Lovely Ride at the Watershed

Yesterday, Monica, Julie and I loaded up our horses and headed for the Redmond Watershed.  We went to meet some friends there and made an early start to miss all the hikers/bikers/strollers etc that would come out in the afternoon of this gorgeous day.

We met up with our friends and started out, but as our whole idea was to have a relaxing ride, we soon peeled off. 

We weren't looking for a long ride, as my ankle is still a problem and Julie needed to get back home.  We put in around 1 1/2 hours of riding, walking and trotting and the horses were relaxed and happy (and so were we!)  The light was fabulous - huge sunbeams coming through the trees and fog.  It was rather cathedral like. 

We made it back to the trailer and I just had to take a photo of the horses steaming gently in the sunshine.  They weren't really hot (in fact, Danny had only the tiniest bit of sweat under the saddle, but because it was still chilly, they were steaming through their coolers.  I'm kind of proud of this photo, especially as I took it on my smartphone.

                                               Monica and Danny and Julie and Andy

A nice lady took some photos of the three of us together, but I must say, I like this one the best.

It was a great start for conditioning for next year's rides!  I might not be riding much distance, but dang it, I'm going to the rides!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas and a wonderful new year to everyone!  Have a wonderful day.

Brrrrrarn Party!

Yes, I stole that name from Aarene Storms because it was so appropriate!  We had our Cascade Gold Fun Show and Barn Party yesterday.  While it was a beautiful sunny day, it was also a beautiful frigid day, topping out at around 24 degrees.  Now, I know our Midwest and MT and CO friends are laughing a little - 24 degrees?  Don't even need extra socks for that!  But, here in the misty Pacific NW, we're more used to a damp 40ish degrees in the winter.  So, while the sun is welcome (although my kids cry "My eyes, my eyes, the sun burns my eyes" yep, they can be dramatic) we just don't have the tolerance built up for freezing temps.  We get out our layers (and layers until we look like marshmallows), stay inside and build up the fires and well, whine a little.  The horses whine a little too, as the ground is frozen into a rutted mess and their water buckets and tubs have ice on them.  But, the sun is nice!

So, anyway, we had our Barn Party and Fun Show yesterday and had a very good time.  We had lots of yummy food (lots of hot stuff, blew the fuse in the barn, woops), coffee, hot chocolate, etc.  We did our eating and some socializing in the sunshine before moving to the Fun Show portion of our day.

                                              Alice adding to the goodies out to munch on

Our Fun Show was very low key - I took my cues from the very fun Fun Show that Margaret Pomeroy had at her barn about a month ago.  Fun, silly games, not too long, not very high expectations and lots of smiles.  Kay Gurley (who did the organizing for the show at the Pomeroy's) helped me out.  Cindy Balogh did a bang up job of decorating and cleaning all week.  All the stalls have their stockings hung, there were parking stripes in the parking lot and lots of holiday decorations. 

                                                Cindy taking photos of the Fun Show

We did about 2 1/2 hours of games - just enough that everyone got to play, but not enough so that everyone froze.  We did egg on a spoon, musical feed bags, Simon Says, and a trail course.  We had several young horses come out being led, and Sparky and Nadia, Reggie and Julie and Mahri and Keiko did great.  Wendy Ford came with her boy Taz and Alice and Gus made a strategic appearance too.

                                           Nadia and Sparky, along with Cindy, Max, Oliver and Emilie on the rail

                                         Three sons of Astrachan, Ari with Aarene Storms, Danny with Monica Bretherton and Andy with Keiko Young (or Duana, can't tell which lady it is).  Alice and Gus also participated in the Trail Class, but it doesn't look like I have any photos of them.  There are a bunch more photos on Facebook though.

 

                                         After the show, us hardy souls retreated inside for cake and coffee.  We had lost a bunch of our number by then to the biting cold (they just got too cold and headed home, nothing else!) 

Everyone had a fun and festive time!

BARN PARTY!

It's been another busy month (or so) here at Cascade Gold.  We've been getting ready for cold weather and rain by finishing sheds (thank you Larry!) and working on drainage and footing.  We got new footing in the arena too.

I have gotten a few rides in between all the projects and we've been on the trails a few times.  Galen feels that I could do a lot more.

Anyway, big news this week is the Barn Party!  It's going on from Noon to whenever on Saturday, December 7th.  We will be having a Fun Show first, so if you want to bring a horse, please feel free.  We'll have about 5 classes of fun games, such as egg on a spoon, two riders connected with toilet paper, musical feed bags and a trail course (assuming the weather cooperates).  I have some great endurance rider style prizes (useful stuff and chocolate!) and several of the boarders are going to be helping out.  Cindy B has been a whirlwind of activity this week!

And, after our Fun Show, we'll go directly to the eating and socializing, so bring a dish to share.  I'm making a big pot of chili and we'll see what else shows up.

Hope we see you here!