Friends of Bluewater Lake--Second Meeting

I went to the second meeting of the Friends of Bluewater Lake last night and ended up being voted in as the secretary for the newly formed association. 

I’ll keep you all informed of the developments of the “association” but for now, I did also talk with the Park Superintendent Andrew Armendariz for a few minutes as to going riding at the lake.

Andrew informed me that if you come into the Prewitt side (AKA North Side AKA Stoneridge Recreational Area) main entrance. For now you will have to park in the vacant lot just outside the main entrance right across from Trish’s Bluewater Lake Lodge and Horse Motel. From there you can unload and ride in through the gates next to the cattle guard. The $5.00 day use fee will apply. Or you can purchase an annual Day use pass good at every single state park (except Living Desert Zoo and Gardens in Carlsbad) for $40.00, which is a good deal if you go to different parks regularly or if you go to the lake more than eight times per year.

Andrew and his District Supervisor stated they are looking at the legalities and locations to use for a permanent equestrian unloading inside the park on that side. They stated that by spring or sooner, they should have an equestrian day use site available. On that side of the lake.
On the Thoreau Side (AKA the South side AKA Las Tusas Recreation area) you can pull into the park anywhere and unload at any location as long as you don’t unload right on the newly paved black top.

The Friends of the Lake will be developing by-laws and a Cooperative agreement with the state park very soon. Once we get approved, then we will be holding a membership drive if anyone is interested. 

I'll be creating a separate blog for the Friends Association you can find the link here. 

Friends of Bluewater Lake

I attended the initial meeting of the Friends of Bluewater Lake. This was an information meeting on how to get an association started and to advocate for and raise money for the “friends” to assist the lake in developing more opportunities at the lake. Everyone interested in the Lake’s success is welcome, not just fishermen, and boaters. As I also had to attend the other meeting, I bounced back and forth between this meeting and the Cibola County Commission meeting, so I may have missed a few things, but a summary of the “equestrian” portion is below. Jackie Weeks may be able to provide more specific info on certain items if necessary.
 

We did get into a minor discussion of the previous exclusion of equestrian from the lake. That was a past administration, and any animosity toward equestrian was not found among the current administration. Those of you who were asked to leave in the past, let it be known that they won’t run you out again. There currently is not a camping site available for horses so don’t expect to drive in and camp at the main parking area. For safety reasons, the Park won’t let you camp there. However they are completely open to development of an equestrian friendly campsite. Equestrian are welcome to ride the park and assist in trails development as well. 

The Park personnel are also in discussions with our Zuni Mountain Trail Partnership to work on developing a trail from the south end of the park to connect into the proposed Zuni Mountain Trails in the USFS just a mile away.

Right now the biggest concern the park staff has is the interactions of the feral horses coming in from the section of Navajo Tribal land that may harass and or attack the riders and their horses. When we rode the park years ago, we never really had a problem with this, but it is still of some concern. 

When asked about the rules of Equestrian in the park. Several questions were brought up.

1.    Trish from the Bluewater Lake Lodge and horse motel (great place to go visit) had said that she had been told that a person couldn’t drive INTO the lake lands with a horse trailer and unload. They would have to ride in on the main road across a cattle guard. The park staff said that was incorrect and they would allow horse trailers into the park. (Note: The staff was unprepared for some of these questions as they weren’t aware it had been in issue in the past, so we (probably me) will have another meeting direct with the park staff to discuss locations and safety etc.

2.     Jackie asked what the restrictions on horses/equestrian use in the park was. The only significant thing was not to have the horses drink or be in the lake, but that it was mainly an “At your own risk” issue. If your horse gets bogged down in the lake, then it’s your fault not the lake’s problem. Again we may need to have some discussions on safety and use and help create a set of rules.

3.     Trail use: We discussed the trail use and the park staff indicated that the trails development would be non-motorized multi-use. And we are welcomed to assist in developing trails and providing input to the park.

So what does this all mean for us? Well, the development of a “Friends” group outside of the state financial control means that we as a group can fund the projects that are important. We as a “group” can help develop trails, the camping areas, bring in events to the park as fund raisers etc. So if you like to ride and your spouse likes to fish or hike, you can help the park develop both resources. 

We can do this in a couple of ways.

1.    We can join the “Friends of Bluewater Lake” and have direct input as the project priorities and development of equine inclusive facilities.

2.    We can assist as the Back Country Horsemen Chapter, and have indirect input and aid to developing the trails. 

3.     Or we can do a little of both. 

I’m not saying that everyone has to join either association, but if we have at least one equestrian representative in the “Friends” group working from the inside and a few working from the BCH side, we could help develop an awesome camp site and equestrian friendly facility. 

I don’t know how many of you have ever been to the El Caballo Lake State Park down in T or C, but they have an awesome campsite that is multi-use and equestrian friendly. It’s mainly used for large groups with a pavilion in the center and the campsites circling like spokes from a wagon wheel. It had water and electric hook ups at each site as well as room for the large trailers and horses. I’d love to see something like that developed at Bluewater Lake.

There will be another meeting set up in November (around the 17^th or 18^th) (date not set in stone yet) to organize the “Friends” association and to elect board members. It will be held they believe again at the Cibola County main office and hopefully in the large conference room as it won’t be competing for space with the commission meeting. 

More details as they come.

Trip to the Vet

Ladybug has been having some weird muscle twitching on her face. Mostly her left side muzzle and around her eye.  We noticed it a week ago on Sunday, and decided to keep an eye on it for a few days before going to the vet.  The twitching continued occasionally, but not all the time. Then last Saturday, Keith noticed a big swelling over her left eye socket. The twitching had stopped, but the swelling was new. So I called and made a non-emergency appointment for the vet because other than the muscle spasms, Bud didn't seem to be in any distress. She's been eating and drinking well and she doesn't have any lameness or coordination problems or anything that would suggest serious neurological issues.

So we just came back from the vet and Bug must have bumped her head or something. Vet says no riding her for 2 weeks to see if the swelling and facial twitching will go down. I'll have her on some bute for the swelling, antibiotics just in case it's an infection and we are waiting for the blood test results to rule out mineral/chemical imbalance in the body.  Dream is good though. Wanted to start riding Topper again also, but looks like she cut herself AGAIN on a hind leg. And the mules too fat to get a saddle on. So looks like we won't be riding for a couple weeks. I can ride I guess, but Keith doesn't have a critter to ride at the moment. 

So we'll give her a couple weeks rest and see what happens.

Beautiful Day to go riding

Had fun today on my Dream horse off for a ride. While the rest of the country is socked in with snow, it's hard to believe it's the middle of February in the north west mountains of New Mexico. I didn't even have to wear a jacket or gloves. Just my T-shirt under a flannel shirt and my fleece vest. Plus I got enough sun that my nose turned pink. (well I'd like to believe that, but every time I go outside for any reason my nose turns pink so that's not really brag worthy.)

Second Chapter of The Horse Who Haunts Dreams

See Chapter 1

Hobo spent his first few months with us in the quarantine pen. In those days it was well known that any horse that went through the auction was going to get sick. Strangles was common place and the vaccine hadn’t been created yet. The best thing to do was to put them in quarantine and let things run their course. As Hobo became ill and then recovered from the strangles I was there, feeding him, brushing him and bonding with him. Technically he was still not my horse. He was still Bill’s $60.00 sale barn colt and he could still be snatched away from me for a price.
After a couple months in quarantine, Hobo had sufficiently recovered from strangles. He was no longer contagious and was halter broke well enough to go out with the “big” horses. I loved it when Hobo was out in the front acre with the big horses because I could see him from the bus when going to and from school. I also had a special whistle that Hobo would answer to and come over to me. I loved to get off the bus and whistle just to hear him reply. One day after school I didn’t see him as the bus pulled to a stop. When I got off and whistled that special tune, he didn’t answer. My Hobo was gone! I thought he could have been stolen or worse Bill sold him and took him away from me. I went to check the pasture and worse fears began to develop. Blood! So much blood! Blood in the feed tub, blood on the ground blood in the water tank, blood everywhere. Oh my God this is much worse that being stolen or sold! My mind raced, I think now that he’s dead and they hauled him off without letting me say goodbye!
Just then my mom drives in the yard. She sees me there staring at the blood. She comes out to the pasture and tells me what happened. Hobo got his halter caught on a part of the feed tub and got spooked or something according to the neighbor. He pulled and thrashed and slammed his head against a steel bar on the feed tub. Mom said he wasn’t dead yet but we had to go to the vet and see what they say. The vet’s office isn’t far, but to me it seems to take forever. We don’t know how bad it is. We don’t know if he will live or die. I think, “He can’t die! I can’t lose him yet.”
Yea I know what some people are thinking by now, NEVER EVER leave a halter on a horse without supervision. I know that now and I learned my lesson the hard way. Then I was still a beginner horse owner, a naïve teenager, and I was told by my mom that it was safe to leave the halter on. Now it’s a lesson for everyone else. If you must leave a halter on a horse for any reason, make sure there is nothing for that horse to catch the halter on.
The news at the vet is better than I had hoped. He’s crushed his cheek bone, but it can be repaired with surgery. His jaw is fine and he can still eat. He doesn’t have to die, but the surgery is going to cost a lot of money. Mom tells the vet that we have to go home and discuss this and she’ll call later to tell them what we decide. Hobo’s short life is in our hands. We have basically had to decide to keep him or kill him. Worse he’s still not my horse so I don’t the final say in what happens so we have to wait and see what Bill wants to do.
At home again in the “family meeting” that will decide Hobo’s fate, mom again points out how much the surgery will cost. Bill thinks we should put him to sleep because it will cost less than the surgery. I argue for Hobo’s life. I tell them that I can treat the wound, I can take care of him and that I want to keep him. Bill finally tells me “He’s not even worth a dollar to me now that he’s all messed up, he should be put to sleep.” That makes me so mad I could scream but it also gives me an idea. I run from the kitchen into my room and finally find enough coins to make up a dollar. I rush back to the kitchen and slam that dollar’s worth of change onto the table in front of Bill and yell “Here is your Damned dollar! He’s mine now and I say he lives!” Stunned for a minute, Bill finally agrees that Hobo is now mine, but my mom brings back up the cost of the vet bill. We agreed I would have to help pay for it. I would have to get a job after school or on weekends to earn the money to pay back the Vet bill.
Just like that, Hobo became my horse! Mom took me back to the vet the next day when we went to pick him up so the vet could instruct me on how to care for his wound. He had is face bandaged with vet wrap just below his eyes. The vet instructed me how to flush his wound out every day a solution of iodine and saline that the vet mixed especially for this treatment. Every day I had to unwrap his face, squirt 60-120 ml of the Iodine solution into the wound to flush it and then rewrap his face.
Back home again Hobo had to go back into the quarantine pen behind the house so he would be away from the big horses and so I could tend to his wound. Because of all the wrapping and unwrapping of his wound, most of the time I worked around Hobo without the halter on his head. The halter kept getting in the way of the wraps and so I would just talk to Hobo to help keep him calm. That is when I came up with his first nickname. I started calling him Boo-Boo as I worked with him. My mom on the other hand started calling him “ALPO”. Yep just like the dog food, because according to her he wasn’t good enough for anything but dog food.
Our quarantine pen was really the yard area of our old chicken coop. It was bigger than a normal horse stall, but really not big enough for a young horse to stretch his legs. Once his wound was re-bandaged, most days I would then take my little Boo-Boo for a walk around the house. Our house sat on the back acre of a 2-acre parcel. Behind the house were the chicken coop/quarantine pen and our well house and the back portion of the circle driveway. The acre in front of the house was the portion where my dad and I had built the horse barn and fenced in to keep the horses. The circle driveway was like a mini racetrack around the house.
Most days, I would take my Boo-Boo for his walks around and around the house. I really did not know then that I was training him. I did not know anything about training a horse other than what I’d read about in books and most of that was fiction. I got my horse training advice from great works of fiction such as Walter Farley’s The Black Stallion Series, or any one of Marguerite Henry’s books. My mom and Bill taught me a few things, but mainly it was just the books and me working with Hobo.
It didn’t take long before I was laying the lead rope over Hobo’s neck and walking with him by my side. Sometimes I’d have to grab a hunk of mane or put my hand under his chin to lead him forward, but often he’d follow me with nothing physically connecting us. When I wasn’t leading him around the house, I’d sit in his pen and read or talk to him. He got comfortable with me being around and eventually would let me walk up to him while he was lying down. I could pet him all over while he was down on the ground. He even let me lie down beside him and use his neck as a pillow.
That was pretty much how we spent our first two years together. I’d walk around on cloud nine with my little Boo-Boo at my side and then listen to my mom make jokes about Alpo and dog food. Well one of these days he’d show her up and make her eat her words.

I'm writing a book check out chapter 1

 Posted below is the first chapter of a short story I'm writing about my old horse Hobo. Please leave me a comment and let me know what you thing. Thanks.


For as long as I can remember, I was addicted to horses. I was only 3 or 4 years old standing on the front lawn of our new house when I remember the lost of our first horse. Dolly was standing there in front of me beautiful, shiny black with a white star with her new owner riding her instead of me. I don’t remember that we owned her. I don’t remember ever riding her. I only remember that she had been sold and that we wouldn’t be seeing her again. I remember the loss of a horse from my life.
From that day forward, I made it my mission to bring another horse back into my life. I begged and pleaded for another horse and when that didn’t work I demanded one. Every special occasion I saw as an opportunity to express my desire to own a horse. Every holiday or event associated with a figurehead was used in my attempt to gain a horse. My family heard things like “Mom do you thing Father Time can get me a horse for new Years?” or “Maybe Cupid will get me a horse for Valentine’s Day”. I called out St. Patrick, and The Easter Bunny and Santa of course but I also called on Charlie Brown’s Great Pumpkin and even good Old Uncle Sam.
I got horse toys, horse books, and other horse related items, but I still didn’t get what I really wanted. I never got my own real, live breathing horse I don’t know of a day that went by when the word horse didn’t enter my daily life. If there ever was a day what I didn’t speak, thing or dream about a horse it was a rare day indeed.
Every time I asked for a horse Mom and Dad would tell me that we couldn’t keep a horse because we lived in town. So I changed my daily question from “When can we get another horse?” to “When are we going to move to the country so we can get another horse?”
It took years of harassing and questioning but finally they relented and we moved to the country. Now we could get a horse as soon as we built a barn and put up fencing. Therefore, as you can guess, I went to badgering my parents about when we would build the barn and put up that fence. I helped my dad build the barn with scrap wooden siding he pulled off some old house that was torn down.
The barn was finally finished and the fence complete so we drove over to Texas to pick up our new horse. Ginger was a pretty bay with a crooked strip down her face and two white socks. She was never just mine though; she was always “our” horse, the whole family’s horse. Ginger was given to us by a family friend. His kids and grand kids had outgrown her and she needed a new family to love. Ginger was special and she could sense a person’s balance and riding abilities. She would only go as fast as she thought a person was able to handle. No amount of kicking coaxing or prodding would get her out of the pace she was sure was right for that person. She taught me a lot about riding and horses in general, but still she wasn’t all mine. There was still a horse out there that would be for me alone.
Ginger saw me through some tough times like my parent’s divorce and my mom’s short but abusive second marriage. She was a good horse friend and someone to talk to about all the problems of a typical teenager’s life, but she never completely captured my entire heart.
Years passed and a few more horses were added to our family but it wasn’t until I was in High School that I completely lost my heart to any horse. When he stepped off that rickety old stock trailer in the summer after my sophomore year it all changed because my heart was claimed. He was here, the horse that was supposed to be mine!
My mom’s new boyfriend Bill had just bought him at the local horse auction for $60.00. He was still a baby, recently weaned and we guessed him to be about six months old. He was a beautiful bay dun with 4 perfectly matched black legs and a perfect oval star on his forehead. In those days, the differences between Dun and Buckskin weren’t widely known so I thought of him as buckskin for many years. He had a reddish shine mixed in with the yellow of his coat and his baby coat almost looked pink in certain lights.
Bill said that my younger sister and I could name him but we couldn’t agree on a name. We finally decided to pull a name from a hat. I don’t remember the name we pulled from the hat, but it wasn’t the right name. I had read the book “ Mustang Wild Spirit of the West” by Marguerite Henry and Robert Lougheed, and I knew I wanted a horse just like Wild Horse Annie’s Hobo; A buckskin with black points. Now he was here in my back yard. I knew his name would be Hobo even as I wrote out a list of names and put them in the hat. Even if I pulled another name from the hat I knew it wouldn’t stick. He just HAD to be named Hobo and he just had to be mine!
After the farce of drawing names from the hat and after a fight with my sister, we finally settled on his rightful name Hobo. I didn’t know it then, but this was the horse with a bond strong enough to haunt my dreams 23 in the future.

Busy couple of weeks

Since my friend got hurt, I've been taking care of her horses as well as my own, plus I've got another friends horse here for the trainer to work with. So at the moment there are 8 horses here plus all the other critters. I also have three hens setting on eggs along with one duck and a goose. The goose hatched out at least one gosling on Saturday or Sunday while I was at the ACTHA ride. 

Dream and I went on the ACTHA ride in Estancia and we placed 5th on the Sunday ride.  We have three more rides before the ride season ends and we will be off to San Acacia this weekend for one of those rides. As soon as I get them I'll post photos of the ACTHA ride and the gosling if I can get a close up of it without getting goosed by momma and daddy goose.

My garden is starting out well and I'm going to have to start planting the rest of the garden really soon. The Pear trees are blooming and look like they actually might survive to produce some pears.  the apple and cherry trees haven't bloomed yet and I'm hoping that the spring will be kind and no freeze them or the pears this year.   I've already harvested enough Asparagus for the first good meal of the spring. Kale and spinach are also going well. The Sun chokes are starting to grow next to the rhubarb and garlic starts. It's already looking like a good garden year.

ACTHA Newspaper Article

My mom sent me this newspaper article about one of the ACTHA rides I went on back in February. It was neat and had a great photo to it so I scanned it in to show it off.  If you want to read more about that ride, you can check out my past post here

Back From Another ACTHA Ride

Dream and I went on another ACTHA ride this weekend. It was actually two different days of competition.  On the first day we didn't place in the top 6, but we placed third on the second day.  On the first day we started out with the first obstacle being a stop and pause for a count of 5 before moving on. Then we had a down an embankment obstacle. This photo is us near the bottom of the embankment as we are headed to the flags at the end of the obstacle.

Here we are headed on down the trail after that embankment obstacle.

After the embankment obstacle, we headed out to the back around the bushes obstacle. We were supposed to back a figure 8 around two bushes. However I think they misjudged the time it would take to navigate the obstacle. Only two individuals in my division were able to navigate that obstacle within the time limit they set. Dream and I also timed out and got a zero score for it.  We then headed out to the trot weave obstacle. Dream did pretty well on it but she almost missed one of the cones.  Then we came to the bridge obstacle. Dream did well on that one as she's used to a similar bridge here at the house. Finally the ride is nearly over and our last obstacle is called the Snake Pit. It was a box of logs filled with sticks and swimming noodles.  As you can see in the photo below, Dream walked right on across.

 Finally back at the horse trailer at the end of the ride. It was a nice day and lots of fun.  If you are wondering about the outfit, well it was St. Patrick's day and I had to dress like a Leprechaun.

Wonderful weekend

Well I'm back from my rides. I had a wonderful weekend. Saturday we all got together and had a "fun ride" which turned into a really great training opportunity for Dream. The first big thing we had to do was cross the river. That was quite interesting. Dream will go across water, but this water was deeper than we normally have in my area and much wider. The river was about 50-75 ft wide I'm guessing and had quite a strong current. Dream at first didn't want to go in, but finally took a major LEAP!! She then tried to gallop across the river, but after a couple strides she realized that it was to much work. So she settled down into a walk.  The rest of the ride was just a bunch of hill work and wonderful views until the last water crossing at the end to get back to camp. Dream did great on the second water crossing going home. I didn't get any photos I completely forgot my camera I'm hoping some of my friends send me a few photos of the rides.

(And just after I posted this, my friend Cindy R. sent me this photo of Dream and I just before we headed out for the competition. )

 Sunday was the competition and we had to go back across the water crossing as the very first obstacle. Dream did much better then since she'd already seen it the day before. I've already forgotten what order they all came in, but all the obstacles were pretty neat and all natural.  We were judged on going downhill, Backing up a slight incline, going through a natural tunnel, going into a "cave" and standing still, and stepping or jumping off a drop down.  The tunnel was really neat because it was literally "carved" out of a thicket of trees.  They cut the tunnel so that you could see the other side, but you were completely covered sides and top by tree limbs. The "cave" wasn't a full cave but more like a small box canyon. It was fairly narrow and a dead end. There wasn't a roof to the cave but Dream didn't want to go in. That was the only obstacle she didn't complete on this ride.  The step down was about a 2 ft drop off basically a mini cliff. It would be similar to a horse walking out of the horse trailer or maybe just slightly taller.   And finally the way back to camp presented us with the last river crossing headed back home. I think Dream got a lot of good water crossing training between the last two ACTHA rides and my fun ride. Dream and I have crossed the Rio Grande 6 times in the past month.  We will be headed out to one more ACTHA ride next weekend and then we have 4 weeks of being home before the next ACTHA ride in April. 

Check out the new pages

While I'm off for the weekend on one of my ACTHA rides, I thought I'd mention that I've posted new pages. One page for each of the horses. Just check out the tabs at the top of the page and when I get back, I'll update some of the photos and information on my horses. Have a good weekend.

ACTHA ride

Well Keith and I and our horses Dream and Ladybug all just got back from our ACTHA ride this weekend. This is the second ride that Dream and I have been to this month, but Keith and Bug haven't been on the trails since about November. The first ride was in Socorro last Sunday and the second was in T or C this President's day weekend. 

The ride camp this weekend was at the Caballo State Park and was hands down the BEST camp site EVER. I mean who wouldn't want easy access to water faucets, Electric hookups for the vast majority of the participants, flush toilets AND access to showers! I know it sounds silly, but it's pretty much luxury camping. I'm so happy I got to use my horse trailer heater/AC for the very first time in the year I've owned the trailer. I'm also really happy my heater works so well.  I got a generator as a Christmas present so the next ride I go on I'll be able to use it also to run my heater.  

Here we are at the river crossing

And then again at the crossing the bridge obstacle.

What a GREAT weekend!

New Years Goals

Well the new year has rolled around and it's time to set some goals.  I have goals for the horses and goals for the house this year. The following goals are for the horses. There are quite a few so I think the house and garden goals will take another post.

I would like to enter many more competitions, but we have a few obstacles to overcome first.

1. My poor old truck either needs a complete overhaul of both the engine and transmission or else we need a newer, better truck to haul the horses to the competitions. So the first goal of the year is to make one of those two happen.

2. Currently I'm borrowing a friends horse trailer to attend all my competitions. I've got a smaller two horse bumper pull trailer without a center divider that works well when you have to only haul one horse somewhere, but it doesn't have a dressing/camping area and you can really only haul one horse in it. So my second goal of the year is to get that trailer replaced. I can still use my friend's trailer so I still have that as a back up when I need it.

3.  Open show points programs to track my horses points earned in competition is also another issue to look at. All but one of the horses are currently registered with the ApHC and are allowed to enter the ApHC ACCAP (open show points Program). All of the horses but one are also registered CRHA (Colorado Ranger Horse Association) and are eligible for CRHA open show points programs. The difference between the two programs is a matter of cost. ApHC has an initial fee and then once you reach 10 events/judges you have to pay additional fees for each event attended. If I want to increase the numbers of events I go to that means in the end I could end up paying double or triple the fees to the ApHC. CRHA has a flat fee that covers all events entered in a year.  So I will have to decide which program is better for each horse at this time.

 Once I get those three things figured out, I'll have to decide what events I want to attend and how many of each I can go to.

I will continue to compete in ACTHA competitive trail competitions through out our area as they become available. Ladybug and Baby Girl already have some experience and can only get better as we work more on the obstacles. 

In addition to the ACTHA competitions, I believe that Ladybug is ready for some tougher and longer competitions in the form of either AERC or NATRC  distance competitions. We will start with some 25-35 mile rides at first. Baby Girl won't be ready for any of these competitions this year. She will turn 4 this year and will be eligible for the shorter distances based on her age, but she's not been ridden long enough distances yet to be in condition to try them. So she will get some of the conditioning rides with Ladybug, but won't go on to the competitions yet.

Keith also wants to get back into the Cowboy Mounted Shooting events now that he has his saddle to ride with. So we are looking at starting back with one of the sort of local clubs and attending practice matches at least once per month. Ladybug has already been trained to have shots fired from her back, but we don't have any of the other horses that far advanced yet. So a goal of getting horses used to gun fire from their back is also in place.

And I found the American Stock Horse Association with affiliates here in New Mexico. They are looking at hosting a few competitions here in NM this year and I'm interested in attending them. 

In addition to all of the competitions goals, I'm also considering breeding on mare Topper this year for a 2012 foal. I'm trying to find her the right stallion and that has proven quite difficult with the criteria I have set. I have found one stallion within a driving distance that fits several of the criteria but not all. The remaining stallions would all have to use with shipped semen.  The problem with using shipped semen is I would have to take Topper to a reproductive specialist more than 100 miles away for the insemination. So I'm looking at weather shipped semen or live cover is the way to go with Topper as a maiden mare. The local stallion is one I know about since he's the sire of my other colt Bright Snow Eagle. The remaining stallions have only been evaluated based on photos, pedigrees and competition records.  I have until about mid April to make my final decision because I'm not going to have a foal born here until late spring due to all the bad weather we have here.

I have quite a few competition goals for the horses and I hope we can attend a few of each type of event. It will all depend though on getting a good and reliable truck to get us to and from each competition. 

Winter ACTHA Ride

Well this past weekend was our last ACTHA ride of 2010. Keith since he finally got his own saddle that fits him also decided to come along. We took Ladybug for Keith to ride and I took Baby Girl on her first ever competition. Ladybug now has quite a bit of experience with camping over night, being tied to the horse trailer over night and riding out with a lot of different other horses.  Keith also got in a few firsts since this was his first competition and his first time out to any of the events.

Baby Girl however got all her major firsts all in one shot this past weekend. This was her first time to ever be tied to the horse trailer over night. We put her on the side closest to the dressing room door just in case something happened and we needed to get out to her fast. Well she stood perfectly all night long and she's now banned from being on that side. Her present to us for taking her along was to nicely deposit all her manure right in front of the dressing room door.  She is now banned from being on that side of the trailer. Ladybug is nicer about depositing presents away from the door. 

This was also her first ever experience being blanketed. It got quite cold overnight in the mid 20's and even with all the hay we fed she would have been cold standing tied to the trailer. The only time the blanket bothered her was the first time she had to lift her tail to relieve herself. 

Another first was that she had never been out on a trail ride with more than two other horses. She was not used to having horses behind her and horses in front of her. We spent the first couple of miles checking backwards and forwards. Once she got used to horses coming up behind her and passing her she was fine with everything. 

Her final first was that this is her first competition of any kind. I believe she did extremely well for a young green horse and all those first experiences to deal with.

The obstacles went like this.

1. Canter a large circle. I didn't make Baby girl do this one as she was still really nervous and as a young horse, we haven't really worked on cantering yet. I've only been working her training mainly in a walk and trot so we trotted the big circle. Keith and Ladybug also trotted I think mainly because Keith hasn't had much time to get used to riding Ladybug and just didn't feel ready to canter.

2. Jump a small log. For the pleasure division we had the option of trotting or cantering to the jump and then jumping. Baby Girl trotted up to the log, but got distracted by the judges. Once I got her attention focused, we ended up stepping over the log. She didn't jump and we also haven't practiced that one. Ladybug followed and she also kept looking at the judges before she stepped over the log. Most of the other horses in our group ended up going around the logs completely instead of going over them. 

3. The Gate. This was a big metal gate with a heavy chain that made lots of noise. Baby girl didn't mind the noise as much as Ladybug. Both the girls got through the gate, but Ladybug acted up more than Baby Girl. I think Ladybug was flexing some muscle to see how Keith would react. He did good and made her work like she should. 

4. The Log drag. Since we had been practicing this one both Ladybug and Baby Girl did really well on this one. There was no fussing at all. I hope we each get scored really well on this one.

5. Garland on the Christmas tree. This obstacle was quite a challenge for many horses. We were supposed to ride up to  a person holding a coiled strand of garland, pick up the Garland and ride over to a small tree and string the garland around the tree. Baby Girl did fairly well. She did get a bit goofy at the tree because she wanted to rub on something so she walked right into the tree. After she was done her rubbing we finished decorating the tree. She wasn't spooked by the garland though and that's a really good thing. Keith did well with Ladybug also except for one thing, she slowed down and got behind the garland and spooked a bit. Keith had to drop the garland and come back around and pick it up and continue. 

6. Side pass to Santa. We were to step across a log and side pass over to the Santa (real human) standing on top of a water tank. Baby girl did well but bumped a log. We are still working on her side pass so my cues were pretty obvious, but she did it and did it calmly. Ladybug is not good at sidepassing in the first place and Keith doesn't really know how to do the cues to try and make her either. But she wasn't scared of the Santa and walked right up to him for the candy cane. 

So that was the last ride of the year. Both Keith and I need to work on things but we had fun, and did well for all those first time experiences. Poor ole Beastie (the ugly blue truck) is really in trouble though. We had some major difficulty just getting up the 9 mile hill into Albuquerque. I don't think Beastie will make it much longer unless we prolong his life with a replacement engine and transmission. It's either that or buy a complete replacement truck which is currently out of the budget range. We will have to see what happens for the rest of the winter and decide soon what we want to do. If we want to keep competing, we will need to do something.

After Thanksgiving Ride

My older sister came by for a visit and we went for a lovely short ride in the snow.

Ladybug is sporting Keith's new custom saddle that he finally got. It really looks good on her I think.

Sunday ACTHA Ride

Sunday's ACTHA ride was also the Halloween Costume contest. I didn't officially dress up for this ride as I was more interested in staying warm and comfortable enough to finish the course. Next year however I just might dress up.  There were some really awesome costumes through out the ride. Lots of people did a great job to dress up.

I was really pleased with Ladybug working the obstacles on this ride. We completed all seven obstacles and did quite well even with the blowing wind. The weather was a bit colder and the wind was pretty strong most of the day.  But I grew up knowing that here in New Mexico, If you don't ride in the wind, you never really get to ride because the wind blows so much.

 The first obstacle of the day was the mailbox obstacle. At our first ride in June, I didn't complete this obstacle, but today we did. We were to walk up to the mailbox, open the door and get out an object on a stick, then ride over to a post and place that object in the hope on the post. We got scores of a 6 and a 7. It wasn't a perfect run and we need more practice, but it still was a good run.

The second obstacle was to cross a tarp. They had the tarp all weighted down with pumpkins all around it. All we needed to do was walk across it. The wind was blowing and made the tarp edges flap and move quite a bit. Ladybug looked at it as it flapped and hesitated, but finally stepped right on out and over that tarp.  We scored a 7 and an 8 on it.

Our third obstacle was a vine simulator.  We practiced at home with a bunch of hay bale twines hanging between two trees, but what they had was more like a ripped up plastic banner of some sort.  It also didn't help that the wind was flapping that around really hard when we got there because one of the parts almost popped Ladybug in the nose as we headed in to walk through it.  Ladybug decided she wasn't going to walk right into that screen, but she walked close up to the side of it. I'm not sure how a plastic banner can really simulate vines, but overall we got a decent score. Ladybug got a 6 for not totally freaking out and I got a rider score of 8.

Obstacle 4 was to cross a wooden bridge, My division was to dismount before we started, lead the horse across the bridge and then mount up and head out.  Ladybug did awesome! She quietly followed me across that bridge like she'd had done it a million times, but we've never actually practiced this one either. I messed up when I went to get back on and got the reins hung up for a few seconds on her bride as I was preparing to get on. So Ladybug got a score of a 10 and I got an 8.

Obstacle 5 was the noise obstacle. We usually do really good on this one. Ladybug is used to all kinds of noises. We are supposed to place the horse inside a square and they use some sort of noise device to test the horses reaction to the noises. This time was the first time they walked all the way around the horse. Ladybug didn't move her feet, but followed the lady with noise maker with her head.  She wasn't spooked by the noise, but I'll bet she was wondering why that person was walking around in circles around her. We scored an 8 and a 9 on this one. 

As we were leaving the noise obstacle, Lisa from Laughing Orca blog got a photo of us beside the spooky ghost dude at the end of the obstacle. Ladybug was on alert to see if it was going to eat her, but she did fine with it.  Thank you Lisa for this pretty photo.

Obstacle 6 had us walk over some logs to a point near the opening of an L-back. At the L back my division only had to complete the first part of the back. I had a little bit of difficulty getting Ladybug set up for the back, but as soon as we got straightened out we did great. Total score there was a 7 and a 9. Not bad.

Our final obstacle was a trot transitions.  We started out at the beginning in a posting trot, transition down to a sitting trot at the first flag, then transition to a walk near the end and walk on off. The whole while trotting over a bunch of little logs in the path. We did fairly well there and scored a 7 and 7.

Over all the day was awesome and with the completion of all the obstacles, we managed to finish just out of the money in 7th place. I was extremely excited. That's our highest place score yet.

After the ride during the awards ceremony, there was another raffle. One of the rescue's volunteers built a beautiful wooden saddle stand.   When I saw the raffles that were offered, I decided to donate $50 total to the cause. I really wanted the Easy boots that I won on Saturday so I put in $30 towards them. The other $20 I put on the saddle stand. Well guess whats now in my tack room holding up my antique sidesaddle right now. Yep you guessed, it's that awesome saddle stand.

It really was a great weekend and I had a very good time. 

Riding on Halloween

Walkin N Circles equine rescue ranch has been holding several ACTHA rides As a way to earn money to help support their rescued horse population. These ACTHA have two benefits, they give organizations a way to earn money and they give people like me a place to bring my horses to compete and have fun.

ACTHA rides are set up to be a one day one competition ride. So when an organization hosts two days of rides, that means it will be two separate competitions with two separate chances to have fun and attempt to bring home some money.

So Saturday was the first competition of the weekend. The weather was beautiful with a fairly light wind and sunny.

Our first obstacle was a water crossing. Instead of a nice clear stream, they found an old, stinky cattle stock pond being fed by a really creaky noisy wind mill. Quite a few horses weren't to fond of that stinky stock pond and the deep mud on the edges. Even Ladybug was thinking something along the lines of "ARE you CRAZY" but after a few seconds of convincing, she stepped right on off into that pond and on to the other side. It quite surprised me that she'd do that since she's pretty much refused to do it here at home several times. She scored a 7 mostly for the hesitation and I got a rider score of 9. That was a pretty good start to our ride.

The second obstacle was a weave trot through a set of cones. But to make it a bit harder, the ride management found these little scarecrows on sticks to place in each cone. Ladybug didn't even bat an eye at this one. We started out and smoothly went through the whole course of cones with no problem. We each got a perfect 10 on this with a plus each. It was our best obstacle of the day.

The third obstacle was to open a gate and ride through. Pretty simple and easy, Ladybug did hesitate for a second as we approached the gate, but she still scored a 9 and I got a rider score of 10.

The next two obstacles we didn't do good at all on. But I guess when you don't practice, you can't expect good results. I"d only seen obstacle 4 on the website but hadn't developed an obstacle at home yet. It's called a pinwheel. You need two barrels and one 2x4 board with a rope handle on one end. You set up the two barrels so that the board lays across both of them. Then you ride your horse up to the rope handle on the board and pick up that end of the board and walk all the way around the two barrels without dropping the board off the barrel. Once you make a full circle, you place the handle end back on the barrel you took it off of. Definately not an easy obstacle. I dropped the board off the barrel almost as soon as I picked up the rope end. So we ended up with zeros on that obstacle.

Obstacle #5 was also one of my bad obstacles. We had to drag a bag of cans from one barrel to the other barrel. My biggest problem was actually reaching the rope on the barrel in the first place. Once I got a hold of the rope, I managed to drag the bag to the second barrel, but we ran out of time and didn't get the obstacle completely finished. another set of complete zeros.

Obstacle #6 was the Slicker and Hat pick up. You had to ride your horse to the first post where the Slicker was hanging, take the slicker off the post and lay it across your horses neck. once you have the slicker, the judges assistant hands you a stick to use to pick up the hat from the ground. Ladybug and I completed this all quite well and we started to ride off to the second post to place the hat and slicker back on. Almost to the second post the slicker starts to fall off the horses neck so I reach to grab it to prevent it from falling and disqualifying me. Seems that must have been some sign of weakness to the judge because the slicker was falling off the side away from him. I was able to complete this obstacle in the time frame and based on the full ride scores, I was one of only 11 riders out of the 31 in my division who was able to complete it. No one else in my group was able to complete it. My only issue with the obstacle was the judges score. Ladybug got a 5 and I got a 4 on the rider score. Based on our performance and the fact that only 1/3 of all riders at the event were even able to complete this obstacle I don't agree at all with the judges score. Ladybug and I were not even able to touch the slicker at our first event in July and at this one we were able to complete both the slicker pick up and the hat pick up. I can't protest the score, but I do know we were better than the below average score we were given.

Obstacle #7 our last obstacle was a trot into a box and stop at the flag and turn around and trot back out. I think I rode past the marker a little bit, but we completed the obstacle and got 7's each. So it was a fairly good job for us.

Our overall placing was 19th out of 31 riders for this days competition. Still not to bad considering we blew two obstacles completely. After the ride at the awards ceremony, they also help a raffle for a pair of donated easy boots and a container of hoof supplement. I bought three tickets at $10.00 each and won! So at least I won something.

I'm still waiting on some ride photos and will post them as soon as I get them 

Baby Girl's new saddle

 I had to buy a new saddle because Baby Girl is to wide for all my other saddles. I found this one on E-bay and I really got a nice saddle! It fits her well. I tried it out and rode her for about 45 minutes. You could tell the difference right away. She stumbled less and she didn't swish and flick her tail in pain and irritation, even her canter was slower and more controlled. I'm really happy that the saddle fits her well. I will have to find a new set of stirrups that are shorter because the leathers are just a touch to long for my short legs. I've got the leathers all the way on the last hole and still need about an inch shorter. I found this stirrup maker online called Nettles Country and I called them today. They make what they call a "petite" stirrup that is shorter then a normal stirrup so I'm going to have them make me a set. 

Ride the Divide

Labor Day Monday we loaded up Baby Girl and Ladybug and headed out for Continental Divide.  It's only about 10 miles down the road. We wanted to get Baby Girl out for some Practice rides away from home. She's only been on one other off property trail ride and out with other horses only three total times, so she needed to get used to seeing another horse on the trail with new sights and sounds. We went to an area on the Cibola National Forest that used to be a military Radar Station. The only thing left there now is a paved road leading to it and a paved parking area big enough to hold multiple horse trailers or turn a big rig around in it. You do have to be careful on the road leading in, it is paved, but years of neglect have allowed the weeds and shrubs and even trees to grow in on the edges. You will have to drive down the center line of the road most of the way.  

The riding area is just totally awesome. We made a big loop that was approximately 8 miles and took about 2 hour.

This first photo is a view from the parking area looking out on the valley below.

We rode out through the valley for a while before we finally got up in the trees. 

Then we looped around and came back out of the trees on the far side of the valley.

We got home in time to take Booger Butt for a 30 minute ride in the round pen.  He's doing really well. We even practiced a few of our obstacles in hand so he'll get used to them. He walked over that tarp as if he's been doing it his whole life.

Saturday Riding

So far the weekend has been very good in the riding department. Saturday I decided to see start training my gelding Bright Snow Eagle (AKA Booger Butt). He's had a saddle on several times before, but no one has ever ridden him yet. Well that was until Saturday. He did totally awesome! I stepped right up and we walked calmly around the round pen for about a half an hour. That was it no big deal. He didn't even get worked up or hot or sweaty.  Do these photos even look like this is his first time?

After the ride, Keith wanted better photos of his spots so we led him over to the mounting block so he could stand above him and get the following shots. This first one is his 'Eagle Spot" 

I think it looks like a Native American Eagle Dancer.

And the second one is his petroglyph sheep spot. Compare this

 With a photos of  petroglyphs or drawings of Petroglyphs like this

 or this

 He's roaning out a bit as he ages and his mother was also a roan so I'm really hoping that he doesn't loose at least these two spots. I really like both of them.