When I moved to Vermont, I really noticed the local vernacular and colloquialisms right away. I heard the words “dooryard” (as in, what is that person doing in my dooryard?) and “downstreet” (as in, I need to go downstreet and get some groceries) and all intersections seem to be called four corners.. there is Scrabble four corners, Spoonerville four corners, etc.

After awhile you get used to it and start using those phrases yourself. You learn all the very local nick names for places and things.. like the end of my road is called the “hole in the wall”.

If I was from “away” (as in—perhaps, egads, being a “flatlander” ) and

asked for directions.. I would be lost before I knew how to turn right at the four corners and a left at the hole in the wall. Just before you get to the hole in the wall, you pass by Uncle Raino’s water garden which is a big swamp where believe it or not— a person by the name of Raino hayed once.

This is along the “S” curves, where many years ago we were driving Teena during mud season and the telephone man in a rush to get home, came speeding around the corner, nearly ran into us.. but Teena, being the wise old lady that she was, politely ran him and his speedy telephone van into the ditch instead… well, luckily he was the telephone man so he could phone for help.. because we went happily trotting off. Mind you- this telephone van had a habit of driving too fast on his way home every evening, so we did not feel any guilt. Right along this same place on the road is also Teena’s beaver… where the water from the Raino’s hay field runs under the road – a beaver came up, slapped his tail and nearly unseated my daughter. If you continue trotting up to that great old hole in the wall and take a left .. you’ll come to the spot where my dear old Tuff ‘Nuff saved my life.

As you turn left, you can get a beautiful canter up and around the hill. That day, we were flying comfortably along when old Tuff came to an abrupt HALT.. as I was about to curse her, the whole top of a dead tree came down.. a miracle of sorts—because had she not stopped dead in her tracks, it would have come straight down on us ! Whew.. In a quarter second, Tuff went from poophead to heroine in my eyes ! The remaining tall stump still remains there.. I ride by it and immediately all my memories of riding Tuff flash through my mind.

Over time, as my daughter and I ride all the trails and roads, we have initiated a dialect all of our own to describe the places we have ridden. As we saddle up—we discuss where shall we ride today? The teapot trail, the sap bucket trail, the white trail, the silver disk trail, Mythical trail or up the drug house trail. How did these trails earn their monikers—those are stories for another day, so stay tuned.

If we decide to stick to the dirt roads, we can go for the 6 mile loop (where we ride to the hole in the wall, take a right toward the four corners.. well you know the rest!) or we can opt for the 10 mile loop which has a nice mile long hill for conditioning, or go even further if we have time and energy.

Then, there are the “sub” trails.. depending on the turns we take and where we want to exit. From the drug house trail, we can get on the extended loop, or head toward the cabin, trot between the 2 birch trees, down a VERY steep hill, cross over onto the Apple Tree farm trail, which has an excellent brook crossing- a tricky step down and step up. Sometimes we choose the trail we are up for riding; sometimes we choose the trail for the obstacles we want to expose the horses to. If we want deep mud and brush—we’ll take the Kingsbury trail or the Scott trail. Sometimes, there is a time factor—as we pretty much know how long each trip will take, so how much time we have to ride will decide where we go. There are so many options and routes and combinations where we go out one way and return from a whole ‘nother direction.

We have lost quite a few really nice trails to construction of homes or acres of woods get logged hiding trails with brush and left behind logs.. but that only motivates us to find detours. One of our favorite trails for example—the White trail – was lost to us because the owner decided he did not want horses on his property. It took us days of dedicated riding and exploring (bushwhacking ? ) to find the way around his boundaries… but now we have a new trail that hooks us up with the old ones. Lately, we are annoyed by the increase in ATV traffic. I have nothing against 4 wheelers, as I have one and use it all the time on the farm. However, they can completely destroy a good trail over time with mud and wash outs. Then it’s time to play Lewis and Clark again on horseback.

One trail that we have ridden since we moved here, we ride up the mountain, trot right down a little path that we can tell used to be an old lane from the way the rocks are lined in the woods to delineate a very old road, probably used to move cows or sheep from pasture to pasture. We pass by the 2 old blueberry bushes and open out onto a narrow little path which loops around. If we go straight, we end up down on the road, the other way takes us toward a nice up and down path through woods that is like trotting on a roller coaster, past the old Watkins house that has been crumbling for years. When we first started riding this trail, the house was standing-- still had plaster walls. Just a few years ago.. the front door was still there. Now it's merely a sad heap of history.

Over time, the path widened just beyond those blueberry bushes, until it came the day—a road was built, houses sprouted. Co-incidentally, my daughter and her family just bought one of those houses and now we can ride to her house in a matter of minutes through the woods.


Sometimes we can ride an area for years.. and find a trailway that we had previously been looking for. It’s like—all of a sudden the woods open up and expose the way. Well, when I say a trail we have been looking for I mean a certain way through the woods that makes for the best passage. The trail evolves as we travel it over and over again. -- This is how we came upon the silver disk trail. We both knew there was a better way to traverse that section of woods, and each time we meandered through the pine tree wood, taking a different turn each trip out. Somehow we managed to find this path which is perfect and loops onto one of our very often ridden trails.

We study old maps that designate the abandoned roads with various styles of dotted lines. It’s fun to search for those. There are days we veer off on what looks to be a trail.. and have an awesome ride, coming out onto a road somewhere.. and we have to get our bearings with landmarks to figure out where we are. Other times, we are totally lost and end up somewhere surprising.

Every trail we have ridden has a story that gave birth to the name. Along the way are markers like, Memmie’s rock – which is a big rock at the narrowing of the dirt road at which a horse named Memmie liked to spook. One day, the town crew came and widened the road a bit and took Memmie’s rock away—most of it anyway. But 8 years later, when we trot by, we smile and think of Memmie. We have stored away about 20 years of riding memories.... and every trail or road we ride, we reminisce about a ride and remember the horses were we astride. Some of our travels stand out because they were such awesome rides...but a lot of these memories involve some kind of silly spook. It’s funny what little landmark can spark such grand treasured memories.


Enjoy all your memories and make some more ~

Yesterday, I was excited -- I pulled on my work pants and said to myself-- wow -- all this riding and working, I think I feel thinner. Then I remembered -- this is the first day since last fall that I have gone without the usual winter long underwear... less bulk clothes-wise... same bulk on the body-- DANG !! Oh well, at least it's warmer weather for the most part.

It's been a pretty busy couple of weeks. Due to the deep snow I had to spend a few days adding a top strand of fence to ALL the fence.. how many miles is that ?? Add to the stretching wire, there was some chest deep snow to trudge through. I also built some new fence... too many teasing mares testing the stallions' respect for electric fence.

My faithful partner, India, follows me everywhere I go. She's a standard poodle.

A few weeks back, friends from New Hampshire came for a visit-- Helyn Ray and daughter Sarah. Daughter Sam is in college so couldn't make the trek. Sam purchased a filly (OYY Lickity Split, out of Frostfire's Tadpole and Zoe's Day Dream) who she has raised and trained. Sarah owns Lejonhud Daffodil, who was born here. She came back with her Mom to see the new foals and to ride Daffodil's colt- OYY Wassee - just for fun.

One afternoon, I was watching OYY Hendrix, born last November, interact with his field mates.. who are (aside from his Mom, Zoe's Day Dream) 2 older bred mares-- OYY Dream A Little Dream and OYY RedBird. They play and run and "box" like a couple of foals.. but every now and again-- Hendrix gets a cranky nip or that "LOOK" only a mare can give-- it occurred to me that foals like Hendrix born out of season and end up being raised with other mares as their mentors-- tend to learn differently than foals turned out with other foals. I believe they acquire a little more respect and this affects their attitude in future training. Here's Hendrix with his Aunt - Dream A Little Dream and RedBird. Play is OK until Little Dream decides-- enough !

OYY Buster Brown is another colt born in the fall and he spent months with his Mom and other older mares until weaning. I notice the same phenomenom.

Three days ago, I moved Hendrix and his Mom to share space with Jockomo and Iko.. this way when he is weaned, he'll have other foals as pals.

My daughter and I have been riding quite a bit... all road due to too much snow still. In addition to all our regular loops, we have brainstormed some new ones... driving it in the car first to see how many miles. I never used to be much of a "road " rider, but I am totally enjoying it. The scenery is beautiful -- the brooks have gorgeous icicle formations and since we have not ridden these roads in years-- all new stuff from horseback. One of our routes starts out on dirt road and we end up looping home on the highway

During the week we stick to the well known by-ways, as we have to squeeze our rides between other chores and lessons.. we tend to ride the shorter familiar itineraries-- mainly the 6, 8 or 10 mile loops. We have planned another new voyage for this coming Sunday-- so I hope the weather co-operates. It's a fun challenge to come up with longer rides that don't back track.

Enjoy your days ~

I heard from a friend that the area 7-11 store is having an impossible time keeping their homemade fudge brownies in stock-- record sales ! I am wondering, what does this say about the state of the universe at this particular moment..... Even the horses are eating ravenously but seemingly not satisfied. Are they dreaming as we are of green pastures and spring? Irritated and itchy with the feeling that spring is near... but not near enough. We can venture out and purchase fudge brownies-- what is their anti-dote?

As I mentioned in previous posts, our trail riding is in a hiatus due to deep snow and thick crust. We have taken to riding on the dirt roads, which actually hasn't been too bad. Yesterday, it was a gorgeous sunny day and my daughter and I headed out for a short ride. The roads were well sanded but still a thick coating of ice underneath, so it was a cautious ride...still a lot of potential for slipping and sliding. We did manage a nice slow jog for part of the outing, gave me time to concentrate on my posture and balance. It's always hard work to post to my horse's left diagonal, so I force myself to be sure and give twice the time to that side than the easy one. I wish I had brought my camera with me-- with the sun making everything so sparkly.

People are getting their sap lines and buckets up now.. perfect sugar weather-- very cold at night with nice deep sunshine during the day... although today looks to be dreary-- we are expecting a storm, which is supposed to last 2 days. So we'll try to get out early for another ride, who knows when the next opportunity will be?

I did spend some time with my camera and the new little fellows (Iko and Jockomo) yesterday afternoon. So much fun to watch them run and play tag. Iko was a tad lazy the first week but he is making up for it now... runs with all his heart. Now Jockomo is the lazy one.

Enjoy your day ~

Either my horses’ legs are lengthening or the fence posts are growing shorter.. my fence is too low all of a sudden ! Due to all the firmly packed snow.. lately, I come out in the morning to find maybe one or two horses in a field where they don’t belong. I have my studs tucked away in safer “high security” fenced areas… but some of the younger horses have deciphered a way over the fence. As long as it does not result in anything like the “horses out” experience of late.. I am OK with it. However, it did motivate me to move some groups around some the other day.

I moved the geldings and the one big young stud colt, Sigmund, to a more secure area far away from the teasing up and coming fillies who are feeling the nearness of spring. Then switched the ponies and my pony stud OYY Finnegan to an area down below which I call the Old Suffolk field—even though I have not had Suffolk horses in years… you know how names stick. Sigmund and his fellow gelding playmates were moved 1 by 1 because it is so slippery and after that I decided there was a better plan. I moved the ponies pied piper style, only instead of a flute I used the bucket of grain. A brainstorm—to take a shorter route up the hill through virgin snow. I walked to the top of the hill, shook the bucket.. they didn’t see or hear me so down the other side of the hill I went.. no matter that by this time I had already walked further than I would have by the usual route. And of course the usual route was plowed. Oh well – the deed is done. Walking on this crusty snow is comical and irritating as well. 4 steps on top of the snow, then whoosh.. hip deep. As though you have a peg leg that just collapsed beneath you… 3 steps this time and down again, that peg leg breaks off at the knee… and on and on up the hill and down. Well once the ponies spotted me with the traditional bucket, they all came trotting. Once the new round bale I had set out for them was in their vision, they didn’t even need me to lead the way. Off they went, through the gate, and into the new designated spot for them. Ponies are so smart sometimes !!

Yesterday, my daughter and I decided to brave the trails one more time.. but alas—the snow is just too deep and the horses tired too quickly to get anywhere. Our trail riding for now is at an end. We were able to get up a nice trot down the dirt roads though.. and it was so much fun, we just kept going. We ended up doing the 8 mile loop. In some spots were able to actually canter—fun, fun. Sometimes, trotting on the dirt roads is a tad boring—and I always prefer trail. But it had been so long since I had been out that way, everything seemed new and fresh, it was just as much fun as the trail.

It sure seems as though it is almost sugar weather… very cold at night but warming up as the day grows. The days are noticeably longer now.

Enjoy your sunshine when you can ~

Horses out !! That dreaded middle of the night phone call. Last week, the police called around 11:00 to tell me 6 horses were down on the road.. so I jumped out of bed, grabbed coat, boots, mittens, bucket of grain and a couple of halters and walked down to the road. It was snowing/sleeting lightly so I could at least see the many hoof prints and follow the direction of their foray. The prints led up into the woods—back to the area from whence they came. No way could I go searching in the woods with pajamas on in the night—so I returned home to wait to see if I got another call or at least would find in the morning – the horses had gone back to their round bale and all I would have to do is repair the “leak” . Snuggled back under the covers—I could not revisit any semblance of sleep.. I merely waited for the next call—which came around 1:00. A neighbor called to say the horses were headed down the tar road—uh-oh.. I decided to take my car this time—grain bucket and halters/leads already by the door… out fast and furious. Hoofprints revealed the worst. The horses had made their way down the highway- Rats !! The late hour meant very little traffic thank goodness. I found them about 2 miles down, turning back home.. what a bunch of pukes. Another mile or so and they would have been enjoying a take out order at McDonald’s !! I parked the car on the side of the highway- left the flashers on and the car running with the heat on. Jiggled the grain bucket—and they came running. Haltered one of them knowing the rest would follow and began the slow trek home. By this time the horses were tired, heads hanging in contrition – and irritatingly slow moving. Their fun was over. All I could think of was—I’d like to get home with all of them before the storm worsened.. as I still had to walk back for my car. I put all the horses in the round pen for the rest of the night (by this time there was little left of it) and headed back for my car. Well, God was watching and he had had his laugh.. so it was time for some intervention. Another neighbor drove by (what he was doing out at this hour ? who cares… this is perfect) and drove me to my car… He did not mention anything about my pajamas.. maybe he did not notice my outfit of muck boots, grungy coat and star designed flannel jammies. Pajamas in public are at the top of the list of fashion faux pax in the world of “What Not To Wear” but to any serious horsewoman- our night wear is Haute Couture.

I am pretty tired and cranky at this point, but it’s nearly time to get up anyway. No amount of caffeine is going to help this situation. Well, I am grateful that the brunt of the storm held off until we were all home safely—then the snows came heavily and covered all evidence of my horses’ night out on the town.

The two new curly colts were out most of the day 2 days ago. The sun was out and it warmed up nicely as compared to the VERY chilly preceding days. As we were busy around the barn working a few horses in the indoor, I noticed that OYY Jockomo did not stop moving once. He loves to run. The 2 mares drew their "enemy" lines at first, Sassie camped out to the north, Tippy to the south of the round pen. The foals kept meeting in the middle thinking about playing but their Moms kept giving that subtle signal-- not yet boys, maybe when you are a little older.

In between lessons, my daughter talked me into a trail ride even though I had wood to stack. I thought about it for a minute and decided... my RAC goals were-- RIDE. However, once we got to the trail we chose to ride-- we discovered, the extra snow and the high winds we had experienced on the previous day, our trail, once so nicely packed down, was obliterated. The horses worked hard and every few steps fell through the crust. Is this what it is like to ride a camel? What generally takes us 30 minutes to turn this trail took over an hour and we did not even do the entire loop because the horses were tired and it was a challenge to stay in the saddle with all that walk, sink, walk, sink motion. This is a tad frustrating, the dirt roads are slick, the trails are impossible right now... in a previous post-- I was lamenting my need for sun and measured strides-- let me add.. I crave a brisk trot in the woods ! Yesterday, winter dumped another many inches of snow, then rain all day. Back to freezing-- what a mess. I suppose it won't be that much longer and we will have mud to whine about ! :)

Enjoy your day ~

Today was one of those very windy cold days that tire you out just from being in the wind and cold, never mind doing any kind of work. Lots of sun though.. so I am thankful for that.

Tall Trees Sassie finally delivered a beautiful healthy curly colt this morning, sired by Classic Dreams Cherokee Storm. Another fine offspring from Stormy. Sassie and Tippy (who foaled Friday) have been side by side for weeks now.. so I was sure they would foal near one another since mares tend to synchronize their bodies when they are pastured and stabled together. Continuing with our Dr. John theme, this little fellow is called OYY Iko Iko. At first glance I thought he was a palomino, but once daylight set in and I got a closer look—he has black in his tail with black tips to his ears and a nice dorsal stripe. I believe he is a dunskin. He has 2 blue eyes, which may change as he grows. We’ll see. At any rate, he’s a handsome wee cutie !!

Sassie is a great mare who is usually part of the therapeutic program giving lessons. This is her second foal (the last was a curly palomino full sister to this colt named OYY Gnocchi). When Iko is weaned, Sassie will be back in the program, maybe to have another foal in future years. Iko and his Mom had some fresh air for an hour this morning and I took a short video of them out together.. Iko is just a few hours old. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_2ujTqGMEo


Despite the penetrating cold and high winds, my house is toasty warm thanks to my new outdoor wood boiler. I can’t say enough good things about it. I had heat installed in the kitchen and “mudroom” a few years back—I opted for radiant heat. I love it—the floors are always warm. When I come in from outdoors, I generally strip off the many layers of my winter outfit and wet mittens, dropping the whole shebang on the floor by the door (Sorry Dad, all your nagging during my childhood and I still have that BAD habit) . Hey- I figure, a floor is to keep you from falling into the basement and also for throwing things on. Now that I have that radiant heat, when the winter gear goes back on, it’s dry and toasty—what a great excuse for throwing stuff on the floor in the first place!

One day I was cruising through the internet and found this site.. what a surprise. I sold 2 pony weanlings to this farm in France and had never heard any news of either. Aladdin is pictured there on their site. He is out of a POA pony mare, Pal O’ Mine (dam to the little curly pony filly OYY Ceda, who I am keeping) and Mead’s Chocolate Chip (so he is a full brother of Ceda). It is fun to see him half grown up- a handsome boy. The Filly that traveled with Aladdin is named on their site but not pictured-- Dayame is a sister to OYY Demeter who I am keeping.

http://www.lemasdelair.com/PAGES/01CURLY/22aladin.htm

Here is a photo of Aladdin before he left Top O' The Hill. And one of Dayame.

Since my previous post about cabin fever and crankiness.. I came across an interesting article concerning Crabbiness. According to this Penn State study, It’s smart to be cranky—crabbiness could be a sign that you are smarter than the average person ! So Crabby Lucy’s of the world unite !! We are a superior race— Honor and rejoice in your crankiness ~



Enjoy the evening ~

Friday, February 8th-- a curly colt was born during morning choretime. I peeked in to see Mom- OYY Tippateena- standing in her stall waiting for breakfast. I went to start the tractor so it could warm up, began to scoop out the various buckets of grain, went to feed Tippy-- and there was the colt being born !! We have been waiting for him for a few weeks. He is a beautiful sturdy fellow and reminds me of his grand-mother- Teena- about whom I have written in previous blogs. Tippy is named for a Dr. John song (actually Tipitina, but we changed it a bit to fit the circumstance). Naturally the new youngster is also named for a Dr. John song too. OYY Jockomo is a name that fits him well.

Teena was a great old gal .. we miss her but have many

offspring and grand-children of hers. Jockomo looks just like her- except he has only one hind sock. Anyone who has been to the web site has seen the photo of Teena and Tippy driving together which we did several times a week. Tippy grew up to be a fabulous driving horse and now she can drive with her son when the weather clears a bit.

Here is a photo of Tippy during the summer driving in the ring. She wears her mother's harness now. She outgrew the harness she started out with and now her sister OYY Fiona is wearing it! In a few years, if Jockomo is still here- he'll be wearing it.

I shot a short video of Jockomo out in the small round pen stretching his legs shortly after birth during a snow shower. As I said.. he's a sturdy colt and active !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LdX0SKqzKQ

Last week I took a quick video of OYY Little "Z" , a coming 2 year old filly out of Ahmet and Mead's Chocolate Chip (also Jockomo's sire). She's beautiful and sporty.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILqruf1iKuE

Also, I managed to get a video of OYY Ivan being long lined up in the indoor. He's a coming 3 year old gelding out of Ptesan-Wi and Lynn Downer's WCC Benjamin. He is a careful and respectful gelding who is going to make a wonderful riding horse. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Szx2Ov8zFRk

The sun came out for a half an hour today.. but it is back to snowing hard again. Oh well... it is winter !

Enjoy your day ~