First Dressage Show

It was a long 6 months rehabbing this awesome horse from injury so Madison was really excited to finally be able to do a schooling dressage show at Willowbrooke - a place where she did one of her first shows at 8 years old!

The sunrise was beautiful this chilly morning and I got to watch it from the barn door - the morning of a horse show.  I love that.

So while I watched the sun rise, Madison was hard at work getting Mata Hari's mane braided for the show.

Almost finished.

 Our fabulous pony decided she didn't want to leave the barn and gave us some trouble loading onto the trailer.  This meant we arrived at the show almost 30 minutes later than we had planned.  But being a seasoned pro at showing, Madison pulled it together and she was ready to ride into the ring well before they called her.

It was so crazy to pull into a horse show and be done 30 minutes later!  In our stock horse world they were all day events, often into the wee hours.  So we waited around for the results of her class.

Any my duo took 2nd place!!  Smiles all around - we were super happy.

Our beautiful princess pony...

Homecoming Austin Style - 2015

New shirt and bow tie - picked out by Mr. Flood's lovely sister.

 My handsome son with a smile that goes for miles.  This kid has the best heart and soul...

Getting Austin to "pose" had us all laughing so hard I had to cross my legs!

Taking a seat was easier.

Then we went back to cheezy grins before he hit the door because he was 1 minute late!!

Almost Done with the Painting Project

Some home renovation projects just seem to take forever and this has been one of them.  We've been working on getting the house painted for a month now and we're into the final stretch.  I spent much of last Saturday painting the spindles of this deck railing.  Getting down and up in-between those boards was a b*itch!  I guess that's why we didn't re-paint them the last time we painted the house 15 years ago.  And sitting cross legged on that black roof-deck for 6 hours wasn't much fun either.

I did have lots of company.  These little dragon flies seem to really love sunning themselves on the railing.  Every time I stood up there were at least 6-10 of them up there.

And when I got done, I plopped a chair on the little deck in the backyard and had myself a cold beer.  Ahhhhhh, relaxation!!

Detroit Sunrise - September 2015

I find my zen many mornings at work by just standing near the window to enjoy the sun rising over the Detroit River.....

The New Barn

We have boarded at quite a few different barns over the years and all are pretty different from each other in a variety of ways.  This barn has about 20 stalls - 10 on each side - with a row of 4 grooming stations down the middle.  That's Mata Hari in the first one.  You can just see the entrance to the indoor arena at the far right the picture. Technically it's a separate building but has been connected to the barn with a "breezeway".  

This is Mata Hari's stall.  I'm glad she has a window and so does she - when she's inside in the evenings she likes to stand looking out.

Madison kept talking about this giant beehive on the trail that she's been taking Mata Hari on around the property. When I went out walking with her last time, we came on it again.  It's super low to the ground on this tiny bush which is kind of unusual but it's a "dead" hive.  No bees around it at all.

A bit dark, but my girls enjoying their trek through the trails.

Mata Hari

Our little black horse was injured last spring. It was a suspensory injury in her front right leg which basically means, very long, slow recovery.  We spent months hand walking her with small increments of time increases, and then riding at a walk with the same slow build up.  Eventually we added some trot work and finally, 2 weeks ago, we started to add cantering.

We also moved barns 9/1/15 because our beloved owners of Foxcroft had decided they were going to sell their farm next spring.  The timing worked out - Mata Hari was able to get turned out in a small pasture and didn't need to be confined to her tiny paddock any longer.

Madison has been taking advantage of the grass trails that wind around the property at this new barn and taking Mata Hari out there for her cool downs.  She is becoming quite the good trail horse which should prove helpful when they start doing cross country.

The morning of these pictures was drizzling rain but I am excited to see how that background changes as we move into fall.  There could be some good photo opportunities back there!

Crystal Mountain

I have several new clients through work that meet in places all over the state (and sometimes other states) which means I'm doing a little more traveling than I used to do.  Last week I had a quick overnight at Crystal Mountain and was pretty surprised to find that I didn't have just a hotel room but a whole CONDO to myself!  A bit of an overkill for the 10 hours I was actually IN the room but...

It was on the golf course - 18th hole.  You can sort of see it outside the window.  The decor was very woodsy but nicely done.  It was apparent that the whole condo had been recently updated.

We had the exact same table and chairs set in our cottage!  The big chair was comfy - I didn't sit on the coach.  It looked slippery.

The weird lighting did a number on the kitchen in this picture but the cupboards were an odd choice for a remodel.  I was mildly disappointed that they didn't have a decent coffee maker in such a nice place.  The bathroom and bedroom were off to the right with several closets lining this hallway as well.  There was also a door that opened to the condo next door like they have in connecting hotel rooms so I guess if you have friends next door you don't have to go outside to get to their place.