Business as usual on the farm~ maintenance of fields and fence, training, farrier visits... I am squeezing in a few rides here and there.

Father's Day I treated myself to a short trail ride on my Keri mare. We schooled ourselves in the big ring for twenty minutes and then headed down the road and onto the trail. Keri was wonderful until we were just about home again and her pasture mates began calling to her. We had to do a few circles on the short distance from home in order to re-focus. Silly girl. We had fun though.

We are still waiting for a good soaking rain. Wet weather is hovering around us but never quite hits my area well. Brooks and ponds are lower than I'd like to see. Farmers are buzzing around making hay like crazy.

OYY Brigitte has made her way back to her birth place. She was sold and I own her again for now. She's a lovely mare and remembers all her training. She is back in training again and works in the ring some and has been taking short jaunts down the road. Nothing spooks her, brave, sensible and steady-- she's going to make someone an excellent riding mount.

Despite my efforts to squelch the buttercups they are thriving... This week I'll hitch up my bush hog and clip them all down I guess. They do look kind of pretty but it's just not what I want spreading throughout the pastures. Here, they are almost as tall as the silly ponies. Here is Pal ( a favorite little POA mare of mine) and OYY My Sharona (another favorite out of Frostfire's Tadpole and a little POA named Sugar).

I call Sharona my mini Friesian.. she has a very similar build and the leg feathering with a huge mane and tail. She's quite sporty and beautiful. I love admiring her !

Today, my daughter and I went for one of our strictly "fun" trail rides. A new trail for a change, new sites. We started out heading up my little mountain road across the street from the farm, along the woods fenceline. Into the big pine wood and the silver disk trail, over past the blueberry bushes and onto the new trail that heads a couple of different ways through some logged off property. We came upon a neat little brook-- full in the early spring-- now just a trickle in most spots-- but look at all the great moss and rocks. At one point the stone wall is built across the brook. It's like a fairy land of sorts.

Keri and I and Zoe and Teasel meander up and down the rocky stream and pass by what Zoe calls "Winnie the Pooh Tree" This is a beech that on top is fully thriving.

Time to head for home--- through deep mud right before we get back out on the road to home.

I always like to stop and take a walk down my little brook with Keri. She loves her brook walk too. Here, the Forget-me-nots are incredible this year. I try to snap a photo of the beautiful wild iris and Keri takes advantage---- tries for a quick snack.

On the way up the driveway, I snapped a nice photo of the 2 boys-- OYY Ivan and OYY Dante, watching us and maybe wishing they could have gotten out for an outing also. It will their turn maybe tomorrow.

Enjoy your day ~

When time flies—where does it go ?? Perhaps time goes to those moments that you wish would hurry up and end, filling up the space when time is dragging by ! Or maybe it flies to the past every once in a while and that’s where déjà vu comes from! At any rate, the month of May has disappeared and I am not sure I even remember it.

May is traditionally a special month because not only do I have Mother’s Day as a personal celebration, but I have my birthday a week later. But—somehow—here it is June already, and May buzzed right past me leaving only a vague memory. I did manage a few trail rides, but mostly I am riding in the ring attempting to make improvements on my posture and instill some reminders for my horse that I am the rider, she is the horse.

This May of 2008 was unusually hot and dry. It’s the month you are hoping the hay will last till the grass is up and the ground is dry enough for turning the animals out. Many years, in mid-may, we still have snow or at least get a few spitting storms. Gardens can’t truly be planted until Memorial Day. This spring, we were all confused by the arrival of very hot weather.. and this causes the “where do we start first ? “ syndrome.

Now that is June, I have been following the horses around with my camera. Their winter coats are pretty much all groomed and bathed out- and it’s time to up-date all the photo’s on the web site. I have become quite fond of my ponies—perhaps due to my age and size. The big sporty elegant horses are gorgeous, but ponies are so full of spunk and joy.

Elektra, Ivan, and Dante are the 3 horses being worked the most right now under saddle. They are getting a nice mix of ring work and road.

OYY Raphael left at the end of May for his new home. He’s such a handsome lovely horse, I will be looking for great things from him and his new owner- a young boy with gymkhana and adventurous trail rides on his agenda.

I received some beautiful photo’s from the owners of The Mighty Quinn and OYY Sweet Bee. They are in the ribbons quite a bit- so we are proud of the horses and the riders. Mom, Denise is on Sweet Bee and daughter Ionelee rides Quinn. She is 12 I think. Quinn is a full brother to OYY Queen Jane Approximately, a lovely yearling filly pictured here with her best friend OYY Hollis Brown.

Both horses, Quinn and Sweet Bee have been in the ribbons and Denise and her daughter Ionelee have done a super job bringing the horses to this level of showing.

OYY Sweet Bee is a full sister to one of my favorites-- OYY Buster Brown, who was pictured in a previous blog driving. I just love this guy !! He is the one offspring of Chip's who resembles his father the most.

OYY Jockomo got gelded and the two pals—he and Iko had baths, then went out on fresh grazing. Moving them on a rotation gives them fresh eats and less parasites.

Quite a few of the fields are empty now, so time to spread lime and fertilizer. I am on a mission to seek and destroy buttercups. When I first moved here—my focus was burdock. I have been pretty successful. When macrobiotic diets were the rage.. I had a fleeting thought to attempt to harvest burdock root and turn the noxious thing in to some handy cash… but --- I actually have seen packets of the seeds in health food stores so you can raise your own in a garden… crazy. It’s a tough plant to obliterate.

We finally got some rain- not enough but I am thankful for what came. Perfect timing, as it was right after I spread the lime and fertilizer. So hopefully now, the pastures will grow like mad and the horses will be thrilled .. I love not feeding hay.

Chip is still being worked and has his first show the first week of July. We decided to enter him in the just the walk trot since he has been in training only a short time. It will be his first foray off the farm since he arrived in 1998. I will be sure to take lots of photo's and a video.

Enjoy your day ~

driving and riding

Today was another beautiful day ~ grass is growing and everything is turning green. We hitched OYY Buster today, first time in about 2 months. He remembered all his training and did very well. He went down in the big ring for the first time and then out on the road for a short trot, which he enjoyed tremendously. Buster is out of Sudie Bee and Mead's Chocolate Chip. I was able to get short video of his time out- which you can see here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoU62QjwvUs

Two of the foals had some work done with them. OYY Aztec is a cute little filly full of sass ~ By the end of her session she was behaving and listening. Silly girl !

Next was OYY Jockomo. He's a quiet boy, somewhat lazy. He was happy to lead away from his pals and do some work. He still has most of his foal coat, but it looks like when he sheds out-- he'll be very dark. Handsome boy ! He's a cousin of Buster's (his dam OYY Tippateena is maternal sister to Sudie Bee) plus he's a paternal brother of Buster's also (both sired by Chip). Great potential there !

OYY Ivan had some time down in the big ring also. He has been down the road a few times and is forward and curious and eager. Lovely gelding. He's a maternal brother to Aztec. He's been doing some growing lately, we sticked him at just under 15 hands.

I guess it's about time to start up the lawn mower soon.... it always seems as though the grass grows best where you don't really want it !

Enjoy your day ~

Mother's Day Ride

Today was a beautiful day. A little breezy, lots of sun-- cool enough so no bugs (it's black fly season). I worked around the house, weeded gardens, picked up more winter debris... then it was time for our Sunday ride. Zoe and I decided to ride through the McDonald's drive through just for fun. We headed down the highway, took a right onto Park Street for a roundabout route.

Down the hill past Park Street School--

lots of old factories in Springfield,

which used to be quite the hub for machining.

Then past the old Park Street Bowl, and onto the Park Street bridge. Springfield is divided many times by rivers, mainly the Black River-- and the falls through town are pretty, especially at this time of year with all the snow melt. Park Street intersects with Main Street, so we rode through the center of town and looped around back toward our destination.

Past more falls on Main Street.

We have to cross over just past the Mobil Station -

to the old Golden Arches.

Let's see... what shall we order

for Mother's Day ?

Off to the pick up window -

After a quick snack, we trotted back up the highway and veered off onto a little trail we spotted on the right . Meandering through trees and brush , we came out into Roger Carey's hay field and another beautiful pond. it's late in the day and time for chores.. the horses knew it was supper time for them so we made good time home.

Another great ride... :)



This week Mead's Chocolate Chip continued

with his training.

He is coming into balance,

figuring out how to carry himself nicely.

OYY Elektra is doing really well also. She has taken a short trip down the road a few times.

It's definitely springtime here.. lots to do but there's always time for riding !!

Enjoy ~

May Day Ride

This morning Zoe and I went for a quick ride for the first of May. We had already planned our route - over a trail we have not traveled in years. Part of it is a cross country ski trail, with some nice little bridges here and there and beautiful scenery and woods. I am not sure why this trail had become a forgotten memory.. but last week's adventure reminded us how beautiful it is.

Late in the afternoon last week, we got a call that 3 Curlies were on a lawn in Chester. We grabbed some halters, a grain bucket, lead lines and headed out by car. When we arrived to the location-- naturally the horses had ventured further into the woods, so we walked looking for evidence of which way they went. As we traipsed through these woods, we said-- next week we must get over here on horseback. We walked deeper and farther-- decided that those pesky horses had gone through to the other road onto Crow Hill. We went back for the car and found them another mile or so on a new lawn quite happily grazing. The thought of leading them back 4 miles was not so appealing to us at that point, so we tried to lead them with lead lines through window of the car. This was not working so well, the lead lines were rubbing the window gaskets too much as 1 or more horses would pull back or walk too slowly. There was danger of burning out the clutch in Zoe's car as well as we had to go so slowly up the hill. Zoe had the idea to tie them to the roof rack--- I protested that thought-- and it turned out I was right, because the roof rack popped off the car when 1 pulled back. Whoops.... Plan C. A neighbor offered to drive his little truck with us in the back, feet firmly braced on the tailgate. This was the slowest 4 miles I have ever traveled... 2 horses would trot along, 1 would balk-- then 2 pulled back while 1 decided she wanted to trot. Oh well-- I kept remarking... still better than walking ( I think). Turns out a tree fell across the fence in the back of the pasture and these 3 went for a curious trip. At any rate it inspired out May Day outing for which I am glad.

Today's ride was lovely - At the beginning a little pond, then into the woods.

Here's one of the little bridges that crisss cross through the woods.

The water runs under the stone wall here too.. which was hard to catch on camera.

At the old round baler which has been here forever, we take a left and from there get on another trail we ride on quite a bit. Today we took a slight detour to view another gorgeous pond.

And wait--- what do we see but a beaver enjoying a lazy swim, so we pause to watch for awhile. That brown dot in the water is a good sized beaver.. not being very busy today. I don't blame him.

Here's his house in the center of the pond.

A rather short post-- but a perfect ride out !!

Enjoy your day- this first of May ~~

Last Day For Obstacles !

We woke up early to find the rain had ceased... a little chilly, now and then actually spitting snow. Today is the final day for the mini contest of the RAC. CSB ~ Calmer, Smarter, Braver obstacle course. We have had a blast with all this month with the challenge. Upon initially receiving the "rules" of this contest, we studied the obstacle list. Fun, fun, fun !! Shopping the dollar store for scary stuff, then building and setting up in the indoor... bridge, tires, star cavaletti, pedestal, our big hoop with streamers for walking and riding through. Set up an owl decoy, some wind spinners, wind socks, a kite, some beach balls, an interesting knapsack full of grooming tools, tarps, mailbox and a raincoat hanging for putting on and taking off-- a rope gate, a wheelchair and crutches (which we keep on hand anyway for training our therapy horses). I have an awesome umbrella which opens and closes with quite a WHOOSH with a button on the handle-- perfect !! Add to that-- the farm pot belly pigs and noisy, nosey guinea hens-- we are good to go ~

We opened both doors of the indoor so we could have the advantage of plenty of wind and over the course of April, we introduced as many horses as we had time for. One weekend Curly horse owners Susan Lejonhud and Laurie Lee were here. Susan led OYY Queen Jane Approximately and OYY Buster Brown through the course. Laurie posed as our wheelchair and crutches person. The horses were not bothered by any of it... When Zoe and I bought the pink spinny fish lawn ornament, we were sure the horses would spook somewhat at that-- but at most, they wanted to use it for an itching post. We used the "tickle tubes" in 2 different ways-- rubbed them over the horses and also set them up so they stuck up for riding over and through. Neither way was alarming.

During the month, I rode Keri through the course, got stuck in

the raincoat trying to put it on over my helmet-- Keri LOVES the bridge... being high up I think agrees with her attitude of being queen of the farm. I could not get a rise out of her with any of the obstacles. I ended up trotting around the arena doing a Mary Poppins routine with the umbrella, popping it open and closed. I rode Camille through and she was also unfazed by any of the course. Zoe took Winter Dancer and Teasel Obi through the course under saddle. Teasel's only issue was-- he wanted to stand on the edge of the big tire as though it was a pedestal, instead of stepping into it.

We led a few young ones through and even Meads' Chocolate Chip, who is only 2 weeks under saddle, did the course without batting a curly eyelash.

In addition to the obstacles set up in the indoor, we tried to think up as many as we could that we could encounter on a ride out. On the trails and dirt roads, we got lucky and had some bicyclists pass us, a motorcycle, people target shooting in their yard. One obstacle not on Denise's list is--- riding on the road and having a jogger come up behind you with their squish swish of those nylon jogging suits.

Perusing the "CSB" list, I noticed one of the obstacles on the list is a "car wash" -- I immediately had the idea-- we must ride downstreet to the car wash and ride through it !! Zoe was at first was skeptical but I lit her fire... today's the day ! I know there is a car wash behind the Dollar Store in the Springfield Plaza-- so off we go. We are just coming into town-- Ride past the "middle school" , over the bridge - McDonald's on our left

I have discovered on my treks out and about, Keri adores trotting on a sidewalk... she seems the most smooth and forward than ever. Even Teasel is getting the feel for it. We head into the Plaza, keeping our eyes pealed for any obstacles ~

Keri checks her reflection in the window- like any female on the town, she likes to know she's stylin' !! Enough primping-- onward toward our destination. We reach the Dollar Store, trot around the corner-- what the heck ?? The car wash evidently is no longer there. After a brief discussion, Zoe and I decide to head to the car wash in North Springfield.

On the way through the parking lot, past the local Shaw's, we spot several potential obstacles..

a shopping cart, a traffic cone (men are preparing to paint parking lines today), a lovely grate to trot over, and a flag -

We cross through a large confusing intersection, and head out Route 106. Here, we pass what seems to be flag alley with all the many car dealerships. Just a little ways up and we are there.

We ride through, satisfied we accomplished our goal ! Time to head home. We trot north on Route 106 and get on the dirt road for home.

Another super ride !

Enjoy your day ~

The weather continues to be the topic of the day ~ We went from several feet of snow to nearly 2 weeks of very hot and dry summer-like climate in the blink of an eye. While none of us wanted to whine too much, it was a shock to the system-- winter clothing to tank tops overnight. Yesterday, rains came along with more seasonal temperatures for April so when the sun does make another showing-- the grass is going to grow like crazy. That makes me happy ! Pasture instead of hay ~~ Last year I spread fertilizer and lime on most of the pasture land so the horses will reap the benefits this year. The last two days were spent putting in water bars on the roadways up and down the mountain across the street. Hoping to prevent the top of the mountain from washing to the bottom.

Two Sundays ago we managed a nice trail ride which was more of a non-stop water obstacle course- as the woods are still running with melting snows and overfull springs. So, in addition to our goal to ride over every imaginable bridge in the area, we are shooting for many water crossings. This trail was more traveling through water rather than crossing. We rode up the mountain, onto the Silver Disk trail, and headed toward Zoe's house. From here we hook onto Rhonda's Trail toward the old Watkin's Place where we find someone has placed a telephone pole across- a perfect opportunity to complete one of the obstacles on the Smarter, Braver, Calmer list for April's mini contest of the RAC. We head down Mythical Street, cross over onto the Scott Trail where we find more water and deep snow where the woods are thick. From here, we come out onto Trebo Road, head past the old cemetery. We used to be able to get on an awesome trail up behind the cemetery but the people who own the campground at the end have shut off the trail. So we trot down Trebo to the Spoonerville Four Corners- head right, and then left onto the Apple Tree Farm trail.

Near the beginning, is an old snowmobile bridge that we used to cross-- not anymore ! It's rather rickity now. Another water crossing.. Keri and I are already on the other side-- hurry up Teasel..

Whew-- that water is cold !!

We trot up a very steep path toward the hunting cabin.

And pass by the small beaver pond. Toward the end of the ride, we decide to try and find another passage to the road home. We have tried before but have never quite found the right way to travel. Past logging has deleted the trail we used to use.... the going is rough and unsuccessful again.

During the week, we took various horses down to the brook on my property for some more water practice. Even the horses that are reluctant to step into the brook enjoy it once they are in it. We walk up and down to get them accustomed to it. Here's Winter Dancer taking a stroll down the brook. I am on Camille- who loves her water experience.

Maya Dobush, who is training Mead's Chocolate Chip, brings him down for a cool water walk after his ring work.

He made quite a splash, but when he got the idea it might be fun to get down and roll in the water-- Maya quickly urged him back onto dry land.

Saving some of the best news for last ~ Sunday, Ptesan-Wi ABC 1635, delivered a beautiful curly filly sired by Classic Dreams Cherokee Storm. The filly is marked somewhat like her Mom only palomino instead of chestnut. I have named her OYY Aztec. Her dam has a great record of producing super foals who have grown to be wonderful mounts. Aztec was able to get out for a brief romp before the rains came in force. She'll have to be satisfied in a stall with Mom until it clears up for now.

News and Photo's of our Obstacle Course is coming this week... so come back and visit the blog soon ~

Enjoy your day ~