Wordless Wednesday - Wonder what lives here?

Bank Barn

We came across this bank barn over the weekend.  It's a barn style that is particular to Pennsylvania and I love seeing them around.  I'm a bit under the weather this week (I caught T's cold) so posts will probably be short and sweet.

Macro Monday - Garden Visitor

Craig was moving some plants around and cleaning up in the garden when he came across a snake.  He grabbed the camera since I didn't have any shoes on and wasn't about to get close to the snake.  I believe this is a rat snake.

He grabbed a stick and moved the snake very carefully away from the houses and closer to the woods.  Mr. Snake was not a happy camper and decided to show Craig how mean he could be.

Humans and snake parted company and no harm came to either species.

Sunday Stills - A Day in the Life...

This week's Sunday Stills Challenge is A Day in the Life:
This could be the biggest challenge yet so here are the rules. Pick a day in the upcoming week and take your camera with you, no archives. Take and post no more than 4 pics during the day that show how you spend the day.

We were running errands on Saturday and took one of the many small back roads in the area.  This road runs along a creek (on the left side) and open fields (on the right side).  Farther along is a housing development and it crosses a fairly busy road.  There is just a hint of green.

The creek was a little high and running swiftly along.

A small stream on the other side of the road empties into the creek via a pipe under the road.

A hawk was hunting the fields and stream for lunch.

View other participants in the Sunday Stills Challenge here.

RedBubble

I discovered something new this week, thanks to Tracey at Mustang Diaries.  I noticed a link on the sidebar of her blog for RedBubble so I decided to check it out.  I set up an account and I've been having a lot of fun.  You can add your art, join groups, and participate in challenges.  The very cool thing is that it's global.  You can comment on other people's art and add them to your favorites.  And you can also create your own Bubblesite to showcase your art.  I've added the application to Facebook which updates whenever I add new artwork (I also figured out how to get Blogger to update Facebook whenever a new post goes up).  For any of you that are art and/or photography buffs, I encourage you to check it out.  You can see my profile here.  Maybe I'll see you around the virtual gallery. 

Love you, Mom

Today is my mother's birthday. She would have been 68.

She passed away in 2005 from ovarian cancer. I miss her every day.

Love you, Mom.  Miss you always.

Skywatch Friday - Season 4, Episode 37

Driving into the sunrise on my way to work

View skies from around the world at Skywatch

The Gang

With the arrival of Kali, I realized how unique each horse is, especially in the way they move.  Jet has very rolling comfortable gaits.  Zip is very steady and has a ground eating stride.  Kali has a lot of movement but doesn't cover a lot of ground (definitely bred for Western Pleasure).

Of the 3, we've had Jet the longest - since October of 2008.  For a scrappy little horse with wonky knees, a bone chip in his ankle and arthritis, he is fluid, sure footed, and graceful.  He turns on a dime, can almost anticipate what you are going to ask of him, and takes care of his rider.  I absolutely love riding him.  And for a horse that was chronically lame to the point where euthanasia was considered, the fact that he was gymkhana Junior Reserve Champion last year is quite an accomplishment.  He's sound barefoot now and has some days where he's stiff but then again so do I.  And he's the most playful of the bunch - he's quite the tail puller.

We call Zip the grumpy old man.  He's the tallest at almost 15.2 hands.  He'll do what you ask of him because you asked but I don't think he's had much kind handling in his life.  He is just now getting used to treats and used to turn his nose up to peppermints but loves them now (Jet was kind of the same way when we got him - standoffish and not sure about people).  I don't think that Zip has been exposed to much beyond ranch work.  He'll come around once he realizes that sometimes we just want to hang out with him and feed him treats.  He is very well broke and like Jet will turn on a dime.  He tends to be a hotter than the other two so we make sure to give him lots of time to rest and just stand still when he is being worked.  His feet are improving as is his overall health and I'm hoping that his coat is nice and shiny once he sheds out.  I'd love to look back two years from now and find that he's a pocket pony like Jet.

Kali is the princess of the bunch.  She loves to be groomed and fiddled with.  She's also very well broke for both English and Western but she has a slower overall movement than the boys.  She's been trained for jumping (unlike Jet and Zip) and has very good form.  She's also the most conformationally correct of our three. We look forward to getting her more fit so we can see what's she's capable of.

Note - all pics were taken last weekend after a bath. 

They didn't stay clean for long as they all rolled pretty much as soon as they were turned out.

Wordless Wednesday - Future Equestrian

Kali's Feet

When we got Kali, we knew that we were taking a chance on her.  She had been mildly lame on and off and that was why she was looking for a new home (it's sort of a running joke since most of my horses came to me with hoof issues).  She was due for a trim when we got her and she had some hoof flaring that I took care of right away.  I am slowly removing the flares each time I trim which is every other week.  She had short toes and high heels in the front which have been resolved.  She had very flat feet in the back with bad outside flares and very thick frogs (thicker than any I have seen before).  I wasn't comfortable trimming the frogs since they needed so much so Craig begged the farrier to do it (I do my own trimming but have the farrier do them every once in a while to make sure that I'm doing the right thing).  He trimmed the frogs on all four feet and found something embedded in her hind left foot at the heel, next to the frog.  He's not sure if it was a rock, a nail or a stick (he couldn't tell) but it was way up there and had been there for quite a while.  It was deep enough to bleed.  The hoof had encapsulated it and the frog had grown over it.  He thinks that this would have definitely caused her intermittent lameness.  I e-mailed her previous owner and it was indeed her left hind that repeatedly came up lame (her vet and her farrier both missed it).  T has been riding her lightly, hoping to get her back into shape. 

Let's hope that she's on the road to recovery!

Macro Monday - Valhalla

This is Valhalla, an Arabian mare

She stood still just long enough for me to snap the pic

Sunday Stills - the Color Orange

This week's Sunday Stills Challenge is the color Orange.

Construction on the way to work

A plastic toy

An orange glow just before sunrise, on my way to work

Check out other Sunday Stills participants

Sunset over the Riding Ring

The weather has been absolutely beautiful and along with that comes some really spectacular sunrises and sunsets.  This was taken on Thursday night as the sun was setting.

If you biggify the pic, you can just about see T on Zip.

Skywatch Friday - Season 4 Episode 36

Just after sunset, earlier this week.  

A rosy glow, a sliver of a moon and a flock of geese.  

Who could ask for better subject matter???

View skies from around the world at Skywatch

Backlit

The weather gods are smiling on us and we have had absolutely glorious weather the past few days - sunshine and in the 60s.  And it's supposed to continue until the latter part of the weekend.  T was finally able to ride Zip (snow and 5 days of rain makes for really yucky rides).  She is really going to start conditioning him for the first gymkhana which is April 24th.  We are experimenting with different tack to see what works best for him so he was sporting a lime green tie-down and bright yellow breastcollar (she's got a breastcollar with Swarovski crystals but she wants to save that for shows).

No feet on the ground, fluid as ever

Wordless Wednesday - Signs of Life

Abandoned

The weekend storms dropped a significant amount of rain with high winds so everything is wet, muddy and some shade of brown.  I dug into my archives from March of last year.  This barn sits off to the side of a small strip mall that was built a couple of years ago.  In the summer it's so overgrown that you can't see it but it sits abandoned and forlorn in plain sight in the winter.  Craig took these as I wasn't brave enough to venture inside.

Sunshine's on its way so hopefully I'll get some brighter pics this week.

Macro Monday - Blooming

It's another gray and water logged day here.  It's been raining since Thursday and is not supposed to stop until tomorrow afternoon.  My garden is drenched with very little spring sprouts.  This is from my archive from last March.  I'm hoping to see the crocus bloom again soon!

You can find Macro Monday here

Sunday Stills - Sunrise/Sunset

This week's Sunday Stills Challenge is Sunrise/Sunset:
We did this one awhile back but I figured its time to do it again. So the challenge is, no archives. So lets see some new pics..:-)

Sunrise through the trees after a rain storm

Since we aren't supposed to use our archives and we've had cloudy weather for the last few days, just one pic for this week.

My Photography Bucket List

In January, Linda from Just Another Day on the Prairie, had a post of the things that she would add to her photography Bucket List.  I thought this was such a cool idea as my interest in photography has grown exponentially over the last year or so.  My mother was an artist and had an amazing eye for capturing images in different mediums - paint, pen and ink, pencil, pastel embroidery - you name it, she did it.  I may not have inherited the ability to draw like she did but I think that she taught me how to frame a subject and capture a feeling.  Last year, I started to compile photos into an online gallery and have had fun selecting images to post.  I would like to ramp up what I do photography-wise this year and I want to challenge myself to take really good images that say something without words.  So here is the beginning of my Photography Bucket List.  Some things are more about the experience with the photo opportunity going along with it.  In no particular order of importance:

• Upgrade to a higher quality DSLR (this may happen sooner rather than later)
• Spend a week photographing Mustangs in their native element
• Take a photo safari in Africa (someday...maybe)
• Pony trekking across Ireland with my camera (something I have always wanted to do)
• Have one of my photos grace the cover of a book or the pages of a magazine or a catalog
• Participate in a gallery expo, even if it's just one photo
• Participate in a cattle drive
• Learn better composition overall
• Sharpen my editing skills (some of the things you can do in editing are AMAZING)

I hope to cross some of these things off my list at some point in my life.  Please share your list.

Skywatch Friday - Season 4 Episode 35

A hint of blue sky reflected in Kali's eye

View skies from around the world at Skywatch

Sunshine and Back Scratches

Jet says "Hey Zip, hurry up will ya?"

"Oh good, ya done?"

"My turn!"

Wordless Wednesday - Itchy

A Rare Sight

This is something you don't see very often - me on Zip.  Of our horses, he is the hottest one and also the biggest (but hot is a relative term - he's not hot like a race horse).  T has fun riding him but he has some anxiety issues in the woods that I wanted to work with him on.  You can't tell by this picture (he looks pretty calm) but he was throwing a bit of a hissy fit.  T's stirrups were a bit long for me and I was really bracing to make sure that I stayed put in the saddle.  I had him in the woods and he gets very reactive, backs up at speed, and spins around.  We spent a lot of time standing quietly and letting him relax in the trees.  I have a feeling that he hasn't had much exposure to riding in the woods since this is really the only place that he acts up.  He's fine in the ring, on the driveway, riding on the road.  A good long trail ride in the woods on a narrow trail with a calm Jet will help immensely.  Come on, spring - it's time to hit the trails!!!

Sunday Stills/Macro Monday - Numbers

We had a very busy weekend so I didn't have the chance to download pics for Sunday Stills until this morning.  The past few days we have the best weather - it's been a very long time since we've had warmer, sunny days.  I've tried to spend as much time outside as I can.

This week's Sunday Stills Challenge was Numbers.  The first thing that popped into my mind was a calculator so I used the one I have at work.  Since I took them as macros and time was short, I am using these for Macro Monday as well.

I'm hoping to find enough hours in the day to split these into two separate posts next week!

Skywatch Friday - Season 4 Episode 34

Much needed sunshine after 24 hours of rain, sleet,
snow and 40-50 mph winds

Hopefully this was the last major storm of this season. 
Come on, Spring!!

Check out skies from around the world at Skywatch

Patterns with Zip

One of the things that T works on with all the horses is patterns around objects - barrels, cones, ground poles, even small jumps.  It helps with balance and flexibility and with the gymkhana horses, it teaches them to pay attention to the rider rather than the pattern of the barrels or cones.  She does basic schooling - walk, trot and canter - but also does some sort of pattern work.  Usually they are not the same patterns over and over but something that she makes up on the spot.  The gymkhanas that we participate in use patterns other than clover leaf and it's very helpful with training for her to switch it up.

Rounding a barrel - the barrel managed to stay up

Different angle

Coming out of a barrel

Leaning into the turn

Cooling down

One of the coolest things about riding Zip is how consistent his gaits are.  Whatever speed you ask him for, he maintains without a bobble.  It makes for a very smooth, ground eating stride.  And he's extremely handy.  For such a big horse (almost 15.2 hands), he can turn on a dime.  We are really looking forward to see what he can do in the first gymkhana.