Saturday Morning Ride

My pals and I had a really enjoyable ride this morning. Stylin was a little gimpy last night so I took Dixie today. Cathy decided to borrow a friend's Tennessee Walker because her guy has been off for 3 months and needs a tune up before she takes him out in the woods. After a little rough start, she and Layla clicked and she really enjoyed her first TWH glide ride. We rode out in Jennings State Forest and combined some trails we know well with a few newer ones. ( at least newer to me:) Some other ladies joined us when we were on our way back to the trailers....their horses were not used to riding in a group and I was afraid the ladies might get hurt by their jumpy horses. They mentioned they are going on the big Withlacoochie Ride in October.....goodluck to them - we mentioned they may want to work with their horses some more before they throw themselves in with 300 other horses. Here's some more photos and a video of Cathy and Layla. PHOTOS

Oops, Owwww, and Bow Wow !

With a nice 4 day weekend ahead for me, ( I don't have to work on Fridays) I spent Friday hanging out with my Mom some. On Saturday I decided to get some yellow sand and build up Stylin's stall. I didn't want the next storm to flood her stall again. So, I go to the local rock and sand place and have them dump a yard of good sand in the back of my Ford F250. I drive home and into the horse pen, which is still a little wet and slick from Tropical Storm Fay, and back up to Stylin's stall so I can shovel the sand directly from the truck into the stall. Of course, we're a little heavy with the wet sand in the truck and we sink a little into the mud. Oh well....I go ahead and unload what I can, pull up with a little difficulty and try to reposition the truck and then get REALLY stuck. Dang it! I have to leave it right there for two days until the mud finishes drying up. Oops !

After that, Bobby and I got dolled up a little and headed out to a wedding for one of my riding buddy's daughter. It was a beautiful service and the bride and groom served Holy Communion as their first act as man and wife....how cool ! Bobby commented that he had never seen our friend Marilyn in anything other and denim and leather before. :) Then we slipped out during the reception and went over to my former in-laws house for a Labor Day get together. My former sisters-in-law still treat me like family and I love them for it. They treat Bobby like one of the family as well.

Sunday morning brings church service and then a trip to Newberry to visit Bobby's mom and sister. I always love the drive down, especially when we take the back roads.

I got up early Monday morning to start cooking a meal to take to another good friend whose father passed away. Very sad, but it felt good to be able to help in a little way. Bobby and I worked together to put together a down home, southern meal. Ham, black eye peas, rice, sliced tomatoes, some diced onions, deviled eggs and Jiffy cornbread. (I'm not good at making old-fashioned cornbread.) Then, late afternoon, I joined my daughter Jenny to ride at Ms. Jane's arena to work our ponies some. After we worked them for a while, we all traded horses. I rode Jen's horse for a little while and then decided to trade off with another girl named Lori. Of course I was too lazy to adjust her stirrups and rode her horse without any. BIG mistake ! We walked, trotted and then decided to canter...... to the left was uncomfortable, but OK....then when I cantered her to the right, she cut a little quicker than I expected, I got off balance, she broke to a big trot, I insisted on a continuation of our right lead canter and she said NO...humped and bucked and off I went. :) Did a very ungraceful tuck and semi roll; my butt hit pretty hard and I even peed a little. Owwww! Got up, brushed myself off, and decided to get back on my own horse with my own saddle. A little toddy and 2 Aleves and I felt much better.

OH yeah, we also dog sat for my sister, so with her 2 , we had 4 dogs in the house Sunday and Monday. They were very well behaved and I even got to practice my best Cesar Milan imitation. (In my favorite man boxers that my sister says she's going to burn one day) :-) FYI - all 4 dogs are rescues or adopted from local shelters.

Keep the Hurricane Gustav victims in your prayers this week.

After the Storm

Tropical Storm Fay has finally left us and moved on. She dumped LOTS of rain in our area and took our power for a day and 1/2. No damage, just a few small limbs down on our propety. The back yard and horse pen are flooded. The girls just have about 1/3 of their pen high and semi dry. If the rain quits for good, we should see the water dry up in about 3 or 4 days.

I let the girls out of their messy pen into the back yard to graze for a while. The yard has standing water, but is better than the mucky pen. They seemed pleased to be out.

On a very sad note, my friend Charlotte lost her horse Tinker today. Tinker was a good horse and always took good care of Charlotte. I was with her the day she bought him at the auction...she told me to stop her at a certain amount and then when I reminded her, she ignored me and continued to bid. She never regretted spending the extra money on him. Rest in peace Tinker's Jewel.

Young, Dumb but Havin' Fun

Connie, me on the bottom, Cheryl on top

I was digging through some old photos and found some really old ones from 1973 and 74 of me and my first horse, Cognac. (Connie). That was an awful fancy name I chose for the $150 grade mare of my dreams. My parents purchased her as a Christmas present when I was 16 from my uncle who was a horse trader at the time. What a kind soul she was........ I knew NOTHING about actually keeping horses except what I had read in horse adventure stories such as Fury, The Black Stallion series and C.W. Anderson stories. I had loved horses since I could remember, but I was ignorant on the proper care and feeding of them. I don't remember ever worming her, having her feet done, or any vet calls for shots, etc. I'm sure some of it was done, but it's a miracle she did as well as she did. I'm embarassed now, but my current mares get all the extra care Connie never did. My cousins and I raced besides busy streets, crossed over expressways, swam in borrow pits, rode shoeless, bareback, double, double backwards....all the things I dreaded when my daughter got her first horse. Thank goodness I know better now and thank goodness for horses that put up with crazy kids!

This is my best friend Cheryl and Connie- check out that bit !

This next one is me on a fuzzy, winter coated, rather slim Connie - I feel happy and sad looking back at these photos.

Ponderings

Two friends of ours ,who are well known in the Jacksonville horse scene, lost 2 horses to a terrible accident this week. While on their way to a local roping, they were broadsided by a truck that ran a stop sign. I won't go into the details, but from what I've learned, it was a horrific scene that I'm sure they will never forget. The blessing was that no people were seriously injured in what could have been a fatal accident for everyone. It made me think about how I would feel if I lost my two best four legged friends.........and it reminded me that we need to live each day as if it's our last - don't wait until tomorrow. That's what Jane and Wayne do - they were on their way to team rope - something that they are passionate about and very good at.

This is a picture of Stylin, Ringer, me and Dixie taken over a year ago. Ringer has gone on to a new home, living the good life and is now called Ranger. Hug your horses............and your friends.

What Is Your Dream ?

One of our pastors ended his sermon last Sunday with the question..... "What is YOUR dream?" This has been bouncing around in my head since Sunday morning and at first I thought, boy, I must be a loser because I don't have a dream. But this morning, as I was feeding my horses in the dark and Stylin sleepily stuck her tongue in my coffee cup, decided she liked it and went for it again.....I smiled to myself and thought once again just how blessed I am..... I am LIVING my dream.

• I live on 2 acres of land in the city and can keep my horses in my back yard
• I'm married to a kind and gentle man
• My grown daughter calls me everyday and stops by to visit when she can
• Most of my family is nearby and we are close
• I have a wonderful circle of friends
• I have a job (I've worked at the same place for 34 years)
• I serve and worship with a wonderful church family

We may not live "high on the hog", but we have more than we need. Everyday is not perfect but everyday IS a gift. Thanks to Pastor Curran for reminding me!

Yee-Haw!

I got my non summer time riding buddy, Cathy, out on the trails last Sunday......(yes I played hooky from church)...and on my Appy mare Dixie to boot. Us over 50 gals sometimes have a spell when the heat is turned up outside, so I usually try to ride early. Unfortunately, Cathy has an aversion to getting up too early on her days off as well. Well, the stars must have been aligned just right, or she wasn't thinking straight when I called her, but she agreed to go with me and meet some of our friends on the trails in Jennings State Forest. Her horse Busta is recuperating with a bad hoof and she knew Dixie would give her a worry free, training free ride. Everyone was surprised and happy to see her out and about - you'd think she'd been missing for a year! :) We had a great 3-1/2 hour ride; just a couple of banana spiders, very few yellow flies and the cloud cover was perfect for an August morning/afternoon.