Cali and Scout: mustang FUN!

Oh, these two are hilarious! Scout was pretty quiet Saturday, but Cali kicked up her heels! Literally! See the pics! Isn't she silly?

Blonde moment!!!

Oh, DUH! I had a blonde moment today! I thought the swap meet was today, being a 3 day weekend. Nope!~~~~~~~ it is NEXT WEEKEND! I FINALLY managed to drive up the hill about noon, but there was no swap meet! Hmmmm....oh, that's right! Today is the LAST Saturday of the month, not the first or third! DARN! Oh, well...I'll get photos up next week of the swap meet!

I did work with Gigondas for an hour today, didn't halter her, just hung out with her. I hate to admit it, but this is the FIRST time I wasn't afraid of her! YES! Can you believe it? Two years and I'm finally at ease with her! And, she with me! I had some apples in my pockets and when I motioned for her to come to me, she did, so she got an apple! I was able to brush her and go down her legs with my hands! She actually approached me and stood behind me and let out great big sighs! (***NOTE***She was an abused horse, so THIS is a REAL BREAKTHROUGH!)!!!!!!! My friend, Barb, said it took her SEVEN YEARS to break through to her gray mare, who was also abused! I was so proud of Gigondas today! I let the babies (mustangs) out into the arena to run around, but a thunderstorm was QUICKLY approaching from the east, so I moved them back to their corral. BUT...they got to run around and get their"friskies" out!!! Scout actually shoved her nose into the halter, she was SO EAGER to get out and run!

Oh, and "Mr. Gray", my missing cat, appeared! He was in our locked extra bedroom! Hmmm....I called him several times and even went in there! Guess he was KONKED OUT! Phew! I am so glad he is okay and accounted for! I fed him a good dinner and put him outside and I am thankful that he is alright. It was a good day after all!

Foiled by Mother Nature

Ha! Never mess with Mother Nature! That flash of light that I saw out of the corner of my eye at 4:30 a.m. turned out to be an approaching thunderstorm! BOOM! Then I heard the thunder...then...I wondered why everything out back was WET! DUH! By 6:30 a.m., we were in the middle of a sound and light show! Well, at least all the plants are getting a nice drink of rain water. My gray cat has disappeared, however, and I am worried about him. I didn't see him yesterday afternoon when I got home from school, or last night, or this morning. He's an older neutered male cat that was given to our daughter when one of her students' families moved to a house where they couldn't have pets. OF COURSE, she immediately brought him over to us. We fell in love with "Mr. Gray". He is a very docile and loving cat who NEVER leaves the yard. I am worried because (1) sometimes coyotes DO come into our neighborhood; (2) sometimes animal control DOES pick up cats in our neighborhood; (3) sometimes our neighbors DO pick up our cats and "keep" them. I went out calling him between raindrops. No Mr. Gray. Not even a peep. I am hoping he is holed up somewhere. Needless to say, I am now stuck at home for the day, so I'll update all my blogs and my playlists and do the dishes!

Hey, if 'ya all have a minute, could you please check out my desert gardening blog at:

http://desertgardening-ps.blogspot.com/? This is my newest blog and apparently only 2 people have ever seen it and I'm feeling VERY LONELY over there! (Can you tell I'm getting bored here at home?) THANKS MUCH!

Saturdays!

I LOVE Saturdays! Especially the first and third Saturdays of the month! That is when the little mountain town has its SWAP MEET! Yeah! I'm so excited....I can hardly sit still! And, with the Labor Day weekend, who knows what "treasures" I'll find this weekend! Let's see...so far, at the swap meet, I've found kids' books for 10 cents EACH (brand new), fresh organic produce (I might even post some pics later this afternoon), halters for $3.00 each, some nice wrought iron horses (I'll get pics later), blankets, tools, crocheted blankets (now that I'm going to be a GRANDMOTHER!) (Oh, I didn't tell you? tee hee...Yes, I'm going to be a grandma in MARCH, 2009!)...that's a whole OTHER story....back to the swap meet, oh....and PUPPIES! YES! We came home with one, a black lab, last October. She is now spayed and as playful as ever! Yes, that's Ripley in the pics. So, you can see why I can't wait for the swap meet this morning! And, everything there is CHEAP! So, I'm going to finish my morning coffee and head out the door! See 'ya!

Gigondas lesson #2

Gigo had another lesson yesterday with Cousin Valerie. Notice the "stay" on the middle pic? One more time! GOOD GIRL! She remembered her previous lesson, so it didn't take Valerie long to get her to stay and come! Then, of course, the feed tractor came by, so the lesson was over! She is coming a long way. I am also learning how to get her to stay and come.

Gigo gets a lesson!

My cousin came over to the ranch Monday afternoon and gave Gigondas a lesson. "Gigo" is one of the two mares I rescued from a feedlot up in WA state. We have no background knowledge about her. She's a thoroughbred, the only one we have. And, she is BIG! She was listed on the Internet as being 3 years old. NOT!!! She was more like 6. She had some training, but was very afraid of humans and didn't like people touching her! She especially didn't like being touched on her tummy or back and NEVER came up to us, but always moved away. We just let her be a horse for about a year and she did seem to trust Hubby, so he was able to walk her, groom her, and work with her a little bit, but since we are both "horse beginners", I called in my cousin to give Gigondas a little lesson in manners. So Cousin Valerie came over and promptly gave her some lessons about "STAY" and "COME". She did very well! She knows WHAT to do and we just need to be consistent and have her do it! I was very proud of "Big Red". Isn't she beautiful? Yes, this is the afternoon of the thunderstorm! ALL the horses were dirty and the ground was still damp, but everything smelled so fresh!

dirty horses!

Tropical depression Juan is upon us! Thus, the daily afternoon thunderstorms. It poured up at the ranch yesterday. The roads were wet. The trees were wet. The ground was wet. THE HORSES WERE WET and DIRTY! See dirty Sunni? A lightning strike hit right by the road before we drove up and we could smell burning mesquite. Fortunately, the fire crews were putting it out by the time we drove by! That big, black cloud stayed over the mountain and I could hear its thunder. By the time we drove home, about 7 pm, it had moved east and was somewhere over the Colorado River. We pulled off the road and watched the light show.

More BLM mustangs Ridgecrest

These are more pics of the Ridgecrest BLM horses. They were taken in spring of 2007. Look at the color on these mustangs! Aren't they hard to resist? I wish they weren't so far away (over 3 hours)...way up on 395, on the way to Lone Pine, Independence, and Bishop! We always stop by and feed the horses carrots when we are driving up north. The BLM does do weekend adoptions in different areas, but we haven't been able to attend one of those yet. We were on vacation in Arizona when they had one down in Norco this month. My friend, Barbara, who comes over and works with Scout, has fallen in love with mustangs! She might be a trainer for a yearling next summer! HA! I know her. She won't be able to part with that horse!

BLM horses Ridgecrest

When we stopped at the BLM corrals in March, these were some of the geldings in the pens. These guys were so friendly and came up to the fence for carrots! I wish I could take them ALL home! They were such cutie pies! We always stop and buy carrots and go out of our way to stop by the Ridgecrest corrals whenever we drive to Northern California.

Sunni tied (part 2)

Here is part 2 of Sunni's lesson about tying and being afraid of plastic bags. I'd say he mastered both of those! GOOD BOY! Cousin Valerie really had fun with him yesterday! Of course, I was the "dork with the camera"! He ended up following both of us around until the feed tractor came by, then he wanted to go back to his corral!

Sunni's tying lesson part 1

Sunni got a little "review lesson" about pulling back while tied. Cousin Valerie came over yesteday, tied him HIGH on the pole, and then worked with his fear of plastic bags....NOT! He remembered his previous lesson and only pulled back a couple of times, then settled right down!

GOOD BOY! I always enjoy watching Valerie work horses. She talks to them ALL THE TIME! Lots of praise and "GOOD BOY!"

Cali

Cali is one of our mustangs from Wyoming. She now halters, leads, has had a saddle pad on her (ho hum), and ties. I NEED to give her a bath! Maybe this weekend. She is very people-friendly and very patient and "non spook". It is funny how different horses can be. Scout, the little roan, is more cautious and alert, but she now nickers when I walk up to the corral! We moved Sunni out to his own corral and he is much happier now and doesn't have to scarf down his food!

More "almost horses" stuff

These goodies were on a wall in a little shop in Prescott, AZ. Aren't they cute? I wanted them ALL!

almost horses

I don't have any new horse pics this week as we have been on vacation, but I did take these photos during our stops in Arizona. Aren't they pretty?

Canyon de Chelly another herd of Navajo ponies

This was another herd of Indian ponies at Canyon de Chelly. Look at the little foal! Isn't he cute?

more Indian pony pics

There were three herds of Indian ponies in Canyon de Chelly that we saw. This little foal was a real sweetie! He was the one asleep by the road when we drove by. He whinnied for his herd when I walked up to photograph him. He was very cute!