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Posted on 06/19/2006 8:46:45 AM PDT by HairOfTheDog
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
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread NINE
New folk and occasional posters, jump right in and introduce yourselves, tell us about your horses, and post pictures if you've got them!
If I had chain link I'd be dragging it! That's what I've been wanting to duplicate.. Bob's got a real harrow, I'm thinking of borrowing it at some point.
Sold Fanny! With a smiley face? Well, then good job :~) Almost down to the number you want to be at then? :~)
Well, still got a ways to go to be down to the level I want but we are getting there. The girl that bought Fanny is the girl that bought her originally as a yearling, then leased her back to us, then traded her for Classy, then when she found out that we were going to sell her if possible as a broodmare, said she wanted to buy her back. Confusing I know :) but everyone's happy and we won't have to worry about Fanny. Still waiting for a young man in high school rodeo to buy BamBam (somehow I think she'd be perfect at team penning, roping, etc.) and a young girl with blond curls to buy Quest. A friend who is sometimes sorta pychic said that's who would buy him - would fall in love at first sight :). Then find someone to buy CJ who would like a good filly to show and campaign (she's gorgeous) and I can relax for awhile.
Okay - well tell us how all those predictions work out :~)
LOL - if they do I sure will but I'm not betting on it.
My pasture drag was made of two 10' lenghts of chainlink fencing. I placed them side by side, about 8' wide and welded them to a steel post the same width. A couple lenghts of chain were used to hook them to the tractor drawbar. Several large truck tires were needed to make the drag heavy enough. It worked great but took a lot of tractor horsepower to pull it.
Hey, where's all the morning regulars:)
Celia will be here at 10:00 to ride. Beautiful day here.
I've got to get our drag back from the kids in the next week. I think I'm going to sow some fescue in about 1/2 of Harley's side and see how it does. I can fence it off and keep him off it all winter. If it does well, then I'll open it up, fence off the other half and sow that in the spring. Being cheap:), I don't want to do the whole thing at once unless I know it will do well.
Becky
The bed was too appealing, after I saw Alison off the bus this morning, so I laid back down. The pasture is limed and I also broke up some more block and hauled more slag. That is hard work and I was tired. Today, I will seed it. Two different weather reports predict rain tomorow and the weather channel says not until Thursday. I hate to put the seed down and the birds eat it all.
Hey Cav! The kitties you gave me are doing fine. I kept them in the crate all day Saturday because we were hauling hay and running tractors, but I did let them out for a few minutes at a time when we took a break, just to get accquainted. They didn't much want to go back in the crate, but they did. I let them out Sunday morning and let them explore some while I was there feeding and they seemed to be doing fine so I left them out all day. I did put them back up that night though. I think I'll do that for a while until they get a little bigger and they get more familiar with the place. I wouldn't want some nasty critter to get them.
The little gray one acted like she'd known me all her life as soon as I let her out but the little black one was a little more stand-offish. She's decided that I'm pretty good for a pet now though. They're both having a ball hiding in all the hay, but I had to pry a board off the tack room wall to get Little Miss Gray Cat out from under the floor. She got in there but couldn't figure out how to get back out. She'd just sit there with her eye peeping out of a crack and holler for me to get her out. Goofy Cat!
Sleeeeeeeping in like a bum :~)
Hope you had a good ride :~)
Hi there, I told you I would report back after our ride.
We stayed a couple or 3 days at Keenes Horse Camp and would give it a OK rating, but the problem was not close enough to running water, the trails were dusty but there 2-3 ok rides.
We then went out and checked out the Mt Adams horse camp but didn't stay there. Even though the local sherriff really wanted us to, he is a BCH member and was really proud but it was 95 degrees, dusty and no running water.
We then decided to try Kalama Horse Camp and I think it is the nicest horse camp and give it a A+. We pulled in the day after labor day and it was pretty much empty. You ride pretty much on the south side of Mt St Helens though and you can ride through one of the old mud flows from 80 eruption, you don't really see the blast area. There are 3-4 trails there, ranging from a fairly flat 5 mile ride up the Kalama River through wilderness to a 15 mile ride that definately has a "pucker factor" if you don't like crossing steep areas. The trails were in great shape though and I am looking forward to going there again. It is VERY nice. We hosed off our horses each night when returning to camp and they have a area for the horses to roll in the sand. The sites each have at least 4 corrals and there are a few group areas. There are a few corrals that have extended poles that you could put a tarp over if you wanted. Anyway, try it or at least go look at it.
I think you said you were around Olympia so it's only an hour or hour and half drive for you. There our a few pictures at our local BCH site that they posted from both areas, they are the first 10 pictures you see I think.
Here is the link http://www.olympicbch.org/
Hope you find this helpful.
Hey - thanks for the report on the other camps! Glad you had a good time, if dusty. I think everything was dusty that week, and hot, but it won't be long now till it's mud.
Kalama is the one we wanted to check out so it's good to know it is the best anyhow. Thanks for the link to the pictures.
I've checked out the trail map out of Kalama and want to see it for myself one day, maybe we'll do that one next year. Tell me about the climb from the freeway into the camp. Remember, we're trying to baby our truck and don't want to burn it up trying to climb up something too steep all loaded for camping. It looked like the road pretty much followed the Kalama River up to camp and that usually means it's a relatively gentle grade.
Wow Hair, this looks like a nice group! I sure wish we had a group like this around here. It looks like they pretty much ride all year too. Y'all ought to join up!
They are great, there's two local chapters here and I've been on both rides and trail maintenance parties with both of them, just need to figure out which one to join and do it. I think Bob still belongs to both, and maybe my landlord too, not sure. They're great for checking out places I wouldn't have known to go to otherwise.
We came in from the Cougar side so didn't really notice any climb. When we went home we just went to Woodland and took a right. It's the only ride I know where you never are on a dirt road, even the campsites have asphalt "drive ins" It is a very gently raise in elevation.
One of the rides, I forget the name of the lakes is the sorce of the Kalama River. That is the gentle ride, you just follow the river up through virgin Noble Fir and other big trees.
The biggest trees I have seen are in the Wiliam O Douglas area just at the head of Bumping Lake. There are trees there that are so wide if you take 10 people holding hands to circle.
It would definately be worth checking out. One of the other things I didn't mention is the camp ground has a "cabin" with big windows and 3 or 4 picnic tables inside and a big woodstove, so if you got rained out, you could still get out of the wetness. I think the elevation is only around 3,000" at base so still pretty low.
It is a fee area, but well worth the few bucks.
Good to know it's paved all the way up, that helps! We'll probably take a drive down there one day soon to check it out. We love big trees, really appreciate the report back!
Great, glad to hear that. The gray one is a natural lap kitty but the black one is standoffish. You can win her over with a toy though and she does not tire of playing fetch. When you have a chance take some pics of them.
A orange and white tom cat has taken up residence inside my barn now. Yesterday was the first time he came close enough to eat with the other cats. Usually he waits until I leave then eats their leftover food.
It is funny to watch the cats try to figure out the cows and the horse. The cows have feed bins that the cats jump up and into to meet the cows. The cows will sniff at the cat then blow snot on it. The cat then acts like that is the most disgusting thing to have on their fur.
OK and you should join BCH, I know some of the groups in the same area have conflicting agendas but think it's just real life. There are always a few people who think they need to have all the rules go their way.
Our club had a big problem with that a few years back so the dissenters split off and started their own chapter.
One thing, our group host a New Years day Breakfast where you ride up to our local host DNR camp"Green Mountain" and we have a big breakfast waiting. It's a great way to start out the year and if you like, I will let you know more about it. Tonight is our first meeting of the new meeting season.
We did have one sad think happen, one of the horses in our group ended up with a twisted/blocked intestine. I carry Banamine and all the first aide stuff. Luckily, some people at out camp lived near where we do and took the horse and rider home. All's I could do for the horse was get him comfortable. They ended up having to put him down a few days later (I found out on returning home). It makes you remember, especially if you have lost horses of your own what good friends they are, and what a huge part of our lives they are. Sometimes they are a pain, like when you want to sleep in on the weekend and they want to eat breakfast but those of us who love our horses, really have a strong partnership with our equine buddies.
Some groups have tried getting horses banned from trails in our state. Our group, Backcountry Horsemen of America- has lobbiests in state and federal government and so whenever a threat appears, we rally but it is kind of silly when you think of it.
The trails were built with the tools the "stock" carried up there.
My biggest complaint is hikers who leave toilet paper 2' from the trail and their own human waste but complain about a little horse poop on the trail. Seems they always complain until they get lost or injured and we do our best to save their yuppy butts.
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