Scout

Ms. Scout did very well with her exercises this weekend.  She flexed.  She yielded.  She backed up.  She led very well in the corral.  I didn't take her out, but exercised her in the big corral.  She lifted all 4 feet!  SUPER! She really is a big love bug!

Working with horses Sunday

I awoke at 5:30 this morning (Sunday), feeling refreshed and ready to drive up the hill.  I didn't feel good Saturday...dizzy, tired, just all around blah.  I decided to stay home, rest, and take a couple of naps.  So, Sunday morning, I was ready to work the horses.  I got up at the ranch about 9:00 and took Sunni out first.  I brushed him, cleaned his feet, and took him down to the arena and did his exercises.  He did really well with his exercises, but at the tie rack, he spooked when I took out another brush to groom him with...go figure  He pulled back on the rope (fortunately it held), but was very nervous.  I yelled, "STOP" at him and he settled down...he wouldn't have done that a year ago.  He would have just broken the rope and bolted.  So, I'm glad that he is learning to THINK instead of just REACT.  But, he did all his exercises with no problem, so I let him loose in the arena.  He self-exercised and ran up and down next to the railing.  Then, a he did a couple of good rolls and settled down to eat grass. Quad was waiting patiently by his gate, so I took him out next and groomed him.  He didn't move a muscle.  I took him up to the round pen and let him loose to eat grass up there.  (There's a lot of grass from all the rain they've had up in the mountains.)...Next, I worked Scout.  She did very well and listened and paid attention.  I was able to clean all 4 of her feet.  She was very cooperative today and I practiced leading her around the corral, pointing to where I wanted to go and she followed nicely (THANK GOODNESS!)...Cali was next.  There was a Santa Ana wind today and she was a little restless and didn't concentrate.  Getting her to flex was a hard task, but she did a little.  She kicked me, however, when I was lifting up her back leg to clean her hoof, so I did it over and over until she relaxed (no bruising, thankfully!)  I spent 5 hours (plus driving time) up there today and it was so beautiful I didn't want to go home, but hubby and I had errands to do, so I put everybody back in their corrals and off I went.  To my concern, I discovered that I had a large screw in my rear tire, so it was off to Goodyear to have it repaired as soon as I got home.  Photos of Sunni in the arena.

Santa Ana winds and a new laptop!

Well, actually it's hubby's old one (barely 3 years old) and it's a LOT faster than this one.  Unfortunately, the dogs stepped on its power chord, so, for this morning, I'm back on the old clunker (this one!)...Yesterday hubby cleaned off this computer's desktop, stored all my photos on the external hard drive, and we'll be giving this laptop to our son.  I'll be using another SONY (we love SONY laptops!), and it has...gasp...PHOTOSHOP already on it!  So, I'll be experimenting with Photoshop!  And, since it doesn't have Google Picassa and since Picassa is shutting down anyway, I'll be forced to learn Photoshop.  PERIOD.  On another note, we have high Santa Ana winds forecast for today (no clouds...), so it should be another interesting ride up the mountain to go visit and work with the horses!

Fence in the fog~Friday Fences~January 27, 2012

Dead tree and fence in the fog last weekend up by the horse ranch.  The weather up there is VERY different from down in the desert and I'm always intrigued by the differences between the two environments. We don't often get fog in the desert, but it is fairly frequent up in our local mountains.  SkyWatch Friday for January 27, 2012.  To visit Friday Fences, please go to:   http://lifeaccordingtojanandjer.blogspot.com/

Louisiana horses

I know you have read about the horses in Louisiana and their situation.  It's just so awful...I looked up their pedigrees and there are some nice mares still alive that need new homes.

Here's the link to the Louisiana Horse Rescue Association, if you could make a donation.  I mailed  out my check yesterday.  These mares need HELP!

http://lahorserescue.com/horsesofmany.html

and here's their facebook page:     http://www.facebook.com/#!/LHRA1

Thank you.

Sunni's tale and tail

So, I braved the wind gusts on Saturday to get up to the horse ranch where the herd is boarded.  It was drizzling and the wind was blowing sideways! Quad and Sunni and Gigondas were out of feed, so I went to the feed store and bought 4 bags of pellets~bermuda, orchard, and sweet feed.  Before I left to go to the feed store, the ranch owner came up to me and told me that SOMEBODY had chewed off Sunni's long, gorgeous tail!  Sunni had a beautiful, long, full tail, which I trimmed about every other visit!  It was full and hung long and flowing.  Er..uh..not anymore!  (see pics of his tail now)...To see the photos of the perpetrator, please look at the bottom photos!  GUESS WHO???  (...smacking head on forehead)...well, at least he isn't cribbing on his water trough or feeder!

Birds~Sunday Stills Challenge~012212

I wasn't going to do this week's challenge at first, but then I remembered that last week we took the grandson to the Living Desert Reserve in Palm Desert and I took him through one of the aviaries there.  There was a white egret there and he liked the white bird.  There are a lot of these egrets here in the desert.  I see them at the resorts and golf courses.  I even see them down by my school, out in the fields.  Sunday stills Challenge for January 22, 2012.