Thursday 18 September 2008

Another quickie tonight (although I always seem to get long winded LOL). The picture today is from the campfire at the trail riding camp I went on over Labor Day weekend. They had this cauldron hanging over the fire filled with water and corn which was delicious!!! It was already getting quite dark but I loved the effect of the steam and the flames so snapped off a few frames.

My brother has had to go back to Johannesburg because of work commitments, but my Dad is safely installed in a nursing facility and I am going to be getting a daily update from my brother as he hears what is happening.

The move yesterday was traumatic for Dad and they have finally started giving him pain medication and tranquilisers. I am praying that it will be quick now, I watched my Mom go through months of extreme pain and I dont want him to have to endure the same. He is a little bit more aware of what is going on around him but as I have said before, it is just a waiting game and I hope that he goes as peacefully as possible. I just wish I could be there.

I have been in contact with my estranged daughter in England and we have made the first move towards what I am hoping can be a reconciliation between the two of us. At least she is talking to me!!!! We were brought up to be tough and to be survivors in Africa during the war times, had to face things that people here can't imagine at very young ages so I know she has been able to keep herself on top of things, she is tough. She is trying to get Emergency Travel Documents to go and see Dad but her passport is still with the Home Affairs in England for her Naturalisation application and we don't know if we will be able to get it back in time.

Annette it is great to see you posting, now we need you to start your own blog, recording your journey with Dreamer. I am so glad that you liked him so well, he couldnt have gone to a better home and I am looking forward to seeing the two of you competing next year, I think you may kick some butt LOL. He is going to be one of those horses that bulks up in his third or fourth year and then they become tanks and I am sure the supplements you are giving him will help him on his way. He is a lucky boy.

Gecko thanks for all your messages. There is no hope of a recovery for my Dad, he is too far along and the cancer has spread to his brain which is why he is having his lucid and comatose type states, with the pressure on his brain. It has been quite quick and as far as I know he has had no other problems until this hit last week. They are unsure where the cancer started but wherever it did it wasnt showing itself until it was this far along.

Lisa welcome back girl!!! Loved your photos, you have been a busy bee!!!!

Have a great Friday everyone, hopefully I will have more news tomorrow. I am planning on taking Cayenne trail riding on Saturday or Sunday but it will depend on what else transpires before then. ((((Hugs))))

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

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

Sunday 17 August 2008

Two old pics today I am afraid. This one is from the Welsh Pony Show. This lady is riding her little stallion without the bridle on, she is very talented. She asked me t capture some shots of her after the one class because no-one had ever done so, they were more in awe of what she was doing than thinking about hitting the shutter, I was too LOL

I am sure some of you have heard about The Extreme Cowboy Race here in US which is aired of RFDTV where they have all sorts of obstacles to do and tasks and the quickest time wins. It is held in a few elimination rounds and she got Reserve Champion at the one last year on a grey pony that she also rides. I know she competed on this pony this year but I dont know where she placed but know it was in the top 4. If you click on the link above you will be able to see a video of the race and most of if not all of her ride if you can sit long enough through the ads LOL. Definitely worth watching. My point is that This little stallion would rather ride without a bridle than with one, the only reason he is riding with one here is because it states he has to in the show rules!!

I didn't take my camera with me yesterday because I anticipated a green newly broke horse to be a handful in the forests and on the trails, first time out, boy was I ever wrong!!! Cayenne was an absolute star. We had a long ride and she stepped over all the tree limbs, went into the river for a drink and waded through parts of the trail along the river in knee deep water. I never felt her tense up once and you would have sworn she had been doing this all her life, I was so proud of her, considering that I have ridden her maybe a dozen times only in her life!

She wasnt too sure about the mud and the first mud spot we came to we were already in themiddle of it when she realised it was gooey and stopped, but I rode her through it and that was the first and last hint of unease that I had from her.

I nearly ended up in the middle of a hornets nest, literally. There was a downed tree on the one trail so we were going around the tree to make a new track and meet up with the original one and the next second there it was hanging in front of me about 12 feet away!!

I just about had a fit and one of the hornets made a B-line for me, it stung me above the right eye but fortunately it didnt get a good shot and my hair was not tied up because I swatted it off and kept swatting around my head with my hair flying all over the place so it got caught up in that, and yelled at the guy in front (who had stopped) to keep going, if the rest of the swarm got a hint of his attack they would all be onto me in no time. We put some mud on it and it is nearly gone today. I have been taking a lot of antihistamines because of the pollen so I think having that in my system helped a lot too.

The nest was about the size of a football, I have never seen anything like it. Thee was another one on the main trail hanging directly overhead of where you ride which we already knew about and they are going to have to find a way of moving it because you cant ride under it. I am just thankful it stung me and not Cayenne, she probably would have reacted to that LOL.

Well that's it for today, I may try to post again later to make up for missing so much time. If I dont hope you are all having a great weekend.

Lori

Monday 14 July 2008

Who says horses aren't creative or that they cant be rocket scientists. This picture is proof positive that they have both capabilities LOL. I got my hands on 3 freshly cut roundbales of grass hay last week for a very reasonable price so I put two with the four horses and one with these three. The other horses have trashed both of theirs already LOL but these guys are making a piece of art for me.

(Click on picture to enlarge)

I got a few more shots of the hummers again this morning. I waited until the sun was just in the right spot and put a white piece of fabric over the window where the feeder is hanging and using my 100mm 2.8 lens perched on the stepladder on a rice bag I waited for the little visitors. They dont dissappoint as long as you are perfectly still because I am literally 3 feet from the feeder. Here are just a few of the shots, just wish I was getting more color on the birds, I am going to have to try to get different angles. If you click on the first bird image to see the larger version you can see it's tongue sticking out from the end of its beak.

(Click on picture to enlarge)

(Click on picture to enlarge)

I rode Cayenne again today, I have to say it is getting easier and easier to get motivated right now and Larry keeps on my butt so I do it. We started with her having her breakfast in the trailer, she gave me a small bit of hassle getting in but nothing I couldnt manage on my own.

I then unloaded and reloaded her and put her in the barn while I shot my hummer pictures because that was when the light was right and in the spot I needed. After I got those, I got her saddled and off we went down the drive with Larry in tow. She was a star and walked with me riding past all the spooks and monsters she saw yesterday and then did a beautiful walk around the huge field and then over a bridge sort of filled in between two small ponds, ducks and all. She then turned back and we trotted up the hill and across the top of the field (there were two suspiscious looking round bales up there which she was a bit leary about) and then walked down the hill to our starting point like a star. I have to say I felt great after riding her, MiKael I am starting to see what pleasure you get out of riding your horses, up until now it has always just been such a chore with so many to look after.

Thanks to all who have visited my blog and those who have also left comments, I appreciate it and know how time consuming it can be that is why I am so far behind on mine!!! That is about it for today, a slightly cooler day upper 70s lower 80s so it was bearable. ((((Hugs)))))

Lori
xx

Sunday 13 July 2008

This was one of the shots taken on my trail ride a week ago, there were lots of trees that had blown over with all the storms we have been having.

This is a viaduct in town where the road goes under the old railway track. The old train station is just to the left of this bridge and you can see how old it is and how it is all falling to pieces. They have discontinued using this track (different one from the one that passes our house unfortunately!!) and have been pulling up the ties and rails for the past few weeks. Some of these old lines have been converted into cycling trails, laying a concrete path for people to use either to take a walk or ride their bicycles on, no motorised vehicles.

I missed a day again but that is just how it goes here, always a million things to think about. I didnt ride Cayenne yesterday but I have been for the two days before that and today. She is the next filly that I am going to want to sell and she is awesome.

We have had a lot of rain storms on and off the past few weeks which has been nice for the pasture but it makes it a bit muddy and as it clay it is very slippery in the roundpen, so today I saddled her and with Larry in tow (He has been on my butt every day to get this done or I wouldnt do it as much as I love it) in his wheelchair we walked down the drive and then along the road a ways. She was a bit freaked out about out neighbors property, he has a lot of piles and things strewn in his garden and all sorts of scary things that are gonna jump out and eat her. Instead of battling with her in the middle of the road, I disounted and led her past it all, letting her inspect everything and tapping on the cars and stuff so she could lose her fear.

A little further up the road there is a pasture that the owner has said he doesnt mind if we use to ride as long as we dont tear it up when it is wet. I tried to keep to the boundaries and Cy was a bit hesitatant from time to time but we walked around the whole field and then trotted up the lane in the field and she was a star.

She knew when she was headed for home and when I tried to turn her back again she started going into reverse. Larry reminded me to do the one rein stops and get her moving forward and that worked nicely, we did that just a bit and because we wanted to end on a good note we then rode home. She wasnt nearly as scared of the neighbors yard this time so I stayed mounted and she was calling to her buddies, I have to say that feels so weird when they whinney and you are on their backs, their whole body vibrates LOL. I turned her back to go away from home a few times in the lane just to get her used to listening to me and made her move forward and then when we got back to the barn we decided to see if she will load in the two horse trailer that Gee's owner has parked here. I am hoping to take her trail riding next weekend and I think she might do well.

These trailers must be quite scary for a horse, very closed in. With the help of a few ropes across the butt and Larry's nephew Kevin and his sister in law we managed to get her in without a huge fight, and fairly quietly. I hate making their first experience traumatic because it just makes your job harder. I gave her some hay and grain while she was in there and then after about 10 minutes I backed her out and took her to the turnout. This filly is another that just wants to be doing something and to please you.

By that time it was 1pm and I had to get lunch together for us all, we had Pizza. I was pretty tired after all that physical exertion so I lay down a bit and dozed for about an hour. Then I got up and put the three fillies up and let Taxes out in the lot behind the barn to get some exercise, he hasnt had a good exercise session for weeks. He has calmed down a lot but is still and I am sure always will be a handful LOL.

My hummingbirds are still out there and yesterday I saw one with the ruby throat again but they are smaller so they must be babies born this year. I am going to set up a morning again when there is decent sunlight there to try to get some more shots of them. I still dont have a shot that I really like and will carry on trying until I do.

Thats about it for the day. Hope you all had a great weekend.

Lori

xx

The Humidity is setting in

Look at those teeth LOL!!!!!! This was Dee, one of the two year old fillies stretching under the electric wire without shocking herself to get the little bits of green grass that were sticking up. Quite a set of chompers there LOL and a very dirty nose!

I caught this little guy outside the kitchen window again a few days ago, I liked the way he was lit by the setting sun from the back and I used fill flash to brighten up the shadows and it worked nicely.

It has been very humid today, not quite as hot, but overcast all day. We had a bit of rain on and off. Last night's storm only yielded 1/10th of an inch of rain so we were on the edge again, thank heavens because if it had been worse my old refridgerator would have been sitting in my driveway not just 6 feet further down the deck from where it had been before the storm LOL. You can't describe the intensity of these storms to people who have not exerienced them. They are there one minute and gone the next and sometimes just the straight line winds, not even tornados leave chaos in their wake in a matter of minutes. It is pretty scary.

The trees will blow so that they are nearly horizontal to the ground, big trees. Nature is a powerful and beautiful thing and I have the greatest respect for it.

Abe I think this little dove is a Mourning Dove? It doesnt have the ring around its neck so I am assuming that it what it is. I am just too lazy to look it up LOL.

I got the urge to go out and groom saddle, lunge and ride Cayenne in the bottom of the barn today. I havent ridden or had the inclination to for 6 or 8 months so when I got the urge I acted on it right away. I didnt ride for long because I still have part of the bottom of the barn taken up with stalls so it was hard to do more than a small circle. We did a bit of flexion, (neck bending) bringing her nose to touch my foot each way and then did a bit of walking and trotting in each direction.

I want to start trail riding and she will be my first project because she has had the most riding time (3 weeks!!!) of all of them and I need to get her sold. So if my burst of enthusiasm continues and I ride her every day this week, maybe I can take her out on the trails for a ride next weekend.

She is such a willing enthusiastic filly and I would love to see her go to a loving home where she will get loved back. She will come and try to put her head into the halter for you when you come near her with one, just gets so excited and intense and eager to please.

I wish I could get a picture of Taxes for you with someone standing next to him because you are all not going to believe how big he is, but I dont have anyone to hold him and he is naughty LOL.

That's it for today, I have to say it was nice to be sitting up on a horse's back again even if it was short and sweet - I am out there alone so if anything should happen it would not be good - so I usually make sure there is someone around when I ride.

Hope you are all having a great weekend and the people west and south of us, stay safe with all this dreadful weather heavy rains and tornados. ((((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

3 January 2008

It was absolutely freezing again today. Woke up to 1F and it didnt get above 24F when I last checked. What with 17 frozen water buckets which needed to have hot water poured over them to get the solid ice out of them which meant taking them all outside the barn, my freezing fingers and toes despite two pairs of gloves, insulated socks, two beanies (wool hats) and insulated overalls I couldnt spend more than half an hour at a time out there.

It was beautiful and sunny with very little wind so of course I decided to put the horses out for a few hours, which then led me to freezing my buns off more following them around the field with about 6 inches of snow in it. I didnt get any really great shots because the mares headed to the far end of the field to have their fun. They were running bucking and rearing and having a ball. I had to crop a few down because they were so far away and todays pictures are of Cayenne doing the Hi Ho Silver thing (with Lori in the background) and the three boys being brats as usual.
This third shot was taken of the ice on the window this morning as we did have clear skies and a pretty sunrise. Not as spectacular as some of my others but one for the record. Promise this will be the last one for a while LOL, I am thinking of doing a triptych of some of these shots (sheesh still trying to get the calendars finished!!!!) I will have to do 18 month ones to make up for my lateness.

Stan is doing a fabulous job of finishing off our bedroom and has helped a lot with little stuff that I just cant get done around the property. I am hoping to make arrangements to go riding with him and his wife sometime soon. They spend the weekends at a camping ground about an hour's drive from here, with their horses every weekend and trail ride but I dont have a trailer and my horses have very little riding hours under their girths and I am hoping I can convince them to bring their horses over here when we have a bit warmer weather and ride in the areas around our property. That will give me and my three horses I want to ride a chance to gain confidence and exposure to other horses and still be close to home.

Well other than being a frozen popsicle today everything is going well. The stables still depress me every time I look at them but I am doing my best and the horses are fat and happy. (((((Hugs)))) everyone and keep warm.

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