FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread 12

[HairOfTheDog]

The FreeRepublic Saddle Club - (very out of date) Who's Who *pics*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, usually about our horses, sometimes about our dogs, gardens and other stuff we do. :~)

I have a ping list for horse threads that are of interest, and MissTargets will ping everyone most mornings. Let MissTargets and/or me know if you would like to be on the ping list.

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.

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
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread TEN
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread 11

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

[HairOfTheDog]

Ah - cool :~)

[BladeRider]

That camera sure has a great zoom on it.

[CindyDawg]

That was an easy one for me. I was rooting for the baby.

[HairOfTheDog]

Well yeah, but the lions have babies at home too.

[Beaker]

I look alright on him, and in fact, it's hard to tell how big Levi is until you get up close. The only part I hate about riding him is getting the saddle on him and getting on him. I can handle him on the ground no problem (though it was intimidating at first) even through his occasional temper tantrums. (He can do the most lovely piaffes when he wants to, did you know that?) His bucks are nothing more than just lifting his rear off the ground. He gets extremely claustrophobic in small spaces, which for him is just about everywhere, but even when it seems like he wants to explode with terror, he's always very careful about where I am first. Though after we're done going past a scary shavings bag, or hose, he always seems to wear a "Did you see that?!" look on his face.

[Beaker]

That’s a nice zoom you have!

[FrogInABlender]

And that wasn’t even full zoom either. But as it was I still had to get out a folding ladder and rest it on one of the treads to get it to focus. I took about half a dozen shots first, trying everything from holding my breath to holding it against the porch post to keep from shaking it before I settled on the ladder. It was kinda fun though.

I missed another really cool picture on my way home too. I was about to drive onto O’Neal bridge, there at McFarland Park, when I noticed that the Mississippi Queen riverboat was about to go by. I LOVE watching those things! They had the Caliope going full blast too. I could even hear it inside the car with the windows rolled up. So here I am, scrambling in my purse for a camera while driving across a bridge. I got it out, rolled down the window and was trying to look at the viewfinder without side-swiping either the bridge railing or another car beside me. But I never could get a decent shot off because of all the bridge girders whizzing by. :-{ Pissed me off Royally! What I should’ve done was to whip into the parking lot of the railroad bridge and run to the end of it. I almost turned around and did that, but that thing is LONG and I didn’t figure I’d make it before the riverboat got into the barge channel leading to the dam.

Back before 9/11 you could actually go out onto the dam and watch them lock through. That was really fun because they played the Caliope throughout the whole lockage and all the passengers would come out onto the balconies and watch and wave and the dam was usually full of people who stopped to watch it go by. Those were the good old days. They’ve got all the dams locked up tighter’n Fort Knox now. You can’t even get onto the property, much less out onto the dam itself. :-(

[FrogInABlender]

Here's what she would've looked like if I could've gotten a picture...

The only difference would have been the fact that she had her stacks folded down at the time, in order to fit under the bridge. That's pretty cool to watch happen too.

[Beaker]

Woah! That’s awesome!

[FrogInABlender]

You see some interesting things go by on the river from time to time. One time there was a group of 15 or 20 RV-ers who were loaded up on special barges and cruising down the river powered by a tug boat. They’d stop at various places along the river and tour the town, then get back on their barge and their own big comfy motor homes and cruise on to the next town. It looked like a really interesting thing to be doing. I’ve often thought that taking a riverboat cruise down the Mississippi would be a neat thing to do on vacation. Maybe fly up and get on in someplace like Minnesota, cruise all the way to Natchez Mississippi, then fly back home. One of these days maybe.

[CindyDawg]

Well yeah, but a hunt doesn’t end with a catch every time. It’s ok, for one to get away occasionally. She (and only a she could have survived that:’)must have a hide of steel or some serious bites though.
I probably would have wanted to check her out.

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

Good morning:)

My brother is in town for his yearly visit, we are heading up to visit my dad today.

Becky

[FrogInABlender]

Well I hope y’all have a nice visit and a safe drive!

[HairOfTheDog]

Yes, have a good visit :~)

[MissTargets]

Good Morning.

The riverboats are so cool. There was an article about the RV's riding the barges, in the paper a few years back. This was on the Ohio River. It sure looks like fun.

Still very hot here. I guess the whole Midwest and East are above average temps. Sure glad I had my new AC installed. It would have been miserable with this humidity.

[HairOfTheDog]

Got the new fencing project really "finished" yesterday. We pulled that mesh as tight was we could but I was still seeing some bowing and sagging, so we put in some t-posts up in the long runs between the wood ones. Now it's good :~)

[BladeRider]

Still very hot here. I guess the whole Midwest and East are above average temps. Sure glad I had my new AC installed. It would have been miserable with this humidity.

Our AC had been out all last week, we finally got it fixed yesterday, phew was it miserable. We are having record breaking temps here this week. Yesterday was 100, to day it is supposed to be 101 with a heat index of 114! Hey but good news Frog, it will be down to 97 on Sunday when we ride!

[BladeRider]

Fencing looks great Hair. We have that type fencing on 3 sides or our pasture and had to put T posts in every 10 feet between the wooden posts.

[HairOfTheDog]

Yeah - that’s about where I ended up. It’s expensive stuff, I want it to look straight and tight!

[FrogInABlender]

Hey, the fence looks great! It really looks like a professional job. Y’all do good work.