This was me on my last ride !! Yikes, I did not remember the ground could be so sudden or so hard... quite a splat. I guess it can happen to even the best of riders. As I hobble around doing my chores and loading the big wood boiler... my daughter kind of raises her eyebrows at me (she's a member of this club too, but she's young still). I said to her today-- I hope I live to see the day she's almost 60 and gets dumped... I'll raise my eyebrows at her-- and if it doesn't happen.. I'll personally just push her down a hill or something (trip her with my walker maybe ??)

I am not sure how to log those few seemingly LONG seconds I was in the saddle on my RAC log sheet !

Yesterday, OYY Buster Brown was hitched in the cart for the first time. He did pretty well -- but he's a super little horse and has the genes. His grand-mother (my beloved Teena) and his Dam-- our wonderful Sudie-Bee -- are both great driving and riding mounts and his sire Mead's Chocolate Chip has passed on some solid genes as well, so we expected Buster would be outstanding. We have only walked beside and behind the cart so far, and have not hitched the britchen yet.. just the tugs for now. We'll give him plenty of time to get used to the cart and crossing over with his turns. This first day-- he did awesome!! I shot a little video of him which you can see here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iptTE5n2QGM

On these very cold and windy days, I am happy to have the indoor to continue through the winter for working and training the horses... but maybe I would rather have been in the big ring to land on snow instead of the arena floor the other day.

Enjoy your day.. and stay in the saddle.

It is a beautiful crisp cold morning. The moon is almost full-- bringing with it colder temperatures. I am so glad to have those tank heaters. In the last few weeks, we installed 2 automatic waterers. Always fresh water.. and heated. These are such handy gadgets.. I plan on replacing all my tubs with these automatic waterers over time. I believe they will be less costly to run too.. since the amount of water to heat is less.. about a gallon or so instead of 150 gallons or more of water. No problem with the horses learning to drink from them either. Nothing better than being able to make improvements that make my life easier -- and the horses are happier too.

The other day, my daughter rode WR Winter Dancer down in the big arena. She is a lovely mare who is mainly a lesson horse. We like to give the lesson horses a "break" from their lesson by riding them outside the indoor out on the trail or in the outdoor arena.. working them in a way they don't get a chance to in their lessons. I also shot a very short video of her "dancing" in winter. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1L_UM2HX2P4

Dancer is on the sales list even though we do use her in most of the lessons. We have lots of other horses to use.. so if she does sell-- there are other lesson mounts ready and able to take her place in the program.

I went walking the woods yesterday, marking trees to be cut-- all part of the plan in improving the property and also getting more firewood. Because we have had so many thaws and freezes in between the snowfalls, for the most part-- I can walk on top of the snow. You forget how deep the snow is until you hit a spot where suddenly you are hip deep in a hole. I have noticed in my walks and horseback rides through the property, there is a lot of running water this year. The brooks are very full and the springs are running like crazy. I suppose because we had fairly early snowfall, the ground is not that frozen.. only a few inches. I think that means we will have an easy mud season. This of course is good news.

It's still dark out- but the sky is clear so if the sun is shining enough today-- I am going to start pruning the old apple trees. This is the time to attend that chore. That will keep my mind off the mares that are due to foal soon... waiting on a foal can be frustrating.. nothing will hurry the process -- like watching the pot that never boils... so keeping busy with something else will help.

Enjoy your day ~

Yesterday was rain nearly all day- we still have plenty of snow but LOTS of ice as well now. Up early to sand the barnyard and the area around the indoor for the lesson riders today. Probably no time to ride today.

I mentioned OYY Cosette and her first time under saddle in my previous post. I shot a short video of her first ride in the indoor which you can view here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZMkqwVc_To She is young to be under saddle but she was so ready. We'll just keep it slow and steady.. maybe once a week for a short time... just some bending and walking. Cosette is a very sweet tempered little mare and I know she is going to be a super riding horse when she is older.

During the week, we worked OYY Buster Brown in the indoor in harness ground driving. This fellow is smart and he is just about ready to be hitched to the cart. Of course, he has a strong genetic pre-disposition for driving- which makes it all that much easier. He's a coming 2 year old out of Sudie Bee and Mead's Chocolate Chip.

My Keri Luna is a lovely 14.1 hand mare who is not pictured on the web site as she is always going to live here with me. Because she is not for sale, she does not get the consistent training that the sales horses receive. She's a wonderfully comfortable very willing safe riding horse.. and pretty amazing considering the little bit of training she has experienced. This is her first time under saddle since last summer. Luna is out of my riding horse Keri -Orla and Mead's Chocolate Chip. I got just what I wanted.. as a replacement for her Mom as Keri is aging. As Keri was getting closer to her foaling out.. I was naturally hovering over her, anxiously waiting. I put her out during the day-- back in the barn at night. Keri was leaking milk.. and a foal was imminently close. I guess it was like a watched pot that won't boil. One day I went out to put her in the barn for the night and I said to her-- maybe I won't put you back in the stall since you are not co-operating... but I did anyway as she seemed a little agitated. Well-- I put her in the stall, she circled three times, laid down and whooosh-- out came Luna !!! I like to think Keri was waiting all day for me ( I was gone from the farm for most of the day on errands) so I felt honored of course.. is it possible she loves me ?? :) Keri is a great horse and lots of fun to ride... but she does not show her feelings, so there are many times I wonder if-- even though I love her-- does she love me back ? Well, this makes Luna all the more special to me. Silly the way we are with our horses sometimes!!

I am off to load the outdoor boiler this morning and get chores done before our first lesson at 8:00.

Enjoy your day ~

So far this week, it's been riding nearly every day-- one morning devoted to splitting up some huge pine for my outdoor boiler... mostly to get rid of it. I had thought to use those logs for rough lumber, but with the price of oil-- it will be just as valuable to me as firewood.

OYY Raphael went out for some ring work in the deep snow. No matter how long he is laid off from work- he is consistent and steady, looking forward to his rides out. I made a short video of Raffi that you can view here- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bngZ4oJGugo He is such a handsome pleasant mount, always willing and loves his work.

OYY Cosette is a coming 3 year old sired by WCC Benjamin (Homefire Curlies). She is really too young for saddle work, but she was soooo ready, we have ridden her twice anyway. Cosette stands at the gate as we take her other pasture mates out for work or rides, and she wanted to to progress in her training badly-- I could tell ! She has many sisters under saddle-- all super forward, comfortable mounts.. Cosette is going to be a superb riding horse. She will make a nice endurance/competitive trail horse. I love her size (she's 13.3 hands now).

We started ground work with 2 more of Benjamin's offspring- both geldings. OYY Ivan is a smooth coated bay gelding, coming 3, 14.3 hands. He is in harness doing ground work in the indoor and learning quickly. He's a quiet fellow, very respectful, sensitive but not spooky at all.

Ivan's paternal brother, OYY Dante, is also being brought up for ground work in the indoor. He's a fancy very elegant little gelding out of Honeybee Gal, who has consistently given us winning foals. She has a "special" page on the web site featuring the accomplishments of her offspring http://www.vermontel.net/~top/feature_page.htm I am very proud of all of Honeybee's foals. Here's a photo of Dante, his first time up in the indoor.

Yesterday, in between work and lessons, my daughter and I managed to get in a quick jaunt on the trail. I rode Keri, she saddled up OYY Mercedes. We went back to the trail where Mercedes originally had issues with the frozen brook. Because of our present warm January thaw, the brook was no longer frozen-- but running pretty full, melting snow and very wet trail .. she was not terribly pleased about walking in that dark unknown-- but being the determined forward horse that she is.. became more comfortable with it as we rode.. no way around it anyway. My son had ordered a log load and had it delivered to my place (more room). The "cherry picker" as we call those log trucks, was parked on the side of the driveway as we headed out.. I wish I had had my camera with me. The driver was perched on that teetering seat, maneuvering the grabber-- picking up bunches of logs and setting them just over the fenceline. Noisy and potentially scarey-- as he did not see us coming up behind him and we had no way to ask him to let up for a minute while we passed. Every time he picked up a bunch of logs, the entire rig was tipping and tottering... I would not have wanted to be up in that little seat. The horses walked passed without incident.. happy to be going out. With this particular trail, we have to trot down the dirt road about a mile.. past a narrow spot on the road where there resides a little schnauzer type dog who is generally out on a run. The dog's name is Buddy-- but Killer is a more appropriate name. He lunges and barks and runs back and forth on that dog run-- making that "whizzing" noise that dog runs make... not something horses like usually. These girls just glanced at Buddy-- like-- whatever !! and trotted on. About mid-way on the trail, we switched horses- and I rode Mercedes home. On the positive side, I was on another horse and could spend my time admiring Keri-- a horse I am in love with... BUT-- I also have strange feelings of.. I just plain don't like anyone else on MY horse!!!

Enjoy your day ~

8 days into the New year.. we went from below zero degrees to yesterday's 47 degrees. My daughter and I have been able to ride every day but one... definitely motivated by Denise Conroy's RAC (Ride A Curly contest). Always the dilemma-- work or ride?

On the super cold days, we experimented with different "outfits" to stay warm and dry. On the second - we went out for a quick trail ride with OYY Mercedes and OYY Nimue in between scheduled therapeutic riding lessons. We went out on a trail that we have not ridden since summer-- it went great until we got to nearly the end of the trail and neither horse wanted to step into the frozen brook to cross. We had to get back by a certain time, so in the end, we had to dismount and walk the silly goofs across-- no time to fight and fuss. Yesterday, we returned-- and both horses did cross the brook nicely. On the third-- I rode a lovely very naked mare I purchased from Erica Frei specifically for the riding center. Camilla is about the sweetest horse you could find and lots of fun to ride. She has not been used other than lessons (in the indoor) in over a year however-- and the whole ride was-- trot a bit, stop, look around, trot a bit, stop, look around.... at one point she jumped sideways (for what reason?? I am not sure- ) and we ended up in a deep snow bank on the side of the road. Once she was in the deep snow with her short little legs... she was not sure what to do-- so she SAT down like a dog. Another silly goof-- Since that ride ended up being slow and boring-- upon return, I grabbed my favorite Keri-Orla and went for a real ride. My daughter rode Teasel Obi, who is Camilla's son (sired by Erica's Tanjobi). Teasel is another very naked horse-- but again-- sweet, forward, fun-- outstanding riding horse. With these 2 horses, we were able to cover ground!

Our best ride so far was Sunday. I rode Keri again. My daughter was on OYY Wassee-- who is fast becoming super horse. We wanted to give Wassee his first taste of the highway so we headed up to one of our favorite places-- MT Ephraim and the location of the Stellafane observatory. In this photo taken from my barnyard, you can see the general location of our destination by the furthest snowy roof in the trees--

Keri has crossed over to this trail hundreds of times.. this was Wassee's first time.

For part of the ride, we had to travel on the snowmobile trail. Here we are approaching the state highway-- it is early Sunday, so not a lot of traffic. We were kind of hoping we don't meet up with the snowmobilers... I am not sure if we are supposed to be riding on their trails-- and parts of the uphill winding parts are narrow. We did have a "convoy" of about 8 or 10 of the noisy beasts head on-- thankfully the horses did not care and the riders were polite to slow down for us. Since we left some horse poop on their trail.. I am glad all they did was wave.

Once we got off the groomed trail, we got into deep snow and the horses had to work hard. Here we are at the location of that snowy roof-- looking across at the farm and my new indoor. A few more shots of the view.

From here, we rode over to what I call the "pink house"-- another of my favorite places. This little house is part of the Stellafane group.. built in 1924 as the "clubhouse". It has always been pink. Inside this adorable clubhouse, is a Polar Cassegrain Telescope, a Transit telescope, a solar telescope (all operational except the Transit) and on the South wall of the house, is this sundial-- it is about 52 inches by 55 inches and accurate enough to set your watch by it.

There is also an observatory - a unique 12 inch f/17 equatorial telescope, built in 1930-- the world's only reflecting turret telescope. I don't think they use this anymore-- they have built a large very modern one to replace it. This area has been hosting annual conventions since the 20's and people come from all over to view the skies. The group of Springfield Telescope Makers is the oldest group of amateurs in the country and Stellafane and the observatory and the pink house are National Historic Landmarks. The work Stellafane is a combination of 2 Latin words-- Steller , meaning "star" and Fane, meaning "shrine". It's a kind of magical place-- and I love to trail ride up there.

I hope you are enjoying your days ~

My goodness-- 2 posts in one day. My daughter and I saddled up and went out around 9. We warmed the horses up in the indoor for about a half hour-- then out on a trail we have not ridden yet since we've had snow. It was quite a workout-- for the horses anyway. Here we are heading down the driveway.. I enlisted the help of a friend to take the photo so I could be in it too!

This photo reminds me of those paintings where the horse is hidden within the picture somewhere in the pattern--- find Wassee in the trees!!

Part of the trail has become a brook -- good for the horses to have some different "obstacles". We had loads of fun.. but it started to snow hard as we were just heading back home.. and we were pretty wet from ducking under snow laden trees. Definitely have to get ordering more winter riding wear. We wanted to go out again with different horses-- but it's snowing too hard now.

Now I guess it's time to relax indoorswith some chocolate....

Enjoy the day ~ and get riding

Today is the first day of 2008 !! Our goal for this year is to ride, ride, ride--- along with the everyday work and chores-- training, etc. My daughter and I have entered Denise Conroy's RAC Contest (Ride a curly) and hopefully will be able to log in plenty of hours and miles on all our curly horses.

Nature has dumped snow upon snow here in Vermont.. 4" one day, 8 " another-- add a foot here and there. It makes for fun riding in the woods-- we can follow the deer trails- as they are already somewhat packed down. Even with the cold-- the woods are warm. We have studied Denise's "extreme winter wear" page on her Curly Horse Country site (http://curlyhorsecountry.com/curlyhorseproducts_reviews.htm) and I think I am going to try the Tuff Rider insulated Over Pants. Riding in the woods, snow gets brushed off the hemlock and pine-- and sometimes gets under my butt in the saddle.. pants are wet... I think these overpants will be the solution.

Here's OYY Wassee.. riding up along the fenceline in the woods across from the farm. I cropped out my horse's ears- I rode my favorite Keri-Orla. Later in the ride- we were both pretty well covered in snow. Here is Wassee, stopping for a pose in the snow.

We had so much fun-- when we returned to the barn, untacked and put those horses away, we grabbed 2 more and went out again. OYY Mercedes experienced her first trail ride and I could tell she really enjoyed herself. Mercedes is out of Green Mountain Dew and Sharon Williams' FFS Sparkling Nugget (registered near leopard appy). She was a driving pony at 2 years old, we sold her and now she is back at the farm.. due to a divorce situation. She is a nice riding mare -- she reminds me of her maternal grand-father Mel's Bathtub Gin, who was a real trail blazer. You can see she is following in his foot steps.. blazing a snow trail of her own.

So I am off to load up my outdoor wood boiler, feed, and wait for the sun to come up so my daughter and I can get out on the trail again for our first RAC entry !!

Happy New Year-- and enjoy the day ~