31 October 2007

I didnt post yesterday as I have been having a terrible emotional struggle with myself over the state of the horse Industry here in the USA.

We had a recent trailer accident in Illinois with a double decker trailer (designed for transporting smaller animals like pigs and sheep) jumping a red light and hitting another vehicle and turning over onto its side.

http://www.thehorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=10715
http://www.thehorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=10717
http://www.thehorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=10723&nID=14

This is just one of many many incidents, these drivers dont keep logs, drive on the backroads to avoid the weigh stations and regulation checks, and dont have the relevant veterinary documentation that is required to transport horses across some state lines. I am not saying this was the case in this incident, I have read so many articles recently that my brain is a mush and it has left me terribly distressed. Horse slaughter has recently been banned in all states in the USA and the slaughter houses closed down but now the horses are being transported to processing plants in Canada and Mexico in the most dreadful conditions. Can you imagine 59 odd horses (these were primarily Belgians which are a large breed of horse) stuffed into a double decker trailer that doesnt have ceilings high enough to facilitate a horse, these horses were bought in Indiana, I dont know where, they dont say, but were supposedly destined for a horse sale at Minneapolis in Minnesota (which is very close to the Canadian state line) which is 620 miles from where I am in in northeast central Indiana!!! The accident happened on a backroute just north of Chicago, they probably still had more than 300 miles to go. There is no way of proving that they were destined for a slaughter house now I suppose but of course that got me looking at the conditions that these animals are subjected to when they reach their destination and I made the mistake of watching a very graphic video 8 minutes long (I only lasted 1 minute into it and was hysterical).

This has all become a very real thing for me recently with so many of our own horses, many of which I have watched being born, formed bonds with and love like my children. I have adamantly refused to send them to a sale because of the risks of them ending up in this type of predicament. Maybe I am over reacting but I dont breed horses to have them end up on a table somewhere in europe as a steak or in a petfood can.

Yes I do eat meat, but I believe that there are strict rules regulationss and restrictions on how animals bred for human consumption are treated and processed. A horse is a companion animal and so many people are ignorant of just how clever, loving and feeling they are. They are not bred for human consumption, they have been there for us before tractors and cars and have served us forgivingly for hundreds of years despite how they have been treated. I have been amazed at how many people have been surprised when they have asked me about our horses and how I am with them going on about their personalities, likes, dislikes and habits. To so many people a horse (dogs and cats have also had this fate) is just a dumb animal and I can assure you they arent. I am willing to bet that the vast majority of horses that become dangerous have been subjected to force and suffering in the process of getting them "broke to ride". Again I am sure there are always exceptions to the rule but I have had many horses in the last 6 years and every single one has responded to love, compassion and a calm form of training (passive training). They dont need to be manhandled to get them to submit to our will, if they are treated with love, patience and respect they do far better.

I know each one of my horses by the sounds they make, I dont have to see them I can hear which one is whinneying and can see when they are distressed or not feeling good. How can people be so cruel.

I am sorry if this post is all over the show and so negative but it is just consuming me at the moment and I am having a hard time dealing with it all. I am pretty sure that this sort of thing would never happen in England, they have systems in place that protect their animals and justly so. Again there are always the extremists like in everything and I do not always agree with their beliefs too, it can be taken too far but my concern right now is my animals and the hundreds, or thousands of horses, mules, burros and donkeys that are enduring this type of treatment today.

I just don't have the desire to post a photo today, so please forgive me if you have reached this far in this post. Thanks for reading. I would post the link to the video but I am not sure that anyone needs or wants to see it.

((((Hugs))))) to everyone and I hope that I will be on a more positive trend tomorrow.

Lori
xx

29 October 2007

I lied when I said I hadnt touched my camera in weeks, I just remembered that last weekend (sunday before this one) a friend of ours who had taken her yearling to the Quarter Horse Congress in Ohio phoned as they arrived home to ask me to come over and take some quick shots of him while he was still all dolled up. This is a portrait I did of him. The kitten is one that adopted them over there and they didnt want to leave it there as it was raining and muddy and it was such a sweet little thing. What a little character. I just wish It hadnt been so late in the evening or I would have tried to get more shots of her because she was playing so nicely and had settled right in with all the horses and other cats. She travelled back with the horse, she sat on the hay in the back of the trailer, quite happy!

The boys are very happy with their new enclosure. I put them in and let Blue out there this evening for a few hours. He discovered the electric tape quite quickly poor boy but he also had a nice run around and enjoyed being out and able to stretch his legs. I will try to get pictures tomorrow. When I first put them out I am always cautious about them being in an unfamiliar area so dont always have my camera with me in case I have problems.

We woke up to 30C and frost this morning as predicted but it warmed up into the upper 50s so was a nice day overall. We turn our clocks back this Sunday, yay an extra hour to sleep, the downside is that I have to start the chores earlier in the evening because it gets dark earlier.

I have to do my sales tax return tomorrow!!! Cant forget that, yuk. Also expecting about three tonnes of feed to be delivered so have been cleaning the feed barrels frantically and getting everything tidied up. I meant to get hold of my hay man today to see what he has available but forgot.

I got my issue of "The Horse" magazine today and I have two pictures in it this month. Doesnt pay a whole lot but it is nice to get a monthly check(cheque) in the mail when they use shots. I have had photos in the August, October and this month - November, issues.

That is about it for today. (((Hugs))) to everyone.

Lori
xx

28 October 2007

I finally finished the fence today. Got all the tape up and it is working (I know because I got zapped!!! LOL) When I first went out the three boys were getting into everything and wanted to supervise me. I had my camera with me and snapped a few shots of them, these are of Eb finding a nice big weed which he pulled up out of the ground, Dream had to come and investigate and get his teeth in there too and of course last but not least, Blaze had to be in on it too LOL. They are really getting their winter coats now, they look like little teddy bears.

I put Taxes in with Blaze for a short while again today and they were fine until Blaze decided that he had to breed Taxes!!! OM Gosh wrong sex boy, he started chasing and herding him so I had to put an end to that little escapade before someone got hurt. I am going to have to decide which of the yearling fillies or if in fact all three of them will accept him but I am just so scared of those wire fences now. We will have to see. I do know that Brat baby has calmed down quite a bit just from those two encounters and is nowhere near as mouthy and pushy as he was 2 days ago.

We woke up to our first freeze this morning, 31 C and frost on the ground and plants. We are expecting 30 tomorrow morning. It is hard to think that we were in the upper 90s a month ago. It warmed up nicely into the upper 50s. I like this time of the year just wish it would last longer and the days werent getting shorter. The flies are on the decrease, the horses enjoy the cooler weather and I feel like doing stuff because it is not sweltering. I put the horses out again after they had eaten and they are spending the night out too. I only really put them in when it is raining so they dont have to eat their hay in the mud and they dont make a muddy marsh of the field with their hooves. After a couple of hours the excess water has drained away and the footing is better. I have had the fields so bad that the horses have stood up to their knees in mud for weeks on end because it has been so wet. They leave hoof marks which fill up with water and because it is cold it doesnt dry up and then they walk all over it again making the holes deeper and so it goes until it is just a marsh. I cant walk out there at all because I sink past my knees. So I decided I had enough of that and started managing the fields a bit better. We only have 5.5 acres so it is hard to get all the horses time out. I want to fertilize the one field this spring and harrow it lightly and sow some good grass and alfalfa. Next year I will do the same with the other side and see how it copes. Hopefully by that time I will be down in horse numbers and overgrazing wont be such a problem. I am sure that the people down the road will let us use their field next year again for 4 horses which will be great. Okay enough rambling.

Hope you all had a good Sunday. The Colts (The Indiana American Football Team who won the Superbowl last year) won their game in Carolina today resoundingly so it has been a good day.

Abraham your site looks wonderful, you have come such a long way in the short time I have known you. I always love visiting your site because you share the same passions and loves that I do as far as animals goes. I love squirrels but have never been able to capture any really good ones of them yet.

(((((Hugs))))) to everyone.

Lori
xx

27 October 2007

Another shot of Taxes shot yesterday. Believe it or not the one shot I posted about the artist painting a while back which I shot about a year ago were of his full sister at about the same age!!! This one was shot in a horizontal format whereas hers was a vertical format.

Taxes has learnt from his little excursion with Blaze yesterday. He is normally really really mouthy, wanting to bite and play rough non stop. Today he was a lot more laid back. I didnt manage to get them out together today again but will try tomorrow. That is exactly what he needs so he can learn horse etiquette!

The horses stayed in today as we had a bit of rain last night and it was getting muddy. I dont like feeding the hay in the field off the ground when it is muddy because the hay is so expensive I dont want to waste it LOL. If we dont have any more rain tonight I will put them back out tomorrow.

A common house sparrow was all I managed to shoot this evening. It has been drizzly and overcast all day even though we only really had just over one eighth of an inch since last night. This evening the sun broke out for a short while and I snapped one or two. I was hoping to get the mocking bird in this bush because he has started landing down on it whereas before he was right at the top of the Douglas Pine which is huge so was difficult to get close to him. Anyway he had disappeared by the time I grabbed my camera so this guy got snapped instead.

Thanks everyone for your visits, good to hear from you all. Mike we managed to dodge most of the bad weather, we had one night of severe winds, there was a tornado quite a bit northwest of us but we got practically no rain over the two days of severe storms, just over half an inch. I just havent been feeling too chipper and uninspired. Julie take care, I hope this is all over soon, your pictures are fabulous documentaries of the situation which you are sadly all living with every day. I cant even begin to imagine how it feels to lose everything.

Well that's it for today. (((((Hugs))))) to everyone have a great Sunday.

Lori
xx

26 October 2007

I havent been feeling very sociable for the last 10 days so took a break. Also was finding it difficult to find any inspiration photographically and today I picked my camera up for the first time in weeks. At the start of and during winter the early morning sun shines into the barn in such a way that I can get the most beautiful side lighting shots on dark background or with just rim light on black and this morning I put Brat baby, aka Mikes little buddy aka Taxes out in the bottom of the barn for a bit of exercise and decided he would make a good subject for these types of shots. I only got a few because he wasnt being very cop-operative and I cant go into the pen with him because he thinks I am there to play with him and is in my face all the time trying to bite me, little horror. This was one of them.

I decided today that he desperately needs to be socialised with other horses because he so badly wants to play and has not had the opportunity to be with other horses apart from his Momma. He was talking to three stud colts out in the new enclosure (yes I finally got that built am just finishing the electric tape, will get the last bits tomorrow) and they seemed to be pretty calm with each other so I decided to put Blaze in with him. Blaze is the most laid back loving colt I have ever bred so I figured if I stayed close they would be fine. Taxes bombarded him, I was shocked this morning to see that my 6 months old baby is nearly as big as my 18 month old babies. He was so excited to have someone with him. Blaze took it all in his stride and when he got fed up he just snaked out aback hoof and put him in his place which got him thinking twice LOL. I had to go feed the other horses down the road so I only left them together for about half an hour while I could watch them. Tomorrow I want to see how he is with Eb the black and white colt. If I can get these three getting on then I can leave them out together which will be great.

I hope everyone is well. (((Hugs)))

Lori

16 October 2007

I had a slow day today, we started off with rain this morning, we didnt get much only a quarter of an inch but we will take it!! I spent some more time editing and finalising pictures from the farm shoot two Sundays ago. One of the scenarios is above, one photo with two different backgrounds. They dont show up here so good but if you click on each one you will be able to see a larger version which may be clearer.

I hope the owner is going to be really happy with them. They printed beautifully and I was very happy, but I have learned in the past when I hate my photos the people love them and when I love them they usually hate them LOL.

I lay down after lunch for 5 minutes (yeah right!) and next thing I knew it was 4.30!!! I must have needed the sleep so nothing I can do about the lost time right now, will just keep on truckin'. Mark didnt come today, maybe because of the rain, but there was other stuff he could have got on with inside so I was a bit dissapointed but hopefully he will be here tomorrow.

Well the days are getting shorter sadly but each one takes us closer to when they start getting longer again (think positive). It was beautiful again temperature wise, barely reaching 70. We are expecting a bit more rain over the next few days, possibly some severe weather tomorrow or the next day.

Thats about it for today, hopefully things will start livening up again soon and I will have caught up on the backlog, chipping away at it slowly. Thanks for your visits all, CG Mike, MiKael, Abraham, Photogchic and some new visitors too. I appreciate your visits and comments, thanks.

((((Hugs)))))

Lori
xx

15 October 2007

This is one of the shots from Sunday before last. I gave it the "Porcelain" effect treatment, think it looks kind of cool!!

Making progress on the fence slowly.

Mike you are right he is still a brat (but in a good way if that is possible LOL). He so desperately wants someone to play with and when he was little you could get away with playing with him but now he is too big!!

Abraham, yes his leg has healed quite nicely, he has a permanent swelling/thickening on the leg and a scar about 6 inches long. I will take a photo soon (adding that to my ever growing list of To Dos LOL) so I can update the post I was doing on my other blog.

Got the photos mailed today at last, that is a relief. Still working my way down my list. It was a beautiful day again weather wise, we are on a bit of a warming trend which is what happens every year, Indian Summer two or three times before it really gets cold.

Another uneventful day I am afraid, hope everyone is starting their week well. (((Hugs)))

Lori
xx

14 October 2007

Brat baby, aka Taxes, aka Mikes little buddy, will be 6 months old tomorrow!!! Here are a few shots that I took of him today, not too pretty because he was in the roundpen but he needed to get the exercise. We got some more of the back fence finished today, hopefully Mark will come tomorrow and he and Larry will get it all finished while I take care of the work that needs doing inside, like getting the photos mailed.

It was a beautiful day today, not too hot and not too cold. I want to get a few big round bales of hay to put out in the fields. It is still terribly dry and while we are not having to deal with mud I may as well let them have something to do with themselves other than stand around swatting flies off of each other and dying of boredom.

So that is my excitement for the day LOL, hope you all had a great weekend, will check in again tomorrow. (((Hugs)))

Lori
xx

13 October 2007

Okay so I was lazy and didnt post the last two days LOL. Really I have had a few blaaah days and have not shot anything in a week so have been very uninspired once again. We had frost this morning, hard to think that a week ago it was in the 90s with minimums upper 60s, now the minimums 7 days later are in the upper 30s!!! I must say I am enjoying the cooler weather a lot more though, just wish that the comfortable temps would last a bit longer, not just the few days between too hot or too cold.

The picture today is one that I shot of Wiggle a few years ago using slow shutter speed to create the blur effect. You would think shots like this would be easy to get but believe me they arent LOL.

The fence is slowly getting finished. The lad who was helping didnt show on Wednesday and we knew he wouldnt be here Thursday or Friday because they were moving house. He came in for about 2 hours yesterday but we wont see him until Monday (hopefully). I really want to get this darn fence finished now so that I can use the area. Taxes needs exercise other than running around in the bottom half of the barn. He has always been so active and he is bouncing off the walls. He is so naughty.

Well nothing exciting to report. Hope you are all having a great weekend thus far and continue to for tomorrow. (((Hugs))))

Lori
xx

10 October 2007

It was 25 degrees cooler today than yesterday and the day before!! Quite a shock to the system, expected to reach low 40s tonight. The three yearling fillies were all fired up today running and bucking and finding all sorts of energy because it was cool. I should have got my camera but guaranteed they would have stopped the moment I got outside so I just stood in the kitchen and watched them through the window. I get such pleasure from watching them, I could do that all day.

I was scanning through old photos again today and came across this one of Blaze when he was a few hours old (the baby in the pic on my profile) I can't believe he will be 2 years old at the beginning of next year already. I loved these pics, he looks so peaceful.

My help didnt show up today (surprise surprise) so nothing got done outside. I spent the day getting photos done for the farm shoot I did last weekend which we need to submit to the Paint Horse Journal Stallion Edition for the owner. Tomorrow is another day.

The trainer didnt come to pick Gee up today and I didnt see her owner so I have no idea what is going on.

Not a terribly exciting day today so I will end off for the day. I hope everyone is having a great week, ((((Hugs))))

Lori
xx

9 October 2007

These are a few Before/Afters that I have done recently.

The first was from the Arabian show and I am not 100% happy with the dividing line between the old and new background but it looked okay in print. The Before is straight out of the camera with no editing.

The second one isnt too bad a background but the owner wanted the picture on the lake so this is what I came up with.

I am learning new techniques every day and still need to do a course on cutouts because I am pretty sure that there are better quicker ways of doing them, mine take ages.

The fence is coming along, Mark came again today and he and Larry got cracking on stuff outside which allowed me to clear my backlog. Now I only have to print the photos and mail them and guess what?????? I dont have enough ribbon for the dye sub printer!!!! So am having to order more. I am so disorganised this year.

We had a much cooler day today and it is continuing to drop, by Thursday the lows should be close to the 30s! I am not complaining YET (LOL) because after the heat it was wonderful. We had a light sprinkling of rain last night but just enough to make the ground damp only.

Well that is it for the day. Hope everyone is having a good week thus far. (((Hugs)))

Lori
xx

8 October 2007

These are four of the youngsters that were at the second shoot yesterday. We tried to get them to exert a bit of energy but they didnt want to oblige LOL.

Mark came over today and got started on all the stuff I need done around here, the more physical work. He is going to come again tomorrow and do some more which will be great. It allowed me to be able to get on with a lot of the computer work that has been backing up.

It was VERY hot today again, should start cooling down tomorrow thank heavens. I am going to get an earlyish night tonight. Nothing exciting to report I am afraid.

HOpe you all had a great day. (((Hugs)))

Lori
xx

7 October 2007

It was a very long day today and extremely hot. Indianapolis has set record highs the last two days with temps in the upper 80s when they are normally in the low 70s. We set out at 8.30am after feeding the horses and getting Larry up and about. The first shoot went fairly well but as said before very hot. The young stallion was very co-operative bless his heart. I posted the first shot of him, just a portrait, I have others but we only got back ater 7pm and after unpacking etc. it was after 8pm so I am exhausted.

I browsed briefly through my pics and picked a few but I can't say I am blown away by any of them. Not really ideal conditions or the right time of day to shoot these types of shots but I hope the owners are happy. The second shoot was a lady who I have photographed at some of the Pinto shows, Cheryl, she is a lovely energetic lady and we had fun despite the heat. The one with the white stallion is of her and the stallion an Arabian is now 27 years old. He looks good for his age but she really wanted some shots of him before he starts going downhill. The next one is a yearling that she has just sold to a young girl who she is giving lessons and instruction on his care and eventual riding, he was a bit of a handful so we just got some of him running, this trot one I liked, looks like he is floating. The next one is of one of the geldings that board with her, he is a Pacer and bless him he had quite a thick coat already from the cold spell we had and was sweating quite badly but I liked this portrait of him. The last one is of a mini pony foal!!!! It is soooo cute, tiny little thing, only about 20 inches high and very spunky. Cheryl is like me, she cant send any of her horses to a sale and she has quite a few that she originally bred many years ago who are now living out their twilight years with her after being returned to her on her farm, fat, sassy and healthy. She also has over 20 horses at the moment, four are minis the rest are paints and pintos of various ages (5 stallions!!!). She is a soft touch like me, and loves her horses LOL. I hope when it cools down some I can get another chance to go there again and get more shots when it is not so unpleasant to spend time outside. Maybe some snow ones!!!!

Well I must get some shuteye, Larry has arranged for a young lad to come and help me tomorrow to get the post holes filled with clay and tamped down well to make them sturdy and secure, help clean stables, mow grass and finish the fence. It is going to be another hot one but then it will cool down quickly in the next two days and we will be more at our normal temps.

Gee is only going to the track on Wednesday now, I really hope the trainer comes to fetch her I will be very happy when she is doing what she is bred for and I am sure she will be too.

Hope you had a great weekend all, ((((Hugs)))))

Lori
xx

6 October 2007

I went through to Muncie this morning and got the rest of the white tape and insulators and screws I need to finish the fence. By the time I got back it was lunch time and so hot 87F and very humid so there was no way I was going to work out in the sun. So the fence didnt get finished but I have everything I need except the gates. Apparantly the temps are going to plummet by Wednesday, sheesh.

The picture posted today is one of the ones that I have been working on replacing background, I am struggling to get motivated to do these and inspired at the same time. It takes a lot of concentration and I just cant focus at the moment. I am plodding on. This is the daughter of one of my long standing clients, Brianna, and her new pony who has really given her the confidence she has been needing. The improvement in her abilities since last year has been dramatic. Great little pony.

Larry arranged two farm shoots for me tomorrow, it is going to be even hotter so I am not really looking forward to them, just hope I can get some good shots, not really the right time of day to do these types of shoots but I will do my best.

Gee the Racehorse who boards with us is now only going to be collected on Wednesday. I really hope that this come off this time, she really needs to get out and do what she was bred for, I am pretty sure she will be a success, she is a lovely mare.

I am off to get my much needed beauty sleep LOL. Hope you are all having a great weekend. ((((Hugs))))) and I will post more pics of the foal in the snow later, I have some really cute ones.

Lori
xx

5 October 2007

Catblogging Day!!!! I finally remembered!!!! Missed another day yesterday Sigh, once you miss one it gets easier to miss another, kind of like breaking a $50 bill. It can sit in your purse for ages then once you break it to buy something whoosh it is gone LOL.

Sylvester loves to lay on the roof of my truck and this evening I spied him and Wild Cat so I grabbed my camera and shot a few frames. As soon as they saw me they jumped off to come and say hello so they were a bit far off and this is cropped and a bit grainy.

With the help of our neighbor we got the rest of the posts set in concrete yesterday and today put up the first layer of cross bars. I need to go to Muncie tomorrow to get the electric tape, insulators, some more outdoor screws as I didnt buy enough and two gates and voila, my job will be done!! I must say I am quite proud of the way it looks, I can't wait to be able to put Taxes out there and the three boys (Taxes and the boys seperately of course).

It has been extremely hot again, upper 80s as highs, we are normally in the low 70s at this time of the year. Seems that it will continue for a while longer and then what's the bet it will drop 50 degrees overnight and we will be freezing.

MiKael asked who the foal in the snow is. He is a full brother to my filly Lori, he was born on 15 February 2003 and we had a late snow which lay around for a few days so I got quite a few pics of him. He was bought by a guy here in town who also has the one filly born the same year of ours. He does a lot of trail riding and they are out every weekend. I have actually ridden him twice which was great, nice to see them being cared for and being useful.

Gotta get back to work on my pictures. Hope everyone is great and has a wonderful weekend. (((Hugs)))

Lori
xx

3 October 2007

I had a pretty lazy day today, not intentionally. I laid down this afternoon after doing a bit of computer work this morning and the next thing I knew it was 10 after 5!!!! I still had to go down the road to feed the mares and get all the other chores done too so I ran around like a chicken with my head cut off for the next three hours. So no more fence got built but it sure will tomorrow.

I have posted some of the pictures I have been working on, making post cards and getting them printed. This is a few of them so far and also shows what the back looks like. This is another item I intend to put on my website along with the calendars which I am working on and hope to get done soon so they are out earlier this year than last year.

Still working on the editing of the pictures that still need doing for new backgrounds, it is slow tedious work if you want to do it properly and have it look good. When I am finished with them I will post a few before and afters.

Well that is about it for today, still hoping I will slow down soon. One positive thing is that Larry has asked our friend if he will keep our three mares there in Iowa for the winter, we will pay for their feed but he has them running out with his mares so we are hoping it wont be too much of a problem and he will agree, which will relieve the load I have here a lot. Also it looks like a trainer will come and fetch Gee the thoroughbred we board on Sunday (she was meant to fetch her in April but something happened and she never got here). If she feels she can work with her, she was her trainer previously, two years ago, then she will take her for the rest of the season here which ends in November and then probably take her to Florida for the winter to carry on racing there, if she amounts to anything that is. She did really well as a 2 year old with this trainer but when the present owner bought her he made the mistake of putting her with a very unscrupulous trainer and when she came back to us for the winter she was starved and depressed so badly it took weeks to get her back to normal. She has a fabulous mind for a thoroughbred and is very easy to keep as far as keeping stable clean and handling her so I really hope she will do well. Of course I have fallen in love with her, she is so sweet. If that happens then that will mean 16 horses for the winter as opposed to 20. I should be able to stable that many converting the bottom of the big barn into stalls.

That's it for now, hope you are all well and ((((Huge Hugs))))

Lori

xx

2 October 2007

October is Halloween month here in the USA. Last year DP Challenge had a pumpkin carving photo competition and having never carved a pumpkin before I got a whole lot of stuff together and came up with this but unfortunately didnt get it in in time for the challenge. I am pretty sure it would have done well but who knows, so I am going to share it here. I was quite proud of it LOL.

I got all but 5 posts set today for the fence so hopefully will get going on the cross bars tomorrow. I will have to go and buy two 12 foot gates and some electric tape so they dont chew the wood!!! but at least I will finally have my other turnout for the three boys, Blue, Gee and Taxes having their turns out there. I am going to take the roundpen down and use the panels to put stalls into the bottom of the barn for when the weather gets really cold and need them to come inside.

Working on my print orders and paying bills. Have been watching The Biggest Loser tonight and now Dancing With The Stars, in between catching up on e-mails and blogs!!! Sheesh talk about multi tasking, and they say women cant do two things at once HAH!!!!!

Taxes has a new home. He will be staying here but we decided to give him to our neighbor, Richard, who helps us when we are away, he comes and feeds the horses and makes sure they have water and is always available to help out if we need him. He does a lot for us around the property and we really appreciate his help, he never asks for anything for compensation, in fact wont take anything. The other day he made a comment about how much he liked Taxes. It turns out it has been a dream of his to own a horse. He is in his 60s so Larry decided that he would make him a gift of the brat!!!! I am quite sad but at least I will still have him here. He is going to be gelded so that he is more manageable as Richard is not an experienced horseman. The other plus is that if anything had to happen to Richard we know that he would leave all of his animals in our care. He has two dogs too. So Taxes would come back to us in this event heaven forbid.

Well that is about it for tonight. Need my beauty sleep, am getting old and wrinkled LOL. Will check in tomorrow again. Hope you are all having a good week.

((((Hugs)))))

Lori
xx

1 October 2007

Well I missed three days in the end. We left at about 1.30 on Friday but still got caught in a traffic jam while trying to go around Indianapolis and ended up taking 6 hours instead of 3, crazy traffic. The show was hectic but the weather was wonderful to us, last year this show was held indoors because it rained the whole day on Saturday. Got a bit hot in the afternoons, mid 80s but bearable. We only left Edinburg at 7pm on Sunday night and it was 10pm before we got home, I was exhausted and actually still am.

Todays pictures of of one of the Trail classes. I think I would like to do this with my filly if I ever get to ride her and compete. It is done in the western style of riding, sont be familiar to anyone outside USA. The horses have low head carriages and very slow walks, trots and canters. Most of the riders ride with only one hand on the reins (there are a few bridles which are exceptions) so all of the movements are done with leg pressure (most use spurs - not those mean old cowboy ones LOL) and rein pressure on the neck and of course weight adjustment. The first picture is of the horse going over the "wooden bridge". This is a pretty well times shot, with the rider giving the reins so the horse can put its head down and watch what it is doing as it steps up onto the bridge. The other three are a series where the rider has to open the gate (in this case a chain and rope), and while holding on to the rope with the same hand, back your horse up, pivot your horse through the gate opening, back the horse up on the other side and replace the chain to close the "gate" without letting go. The trail course consists of all sorts of other obstacles such as trotting poles which you have to trot over (they are evenly spaced laying flat on the ground) them without touching the poles. Another obstacle would be a four sided square made up of 8 foot poles which you have to trot into and halt in side, then do a 360 degree pivot without touching the poles and walk back out of the box. Lots of others which I wont go into or It will take all night LOL.

I only have a few print orders to mail out as we managed to get most of them printed at the show and the customers took them home with them. I have a few editing jobs in the process still from previous shows which are going to mean replacing bad backgrounds with nice ones and are a lot more time consuming so I do those here at home.

So guys I am still in the land of the living, am going to get an early night so that I can get started early tomorrow. I hope you all had a great weekend.

((((((((Hugs))))))))

Lori
xx