Saturday 26 September 2009

Michelle, Kendal and I went to our last show early this morning. We got lost and arrived 10 minutes before the first class which was also our first class!!!! Michelle threw her clothes on and I tried to patch BB up and we flew into the fray LOL.

Unfortunately she didnt fare too well in her first two classes but in her three with Kendal she had started to warm up and she brought home a first in Color, second in Youth Halter (10-13 yr old) and a 4th in Youth Showmanship which was combined with one entrant with an older division. This show let us see how far Kendal has come in confidence and even though there werent stacks of entrants, she did a great job, watch out for them in 2010 LOL!!

The first pic is one I took of her after I gave her a leg up onto BB after her classes holding her ribbons, blue for first and red foir second, and the fourth place is hiding behind, and the second pic is of BB when we put her out in the muddy field about an hour later and she got right down and rolled all that beautiful cleaning off that we had done LOL. I swear she was smiling at us, look at her mouth, she is grinning LOL (click on pics for larger version).

We are going to take Kendal for her first Trail Ride tomorrow and they are going to have a small contesting show at the club which we are hoping she will ride in, even if she only walks for the first time (barrel racing, poles etc.). I have a feeling she will enjoy it, I know if it wasnt limited to kids I would sure be in there too!!!

Hope you are all having a great weekend. (((Hugs)))

Lori
xx

Wednesday 12 August 2009

Where to start!!!! So much happening over the past 2 weeks. The photo is of the Monarch butterfly about half an hour before it started emerging from the pupa. I had to go out just after I shot this and when I came back an hour later there was a butterfly fully emerged, so I missed the whole thing!! Pics of that to follow.

BB and Kendal won their class at the Indiana State 4H Show and got 3rd overall in the halter horse division!! Not a bad deal for their first year showing considering the first and second plkaced horses had been competing for a few years at least, the one was in her last year of 4H (18 years old). The judge and other exhibitors had nothing but good things to say about this pair. They just do each other justice. Unfortunately I dont have any photos as I was shooting a Pinto show while they were there but I have a few pics that Michelle and Kendall took but havent had time to edit them yet.

The Pinto show was very hot and although not as successful as they hoped, it was a good weekend and enjoyed by all. I am still trying to get the ordered photos out which will help with the bills tremendously!!!!!

Annette sold another filly for me, Dawn one of the 3 year olds which is great and possibility of Taxes being sold too but probably at the end of the show season, everything is so crazy right now with shows every weekend that the people havent been able to come and look at him yet. He is looking awesome, I will try to get photos of all the horses down the road soon.

Other than that lots happening but I am starting to feel really human again and things are looking up, I hope it will continue this way.

Hope you all had a great weekend too. ((((Hugs)))))

Lori

xx

Thursday 30 July 2009 - I'm Baaaaack

Who knows for how long, have been taking lots of odd shots over the weeks but just havent got to edit and post them.

Below are various pics of my new boarder Gee. I have had her boarding here a lot over the past 4 years and she is back and helping to pay the feed bills. I loved this filly the first time I saw her. She is a thoroughbred (bred for flat racing on a track) and a lot of these were taken very late in the evening after the sun had gone behind the horizon so with her dark color they appear a bit dark. She is a very tall horse, easily 6 inches taller than my tallest paint horse. Below is Kendal leading her out into the field, her surroundings are a bit strange so we are babysitting her until she gets used to the lay of the land.

April, Goldie and BB enjoying the fresh air and bit of grass amongst the weeds.

This is BB and April coming in for feed time.

These below are more of Gee enjoying stretching her legs. Boy she can run!!!!

Well that is about it, so much happening, some good some bad, just not enough hours in the day.

((((Hugs)))) to those of you hanging in and continuing to visit my blog.

If you like my photos, I am offering a very inexpensive way to have a small copy (trading card size) of them as collectors items which I am doing using my Etsy site or if you are looking for inexpensive gifts for you or family or friends please visit my Etsy shop at http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6874447 here you will find all sorts of goodies from my photo trading cards to crocheted dish wash cloths (which I highly recommend asonce you have used these woollen ones you wont use anything else).

Lori
xx

Saturday 27 June 2009 - After the chaos

Well that was quite a week, dont know how Kendal and Michelle do it because they were out there in that heat showing one animal or another since Sunday last every day, I have been hiding at home a lot of that time with the airconditioner!!

I did spend Thursday at the horse show in 92F heat and I suffered a little after that, on top of which there was a storm that night and the apple tree took out my powerline so with a minimum of about 80 even through the night and no fans or anything was not a happy experience.

The pic above is of Kendal and BB. This particular shot was taken in Showmanship where she didn't place, lots of lessons learned in a class of 18 horses. The moment of glory was before this was taken, I will edit a pic and post it later, was when BB took Grand Champion Halter Horse at the show!!!! We were thrilled because she beat some really good horses. The rest of the classes were not too successful, she took a 4th and 5th in riding on April (walk/trot) and took a 3rd on April in Pony Halter.

We learned a lot over this past week about the dos and donts of showing horses LOL but overall Kendal did a fantastic job all week with all of her animals. A very hard working a dedicated 12 year old for sure and she deserved every bit of it. I have stacks of pics to go through and hopefully will get them up a few at a time on my blog over the next few days. With this extreme heat I am avoiding being outside as much as I can. In amongst all of this we baled hay and spent 2 days putting haybales in the barn (or should I say Stan and Zack and Kami did). I wasnt much help because I can't tolerate this heat. I have had heat stroke before and after you have had it once your tolerance is even lower and I have been feeling it.

Enough about me, this post is dedicated to Kendal, her mom Michelle, April and BB and all the other critters for a job well done!

(((((Hugs))))))
Lori
xx

Sunday 21 June 2009 - Show Day

Well show day has finally dawned. Michelle hasnt been in a show ring for nearly 30 years so she was thrilled to get a first in the color (Paint & Appaloosa) Class and a third out of 10 entries in the Open Halter with BB.

The two horses who beat her were great horses but what really made it special was when one of the older members of the family who showed those two horses came over to us and told us that he had picked us to be the winners!!!! Wow how great is that. Michelle was over the moon.

Kendal took a second in the Halter Pony class and a second in the walk trot riding class. I am so proud of them all because this was a first for the two horses and a first for Kendal and a first for Michelle in a very long time and they sure did us proud.

I just picked two pictures from the day, it was VERY hot. Poor Kendall had to go on to show her Chickens and she has Goats and shows a dog in agility, so the week will be very busy.

Of course I came home after the horse show and collapsed in a heap, the stress was just too much LOL but I am very proud of all four of them. We learned a lot of lessons along the way, especially Kendal which I am glad we learned at this show because that will make her performance at the 4H Fair Show on Thursday just that much better.

Wish us luck. (((((HUgs)))))))

Lori

xx

Tuesday 5 May 2009

Todays picture is another taken yesterday when I let the horses out to run and stretch their legs for a few hours. This is BB and April, the two fillies that our friends' daughter is showing in 4H this year. Larry and I gave April to her as she is a very dedicated young lady and BB is going to be our showstopper we hope because of her unusual looks and with Kendal being a little thing, BB is huge beside her.

Of course they got to rolling in the mud and we are working on getting them fit and fat for the County show in June/July. I really hope she does well with them both. We are not going to do riding classes this year but depending on how things go this year that will definitely be on the cards for next year.

I have had a truly amazing day today. Larry's son was really worried about a man's ring that had been passed down from generation to generation in the family and that I did not ever remember seeing, and believe me I have packed and been through everything here a few times over the past 8 years. I told him I would keep my eyes open for it because I would be having to go through everything again to tie up all the loose ends and make sure everyone got what belonged to them. A lot of stuff had been stolen over the years by the help coming into the house too, among which was a woman's diamnd ring so I didn't hold out much hope. I hadn't looked in the office which is a bit of a dumping ground, although I have tidied it up on numerous occasions during the past years, and was looking for a cartridge for one of my printers today when there right in front of me was a green velvet box. When I opened it I was amazed to see that it had the ring that he was looking for in it!!!!! Now bear in mind I have been over this same spot hundreds of times and now today all of a sudden it was there right in front of me. It has diamonds in it and is of great sentimental value. I am so amazed that it was there!

Then I was taking some papers to Larry's sister this evening to sign and as I was driving down the drive saw something splashing around in the few inches of water left in the field from the rain. I got out of the truck and found a carp about 12 inches long struggling in a few inches of water. It always dries up so I knew that I had to move it or it would die as the water dried up. I think it is what you call a carp. No I didn't have my camera!!!!! and it was getting dark. I couldnt get a hold of it so after getting myself all muddy and wet, drove on to get the papers done and when I came back looked for it again only to see another one further down the field, this one about 16 inches long also struggling in the shallow water. The first one had got into slightly deeper water and swum back up the pipe that runs under the road from the property over the road where there is still a pool of water. I must have looked a sight because I ended up soaked and muddy but I managed to get a hold of the fish eventually by the gills, trudged out of the muddy field and zoomed off in my truck to a lake just down the road where I released him. I will be looking out for the other one for sure as the water dries up because it will only be a matter of days before it does and these were pretty big fish!!!

Who says miracles don't happen and that people don't watch over us? I am not a religious person but not an athiest either and I have finished the day with a very good feeling. I just wonder is Larry had anything to do with the finding of that ring or the fish LOL?

That's it for today, it is late and I still havent eaten dinner so am off to cook. (((((Hugs))))) everyone.

Lori

Sunday 4th January 2009

I hope everyone had a good weekend, we had a misty rainy but rather warm day 40sF but I didnt spend much time outside. The horses couldn't get out today because that bit of a warm up and the rain is just enough for it to get real slippery on the clay and tear what is left of the pature up, so this is a picture of everyone's favorite filly BB (IMA Blue Dudette) when she got out yesterday. She was very happy LOL.

I promised to post a picture of Deb with her poncho that I posted a pic of the other day. I made a beanie cap to go with it but ran out of the multicolored wool so ended it with a fold up in yellow. I reckon it will keep her warm and I think she was pleased with it.

Nothing much else to report, this weather is crazy. Adam can't feed the horses tomorrow morning so I am going to do that for the first time in a while. The barn is suffering from the cold weather and indability to get dried out like it does every winter but we are trying to keep on top of it. Every chance I get I put all the horses out.

Hope you all had a great weekend. ((((((Hugs))))))) to everyone who needs them, Julie I hope you had a better day today, MiKael I am jealous of your snow, yes I will admit I love the snow, just not the extreme cold and wind and you dont need it to be extreme cold to snow so hopefully we will have at least one good snowfall before the end of winter.

See y'all tomorrow.

Lori

xx

Wednesday 17 September 2008

Sorry guys, more bird pictures today. I have done very little on the horse front but do need to update you on the happenings of the weekend.


The show was not a great success, even though the halter classes were held indoors because it was a bit mushy in the outdoor arena but the footing would have been perfect for the mounted classes, but it seems the judges wanted to stay under cover, so I had to shooot the whole show with flash in an open sided arena. The one short side is not open but has skylight panels in it to let light in so it plays havoc with my flash. I avoid shooting in these conditions because I dont feel confident in my ability, so as a result, I shot the least number of photos that I have at any horse show LOL. What I did get are okay but certainly not poster material. Larry should have the gallery up in the next day or so on my website so you can judge for yourselves LOL. I am super critical when it comes to my photography and giving my clients what they are paying for.

Drew had Dream there again and he showed him in three classes, the last one on Sunday was a mounted class with just walk and trot for Amature horses. The turnout wasnt as good as we had hoped because of the threat of bad weather all weekend, I think it kept people at home (we were lucky it was fantastic right up until the show had just finished then the winds hit and tornados started, nothing too close to us fortunately. We just caught the edge of it thank heavens and by the time we were home the winds had already died down. We only got half an inch of rain on Friday night and that is all. The down side is that the classes went much quicker than anticipated and Drew found himself with about 5 minutes to warm him up and take him into the arena for his first riding class. He was a bit worried about the people around the arena but is used to being indoors as they have an indoor arena at home. So he didnt blaze any trails but the experience was worth more than anything else.

I rode Dream again but this time in the big outdoor arena, his first experience in a big outdoor arena with other horses which is where everyone was warming their horses up, and he is so sweet and I know is going to go on to bigger things in the Hunter Under Saddle or Trail Classes. We found a buyer for him too!!! Annette who you have met often on my blog has had to retire her horse Cody because of health issues and he is going to live out his life as a happy much loved horse, but Annette needed something else and wanted a change from the Saddle bred type of riding so she made us an offer and we have accepted it and he is off to a wonderful new home. They will have him gelded and I can't wait to see what he turns out like next year. He is still only 2 years old and will only really finish growing and developing when he is 4. He has a beautiful quiet temperament and is willing and clever. I havent edited any of the photos but will post some when I have, I promised Drew some pics too, but life sometimes just gets in the way, so Drew if you are reading this I am sorry!!! I have Annettes photos, got them in the mail today and maybe I will have to come and bring Dosies papers, the photos and finally get to visit personally.

Well that's about it. Larry has had a young man coming in every day for about 5 hours and he has caught up on all the heavy work and fixing and cleaning of the barn for me which has given me time to just get on with other stuff that is getting behind and it is such a relief not to have to worry about those things anymore.

I am hoping to take Cayenne trail riding o Saturday, and on Sunday there is another open show nearby which we want to take BB to, we didnt get her to the show this past weekend which was a big dissappointment, she is looking awesome. I just ran out of time again.

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

Lori

Friday 12 September 2008

This is the last photo I have of my Dad when he visited me in Johannesburg just before I left for England over 9 years ago and this is also the last time I saw him. I set the camera on a tripod with self timer to get it LOL

Things are not looking good, he rallied a bit today and my brother is trying to get all the options for his care once he leaves the hospital. He is still being fed with a feeding tube but has lucid moments. The doctor says that he will have good periods and bad periods because of the cancer swelling on the brain and that he will probably succumb to that, it is just a waiting game now. I am trying to get a phone number for where he is and hopefully if he is lucid enough I will be able to talk to him briefly, my brother is trying to arrange that.

Not much else to report. We will not be taking BB to the show, I have been so out of it the past 2 days and I havent finished getting her clipped and cleaned. It started raining today, we didnt have much and there could be more on the way, Sunday is expected to be very wet (thanks to Hurricane Ike) so it looks as if the horse show will be under cover of a roof which makes shooting pictures really hard. The outside ones always look better than the indoor ones taken with flash.

Hope you all have a great weekend, I will try to check in on Saturday evening and make a post but am not sure how late the show will go on.

For all of you in the danger areas of Ike take care and lets hope it isn't as bad as they are predicting, just stay safe.

Lori

Tuesday 19 August 2008

As promised here is a picture of BB's daddy, A Blue Dude (he was a Quarter Horse). BB's registered name is IMA Blue Dudette. I still get goosebumps when I look at these pictures, seeing him in the flesh was truly amazing. While I am not overly fond of the overmuscled Halter horse of today, he was still at an acceptable level for me but then he was only 3 years old so hadn't fully developed yet. Some of them look like Arnold Swartzenegger (sp) with muscles bulging out all over the show. Of course they are fed diets which promote their size so if they went onto a normal diet would probably look a bit heavier than your average big horse.

These horses are bred specifically for showing in halter classes and a lot of them probably never get ridden ever, or see a pasture or outside of a stable while they are being shown. In days gone by horses at shows were more versatile, you would show them in halter then do a western pleasure class on him and go on to run barrels in a barrel race and maybe even rope a cow or jump in a jumping class!! Now everything is very specialised which is a shame.

I dont have much to report today, didnt do very much LOL other than work on the final few orders that I had queries on and a bit of shopping.

Hope you are all having a good week. Take care. ((((Hugs))))

Lori

Monday 18 August 2008 (2nd post)

I wanted to add that the lump under BBs throat was not strangles, she had had it there from the time she was a baby and no-one had ever done anything to try to clear it up. When she went out to pasture last year I started putting drawing ointment on it and within 2 weeks it had completely gone and has never re-appeared. This makes her not being able to compete at those two shows even more disheartening, they didnt refund the entry fees from either so our friend who had her in training for us and picked up the whole bill lost about $2000 between the two shows just in entry fees. I can never thank him and his wife enough for all they have done for us and our horses. They owned BBs daddy, A Blue Dude who was the most awesome horse on the planet (I am biased but he was really beautiful, he had to be euthenased after a bad roundpen accident before BB was born so she is pretty much his only offspring as he was only 3 years old) and grand daddy, How D Special Dude, who is also the father of the three filies out at pasture and Dream. I have pictures that I took of A Blue Dude when they were at a show I was shooting before his accident and will have to dig it out of the archives, I am sure you will agree that he was awesome.

Okay just wanted to clear that up and have probably confused everyone more LOL.

Lori

Monday 18 August 2008

I have been playing with some actions that I obtained recently and just havent had time to look at them until now, I still want to do a lot of experimenting but I shot a photo of this sunflower this morning and the back of the flower last evening. Here is my color pen sketch version and below is the original and the rear view. This popped up in the field that we reseeded right by the gate, unfortunately it is the only one and with our beautiful weather recently the sky is this lovely blue, no filters on the original photo (I dont use UV or Polarizing filters). I liked this a lot and am looking forward to spending more time experimenting with them.

Larry has been focused on getting our blue roan paint filly into the show ring. She was all geared up for the Pinto and Paint world shows two years ago and then had to be withdrawn because she had a lump under her throat and it had burst and the vets told us it was strangles, so that was the end of her two debutes and then she just went through the gawky stage and hasnt looked good enough until now. She is 4 years old now so has pretty much finished growing and I would love to get a few points on her before we decide to make a riding horse or brood mare of her. He has been working her every day with a bit of help from me and the girl that helps us at lunch time.

After he had finished lunging her, she is quite sassy and has a mischievious streak in her LOL, she is also pretty tall probably about 16 hands. I looped the lead rope through her halter and jumped on her bareback in the roundpen and got her walking and trotting in both directions!!! She has only had someone on her back for a few minutes at a time about 6 or 7 times in her life!

She has a beautiful easy floating trot and is really smooth. So if we can get her fattened up a bit, (she has come down in weight a bit this summer and is certainly not thin but she is not at the weight she needs to be to show at halter) we may take her to the Pinto show in September too and if I can get her working reasonably under saddle I might ride in the walk trot class with her. She has the advantage that she has already had all the exposure to shows and halter training and it is not new to her, whereas Dream and Blaze are still growing and two months ago had only ever had a halter on them and no other work done on them at all.

So the above pic is of Larry in the roundpen free lunging her. I would also love to have Cayenne ready for a walk trot class in September but she doesnt have the qualifying white markings to allow her to compete in the regular registry and is catagorised as a "breeding stock". The breeding stock do the same or similar classes to the Pintos or Paints but they compete on their own not against the spotted horses. We have had a few ladies recently who have breeding stock horses and they have been trying to promote them at shows (breeding stock is a paint and pinto breeder's nightmare because they dont have the spots and are therefore not valuable which I think is a crock!!) So Cayenne will help bring up numbers in those classes and make them worth more points and also maybe people will start looking at them in a different light.

Oh well if that all hasnt confused you LOL then I will call it a night. I am really enjoying the riding and think I am getting the passion back a bit, although it is still hard to motivate myself, maybe this is what I need to get me going. When I am riding it is so exhilerating.

I have a new visitor to my blog, Megan, who I would like to welcome, and I hope that she will start one of her own and share pictures as I know she does do a bit of photography too. Megan I left a reply in my comments on the one you posted to, I hope you saw it.

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

Lori

7 January 2008

Sorry for the confusion but Eb didnt go to his new home yesterday, he is still here, we just gave him his first lessons. Stan and Valerie still have to section off a shelter and few acres for him in the pasture that they have because he is still a stallion and one of the other horses they have is a mare, who has the same daddy as Eb, so that would not be a good idea putting them together LOL. Anyway because of this wonderful Indiana weather they just havent been able to get it done and finished (not taking into account the expense!!!) so Eb is staying with his brothers until they can get that finished, hopefully we will get better weather. The shelter is the biggest drawback because they have to build a complete new shed. I will definitely be upset when he goes but I know he is going to a great home and joining two of his siblings.

(Click on pic to enlarge)

Have you ever wondered how far away you have to walk around a horse who kicks so that you wont get taken out? Well here is Miss BB giving us a perfect example of how high and far those legs will reach and believe me they do it with major force, this would definitely be a head shot if there was someone there. The good think is that NONE of my horses kick anything other than each other when it comes to pecking order, but I am always cautious about letting them know where I am when I walk around them. This was just exhileration after being cooped up for a few days. You can see the snow is gone and the mud is back and they made the most of it!!!
And more exuberance and mud LOL not very pretty pictures but I could sit and watch my horses playing and interacting all day. We had amazing temps today, in the 60s and tomorrow will still be warm so I have left them all out tonight, hoping it will rain and clean them all up a bit LOL, but tomorrow night the temps are going to drop to around freezing again so I am going to be shovelling poop all day tomorrow I suppose and making the most of a very small load of sawdust, should buy me a few days of dryness and comfort for them anyway.

Nothing exciting to report, had a bit of a down day today. Thanks everyone for your visits, I dont always get to comment on everyone's blogs but I am trying to keep up with visits. (((Hugs))))

Lori
xx

4 January 2008

A few more pictures from yesterday. This is Girl Sonny (Taxes' momma). She is 18 years old now and this is one of the first times I have seen her have such fun. She was bucking and ran around the whole field harassing all the other mares as she went.
This is Eb's (the B&W colt) momma, Cat, she is one of the mischievious ones and does very good rearing and cow hopping (jumping with all four feet off the ground at the same time) when she is fresh and happy. I believe she rides but have never ridden her, seeing some of her antics makes me a bit wary LOL, she is also quite a bix buxom mare.
Cat doing another Hi Ho Silver with Piglette in the background and the three fillies in the foreground. I wish I could have survived the cold a bit longer because they still had a bit of life in them but my fingers were freezing off by this stage LOL.
And last but not least, this is BB (Eb's sister and Cat's daughter) doing the all fours up thing like her momma does. Not the most attractive angle LOL but she was having such fun. That is Dosie (the gelding - Eb, Cayenne, Lori and Wiggles daddy) behind her. I love the shadow on this one LOL.
The contrast of the mud on their coats still and snow is quite strange. The day before these were taken it was just a muddy mess and they love to roll in the mud as much as they love to roll in the snow.

Still cold today but not as bad, around freezing and tomorrow it starts to warm up with 50s by Sunday. I am hoping for some friends to bring a few of their horses over (ones we sold to them, Dosie's babies) to give me some moral support so that I can start enjoying my horses and getting miles on them so I can go out on the trails safely.

Well that is about it for today. Hope everyone is staying warm, have a great weekend (((Hugs))))

Lori
xx

23 November 2007

Huggy Cat on the new fence

L-R : Wiggle, Cayenne, Lori, BB & Girl Sonny

Cayenne, Wiggle and BB (these three were born the same year)

Dee and Dawn, two of the yearling fillies.

After a couple of very soggy days and a pretty cold one yesterday, dank and dreary, we had a beautiful day filled with mostly sunshine today, with some periods of cloudy weather but in general it was cold but pleasant.



I fed the starving masses and then put them out in the fields and they were very happy to be out in the fresh air. The one new spicket (water hydrant) that I had replaced in the main barn had started leaking during the night and I got into a barn under water this morning, just what I needed with the cold and no chance of it drying very easily. I baled water, threw down sawdust to soak up the remaining water and managed to make an adjustment to the faucet which seems to have solved the problem, we will see tomorrow morning!!!! I also managed to get five stables cleaned and filled with sawdust, will get the remaining 8 tomorrow. We also had some snow last night so there was a nice dusting on the ground this morning, makes everything look so clean until it melts and turns to mud LOL.



The pictures today are a few that I took this morning, had to get the kitty one in for Catblogging Friday. This is Huggy Cat on the new fence next to the electric tape. Good thing he didnt zap himself. Muddy horses LOL I love muddy horses.

Hope you all have a great weekend and are recovering from Thanksgiving dinners. ((((Hugs)))) to you all.

Lori
xx

10 September 2007

I took this shot of the girls down the road today. I have converted it to B&W because it just looks better that way. I am still really worried about the sunburn look on the three mares. I searched the field today and found nothing out of the ordinary other than two other plants which I am going to research and see if they are a problem if I can identify them. I went over this morning and sprayed her down with a baby oil, betadine and water solution which kept the flies and mosquitos at bay but you could just see that she is dreadfully sore. I am going to have to fetch her home I think, I will make that decision tomorrow morning

I got some more of the fence built today, am about a third of the way done. It has been hot and humid but I dont think the hot flushes are helping and I am really exhausted and down tonight so this will be short.

Hope everyone is well ((((Hugs))))) I will try to answer the questions asked soon I promise. Thanks for all your visits and messages I appreciate them.

Lori
xx