My World Tuesday - Free Longing in the Ring

So much of my time is spent with our horses that My World Tuesday frequently includes at least one of them.

Montero is a Tennessee Walking Horse gelding that we were able to buy back recently. He is underweight but is steadily gaining and is starting to really feel better. He's even been playing with Jet. Jet is a Mexican Mustang gelding who has really come into his own in the year and a half that we have owned him. T competes with him in local gymkhanas.

Spring in this area brings mud and slippery footing so we often turn the horses out in the riding arena so they can run around in the good solid footing and be silly. Usually Jet does a really good imitation of a rodeo bucking horse but he had gotten quite a bit of his bucks out in the pasture earlier in the day.

This is Jet and Montero having a good time in the ring. T was encouraging them to move around by using a lead rope.

Jet & Montero 3/28/2009 from CTG Ponies on Vimeo.

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Trail Riding

At Eleanor's suggestion, T and I loaded the horses up and headed the 2 miles down the road to Green Lane Park. We frequently rode the Orange Trail last year which is a great 2 mile loop that is narrow hilly trails in the woods. This was our first ride on the Orange Trail this year. We took it easy and no pics during the ride as I wasn't quite sure how Montero would be. Both horses were great - easy going and sure footed. I forgot how nice it is to ride a horse with a really good neck rein. Jet was his usual steady self. Montero seemed to have a good time and was really careful about where he put his feet. He is certainly feeling better and had quite a bit of pep in his step. We even did a really nice canter in a meadow up the hill. We flushed a herd of deer out and both horses didn't even blink at them. It was great!

Craig took these as we came off the little bit of the Perkiomen Trail that we rode and headed into the parking lot. Both horses were tired and were ready to get back in the trailer.

Loaded up and ready to head home

Sunday Stills Challenge - Landscapes

This week's Sunday Stills Challenge - Landscapes. This one had me thinking. When I think of landscapes, I think of paintings and I tried to come up with a photo that I would like to see in a painting.

This is the view from the top of a hill at the Equestrian Campground in Green Lane Park about 3 miles from my house. This park has riding/hiking trails, playgrounds, areas for fishing and boating, camping. It's awesome! This hill over looks 2 lakes that flow via a small dam into the Perkiomen Creek. The bridge goes over the creek and used to be open for cars but is now closed. I had to zoom in to get a better view of the bridge.

Woo Hoo!!

We have been keeping a close watch on Montero for his first week. He has buddied up with Jet and seems to be settling in. He's still a chicken and won't really push his way in to the herd but he does get in to the hay. I'm going to keep track of his weight each week. I used a weight tape on him last Saturday and checked him again last night. He has gained almost 30 pounds!!!! He doesn't look nearly as bony and is definitely starting to feel good. He was even playing with Jet today (at Jet's prodding) and was bucking and rearing. I am thrilled!!!! He has been wearing a cribbing collar which seems to eliminate his cribbing. We actually picked up a better collar today. He was wormed today and will get probiotics at my vet's suggestion. We will also be treating him for ulcers to see if that will help with the cribbing. Stay tuned for more updates.

Daffodils

One of the earliest blooms in my garden is this little cluster of mini daffodils. Something about them always brings a smile to my face.

Skywatch No. 37

The view from the truck window on the way to work. We are anticipating some rain today so gray skies abound.

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Ride a Good Horse

Wordless Wednesday - At the Duck Pond

My World Tuesday - Rolling Around

Whenever Jet is in the riding ring, he likes to take advantage of the grit for a good backscratching. He grunts and groans, swishes his tail, rubs his head. T rode him on Saturday and he got sweaty since he still has some winter coat. He got some good rolling in and thoroughly enjoyed himself.

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Conditioning

T has been working with Jet to get him back in shape for gaming (first show is April 25th). The winter was so cold and the ground was frozen so often that we pretty much took it easy and didn't ride very often. She is trying to ride 3-4 days a week and is using hill work to condition him. She rides a little bit in the ring and then heads into the woods. Seeing them streak by is a regular occurence. She even jumps him over logs. It brings a smile to my face.

Montero, again

Through a strange twist of fate, we were able to once again become the owners of Montero. It really broke all of our hearts to find him a new home since he is horse with a wonderful disposition and is about as trained as you can get. He has gained some weight back and the woman who owned him for the winter had his impacted tooth removed. He came back to the farm on Friday night. Our focus will be packing on pounds, getting him healthy and fit. We have him on a high fat diet. T and I did ride him briefly on Saturday to see if he was everything that we remembered - and he was. I'm still down with this stupid cold so not much riding for me in the next few days.

Because we once again had 5 horses, we decided to find a new home for Charm. And a better home I couldn't have asked for! A woman in the next town bought her to use her for some beginner lessons and for pony parties. She will be in horsey heaven!

Sunday Stills Challenge - Lines

This week's Sunday Stills challenge is lines. I spent quite a bit of time looking at things that I would not normally notice, looking for evidence of lines - straight, diagonal, curved. I am under the weather with a bad cold and was not able to get the pic that I had in mind but here are some others.

Power towers in a corn field. The towers themselves are full of lines in the structure plus they literally support the power lines.

A grate around a tree planted last year

The R5 train line into Philadelphia.

From My Front Garden

Each year I eagerly await the first spring flowers. This year they are especially welcome as it's been a long and cold winter. Not too many blooms yet but there's promise in the buds.

Beginnings of Lilac Flowers

Crocus

Skywatch No. 36

Late afternoon at the duck pond

Check out skies from around the world at Skywatch Friday.

Guard Dogs

Merlin and Bandit took turns sitting in the sunshine at the front door, waiting for T to come home from school.

Wordless Wednesday

My World Tuesday - Ponies

We have 2 ponies that we ride in the arena, the woods on the farm and on trails.

Jet is a 14 hand Mexican Mustang gelding who is about 18 years old. He has had some rough handling in the past (he has white marks down his spine from ill fitting tack at some point in his life) and he had lameness issues before we got him that almost cost him his life. His previous owner was considering euthanasia. He is over at the knee and had had bad shoeing. His shoes were pulled about 3 weeks before we got him and he has been barefoot ever since. T started riding him last year after I kept telling her what a great horse he is. She did some gaming shows on him and did very well. He was pretty standoffish and hard to catch when we first had him but has warmed up quite a bit and can be a real grub if he knows you have treats. I don't get to ride him very often since T has pretty much claimed him but he is always a pleasure. He is the kind of horse that will always stop when you ask him to even if 20 other horses are galloping by. He is very responsive and pretty easy to ride but can run like the wind.

Jet in the pasture.

No pics of him under saddle this week as I was riding Charm who was full of herself and T was galloping around quite a bit.

Lucky Charm is a 13 hand POA mare who is about 16 years old. We bought her at the horse auction, kind of a spur of the moment thing. We had been looking for another pony but hadn't really planned on buying that day. She came through the ring and we were the winning bidder. Turns out she spent several years on a farm in New Jersey. The woman had sold her, she came back, she was sold at auction to someone who then turned around and sold her at another auction. Poor girl moved around a lot in a short amount of time. She had been used for lessons, pony parties, and had been trail ridden. We plan to do some local showing and lots of trail riding with her. I'm hoping that some spots show through her coat once she sheds.

T riding Charm bareback in the riding arena.

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A Hint of Spring

We were at a tack sale at the 4H center this weekend and they have a lovely garden that is part of the Penn State extension office. The early spring flowers are just starting to appear.

Crocus in the morning sun

Daffodils not yet in bloom

Hyacinth just poking through the ground