Beauty is back! Horses reunited!

Well, Beauty is back up in the mountains. She has spent 7 months with my cousin, Valerie, learning how to walk, trot, and canter. She is absolutely WONDERFUL! THANK YOU, Valerie! You did a great job with her! Now it is up to me to continue riding her up in the mountains! Valerie got Beauty used to things on the trail: cars, trains, people, odd things like cement blocks! I can't wait to ride her again!

Cathy and I picked her up on Saturday. THANK YOU CATHY! You did an awesome job trailering her to the mountains. Beauty went right up into the trailer. NO PROBLEMO! And, she unloaded like a lady! And, she is now settled into her new paddock.

I spent Sunday just brushing the horses and touching Scout all over with the lead rope. I can now go down BOTH of her front legs...no big deal! She stands quietly now while MOM does this funny stuff! Nothing seems to bother her!

It was cold and windy in the mountains today, like it was ready to rain! VERY COLD! Too cold to do much! I basically just worked the horses today and drove home. Maybe I'll drive up mid-week and work them. It was HOT in the desert, but cold and windy in the mountains. I can't wait for some decent weather!

Beauty has settled into her new pen and is doing well! She has new neighbors and is adjusting to them.

Busy day!

Well, today I took our dog to the vet for a checkup. He has had mange and it was BAD! I was afraid we might actually lose him to the mange. He scratched until he bled, he shook his head, his ears were infected. It was AWFUL! I switched vets and the old, conventional vet did a WONDERFUL JOB with him! He now has energy, HAIR, and his face looks better. Anyway, after his vet visit, I took him to see the horses. They were all nose to nose! Since he is so easygoing, there were no problems. I tied him to a tree post and put him on a LONG lunge line! That way, he could move around freely, but not get too far into the paddock. I'll post photos later.

Haltered Sunni and moved him around, picked up his feet. He is so ready to ride! Haltered Cali and moved her around like Sunni. Picked up her feet. She is coming along nicely. Scout? NAH....she didn't want ANY part of ANY of that nonsense! She did follow me around and "allow" me to brush her, so I did that.

SHOTS!

Well, today was annual shots day! Beauty will get hers once she is delivered from the desert to the mountains, probably next weekend. She'll be great! She doesn't spook at anything and is very calm. Gigondas didn't move a muscle for her two shots. GOOD GIRL! Sunni was a "drama queen" and snorted and acted like a spoiled brat. He does NOT like his yearly vaccinations! Cali stood perfectly still, didn't even move for her shots. She is SUCH a sweetheart! Scout...well...Scout was SCOUT! First of all, it took me 3 attempts to halter her. Hmmmm......she DID get her shots, then our vet wanted to work her for about 20 minutes! He banged the lead rope on the ground...she didn't move. He really liked her. Said she will make a great trail horse once she is trained and said she is very SMART! Now, yesterday, she stood perfectly still for me and I haltered her and took her out to eat grass and she was FINE! Go figure! I'm glad that 4 of them are done...only 1 to go! Since I took Sunni out of the paddock and up to the round pen, Cali and Scout got to run around and act goofy! Photos to come. I didn't have time to take any, but Art did.

March 15

Saturday, March 15...another WINTER BLAST! It was soooooooooooooooooooo cold up in the mountains today! The wind was blowing and the air was cold! Fed the horses and turned around and came home! I didn't even take any photos! I'm fighting a cold anyway, so we came home and I fell asleep on the couch! Am sneezing right now. Ugh!

horse play day!

Since the weather was so warm and sunny on Sunday, I decided to rake the corral and then sit and take some photos of the horses. As I sat, they started to chew on my shoes. Then, they knocked over my plastic chair and sniffed it. So, I decided to get one of the big, orange cones and let them play with it. That kept them all busy for about 30 minutes. It was a fun day! Scout got bored and came over to me and let me scratch her all over (that's a FIRST!). I was encouraged that she "allowed" me to do so!

Good Saturday workout!

Well, FINALLY! Today was a decent day with the horses (weather-wise). Not too hot. Not too cold. A slight breeze, not a gale! I was able to halter Scout and I did some nice circles with her. She remembers so much and she TRIES now! (phew!) She is getting better every weekend. She is so curious that she wants to participate now! I also haltered Cali and took her for a walk. It was "breezy" and she spooked a couple of times when the wind blew through the mesquite. She went quietly into the round pen and ate a bunch of weeds around it! I was able to get my hands down both her front legs after about 4 tries! (Scout, nooooooooooooooooooooooo......!!!!!) The ferrier will be back in about a month and I need to have their wittle feet trimmed, so I'll work on them every time I go up now. With the time change, I'll be able to drive up mid-week, as well as the weekends! YEAH!

Anyway, Art took Gigondas out to the arena and let her run! She kicked up her heels and enjoyed the sunshine. It was a good day for all.

mountain wildflowers

Well, it was too COLD and WINDY today to do anything with the horses, so I spent my time taking photos of our mountain wildflowers. I don't remember a year with this many wildflowers in a LONG (and I mean L-O-N-G) time! The mountains are all green and lush! These little flowers only seem to be at about 1,500 feet. Any higher, and they aren't there. Any lower, and they aren't there either! There were some California poppies scattered among them. Enjoy!

warm Saturday (finally!)

Well, today was a warm Saturday (almost)! YEAH! I'm so sick and tired of the rain! It was 83 degrees in the desert yesterday. I overdressed and was sweating! Drove up to see the horses this morning. Their pens were all dried out, even Gigo's! I raked her entire pen. She ignored me. I tried to pet her. She retreated. I tried join-up with her. She wasn't interested. MARES!!! The other 3 were much more curious. Sunni, of course, followed me all over the corral. Scout came up to me and let me pet her nose. She then went back to eating. Cali was off in her hay feeder, away from the other two, and let me brush her. Scout even let me brush her. They are ALL starting to lose some of their hair in the warm weather! I cleaned out the tack room and found 2 little eyes and a pink nose staring up at me from the floor (a little mouse)! After I screamed and he/she/it ran away, I pulled stuff out and found little "presents" all over (and could smell their leftover urine). Ugh! I HATE MICE! So, I pulled everything out and swept the tack room. Tomorrow I'll bring up some steel wool and TRY to plug up the hole where they are entering it. YEAH, RIGHT! They'll just find a new one. Anyway, the photos show the near-tailless Sunni and Scout, thanks to Cali, and a FILTHY Cali! Apparently she likes to roll in the mud!