3rd horse show

Where does the time go? I went to the third horse show in the series at SCR two Saturdays ago. I can say that I stayed consistent. Zero-ing the first class and placing 3rd in the second class. In the first class when I asked for the lead change to the right Semper only changed in the front, I pushed his hip, he changed and changed and changed, front, back and side ways. He gets all balled up when things go wrong. Because I get all balled up when things go wrong. So about 2/3 of the way into the first half of our circle to the right, he is finally on the right lead. We were supposed to turn and go down the middle but were not in a position to do that without a hard, quick turn to the right. Instead of trying to finish the pattern correctly I decided to school the rest. I didn't want to get him any more confused and up tight than he already was. I went down the side and did my stops and just reminded him to stay quiet and get back on track. The second class we did pretty well. The lead changes were beautiful and he just floated around. We lost points on the stops again. I know it is me. I get bracey and nervous and it goes right down my reins and legs and into him. We had schooled stops before and he was stopping really nicely. I was relaxed and feeling pretty confident. But then we go into the show pen and it all goes to hell in a hand basket. The last show in the series is about 3 weeks away and I am hoping to get past this nervous crap by then.

I have another show this weekend. It is a cowhorse show and I am taking Semper to do the dry work and the limited boxing class and Little Bit and Ms Lily to do the limited two handed cutting. The girls are going just to school. They have never been out to a show and I am thinking that this is going to be as much of a learning experience for them as it is going to be for me! They are both a little bit of drama queens so it ought to be an interesting day to say the least. My plan is just to get them into the show pen and work on keeping them calm and focused. I don't care if they get anything done with the cattle as long as they don't lose their minds. I have had them on cattle at least once a week for the last 3 or 4 weeks. It isn't as much as they need but it is better than nothing. I took Semper the last couple of times and he is doing a decent job. Still a little bit "shiney" (easily distracted at shiney objects) but he is trying - bless his heart.

April 28th was my birthday. Not just my birthday but my 50th birthday. It was the most amazing birthday that I have ever had. We planned a party and invited friends and family. At about 10am on the morning of the party, my best friend from LA shows up - surprise! I had no idea she was coming. I was so excited! We have been friends forever. Seen each other through the good times and the not so good times - we have history - shoot, we made history! She is the closest thing to a sister that I have - I love her to pieces. We got to take a few hours and go riding. Came home and spent the evening surrounded by some of the most awesome friends and family a person could have. It was definitely in the top ten best days of my life.

Speaking of top tens.... I am compiling a list of sorts... a bucket list - I guess. Things I want to do before I get to old and decrypted. One of the things is to learn to rope. I called my horse shoer - who is an amazing roper - and asked if he would get me started. He agreed to give me a few lessons and told me what kind of rope to buy to get started. Got my rope last week and am going to go take my first lesson in a week or two. More on what is going on the list later.

2nd horse show

Saturday was the second horse show in the series of four at SCR. I don't show until the afternoon so I didn't jump out of bed. I was having a cup of coffee on the deck with my husband when we heard a large crash. Upon further examination - ha ha - it was a chunk of our ceiling in the kitchen that had fallen. We got a lot of rain this year and our house has a section of roof that is flat and it ALWAYS leaks. This year we thought we had it under control. Obviously not. Last week hubby called me and told me that a section had come down and how I owed him for cleaning it up. He has been obsessing over repairing it all week. So when this piece fell, I laughed and was immediately given a very perturbed look. No appreciation for my sense of humor at all. I helped him clean up some and then he told me to get going. He didn't have to say it twice. :)

I left the house and stopped to get a sugar-free non-fat mocha with carmel- it is better than it sounds. As I was waiting I looked one more time at the entry info and realized that I had memorized the wrong pattern. I had been memorizing pattern 2, I was supposed to be running pattern 8. OOPS. I got to the barn at around noon and they were just getting ready to break for an hour lunch. When they started back up it would be my first class - the Rookie Class. I got Semper out and warmed up. I really worked hard in the warm up. I "raised my expectations" and asked him to do things perfect. I worked until they were about 3 in front of me. I figured it would give him about 15 minutes to air up but still be ready to go. I entered the arena still feeling good about our warm up. I did the spins to the left, then to the right and then went blank. I knew I was supposed to start to the right but I couldn't remember how the circles went. Crap. So I ran half of pattern 2 and half of pattern 8 and basically just schooled through. He went where I told him to, he was soft and compliant. I was brain dead.

The next class is Green Reiner. I had gone back and really looked at the pattern and had it down. Spent some more time warming up and he was working hard. Ran the pattern like I knew what I was doing. We scored a 69.5 - only lost 1/2 pt on the right roll back. I was stoked. I was the 3rd to the last to go so I decided to wait to see where I landed in the grand scheme of things. I ended up tying for 3rd (out of 11). I think that 69.5 is my best score to date. Very happy with my boy.

Taking advantage

Yesterday was another beautiful day in Northern California and I took advantage of it. And I don't feel the least be guilty about it either. We took Scooter up to the trainer yesterday and dropped him off. He is going to spend some time learning the basics and being a ranch horse. I told the trainer that he needs a lot of time at the thinking post, just standing tied and learning patience.

When we got home I threw Ms Lily in the trailer and went to the lake for a ride. I love to ride the Potters Ravine trail. I don't love that the state has raised the parking fee to $8. That is just ridiculous to pay $8 to park your truck and trailer. Being the rebel that I am, I usually just chance it and don't pay at all. Unless there is a human in the box there to take my money, then it is a little hard to get around it. Yesterday there was a bass tournament and the place was crawling with state workers. I figured that I better pay or I would surely get caught. I could have trailered over to Saddle Dam and rode for free but I knew everyone and a their brother would be there. Saddle Dam is an equestrian only trail. Springtime at Saddle Dam brings out the crazies. People who haven't seen their horses all winter long except at feeding time. The first nice day they catch their horses, knock the major dirt clods off, load up and they are off. Horses are excited about being out, but completely out of shape. Riders are out of shape and stupid. Not a good combo.

So I chose the path less traveled. It is a multi use trail. It is open to hikers, bikers and horses. I was a little apprehensive about the possibility of meeting bikers on this trail but I figured it is going to happen sooner or later, might as well not prolong the inevitable. I have never encountered rude bicyclist. They are always thoughtful and pleasant. I always let them know I am there and they do the same. So off we went.


As luck would have it we did meet some bicyclist. I could here them coming and knew they were moving pretty fast. When I thought they were close enough that they could hear me, I stopped and called out - "I'm here". Four guys came around the corner and put the breaks on so fast that I thought they were going to go ass end over tea kettle! Ms Lily and I kind of snickered. They all got off their bikes and moved off the trail. You have to love polite bicyclist. We exchanged greetings and then moved by them. My little girl was so good. Even with all the shiny bicycles and Lycra clad, helmet wearing riders she didn't even give them a thought. As we passed one of them hollered back "I'm single". My only thoughts were - I'm not and I have ten horses! I just smiled to myself and kept on going.

This ride is above the lake. The lake is almost full! By late spring the water will be almost up to the trail. In the picture below you can see the debris. That is how high the water will get. All that grassy area will be under water. This is one of the spots that I like to let the horses play in the water. The footing stays good and it isn't too rocky or steep.




This is a new addition to the trail this year. Someone has a sense of humor. That is a piece of Styrofoam from a buoy. They painted a face on it, stuck some twigs in it for hair and an arm. Ms Lily wasn't quite sure what she was seeing but she just kept an eye on it and went right on by.


Another reason that I like this ride is Dead Cow Trail. Marked by dead cow bones - how appropriate. It used to have a sign but someone must have thought that the bones were enough of a clue and took the sign home.


The views from Dead Cow Trail are beautiful. The trail is narrow and rocky but Ms. Lily did just fine. Have you ever notice how a young horse always wants to walk on the edge? Why is that? I am constantly pushing her over - away from the edge. I have noticed this with all young horses I have ridden. Weird. The real reason that I like Dead Cow Trail is that after you get past the rocky, narrow part there is a wide road going up the hill. The footing is good and it is perfect for long trotting or loping to the top. It has a few twists and turns and a pretty good incline. We trotted and loped to the top. Ms. Lily was breathing pretty hard when we made the top so I stopped and let her air up before we started down the hill.

This was supposed to be wild flower but as you can see, you can't see any. There are millions of wild iris along this trail. They are a very soft lavender and ever so delicate and dainty. It was right here that I noticed that my Iphone was running out of juice. Great. This being one of my favorite rides you would have thought I would have went out with a full charge. Duh. I decided against taking any more random photos because my favorite spot on this trail was coming up.


This is Potter Point. This will all be under water in a few weeks (hopefully). But for right now, what a view! In the distance you can see the Bidwell Bridge, and the boats in the marina. I could have taken pictures of the back side of the Dam and the north fork of the lake if my battery had any juice.



This is the last photo that I took before it went completely dead. But what a great picture. Ms. Lily looks like she is enjoying the view. We came out of Potters Point and started for home. The thing that I really like about Ms Lily is that she stays alert and forward on the trail. Her ears are always forward and she walks out like she's got somewhere to go. She will spook at little things but she just jumps in her tracks. No whirling or taking off. She seems to be aware of her surroundings and picks her path like a pro.

65 degrees

Yesterday the sun was shining and I had the day off. I took the day off because I had to take the horses to a vaccination clinic and the shoer was coming. I figured since I had the rest of the day off and I had just spent a considerable amount of cash on the critters that I deserved a little me time. I took Ms Lily and we went for a little trail ride. Taking Ms Lily anywhere can be an experience. She is cranky in the trailer. She is quite the "looky lou" on the trail and she can whirl with the best of them. But yesterday she must have needed the day out as much as I did. She was a perfect partner, sure footed and forward. It was a great ride. I took my Iphone so that I would have a camera and I am so glad I remembered to do it. I want to share pictures of my "back yard" with you.


I live about 7 miles from the tallest earth filled dam in the United States. I believe that Pakistan has the largest and Egypt has the tallest. Since we have had so much rain the lake is filling rapidly and they have started to release water from the spill way. Last week they were releasing a lot more than what is in the photo above but it is still very impressive. They don't release very often so it is quite an event when they get a significant release. The spillway at maximum allowable release is 150,000 cubic feet per second. If I remember correctly they can actually release over 200 CFS but the river can't handle that flow. Pretty impressive amount of water.


I saw so much wildlife. Ducks, honkers, turtles, squirrels, rabbits, turkeys and even a few wild flowers were starting to bloom. I guess they were all out enjoying the sunshine too. There is 160+ miles of trails to ride in the recreation area. This particular section is always rideable. It is the old train tracks (they removed the rails) they used when they were building the dam to take the rock and earth to the site.



There is an old tunnel that you have to go through. When I was much, much younger there were no lights in the tunnel and we used to ride through it in the dark. Of course we made up all kinds of stories about the bats that lived in there.

We did come across a couple of downed trees. We had to go up and around this one. The state is very good about clearing the trees so the next time we go they will all be cleaned up. We also have some of the nicest horse camps that I have ever seen. They have pipe corrals, a round pen with wash racks. The restrooms and showers are first class and very clean. The only thing they don't have is RV hook ups for power and sewer. The link below will take you to the state parks site for more information.
http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=462

Hope you enjoyed a peek into my back yard.

Wednesday night drill

At our lesson last night we did a drill that TL had me do before but I had forgotten all about so I am writing it out for my much dementia'd (is that a word?) brain to remember.

I wanted to work on moving the shoulders around. First start out walking a quiet counter arc circle. Nose tipped to the outside slightly - so I am walking a circle to the right, nose and arc to the left. When you have that going, stop, take a couple of steps back, and roll back to the left. Pick up the right shoulder and counter arc to a left circle. Fix the back up if it isn't fluid. Don't lean. (boy do I need work on that one) Don't ask for a fast or hurried roll back. It sounds easy enough but to make it fluid without making it hurried is a little challenging.

I rode Little Bit last night and I have to say it was one of the nicest rides I have had on her to date. She was quiet and willing. I know that I painted kind of an ugly picture of her on a recent blog. I took a picture of her a couple of days ago so here it is. I took it with my Iphone - it was rainy outside so I tried to get an indoor shot - forgive the quality.

Tasty Kitchen

I added a badge! Yippee for me. I look at Tasty Kitchen everyday and a lot of nights we dine on a meal that I saw a recipe for that very day. I like to cook. I like cooking even better when someone else tells me what to cook. I like it even more when they tell me what to cook, compliment me on how good it was and then they clean up the mess. I am often disappointed when it comes to the last item.

My friend Jennifer calls me on occasion and will ask me questions about how to prepare something and I enjoy talking to her about recipes and food. She is kind of a health nut so her idea of good food and mine are a little different. I like butter, heavy cream, butter, whipping cream, cream cheese, butter, and meat. Pre-WLS meat would have been at the top of the list but since I had WLS meat is one of those foods that just doesn't set my world on fire anymore.
Jen had a baby. He is the cutest little guy. But as babies do, they can kind of turn your world upside down. Jen was stressing over how to get dinner on the table with a new born at home. I tried to be helpful but I am several hundred miles away. The whole need for putting butter and cream in everything that I like to cook kind of got in the way too. I knew that I was really in trouble coaching her when she called and asked... what is "whole milk". I told her it was regular milk. She said "vitamin D milk?" I said yes. She says but it doesn't say whole milk. I tell that all milk has vitamin D in it, whole milk just doesn't have a reduced fat content. She sends me a picture from her cell phone making sure she had the right one. She did. I hope she drank a glass of whole milk so she knows what she has been missing. Just a footnote... I hate milk - whole, reduced fat, low fat, or non fat. Yuck. But if I am going to cook with milk, it is going to be whole milk.

I had just tried a recipe for Beef Drip and it worked out for a couple of meals so I typed up the recipe and some left over ideas and emailed it to her. I also sent her a copy of The Pioneer Womans Cookbook for Christmas. It is a beautiful book and even if she didn't cook out of it, I knew she would love the pictures and stories.

So in honor of the new badge that I figured out how to add in one try, I am going to share the recipe ideas with you. These are some of the best beef sandwiches that I have ever eaten. Recipe is off Tasty Kitchen / Pioneer Woman.

Dinner #1 -
• 1 whole Beef Chuck Roast, 3.5 To 4 Pounds
• 1 can Beef Consomme Or Beef Broth ( I used the stuff in the box – the whole box)
• 1 whole Large Onion, Sliced Thick
• 3 cloves Garlic, Peeled and cut up
• ½ cups Soy Sauce
• 1 cup Sherry (cooking Sherry Is Fine)
• 3 Tablespoons (heaping) Italian Seasoning
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• ¼ to ½ cups Water
• ½ jars (16 Oz) Pepperoncini Peppers, With Juice
• Buttered, Toasted Deli Rolls
• Monterey Jack or Mozzarella Cheese

You can not do anything wrong with this recipe. You can not screw it up and you will never make it the same twice. If you don’t have soy sauce, who cares, put some Worchester sauce in there, no sherry, dump some wine in…Live dangerously. The main thing to remember is that you want a lot of liquid, it should cover the roast. And it needs to cook, cook and cook some more. It only takes maybe 10 minutes to put together. But it needs to cook for hours.
Put the chuck roast, onion, beef broth, garlic, soy sauce, sherry, seasonings, water and pepperoncini in a dutch oven or crock pot and simmer for 6 – 7 hours. Walk away and just let it go. The longer it cooks the more tender is it. You want it falling apart. Trust me.
Take meat out and shred using a fork. You can put the meat back in the juice and keep warm till you are ready to serve. Use the juice for Au Jus dipping.
Butter and toast rolls, put beef on, then cheese, put in broiler for a few minutes to melt cheese and then serve with Au Jus for dipping and a salad. Your man will think you are a goddess.
Dinner #2 – Because you are NOT going to able to eat all this in one night.
You can either plan the next night’s dinner or you can freeze the meat to be served in a week or two. Just drain meat put it in a zip lock FREEZER bag.
Option #1 – mix left over meat with your favorite BBQ sauce for BBQ Beef Sandwiches – serve on a French roll or hamburger bun. When I do pulled pork - I use a French roll, add caramelized onions, and blue cheese. I know it sounds gross, but it is to die for. To caramelize onions you slice them, and cook them in butter and brown sugar until the are limp and slimy. Devine. It would work with this beef recipe too. Try it - don’t be a big fat chicken.
Option #2 – mix left over meat with taco seasoning or enchilada sauce and make tacos using lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, onions, olives, lime, avocados, etc. and either flour or corn tortillas.
Option #3 - use left over meat to make enchiladas. Dice an onion and cook in olive oil till tender (about 5 minutes) mix meat in and cook till warm, use flour tortillas, put meat /onion mixture in, ( if you want to get a little crazy you can put cheese in, or olives, or the kitchen sink) roll up, pour Las Plumas Enchilada Sauce (big can - mild for you whimps) all over it, put lots of cheddar or jack cheese or both on top and bake for 45 – 60 minutes (or until hot and bubbly) at 350. Serve with sour cream and a nice green salad. Or refried beans if you are feeling really Mexican.

Hope you all enjoy. And if you don't already own the Pioneer Woman Cookbook - get you one. Trust me - you won't be disappointed - like when no one does your dirty dinner dishes.

1st horse show and Semper the Celeb!

We went to our first reining show of 2011. It was on our home turf at SCR. Semper and I had a really good warm up. I entered the Rookie and Green Reiner Classes. In the rookie class we started out really good. He was floating around his circles but he was getting a little pushy. I tried to get him to come back to me and he wasn't haven't it. We did a nice lead change to the left and then a couple more nice circles. Then when I asked for the lead change to the right, he changed but he stuck his head up in the air and got really pushy in the bridle. Wouldn't rate, wouldn't give his face just wanted to go. So I took him two handed and set him into the ground. Backed him off my hands and then asked him to finish the pattern. I schooled the rest. He started to get sluggish in the turn arounds and I gave him a swift kick with my spur and said get over there now! Before our next class I went out and really gave him a good warm up. I made him work a lot harder and wouldn't accept anything but perfection. I gave him a little time to air up before our next class. He was way better in the next class. He did start to get a little pushy but he came back to me. I was happy that he was listening. I finished the class and got a 65. Not a great score. I know each place that I lost points. Our lead departure wasn't as good as it could have been. He was late and ducked a little into his lead change to the left. The roll back to the right wasn't perfect. The roll back to the left was outstanding. The first stop wasn't good but the next two were o.k. The turnarounds could have been better, he acted like he wasn't sure what we were going to do and he was trying to anticipate the next move so he may have taken a few too many steps forward into the turnaround. The good news is that we placed second out of twelve.

On another note...Interestingly enough...there is currently a custody battle going on over him. When I die that is. If I should go before he does. I was telling my BFFITU (best friend forever in the universe - haha... I made that up!) that I was going to put in my will that if anything should happen to me that she is to take Semper. She has the money to care for him, she loves to ride and I know that he would live a good life with her no matter what. My daughter, Trista, was eavesdropping on this conversation and when I hung up the phone, she got really indignant with me. "What the hell do you mean you are giving Semper to Lisa?" she said. I explained that I didn't want to burden her or her siblings with taking care of an old horse - hopefully he will be really old when I die, right?. She wasn't hearing it. I went home and was telling my husband about her getting her panties in a twist over custody of Semper and my older daughter pipes up and starts ranting and raving about "how could you just give our brother away? Semper is part of OUR family" she says. Wow. I don't think that it would have caused this my drama if I had given their real brother to Lisa.