Somewhat recovered from our super Open House and Rider Appreciation Day.. but following on its heels is our BIG fundraiser- a Motorcycle Benefit Ride with music after and BBQ. Thank goodness I have riding time to CHILL and de-stress. :) It's been more difficult lately it seems to fit that in- but we have squeezed in some great trot outs.

Zoe has one more show at the end of this month, so when she schools Elektra in the ring, I follow around on Keri. We canter the 20 meter circles 'polishing' our bend and suppleness... if Keri was editing this post she would be putting her two cents in here (and her words would not include anything about supple ) . Anyway- it's fun and after work is play time :)

Since Elektra's most evident problem was laziness, we decided to put shoes on her and encourage some big trots, canters and occasional gallops - and Elektra has definitely learned she can remain a very quiet horse and still move out powerfully. She's incredible to watch, as she propels off with her hind and reaches out - wow.. I can only imagine what a racehorse is like up close. Keri puts up a great effort to keep up and sometimes she almost can .. but she does not have the stride or the youthful endurance.

With Keri and Elektra we stick to road or fairly easy going trail, Like this one, since I am always worried about her coming up lame for a show I have already paid for ! Although we have not gotten a chance to do much in the way of exploratory expeditions-- we have had some super rides.




A little ways in on this trail- it gets grown in some.. When we first started riding this trail - maybe 25 years ago.. this area was completely open.. having been a log landing with the logging trails coming off it in different directions- like a rotary.

A short trot in - and off to the left is a beautiful pond. Last year we saw a busy beaver here.. not a trace of beavers this year. Looks like the owners have had some excavation work done though- perhaps that scared away the beavers.




The other day, we set out for a nice long trip- the loop that includes the 'mile long hill'.. we started out with 'Men Working'. The town crew is out cleaning the ditches on the dirt roads preparing for the rains of fall.

This beaver pond on the right is nearly covered with small lily pads.

We ride one of my favorite back roads-

Spot a little nest in a branch on the side of the road-

When we return to the farm, we duck in the gate and refresh ourselves with a little splash in the brook.

We had another outstanding ride on Saturday- I decided to leave my camera at home.. and too bad because there were a couple of times I wish I had it with me. We rode out on a loop we don't normally ride.. but wanted something fresh to see. On the way out, we stopped for a chat with my horsey neighbor.. and her turkeys ran over, curious as ever- to peck at the dirt beneath our horses' legs. There were about 30 young turkeys... but our horses stood quietly while we talked.

On the trot home-- we decided to veer into a trail we have not been on in at least 4 years... improvements have been made and we will have to get back over there for more exploring; A few new offshoots we'd like to investigate. We did end up taking a wrong turn- or missing a turn.. and we exited the trail NOT where we thought we'd be. Not a problem... except- on the trail, I looked down and saw a wonderful long logging chain !! No way I was leaving that behind. So Zoe dismounted, and helped me drape it across the front part of my saddle. Lots of bulk and weight for trotting home .. and we still had the highway ahead as well. Finally, once we got out onto the road- I decided to leave the chain concealed on the side of the road in some milkweed... planning to return with the car when we arrived home. Much more comfy trotting and cantering after I dumped my find ! Cantering up the side of the highway- Elektra had her first experience being between the guard rails and on-coming traffic. She was fine ~

The other day, I had a call from a woman looking to replace her elderly trail horse. She had never heard of Curlies... I mentioned we had Elektra for sale- she could show and do trail. The woman was firmly set in the notion that a 4 year old was far too young and silly. When I think of Elektra, I forget her age- as she is so dependably steady and has done so much in her short life... shows (with golf carts, other horses, bicycles, and all manner of things) and trail, road, obstacles and a successful 'downtown' trip and highway without a blink of an eye. She's awesome ! :) Needless to say, the woman decided 4 was too young and wanted a horse at least 7 -- she did not want her new horse to be capable of doing anything "silly"..... Heck.. my horse is 18 and she sometimes is capable of "silly". Oh well.

After I retrieved my new logging chain with delight ... Zoe and I harnessed up OYY Nimue - a 13.3 hand curly pony - and had a spectacular ride in the cart. Another fabulous horse, only 5 but so steady and dependable. We had so much fun.. we repeated the ride on Sunday- only longer time out.

Nimue loves pulling the cart- and is a trotting fool in harness. She never seems to tire and is very steady in her gait, smooth ride in the cart. Both Zoe and I remarked however- driving is a kind of 'lazy person's' sport... we both wished we had light sweatshirts as we were chilly. If we had been in the saddle posting.. we would have been hot. Driving is FUN, but it always seems a bit ODD not being in the saddle.

When we got back to the farm- Nimue did a little showing off in the yard- which Zoe video'd a bit of that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5D5yQlwLv4

Enjoy your day ~

I did it!

Some of you may remember the wreck that I had with Lakota back in April. Well, between pain, exacerbations, and my 11 hour work days, I had't ridden since that fateful day. Until a couple of weeks ago.

Mandy, may daughter, rode her first, she's been jonesin' to ride, so I promised her she could ride Lakota. It rarely goes well. Lakota is so sensitive, and Mandy has only ridden lesson horses. So there is frustration between the two of them. Mandy is asking something, and Lakota is saying "huh? I have no clue what you are trying to say, so I'll just stand here and do nothing". She doesn't fill in any blanks at all. Its actually kind of fun to put Mandy on her when she gets all cocky and thinks she can tell me how to ride ;-) So Mandy learned that she has to soften and relax her leg, not use her heels to ask for forward, keep her wrists straight and keep that straight line from "bit" to elbow (i.e., no spagetti arms), to look where she wants to go, to be clear and deliberate in her asks, and to keep her seat bones neutral or they will just go backwards around the roundpen. And to keep her focus or Lakota starts looking around for monsters.

I just wanted to make sure it really was Mandy and not Lakota, so I hopped on (no stirrups, I had my sneakers on) grabbed an old beat up helmet, and had a blast! Lakota was sooo good. There were some distractions, and she did just fine with "coming back" just by touching the reins. She moved of nice and softely, whoaed beautifully when I just stop riding. Then I did some serpentines, and OMG her bend was just GORGEOUS! I have never, ever gotten such a beautiful arc in her body from nose to tail before. It was one of "those moments" that you go WOW, this is IT! It was a touch sticker to the left than right, but still nice and a lot of try. So we repeated that about 3 or 4 times then I hopped off. I was just flabbergasted with how wonderful she was after 4 months and our last ride ending in such disaster. This girl can be an awesome horse given the right rider and enough time.

August Mini Contest Winners!

Happy Labor Day Weekend Everyone!! What a great time to announce and celebrate the winners of the 30-day mini contest held in August for promoting the curly breed. Thank you to everyone that participated in this event!

1st place: Angie Gaines from Golden Curls Ranch
2nd place: Tammy Denault from Dreamswept farm

Remember to keep these points because they can be added to your yearly total. Four months left, so keep riding/promoting/driving and doing that ground work! And most of all keep your stories coming...they are GREAT! Thanks again everyone and have a super weekend!
~Denise

Alone Again

Another evening ride, but this time it was just me and my buddy AhD. We veered off our beaten trails near the beginning of the ride and explored a bit. We wound our way through the woods, climbed over a few stone walls, and came upon this cool piece of land growing pine trees for lumber. We went on to some more really pretty places, so I thought I'd share some pictures.AhD thought this field was good for running. He was pretty fired up and did his best Arab act, complete with arched neck, high head, and prancing. He had a lot of good energy tonight.I love this beautiful old apple tree.
This marshy area is crisp and vibrant with color, and this picture does not do it justice. Fall colors are starting to appear here and there.It seems summer has passed in a blink of an eye, but I certainly do enjoy the incredible weather we have been blessed with recently.

my interesting ride. :-)

I went with some friends on Monday for a good long trail ride with Koko and their gaited mare, Cheyenne, who is pretty close to Koko energy-wise (she has a little bit more most of the time!) It all went really well until the very end, and I mean the very end- we had just gotten back onto their yard after riding numerous miles and for over three hours. For the record, I would do it all over again for the fun of those three hours. :) At the same time, I now have one of those good anecdotal stories for 'why to wear a helmet'.

We had just stepped foot- or hoof I should say- onto my friends' yard. Koko was gaiting at a very fast pace, it was faster than most canters on a non-gaited horse, and he caught the very edge of his right hoof on the edge of a shallow ditch. So he stumbled a little bit, which would have been fine, except that as he stumbled he drifted to the right so that his next stride hit the ditch and threw him forward. I was afraid (in that very small space of time that I had to think!) that he was going to somersault so I kicked out of the stirrups as he went down, and that action might have saved him from rolling completely over, I'm not sure. But in any case, I went over his head and hit the ground with my shoulder and helmet, and Koko fell next to me. I am so grateful for that horse, I know he had to work to avoid landing on top of me.

I probably passed out for a minute, because next thing I knew I was looking up and my friend was off his horse and holding both Cheyenne and Koko. I think I mumbled something about lying there for a minute when he asked how I was, then immediately turned to the most important question at hand- how was Koko? He smiled and said that Koko appeared to be just fine and that he guessed I wasn't TOO badly hurt since I did the horse lover thing of immediately asking about my horse! I was so relieved that Koko was okay- I have seen/heard way too many stories about horses breaking their legs from falls like that. We were both very, very blessed. My helmet was a little cracked, but my head was fine, and other than an abrasion on my shoulder and a cut chin and grass stains on Koko, we were both non-injured. Well, okay, the chiropracter had to put a couple of ribs, my hip, and my neck back into place, but pretty much, we were fine. Koko has no swelling or injuries and the day after was back to his usual bossy self, chasing Smokey around the pasture.

Other than that little incident, we had an amazing ride. We had two horses and two bike riders and a couple of nice places for races between them. It was really between Koko and Cheyenne since bicycles are no match for horses that can run almost 40 miles an hour! :) The horses just loved it, and we had lots of fun too. We went over roads, a clanky metal bridge, next to cars and trucks, by cattle lots, through woods, and over a creek bed. There were still lots of wildflowers (which the boys had to remember to pick for their little sister!) and the day was cool and sunny. It has been PERFECT riding weather! Hopefully we'll be able to get in some more rides like that- minus hitting the dirt- before winter sets in. Oh- I did get back on Koko after a few minutes too, after making sure he was okay, and rode him the few feet over to the round pen. I don't have any worries about riding after that, it was just a freak thing that neither of us could help. In fact I'm greatly looking forward to taking Koko out on some more trail rides this year. He is a lot of fun as a trail horse!

Friends and Family

I had a spectacular ride with my boy Ian and my friend Ulla today. The weather was perfect, a cool late summer day. There were a few midges in the woods but no deer flies. We rode trails all around my place, walk, trot and canter. Dozie the Morgan generally led the way, with AhD in the middle and Mister Man the QH taking up the rear. Other than biting Mister (a dominance thing) and Dozie (a sexy thing), AhD was just about perfect! He listened to me, kept up a nice pace, and best of all, not one single intentional "spook."Here we are taking a horse cookie and blackberry break on the power line. Look how good AhD is being, staying in place while I take the picture!
And this picture shows how awesome he is being to hang behind while Ian went up ahead with Mister! I was so pleased. I've saved my best news for last. Today, I galloped AhD - a wonderful in-hand controlled gallop. WOW! It was thrilling! It was so much fun, we all decided a do-over was necessary, so I thought to myself, ok, I don't want AhD to think we are going to gallop in this place every time, so I'm going to hold him back. Well, he listened without pitching a fit while the other horse took off...and he listened so well, that I eased him into a beautiful canter, the smoothest, well-balanced canter together we have ever had! So, we had a fantastic day, one to remember. Happy trails! -Susan and AhD

A Little Bareback

My boy's bold attitude is really rubbing off on his ol' lady, because here she is riding her crazy Curly pony bareback. Ian reminds me how much fun it is to be young and fearless, and since AhD has been listening to me lately when I say, "no, don't go yet," and waits for my, "ok, now you can go" language, I feel more in control. After couple of days ago after our trail ride, we hopped back on bareback to ride down the lawn to the barn door, but ended up tooling around her and there on our ponies. Wow, was that fun, and it felt sooo good to wrap my legs around my Didder at the trot and canter. AhD isn't one of those smooth trotters, but I felt very comfortable and right at home, even at his fast trot. No worries! And, I swear AhD likes it. He needs to be all warmed up and listening to me before I'll even consider it. Like Angie's barrel racing, this is a thigh-buster! I should do it more often. :)

We are finishing up our rides in the dark. I just had to show the bling of my beautious saddle blanket in case Harold is looking.

Promoting til the end...

Hi all, your inspiring stories got me off my butt and heading to the Newberry Fair today. I entered Reese in halter only to get our feet wet again in the show mode. He was VERY well behaved. Erin, my equine buddy of 19 years old, joined me. We spent all friday night bathing, and grooming the horses for the morning classes. It was so much fun! Today, the weather was cold, rainy, windy and miserable but we are still smiling. I forgot how much fun talking curlies can be. One lady wanted to take Reese home. ;-) Sorry, he is a lifer!

Two more days for the August Mini Promo contest! Send your forms to me via email or fax to: 906.484.3799. denise.conroy@gmail.com

Chester - The Man!

Hello Curly Friends,

A quick note to share our "eventing" last night in Barrel Racing. Renegait Chesterfield and I went with a good friend, Leann, to a local arena, Wade Arena in Terrell, Texas that holds Barrel Racing on Tuesday evenings. It is a popular sport with the young ladies around here. I can see why - you gotta have bun muscles of steel and it doesn't hurt to have a deep seated saddle. 

Chester was wonderful. First, we took a shower and got all handsome; in case their were pretty mares there, and there was a gorgeous Paint named Cheyenne whom he spoke very gentlemanly to.....

Then, we loaded up in our friends three horse trailer like a champ. This was Chester's third trip in his almost five years of life and my friend, Leann, was amazed at how well he did. Once we arrived I tied him to the trailer and he smiled sweetly for the camera.

 

Next, we saddled him up in her Billy Cook barrel racing saddle. Yahoo, it was a a very comfortable saddle!  I brushed and groomed him while hearing the lyrics from our own Texan band, ZZ Top, ...."coz every girl crazy 'bout a sharped dressed man".

Chester and I walked right into the Arena like we had done it a hundred times before, past the 25 head of Texas Longhorns who were called out rather loudly for their dinner. Riders and their horses took a second look and we smiled sweetly. The owner of the arena, Jerry Wade, commented "I don't think I've ever seen a Curly....and he's a stud too! Yep, he is the Man!

First, we walked around the barrels, next time we trotted around the barrels and finally we trotted and came home in a 'lope". Chester was wonderful. We hope to visit the arena every Tuesday evening and, who knows, one day Chester may be to Texas Barrel Racing what George Strait is to Country Music....The Man!

Angie and her Man, Chester

Evening Rides

As the days grow noticeably shorter, Ian and I have been getting in a few evening rides on Mister and AhD. I haven't had many photo ops, but here are a couple. Sometimes we need to load our horses up with bug spray and a nice hemlock twig for good measure against the deeer flies. On our last couple of rides, we have about an hour until dark overtakes us, and we have taken a really nice loop that takes up every bit of that hour. Here is one of the streams we cross on this trail.It is always beautiful and clear and usually quite shallow. AhD never fails to stop as we cross, and he either drinks or splashes. Sometimes he does both. Ian's riding skills are improving, which means I am more comfortable with trotting and cantering our horses. Tonight, as we made the turn to go home and trotted fast up a fairly short and steep hill, Mister and Ian had the gall to pass us - at the canter! Well, AhD did not take kindly to that and gave a small crow hop and a kick or two. I spoke sharply to him but inside I was laughing at his "don't you DARE pass ME!" attitude. After that, we stayed in the lead on the narrow, winding trail up the hill towards home, cantering most of the way. AhD's canter has improved quite a bit with practice, and Ian's fearlessness is rubbing off on me or something, because I am definitely getting back some of my taste for speed. FUN!

Speaking of fun,my niece Layla must have inherited the horse lovers gene from my side of the family, because her face is the definition of fun as she sits on Mister. AhD's face is the definition of Jealous. He just HAD to get in on it, and he didn't like it whenever it was Layla's turn to sit on Mister instead of him. Layla said, "He has wild hair!" as she patted his face.

Looking forward to hearing from my fellow RACers about your latest escapades! -Susan and AhD

Cinnamon River's Gaited Extented Trot

Hello Curly Friends,

Cinnamon River and I were so lucky last week. My good friend and instructor at Equest Therapeutic Riding Center in Wylie, Texas, Cheryl Gray, came to visit Golden Curls Ranch and gave us a lesson in Extended Trot.  Cheryl had mentioned wanting to ride a gaited horse on FaceBook (oh, by the way, if your on Face Book look us up....it's great fun, Denise, Linda, Janice, and Annette are there and it's a fun way to touch basis with friends on a daily basis)

So naturally, I jumped at the chance to show her Cinnamon River who is a MFT Curly Cross. We are working with Mary Donald and Bunny Reveglia on our ICHO gaited evaluation and he is doing really well. Cinnamon's grandpa is Walker's Prince T on his mom's side and Rex's Golden Touch on his sire so he has lots of smooth gaits to live up too! 

Wednesday was a beautiful day for a ride. Cheryl has been experiencing some medical concerns and at one point was paralyzed on her left side so I was a little worried, OK major worried!. But, as my husband says; never counsel you're fears, The ride for Cheryl and Cinnamon River went wonderfully. She really thinks he has great potential and he is only five years old. She likes the gaited walk as it is less pounding on her back and she can get back into the saddle. She has been mainly a Dressage on Thoroughbreds.. 

Then, she dismounted and said,  "I've warmed him up, now, you take him to the next level". And, being the good student I quickly climbed up in her custom English Dressage saddle; which felt like a cloud under my seat bones! Wow, I walked Cinnamon River giving him leg but not so much that he would break into a bouncy trot. He started moving out so fast and smooth it was heaven. So, we are extending our beautiful trot. Wahoo! Was it a pleasure.

It was a great day, having my instructor pronounce Cinnamon River a wonderful gaited horse and getting to the next level with him on his extended trot....wishing everyday could be just like that day.

Hugs,

Angie

Finally - a Follow up on Susan's post !

After the big day here at the farm... I had to play catch-up with other chores. I am glad Susan is on the ball with quick posting.

Essentially- this promotion was for our Riding Center and also as a celebration of the accomplishments of all our riders. You can read all about the successful day on the Therapy with Curly Horses blog . In a round about way however, every time we promote our Riding Center, we have the opportunity to boast and toast about the Curlies-- especially ours ! :) Who are SO SPECIAL in their job at Dream On Curls Riding Center. Everyone is impressed with the Curlies- those who have never been around horses and those who have... they all appreciate the unique qualities of these therapy Curly horses.

Susan's photo was taken moments after the tent was taken down. Here are a few shots of the lawn, the cars, and the attendees. We had a super turn out-- and thanks to Susan for cheffing up at the grill !

We had shirts for sale - Here is Susan modeling one after the festivities were over, with OYY Salvadore- curly pony stallion.

The shirts came out great- thanks to Denise Conroy of

OMD Embroidery !

After the tent left- Susan and I just relaxed on the lawn-- and I asked if she wanted to try my treeless saddle. Susan -- like so many of us -- is not one to turn down a ride in the saddle... so we prepared Keri for a early evening test run.

They make a nice looking pair ! Susan is definitely one of those friends anyone would be LUCKY to have !

Enjoy your day ~

Play Days in Texas

Hello Curly Friends,

I'm a Sand Hill Piedmont Carolina girl by birth and I grew up riding mostly English near Southern Pines; but, now that I call Texas home I am trying hard to learn Western riding and terminology. So when my girlfriend asked if I wanted to go to a Playday, I said sure.."sounds kinda elementary but I'm game". Well, folks, elementary it's not. I looked it up on the internet and Southern Texas Play Day website ( http://www.angelfire.com/tx/southerntexasplayday/) gives a good description.

What is a Playday? It is a combination of horse and rider timed events. There are usually four events at each playday: Poles, Cloverleaf Barrels, Straight-away Barrels, and an optional Jackpot Race. Riders can ride for fun or compete in the playday. Riders must compete in his/her age group/class to receive points. Points are awarded on the basis of the rider's finish/place. Riders accumulate points for each event that they compete in. At the end of each playday and Money/Saddle/Buckle series, winners in each age group will receive an ALL-AROUND award on the basis of his/her accumulated points.

Note...anything in Texas that involves a Belt Buckle is major competition. Now the folks there were real nice and their horse are really fast and big but I got a good chance to talk about our Curly Horses (no one knew about Curly Horses).

Still, I've decided to practice a wee bit more 'fore I venture out to compete in Playdays for one of those shiny Belt Buckles....

Your very elementary Curly Friend.,

Angie

“you can tell a true cowboy by the type of horse that he rides” Cowboy Proverb

Hello All,

We've been busy....ranching. Real ranching.....'cause we have 40 head of Longhorn cattle roaming around our little ranch deep in the heart of Texas.

The cows are so peaceful and calm. Our Curlies are still trying to decide if they might be eaten by those four legged creatures with horns.

Next year we will add this to our RAC Desensitizing Technique.

Best wishes to all.

Angie and Lokata "Kota"

Dream On Curls Promotion

I had a wonderful time on Friday schmoozing around with the people at Betsy and Zoe Lirakis' open house for Dream on Curls theraputic riding center. We had beautiful weather, a true hot summer day in Vermont, and I met some of the nicest people on the planet. I thoroughly enjoyed Zoe's demo featuring the person Lily on the Curly Lilly and was very impressed with Lily's learned skills and Lilly's patience and obedience. These Curly horses we are all so obsessed with really are great horses, aren't they? After the demo and chatting up Curlies and the benefits of theraputic riding with the spectators, I went to work, grilling about 100 hotdogs and 100 hamburgers for the hungry crowd. Since I was Staff for a day, Betsy gave me a lovely lavender tee to wear which pictures a Curly on the back. (I love this comfy shirt so much that I wore it to work Monday!) There were lots of door prizes and a Chinese auction under a big tent. All the riders received a blue ribbon, so there were lots of smiling faces. I worked with some AWESOME volunteers, including two teenage girls who set to work painting faces and kept it up with good humor for hours. After the big To Do, the hostesses and a few volunteers relaxed under the big tent and enjoyed a small but cool breeze. WHAT A DAY! One which I would gladly repeat! That evening, I even had the great honor of riding Betsy's very, very favorite special Curly Keri. Not only is Keri gorgeous, but she was very responsive to my cues and moved right out with nice, ground-reaching even strides at the walk, trot and canter. I fell in love with Betsy's Barefoot treeless saddle, too, and if I ever have the $$$$ I will be sure to snap one up. I was too busy to take pictures, but I did manage to snap one of the tent site (above) the morning after, and ...
one of these two beautiful bays, Luna and Nimue greeting me over the fence just before I headed out.
I hope my fellow RAC'ers are having as much fun as I am promoting Curlies this month, but you all have your work cut out for you!

the month of august

Auuggh... I really need to get back in the saddle. I haven't been riding, and I can tell, because I'm getting grumpy. lol.
Despite that, I have been having fun promoting curlies. I do this anyway of course! I talked with some people at the state fair about them, and I've told several new aquaintances from school related things about my fun boys. Hopefully I'll soon have some pictures and stories to share. I'm so excited about working with Smokey- he's such a sweet boy!- and getting back into regular work with Koko and Sunny. :-) They are such a joy... its hard to imagine a life without horses!

Dam That Trail

I did already post the photo's and news of our recent Monday trail ride through beaver country.. but here is the abridged version for the RAC'ers who might have missed my farm blog entry.

Zoe and I -- Teasel and Keri - headed out onto some new territory for an exploration. We crossed the mountain, trotted by Zoe's house, crossed the highway.. and found a series of trails at the end of Fletcher Road. It was our plan to circle up around the 'pink house' at Stellafane, the observatory site on Mount Ephraim. So- we had a general direction to aim for... now to get there.

There were so many options.. we will definitely trot back over here for an indepth trail expedition. We did take a few 'wrong' turns.. a couple of dead ends-- but eventually.. we followed a trail that would take us to Pleasant Valley Road- which we would have to cross in order to reach our destination.

Once we found ourselves behind this beaver pond, we knew where we were. We've been on the other far side many times.

And here we find those industrious beavers have been, indeed.. busy ! They are building a new dam across the trail. Unless you looked carefully.. the trail would be hidden from view, because of the newly forming pond-- but we could see the trail opening on the opposite side.




Today-- Keri was not truly feeling the enthusiasm for hopping the dam and wading through the pond... but she did anyway.. we found the trail.. trotted down Pleasant Valley Road to the turn into Mount Ephraim.

I have posted photo's of this farm and its view before.. but it's so pretty !

Trot and canter over the mountain..

We reach the site of the old observatory.

According to the 'clock' on the pink house-- it's time to trot home. The sun dial reads Noon, but it's really one o'clock, there is that little problem of setting the sun back for daylight savings.

We had a great time out.. and will absolutely head back over there soon !

Tuesday evening we went out with Keri and Elektra... the days are becoming noticeably shorter now.. and we repeated our night ride again-- this time with an almost full moon !

In person-- the moon was orange, quite large, low in the sky-- and you could see the old man's face perfectly. My camera did not properly catch all that.. but I think I would have had to had a tripod with a very slow shutter speed... and not be on horseback :) At any rate-- it was a really fun 'night out'. Today- Thursday- I think is the official full moon.. so maybe we'll go out again tonight.

A week ago Sunday.. Zoe and Elektra had a long day at Dressage Days at GMHA (Green Mountain Horse Ass'n). Many were competing for the big stakes. Zoe's ride times were 9, 11, 2, 5. They did well- large classes and stiff competition. Most of the riders and horses bring their trainers with them-- they get coaching while they are warming up in the exercise area... or for the high level riders and horses... they bring their grooms who ride and exercise the horses. Stacked up to the others-- we are like total country bumpkins :) with our farm bred, farm trained, farm ridden horse. At this show, they even measured the length of the crop !

I did already post the news of the show on my farm blog-- Zoe and Elektra did pretty well.. training level 1 and 2, large classes- Zoe earned a fourth in one. She rode the FEI test for 4 year olds and got great comments.. (once Elektra is on the bit consistently she'll get all 7's and better for scores).

The last ride was Equitation Dressage- for which Zoe won First place ! After your ride, the judges give you your critique, which is also written all out for studying later ! Pretty helpful and always nice to know when you do well too :)

I made Zoe hold up her prize so I could take a photo. As I mentioned on the farm blog...

this lovely award will make a perfect juice cup on a good day-- on a bad day.. perhaps a super big shot glass ! Anyway.. a long day but a good one.
We are on our third day of sun here !! WOW ~

Enjoy your day ~