Snow day Martin Luther King day!

What a cold and snowy day! The perfect day for a drive up the hill, right? Yeah, right. The mountain is MAGICAL. I could see and feel the change as I drove up it. From bright, desert sunshine to cool, then cold. Clouds swiftly moving in. Snow on the high peaks. Absolutely wonderful! I stopped and took some photos. The mountains seem to be ALIVE, changing quickly with the clouds.

The horses were wet from the rain just a few minutes before I arrived. I quickly put some shredded beet pulp (2 scoops) in the pail, so allow it to expand. HOWEVER, the wind was blowing, the rain was freezing. I need to learn that mountain weather can change VERY QUICKLY! After only about 15 minutes, I looked up and realized the clouds/fog had moved in and it was snowing again and I HAD to get OFF the mountain. YIKES! So, I mixed in their rice bran, sweet feed, and vitamins with the beet shreds and quickly (in the freezing cold) gave it to them to help keep them warm tonight! Poor babies! At least they are all nice and wooly. I would have liked to have stayed and spent TIME with them, but I realized that the CHP does CLOSE that road and I needed to get off the mountain! DARN! So, off I went! Snow flurries ALL the way down the mountain, then rain. I did see another pretty rainbow on the way down.

stomach flu! UGH!

Well, I've had that horrible stomach flu for 10 days now. UGH! It is NO FUN! I am FINALLY starting to feel normal again, back in the land of the living! I spent so many days just in bed and not leaving the house. Just this weekend (January 19 and 20) we went up to see our horses. I didn't do ANYTHING Saturday, I was just too fatigued. Sunday, however, I was able to take Sunni down to the arena and let him run and buck and jump and fart! He enjoyed his outing. I worked him a little bit (whoa, walk, trot, back) and moved his hindquarters. Art brought Gigondas down and let her run around with Sunni. When I took Sunni out and we left her in the arena, she SCREAMED and had a snit fit! It was good to be among the horses again. They always lift my spirits. They are such amazing animals!

Cali

Cali in the round pen, 010208. Cali has finally MENTALLY matured! She used to balk, pull back, wrap herself around trees, and basically act like a young mustang! Now that she is 2 (yes, she's 2!!!), she has matured and will now calmly lead. She will even follow my directions and PAY ATTENTION! I was working with her in the round pen, moving her forward, and changing directions. She did very well! I am so happy. She really is a nice horse. She is actually taller than Scout. Scout seems to be more stocky than Cali, even though they were from the same place in Wyoming (same herd?) They may or may not even be related. They have VERY different personalities! Cali was always more "people friendly", even when they came down from Wyoming. She immediately went right up to people. She followed me around and even nibbled on my hair! Scout, on the other hand, was very wary of people. It even took Angi, our trainer, 30 minutes to get a halter on her at times! I've always been able to just walk up to Cali and put a halter on her. Maybe because she is "low man" in the herd? I don't know. I know that someday she'll be a GREAT horse for the grandkids to ride on and enjoy! She's my little "pocket pony" right now. I enjoy working with her. She's SMART, too! She now comes when I call her and she's figured out that if she goes to the far feeder, the other horses won't bother her and she can eat ALL her food in peace and quiet! Look how she's filled out nicely! THANK YOU, CATHY!

horses and saddles, part two

Uh, uh. You AREN'T gonna put that thing on us! NO WAY!

horses and the saddle (a pictoral story)

One weekend during Christmas break, we went up to clean out our tack room. We also needed to get our 3 saddles out of the middle of the living room! So, we drove up to the mountains. Art put one of his cheap saddles on the fence (since EVERYTHING in the tack room was moved outside). The horses came over to investigate it. At first they were very curious. Then Cathy moved it and OFF THEY WENT! I'll show you what happened next!

We don't spoil our animals! (NOT!)

Who us? Spoil our animals? NO WAY! Ripley has settled into our home. Atticus LOVES to sit on the couch at night, in the living room and keep an eye on everybody! Dad loves to sit in the living room, watch TV, and play on his computer! I'm usually out in the kitchen playing on my computer! If I'm in the kitchen, Atticus will come out and settle down on the floor under my computer desk. Of course, "MISS TROUBLE" (i.e. Ripley) has to come BOTHER HIM and then the growling begins! Atticus sticks pretty close to me as I feed him! Rommel usually toddles off to bed around 8:00 p.m. He's the "old man".

woolly horses!

Just some photos of the horses with their winter coats! Oh, and silly Scout and her nose! She is very curious!