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?

;~)