Riding out 2012~

Farah admires our view~

How did I spend part of it?  Riding of course!  First we had sunshine, then the clouds moved in, but it was still a beautiful day in Western, WA for the very end of December!

Drainage Basin

 If I'd pulled out my camera a minute sooner - I would have had a beautiful photo of a Blue Heron taking flight off this pond!  I enjoyed seeing him, but would have enjoyed showing you a photo too!  

Home Loop

 It was incredibly quiet up in the woods, no other wildlife to report.  Farah was on her "A" game!  We trotted we galloped & we went up to 22.7 mph before the sliding stop at the edge of the large water puddle that pulled off a front shoe!  :-)  

Looking up at the Homestead~

 Art is coming over tomorrow morning to replace the shoe, best farrier in the world & he will be paid with some of my homemade ham salad, made with the huge ham that Butch smoked for our Christmas dinner!  

Butch at our Gates?

 No, you're not seeing double!  Butch is installing a new gate complete with automatic gate opener!  I wonder how many times we'll get out of the truck to open the gate before we remember to push the little button on the remote?  :-)

Farah waits for Butch to open both!

 The gold girl was a bit worried that we would get in?  After all, a warm stall, good hay & home is on the other side!  We're happy to have this year come to a close.  There were some good times, some bad times & too many sad times it seems for us ~  Time to move on into 2013 in the hope that it brings all of us good fortune, more good times & good memories!

"Hill of Death"~

HOD, zig-zag on the right~

Our local test of fitness for our horses heading to the first endurance ride of the new season - Home On The Range - is how well they can trot up a four-mile climb that we named appropriately, the "Hill of Death".  It's a tough, tough climb - heart rates go up & stay up - all the way to the top.  Once you're up there though - the view is always well worth the trip.

Khari admires the view in a borrowed headstall :-)

I feel so lucky to have managed some really nice rides this last week, in spite of jack-knifing my truck/trailer in my own gate...  (Thanks to a neighbor, we managed to get me unstuck.)   Since I'd planned extra time, still on schedule, I drove over to the farm - pulled Farah from her stall &  grabbed what I thought - was her headstall.  Arriving at Kathryn Taylor, it became obvious when I started to try to put the bridle on Farah -  that it wasn't hers!  As a matter of fact... it was Thoroughbred size!  That made for some interesting re-working with some thick string :-)  

Early Thursday morning - Khari & I head up north to ride with Fish Creek Team members & a Pirate...  Opening the tack room door on my trailer - I realized that I'd forgotten Khari's headstall!    OK, do I ride her in a halter?  Not easy with a group of competitive horses!  To my rescue is Aarene of Haiku Farm fame!  She produces a a nice halter/bridle combo with bit - that sported Calvary brass!

Tagged!

Finally - today - I meet Charlotte up at the Glass School for a couple loops, one slower paced with a friend conditioning a youngster, then a second faster paced loop.  We return to the trailers to find that we'd been tagged!  Of course we have NO Idea WHO the offender could be - but...  we both think that the fact we did see Aarene getting ready to leave might be somewhat suspicious?