christy for the advice on leaning forward, I'll remember that for the next time. So here we are attempting the ball drag. I'm sure if I had been in the western saddle, we would have completed it because we have been practicing. I just couldn't get a hold of the rope.

 And here we are at the end of that obstacle on our way out on the trail again. Thanks to Lisa from Laughing Orca Ranch for taking all these great photos.

 The next obstacle was the turn on the forehand. we had not practiced that much with me giving cues from the sidesaddle so we didn't do so great on that, but the more time I spend in the sidesaddle I'm sure we will get that cue down pat.  

After the turn on the forehand we came down to a trot weave through some cones. Ladybug did great again, but missed one of the cones. Again I think that one was my fault for being off balance in the wind. 

The next to last obstacle was a slicker tied up with a boot hanging off each end. You were supposed to pick up the slicker off the first barrel and place it across the horses neck with one boot on either side and ride to the second barrel and place the slicker back down on the barrel. I skipped that one because I didn't feel comfortable with the reach down from the sidesaddle. We have practiced the slicker quite a bit before and Ladybug walked right on past without a problem so its one of those things that I need to practice more from the sidesaddle. 

The last obstacle was supposed to be a tarp tunnel, but they couldn't keep the tarp from flying away so they improvised and created a walk across the tarp between the uprights with the flags blowing. Ladybug didn't even hesitate. We started walking back where the judge said to and just kept on going. She didn't even look like any thing here was spooky.

 Here is one of my riding buddies for the day and I posing at the end of the last obstacle before we headed back to the trailers for the end of the ride.

So here is the end of our first day of riding in the Gone with the Wind CTC at Walkin N Circles  Equine Rescue Ranch.

Goodbye