It's that time of the year...TB Friends

I just sent in my contribution to the hay fund for Joe, at TB Friends. After reading his blog this morning, I'm trying to think of ways to further help Joe. Quoting from his blog today,

"Since Thanksgiving, two owners who adopted from Tbfriends have returned their horses to us. Right after Christmas we say welcome back to a third.In January we are accepting 3 pregnant thoroughbred mares. The mares were scheduled to be euthanzied because of a home foreclosure.That old guy at Tbfriends is begging for help again. My cell 530-383-2120. Even if you cannot take another horse until after the holidays. Let me know, and the horse can stay with us until you are ready."

Sigh...

May I make a special plea? If you can spare $5.00, $10.00, or whatever, could you please think about sending it to Joe? His blog is at: http://www.tbfriends.com/ and I have it listed on the side of this blog. He works so hard to find homes for so many horses. And, yes, I have one of his thoroughbreds myself...Quad. What a difference Quad has made in our lives! Gosh, darn! If there was room at the ranch, I'd take another one right now! (Unfortunately, the ranch is FULL!) Anyway, that would be my Christmas wish...that if you can, please help Joe out and send him whatever you can.

Mountain fog~SkyWatch Friday 121809

From our desert home, I always check the mountains before leaving. Sometimes there are "spillover" clouds. That means the clouds have moved up to our local mountains and are spilling over to the desert side, from the ocean side. It can be perfectly clear here in the desert, but, on my way to see the horses, at the ranch in the mountains, I often run right into these clouds in the form of fog, as in these photos. I enjoy the fog as we don't get it in the desert and I always enjoy the changing weather on the mountain. SkyWatch Friday December 18, 2009. Last day of school and then two weeks off! Believe me, the kids are READY for vacation!!!

Whose nose? Who knows?

Guess who!!! Who is the most friendly of ALL my horses and would crawl into my pocket if I let her?

Quad and Santa Anita opening day plans

Quad has his long, winter coat. While his hair isn't as tight as the mustangs, it is interesting to rub my hand over his coat. He's very interested in eating that extra meal right now and hardly even looks up from his feeder! But, he did amble over to me one day for a sniff, and then back to his feeder! We have had a few days to dry out lately and no rain is in our forecast, so this weekend will be nice and clear and warm. The ferrier is coming over on Saturday to trim all the horses at the ranch.

Hubby surprised me yesterday with plans for the Santa Anita opening day! I've attended twice in the past and this year, with a list of activities, he decided we should attend. We'll get a free calendar and get to see the unveiling of the John Henry memorial statue, and see Zenyatta! I can't WAIT! Here's the link to the Santa Anita activities: http://www.santaanita.com/content/about-santa-anita-park Of course, I'll take 10,000 photos, enough to post for a year! Since we aren't traveling during Christmas break, it will be a short break for us, some relief from the desert.

Oh, the weather outside...

ISN'T DELIGHTFUL!!! No, way! Last weekend was downright COLD and WET! I drove up both Saturday and Sunday to give the horses an extra meal. And, as soon as I'd fed them all on Saturday, the heavens opened up and it started to POUR! Rain, with the wind blowing, was coming down sideways! And, it was a cold rain! I jumped in my car and drove back down the mountain to the desert. Along the way, I took some of the most interesting cloud photos I've ever taken! I'll be posting them on Friday. Hubby was off work Sunday and drove back up the mountain with me. The higher elevations got another dusting of snow, but the horses just got more rain overnight. The horses eagerly awaited their extra meal, except for Quad, who was banging his feeder, DEMANDING another meal! What a character! Here are the mustangs. LOOK how dark Scout is! Wow! I'm always amazed to feel her winter coat. It's so thick and coarse! And, windproof and waterproof! Quad and Sunni, however, seem to have longer and looser hair. Do different breeds of horses have different winter coats? Quad is a thoroughbred and Sunni is a quarter horse and I notice how different their coats are from the mustangs.

Cactus~Be careful!

As serene as yesterday's photo was of the area near the ranch where I'll be riding (hopefully), there is one thing to beware of~~CACTI! I remember the ranch owner telling me that she has trained her horses to beward of cacti. I'll have to ask her how she does it. And, my cousin, Valerie, frequently takes her horses on the trail with her and I'm sure she has trained them, too! I'm going to have to ask her how she does it. Our desert and mountains have many kinds of cacti, including the "jumping cholla". I ran into that one time, up by Mt. Whitney. I got out to use the restroom at the Lone Pine visitor center and all I did was walk by the jumping cholla! I didn't even touch it! When I looked down at my foot, one had attached itself to my shoe! ACK! Of course, you can't touch it to take it off, so I rubbed my foot against the cement gutter. It's NASTY STUFF! Anyway, Quad needs to learn about cactus. He's never been around it and next spring, it will be interesting to see how he does. Right now, after about 5 days of rain, we are welcoming a week of clear skies! Only 5 more school days until VACATION! Can you spell "relief"???

Mountain Valley

People often ask me, "When you ride your horses again, where will you ride?" So, I took this photo last weekend to show you the countryside near where I board "the herd". As you can see, the terrain is great for riding. I watch the ranch owner and her husband go out past the high school and climb a trail which leads to the top of a local mountain. I hope to be able to ride Quad with them after the new year. They are going to be in the Rose Parade, so they are conditioning their horses to that 5-mile ride. This is "horse country". A lot of their neighbors have horses and I frequently see riders out on the roads and dirt roads. I'll have to keep my eyes peeled and try to photograph some of them. My cousin's ranch is on the other side of the mountains, almost directly behind this ranch! You just go up over the snow and the mountain and there you are! Her area has LOTS and LOTS of horse ranches.