Work, work, work - it just never ends

(Original photograph by Jeff Kirkbride and used with his permission)

It has been a very rushed few days since Sunday, so much going on and I am exhausted. LOL



We are trying to get the field down the road cut and baled so that we can take our horses out there I hope it happens soon.

One of our neighbors helped me till/lightly plough and disc the one field and plant horse pasture seed and oats, now all we need is some rain!!!! We have had very little, we always appear to be in the little pocket that the rain misses for some reason. Feast or Famine!



Well by the time we had finished that and I had fed the horses it was after 9pm! This is becoming the norm for me, I never seem to get to sit down before 9 at night.



I had some exciting news tho yesterday. I have always wanted a Palomino horse, I have just always had an attraction for the color. Well we still have two mares in Iowa with a friend that run with his band of brood mares (Quarter horses) and whatever stallion he wants to breed them to that year and it so happens that they shared the huge pasture which has a creek running through it with his Champion Palomino stud CK Sun. The picture is a trading card that Larry made of him for our friends, his details and their name and contact details are on the back of the card. I didnt take this picture, the original photograph was taken by Photographer Jeff Kirkbride who gave us permission to use the photo. Larry cut him out and put him on a new background for the card.



Elliot called yesterday evening to tell us that when he went to give the mares their grain he saw the one mare with a baby. She stayed up on the ridge but he could see it is yellow and possibly has a bald (white) face, so we could very possibly have a palomino paint horse (one with spots on it too). This mare is very protective of her babies so it is probably going to be a few days before she brings the baby down to get the grain they get each evening and Elliot can hopefully get some pics of it!!!



There is one other mare who is still expecting any day there too. I just want to jump in my truck and drive there, but with gas prices and the fact that he is in northwestern Iowa (about a 9 hour drive), puts a bit of a damper on that idea LOL.



Lots of other little things happening, I am still black and Blue from our battle with Blaze on Sunday and loading into the horse trailer. Darlene, the lady who purchased him is very very happy with him, says he has exactly the temperment that she was wanting. He would climb in your pocket if he could and is normally as quiet as a mouse and very clever.

Drew who bought Dosie is very happy with him too so maybe we will see him at some of the shows later in the year. The Indiana Pinto Assoc. has their next show in August and then one a month later in September.

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

Lori
xx

22 November 2007

Happy Turkey Day!!!! This is not a traditional holiday where I come from but is a big thing here in the USA and after eating yourself to death on Thanksgiving Day all the big stores have huge sales starting at sometimes 5am the next morning which are attended by thousands. I, personally, give them a miss, I am not a morning person and certainly cant justify getting up that early in the morning in the cold (it is going to be in the low 20s tonight, had a bit of snow this evening) to do battle with the crowds LOL.

Larry and I had a quiet day, his sister joined us for lunch and I made a small Turkey breast (6 lbs LOL) and some vegies and salads and an apple pie and we had a nice lunch and then I made the mistake of laying down and that was the end of the day!!! Nice to relax even though I still had to feed horses, and we didnt get any help from the Home Health Agency today so I gave Larry his quick bath and got him up. I think this is only the second Thanksgiving that he has been able to get up for in the past 6 and a half years, so it was nice to be able to sit at a table and have a meal.

Today's pictures are a few I have been working on for a young lady at one of the shows this year. She wanted some casual shots with her mare for her Senior pictures (wallet size) to hand out to her friends as she graduates next year. These were two of the ones she chose. Larry is also making a collage with 7 of the pictures on it to be printed 12" x 18" which is looking lovely.

I had a great giggle today on my friend MiKael's blog and would recommend it as good reading for anyone wondering about the affliction which we have called horse fever LOL. I am going to give you a link to "Blog Village" as she is in the running for a ranking for her blog and if you click on this link

http://blogvillage.gotop100.com/in.php?ref=471

go to the bottom of the page and click on the button "Click here to enter Blog Village", you will find her ranked at 4th at the moment. Her blog is called MiKael's Mania - Arabian Horses. If you click on the name of her blog you can read her latest post which will, I am sure, make you giggle LOL, and perhaps make some of you understand my affliction, then if you click on the button the right on the Blog Village ranking page "Rate this site" you can give her a ranking and leave your name and a comment if you would like. I really recommend reading this and in fact all of her stories, she is a master story teller and for any horse enthusiast is a mine of information. She is very passionate about her horses.

Well that is about it for today folks. Hope you all had a great day. ((((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