Morning Ride

Chele joined me for a couple hour ride at the Ravines this morning. The State forests have been closed because of flooding, so our options were limited. Plus, the bugs have been AWFUL lately. I was hoping that if we got an early enough start, we could beat the bugs and get back before it got too hot.Chele and Dawn

We took off at 8:00 am and stayed on the trails that did not lead down to the creek but still provided some shade and were rewarded with the sight of a couple of deer feeding along the forest's edge. We only hit a couple of patches of yellow flies and a light breeze kept us from overheating.

Me and Style (I look like a turtle head or something!)

I've been riding Stylin in her "big girl" bit, a medium port short shanked curb, and she has been very quiet with it . I'm learning to stay out of her face, use one hand, and let her carry herself. All in all, a wonderful ride and I got my trail fix.

My Dream...

I love, love, love this video...... I don't promote bullfighting, but I dream of having a bond with my horse like Merlin and his rider do in this video montage.

Another Great "FUN DAY"

Our group of horsey friends got together again at the Woodard's farm to have another Obstacle Fun Day.

Traci and Mike really went all out this time to make the obstacles challenging (and colorful) without totally tearing up their pasture.

After playing with our horses and sweating our butts off, we took a break and ate the food that we all brought, then went back out for a little more saddle time. I had "cruised" Stylin at a canter in Traci's new pen/arena, then walked her around all the obstacles. I had to dismount to work her through several of the obstacles but we never made it through the water hazard with the floaties in it. I did finally get her close enought to sniff it. Afterwards - I took her back through everything mounted.

I'm so glad that I have these friends who have fun together along with helping and encouraging each other. We did have one mishap - Marilyn's Arab, Spirit, got a little too spirited and dumped her. She wound up with a dislocated elbow and our horses got a little more desensitized to a fire truck and rescue.

Here are the rest of the pictures - lots and lots............ PHOTOS

Tennessee Road Trip

Me, Robbin, Mom and Shelly

My sister Robbin and I picked up Mom and headed to Springfield, TN to visit our other sister Shelly for her birthday and to spend Mother's Day together as a family. Now - I won't lie and say that the 11 hour journey was all kittens and butterflies, but it wasn't bad. We went in Robbin's new HHR and stopped about every 2 or 3 hours to stretch and let Mom get the stiffness out.Melinda and Bo

While we were there, we got to catch up with all of Shelly's kids and meet Shelly's boyfriend, Steve. Mom took us all out to dinner at Longhorn's on Shelly's birthday - Saturday - to celebrate all of us girls' birthdays. (We're all May babies) We had a really nice time and I know Mom enjoyed having us all together. Then on Mother's Day, we all went to church together, then Shelly cooked us a full turkey dinner - YUMMM-MEEEE !

Shelly and Vance

Shelly and Allison

We left Mom there to stay with Shelly for a couple of weeks until school lets out for the summer. Then Shelly is bringing her back home to Jacksonville.

May Days

My daughter and I took our dogs to Goldhead State Park for a 3 mile hike. Don't laugh, 3 miles of hills and roots and some deep sand was pretty tough on this ole girl. The trails were very pretty and there were some creek crossings where the dogs could get some water. At one point we saw a little fawn that couldn't have been a week old, walking around and bleating for its mom. That was strange because normally fawns would be lying still, hiding. Even more weird was the little thing saw us and starting walking to us. The dogs scared it and it ran off. Jenny made sure to stop by the ranger's office so they could see if maybe it was abandoned.

After our walk, Jenny and I parted ways and I went on to the Clay County Fairgrounds to see Dennis Reis and his No Dust tour. I've always liked him on RFD TV, but I have to say, I was very disappointed in his "live" demonstrations. He was filming 30 minute segments for his show, then he would talk to the audience afterwards. He had just completed the first TV segment and his question and answer session, when he whips out his DVD package and proceeds to start selling his $1,000 system before we've really seen anything of what he could do. I thought that was a little premature and a backwards kind of selling techinique. But....maybe he was worried that people (like myself) would get a little bored and leave early. I still think he can do great things, but his style and the way he talked to his team turned me off.

Just for fun, I thought you might like to see my crazy cat that thinks he's a dog. He goes out with the dogs in the morning and sometimes he goes in the kennel with them. I had a VERY busy weekend - didn't get any riding in, but along with my Saturday walk and horse watching seminar, we spent some quality time with Mom and our church friends. Here are the rest of the pictures taken over this weekend. PHOTOS