Farmer Cathy

Yesterday was a beautiful, sunshiney day here in the often damp Pacific NW.  My lesson cancelled, so I could have gone riding.  But, seeing how nice the weather was and knowing that the growing season will be starting soon, I decided to be a good farm owner and do tractor work.

We compost all our stall leavings and paddock pickings and that turns into lovely, black, crumbly compost.  But, it doesn't do all that much good piled up in the manure pile.

So, my trusty Kubota and I spent 4 or 5 hours moving dirt around. 

This doesn't really give you the idea of how lovely and black the compost is.  This is one of our grass paddocks, that does double duty as an outdoor arena.  We bought the property back in 2003? I think, and at that time it was scrub alder with hardly any grass.  Years of adding compost, pulling alders, fertilizing and yes, outright coddling, have produced a lovely, springy grass paddock that can withstand a lot of traffic.

For those of you on the west (or wet) side of the Cascades, you can appreciate what keeping grass paddocks take.  If you turn horses out on them year round, they end up being dirt and mud paddocks.  But, on the other hand, when the grass is growing, it really, really grows.  I'm usually out there mowing 2 or 3 times a week, even with horses on it daily during the spring and summer.  In the winter though, they just look at it longingly.

Here is another photo of my compost spreading.  I tried to get as even coverage as possible, but we'll see how it works out in a few weeks when the grass starts growing.

Northwest Search and Rescue Trail Challenge, January 11, 2014

Wet and wild pretty much describes it!

Me, Monica, Julie and Keiko headed out to the first ever (I'm pretty sure) Trail Challenge at Lord Hill in Snohomish.  We knew there would be 6 obstacles over 6 miles, which we could do at any one of three levels, easy, medium or difficult.

After driving up the VERY STEEP HILL to the Quarry, 4 wheel drive recommended, Monica and I signed up.  Julie and Keiko had been responsible and signed up early.  We ended up with start times of around 11:30.

It was pretty soggy to begin with, mud everywhere, but reasonably warm (45 degrees probably) and we had lots of wet weather gear on.  Keiko on Cady and Monica on Mahri headed out first.  This was Mahri's 3rd ever trail ride, so Monica was riding as a 'companion' horse, there for the adventure, not to do the obstacles.  About 10 minutes later, Julie on Andy and Galen and I headed out.  Galen and I ride at Lord Hill quite a bit, so he knew where he was going, except the first obstacle was on a trail I'd never been down (that was kind of neat, finding a new trail).  He was SURE we were going the wrong way, so it took a bit to get over the first obstacle, which was a bridge.  But, we did it and headed up the hill.  There was some very tricky footing that looked like someone had slid off the side of the trail not to far along.  We kept to the other side of the trail and got to the next obstacle.  By now it was raining pretty hard, but we were cheerful.  Galen and I did the obstacle as a 'easy', where we had to open a rope gate and hang it on a different tree.  He was a bit puzzled, but did it.  Andy on the other hand, was sure that rope was an electric fence and horses don't go near electric fences.  So, Julie gave it a pass and we headed on.  By now it was raining even harder and as we trotted (to keep warm) up the trail, it began to thunder and lightning, almost together.  As part of the trail is in the open, by the time we got to the next obstacle, they had called the ride.  Just too dangerous with the thunder, lightning, whipping winds and heavy rain.  Of course, at this point, everyone was out on the trail!  So, we turned around and headed for the trailers in the shortest distance.  This is where knowing the trails helped.  A few people that had been in front of us seemed to disappear...they must have taken a different trail.  The wind was making the trees sway and groan, the rain was soaking us and the thunder and lightning happily slowed down a bit.  The horses were very ready to head back to the trailers, as they were soaked too. 

Julie and I were wringing out our gloves and comparing notes on where water was dripping down our bodies (I had water running down the backs of my legs under my half chaps and down the back of my neck).  Julie found out that her coat wasn't waterproof at all.

We got through some tricky footing (downed trees had necessitated an off road trail that turned into knee deep muck) and finally made it back to the trailer.  We untacked the horses, put coolers on them and loaded them in.  Of course, at this point, the sun came out and the wind and wild weather stopped. 

Monica and Keiko were still out on the trail - they had gotten further than us before it was called, so ended up doing the entire ride.  By the time they came in, Julie was in dry clothes, both of us had had some hot beverages.  I got a few photos of Monica and Keiko coming back into the camp.

                                                           Monica in red and Keiko in blue

They both had big grins on their faces.  Cady had done her usual good job and Mahri was pronounced "fantastic".  For a young lady on her third ever trail ride, Monica reported that she took everything in stride, never lost her cool, did everything that was asked of her and was cheerful the entire time.  It sounds like Mahri has a future as a competitive trail or endurance horse!  She is for sale.

After Keiko and Monica took care of their horses, they wrung out their wet clothes and we headed home.  I did make one wrong turn that meant I had to back the rig up about 300 feet, which I called my last 'trail challenge'.  But, we dropped off Keiko and Cady and headed back to Cascade Gold, where all the horses got warm blankets and lots of hay, before the humans got to go inside and get dry.

We all had a pretty good time considering the weather challenges, although if we knew how nasty it would get, well, we didn't.  It was pronounced an 'adventure' and we sure got some good stories out of it.

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!

Teke Trek 2013

It's been a whirlwind month so far.  I spent a good portion of it traveling, mostly horse related stuff, so it's all good.

I started by heading to Minnesota for the 2013 ATAA Conference and 2nd HorseFlicks filming on Thursday, October 3rd.  I met up with Jas Shearer-McMahon at the Minnesota airport and we headed out to the hotel where the Conference was.  We got there around 7 pm or so and found out they had no food at the hotel!  There is a restaurant, but it seemed to operate in a very limited fashion.  So, we ordered a pizza and had it delivered.  Then we went and soaked in the hot tub and did some catching up.  (We had stopped for alcohol on the way to the hotel, so it was all good). 

Friday morning we got up at 0 dark 30 to head to the barn where the HorseFlicks filming was to be held.  Jon had asked for an 8 am start.  The directions said it was 38 miles away, so we figured we'd give ourselves plenty of time.  Well....I don't know if it was the directions, us, the lack of coffee or what, but it took us almost 2 1/2 hours to find the barn.  Several people who came later said "Oh, I just used my GPS..."  Yes, I WILL get GPS on my rental car next time.  We arrived right around 8 am and Jon (Jon Mays, the HorseFlicks film maker) was already there.  We got to do some catching up as we waited for people to arrive.  By around 9, we had our first horse in the arena filming.  Unfortunately, the weather did NOT cooperate.  It was rainy and drizzly, so we filmed in the indoor.  We had Terri Fender's stallion Jack start us off.  He looked great and his rider, Staci, did a great job.  Next was Araghan, under western tack with a rider whose name I was told and then promptly forgot.  Sorry!  He did a nice job and has some western showing in his future.  Then, Jas rode The Akhal-Teke Stud's stallion Goblet, who is with Terri on lease.  As she had never ridden him, she warmed him up outside.  He was willing, but seemed a bit rusty.  We later found out he hadn't been ridden in quite some time.  They ended up doing a lovely job and I think Goblet slept quite well that night!  Then we had Staci riding Eramay, who had come from Texas for this filming and was then heading on to the Kentucky Horse Park for the next showing.  Staci did a great job and I think there was some lovely footage.  Then, Tiffany Dietchler rode her gelding Ivan over some jumps and Brad Sherman showed off his stallion (an Astrachan son!) Thor at liberty.  Jon did some interviews and we were pretty much done by 2 pm.  Terri, Brad and Vicki (and maybe another person?) provided lunch for us and coffee and sodas, and it was greatly appreciated.  We all got to mingle a bit, meet the people we had only talked to via email and then we all headed back to the hotel.  This time it took us a lot less time (more caffeine and better directions!). 

Jas and Goblet

Eramay and Staci

 

We met up at the bar for our ATAA Board meeting around 6 pm and then the Meet and Greet was around 7 pm.  We all hung out and chatted for a few hours until it was time to hot tub again. (at least for Jas and I!)

Saturday morning was our General Membership Meeting.  We didn't have a huge turnout, but everyone that came had great suggestions.  There were a couple of "Duh" moments for me, when someone suggested a simpler, easier way to accomplish something.  That was wonderful!  We have quite a few plans for the next year and will start working on those soon.  It was so great to have such a motivated, enthusiastic bunch that owned their ideas.  I think the next few years will be amazing. 

Then, it was a break until the Awards Banquet.  Catrina Quantrell and Betsy Wandler did a great job with the awards.  My only sniffle was that I wasn't eligible for any of the discipline awards as I didn't compete this past year.  And those awards were NICE.  They also did Achievement awards and gave out some lovely coffee mugs that had original drawings of our horses on them.  I did win 2 of those - very nice!  Those mugs are safely in my trophy case now, so no one actually USES them and possibly breaks them.  Then, I gave out awards to the Board members.  Terri and I had come up with the idea of nice photo frames with photos of the person and their horse in them.  I found the frames, but unfortunately, my printer wasn't working, so the photos will have to be added later.  Several people did find that their original drawing (we were given the original drawing that went on our mugs) fit perfectly.  I put my drawing of Galen in my frame.

Winners of the Silent Auction items were also announced.  I ended up bringing a bunch of stuff home that will get sent out soon (as soon as the checks arrive, lol)

Sunday we drove up to Terri Fender's farm, through lovely 'Seattle' weather.  It was rainy, cold and windy, not the best photo taking op!  But, we got to meet all her horses and she provided lunch.  Jas and I had to leave pretty much as everyone else arrived, to make it to the airport for our flights. 

The next stop on my journey was Upper Michigan to visit my parents.  I grew up in Houghton (not Houghton Lake, HOUGHTON, home of Michigan Tech University).  My mom and I did lots of yard work, bagged up lots of leaves, took off screens, and did some hedge trimming.  We also went out to several favorite local restaurants (yum Tostada pizza from The Ambassador!) and visited some of my nieces and their families.  We also went to visit my dad twice at the home were he is living (Alzheimer's).  It was a very nice visit and then early (really early) Friday morning I flew to Lexington, KY, home of the Kentucky Horse Park, where our third HorseFlicks filming was to take place.

Now, I absolutely love the Horse Park.  It is the horsey version of Disneyland.  If someone gave me a choice between the KHP and Disneyland, I'd take the KHP in a heartbeat.  It is gorgeous, perfectly groomed, the horses are all well taken care of and happy and there are about 1200 (I read somewhere) acres there, all dedicated to horses.  What isn't to love?  I think this is my 4th time there now and I'd be happy to go back many more times.  We were participating in a 'Breeds Weekend' as the guest breed, so we had 4 shows we had to do over two days.  The Breeds Barn has a rotating show twice daily that showcases different breeds.  Their program said they have at least 40 different breeds at the KHP, so there is a lot of rotation that can be done.  Our bit came after their program when we were announced as a guest breed.  We had 11 horses come, so to make sure everyone got a chance to be in the film, we did some brainstorming.  Our filming was only to take place on Saturday, so we wanted to showcase the most advanced horses, but everyone was to get a shot out there.  Also, we had 8 stallions, 2 mares and a gelding, so there was a little working around that to make sure everyone kept their minds on the job.  Our first filming of the day came around 11:15, and we started with Gidasp and Adamek doing dressage and then I think it was Garpun, in his search and rescue gear. Then we had Adamek and Zak jumping, then  we finished with the mares Mari and Guli in costume along with the gelding Ki being led.  I think that was the order of go...anyway, it went off very well, the horses and riders did a great job and then several of them waited for after the presentation when the public was invited to come and pet the horses and talk to their riders.  We did another one in the afternoon, this time with Eramay and Grygy in western gear and Goklen in costume.

                                                           Keven and Grygy getting ready

Goklen and Eron meeting people on the lawn after a presentation.

Eron also rode Gidasp in a third level dressage test (there was a big dressage show going on that weekend) on Saturday and then another one on Sunday.    I don't know which tests they were, but I can safely say that the one above was the most photographed test of the day - we had at least 4 cameras going, along with Jon with his video camera.

 

 

We went to the local Cracker Barrel that evening and I tried some southern cooking - interesting.  I always try something local(ish) when I'm in a new place.  We had a nice time chatting with pretty much everyone that had been at the Park that day.  I was staying with Cindy Sither, so we headed off to her house. 

 

Sunday was more of the same.  We didn't have Jon there to film, so we mixed things up a bit.  After we finished the 2 pm showing, I headed out to the airport and flew home. 

 

It was a really wonderful 10 days and I'm really glad I went, but I'm STILL catching up.  Oh well, gotta pay to play!