Cali

Cali was an absolute brat on Sunday, when I drove up to the ranch to work the horses.  Yes, she's adorable, but she's also LAZY.  She wouldn't flex.  She wouldn't move her bod.  She did easily come to me (she probably thought I had a treat, but I didn't...). She kicked me in the thigh when I was picking up her back foot.  Fortunately, she hit the fatty part on my leg and it didn't even leave a bruise...sigh...with 5 horses ALL in training at the same time, it's difficult to get to all of them, especially in one day.  I worked with 4 of them Sunday, which was the most I've ever done.  I was sick again on Saturday and I'm beginning to wonder why I'm sick at least 1 day every weekend now...I'm really looking forward to the time change when we have more afternoon light, so I can drive up there after school and work with them at least one afternoon each week, but that's a while away.

Before Halloween

This was the afternoon that our son, Hal, and grandson Ben, and Claudia came up to visit the herd. Here they are with Cali, who LOVES attention! (Can't you tell?) Ahhhh...I miss the longer afternoons that are gone now with the time change!

Herd update: Cali

It rained last week and all the horses' corrals were muddy when I went up Saturday...they got more rain yesterday! But, the forecast for the next week is clear weather! YEAH! Here's Cali, waiting patiently for her extra meal!

Saturday

So, yesterday morning down here in the desert was...delightful! I opened the front door and cool air filtered in! The humidity was GONE and the temperature was about 75! Phew! What a relief from the hot, sticky days we had last week! After hubby left for work, I drove up to the ranch. The front gate was locked, which meant the owners were gone for the day. Hmmmm....I normally do NOT let the horses out or walk them when they are gone, but I needed to work with Scout and see how she was doing. So, against my better judgment, I took her down to the arena to test her walking and leading skills. She was PERFECT! She calmly waited at the gate, which I left wide open, and she waited for my cue to her that it was time to go. She quietly walked WITH ME and didn't barge ahead! Phew! I let her out for some R&R, then I went up and cleaned out Gigo's water trough. This time of year, troughs almost have to be cleaned out every week, otherwise they fill up with mosquitoes. Then, it was time to put Scout back in her corral and she walked nicely...she only got excited when we walked by the two stallions. BUT...she did very well and got a nice reward of some extra feed! Sunni was looking very forlorn, so I decided to take him down to the arena, since he is a good walker (unless he spooks) and I didn't think he would. He got some R&R, too. While he was there, I cleaned out some automatic waterers. It was just so darn NICE up in the mountains! The air was cool and there was a breeze! Sunni rolled and stretched his legs and then was ready for his treat, so he calmly walked with me back to his corral. Quad was busy eating and I didn't want to disturb him, so I'll take him out for some R&R this morning. Cali was done with her snack, so I put a shorter lead rope on her (not the longer one I was using) and since she leads so quietly, I left my gloves off. Hmmmm...BIG MISTAKE! Cali, who normally is the quiet one, had some R&R in the arena, got the farts out, and stretched her legs. Walking back to her corral, I decided (I know...I SHOULD have known better...) to go the long way, around the big corral where she used to be and where Gigondas is now. Cali had been doing fine...no problems...she stopped to sniff and slobber all over my car, she stopped and sniffed the horse trailer, she stopped and took a couple of bites at the hay stack, she stopped and sniffed with Gigondas and WHAM! She spooked and took off and left me with a major rope burn on my left hand. I nearly lost my ring finger as the lead rope got tangled up on that finger! BAM! She was gone! I could hear her running around the ranch and I called to her and hoped that she'd come back to me and she did. Something spooked her (I don't know what it was...), but she DID come to me when I called her and I was able to get the lead rope and quietly walk her back to her corral. I'll have a nice rope burn to explain to my class tomorrow! It's on the top of my hand. Go figure! The quiet, calm one spooks and "Ms. Manners" is a little lady now! .... HORSES...!!!! Here are some pics I took yesterday. I didn't take any of Scout because she was just eating weeds. Oh, and I took the photo of the driveway at the ranch. The tire tracks are where I drove in and you can see how much rain they got this week!

Oh, hi, Mom! I'm coming!!!

Look at this GOOD GIRL! She now comes to her name and is very curious about what Mom is doing! I'm glad she has her own corral now and is away from Scout. When Cali was with Scout, Scout always chased her away from me and she would linger at the far side of the corral. Cali really LOVES people and is very gentle with everybody!