The Newest Blogger Virus

Ha!!! My new friend Tracey (frantically waves at Tracey) over at Mustang Diaries gave me the newest Blogger Virus...achewwww...'cuse me!

Ok, here's the deal...answer the following 5 questions and pass on the virus to some other unsuspecting soul...ummmmm...blogger friend! Tag a few more if ya a mind to!

1) Where did you go riding this week?

Absolutely NO WHERE!!! Nota...nothin'...That's what I get for inviting my 2 brothers and their spouses for Thanksgiving...all I've done is clean, clean, clean...well I was also selling and building ads for my new publication....but I'd rather be ridin'!

PS...I gave everyone lots of hugs 'n nose kisses...does that count for anything???




2) Your most embarrassing moment on horseback.

I had to think long and hard on this one. I guess I tend to dwell on the good things. But...

I had the opportunity of a lifetime back in the mid 1980's...I attended a Tom Dorrance clinic . I took my good ol' steady Toby. He was just 3 then, and I really didn't have any issues with him. He was just a typical green horse that tried to everything that I asked of him...I just couldn't get him to pick up his right lead (rider error most diffinately).

At that time, the "natural horsemanship" was just coming out into the open in my area. I just couldn't follow what he was trying to tell me. I really feel that I was blocking it out...just not listening. Absolutely NO excuse for an ol' dog learnin' new tricks...I was 20 something!!! I was in tears of frustration...if only I could have opened my mind up just a little bit more...sigh.




3) What's your favorite piece of tack?

Just one????!!!...sorry...can't do just one, but I'll keep it to two! I absolutely love my handmade ladie's "Wade" saddle. Clay Sharp was the maker on this one. Bless my dear Mother; when she passed away, I took a bit of my inheritance and had a saddle made. I do ALL of my riding in it...well, except for the new colts; I use an old beat up saddle for them. But I cut, rein, gather, barrel race, trail ride, show...I do it all in this wonderfully comfortable saddle. I can get away with that here in Harney County!!! LOVE IT!


Ok, my other piece is my absolutely favorite pair of reins....3/4 inch x 8 foot weighted split reins...I only use them on Colt or someone who I know won't break them! I have little hands and these are prefect. They're nothing fancy...just nice and thick and I keep them oiled with olive oil...oh so soft!




4) Do you collect anything horsey?

The question to me should be "do you collect anything that isn't horsey"!!!! Everything in our home is horses...from John Wayne toilet paper to metal art, pottery, photos, creamics, wood burned coasters & trays to barbed wire decor. The exception is a few sentimental items from my Mom and from my childhood.




5) What's your least favorite aspect of horse ownership?

This is really a tough question!!! I love everything...even shovelin' shi_ !!! Stall cleaning is considered therapy in my book.

I guess my answer would be paying the bill to the vet when the occasion arises. We do most all of our horse upkeep ourselves...shots, hoof trimming, training, etc. The vet bills are just astronomical to us when we need their services. It's hard to swallow...but we know our limitations.

Ok, I've got my questions answered.

The next step is to pick fellow blogger's to tag...being the Thanksgiving week and all, I'll let anyone who wants to post their answers on their blog to do so. Please let me know if you do; I'll love to read your answers!

God bless you and your families on this wonderful Thanksgiving celebration!

Hold Onto God

My sweet friend Kathleen at Life Earth Sky posted this lil' game on her blog, and I thought it'd be fun to play!

I'm not going to tag 10, but if you want to play, leave me a comment so I know that you played the game. I'd love to see your answers!

DIRECTIONS:
1. Put Your iTunes on Shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. You must write down the name of the song no matter how silly it sounds!
4. Put any comments in brackets after the song name.
5. Tag at least 10 friends.
6. Anyone tagged has to do the same, because fun pointlessness spreads like a virus.
(I'm gonna put the artist just so you know I'm not lying)

Here we go...

If someone says, “Is this okay?” You say?
Abilene Town (Sons of the San Joaquin)

How Would You Describe Yourself?
Prairie Girl (Sons of the San Joaquin) ~~ Who'da thunk it!!

What Do You Like in a girl/guy?
Wolves (Dan Roberts) ~~Oh my!!! LOL!!

What is Your Life's Purpose?
Pert’ Near Perkins (Waddie Mitchell) ~~Yep…pert’ near got one

What is Your Life Motto?
Home of the Blues (Dwight Yoakum) ~~No…LOL

What Do Your Friends Think of You?
Always Late with Your Kisses (Dwight Yoakum) ~~I’m such a bad girl!

What Do You Think of Your Parents?
When the Work’s all Done this Fall (Red Steagall) ~~Well, Dad was a farmer.

What Do You Often Find Yourself Thinking About?
Casey Tibbs (Ian Tyson) ~~Shhhh…Don’t tell John!

What is 2+2?
South Wind of Summer (The Flatlanders)

What Do You Think of Your Best Friend?
Tennessee Stud (Michael Martin Murphy) ~~Well, John is my best friend…LOL!!

What Do You Think of the Person You Like?
He Just Can’t be Seen From the Road (Sons of the San Joaquin) ~~Most likely true!

What Is Your Life Story?
Running Out of Sunsets (Red Steagall) ~~ hmmmm…

What do you want to be when you grow up?
Things We Said Today (Dwight Yoakum) ~~ That’s about right!

What do you think of when you see the person you like?
Whatcha Gonna Do With a Cowboy (Chris LeDoux & Garth Brooks) ~~YEP!

What will you dance to at your wedding?
Smokey (Red Steagall) ~~It’s a great song about a good horse and it’s a Waltz!

What will they play at your funeral?
Orejana (Waddie Mitchell) ~~Good choice.

What is your hobby/interest?
Good Time Charlie’s Got the Blues (Dwight Yoakum) ~~What? LOL

What is your biggest fear?
Shot Full of Love (Chris LeDoux) ~~Really?…hmmmm…

What is your biggest secret?
I Hear You Knockin’ (Dwight Yoakum) ~~Who’s there?

What do you think of your friends?
The Code of the West Hasn’t Changed (Red Steagall) ~~Excellent answer!

What will you post this as?
Hold Onto God (Dwight Yoakum) ~~Every day~~Amen~~

What an awesome day!

I knew it was going to be a great day when I saw the moon hanging in the sky this morning while I was out feeding. It's hard to see...it's that lil' white ball in the center of the photo. Why did it look bigger to me this morning?? :~) But, it was still a good sign.




I haven't ridden Colt since October 29 when we had a cutting lesson. We've just had crappy weather. I don't have an indoor facility so when the winds a blowing 30-35 mph gusts, it's cold, and it's raining, it equals crappy riding weather to me.

Today was the first day of some decent weather...it was gorgeous!!! Usually I don't need to warm Colt up much, but after 2 weeks off and being brisk and fresh outside, I never want to take a chance...besides I don't like to have to fight a horse; just get the edge off of them and start.

Colt making a nice lil' outside turn in the round pen.

To continue Colt's warm up, I decided to take a little trail ride up on the hill. At the top of the 2-track leading up the hill who should we meet? None other than my bunch of yahoos...the Wild Bunch!

From L-R is Stetson, Catnip, Duncan, Coyote and Rohan

Well, at that moment, I made a change in plan...it was just too nice to let the opportunity go to waste...we're going to the top of the hill...just another 550 feet in elevation.

This is about half way to the top. It's the SE corner marker of the property.
BLM land is on the other side.

BLM put in a new fence a few years back. Here you can see the new fence on the left and what's left of the old fence on the right. BLM land is on the left.
We've still got to get up there and get the rolls of wire we rolled up 3 years ago.

Ahhhhh, we made it to the top! There's two lone juniper trees on top.
In this photo, facing south, you can see Riddle Mountain just right of the tree and
Steens Mountains are way off in the distance. They're probably 60 miles or so as the crow flies.

Facing west, it's hard to make out in the photo, but the blue way out in the distance just before the furthest ridge line is Malheur Lake. It's a Wildlife Refuge home to thousands of birds. It's the biggest body of water in Oregon, but the shallowest too.

I turn back around north and there is my Mister Handsome...waiting patiently.
He's a darn good colt for a 3 year old.
(No, I didn't have him tied with the reins...they're just looped around the post.)

Making our way back down, we come across a jack rabbit that thinks he's invisible.

We're standing on the rim top about 100 feet above our east alfalfa field.

This view is looking down onto the unfinished arena, the hay stack yard,
the Old Princeton buildings, and the west alfalfa field.

We (me, Colt, and all three dogs) had a great time. When we got back to the barn, I did do some flexing, arching, backing, and slow spins with Colt...I did say it was going to be a training day didn't I?

;~)

Words to Wordless Wednesday Photo

Ok, I feel the need to put some words to my Wordless Wednesday photo from today.

I've never ever thought of naming a photo. REAL artists name photos and their wonderful pieces of art in whatever form it takes. I am no artist by any means.

That being said, I named this photo in my mind because of its value to me...so I will share it with you.

~~Mustang Success~~

These three numbered tags hang in my barn. They are from the three BLM mustangs that I have adopted, gentled and trained to saddle. When I adopted each horse they were just a number to the BLM...but after I got them home and started working with them; they were no longer numbers, they were horses with personalities, idiosyncrasies, and love...just like any other horse : Coyote, Rohan and Duncan. So, these tags have a lot of sentimental and inspirational meaning to me.

Please meet some of my family...

Coyote Kid

Rohan

Fuddy Duddy Duncan

Wordless Wednesday

Sunrise to Sunset

We haven't had fog for quite some time...morning feeding was beautiful.





Colt is waiting patiently while I load up the wheelbarrow.




Such a peaceful morning...this part of the crew seem to be happy... but then what horse isn't happy with a feeder full of hay?!?





Another semi-truck came to get a load of hay. This is our 3rd cutting that's going to a dairy in the Salem Oregon area. Cindy Sue can be spotted anywhere now with her new coat!!




Just about got it loaded.



Still need to get the stacks lined up straight on the trailer and get it tarped.





Head supervisor at work!





Another beautiful day coming to a close. Because of the rock rim behind the house, we don't actually get to see sunsets. What we get to see are the colors from the sun setting in the west on the hills to the north and east!

The Chinks

I believe on my very 1st post just a couple of weeks ago, I took a pic of a pair of chinks that I've been working on for my husband. I finally got them done today!!

A little history~~My husband received a pair of deer skin shotgun chaps from a very close, dear friend that is no longer riding. The friend had received them from a friend of his that quit riding.

What's with THAT???!!!???...I plan on riding until I die!!! Anywho...

My husband is 6' 2" and our friend is a little bit shorter, well a lot shorter~~sorry Gene ;~). The chaps were 6-8" too short! After some research and figuring, I decided I could turn the shotgun's into a pair of chinks. I'm kicking myself for not taking a pic of them before I started...but who knew?

This is my leather bench in the back room.

I took out the zippers, removed the fringe, traced a pattern from a friend's pair and cut.
Then I re-attached the fringe using leather lace with a very simple lacing pattern.

Now...I'm ready to attach the buckles, straps, and conchos.

I've got all my parts and pieces ready.

Of course a little liquid refreshment is always enjoyable.
Yep, I drank the whole thing...took me all afternoon!

I marked where the conchos would go and attached the straps.
Leather conchos were glued to the chinks as the base for stability.

Buckles were then attached on the backside of the chinks.

Then the metal conchos were attached on top of the leather conchos with latigo strips.
TaaaaaaDAH...They're DONE!!!!!!

I think were ready for the husband to model them for us...yes?

Front view

Back view...hmmmm...yum...yep!





I think he likes 'um!!

Yep, another satisfied customer...errrrr husband :~)

A Drizzly Day

I guess it's official after the hail and snow 2 nights ago and today's cold drizzle...winter is coming...soon. Hard to believe that it was in the 70's last week, but that's what happens here. We're at 4150 feet...most anything can happen weather wise.

The clouds are socked in over Hat Butte

This old metal tub is the dog's summer water dish.
Now it's just collecting rain water from the roof and leaves.

While feeding this morning, I spooked out 8 does and yearlings along with a nice 4-5 point buck and they climbed up the hill just west out behind the house. Once they hit the rim rock they had to go either left or right. They chose left. Three horses and the 2 burros were just at that time coming down the two-track off of the hill for breakfast. The horses came on down...but those silly burros took off like there was no tomorrow!!! For the life of me, I can't figure out why they would be scared of deer that they see on a daily basis...go figure. They never came back down until about 1:00 this afternoon.

Wish I had pictures of the whole thing...I tried, but it was too dark...I've got to work on learning more about my camera.

But, I do have a couple of pics of my project for the day. My little Rat Terrier, Cindy Sue, needed a new winter coat. Her old one is torn to shreds from her running through and under the barbed wire fences. I'm sure this one will meet the same fate, but the material is stronger and, hopefully it will hold up a little better.

How do ya like the scarf? It matches the liner in her coat...Black 'n white pups with red fire hydrants! She's really stylin' for a ranch dog!! (wait til you see her covered in mud with it...LOL)

Between coat fittings, Cindy Sue enjoyed the wood stove.

The husband is a fan of the cookie...home-made preferably. So, I felt an urge to fill the cookie jar!

All in all, it was a pretty good day...despite the drizzle.

Wordless Wednesday

Old Princeton

The town of Old Princeton

Well, what's left of it anyhow~~Before Hwy 78 came through from Burns to Hwy 95 which takes you north to Boise or south to Winnamucca, the small town of Princeton was here...on our property.

Back in the day (1930-40's) this building held groceries, a cafe, the telephone switchboard, and the Post Office. The Princeton Post Office has actually moved 7 times prior to it's current location 2 miles north of us. It moved to wherever the current Post Master lived!

This property has changed hands many times since it was homesteaded back in the late 1800's. The Paiute Indians were the first to live here though. Many arrow heads have been found and I'm still looking for petroglyphs on the thousands of rock facings on our place. There are many to be found around Harney County...there's got to be at least one here!!

Old Princeton homes 1981

This photo (I took a picture of a picture) is from our neighbor who lived here in the early 1980's.

Old Princeton home 2008

This picture I took this morning. I think I'm in just about the same spot as where the photographer of the 1981 photo was taken from. The Old Princeton buildings are just left of the photo where the road going north(vertical) meets the road going east (horizontal). That's where our driveway starts. Sure wish the old corrals were still standing.



This might be part of those old corrals. It's just below where I shot the photo this morning. Even though it's starting to fall apart, I love looking at it and dream of the old days.




During the re-seeding process of our alfalfa fields, we found lots of old metal parts and horse shoes like this one...that shoe was wore out when it came off the horse that's for sure!




The view that stole my heart when we looked at this property...it was love at first sight.