the eternal return

Monday, I had a late afternoon chiropractor appointment... so I was rushing around getting all my end of the day stuff completed. 2 of the pony mares had already foaled... still watching OYY Demeter - who has presented us with some false alarms over the past 2 weeks.

Here is a nice photo of her from last summer.

As I looked over at her in the paddock - wondering.. should I bring her in or leave her out ? I decided I may as well bring her in once again just in case. I tied her at the hitchrail to give her a good brushing, which might make her feel more comfortable in her late waddle fat stage of pregnancy. Yikes - I barely had the safety knot tied and my brush out -- her water broke just as a big wind swirled up and blew the gushing birth fluid all over me !! Wow, this is a new and different experience. Demeter could barely toddle to her waiting birthing room --- once there - she plopped down and pushed out a nice curly colt !! All day, she appeared quiet and relaxed so I did not suspect much from her. She must have been holding it in for me to put her in the stall ? I was also was present for her 2009 foal .. lovely OYY Matisse, but that day she paced and rolled, laying down, getting up all day long.

Here is that classic photo of Mom meeting baby... when mares rest a bit after those BIG contractions. The foal's hind legs still inside the birth canal and the life cord unbroken. At this point, they remain one.. As I was snapping this photo - I was reminded of the oroboros -- the universal symbol of constant creation -- cyclicality.

The oroboros is represented in every ancient culture. To me, it illustrates how observant and 'in-tune' humans once were. Along the side of my blog page is a photo I took of the placenta -- the perfect Tree of life depicted in the physical design. It's no wonder that people revered these symbols and incorporated these motifs into all into their belief systems.

Patterns born in such ancient times re-creating themselves every day in the mundane universe around us -- for us to enjoy and celebrate, a reminder of the eternal return.

Here's the little fellow the following day - soaking up some sunshine. I have been calling him OYY Rizzoli.... my chiropractor's name is Dr Rizzo :)

I think he's a dun palomino (dunalino ? ) as he does have a dark dorsal stripe. He's a handsome young man for sure !

What a cutie !! His sire is OYY Finnegan.. so he's full brother to last year's OYY Matisse. He'll make someone an outstanding medium pony mount or perhaps a little stud pony !


This past week has been vacation week - so Zoe's children were at the farm all week. They had fun playing with the pups and running around the yard -- BUT this meant no riding for Zoe and me -- eeeek. Saturday arrived with perfect weather -- Zoe was itching for saddle time, I wanted to drive my Nimue !! We had opportunity to do both actually - since Nimue can cover so much ground in such speedy time... we had a super drive - trotting the 12 mile loop in under 2 hours with time to chat with neighbors, and also detour off into the woods to do some 4-wheelin' ! I just LOVE the way Nimue flies :)

Past Hidden Valley pond - where the two geese glide lazily through the water.

We had to stop and stand quietly for Zoe to capture a close up of the painted turtles who sun themselves on this rotting trunk. She's becoming quite the photographer as I have mentioned before-- now if I give the camera over to her - I end up with infinite photo's to sift through and edit :) That's a good thing -- as it proves she is noticing the world.

Lots of ponds on our trip - Mineral Springs pond is one of my favorites. I have not seen nor heard the kingfisher here this year -- I wonder if he moved to another location ?

Beautiful views and scenery along the way.

I love the video's of our road trotting -- Nimue just moves out with such joy and enthusiasm !


on our approach to homebase - we decided to detour into woods for a trail drive. This is FUN ! We met up with a couple of large trees down across the trial .. with deep water filled ditch along the right side -- not sure if I could make it through with the cart - I asked Zoe to try to move one of the trees.... not possible - so here we go.













Nimue is completely unfazed by this obstacle.








Here's a video of her on the trail.



When we arrived home - Zoe satisfied her saddle urge by schooling Elektra in the big ring... in preparation for a June show. I had little jobs to take care of (like cleaning up Nimue's harness !) .. but next time I will go down and video them together. OYY Elektra is performing her flying lead changes like a pro --- these two have come a long way together !




Then -- Zoe rode OYY Little "Z" for a bit -- Elektra's maternal sister. They resemble one another some .. "Z" is perhaps the more beautiful of the two (don't tell Miss Elektra). "Z" is a bit more naturally forward with a wonderful big walk.
I love it when both rider and horse are smiling :) Are they a happy couple or what ?




"Z" loves getting out of the small arena.. next time she's going down the trail ! She has a very comfy sitting trot -- what a great horse. She is wearing her sister's old bridle, since Elektra earned a new one.

If this gorgeous girl has not sold - I think she will do a few intro classes in the fall. She'll be a nice Curly representative in the show ring.











We often use the ATV to pony our horses down the road or move them in groups from field to field. It's fun to see how fast they can trot alongside the 4-wheeler. Here are OYY Iko Iko and OYY Buster Brown -- trotting over to the wooded pasture across the street.


Iko is a pony stallion still... he's staying smaller than I thought he would so perhaps he'll have a mare or two one spring. For now, he hangs out with his pal Buster - who is a handsome gelding just waiting for us to have the time to ride him !
Iko is a nice dunskin color - an extreme colt out of Tall Trees Sassie and Classic Dreams Cherokee Storm (our cremello stallion). I hope soon he will be a driving pony... he's been introduced to ground driving already but for now -- he's going to have to deal with some time off.
Busy week -- full of wonderment and fun :)
Enjoy ~

Everything is satisfactch'll

Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay My, oh my what a wonderful day! Plenty of sunshine heading my way Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay.

I used to sing this a lot as a child... and Wednesday - the day of our water crossing trip-- was a good day for the tune. I have no bluebird on my shoulder BUT .. It's the truth, it's actch'll Ev'rything is satisfactch'll Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay

Wonderful feeling, wonderful day! :)

No photo's the first leg of the trip... as we travel that so often. I started snapping in North Springfield... We BOTH had cameras today !! So WATCH OUT ... I may be converting Zoe into a photo addict.

You know how my horses love a nice sidewalk. It's warm then chilly - so we toggled our sweatshirts off and on. We are wondering just how cold that water might be. My camera is on its last legs - it takes photo's but will not turn off after - so I packed extra batteries just in case and also a spare pair of socks., thinking I could change after our crossing. You'll see later - while this plan made good sense in the planning stages - you'll see this was a silly, quite useless idea

Elektra's first trot past the Mobil station up on Route 106. We see our friends, the Gibson's, are parked in front of their little rented space across the highway so we decide to trot over and say HI.

Since Denise has taught me, horses CAN enter buildings -- I walk over to open the door.

The Gibson's are inside vacuuming -- so I elect to let them come outside for a quick chat instead of bringing my horse inside. Don't want to be a rude visitor.

They did get a kick out of it though.

Close to the North Springfield Dam area --- we can take a left further up here to enter the trails .. but we choose to trot further, cross the very tall one lane bridge over the dam. The first time we crossed this bridge on horseback was back in 2008 -- April 8th.. That year, there was still ice and some snow -- no water crossing then but we were treated to the governor's helicopter's landing very near us as we returned on the other side of the airport.

We do miss some very nice trail by trotting over the bridge -- but ... the bridge is more of an obstacle for obstacle season. :)

Our last water crossing here in the floodplains was last year in July. If you are inclined to check that past post out, you'll see some of the same photo's only with lots of foliage and green growth. Due to all the precipitation we received in 2009, the crossing spot was almost as deep as it is this springtime at its highest.

That's the control tower I guess and I have no desire to trot out that piece of bridge.

Peeking over the side of the narrow bridge.

This is the Old Reservoir Road -- a trail for hiking, bicycling and horseback riding. It winds throughout the dam and flood area.. with nature trails here and there.








As the sign explains -- this area was once farms and homes.






Zoe and I talked about bringing Nimue and the cart over here but not sure how we'd get around these gates.. which I suppose are there to keep out motorized traffic. It would be loads of fun in the cart -- so we are going to give it a try -- we'll figure something out.







The trail which follows along the river -- quite littered with debris from the spring floods.

Feeder brooks and streams along the opposite side, constantly replenishing the river with more water. And we've had scads of water this year !

Here's the floodplains... to the right of Zoe during normal summer years is dry. Keri rode down here the first time in her life when she was 6 years old on a 25 mile ride.

Flooded floodplains ..

Here's the little path down to the water-- in mid-summer, this path is completely camouflaged with tall weeds and brush.

Keri takes her first step into the water. This initial cross is not deep -- maybe up to Keri's knees.. then, it reached Elektra's knees !! She's a good hand taller than Keri. OK - I think my shoes are getting wet.

Elektra is poking her nose in the water and blowing bubbles !! Silly dressage horse :)

Here's the deeper section -- my Loch Ness mare !

Or I guess since it's Vermont-- I'll say Champ (our own Lake Champlain monster)

My shoes are filled with water, so no point in changing socks when I am done here. At one point the river was over the top of my saddle...

Elektra is frolicking a bit in the water - so difficult for Zoe to hold the camera steady.

It's so much fun -- we keep crossing over and over again and the horses loved it too.

And here is our entertaining video clip of Zoe trying not to chuckle too much while her mother is in danger of being swept away downstream :0 The current was swift, the water deep -- but just WAY TOO MUCH FUN !! Why does this have to be so far from home -- because it would be so awesome if this was only a quick trot away.

Here is the power dam -- just upstream from where we crossed. The sound of the water over this dam was extremely loud -- which is why I took the very short video- so everyone could experience the waterfalling... then we trotted and cantered across the field toward home- on the opposite side of the river.

After what we just did -- these puddles are nothing -- but would be fun for Nimue if we can trot over here in the cart before the water dries up.

Soon we come up on the airport -- which is well fenced.

We spent some time cantering up and down this fenceline.. and Zoe was showing off with Elektra's flying lead changes... which I was standing off in order to video -- but now my camera has died.. darn. I just though Keri looked quite attractive here -- but of course- she's mine... always beautiful.

Back through North Springfield.. where we eventually get onto the back dirt roads.

We detour onto the Apple Tree trail --

I mentioned to Zoe -- I wonder if the owner reads my blog because once in a post I said something about asking him to clear away all the pine tree branches we had to duck under... the trail is very clear now. What a difference.

Chairs of some sort have been here as long as I can remember.

A very small water crossing here.

And Seriously Keri ? You're thirsty ?? I guess so.

What an incredibly satisfactch'll day !! Later in the evening when I went to take my shower, I noticed.. my lower legs were black from my chaps being so wet... whoops. Today is Friday and my boots are still wet. I am SO ready to repeat this ride !!!

Enjoy ~