Tuesday, August 9, 2011

My ever, ongoing, growing list of things to do before I can't do anymore.

This is a list of things that I would love to do before my body or mind give out on me. They are in no particular order.

1. Learn to rope (ranch rope and/or out of the box)

2. Show Semper in a Ranch Versatility Class - DONE - (can you tell I started this list some time ago!)

3. Become proficient at shooting skeet. That means actually hitting the clay pigeon.

4. Show in the Bridle horse class at the Snaffle Bit Furturity in Reno.

5. Own a horse that can compete in the Bridle horse class at the Snaffle Bit Furturity. (like I said - random order)

6. Get my concealed weapons permit.

7. Learn to shoot a handgun - safely.

8. Ride one of my own horses on the beach.

9. Retire and ride everyday.

10. Have a horse that I bred and raised be successful.

11. Visit Yellowstone Park camp out with my horses and spend the days riding.

12. Visit the Grand Canyon and see it from an airplane. (I really don't live that far away from either.) Take a mule ride in the canyon. An overnight one!

13. Visit Belize and scuba dive/ snorkle the blue hole.

14. Visit Ireland and find "Mooney's Pub"

15. Train a horse - Start to Finish

16. Help a horse crazy person become a successful and eduated horseman

17. Drive a team of horses - My grandfather drove a six up hitch.. how cool is that?

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Its been awhile

and a lot has been going on. Not all good, not all bad. Here are some of the highlights and then I hope to get back to regular posts.

Went to a Sandy Collier clinic. What an awesome lady she is! Straight forward, no bull kind of gal. I really enjoyed her and learned lots. I bought her book and am reading it for the second time. There is so much in it that it is going to take a couple of reads to really get it all. I took Little Bit and she ran out of gas about half way through the second day. Hindsight says I should have taken Lily. She has enough go to last through multiple days of riding and learning.

I took Bob Harley to the trainer to start his education. Here comes some of the bad. The trainer feels that he has no sense of self preservation. Not good. I sent him to the same trainer that started Scooter for me. I really like and respect him. I listened to what he said when I picked him up last week and am mulling it over. I turned Bob out with the broodmares and am going to give him until next spring to kind of soak up what he learned and then give him one more chance at a trainer to see if he matures or changes in his time out. I hate to give up on a horse to easy, but on the other hand I hate to throw money away too.

Haven't been to any horse shows - Most of the ones that I had planned on going to were cancelled due to the EHV virus. Some of them were rescheduled to later this year. I opted to not go to the MacArthur show this year. I had a great time at that show last year and was really looking forward to it. I only had one horse that was really "ready" to go. Entries would have been upwards of $600 plus the expense of a hotel, gas, etc. It just didn't make good financial sense to me to go.

I spent an amazing weekend with friends riding the Pacific Crest Trail. We stayed at a local B & B, rode out one early morning to a Drakesbad, had lunch and then rode back. We rode, ate, drank, laughed and had a great time. I am truly blessed that I have such wonderful friends. I took Lily and my daughter went along and rode Semper. Here are some pictures of our weekend.

Lily and I taking a picture of Warner Valley


My daughter Trista and I


Of course Semper lost a hind shoe on the way and we had to have the Drakesbad wrangler put his shoe back on. As you can see Semp was being very accommodating while being shod. He had is butt braced against the hitching post and his hind leg is at quite an angle! And as a side note... Nicholas the wrangler.... all that and a bag of Doritos! Worth the ride into Drakesbad. :)



Laura and Ruth at Drakesbad


Trista at the end of the ride


You can check out Drakesbad at:
http://drakesbad.com/
Great place to visit if you love nature and like to ride or hike.

We stayed at the St.Bernard Inn - Highly recommend it! http://www.stbernardlodge.com/