Happy Horse

How to make your horse happy after she totes your butt around riding.

First, let her get a drink of water and dribble all over everything.

Then walk her down to see her boyfriend breaking into a brand new round bale of hay.

Laugh at her as she looks so happy!

Then embarrass her by taking video of her happily munch!!

Horse Show!

It seems like sooooo long since we did a horse show! This time it was a dressage show - first time Vince has been to one.  We arrived on Friday afternoon and by the time we left on Friday night, it was 17 degrees.  Brrrr.  But Vince had a great warm up ride and settled in to the unfamiliar stall just fine.

We were pleasantly surprised to find that the temperature INCREASED over night and it was a balmy 25 degrees when we got back to the barn in the morning.  First test went great!  2nd place!

The lighting in indoor arenas is notoriously bad and this one is no exception but the sun was coming in from the high windows behind me giving a spotlight effect!  Second test also went well - 1st Place!  I didn't get a picture of the 3rd test because but it was another 2nd place finish.

We went outside to snap this picture with the blue ribbon while the sky was still blue to match!  Madison and I were laughing, she got her first blue ribbon EVER, as in something like 12 years ago, at this same barn and we have pictures of her on her horse along this same fence line.

Later on just before loading onto the trailer, they posed for one last pic with their RESERVE CHAMPION ribbon!  This was just a schooling show but a great experience for our big OTTB.

Family Photos

For the past two years I've been seeing photos by this photographer when she has done a friend's family photos and wanted to hire her. And this fall it worked!  I managed to wrangle both kids and got them out to the farm some could include the horses.

Austin looked so handsome!  I like the pictures from this photo shoot so much better than the ones we did for his senior pictures.

Trying to include a horse in a family picture is no easy feat but this one turned out great!

Love this!

And this one was just so perfect!

Of course, Madison the Model, always looks lovely and this day was no exception.  She is tall enough that she makes her horse Vince look small - this guy is huge!

A Great View

I'm not sure why certain "views" just strike such a cord with me...below are three that do it to me every time.

A great sunrise.  This is at street level but over the Detroit river as usual.  I'm glad I took the shot when I did. By the time I got upstairs in the building, it wasn't nearly as pretty.

This view from the front of the barn.  It's beautiful in every season and even lit up with my headlights at the twilight sky to the west.  It was well past sunset but the sky was still holding on to just a bit of light.

Of course, any view beyond my horse's ears is awesome! This was in late November and we had a beautiful warm Friday after Thanksgiving.  We just took a little ride around the farm since it's hunting season and I'm a bit nervous riding out when I can hear guns going off!

Fall Hiking

This was actually from a hike more than a month ago at the beginning of fall but since I have been so horribly lax in doing blog posts...

I started out on a dirt road that wraps around Kensington MetroPark...it was such a pretty fall day!

Later I ended up back in the park. I stopped by the river for a little bit and watch some people in kayaks paddle by and a few horses also crossed the bridge behind me.  I can't wait until I can ride Mata Hari on the Kensington trails!

Later yet I was passing over another section of the river as the clouds started to roll in making it look so different from the pic above! I think I was out for over 4 hours just meandering around enjoying the last of the fall weather.  And I'm glad I did - it has been such a rainy fall!

More on Yogurt

I think I've already posted pictures of my yogurt made in the Instant Pot.  I'm even more in love with it using a new recipe/process.  I use about 2/3 gallon of skim milk and about a cup of Nido dry milk powder.  Nido is made by Nestle and sold in Mexico but you can order it on Amazon.  It's full fat dry milk which is MUCH different than the typical nonfat condense milk we buy in the USA.

Using this method, I don't have to drain it so it retains more protein (whey) which also means less work.  From this I get about 10-12 cups of thick yogurt!