Saturday, April 30, 2011

RAC celebration challenge - Bobbing for Apples

Hello Curly Friends, 
On the last day of our challenge we decided to reward our Curlies for being such good sports with the Apple Bobbing obstacle. It was really fun for all. 


.Chester with his prize!



Sparky and Bucky - our pup Carolina likes apples too!

Blossom and Sunnie

Colonel Travis - aka Jett





Curly J and Lakota




River nibbled on an apple in passing{:>

Angie and cherished Golden Curlies in Texas

Driving Obstacles

what a busy month... Zoe and I have managed to take quite a few horses through the course - and I have a tremendous back log of photo's and video ! Maybe I'll continue to post a few during the coming weeks. We've had a lot of fun -- and I am thrilled to see so many RAC'ers out showing so much enthusiasm for the challenge month :)

Today, we had a nice trot out with Nimue in the cart.. our first since the Christmas season. (other than our sleigh rides she has not been hitched since then). Then we took turns taking Miss Nimue through and past the obstacles. 




This afternoon the SUN actually came out strong... what a sight ! This is the lawn version of the streamer alley -- but it's more of a tarp curtain.






 I put up a little driving version of the tarp alley and my grand-son Dominic took the lines .. he is not an RAC'er yet -- but maybe soon ! he likes the cart thing.. not so keen on riding yet.






I made a quick remodel to the teeter-totter just for her... so here is just a little teaser of our driving challenge course !! :) We had a lot of fun today -- the sun surely helped boost our spirits too --  I'll share some more photo's and video of Nimue meeting her obstacles .. but for now..  here we go ... very first time for Miss Nimue over the teeter-totter.We did not expect that little hop mid-way ... made for a nice giggle.


Betsy, OYY Nimue, Zoe and Dominic in Vermont ~

What a month!

Hard to believe April has gone by so fast but as you can see from my picture we did end it on a high note with gorgeous weather!! It's funny, Allie is looking at me because I was snapping my fingers trying to get Linus to look at me! At least he has his ear on me!

He has almost completely lost his winter coat and is starting to look really good! I think he is doing very good for a 2 year old standing nice and quiet saddled and bridled. We took them for a walk where Linus did perk up quite a bit more and needed some reminders to walk with me not ahead of me. But he did really well again in no time.
Before we headed out Linus had a lesson in standing still while tied. He has a tendency to move around a lot and I hadn't really thought about it but tended to just move with him. I'm used to doing that working with show cows until they learn to stand quiet. But, I think Linus should learn to stand a bit more quietly. So I got out the training stick and made a lot of commotion when he moved his feet but stopped the instant he did. It took him about a minute to catch on and from that point on he stopped on verbal cues only! I love that he picked it up so fast but I really want to work through something big with him!!!
I'm proud of our April accomplishments and am really looking forward to finding some of our own challenges too!

Golden Curly Mustang Stallions meet - Caution Tape and Raincoats

Hello Curly Friends, 

We introduced Bucky, our almost year old colt stud to caution tape and he was unconcerned as the photos show:
Then we introduced him to the raincoat. It was OK as long as I was wearing it...LOL:








Next, we asked Sparky, our three year old Curly Mustang stud to check out the caution tape:
What a good boy! Next, the raincoat challenge:

O'Sparky showed me a few next dance steps and decided it didn't rain enough in our area to need one.....so will be continue to work on that scary plastic blue thing.

Angie and her young curly men in Texas

Angie and Chester, splashing in Texas

Hello Curly Friends,

Our rain was brief and our mud puddle didn't last so I had to improvise with the water hose. Chester was great and we walked along splashing like two little kids.
Angie and Chester, splashing in Texas

HAPPY QUEENSDAY Netherlands and 1 y anniversary







Today I got up early. It is exactly 1 year since we left the Netherlands and moved to Kentucky. Wauw times flies and we did so much in only one year. We came in with 2 dogs and 2 cats exhausted in Memphis and then had a 6 hour drive to our new home and new future. (ok I went back the next week to pick up my horse in the Netherlands) but that was it.
Also it is Queens day today in the Netherlands, BIG celebration national holiday. Our Queen her last name is Orange so everybody is either dressed up in Red White and Blue our nation flag or Orange.
I did not have very much crazy stuff we use to have. But I took all Dutch items I could find and dressed up the boys. Mallie is in heat so I could not take her, the boys like her too much LOL

side note..No they are not on drugs hahaha they all look like ooo now what more crazy stuff. It is amazing how calm they are.

So last Challenge obstacle orange Dutch Queens day morning.
We had a lot of fun and will continue doing obstacles for fun and experience.
Denise thanks again!!!.....
Now I am leaving to Lexington to the Reining Cub..wearing my curly shirt haha. Next challence Curly reining horse.

Marion, Freedom, Lydiker, Moose…..and Mallie an Kayla in the field, Kentucky

Friday, April 29, 2011

Almost the end....:(

Well, it's almost the end of the obstacle challenge and I'm actually a little sad about it! I was hoping to accomplish a little more than I did, but between work and the weather, it just didn't happen. I did get a couple more in tonight, one being the decoy. I can't believe I didn't think of this deer target sitting in our garage until now, but I got it out tonight. It was a challenge for Tygs, as I suspected. I set it up in the yard and then walked Tygs from the pasture to the yard. He seen it on the way and started breathing heavy even from a distance.
You can see in the first picture his shadow as he came closer. I was very pleased with how he approached it with me. He didn't stop at all, but approached with caution. Then he kept inching closer until he finally touched it. He didn't know what to think of the head and horns, so I finally touched it and then he decided to do that too.






Good boy, Tygs!







I also showed him bubble wrap tonight on a board. He wasn't real interested at first, because the deer caught his attention, but after I showed him the deer and he knew it wasn't alive, he showed interest in the bubble wrap. After I put my camera away and was grooming him, he actually tried to bite it and even stepped on it and much to my surprise had no reaction when the bubble wrap popped and the board cracked from his weight! Good boy, Tygs! Walking back to the pasture and the deer was on his left side, instead of the right, he did shy, so we repeated that walk again. He did fine. I got such a reaction from the whole herd about the deer target, that I decided to put it up by the pasture for them to look at and get used to. I don't know if I'll get anything else done tomorrow, but if not, good luck everyone!