With my new, much, much lower budget, I will have to pick and choose my camping opportunities and have opted to ride close to home most of the time.
My daughter Jenny, my good friends Cathy and Shelly and I went on a ride two weekends ago that was a lot of fun. We parked at the Jacksonville Equestrian Center, but instead of riding the trails there (they were having an ACTHA event) we crossed SR 228 and rode around on the old Cecil Field Naval Base. It's now called Cecil Commerce Center and boasts a runway that the Space Shuttles could land on as a backup. Since there weren't any signs that said "no horses", we took a tour of the perimeter of the golf course, down thru the main street, and ended up at a lake and picnic area. That was after cruising by the Golf Course Club House where they were having a "Redneck Golf Tournament". We asked if we could buy a beer, and a couple of good ole boys handed us some cold ones out of their coolers. :-)
Shelly with a concoction that Cathy made for us with the golf course behind
I took my sweet, old, mare Dixie out for a short ride on Saturday and I believe that she told me it was time for her to retire.
She didn't stumble, she didn't refuse, but she felt tired. I get it old girl, you are ready to retire and you have earned it.
Dixie brought me back into horse ownership in 1998 and has been such a great teacher, confidence builder, guest horse and babysitter. She has been semi retired for the last couple of years, but other than taking the occasional child on a backyard tour - I'm officially letting her live out the rest of her years as a lady of leisure. At 27 years young this year, we're hoping to have her around for a good long while yet.
Life has been busy since I've semi retired. I'm staying busy doing chores, running errands and cleaning houses. I did however, take the time to improve my horsemanship education.
In February, I attended the Metta Baxter Driving Clinic held at the University of Florida's Horse Teaching Unit. It was so much fun! It was two days of hands on learning; we learned about harnesses and carts, how to harness and put to a cart and actually got to drive as well. My friend Cathy came home and put her big horse Busta to a cart and he didn't have a problem with it at all.
We drove each other before they let us touch the horses. :-) We also got to see the horses that are part of UF's horse program - really nice horses.
Then on the first weekend in April, my friends and I went to a Ron McLoughlin clinic at Silver Sands Bridle Club in Port Orange/New Smyrna Florida. Ron teaches classical riding techniques based on what he learned from Monte Foreman many years ago. He runs the Classical Stock Seat School of Arizona and we are fortunate to have him come to Florida 3 to 4 times a year.
It was an intense 3 day weekend of riding, studying and more riding. I loved the group riding and the special one on one attention that he gave each student and horse. I came home with some awesome exercises to practice so that I can ask correctly for what I want from my horse. Stylin was awesome and all of us had a great time and came home feeling that we could become better riders.
I had such a wonderful time learning with my great friends and my wonderful horse. Life is good and I am blessed!
So far I've been very busy during these first couple of weeks as a "retired" person. I've put in a couple of applications at veterinarian offices nearby. I'm hoping to be able to work close to home and am open to whatever God may surprise me with. I need to find a little something to feed all of our critters and pay taxes going forward. So glad that my husband is supportive.
Alex, Ellen, Me, Cathy, Traci & Karen
I got to go camping at one of my favorite places, McCulley Farms, with my buddy Cathy for New Years. It rained and got pretty darned cold, but we still had a relaxing and fun time. Our other friends, Mike and Traci Woodard were there as well and we met a new lady that Traci met on line. Ellen May is taking a ride about with her cute little Arab mare for a couple of months.
Traci, Karen, Alex, Me and Cathy
This past week was spent starting on my list of chores that I want to accomplish while I'm currently not working. Unfortunately, I discovered a pretty big leak and mold in our large back storage room. I've spent days cleaning that room up; threw away 5 extra large bags of junk and wet papers, pictures, etc and also was able to bag up 5 bags of good items for donation. Took in lots of books to my favorite bookshop and got $48 in credit. The next step is to get some roofing repair estimates and some sheet rock repair estimates. OUCH! Not the way I was hoping to spend my savings.
Life is certainly less stressful already. I have enjoyed spending more time with the horses, working in their horse pen and just set up their new round bale slow feeder net. I hope it will save us some money on hay as our girls waste a lot. The net is supposed to cut out the waste completely. I'm hoping it will be a good solution for us. I just have to make sure that the older mare, Dixie, gets enough to eat. She is not used to using a slow feeder net.
The girls try out the new hay net
I also fixed up an easy peasy nesting box out of a plastic bin thanks to another blogger's suggestion, and now my two little free range chickens are laying their eggs where I can find them now. YAY!
The rain was threatening today, so instead of loading up for a ride, I went for a walk with Cathy and her mini mule Luna. Her little mule pulls already pulls a cart, but we thought it would be a good idea for Cathy to get her used to more traffic and we certainly could use the exercise ourselves. :-)
I am leaving my job of 39-1/2 years on December 27th. I have been working toward a simpler life for a couple of years now and am ready to leave my corporate job and find a rewarding, stress free hourly job.
I am hoping to find a job in one of the local veterinarian clinics, or something else working with animals. Who knows, maybe start a pet/livestock sitting home business. I've never taken this kind of a risk before in my life and it feels awesome!
I have taken the proper steps, I am debt free including having just paid off my mortgage this month. My husband is supporting my decision and is my encourager.
My company graciously gave me an awesome retirement party last weekend and I felt so loved and appreciated. Here is a video of my career at W&O that my wonderful friend Karen put together and shared at the party.
I think I have been following Lisa Westfall on her blog Laughing Orca Ranch since close to the beginning of her entry into the blogosphere. I can't remember how I found her blog, but I was instantly intrigued by her photography, her innocence and wonder, her pretty black & white Paint horse and her menagerie that included llamas, goats, and chickens (really fancy chickens). Not to mention her interaction with her great kids. I've watched her grow as a rider when she realized that she needed a different horse and found her special bond with her current horse Apache.
Lisa on Ranger at Guana Wildlife Management Area
As Lisa grew as a horsewoman, I enjoyed riding along with her virtually at all the awesome places she frequents in New Mexico. I envied the mountain trails and the aspen trees and the truly wonderful vistas that she shared on line. I, in turn, shared my North Florida rides with the tangle of green all around offset with an occasional ride on the beach.
Lisa's first ever beach ride at Ponte Vedra Beach on Ranger
I mentioned several times for Lisa to come visit if she was ever in Florida and she finally took me up on my offer. She flew in a couple of weeks ago and I was able to show her my favorite trails. It was so much fun to be a tour guide and let her ride the trails she had seen on my blog. She met and became friends with my riding buddies as well.
She got to ride one of my horses, Dixie, and my grand horse, Ranger at four of my favorite places. She rode both of them beautifully and was comfortably confident. Of course, the highest elevation she reached was 100 feet which was quite a difference to her 7 to 10 thousand feet elevations she rides at home.
She had a great time in Florida and I hope to be able to visit her wonderful state of New Mexico in the future.
Here's to friends near and far !
Special thanks to my Florida riding buddies who helped show Lisa a good time and especially to Mustang who loaned us Ranger. Cheers !
The ceremony was beautiful, Jen and Joel had a fun time with their friends and family and we stayed under budget! I had the honor of walking my daughter down the aisle. That ranks right up there with the day she was born as far as a special moment goes.
We don't have the photos back from the photographer yet, but I do have a link to the pictures that my sister Robbin took and she did a great job herself along with being our coordinator for the day.
