Sunshine and Ice!

It is an absolutely gorgeous day out, so I hooked up the trailer and Galen and I went for a trail ride. We went to Lord Hill, a regional park that has lovely trails and lots of hills. I figured, as we haven't been on a trail ride since last JULY, we'd do very little, just get our feet wet, so to say.

Good plan, as the trails were almost all either icy or muddy/slippery. Galen had hoof boots on in front and bare behind, but he still slipped a few times. Galen was very happy, as he's been agitating for a trail ride since, well, last July. We will need to get a lot more conditioning in before our first endurance ride, whenever that happens to be.

I did see some really strange fungus/mushrooms on a bunch of dead sticks. It almost looked like snow, until I got a little closer and could see that it was a bunch of tendrils, or skinny stalks. I've never seen anything like that before, so perhaps I'll go look up mushrooms later on.

But, we had the park to ourselves (a few trailers showed up just as we were leaving for home), the sun was shining, the weather was reasonably mild (about 40 degrees, I'd say). Ahhhh....

I did think about bringing my camera, but didn't actually do it and my cell phone doesn't take very good photos, so you'll just have to take my word that it was lovely.

Fotata Awards

The results of the 2010 Fotata Awards (Friends of the Akhal-Teke), have recently been posted on the Fotata site, which is run by Shannon Mayfield. The address is www.//fotata.webs.com/ The idea of this award is as follows: An Annual Worldwide Award that encompasses a number of riding disciplines for people that love the breed. It was started by Shannon and Lyn Busacca.

Awards-
1st- Jenny Rice
2nd- Kerri-Jo Stewart
3rd- Amrita Ibold
4th- Cathy Leddy
5th-Jas Shearer-McMahon
6th- Monica Bretherton
7th- Wendy Connell
8th- Shelby Ness and Jeannine Duenas
9th- Anne-Marie Rasch and Cindy Sither

I think it's great that people are getting recognized for getting their Tekes out there, as none of the organizations have any awards programs. It probably won't encourage someone to go to one more clinic, or ride or show, but it does recognize the effort involved.

I hope Shannon does this award again, as getting that goody box in the mail is a lot of fun! Thanks!

Thinking Spring

Although it's kind of cold and dreary outside, I'm thinking spring thoughts. I just calculated Annie's foaling date, which will be June 20th. I'm really hoping for a filly, as always. I just ran the color calculator, and as Salam's colors haven't been done yet, if he's smokey black, we have a good chance of a buckskin (Annie is bay). If he's black, we have chances of bay, black and chestnut. So, a buckskin filly is possible! Of course, this is a large part of the fun of breeding- every foal is exactly what you want, right up until delivery. One of these days, I will have his colors run, but until then...buckskin filly!

I've also been trying to figure out my competition schedule this year. I have much less time for conditioning on the trails, so probably no 50s until at least late summer, but Galen and I have been taking jumping lessons! I used to jump, many, many years ago, but it's sure not like riding a bicycle so far. But, that is one of the great things about horses - there is ALWAYS something new (or sort of new) to learn. I won't say we'll be burning up the jumper rings, but perhaps we'll be able to negotiate a course by the end of the summer. We'll see.

Merry Christmas!

It's Christmas eve and I'm getting ready to start my last minute running around. My husband and older daughter went to Monroe for some last minute gifts, so I'm waiting for them to get back.

We need to run to Costco for Christmas pies and I'm sure we'll find one or two other things that we must have. The horses will get their very own huge bag of carrots for tomorrow. It looks rather unlikely that we'll have a white Christmas, which is just fine with us. While snow is pretty to look at, it sure makes taking care of a bunch of horses much more time intensive.

Then, we'll start thinking about our goals for next year. This year has been pretty good all around and I think we can have an even better 2011!

Merry Christmas!

All the Young Horses..and the old ones

I've been spending a lot of time recently working with my youngsters (horses, that is, kids pretty much take care of themselves these days). I have 1 weanling, Scooter, who is a lovely little guy, learning about such basics as "don't get into my space", "give to pressure", "grooming is fun", and "being by yourself isn't all THAT bad". Then, we have our coming 2 year old colt, Goshen, who Monica mainly works with. He's been so easy, but does test a little from time to time. He's recently discovered that he has some power (over Scooter, mainly), so we have to enforce boundries. "No, I'm not holding Scooter for you to chomp on his butt". He's learning things like "cross-tieing", "leading down the road", "beginning round-penning" and Monica is working on various tricks with him. I hear that some other things are in his future too, perhaps some long-lining and in-hand trail.

Next, we have the coming 3 year old filly, Mahri. Mahri has just been growing up, has learned all the basics that Scooter is working on now and we just moved up to "Medium Round-Penning", not to be confused with "Beginning Round Penning". She's doing very well and really enjoyed her grooming the other day.

Then, there is the coming 4 year old filly, Slari. Slari knows all the stuff the younger horses are learning and is moving into the 'riding zone'. This is where she'll learn about lunging on a lunge line (no big deal for a good round penning horse), wearing a saddle, bridle and bit, and we'll get to getting on her by the end of next summer. She's learning about voice commands on the lunge, we'll work on some in-hand work and probably do some trail walks in the great wide world. She is such a pretty, dainty little thing - makes me wish I had a 110 lb teenager to help me out!

Then, we get to the 'bigger boys', such as Andre, who is coming 5 and Danny, also coming 5. Danny is doing well under saddle and just needs miles. Andre was a late bloomer, so we're just starting to get to sitting on him. I expect it will be no big deal and he'll be a riding horse supreme. He looks like he's going to be so smooth that you'll think you're in your recliner in front of the TV.

Then, there are the 'boys in work', Galen and Willie (Monica's horse). Both are doing great, compete and are learning jumping now.

What is left? Well, the 'rehab', Ari, who is recovering from a knocked-down hip sometime in the distant past. He's doing pretty well, but we're going slowly, so as not to reinjure him. He's slotted to be my husband's trail horse. Then, there is Maz, who is a 'been there, done that" kind of guy, who unfortunately has some arthritis issues and some hoof issues. He needs maintenance and light riding. Same with Khan - he's also paid his dues and is deserving a comfortable retirement. I hop on him every once in a while and lunge him a few times a week. Keeps him happy and semi-fit. Annie, our broodmare, gets groomed every now and again, just so we can let her know we appreciate her. Salam, our senior stallion, gets occasional grooming and loves to just hang out.

That's pretty much our horsey family - keeps me busy, Monica helps out a lot and I'm sure not bored. Not enough hours in the day, but that is OK.

Sunny Day!

Ah, those sunny winter days! So much better than gloomy, dark, winter days. I seem to have 3 times the energy when the sun shines.

So, today (sunny), I went to Costco and Fred Meyer, stocking up for the rest of the month and rode Galen, working on our canter and a few little jumps. Wednesday, (gloomy), I barely got myself out of the house, cleaned the stalls and picked up kids. Hmmm, am I solar powered? You bet. Why do I live in Seattle? I have asked myself that a few times in the past 25 years.

Of course, there are GOOD things about Seattle winters, such as being able to trail ride in December in your sweatshirt and not owning long underwear. Bad things include: not much sun, too much mud and rain. Tradeoffs!

It does bring to mind an episode of "Northern Exposure" from many years ago, where one character had a hat with a full spectrum light on it. I have a full spectrum light right beside my computer and my overhead lights are full spectrum too. (love them!) Maybe all I need to be more productive during our dark winter months, is a light attached to my ball cap.

Hmmm, might spook the horses though.

Of course, they are Tekes, so maybe not.

Coming Home from the WEG

I had packed up a lot of the booth stuff on Sunday, so Monday morning, Cindy's (our hostess in Lexington) boyfriend Dennis, came and helped me finish packing and load up. Thank goodness for helpers, as it would have taken me much, MUCH longer to get everything squared away. I hugged our neighbors (make sure to watch "The Greening of Whitney Brown" when it comes out) and headed back to Cindy and Dennis'. They were great hosts - I was there the entire time, plus setup (so 19 days?), and they had people coming and going the entire time. Cindy was 'ground zero' for horses and people coming in for the International Equestrian Festival, that took place in downtown Lexington. We had Tekes and Teke people coming and going from October 3rd to the 10th, which is when the IEF took place. It was great fun to see OPH (other people's horses) and get to chat with people I usually only talk to via email or phone. We didn't get to visit nearly as much as I would have hoped, as I was alone most of the second week and off to the booth around 8 in the morning, getting back at 6 or 7 pm. Tatiana Ryabova, Tito and Natasha Pontecorvo, Milena Stoszek and some other people came by the booth the last Saturday night. Tatiana gave a talk during the day on Saturday and did an inspection at Cindy's on Sunday. Unfortunately, I missed both, as I was at the booth, promoting our horses.

Anyway, back to Monday, take down day. Dennis and I headed back to their place and Dennis helped me pack up and I was headed out the gates around 3:30 pm. I decided to drive for 5 or so hours and stop. Silly me. There are NO parks, campgrounds, gas stations, you name it from about 4 hours outside of Lexington heading SW until you get to a park in the middle of nowhere Indiana or Illinois. I was panicking by the time I finally pulled into a gas station at 10 pm at night...I was driving on fumes, starving and so very tired. Happily, I gassed up both the truck and myself and found a campsite at a deserted state park. Locked my doors and went to sleep. Next morning, I tried to find where to pay (never did), so after about a half hour, I headed out. I made it to April Pruente's place around 4 or 5 pm and spent the night, after admiring her horses and a great meal at the local buffet.

Next day, I drove, and drove, and drove. I think I did 15 or 16 hours and made it to Jas and Shannon's place in Colorado. Thank goodness for audio books! I was really wanting to be home, so the very long day was worth it. Next morning, I waited for Tatiana, Tito, Natasha and Milena to show up and instead of heading out as I planned, I spent the day talking and talking. It was lovely visiting with Tatyana, as I hadn't seen her in at least 8 years. We all talked and planned and looked at horses. Then, we headed out to dinner and it was bedtime. Next morning, I got on the road and drove until 6 or 7 pm. I spent the night in Idaho or Oregon...can't quite remember which. I was really itching to be home.

I pulled into my home driveway on Saturday, October 16th, around 6 pm and basically hugged everyone, was leaped on by the dogs and then sat and drank a beer. 29 days on the road...whew. I think I'll wait another 10 years to do this again. Fantastic, one in a lifetime journey, but LONG.

I'm still cleaning up, unpacking (almost done!) and finishing up WEG thank yous and getting back into my normal routine. I have had my butt in the saddle since I got home, almost a month ago, but it's still sporadic. I'm trying to do all the stuff I usually get done in Sept/Oct now, before it really starts getting nasty. Almost there! Galen is sure that he's been totally neglected, as we still haven't gotten out on the trails. Soon...I finally have the horse trailer unloaded completely. My family was amazing - the kids pretty much took care of the barn, poor Larry had to do his job and mine and the boarders helped out too. Thank yous all around!

I'm glad I went, but I'm really glad to be home.