The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread NINE

See our "who's who" page! ^

[HairOfTheDog]

The FreeRepublic Saddle Club - Who's Who *pics*

This is a horse chat thread where we share ideas, ask for input from other horsemen, and talk about our riding and horse-keeping. We have a lot of different kinds of riders and horses, and a lot to share. In the previous threads we have had a great time talking through lessons, training, horse lamenesses, illnesses and pregnancies... and always sharing pictures and stories.

I always have a link to this thread on my profile page, so if you have something to say and can't find the thread in latest posts… look for it there and wake the thread up!

I also have a ping list for horse threads that are of interest, and MissTargets will now be pinging everyone most mornings. Let MissTargets and/or me know if you would like to be on the ping list. As FreeRepublic is a political site, our politics and other issues will probably blend in…. There are many issues for horsemen that touch politics… land use, animal rights/abuse cases that make the news…. Legislation that might affect horse owners.

So... like the previous threads, this is intended as fun place to come and share stories, pictures, questions and chit-chat, unguided and unmoderated and that we come together here as friends. There are lots of ways of doing things and we all have our quirks, tricks and specialties that are neat to learn about.

Previous threads:

The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread - thread ONE
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread - Thread TWO!
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread - Thread THREE!
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread FOUR
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread FIVE
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread SIX
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread SEVEN
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread EIGHT

New folk and occasional posters, jump right in and introduce yourselves, tell us about your horses, and post pictures if you've got them!

[ShakeNJake]

Hope things don't get too hairy tonight for you. Heat+ humidity+cold front is very bad.

That would be an interesting show about animals and severe weather. I have heard they also react to pending earthquakes.

[ShakeNJake]

I saw an interview local news did with him. He really seems to have a great attitude about the whole experience.

I have seen quite a few tornados since I moved to Texas in 1974. I used to live north of Amarillo and usually saw one or 2 each spring. Wide open spaces up there with not much to block the view. You can see them a long way off. But, probably the most exciting thing that happened while I lived in Borger was when the Phillips plant blew up. Rocked my trailer house back and forth and woke me up. My ex was a police officer there and was the first one on the scene, at least as close as he could get. He said that stuff was still falling out of the air when he got on site.

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

I'm probably getting ready to get ripped apart by a tornado:). Over the 25 years we have lived here, I've watched (from TV) countless of tornados heading right for where I live, and then either see them fizzle out or change directions. I've come to believe that because I live on this mountain (mountain by OK standards:), that it protects us somehow from getting a direct. I just don't worry any more. Last night I woke up and heard the wind howling, and the rain, and went right back to sleep without a second thought. Probably not a good attitude to have:\

Becky

[HairOfTheDog]

Well, if you do, don't sleep through it, take pictures! :~o

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

I don't know if I could:)

We were at a 4th of July party a few years back. It was down in the valley where the terraine in just flat, flat, flat, all sod fields. A storm came up suddenly, and it was an obvious wall cloud, swirling clouds, type thing.

I was watching from a storm shelter:). Scared the crap out of me. a tornado never dropped down, but to this day I don't know why, all signs for one was there.

Becky

[HairOfTheDog]

If I lived where tornados were I would love to be a storm chaser. In college, my room-mates and I would follow big thunderstorms east along I-90... drive ahead of them, let them go overhead, drive ahead again... Course all we got to see was regular lightning and rather bitty hail. They're still cool to watch. They're pretty rare on this side of the mountains, and when we do have them, they're often so embedded in other clouds you can't make out their shape They never last very long.

Good morning everyone :~D

[HairOfTheDog]

Good morning... looking for everyone to check in this morning, I don't know if you all had another wild night or if it calmed down.

[MissTargets]

Good Morning.

In 1995, on Memorial Day weekend, there was a big tornado in the area. We had just come back from vacation, and had a load of hay to put in. It was so hot and humid that day, hay was the last thing we wanted to do. The farmer had delivered it on his wagon, so we didn't have much choice but to get it in. The sky was an eerie green color and you just knew a storm was coming.

Around 5 or 6 that evening, we heard lots sirens go off. We jumped in the truck and wanted to see what was going on. A friend of ours was a sheriff's deputy and we saw him on the road. He told us a tornado had touched down, in a small farming community North of us. We were so lucky, as the tornado had skipped over our area, touched down in numerous places after that and killed 9 people. I sat out on the patio most of the night drinking adult beverages and keeping a watch. We had no idea when we took our ride that there (if any) warnings were out.

We are having a lot of rain today, but no warnings. But, you never know.

[CindyDawg]

We had a chemical plant blow up near us too one. We lived in a mobile home and I worked nights. I had already been sleeping and my husband pushed the trailer back for some reason a few weeks earlier. A house moving wakes you up real fast. Anyway , I was asleep again and I felt and heard the boom. I ran outside, yelling at my husband. He came running out of his garage, and told me, look behind you. I didn't do anything.

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

It started clearing here in the evening, and today we have sunshine and beautiful blue skies:), No rain in the forecast for the next week and tempratures in the 70's.

Becky

[CindyDawg]

You never know. Rolling, green clouds. Take cover.

[CindyDawg]

The line went about 15 miles north of us (horses and me). Pretty lightning show. The thunder was sure rattling houses though. House and car alarms going off.

[ShakeNJake]

Looks like we got the same thing yesterday. It was nice and cool all day and very sunny. Got lots of barn and yard work done. Same forecast for today and tomorrow with possible thunderstorms again starting Friday night. I even turned off the air yesterday and opened up all the windows to let that lovely cool fresh air in.

I have to seed my pasture and front lawn today, but before I do that I am going to ride!

[ShakeNJake]

I always feel very uneasy when the sky gets that greenish cast and the clouds start to roll around. If one has never seen it, it is hard to describe.

The lightening show from the storm that produced the Anna tornado was quite spectacular from a distance.

[ShakeNJake]

I'd love to do this too and I live where there are tornados. Guess we are just a couple of adrenaline junkies! I enjoy the tornado shows on Discovery and Weather Channel about how the storm chasers move around and the equipment they use to find tornados.

This latest tornado was really easy to see on the radar. The hook echo was very distinct and clear. You could see where it was in the storm as the storm moved.

[BladeRider]

That would be an interesting show about animals and severe weather. I have heard they also react to pending earthquakes.

I lived in Southern California for 30 years and yes the animals do act strange before an earthquake. Very restless, looking for somewhere to hide. I remember watching a special on the animals in the tsunami a year ago. It was pretty amazing that the elephants and livestock and domestic animals that could escaped to high ground long before the tsunami ever hit.

[CindyDawg]

Make that 3 of us that would like to be storm chasers. Well actually two. Sounds like Hair actually had done it!:')

[BladeRider]

Good morning... looking for everyone to check in this morning, I don't know if you all had another wild night or if it calmed down.

We had a forth round go through about 7:00 last night, but it was mild compared to the first three. The dog still hid in the bathtub, I guess she did not think it was mild. Funny girl, we always know when a storm is coming even before we can hear the thunder. If Dazzle is missing, she is probably in the bathtub hiding. I will have to get a picture next time. The look on her face is priceless.

[HairOfTheDog]

Heh - I'm not an adrenaline junkie in any other part of my life... But I love big weather. It's fascinating. We don't really ever get any of it here, that's probably why.

[Beaker]

Storm chasing is one of those things that I would want to do once for the adrenaline rush but never again. I've been through a tornado once. Scariest damn thing in the world.