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!

[Mr. Brightside]

I just set 86 fence posts.

I did have help.

But still... A little sympathy anyone?

[HairOfTheDog]

Sure! Plenty sympathetic! We fenced last weekend! It's real work.

Hullo everyone, we're back... sorting through pictures had a fun trip. :~D

[RosieCotton]

Thatsa lot of fence posts...help or no help!

[HairOfTheDog]

Hi all - back from our trip... had a great time, pictures will be loading :~D

Frog.... saw reports of bad storms in your area... Are you all in one piece?

[Mr. Brightside]

Thanks. Getting ready for a nightime ride now.

I really, really need it.

[HairOfTheDog]

Hey all! How about a trip report from our recent adventure? It's not very horsey, but thought it'd be interesting to see different parts of the state.

First day: Left Friday morning early... headed into the mountains....

Looking down on our truck during a potty break for the dogs on the way up the pass...

Woops.... guess the dogs weren't the only ones needin' a break. ;~D

Further up Snoqualmie Pass, where it is still winter...

Looked like enough snow still at the ski areas... but the lifts weren't running. Maybe they're down to a short schedule just on weekends.

On the East side of the Cascades now... Heading up Blewitt Pass toward Wenatchee.

Elk!

View of the Wenatchee River and the area surrounding Wenatchee...

Wenatchee is a little bit high desert, a little bit high pine forest, and a LOT apple orchards.

Miles and miles of apple orchards on all the ground that is flat enough to work. It ~smells~ like apples when you drive in, even though the trees are all still dormant. Blossoms in about a month.

[HairOfTheDog]

Trip part two: Leavenworth.

Leavenworth WA is a very cute little tourist trap in the mountains done up in an all Bavarian motiff... :~D

A girl with a friendly cart horse :~D

They allow chain stores in Leavenworth, as long as the architecture is proper... kinda cracks me up. :~D And all the workers dress in Bavarian clothes.

This is our hotel... great place and outside of town...

View down to the Wenatchee River from our balcony. With the pines and the big round rocks growing out of the ground everywhere, this place ~really~ looks like Prescott AZ, where ecurbh grew up :~D

Dogs had their own bed in our room, which was a treat for all...

Heading out of Leavenworth Westward...

[HairOfTheDog]

Ack! I know this is a lot of pictures for everyone to load, hope I'm not overdoing it. I'll just post a few from the trip home today, along a different pass.

The east slopes of the Cascades are all high pine with dry grass undergrowth, and while forest fires are nearly unheard of on the west side where I am, on the east slopes they're dry and burn nearly every year somewhere. In all these pictures, there's evidence of fire.

I liked the layers of snow still at the top of the pass...

A recent big ole avalanche and mudslide on a far hill...

And the last pic... ecurbh posin' next to a bigfoot statue from the place near where they filmed Harry and the Hendersons... :~D

We had a fun trip, got to see some fun sights, and got back tired and happy to be home :~D

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

hey, very cool pictures:). I didn't wait for all of them to load, but the elk, snow, and potty break are all interesting:)

I'm going to let them all load, view them, and will talk to you all tomorrow:)

Becky

[HairOfTheDog]

I loaded way too many pictures huh?

But I took over a hundred ;~D I was bein' picky :~D

[Duchess47]

Great pictures and beautiful country. It's hard to imagine elk so close to people.

Glad you both had a great time, dogs look like they did too :)

[HairOfTheDog]

The elk were definately aware that we were standing there, and probably also aware that it's not hunting season :~D

I had to zoom in to the close up shots, but they were truckin' along within a hundred yards or so of the highway.

[HairOfTheDog]

BTW - Someone bumped your thread on the farrier forum tonight... it's getting some action.

http://www.horseshoes.com/forums/showthread.php?p=30373#post30373

[Lemondropkid31]

"I didn't even have a computer in college. There was no edit button on the type writer:'("


Hahaha, but there was correction tape!!!! LOLOL. I hated that. I could never get the paper back in the right way again.

[Duchess47]

The third picture of the elk has a farm in the background. Our deer and elk here are very, very shy. You only see them way up in the hills and they take off as soon as they see you.

[HairOfTheDog]

Ah - I think ours get a little accustomed to the things of man... I think they have to to get where they need to go. They come down into those valleys for winter and head up into the higher elevations for summer.

Elk remain a little more wary than deer I think, but they're spotted in their prime areas fairly frequently.

[Beaker]

Wow Hair, those pics are amazing.... well aside from ecurbh heeding the call of nature of course ;-)

[HairOfTheDog]

~snicker~ I really am an awful person... For taking the pic, and for thinking it's cute to post it :~D

[Beaker]

Let me know how you like the bit. I've had a busy couple of weeks so I haven't been able to ride, sadly. It's been driving me crazy. Last weekend a friend of mine came home so I was out and about with him, catching up. Tuesday I had to go in for a procedure which is always unpleasent. It took me a couple of days to recover, and today I spent writing out bridal shower invitations. (Not mine...)The things that we do for friends. The whole thing is getting out of hand. Women are being catty, everyone wants control, things are getting way out of hand... it's all just too crazy. I would give a limb to go on vacation right now.

[Beaker]

Nah. You're his wife. It's your Job to embarrass him. :-)