Thursday, August 6, 2009

Moonlight and Sunny days

Today is the third day of sun here on the top of my little hill in Vermont ! But-- this is not sun but Moon... Zoe and I rode out Tuesday night and found out-- the days are becoming shorter without our noticing it. We were not out really all that late-- but by 8:30, the moon was very full and rising.




I actually heard cicadas at the end of last week... so that means 90 days till the first frost.


Our two volunteers- Sara and Jenni- are riding if there is time between lessons. Sara is back riding Job quite a bit and may do a late summer show with him.. probably Intro test A and B which is all walk/trot. He'll be ready if she rides him 3 times a week. Jenni is riding OYY Ivan and is he ever pleased to be chosen !

The girls started out in the indoor.. as Jenni has only ridden Ivan once and that was last year. He has not been out under saddle in perhaps 2 months.. so they had a bit of 'getting to know you' time.




Didn't take long and they were ready to trot down the driveway to the big ring. Here's Sara with Job. lately Job has been used in quite a few lessons - he's such a gem of a horse and so versatile.






Here is a photo of him carrying some his precious cargo. Job is also great with the independent riders. Careful and safe.








One thing about girls and horses.. if there is mane to be braided.. they will do it !

















Jenni and Ivan make a handsome pair








Seems Sara always gets the job of schooling the ponies ! She takes OYY Arcus out for his little trot. Arcus is great every time no matter how long it's been since his last time out.






Zoe and I took an impromptu "sidewalk" trot with Keri and Elektra the other day-- Elektra's first time into town, first time trotting on the sidewalks-- and then on the way home after some rough trail-- her first trot and canter up the highway ! She was awesome and enjoyed the trip immensely !

She is now officially another sidewalk queen...




OYY Elektra -- dressage horse, trail mount, super fun road hack and all around great girl !








On our trot home.. we saw a tag sale on the corner, So we stopped our horses to take a look. I spotted this !! What a find. I went back with my car in the afternoon to get it.

Almost a curly mane and tail !







I don't exactly need another dust collector but.. couldn't resist this.

he'll make a great farm mascot-- and easy to feed.


Enjoy your day ~

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Monday trail ride and beavers at work

Monday is Keri and Teasel's day out. Where shall we go ? I suggested trotting up Fletcher Hill. We have not really explored up there much-- there are a lot of trails and we don't know where any of them go yet-- we started the trek by heading up my little mountain road headed toward Zoe's house.





Some of the trails are running brooks.








Lots of photo's of Keri's ears this morning. We trot by Zoe's house, cross the highway and trot up Fletcher Hill Road, where we have our choice of trails.






Because of the tremendous amounts of falling water we've experienced.. the woods are very damp.. the evaporating mists make it seem like we can see the sunshine.


We are thinking to try to head toward Ephraim and the "pink house' -- so we know we want to cross Pleasant Valley Road at some point-- so in choosing the turns, we try to get situated in that direction. There are so many choices-- we are definitely going to head back here for more exploration. A couple of times we turned around and trotted back to try a different turn.






We ended up behind the large beaver pond-- we've been on the opposite side many times-- never here.


As we look around-- there is still trail.. but silly beavers have begun construction on a little dam across the trail and are forming a new pond.



Keri is looking at that dam-- thinking... you are NOT going to ask me to hop that dam and walk through that pond ??


Yes- my dear lovely Keri-- that's exactly where we are going-- I can see the trail over and across. I actually took several photo's of this little dam partly to heckle Keri about it..



I know that's not particularly nice or polite-- but Keri and I understand each other and our little bratty digs at each other are merely tokens of affection :) Some days she's the brat-- somedays I am.


I am hoping the other side of the dam is fairly solid pond bottom and not sinking mud.. but my thoughts are.. it's a pretty new project since some of the saplings in the dam still have leaves on them... so the ground is probably still somewhat firm.



At any rate--- onwards and upwards-- back on dry trail, but we still need to get over to the other side of Pleasant Valley Road.


As we trot through the woods-- we see the road. In order to get across-- we need to travel down through someone's yard-- so a lucky co-incidence.. we know this person so I am sure she won't mind us using her property as a pass through. Doing some landscaping here..



Once on the road- we change our route a bit to add a little more mileage. We head down Pleasant Valley Road to Rassmussen Road-- which leads up past the Vista View Farm and ends up as a trail over Mount Ephraim. I have posted views from this farm before-- but so beautiful !!



onto the Mount Ephraim trail .. we got in some great canters here.






We arrive at the 'pink house' on top of Mount Ephraim.. one of my favorite places. Here is where Stellafane hosts their annual star gazing in the fall.




Views are very pretty !












The old Porter Turret telescope as you can see built in 1930.

They don't use this anymore as they have built a very new modern telescope. You can see the pink house in the background.







Well, according to the sun dial here.. it's time to get trotting home. It's actually 1:00... but I guess there's no way to adjust the sun dial to daylight savings time.








What a great ride-- some good exploration... lots of new trails we have never been on. We got in a nice brook walk on the way home.

We will definitely head out that way again !





Enjoy your day ~