Well It's Been Cold Enough!

On December 13th we finally got snow! Here's proof!:

OK, well, it probably wasn't snow technically, but it was frozen precipitation! Java, our 8 year old Boxer, LOVES the snow! I think he would have been much happier if he had been born a Huskie.

He has quite a bit of arthritis in his hips and hind legs, plus an old knee injury, so to keep him from getting too stiff we 'blanket' him when he goes out in the cold. While we were trying to find a new coat for him he got to wear his old show cooler. (But come on, we all know it's really a cape!) It kept him drier at least:

The horses got their winter blankets on so they could go out to the snow covered pasture. I really like to keep them clean and dry, just in case I get a chance to ride.

Java and I walked back and forth from the house hauling hot water out to the barn. The ice breakering and hauling out water had become a daily (or twice daily) chore. Our water lines out to the barn had long been frozen at this point. While walking back to the house for the last time I snapped this pic of Java, one of the few I think I will ever get of him in 'action!'

Notice the WSU Cougar collar, that's right!

Of course he has to stop and eat some snow on the way back out to the barn...

When I was done cleaning Java helped me bring the girls back to the barn. Mercy, the darling, doesn'y really like Java's cape. She follows him around trying to touch him, and unfortunately I have no doubt she would go after him. That thing on him is so threatening! *snort* She is WAY to suspisious for her own good...

After Java noticed that she was basically on top of him, he ran behind me and stayed by my side. Good boy! I protected him from the Spotted One until we left the barn. I threw the girls a little hay and back inside to the fireplace Java and I went.

Mercy must have wanted to come in too, because she was standing outside in the snow while Star at all the hay. *sigh*

Silly girl. :)

Wordless Wednesday

Trailering Out Into The Cold

Three days after our last ride, my mom and I decided to venture back into the cold for another trail ride. We decided to trailer out to the Landsburg trails, hoping they were less frozen. Plus, riding down to the pipeline would mean flat, open, and easy-to-ride areas. And, if we got lucky, we might get a peak of SUN!

We tacked up quickly after arriving at the trail head and stuffed our socks and gloves with hand and toe warmers. I think both girls were as eager as us to get out and stretch their legs.

We rode down to the pipeline where the sun welcomed us to ride further. The shadowed areas were still frosty and completely uninviting. Needless to say, we stayed on the side with the sun.

Stopped for a quick photo in the sun (Wow Starlett's clean!):

Mercy was more interested in the dry, crunchy grass...

After crossing a road and riding through a few gates, we continued on. This blueish building has been here on the side of the trail forever. Star and I used to ride past it all of the time when we boarded out here a long time ago. Back then it didn't have a fence around it... so of course it is much scarier now. Go figure. Usually nervous around it, Mercy could care less this time.

We meandered down the road until the taller trees prevented the sun's rays from reaching us, so we turned around and headed back the way we came. We found a trail that neither of us could remember was there before, so we took it. I knew it would hook up with the 'Putman trail' but didn't really know where. It was nice in the trees and hearing the Cedar River down below. The trail looped back around to the pipeline at the scary blue building after maybe a quarter mile. We were glad to reemerge on the pipeline, it was getting mighty chilly!

After crossing the road and going through the gates again, we took a trail into the hills to make our way back to the trailer. It was a short ride, especially for all the 'trouble' of hauling out, but it was very cold and we were all happy to get home. All I have left to say about this ride is thank goodness for toe and hand warmers! They really do make outdoor activities in the winter a pleasure again!

Everything's Frozen... Still

December 9th was more frigid than the day before. Yes there was sun gloriously peaking out, but oh it was still so bitterly cold. My girls needed to get out; the ground was so frozen at our place that they were not getting much turnout. I did not need someone going lame because they twisted a fetlock... or something...

Our ride was slow and short, only traveling to the lake and back. The trails we ride on are almost always in the shadows of the trees. Between the crazy cold temperatures and never seeing a glimpse of sun, the trails were solid ice and crunchy, mud ice crystals. This makes for some interesting trail conditions. As you can kinda see in these photos, the ground had thawed, frozen, and re thawed so many times that the usually wet areas had become cavities in the ground.

The horses would step on the crystals and their hooves would fall down and inch or two until they hit solid ice. This make for some slow moving...

Neither horse panicked and we made it to the lake all in one piece. There were no other people or animals in the area, so it was quite unusually peaceful.

Then I took a look out past the shoreline. The little cove had frozen almost completely over! I have never seen this happen since I have lived here.

After taking in the beautiful sight, we moved a little ways off to the grassy slope. While waiting for the girls to get their fill of frozen grass I took some shadow pictures. This is the only one that turned out...never knew a horse could move so much while standing still...

On our way home I was able to get some good pictures of the frozen vegetation throughout the forest. Again, the sun never reaches this area because of the gigantic Douglas Firs and Cedars.

Sure made the rest of the ride look a whole lot warmer once we broke into the sun's rays once again. Although short, the ride was relaxing and inviting. I couldn't wait for the next one.

A Quick, Frosty Winter Ride

On December 2nd, Mercy, Starlett and I headed out into the subfreezing weather to stretch your legs. It wasn't bad out, besides the cold. No wind, rain, or snow. Just some overcast skies and the frozen ground.I decided to ride Mercy and pony Star on our ride, hoping that Star would actually move out a little faster to keep up with Mercy's mega fast walk. Well, the trails were iced over, so Mercy was kept at a slow walk. She really didn't appreciate that. We had to stop often to reinforce that freaking out and pulling through the bit was going to get her nowhere. Here is her 'can we go now?' look:

And then 'Oh! What is that?!'... and looses what we had just worked on... standing still until I say so...

*sigh* We ended up just doing the short loop, a 30 minute ride at most. That was just fine with me; Star really has a hard time on ice, especially when she hasn't been out very much and her arthritis is acting up. I didn't want to risk her getting hurt.

As the sun was getting lower in the afternoon sky we made our way back home. Right as we broke into the clearing before our house, 'our' three deer looked up at us. Not even caring about our sudden appearance, they returned to grazing a few feet away from us.

I said hello to them and we finished the trail home.

Riding up a Mountain

My mom and I took the big plunge a few days after Thanksgiving; we rode the horses up Taylor Mountain. We have lived in the area for well over fifteen years, but I guess we have never felt a need or reason to ride these trails. Well, my friend had ridden these trails for quite a few years and had brought me along on a ride this fall. What wonderful trails! They are very well kept by members of the Backcounrty Horseman chapters in the area, so I thought we should take advantage of them.

We loaded up the trailer on that cold Sunday afternoon. I think it may have gotten to 32* by the time we reached the parking area. After saddling up the girls and activating our toe and hand warmers we headed off. We entered a wet forested area that slowly started heading up the hillside. The ground is very clay based on this mountain, making the trail slick with all of the recent rain and snow. I think I had just got done telling my mom I hope we didn't meet anyone coming down the hill when a group came around the corner. It took a few minutes to get our girls turned around and back down the slick hillside to a safe place to turn off the trail and let the other riders pass.

I was still working with Mercy on her speed control, and this included going up steep hills. I really wanted her to walk up the slick hill, but at some point I realized we just needed to get up the hill to firmer ground or the horses were going to loose their momentum and have a hard time getting the rest of the way up. So we trotted. And this was the view from the first rest stop to let the girls air up:

We zigzagged across the mountain making our way to the first 'peak.' The ground was still a little shifty, but not too bad. At this point we kept things at a walk. A few parts of the trail were pretty steep and I didn't feel like making my way back down the hill doing back flips... Mercy responded well when I practiced placing her feet around soft spots or rocks on the trail. Star was doing pretty good for being out of shape; she kept up with Mercy-the-speed-walker for the most part.

After reaching the 'peak,' we headed down into another forested section of the trail that had been recently renovated by the BCH. Gravel was hauled in to make the hill stable. As we made our down we had to dodge massive old growth trees hanging over the trail. At the bottom is a creek that, I have been told, runs even during the hottest of summers, making it a great place to rest up and water the horses. Mercy wasn't impressed:

Star seemed a little more interested, at least giving the water a quick sniff:

A little way up the trail we met a couple who had been hiker and taking scenic pictures. Mercy could not let the cameras out of her sight. She REALLY wanted to see them. I had to insist quick roughly that we move on, but she continued to look back until she could no longer hear them. We took one more switchback up the mountain. Almost at the top we met a nice man and his dogs taking a rest on the side if the trail. After exchanging greetings we finished climbing the mountain. Proof:

Both horses enjoyed gazing off into the distance, looking for their barn no doubt... My mom and I remarked that it would have been smart to bring the binoculars. Oh well, next time. We could only speculate where our house was, along with the surrounding towns. If the now sprinkling clouds weren't there, we could have seen Seattle and Bellevue. Again, next time...

On our decent down the mountain we decided to take a switch back that takes us to the gravel service road, which leads us back to the trailer area. It was a quicker route down and at that point in the ride we wanted to make going down easy on the girls. Neither my mom nor I was looking forward to riding the slick clay trail back down, so the road it was. Once we got there, we met a few other riders and chitchatted a little. We headed down and let me tell you, Star was hiding a little something in the back burner. She was walking out so fast that Mercy couldn't keep up! What?! This never happens, ever. Until then. She knew the trailer was up ahead:

We were all really worn out by the time we returned to the trailer. Both horses stood like statues to be unsaddled and brushed. Starlett got here new pink cooler thrown on her and into the trailer they went, happy for some hay and happy to be heading home.

What a ride. For all of us.

New Computer: Check!

I have finally bought a new computer! It's a super simple and small Acer laptop, good enough for the stuff I do: go online and load pictures from my camera(s). I am thrilled with it so far and can't wait to get back into the blogging scene! I have a LOT to share, so it will take me a while to get my typing skills back up to par. Here is a quick teaser pic:

It's Starting to Look A Lot Like Christmas...

... but I have no way to show you! LOL! My computer crashed again. And I am officially done with it. Thank goodness this is a great time of the year to buy a new computer; there are some awesome deals going on right now. Anyway, once I have a new set up, I will post some mega long posts that have had to be put off for weeks.

Until I sign in again, have a great week and a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Best Mash Ever

At least, I thought so! I wanted to share the holiday spirit with the girls, so I made up some delicious timothy pellet mashes for dinner! Of course there were carrots and mini candy canes added too! Mercy takes no time diving in and picking out the goodies:



Star, however, is not always so sure about the whole ordeal. Until we got Mercy, we really never fed her mashes of any kind. She takes a while to get her lips icky, but once she gets past that part, it's gone.

Mercy was having such a fun time eating her num nums that she forgot to keep it in the bowl! Silly mare! I'll remember to buy the deeper ones next time...

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Wordless Wednesday

Farting is NOT Allowed! (Part 2: Solo Ride)

After a long morning of work at a friend's place, I was invited to go on a trail ride on one of her horses at Taylor Mt. that afternoon. This was very exciting because I have never had the opportunity to ride there, even though I live 10 minutes away. I just don't like exploring unfamiliar trails that can be ridden across state- too many places and turns to get lost in. I had a great ride! It was sunny out and after making it to the top of the mountain, I remembered that I had left my camera in the trailer. Boo.

Coming down from the top was a little challenging. My friend has reiners, still in slid plates, and the ground was rain soaked clay. We slipped and slid all the way down. Thank goodness I trust the gelding I was riding. He is such a fun ride!

I got home with just enough daylight to jump on Mercy for a short ride. I grabbed Star on the way out and we headed out for the short loop. It was kinda windy, so we took it easy walking through the clear-cut, but we managed to stay spook free.

The next morning it was brisk and clear. A storm was just off the WA coast and steaming our way quickly, so I wanted to head out for another ride as soon as possible. I wanted to really ride Mercy, so Star got left at home. I headed off to the left and up the rocky hill. I should have know this was going to be another challenging ride because when she climbed the hill, she loped. As you probably remember I have been having issues getting Mercy to move out on the trail recently. Nope. Not now. She blasted off up the hill! Usually at the top she walks really slow. Nope Not now. She continued to lope down the trail. I let her keep going for a ways before I asked her to slow.

Then, to my shock and amazement, she willingly turned and carried on down the hill once in the woods. This NEVER happens. She hates going down this trail because once you start down, you can hear people on the trails above us. She has to see who's up there, always. Nope. Not today. We got to the bottom in record time. We stopped by the apple tree, where the last apple was still hanging. I grabbed the trunk and shook it. The apple dropped to the ground and rolled a ways off, so I had to help Mercy find it.

After Mercy's tasty snack, we headed for the train track. This is where all hell *almost* broke loose. Mercy took off without me being ready. Well, I was ready for her to lope, but she lunged at the hill. I lost my seat and couldn't gather my reins quick enough, and Mercy knew it. She hadn't even finished the turn on the hill when she took off bucking. It wasn't a really serious bucking fit, more of a 'it feels cold out and I feel frisky,' but it wasn't acceptable. Once she hit the flat, straight track I had time to regain my seat and suck the reins back up to stop her. Even once she was stopped, she felt like she could shoot off again. I insisted she walk straight and brisk. When she wigged out, we backed up on a loose rein, then continued. Grrr...

From that moment on, I insisted she control her own speed or pace. If she took off without me cuing her, I hauled her ass down. Then we started over again. If she stopped without me sitting or reining her down, she got her sides kicked into a new gear. I had finally come to the realization that allowing her to choose her own pace was the worst thing I could let her do. She is the kind of horse that will take advantage of anything, any mistake or unseen opportunity. I have to control every movement she makes. If she doesn't listen, there will be consequences, no exception.

For the remainder of the ride I practiced my new epiphany. Guess what? By the end of the ride (which was just taking switchbacks home, at a walk) she was listening and reacting to every cue I made. She no longer took off at the bottom of a hill, assuming we lope on every hill. She also waited until I decided which trail to follow. It is no longer her idea.

Even with the rough start, I am glad it happened. I finally figured something else out about Mercy. I NEED to be her leader. She needs to rely on me for everything. I can't wait to see how this translates to the show ring.

Farting is NOT Allowed! (Part 1: Our First Reining Show)

Last weekend Mercy and I were invited to the reining schooling show at the Tacoma Unit in Spanaway, WA by some close friends. Since I don't have a haul-worthy vehicle right now, they volunteered to pick us up so we could get a good ride in, and maybe enter a schooling class or two! Of course I said I would come! It was an awful rainy, windy day complete with thunder and lightening and I am glad for any chance to ride in a covered or indoor arena.

The only thing I was nervous about with this whole adventure was loading Mercy into their trailer. Their trailer is a massive 4horse with a monster sized tack room up front and a rear tack room in back gooseneck... with a ramp. That's the part I was nervous about. She loads in any trailer with other horses and hay, but I have never squeezed her into that narrow of an opening after climbing a ramp. Plus it had been months since I'd loaded her. Hmmm....

Well, my good friends got to my place around 12:30 and pulled up in front of my house. We loaded Mercy's tack up and then I went to grab Mercy. I quickly brushed her down while my mom grabbed her cooler (just in case) and we headed up to the house. Mercy took some very slow steps toward the trailer, but she never stopped moving forward. I lined her up with the ramp and trailer stall and walked in in front of her. She took one big step onto the ramp, paused, and then came forward easily . She wanted to smell the horse in the 3rd stall, but that's not allowed! No touching of the other horses! LOL! When I told her 'no' she backed out slowly, starting to get a little nervous. I asked her to come in again, which she did, and showed her the hay in the hay bag. Oh! She liked that. she reached forward and took a nibble, then backed out. One of my neighbors had been patiently waiting in their car to drive by so I took Mercy off the ramp and let him pass. After the very short break I tried driving Mercy into the trailer instead of leading her in. Voila! It worked! She climbed in and dove into the hay while I closed the butt bar and tied her in. We were off!

She hauled great and when we got to Spanaway she unloaded like a pro. I tied and tacked her up quickly. We were running late, the show had already begun! Not only that, but this was the largest showing of participants this show had ever had- a new record for them! This meant that I had no time to ride in the indoor arena and every rider was working or waiting in the smaller covered arena. No big deal right? Wrong.



That was a horrible shot. Her ears look as long as her head, Ugh. Unfortunately, I didn't have the chance to take many pics and most of them were in REALLY low light, so ya...

A little better, kinda. This time it's her suspicious/evil eye going on. I should have known this was to be a challenging day...

We walked over to the arena, where the steers used for sorting and cutting were mulling around in their pens, and mounted up. Mercy was very calm and taking everything in stride while I walked her around the other horses and equipment on that side of the arena. The other side of the arena was the 'active' side; riders were loping and jogging their horses in preparation for their runs. After I checked Mercy's 'whoa' and bending, I aimed her toward the rail to join the start our warm up.

Mercy basically bolted down the rail all the while trying to kick the horses working around us. I couldn't believe it. I had zero control of my horse. I was finally able to gather my reins, but Mercy was already way too flustered to calm her down quickly. We had bolted back to the 'calm' side, so I worked on bending her head around and getting her mind back with me. We progressed into walking and then trotting small circles around the other groups of horses that were 'resting.'

She had relaxed so much that I thought we would try going to the other side again. I asked her to walk a few steps at a time into the chaos, then stop and stand there. We almost got half way around the circle when it became too much and she bolted again. She would swing her butt out and back into other horses to kick them. Talk about some serious confidence issues...

We went back to the calm side and I worked her butt doing small circles and backing. Then I took a break for myself. I had no idea what to do. I wanted to be able to work on this issue, but it was also my number one priority to keep everyone else in the arena safe from my poorly acting mare. We worked on spins for a while and then I just parked her over by the cows. After about a half an hour, my friend came over and suggested I let Mercy walk with her horse into the active side, which was far less busy now that the show was almost halfway through. I took the rail and my friend and her gelding took the inside track. I just forced Mercy to stay by his side, no falling behind and no blowing ahead. When she was calm, she got a loose rein. When she got bothered I took ahold and corrected her, then released to see if she would stay with me. After maybe 3 times around the circle, we switched directions and we took the inside track. My friend suggested that I let her trot as long as she stayed in control, so I asked her forward and away we went.

She got a little bothered with the speed and tried taking off, throwing in a little buck and fart. My friend suggested I try getting her to relax her neck and poll by massaging her mouth with her bit- basically squeezing each rein alternating left then right and so on, but without steering her off the circle. It worked! Mercy finally relaxed into the bit and soon we were changing from a slow jog to an extended jog back to a walk, all without issues. And while other horses had joined the circle again. After another 45 minutes of this, changing directions, speeds, and gaits, we took a break in the middle of the circle. She had relaxed so much that she had come off the bit, lifted her back, and collected her whole body, so her break was well deserved. *sigh*

From that moment on I was able to ride anywhere in the arena and feel confident that she wouldn't bolt, buck, kick, and carry on in any way. I pretty much spent the next hour or so jogging circles and practicing our stops. We had made a major break through for the day, so I didn't want to push her anymore. While waiting for my friends' classes, I took her to the trailer and untacked her. She wasn't sweaty, but I threw her cooler on anyway since it was really cold, wet, and dark. I walked her back to the arena where the cows had just been fed. They were really hungry and in their frenzy to eat they had pushed most of the hay through the fence. Mercy really wanted the alfalfa, so I had to hand her off to my friend while I pushed the hay back in.

Mercy wasn't real happy about this so she had to stare down the cows after I took control of her again, tee hee!

We hung out until the show was over, at about 6:30, and walked into the indoor arena so she could look around. Maybe next time we will get there earlier so I can ride in a larger area. And maybe *gasp!* we could actually enter a schooling class! That was the goal for today before this whole Mercy-acting-like-a-stubborn-appy thing happened. Just one class, that's all I was looking for. Oh well.

She loaded like a pro heading home and boy was Star happy to see her. Mercy just wanted her hay, some water, and a good place to sleep. She make life way too difficult lol!

Ripples and Rays

Mercy was really interested in the tasty leaves this past Sunday. It's pretty challenging to get going on our rides this time of the year because we all know those leaves are so irrasistably crunchy, right!? Well, atleast Mercy thinks so...


It was a beautifully sunny day for a ride. I was still feeling a little 'weird.' so we took it slow to start and took one trail at a time. After getting past the crunchy leaves, we headed out toward the creek. The surroundings were certainly looking a little less colorful then even just a week ago.

We picked our way through the rocks and logs and finally reached the creek. Lately Mercy hasn't shown any interest in going into the water, but on this ride she insisted that we go down there. I'm pretty much a push over, so down we headed while Star and mom stayed on the trail to wait. She took a good drink, looked around for something to eat, and stared in the direction her trail mates were waiting.

When Mercy had finally decided to leave the water we headed up the service road and took the first trail to our left. Usually we ride this trail the other direction, but it was time to try something new. As we rode along Mercy and I started hearing other people on an adjacent trail. I ignored it for the time being and continued on behind Star. We ran up the hill at full speed and when we hit the top we ran into the gals I had heard, on horses! Cool!

We often see trailers parked near the 'public' trail head, but never seem to catch the riders. Well, Mercy came undone a little and pranced in place until we went our separate ways. And she continued to really move out (at the walk) until we reached the tracks and out of hearing range of the other riders. She doesn't often meet other riders and their horses on our trails. How dare they ride there too! ;)

All the maple leaves on the track are down now. From the weather being difficult to me being sick, we didn't get to ride there during the peak leaf fall-out. The year's best pictures come during this time. Oh well, next year.

When we rode off the track trail we stopped by the apple tree to steal a couple apples for the girls. Just as we reached it the other riders came down the trail ahead of us. After saying hi again and making Mercy stand still and mind her manners, we all carried on our way. Coming down the rocky hill we met two bikers. They pulled off to the side so we could pass and continue on our way home.

It was such a nice day, so when we got home we let the girls out back to graze a little. Mercy was looking really pretty being outlined by the sun-kissed trees.

Star, not so much. Sorry girl...

Chai couldn't be outdone so she came out to help us clean the paddocks.

She was watching something amongst these sunlit maples...

On Tuesday, both my mom and I were both home so we headed out for a quick ride. We rode out to the lake and then followed the creek trail back home. It was really weird being on that trail after more than a week. The leaves are ALL down and the creek is really visible and loud because of it. The sun is easily able to filter through the saplings now, highlighting neat branches and stumps.

We rode while it was pretty windy, but the girls remained calm and as a reward we let them haul up the hill leading home. I love Mercy's explosive power when I let her loose!

With a fast approaching storm predicted for the early afternoon, I took the girls out for a quick ride this morning before the rains hit. It was already pretty windy so I knew it would be a short ride. I didn't really want to take Star with me, but she has been stocking up pretty good lately, so I took pity on her and brought her along. Any movement is better than none.

Of course, as soon as we headed out it started to sprinkle. The wind was howling too, so I asked Mercy to move out to hasten this ride even further. Star had a hard time keeping up so I brought Mercy to a more even pace. We rode the 'short loop' and headed home, a ride less than 20 mins long. It was sprinkling pretty good at one point, but by the time I got home it had quit. *sigh* At least we got out and they got to stretch their legs. Good thing we had some great rides earlier this week.

When H1N1 Interferes...

It has been over a week since I have ridden thanks to what I presume was swine flu. I never went in to get tested, but I can't think of anything else it could have been. I started feeling 'weird' on Monday and on Tuesday I started getting a sore throat. By Wednesday I was on the couch. There I stayed, drugged up on cough medicine and painkillers until yesterday. I will spare you the major details, but it was not fun. Obviously.

I was able to get out of the house yesterday. I was feeling good enough to get dressed and go to the feed store with my mom to pick up some stall pellets. I made sure I stayed away from people and cough in my tissues. I also didn't touch anything around me.

I am still not feeling great, but I can move around now without body aches and sneezing boogers on everything. And the biggest thing for me, I can sleep! Those first two nights I didn't sleep. And I am not one who naps easily. Thermaflu finally helped that.

Now that I am feeling kinda human again, we are going to try going for a ride today. I'm trying to wait and see how the Seahawks game will go, but it's sunny outside and I don't want to wait too long. I will say that I am interested to see how Mercy rides today. We recently bought some nice alfalfa to see if the girls just need a little more protein. I haven't ridden since starting their 2-3lbs a day alfalfa treat. I'll let you know how I survive!