Distraction

The rains pouring down, beating against the weak sides of my little house.  The dripping in the window sill so loud I think it's leaking.  The already saturated ground can hold no more, the water pools and runs downhill.  It was snowing just yesterday.  It seems my awful luck has struck again.  The weather has been beautiful during the weekdays, and wintery and dismal on the weekends.  Between school and work I'm stuck inside Monday-Friday.  The weekends are mine though.  Unfortunately this weekend I had too much homework to catch up on and I didn't get my usual weekend pleasure.  I doubt my ponies mind much, they must feel like they've hit the jackpot.  They haven't had to work in a week and they get to eat all day long.  I did get my newly acquired first edition of Nerve by Dick Francis read though, so it hasn't been a complete loss.  Reading about riding is almost as good as riding right?  Especially when it's the high-stakes game of steeple-chasing?

I sit here taking pleasure in the sound of the rain hitting my window and clicking of the keys as I type.  So much reading to do; investment analysis, enterprise analysis, the cost of environmental services in South America.  I think my window sill really is leaking.  I've been couped up all day and I'm finding it very hard to concentrate.  My black dog lays contentedly alongside my computer.  His long hair obscuring the side of my screen.

Only 3 more weeks until Spring Break and only 11 weeks after that until I graduate.  This is my last eighth week of winter term.  The end is so close that I'm in a constant state of giddiness.  15 more weeks as a student.  Then I'm free!  No longer will I be staying up late at night reading things that really don't interest me.  No longer will I have to stress over time management when it comes to class, homework and work.  I'm almost done.  I can do this.  Now if I could just get some riding time in...

XO Loves,


Me

The Bay Filly's First Time

The sky was getting darker.
Heavy Clouds were blowing in with the wind.
The 2 fillies fidgeted, swishing their tails.
The old mare dozed idly by.
The little bay filly loped lazy circles, licking her lips.
She stopped, turned, facing her rider.
Following her movements.
She was taken outside and saddled.
A little jumpy on the off side.
But still a quiet eye and a low head.
Standing quiet.
Off again to the arena.
With only 15 rides, the bay is coming along nicely.
Tighten the cinch, pet her head down.
Snaffle easily accepted, halter hung on the fence.
The girl and the horse move around, all is quiet and calm.
Left hand on the reins, right hand on the horn.
Left foot in the stirrup.
Right leg slowly swung over her back.
No monsters here.
Right toe slipping into the stirrup when all is no longer quiet and calm.
The bay filly breaks in two.
The girl sucks her legs into her, but the tighter she grips the harder the filly bucks.
One rein is gone, the short backed filly jumps one way then the other.
The girl is all over the place.
Knowing the ground is coming soon with only 1 stirrup.
Finally she gives up, falling on her shoulder and head.
Was she stepped on or kicked?
She doesn't know.
Dazed from impact.
Th filly continues her trashy onslaught.
Stepping on the reins, jerking herself to a stop.
The girl calmly approaches.
The filly lets her slip the bridle off.
Barely had she stepped away before the filly wildly takes off again.
Seriously offended and light on her back end.
There's a first for everything and the little bay made her first fit a good one.
Hurt and foggy the girl looks at her dog, thankful there's only 1 more filly left to ride.

XO Loves,

Me

The Old Man

Ok, so I apologize for how long it's been since my last post!  Our internet has been down for almost a week, but we got it back today!  Here's a little story I wrote the other night for my papa and I thought I would share it with all of you. I'm not a poet, and this is just a story, not a poem, so don't judge as though it were. I hope you like it!

The Old Man

As the sun comes up a man and his horse are trotting out
Cold, clean air, dog padding silently along behind
Hes as familiar with these mountains as he is the cracks in his hands
He was here, his family was here, before the roads criss-crossed the land
The pale horse hadn't been raised there, but he was as sure as the man
It was just the 3 of them, raising little dust in their search
He knew they were near, the horse and dog smelled them, the man could hear them
Their pace quickened
Finally the brush rustled, patches of black could be seen
The dog slipped quietly into the brush
The horse pulled against the bit
The man waited
There was barking and bawling and the hillside came to life, bells clanking
The man checked the pale horse and slowly began moving the cows home
He knew his situation was special
Knew his was a luxury most never know
They'd all be hoof sore by the time they covered the 15 miles home
There are no corrals, holding pens or trailers
Just a lot of wild country in between
He doesn't know where or when they'll meet
Somewhere theres his uncle and daughter doing the same thing
The mans seasoned, his horse fit, the stocky red dog tough
Together they work, waiting for home
Like every year before...

XO Loves,


Me

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow...

Yesterday I went to work with my cousin out in the valley.  We were supposed to move the guys cows to his winter grounds.  20 minutes before we were supposed to be there to feed, we get a call from him.  Wondering if we'd left yet, because it was pretty nasty out there.  We live over an hour away, of course we'd left!  Well Casey and I aren't the kind to be deterred by a little bad weather.  We got to the ranch and waited for the owner so we could start feeding. It was cold, but not too bad, or so we thought.  Opened the door and I felt like Mary Poppins!  Seriously, I thought Dorothy was going to blow in from Kansas!  It was hard to walk, it's not easy to buck a serious head wind.  We loaded up and headed out.  There were three bunches of cows to feed, one being the herd we were supposed to move.  Casey and I were really hoping he wouldn't cancel, but it wasn't looking good.  Feeding was a nightmare!  Hay, and dirt in my eyes like never before.  There were several times that Casey and I just fed with our eyes shut because we couldn't open them.  Every time I got off the truck the wind blew me back on my butt!  I've honestly never witnessed let alone been in, such strong winds.  When we got to the big bunch and he told us to feed, we were crushed.  A couple of the other folks who were supposed to help had called and backed out, not that there weren't all kinds of other guys that would have helped.  Our horses were in the trailer and ready to go, we still wanted to ride!  Just didn't have anywhere to go.

 So we decided to go to the little diner and have a beer.  Yea it was 11, but we were down in the dumps.  Before we finished a guy called and said he needed help feeding some big bales.  So we took off to help him, I was however, instructed to stay in the pickup.  Well fine with me, it was starting to snow, and was just cold.  After awhile I had no idea where they had gone, it was snowing hard and I couldn't see anything.  So little Miss Pippy and I just holed up in the pickup and waited.  I called my daddy and he told me it was also snowing downriver, and that if we wanted to make it home with the horses we needed to get out of there right then.  Finally the guys showed up and off we went.  It had snowed probably six inches in somewhere around three hours.  It was getting nasty in a hurry.  We only slid towards the river a couple times.  Made it home by four and got all the horses put up.  Just before dinner the power went out.  That was ok, we played cards and my daddy read us some Edgar Allen Poe(he couldn't find his Robert Service book).  We had a great time huddled around the table in the lamplight.  The power came back on about midnight.

Here are some photos I took yesterday from mid day on.

These were all taken consecutively.  It's just beautiful!




Xoxo Loves,


Me

Horses and Souls

“When I bestride him, I soar, I am a hawk: he trots the air; the earth sings when he touches it; the basest horn of his hoof is more musical than the pipe of Hermes. ”
― William Shakespeare, Henry V  

This quote quite perfectly describes what I feel when I'm with horses.  I'm a friendly person, but I'd rather spend time watching and working horses than wandering around large crowds of humans.  Throughout the past several years, horses have gotten me through some tough times.  The horses themselves were sometimes tough, but it gave me something else to think about.  Something to put all my energy into, to concentrate on and wear myself out over.  When I'm on a horse, or working with a colt, my mind is blank.  My heart rate slows, my breathing calms, I lose all inhibitions, worry, stress and pain.  Its just me and them.  Horses have forever calmed my soul.  I don't know exactly what they feel, I can't talk to them.  But I can change their body to change their mind.  The moment when they drop their head, lick their lips and soften their eye always satisfies me.  Even if we don't accomplish anything else, I know for that period of time they let me see them.  For that moment I feel as though our souls connected.  So, tonight I thought I'd share some photos of the horses that are currently helping me to forget.