Pony Rides

The barn recently had a fall party and lots of little kids came to be a part of the farm life and go on a hay ride.  We also did "pony" rides.  EG and some of the other teens helped out and led the horses around to keep it safe.

Animal Love

Equestrian Girl and I went to visit a friend last weekend to meet her new horse, Lucy.  Lucy is pregnant and due in March.  She is also just the sweetest thing and loves attention!

The puppies (although not so little now!) also loved EG and were trying to find the chocolate wrapper she had stuck in her pocket.

Fat Cat

Yes, this cat is every bit as big as he looks!

This fall with hardly any horse shows and only a few motocross races wasn't supposed to be that busy.  I'm not sure what the heck happened but I haven't been able to catch my breath and I even took 4 days off work this month so I wouldn't lose them.  Whew.

It was a beautiful fall even if we did have quite a bit of rain.  We needed it after the draught we had this summer.  Now it seems there's a hurricane bearing down on the east coast and another cold front coming in from the northwest that will end up creating a monster that they are calling "Frankenstorm".  It will hit just before Halloween.  Here in Michigan we won't be affected much but they are now forecasting snow for Monday and Tuesday nights.  Not unheard of to have a little snow before Halloween but certainly not welcome yet!

We seem to be the family of aches and pains lately too with only Equestrian Girl escaping.  Motocross Boy/Man took a bad crash a couple of weeks ago ending his season a week early with a badly bruised shoulder - luckily it wasn't broken.  Scott has been nursing a torn labrum in his shoulder and will have surgery in a couple of weeks.  I've been having terrible pain in my hips for months now and finally have a tentative diagnosis of "femoral ace tabular impingement".  I'll start physical therapy soon for that and my shoulder which is probably a rotator cuff injury.  

And all the while we continue to school the kids, take care of the horse, pack away the bikes for winter, and hope that life slows down just a little soon!

True Words

Making a statement

I wonder what would happen if I strapped on my spurs with heels and wore them to work?

Have a Seat!

This has got to be the coolest seat ever!  Who would ever take the time to plan this and then wait for it to grow?  I'm way too impatient.

I'd love this on the patio that I'm going to have some day.  

It would be so fun to do a room like this!

Another really cool idea - it's an English saddle!  Can you see it now?

 There was this bar in Cancun about a million years ago that had saddle bar stools.  Great idea!

Cartoon Time!

Back in the days of real newspapers and it was delivered every day, one of my very favorite sections was the comics.  I LOVED reading the comics.  It was my little bit of light and humor for the day.  Now that there's no more newspaper, I kinda miss my comics....


So funny - horses probably do see things this way because there's no other logical reason for getting scared of the things they are afraid of.

Showed this one to the kids.  Yep - that's right!!

Agree, agree!!!!!

This one had me on the floor laughing.

So Beautiful!

I love fall.  I love winter.  This picture is like the epitome of the greatness of both seasons.  The first snowfall while the leaves are still vibrant.  

I think this is Minnesota - I lifted the picture off Facebook or I would give credit to the photographer.  Just an amazingly beautiful picture.

Little Buckaroos

The tiny chaps on this kid just kill me.  And what a good horse!

I might have posted this one before but I love it too much to worry about that.  The matching lime green is just too cute.

This just feels so British it's ridiculous right down to the foggy day.

This one isn't wrangling anything but a spoon but I lover her.

Something so beautiful about this...it's so cool.

A Quick Ride

Shame, shame, shame on us for not even realizing EG hadn't put on a helmet. This was a totally last minute thing - they had gone out to hand graze and she ended up bopping around for a few minutes on Stanley bareback.  Such a handsome fellow!

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!

Saturday night and these three teenage girls are at the barn riding their horses.  LOVE IT!  Geldings beat boyfriends any day of the year!

Feeling Suzy Homemaker...

I was in a Suzy Homemaker mood today.  That doesn't happen all that often.  I started with salsa.  Yum.

And then I noticed the bowl I was using.  Did anyone else have bowls like this when they were a kid?  This one of the set was my mom's.  My mom liked to bake so lots of yummy stuff came out of these bowls.  

I didn't take pictures of anything else I made but I also made a huge batch of chicken noodle soup filled with lots of veggies too and then a big pot of Italian Wedding Soup.  I bought lots fruits and vegetables at the farm market so we'll be eating good this week!

The Ribbon Haul

I actually feel a little bad posting this...a blogger friend wasn't able to go to her championship show and I know how much she loves ribbons....

A New Horse Show Part 2

The weather was a little crazy all weekend going from rainy to nice in the blink of an eye.  Just before horsemanship we had a few drips of rain and EG hid under my jacket to keep her new hat dry.  Stanley wasn't so sure about the red monster on his back.

Twenty minutes later, they were lined up for the horsemanship championships and the sky was blue again.

The next day was English day and EG and Stanley found a spot for a nap between classes.

And Stanley told me about his displeasure at having to practice again.

The princess showed off that pretty smile.

Then got serious about winning again.

First place for English Equitation too.

We finally noticed that they had this spot set up for pictures and just before we left we took advantage of it.  

Equestrian Girl and Stanley won the age group high point, 4 classes and the Western Pleasure Championship!!  Not a bad haul for a weekend!

A New Horse Show

A couple of weeks ago we went to a new horse show.  It was the Michigan Open Championship Show held at Shiawassee Fairgrounds.  This was the fairgrounds where Equestrian Girl hit the dirt hard 5 years ago and spent 8 days in the hospital.  This would be the first time back there.

But the sun still rises there and we ended up having a great time with EG and Stanley winning LOTS of awards and ribbons.

They started the day with showmanship.

And won.  A blue ribbon and a tall boot bag.

Next was Western Pleasure.

They won that too.  And got another blue ribbon and a western boot bag.

That put them in the championship class that included all the adults.  The stakes were high and the competition was stiff.

My girl and her pony looked lovely and painted such a beautiful picture against that cloudy sky.

When they lined up to announce the winners we were nervous.  It was a BIG class with 22 riders and horses.

And they won!!!!  A big neck ribbon, an etched glass trophy and a fleece jacket.

So proud of my dynamic duo!!  Stanley wasn't impressed and stuck his tongue out at me.

To be continued.