FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread 12

[HaveFaith]

That’s really neat. If they win, you can say you saw the pres. & v. pres.

[FrogInABlender]

The rally sounds exciting! I’m glad you got to go. I’d like to go to something like that sometime but I’m always stuck here at work when they happen.

[FrogInABlender]

Since we haven't had a whole lot of horsey stuff going on here in a while I'll just post some miscellaneous pictures from the last couple of week's rides...

HaveFaith's new little yearling filly Star, being ponied for the first time, by Hal on Sassy. That big ol' trooper saddle kinda swallowed her whole, but she didn't seem to mind it at all...

Kari on Faith, with my horse Bob in the foreground, at a rest stop out in the Forest...

BladeRider on the left and Shirley on the right...

From last Saturday's rails-to-trails. The young man on the left is the one who's horse almost drowned him when he slipped into a drop-off in the creek at the St. Jude Ride in July. It scared us all to death, but he made it out ok. That kind of accident would have rattled the confidence of most seasoned riders, but he took it in stride and kept right on riding. He's an inspiration to me and I hope I'm doing as well when I'm his age...

A shot of the back of the house of the couple who hosted the ride. I love that full length sun room!...

Orbin on his little Kentucky Mountain Horse. She may be small, but she's tough. We went over 12 miles, gaiting almost the whole way and she kept up with the best of them...

I took my GPS and we had an average speed of 6.8 mph with a max speed of 10 mph. That trail is a great place to work on gait. It's flat, straight and long so we took full advantage of it and didn't let any grass grow under our feet.

I'm looking forward to riding again this weekend. I don't know where we're going, but I really don't care. The weather's supposed to be great and I've got some catching up to do! ;o)

[MissTargets]

Thanks for the pics. That filly is really cute.

How is the bee situation in your area?

The club I belong too, said in the last newsletter, that a group got into a ground bee nest on the AQHA ride held last month. One lady had a reaction and had to be taken to the hospital. Good thing, one of the riders was very knowledgeable about the trails and there was not any delay in finding the victim. Bees sure can ruin falls rides.

Sure do miss getting on the trails. This weekend is the fall ride, but we are not going. Kids have other plans and I really dont want to go alone. I did last year, but I dont have anything to ride and I think I would get pretty bored sitting around alone, while everyone is on the trail.

[FrogInABlender]

It’s definitely the time of year that you have to watch out for yellowjackets around here. They’re mean little suckers. My sister got into a nest at my mother’s house about a month ago. Unbeknownst to her, they were nesting in a large empty flower pot on the patio that had filled up with leaves and when she went to dump it out they ate her up. She got stung her about 20 times and they even followed her back to her car and some got in with her. She was lucky that she didn’t have a reaction.

We haven’t run into any on the trail yet, but I’m sure we will. We always do. I need to remember to keep a little bottle of Benadryl tablets and some Sting Kill in my saddle bags from now on until frost. I think Kari usually carries an Epi-pen in hers incase anybody has a more extreme reaction. I always try to stay near the front of the line on the trail because it’s always the last ones who get stung the worst. Noble aren’t I? ;o)

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

Hello,

I’ve been having trouble with my computer but have it working now. No one knows much about Macs.

[MissTargets]

Sorry to hear that and hope you get it straighten out.

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

Well it seems to be straightened out for the time being:)

Glad to hear about your all clear from the doc:)

[HairOfTheDog]

Hello all! Frog - thanks for posting a few pictures! They're great and remind me of when I used to do something with horses!

Let's see... been just puttering around the house, looking for stuff on Craigslist to spend my garage sale money on... last weekend we took and entire large barrow load of apples out of the pasture and still every day I go out and make sure there aren't too many new ones on the ground. I at least spread them out and toss them around so they don't find them all at once, more like a treasure hunt.

Pony's into it. When I open the gate out there in the morning she high-tails it out there to look for them. :~)

This weekend we really hope to make a point of RIDING! I don't want to say it's our last chance of the year, but one of these weekends will be. It's already getting cool and threatening to rain.

Yesterday, the sweet little Peanut barfed up a stomach full of WORMS! It was probably the most disgusting thing I've ever seen. Gak! I wrote all about it, and the good news and cute pictures, are here: RE: Feral kitten thread - The escapees survived! - 2nd one caught pg 3!. The worms are on the next page. :~o

Becky, I hope your computer issues are over!

[FrogInABlender]

OMG those worms were the nastiest things I’ve seen in ages! And just when I was eating breakfast! >:-p But I was warned, so it was my own fault. I’ve never seen an animal throw up live worms like that either. They’re usually always coming out the other end when I’ve seen them. My vet likes to give the Drontal tablets to mine. They kill pretty much everything, including tapes so I just give them every few months since I’ve got barn cats and indoor/outdoor cats both. I think you give one pill to cats weighing less than 8 pounds and 2 for bigger cats.

I’m off work today because I’ve finally got some hay to pick up so I’ll be doing that a little later. It was actually baled yesterday but I want to let the dew dry off them before I stack them. I’m getting 100-200 square bales and 18 rolls of bermuda. The bales are for Tennessee and the rolls for the mares at the in-law’s. I’ve got enough rolls left over from last year to do the other horses at my BIL’s place until next year. The pasture is good enough that they only eat hay from November until around the end of March. By April they’ve lost interest in it entirely, so that cuts down on the number of rolls I have to have. I had been feeding hay to the mares year round, in addition to their feed, but they were getting so fat that I quit it this summer and they’re STILL fat so they must be getting plenty.

Well, I better get my butt in gear. I’ve got to go pick up my FIL’S 16ft flatbed trailer to haul the square bales on but I’ve got to unload a bunch of junk off of it first. Then I’ve got to go borrow a bigger gooseneck flatbed for the rolls. Then I’ve got to move a half full hay ring so I can pull the trailer in the barn to unload later. My FIL is going to be unloading the rolls at his place and putting them in the barn with the tractor so that’ll be a big help there. Sounds like a busy day. Gotta go...

[HairOfTheDog]

Here's what we bought today! A 21 foot camp trailer. We'll post more pictures when we get it home and cleaned up and moved into... it's going to be our "storm home".

It's as old as I am, but it's very clean inside. The goal is something that can be out in the pasture, self contained and away from the trees, that is more comfortable for us and the dogs to sit in on those bad nights than the cab of the Ranger.

We should have lights and heat and we should stay dry, unless we get swept away by a twister. ;~) For long term sustenance after the storm blows over, if the power is out we have the generator and the house and the barbecue and other ways to live. We just need a storm home that won't get hit by a tree. And I guess I just like the idea that if, heaven forbid, a tree does fall on this house, we have a place to sleep while we, and the landlord figure out what to do.

The thing on top of the table is actually an AC unit. We won't use that in the trailer but we may use it in the house! :~)

[HaveFaith]

Cool camper. Hal is looking for one to take to his hunting club. He is halfers with a guy on one already, but the shower doesn’t work and he is tired of taking showers with the hose out back in the winter time. I wonder.....does that have anything to do with him being sick most times he comes home from hunting????

[HaveFaith]

Thanks. Star's really a sweetie.

7 of us rode 260 miles today and rode in Belvadier, TN for 10 gorgeous miles. Cool and nice.

Beth, Elizabeth, & Waterhead on the trail

Hal and Spec

The future of America!

Note: Bag over Nozzle, i.e. "OUT OF GAS"

[FrogInABlender]

LOL! The pics of the horse at the gas pump turned out GREAT! He was such a well-mannered little thing too. Very polite. No fidgeting or messing up the concrete, just quietly standing there waiting on his rider. And when he came out and mounted up, they rode off into the sunset at a very nice little gait. What a perfect ending to a near perfect day!

[MissTargets]

7 of us rode 260 miles today

You guys are GUD! That is some serious racking! LOL j/k, I understand.

The horse at the gas station, so deserves a caption.

[MissTargets]

Good idea with the camper. Are you going to anchor it down in anyway?

[HairOfTheDog]

No, I don’t think so. - We don’t have the kind of winds that would turn it over. It does come with leveling jacks that I think we’ll use so it doesn’t move so much when we’re walking around in it or when we get a big gust, but other than that, it’ll be OK. We’re talking storms with 40-50 mph winds here, though our big storm two years ago had some gusts to 80. Not hurricanes, just enough to topple 200 foot tall firs, particularly if their footings are saturated.

[HairOfTheDog]

Ha! Great pics of the pretty trails! And the gas station pics are funny. I think the horse should be relieved they were out of gas... he may be wondering where the guy intended to put the nozzle! ;~)

[HaveFaith]

I just couldn't believe what a coincidence it was for him to be there with his horse tied up at the same time we pulled in. Man & horse took the picture taking good-naturedly. It was just too cute to resist.

[Duchess47]

I love the man and horse at the gas station.

Beautiful trail pictures as always - it's already fall here, leaves are all changing and falling.

Cool about the political rally although I'm with you, I don't do crowds well at all.

I want one of those little trailers so bad :) It would be so much fun to have to take traveling. It would be great to have as an extra guest room too.

It seems like weeks since I've been here. I've been up to my ears in tomatoes, canning and dehydrating them. We pulled all of the tomato bushes this past week and hung them in the garage to ripen since we are already having frosts.

Rocky leaves for PA on Oct 6th, he got his health certificate and Coggins last Friday and will get the brand inspection this coming week. Vet said to take him off grain and alfalfa - grass hay only, he wants him to slow down with the growing. He was out in the big ring today for awhile - he moves just like his dad, tail up and prancing. No pictures of that though, I was in the middle of canning and just had time to look out the window. This is from a couple of weeks ago. You can see he needs a diet.

CJ had her first trail ride today, fourth time under saddle. She went out with her grandda, Prez.

Janelle got a letter Thursday, Tuffy qualified for the World. Wish we had the money and time to go.