Life is Good!!!

My ponies are home!  Since we've moved they've been at one neighbors or another's while we found the time to fence in at least one of our designated pasture areas. They will eventually have four areas here, plus one other at our neighbor's to the south.

I do love having them home!!

Here's a photo of the gang.  Apparently, the stress involved in eating just wore Kate out. She had to have a little break before she could keep filling up that tiny tummy *smirk*

Dory

A Beautiful Morning with Pony Kisses

Yesterday was so cloudy, our satellite didn't even work for awhile. It was literally as thick as pea soup, as the saying goes.  This morning, though, it is beautiful out.

This is the view from our living room of the Olympic Mountains...I never get tired of looking at them.

And, as promised...pony kisses from the girls: Kate on the left and Emma on the right.

Dory

My Granddaughter Comes for a Visit

 Over the 4th, our granddaughter was here for a visit. My step-daughter, Hannah, and her boyfriend were up to enjoy the music festival, so Violet stayed with us. She's such a joy to have around and is absolutely no trouble. She plays with the boys, avoids Chloe, and they all have a grand time.

We go for a 2-4 mile hike every morning (depends on which route we take); Violet loved the hikes and even taught the boys to swim! These ponds are up behind our property and are usually dry by now, but with the heavy snowfall in the mountains, they're still quite full. She went in just to swim around and again after a stick. Dash watched, but he was none too sure about the whole process.

Later, on the last day of her visit, we took her out for a ride with the pones. What a site we must have been...three  Border Collies running around and a Pitt Bull following along. She had a great time and seemed to enjoy meeting Andy!

All in all, it was a perfect weekend!!

Beautiful Morning...Poor Emma

Went down to feed this morning and the sun was just coming up and hitting the valley floor. This is a shot of our neighbor's house, he's directly across from us and I really hate him in the morning. There's nothing better than sitting on your porch in the early morningsun while you drink that first cup of coffee. But, alas...we get the afternoon sun, so I spend alot of time jealous of his location. On the other hand, though, late summer eves find us on the porch enjoying a margarita in the sun, while he's in the shade.  Guess you can't have everything.

As the title indictes..."Poor Emma." We went down to the pasture Friday morning and she came bucking and kicking out of the trees headed straight for us. When she got close, we saw that she'd somehow managed to take a 6" circle of hide off her butt. It looked awful; no blood, just alot of weepy, naked skin. I have no idea what she did. I've walked the pasture looking for a clump of hair to no avail.

Since Friday afternoon, I've been washing it gently with betadine and applying a topical antiseptic; she isn't pleased. She's been tolerating the doctoring, only tucking her butt under her and trying to move away but never even offering to kick me. She's a very good girl.

National Championships

 

A picture of Dennis and Andy at the Finish....don't they look great?? Dennis said Andy was perfect for the last 15 miles; once he convinced him that they were leaving camp. Poor Andy, he didn't want to leave Socks at the trailer and Socks wasn't helping by calling to him. Once they got out of camp, though, Andy did great!!

Eastern High Sierra Classic 2009

I'm just back from Bridgeport where I competed in the EHSC 2009 50 mile endurance ride. It was the most beautiful ride ever! I started on my own (Dennis didn't ride) along with 96 other people in single file for almost 15 miles of very treacherous, rocky, single-track trail going up and then coming down the mountain. We went by beautiful waterfalls and had gorgeous views all around us. It was spectacular. Socks did remarkably well without Andy, his buddy, and in a wagon train of horses. I've never ridden him in that situation; luckily he kept his head or it could have been curtains for us! (eek!)

The second loop wasn't nearly so technical and had us sharing a meadow with cows, riding through a beautiful aspen grove and then finally back into camp for the finish...9 hours later! Best part...no back pain for me; some back pain for Socks so saddle adjustment isn't quite right yet.



















Another photo of Socks...this was the start and he wasn't happy...
I have to actually WORK this Friday, but Saturday and Sunday will be quilting days. I'm caught in a spinning vortex; as much as I love to quilt, I want to be riding; and as much as I love to ride, I want to be quilting. Maybe they could make a longarm with a saddle mount????

Look What I Found....

We have a store here in town that has been closed for a number of years, but the inventory was never sold. The owner got sick, but would on occasion be well enough to open so her daughter didn't have the heart to sell the business. It was called the Quincy Emporium and was the only fabric store in town. It recently opened again (with the same 10 year old fabric) on sale for half price. I was just there today and look what I found!!!











Its flannel and beautiful. I'm very picky about horse fabric; I don't like it when they try to make the horses look authentic, but they end up looking all wrong. These horses were done in a style that looks terrific. I even have a good idea of what quilt this will be backing for.

More on Tevis

I'm back now and have a bit more time to explain what Tevis actually is. Tevis was started over 50 years ago by Wendell Robie and some of his friends. It is billed as the most difficult endurance ride and is a sign of prestige and honor to wear the buckle that signifies that you've finished.

The course is 100 miles long, beginning near Lake Tahoe and ending in Auburn, CA. Its a challenging ride, made even more challenging by the terrain and the heat. Dennis completed the ride in 2004 on the 50th anniversary of the event; I completed the year after. We were lucky; we finished the ride on our first try. Generally, it takes at least two attempts for one completion.

This year, 169 riders started and 87 finished. Our friend, Lucy, made it as far as Chicken Hawk (approximately 66 miles), but then pulled because her horse was a bit "crunchy"--English term for not moving well. Roo is a great horse and we think with a bit of electrolyte tweaking, he will do fine next year. Lucy loves to take pictures, so this is a link to the photos she took during the first 36 miles of the ride. This course of the trail goes through the Granite Chief Wilderness and is quite beautiful.

It was a great weekend; alot of fun and not much sleeping.

Tevis!!

Tomorrow is the start of Tevis. Tevis is the most famous and probably the hardest endurance race in the world. It is 100 miles long, beginning at Tahoe and ending in Auburn, CA. You begin the race with the full moon on Saturday morning at 5:15, and you must be to the Auburn fairgrounds for the finish by 5:15 Sunday morning.

Dennis completed Tevis in 2004; I did it in 2005. We will do it again one day, but this weekend is all about our good friend, Lucy (Rider #170). She's riding for the first time. If you're interested, check out the webcast --its a fun way to "watch" if you're not there.

Missing Kate

This is my girl, Kate.
We actually bought her two years ago for me to ride while my mare, Elly, was pregnant. Didn't happen--we never actually got her started. We did do groundwork and built up her confidence, but we never got on her.

This last Friday we took her to a friend that starts Arabs. We've ridden with her before and seen what calm and well-behaved horses her training turns out. So now Kate is there and I'm missing her. She and I had a special deal; she'd give me a "hug" (basically allowing me to wrap both arms around her head) and then I'd scratch her belly. We'd do this repeatedly while feeding.

I hate that she's not in our pasture, but I love that I'll be riding her when she gets home.

Wildlife Wonderland

Nothing about quilting, but I thought I would share about the beautiful place where I live; it is a wildlife wonderland. We have the normal wildlife, deer and skunks and squirrels and snakes, but we also have some less common. Every spring a pair of ducks and geese lay eggs in our pasture. They are in the outside pasture that the horses aren't allowed into until the grass is not quite so fresh, so the eggs are safe from being stepped on. There are two swallows who have a nest at the back of our shop porch...this makes entering and exiting quite the challenge. If you don't look first, you're likely to be dive bombed!

The other day when we went to get hay, the truck and trailer were parked on our main road about 20 feet from the house. Because its been so dry, there is a fine layer of dirt everywhere. I looked down and saw bear tracks....apparently, he'd been checking things out to see whether there was any good trash in the trailer. Of course, our ever present Border Collies had slept through the whole thing!


Later that night when we went down to feed, two Sandhill Cranes flew into the outside pasture about 30 yards from the horses. Sandhill Cranes make the most interesting noise...its very unique. The four adult pones were far more interested in the hay than the cranes, so they all started heading in.
Emma, however, is almost two and very curious. She started walking toward the cranes, who didn't move until she was about 20' away. Then they split up, so she followed one, closing the distance. When she was about 10' away, she looked over and saw that we were almost to the field with the hay so she ran as fast as she could toward the crane, turning at the last minute to come in and eat. I wonder if she was disappointed--the crane wasn't intimidated by her at all!

Hay Time

Its that time of year again. This is the first of at least four loads for our five ponies. Those critters can eat! Luckily, the price of hay has come down a bit. We brought this home last night...guess what Dennis did most of the evening??


This is Dennis contemplating unloading, which, with this first load is more complicated. He has panels to move just to be able to turn the rig around and get it to the barn. Glad this part of horse-ownership is his job!




I, on the other hand, was inside where it was relatively cool fixing dinner (shrimp salad) and organizing bills (yuck!). This is a picture of my latest quilting project. Norma was given this quilt as a gift for being starting and being president of our guild for several years. She collected frogs at that time so all these blocks are different stars with fussy-cut frogs in the middle. There is one block that is completely empty, so I'm thinking of embroidering a frog in the center of that block. Okay, *I* won't embroider it; Dennis' PR600 will do that for me!!