Help Me Help the Kids !

Camping weather is coming and we're so excited! Our first camping trip will be to help support the Children's Miracle Network. Any small amount will help !

Simple Pleasures

I LOVE watching my horses. I got home before dark tonight and while I cleaned their paddock I let them have a romp and some grass in the yard.  It made me smile to see them shake their heads, leap and buck and fart.  They were having FUN!  At one point Maybe couldn't decide what to do... rear and crow hop or lie down and roll.  She stopped in the middle of her hop and folded to the ground.  :-) 

While the girls continued to graze, I took two bridles into the house, sat on the couch and cleaned leather. 

What a way to unwind from a busy day at work.

Picture This

You've had a long hard week.  It's been extremely hot...you have to do outside chores real early or real late.  There is something you have to do each night of the week which keeps you from getting home until about 8pm each night.  You look forward to the weekend when you get a chance to ride your pony with friends.......

Then....you get to take your favorite horse to the beach for an evening ride on the beach.  The breeze is refreshing, you get to spend time with your friends, meet some new ones and enjoy some special time with your horse. 

I am so blessed !  As I looked at the mansions that we rode past along the beach.....I knew that I'm really the rich one. 

Soak, Pack & Repeat

Went out to feed this morning and I had a sore little red pony out there.  She did not want to move quickly and it looked like both front feet were sore.  I could feel a pulse in her pasterns, so took her temp, pulse, respiration and called the vet.

We've had a lot of rain, so her feet are a little soft, plus she is due for a reset at the end of this week.  She got ridden on Saturday and we crossed some big patches of large slag rock a couple of times, so the vet thinks she has just bruised her soft little soles.

So it's soak, pack and repeat (along with some bute) for a couple of days and keep her out of the mud.  Thank goodness she is a good patient!  As long as you pay attention to her, she will stand as long as you want.

The Ride that Sucked.....

....sucked the back boots right off my pony's feet.   :-(

We started out jsut trying to have nice little ride from the Jacksonville Equestrian Center early to beat the heat and bugs.  We made a simple 1 hour loop on the roads and marked trails and were definitely not ready to start heading back yet....so Jenny took us off roading and we hit some swampy areas.  We were going along fine...felt like the mud was about 6 inches and the standing water was about 8 to 12 inches.  I felt a hitch and heard a different slurping sound, but had to wait till we hit solid ground again to see if I lost a boot.  When I asked if I was missing a boot, 2 people told me no....you still have them on.  Marilyn commented on her Sport Boots on her mule's front feet and I said they were the same kind that I had on Stylin's rears.....she looked at me funny and said you don't have any boots on the back.....   Dang it!  $100 down the drain....  We plan on going back when it dries a little and do a search.  These are the first Cavallo boots to ever come off my horse..... the Simple Boots (the original style) have never come off.  That's what we had on the fronts.

Anyway, once we splashed our way out of the water we hit the hilly trails and had a blast climbing up and down some steep hills...not very high....maybe 20 to 25 feet or so, but fun and a change of pace.

Mustang was going to be at the Equestrian Center for the rest of the day for the swimming competitions with her daughter at the facility next door, so I brought my 25 yr old Appy, Dixie for her to ride.  The old gal cleans up nicely and gave Michelle a great ride.  I love to watch other people ride my horse and appreciate this horse more and more each year.

We finished up the ride at the Equestrian Center and had some authentic Cuban ( or was is Puerto Rican?) lunch while watching the Paso Fino Extravanza. 

Celebrity

My girl, Stylin, was used in a photo shoot recently by Bonnie Estell Photography.  She behaved very well and I think they had a successful shoot.  I hope to be able to get a full size image from the photographer soon.  My daughter bathed her and took her to the location where she helped as a wrangler and jumped up and down in the background to get her to perk her ears.

Sunshine on my Ponies Makes me Happy

Water has receded...mud should be dry in a week or so...ponies had a nice day in the sunshine mowing the back yard.