D²C Ranch

Women's Boerne Ranch Ride

2011-02-27T17:55:00.004-06:00

Ladies, I am really excited and ready to get to Boerne to ride in "Equestrian Fantasy Land." Thank you for the internet detour to get more information. Now I can post as much as I want.

Please go google maps. This is a map to the nursery next door, but the driveway beside the nursery with the rock pillars and automated gate is the entrance to the ranch. When we get there, Kyla and I will tie balloons to the entrance.

You may spend a lot of time out camping with your horses, but here is what I have found necessary:
Water and feed bins for your horses
Double the necessary feed
Horse gear (saddles, tack, etc)

Fire starter logs (HEB Jumbo logs work best)
Toilet paper and paper towel (one roll each)
Paper plates, cups, plastic utensils
Trash bags and zip lock bags

Blankets, bedding, air mattress, sleeping bags, etc
Towels and washrags
Warm weather/cold weather clothing
Long sleeve shirts for protection from the sun and brush
Warm weather/cold weather night clothes
House shoes
Sun screen, aloe, allergy and pain meds, first aid kit

Breakfast and lunch to go
Water/drinks

I wanted to talk with everyone today about meals and transportation, but I didn't get to visit with many of you. I wanted to see if everyone has a ride and if anyone has room for a 4-wheeler, or can take their 4-wheeler.

Also, we are not planning on taking supper food with us from Bremond, but if you want to cook something special, feel free to take it or you can buy it there. We are 5 miles from HEB and Wal-Mart.

Extreme Cowboy Race

2010-02-22T12:39:00.002-06:00

this winter has been crazy! We've had So much rain that riding has been difficult. About the time I get my horse together on a beautiful day, The ground's too swampy to ride or something comes up.

So to Summarize the winter so far, We got rid of the donkey, all the goats are gone, and the cat died. We hare a New dog (probably why the cat's dead). She's a 1 yr old great dane. In exchange for the donkey, I got 3 saddles. One fits my daughter, one is busted, and the other fits me mostly. I sent it to a saddle shop to get the length of the stirrup fender fixed. I have been doing some riding with a friend. She's encouraging me to expand my riding horizons. I am now trotting on a regular basis and cantering some. I don't carter a lot because I seem to lose my stirrups when I try. My church friends have diagnosed the problem. The stirrups are too low. I can't shorten them because they are as short as they will go. That's why the new saddle is at the shop.

The Extreme Cowboy Race was hosted by my church. My friend designed it and several of the church members helped build the course. It was a pretty good course. we had a creek crossing , natural log jumps, a bridge, moguls, and a reining pattern in the arena. There was also a cowboy curtain and the pony to put in the pen. I helped work the event Saturday (I had to handoff the pony) and after the event, we played. I went through the course, convincing Koda to cross the creek, climb up and over the bridge, and doing all the other obstacles.

Sunday, someone sponsored me to compete in the Novice event. I competed against 7 other people, 3 ranch hands, a ranchers daughter, o drill team member, an experienced trail rider and a 7 yr old with his riding instructor walking beside him. I would say he was the only other true novice. I placed 8th out of 8. I tried hard and had fun. I know there's a lot I still need to learn, but my confidence and abilities have improved so much. I was dumbfounded with how far we've Come. Last year, I would have taken as much time loading the horse in the trader as I did running (trotting) the whole course.I don't think I could have gotten her through the cowboy curtain last year. I have an amazing horse, and she'll be perfect when I learn how to ride. :)

The STINKer

2009-12-13T18:37:00.003-06:00

Our house stinks. Man does it stink. Here's why (and I have to back up and give you a little history).

The weekend before Thanksgiving, my in-laws were in town and we discovered a stray dog. It's a blue Australian cattle dog and my father-in-law fed it. It never left. He's really a happy go-lucky dog. He's always excited to see us, jumping up and down, tail-waggin' kinda happy. We set up a dog bed in our garage (which cannot be closed - the door's busted). He's free to come and go, preferably go.
So we're watching a Christmas movie this afternoon, around 3pm, and he starts barking. We ignored him a while, and soon realized that it was more than just boredom. Hubby got up and looked out the window and said something like "O crap, don't go outside." He stood there and watched, getting our (My kid's and my) curiosity up. We 'ran' to the window to see what was the matter. The dog was very concerned with something in the far corner of the garage. After a while, I saw a very large skunk! about 5 feet from the door. The dog decided to remind it that it was leaving. The skunk said "bite me" and lifted its tail to give him access. Uggghh! Did you know that skunk spray is yellowish-green. It went outside the garage and my husband, not thinking, opened the door and went out after it. Luckily, we have a side door out of the garage that he could go through to go shoot the skunk. The smell swarmed into the house. Uggghhhh!

Hubby shot it (we have a great suspicion that he's rabid) and I went out with my gun to help. Hubby's gun has a bad set of sights. I got 3 shots out. The 1st shot missed. I hit him with my second. I thought he would be dead (hubby hit him a few times also) but he was still getting up, so I shot a 3rd time. He quit moving.

We tried to call the game warden. You know they don't answer on Sundays? Then the sheriff. The sheriff's deputy called back and said in essence, that he wanted nothing to do with this stinky mess. I thought that the county was supposed to be notified of rabid creatures. We buried him about a foot from where he died.

After burying him, we went for a walk in the pasture. It was getting dark so we weren't going far. We got to the pond pasture and stopped. The rabid skunk isn't the only new varmint to our property. We've lived here for almost 4 years and haven't seen even one little piggy. There is a large section of our pasture that has been shredded. In addition to their rooting around and tearing up several square yards, they have wallowed out a large deal of the pasture. The area torn up is larger than my house. Fortunately they can get under the fence and didn't bother tearing that up.

I'm sorry I haven't been posting news about the ranch and my riding. There has been very little to talk about and I have been really busy with school. I'll tell you soon about my trail ride and saddle issues.

Way, Completely, and Totally off topic!

2009-09-23T20:41:00.002-05:00

I just got an update on my sister and her doctor's visit. Thank you for praying for a resolution for this. God has allowed the doctors to find that Tanya has MS before the symptoms are too far along. The doctors were happy that they were able to catch it this early. Right now, they are planning to treat the MS symptoms with injections. These will not cure her or stop the disease but will slow the progression. We now have a hard road ahead. The doctors believe that even though she has caught the disease early, she will still eventually have to go on disability.

This means that one day, Tanya will need to quit her job. Someone will need to take care of her. She is not married and has no prospects. She's in her 30's and my dad is in his 60's. If it takes 15 years for her disease to progress, I may be taking care of my dad and my sis at the same time.

In addition, this also now means that I have two immediate family members that have been diagnosed with MS. My mom was diagnosed when I was 1. She was 28. and she was 48 when she died. I am now 32 and my sister is 34. Since my mom had MS, I had a 1 in 40 chance of getting it. If my sis was a twin, I would have a 1 in 4 chance of getting it. She's not a twin, but I think my chances are now going to be between the two. My sis's doc said it isn't more than 1 in 40.

I also am very concerned about my daughter. She now has 2 close blood relatives that have MS.

I am not looking for sympathy. I am asking for people who pray to say a prayer now and then for my sis and for our family. I also just wanted to be able to verbalize this somewhere besides my family and torturing the poor souls at church about it.

Back on to ranch business. I'm still trying to get rid of the donkey (anyone want it?). I'm still riding at least 1 time a week, usually on Sundays and/or Thursdays. We have finally had a good amount of rain. Our rain gauge has been full several times. I have not had to fill the horse tank lately. It has kept full from the rain. Of course, the horse now has a touch of thrush (but what horse in central Texas doesn't right now?) On the plus side, I went out to give her a carrot, and she RAN to the fence to visit with me. And, my kid's riding again. Every time I have ridden lately, so has she.

Wow!

2009-08-27T22:28:00.002-05:00

First I want to ask, does anyone know what the stuff on my window in the picture is? I think I've seen it in a dream before, but that was a long time ago. Whatever it is left 1 mm of water in our fence measuring cup. Weird.

Anyway, if you didn't notice by my lack of blog posts, school started. Between gone until 5:30 pm at the earliest, the kids band practice, our homework, and so on, i have not had time to ride or posts blogs. Not to mention, school's started so our home internet goes down!

I'll try to catch up on everything this weekend.

Day 5...Kinda

2009-08-18T21:24:00.002-05:00

I did say that Monday would cause an issue with riding. There it was. I predicted it. I left the house at 7 am-ish. We had all kinds of meetings with for the first day of teacher inservice. I got kind of concerned when they said that I had a math department meeting at 2, another one with a principal at 3, and another with our new "instructional coach" after the principal's meeting. They told us at 4 that the coach was in another meeting until 4 so she would be late - should be there about 4:10 or so. Understand that I have an hour drive, and my kid's in band until 7 and hubby's an hour another direction at an eye appointment at 6. The coach and algebra lead talked at us until 5:45 when I asked if we could continue the discussion tomorrow, that I HAD to go. When I got to the school to get my kid at almost 7, it started raining. I thought it might rain at my house 2 miles away, so I dodn't get the horse out. No such luck with the rain, and my chance to ride was gone.

That was then. Today, I got home at 6 and called to Koda. She came to the fence! So I got her out and brushed her down. I let her graze in the front yard until it was time to get the kid. I tied her in the pasture and didn't really want to ride when I got back. I sucked it up and rode on though. I just rode down the road 1/2 mile and back. I didn't feel like arguing with the bullito (little bull). It was dark when I put her back in the pasture. I took the halter off and she started to walk away, but I grabbed her mane and she hung out a few minutes and let me scratch her all over.

So my week of riding isn't going too well. I didn't get the ride on day 5, but I rode today. I guess if I ride on Wednesday and Thursday, I could maybe fudge the rules a little.

Gotta go, have school work to do.
Enjoy your rides.

Day 4

2009-08-16T22:57:00.004-05:00

Success! I rode before church today. The church's ranch rodeo team was practicing in the arena, so I went across the creekbed into the "obstacle course." There are trees and limbs down everywhere there, spooks - you know those scary vines that hang down, and dips and turns. Not to mention the deep creekbed that you have to cross to get there. It's a good 45 degree angle on one side and a little steeper on the other. Koda's doing great! No hesitation over the logs and trees, walked down the creek sides, and was relaxed enough to munch tall grass bits she could reach without stretching.

At church, my hubby preached his first sermon. He is working towards getting a preaching license. I am proud of him. His sermon was called "When you Pray..." and is on the internet on our church's website. The church voted today to sponsor us in the licensing process.

Because hubby was preaching, My dad and Hubby's parents came to town for the church service. They stayed after for dinner and then my kid and I left (we had an 'eat and run') for a back to school party at our church's sponsor church. There was a ton of activities for the kids and one of my best friends came from near San Antonio (a 2.5 hour drive) to bring her kid. Her's and mine went camp together and this was a 'reunion' for those who went. After the games, devotional, door prizes and dinner, the kids went swimming. We got home about 9:45.

Now, it's off to bed. I have to (excuse my language:) work (sorry for that) tomorrow! Good night ya'll .

Day 3 of 7

2009-08-15T22:24:00.005-05:00

Ok, so I am trying this week of rides again. I am on day 3. Thursday, I rode at Bible study. Yesterday, our church had a playday and I was on horse most of the evening. I did not participate in the events, but did mostly stay on her from about 6:30-9:30. Today, I saddled up and rode in the pasture a little, took a break for dinner, then rode down the road to the end of the pasture and back. I started at 7 pm and finished after sunset. I have been doing various riding situations. This is good for Koda and me. Tomorrow, I am taking her and riding before church. That's a morning ride, where I have only been doing evening rides. I think I may have her go into the other field. The tricky part will be starting Monday. I begin the work year again. I will be gone from 7 am to at least 5 pm. At least the kids won't be back until next week.

By the way. Update on the fish experiment. Both fish were alive and feisty yesterday. I can't say that they have made any improvement on the algae. A friend asked what I am feeding them. Hehe. I am feeding them algae. They have enough of that, I don't believe that I need to add to it.

Oh what a ...

2009-08-13T22:06:00.004-05:00

MARE!
Koda was all mare and trying to be alpha today. And I think she might have won in the feed pen, except that she didn't get any feed. I locked her out of the feed pen because she was being SO disrespectful to me. I loaded her up at 4:30 for the 7pm Bible study. I had a family meeting in town at a local hamburger joint before the Bible study, so I wanted to make sure that I was ready.
Anyway...Koda was in the trailer from 4:30 until about 7:15 and most of that time she was waiting impatiently in the trailer. She was kicking the snot out of the side of the trailer when we walked out of the hamburger joint. We had to make another stop by the school to pick up our kid from band. At the school, Koda was still agitated and was completely covered in sweat, so I let her loose in the big section of the trailer. That didn't work. Then I pulled her out and brushed her down, trying to calm her some. I think it worked a little.
When we got to the church she started prancing in half-circles where she was tied. She continued her attitude a little when I started to ride, then majorly disrespected me at the house. She was pushing past me and moving when I tried to get her back hoof. On the way back to the pasture she was trying to bowl over me and was in my personal bubble. Of course, I did have a scoop of feed in my hand. Since Koda kept getting in my space, I kept pushing her back. She finally got annoyed and ran in to the main part of the pasture. I locked her out of the feed pen so she can't get to that feed. I figure that if she's got the energy to have attitude, she doesn't need grain. She's not lacking in food.

While at the Bible study, I noticed that there were some cattle roaming free on the open church pasture. I asked our arena team leader about it and he said that after the Bible study, he was going to pen them in the arena and load them in his trailer. He got distracted so us ladies decided to do it. So Kyla, Jolita, and I herded them in. I really enjoy doing this type of work with Koda and prefer it to the arena events. I would love to learn how to work cattle with Koda, and be able to put that knowledge to use. With no cattle of my own, and our leasee not "needing help", I don't get any practice doing that work.

On the plus side, I made a beautiful cake today for a 12 yr old's birthday I modeled it off of this cake on the Wilton website. The girl told me she wanted flowers connected with an ivy. She wanted bright pink and deep blue and purple.She got this cake: She loved it and it was gone immediately.
Chop, chop, chomp, goodbye!

Weekend happenin's

2009-08-09T19:45:00.004-05:00

We went to the Youth Rodeo hosted by our sponsor church. I was late getting home from my dad's house so we were late to the rodeo. It started at 7:30 and we didn't get there until around 8 or 8:30, just as the straight barrels were finishing. I think we completely missed the clover leaf barrels. They then had all the normal competitions for rodeos. We watched the straight poles firstThe kids did well. I was proud of one girl who took her time and got her horsemanship and the pattern correctly instead of rushing and knocking poles over.

After the poles was goat tying. The goats are tied in the arena and the kids ride in, flip the goat and tie two of the legs. I think I need to learn this so I can deal with our goats better.

This gentleman was the time flagger. He parked his horse there, and never once looked in the stands. Just stared down the fenceline at the end of the arena.

He was judging the calf-roping. They had break-away and tie-down roping. I think this picture is the tie-down, but I'm not sure.
They also had calf ribbon roping. The girl stands at a starting point and waits. They release the calf, and the boy ropes the calf. The girl starts running when the horse breaks through the line and after the boy has a hand on the calf, pulls the red ribbon off the tail. I can figure most rodeo events, but the reason behind making a girl run for the ribbon is beyond me.

We got home around 12:30 that night. I got up Saturday and make a "blueberry buckle" for us to take to the workday our church was having. We helped paint old tin sheets with polyurithane and sheetrock the upstairs rooms.

Hubby had a men's night at the church last night and their menu included steak and baked potatoes. I couldn't find anyone to hang out with, so I decided girl's night out was a great alternative. We went out to Red Lobster and the movies. Yummy fun.

Today was church and not much else. We've been especially lazy today. And so much for riding every day. That kinda bit the dust. Oh well, I'll leave you with our beautiful sunset with a wonderful shadow in front. Koda was enjoying the buffet in our front yard on Tuesday after my ride.

As I feared...

2009-08-07T18:53:00.002-05:00

I didn't ride today, but I went to the church arena and rode yesterday, I am feeling more confident in a trot and Koda is going longer. We are also getting the ability to turn at a trot.

When I checked last night, we still had two fishies sitting on the walls in our horse trough.

It's off to the rodeo for us - just spectators. See ya later.

New farm experiment and more...

2009-08-05T23:01:00.003-05:00

Or could be called "Fish, Fish, and Life"

So the first "fish" is about the Health care bill #3200 and the White House's latest response to America's outcry. Check out these websites:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/Facts-Are-Stubborn-Things/
http://energycommerce.house.gov/Press_111/20090714/aahca.pdf
http://www.gachristianalliance.org/action.htm

I feel like this could be a repeat of the Mccarthy Communist Hearings in the mid-50s. The White House recently asked Americans to report to the government any "fishy" e-mails or other information that they hear including the email address and/or contact information of the "mis-informants". So the first link is where the White House makes the request. The second and third are links to a copy of the bill (may not be current) and a response by the Georgia Christian Alliance. Maybe I should report myself. I DON'T want THIS bill to pass. There has to be a different way. I am not smart enough to know it though. It may have something to do with the churches stepping in. One of my issues with this bill is that I don't live in a socialist country and don't want to convert.

____________

Now off the soapbox, so to speak, and on to the second fish. We have started a ranch experiment. I picked up 2 algea eaters and placed them in the horse trough. We want to see if that will help us in the quest for cleaner water and a healthier horse.

We were told that the chlorine in our tapwater would kill the fish. I don't know if that's true or not. We'll find out.

Then the final subject, "Life." I REALLY want to ride for 7 days in a row. However, today I left the house early with my MIL and went to Bryan- an hour drive. I didn't get home until after 1. It was HOT. When it finally cooled off, I was at church and didn't get home until after dark. There went the ride. Oh well, Friday was gonna be bad anyway.

Week of rides, day 1

2009-08-04T22:24:00.004-05:00

I challenged you to ride everyday this week. I'm going to do it too. Sunday was supposed to be my first day of riding, but I got distracted yesterday when I went to pick up my kid from band practice. I didn't get home until 1 am this morning. :)

Anyway, today I waited until my mother-in-law and niece came down from Ft. Worth. They didn't get here until after 6:30. I chated with my MIL for a little while then invited my niece to go to the pasture with me. She received the keys to the 4-wheeler and I rode my sweet mare. We started riding at around 7:15 and rode for an hour just wanderin' around.
I couldn't keep up with her. I don't like to ride Koda faster than a trot in any part of the pasture and faster than a walk through most of the pasture. We have a lot of holes in the pasture from the cattle and the burrowing critters. I rode around the fence-line to make sure the year's rains have not ruined any fences.

I went into our hay pasture to walk around there and a very curious cow (the white one) started following me in.
It followed me a couple of times and was so cute. It wasn't sure whether to be scared of us or to follow the different herd creatures.

I then had to go around and visit with the cattle. Here is SOME BULL. He's big, but has no horns. Some of the cows have horns. I wonder if he has a mental complex about that?

This momma has hoof rot. She's confined to a small working pen to receive special TLC. I checked to make sure she had water. I figured she did, the guy that leases our pasture takes good care of his cattle. That momma has a suckling baby that is also stuck in prison since mom is.
The youngest member of our herd was not sure at all about the strange creatures in the pasture. It kept trotting away from us. We have a few cows about to domino (have babies). I enjoy watching the babies play and run. They have such large ears compared to the rest of their bodies and their tails pop up really high. When done with the ride, I took Koda back to the house and hosed her off. I tied her in the yard to mow, I mean eat, some of the grass and try to let her dry some before she rolled. Unfortunately, I didn't watch her and she rolled anyway. Our ride ended up about an hour long.

So how's your riding?

My driveway has a leak!

2009-08-02T19:13:00.002-05:00

I went to church this morning about 7 miles from my house. At the church, it sprinkled some, but there was a BIG puddle at the front end of the driveway. My only logical conclusion is that there is a leak in the driveway. That's especially considering that we have only been receiving thunder, lightning, and promises that the next day the rain would go around us, again. I guess that the other option is that we possibly did get rain! woohoo!

I rode Koda today after church while Hubby had a meeting to attend. We did a little in the arena, but mostly I wanted to ride around the property and just have fun. I feel I am required to work in the arena, but if I do free riding, I can have fun and work at the same time.

The temperature here is a very chilling 85°. I think that I might have to pull out the parka! I love it!I may go ride again here in a little bit. Problem is, my sis is here and I don't let many people ride my horse. Not that I don't trust them with her, but I don't trust Koda with the other people.

Alright people. Challenge time. Ride EVERY day this week and post about it here, or post on your blog and give me your blog address.

RAIN

2009-07-30T23:24:00.002-05:00

After 2 months of practically no rain, we got almost 2 inches of rain this morning. There's nothing like waking up to the sound of rain on our metal roof. I slept in until 10 this morning to the nice sound of rain.

At the "Riding through the Bible" study tonight, I was the only one to bring a horse. There were 18 people there. One has had surgery on his shoulder, one had knee replacement surgery. The rest just don't ride or didn't bring a horse. It's so lonely riding by myself. Everyone in this area already has an agenda or routine with their horses so I end up riding alone. It's really hard being the new kid on the block. It's just too bad that I've been here for 4 years. Isn't that a nice pity party?

The month in review

2009-07-26T20:47:00.002-05:00

After the July 4th parade, I spent another week not riding for a total of 2 weeks. Since then, I have ridden many days. I try to ride every Thursday at the least, and want to try to ride every day but some days I wasn't able.

The kid went to camp the 3rd week of July. It was a cowboy camp where they are only allowed to ride horse during the camp free time between 3 and 6. Remember what state we live in? 3pm in Texas is the hottest part of the day and it was 100+ degrees outside. No riding for them.

I rode Koda in the pasture on that Sunday, She rolled in the pond. She's getting good at the rolling with me thing. This makes twice now. The first time was in the church arena. That one hurt! She had her hooves trimmed on that Monday.

One of my best friends came up the Thursday evening before our kids came back from camp. She brought her kids' horses with her. We rode horse that night at our church arena, then went to the house. We put a beautiful paint gelding in the pasture with Koda. We had to tie their other horse, a mare, inside a small working pen. They were worried that she would either get pregnant from the Jack donkey we still have or get spooked by a vast open pasture and hurt herself.

She was fine but Koda and the gelding got in a fight. We think that the fight was over food. When we went out to get them, they were buddy-buddy in the back-end of the pasture conspiring how to keep from working. Koda ended up with 2 nasty cuts and 1 not-as-bad cut on her side. Two of the cuts were obviously from a shod hoof. The third was a round sore the size of a silver dollar right where the back skirt of the saddle sits. We were supposed to ride on Friday morning at the church and Saturday at a Trail ride and parade in a local town. No ride for her.

For the trail ride, I borrowed a friend's (different friend) horse and of course, I had to do a test ride. We rode Friday night heading out from her house around 8:45 and got back close to 10pm. Though it wasn't my horse, we had fun! This week I went to help the original horse friend move. I didn't get to ride very much, but there was Thursday.

We still have the dumb donkey and the goat has not had babies, but our new kitten is earning her keep. She caught a mouse today and, after playing with her food, disposed of it properly. ;)

July 4th!!

2009-07-04T11:44:00.002-05:00

I want to say "Thanks" to all the soldiers who are currently fighting to keep us free.

233 years ago, several brilliant men got together and signed the Declaration of Independence, naming us a free country. Right now, our country's freedom is in danger, yet, we still have brilliant men and women working hard to protect our freedom. For those of us who are not in the military, our job is to support those who are and to express our desire for morals and safety to the government. Don't forget the country was founded on the "by the people, for the people" principle. Don't forget to call them if needed and vote when it's time.

By the way. The 4th of July parade was on a float instead of horseback. Man that stinks. Horseback is the way to go!!!

Riding Ban

2009-07-02T21:48:00.002-05:00

Due to serious leg issues, I have been banned from riding horse for a little while. :(
Hopefully I will get to ride in the July 4th parade. If not, I'll ride in the float. The sad thing is that Sunday, when I rode Koda, she had a swollen leg. I haven't even been able to go out this week to check on her. I am waddling short distances only. Daughter says I look like a penguin, just need to hold my hands out.

Very Busy Weekend

2009-06-28T23:28:00.003-05:00

As is always true, the last weekend in June is very busy. My daughter's birthday is the 26th and our town has their annual festival called Polski Dzien (Polish Day). Our church has been a big part of the parade the last 2 years but I'll talk about that in a little while.

So we start the week Monday night at the church. I took Koda and rode while hubby had a meeting. Two friends also took their horse and we rode a mini trail ride. Just north of our church building the church owns a RV park, and on the other side of that, there is a dry (right now) creek bed and then another field. We crossed down in the creekbed, then went in the shaded field. There were some tree limbs down and so I took Koda over them. The most fun was when we went over the one with about a 10 inch diameter and a foot off the ground. Koda walks over large limbs on her front end and hops over with her back legs.

Next was CLEANING for 2 days for the party. We had to totally rearrange a couple of rooms since the kid got new furniture. We got rid of the "office" and made it more of a "study/guest room." We put the kid's old twin size bed in there so when guests come, there's a bed for them.

Then on Thursday, the real craziness began. We drove out to Temple (about an hour away) to pick up one of my kid's best friends for the b-day party. Of course, that meant the horse trailer so I could get friend's 2 horses. I decided we should be back home by noon to settle the horses and girls, finish cleaning, and getting ready for party. The cake was made Wednesday evening. (I'll post about the cake later.) The other partiers arrived between 3 and 3:30 and soon we headed to Waco (another hour drive) for the bowling part of the party. After driving to several restaurants, we finally ate at Pizza Hut and then bowled. After bowling, was a Walmart trip for our movie feature (we only had 5 pre-teen girls with us). The movie has yet to be seen.

Friday, I woke the girls up at about 10 and they went 4-wheelin'. Well, we have one 4-wheeler so my girl rode with a friend and the friends took turns. The girl who brought her horse rode that instead of the ATV. The 3 extra girls left and hubby and I headed into town to begin working the Polish Day BBQ cookoff activity. Hubby and a church friend set up then traded off watch night and work at the BBQ pit. I helped them some then while they were working, I took the girls to the arena to ride and then my kid's friend and I rode the parade route so our horses could be familiar with the road and some of the extra noise like motorcycles, loud music, and loud drunk people walking around.

Saturday was parade day. I have NO pictures. :( It was very hot, but Koda was fairly good. She still thinks she has to run through a parade. The kid rode the four wheeler again and her friend rode her horse beside me. Hubby worked on the BBQ stuff. My dad came down to see us ride and missed both my kid and me! How that happened I'll never know. We finished the parade, hosed off the horses and pastured them. We then went back to town and worked the church booth. I took the kids home when mine started getting too hot then hung out with my hubby and our friend at the BBQ pit.

We took the friend and her 2 horses home today. With them went one of the 2 donkeys. On our way home, I called the Monday riding buddies and we went riding in my pasture. It was about 8:40 when we headed out, so it was so close to dark when we came in. My kid was worried about me riding in the snakey pasture. It was sweet.

That's all for now.

The dogs and goats

2009-06-17T08:58:00.002-05:00

We bought 3 female goats when our one momma died. One of the females, the oldest, had already had a baby, which we brought with her as the third female. The other female was young, but old enough to breed. We quickly lost the oldest goat so now we have just 3. 2 young females and a young male. IT appears that the older of our 2 females is pregnant. We are expecting to have babies the middle of July. That will be perfect for county fair next year.

We also have een struggling with our dogs. I miss my Samson. We think instead of Lab and Rottweiler, he may have been Geat Dane and Rottweiler. I saw some Great Danes the other day and fell in love with their BIG heads. Since he died, we have had lots of trouble with Tama, our pure bred rottie. She went into a depression. All she would do is lay around (she was fairly fat) and she quit eating. We have had a time trying to get her back on track. We thought that in addition to the depression, she was allergic to the food we had switched to. She started losing hair and biting her feet. We tried several different treatments, starting with gioing back to a healthier food. We were giving her treatments for hot spots for her itching and nothing was working. We finally took her to the vet. This was about the same time our puppy started showing the same symptoms. We discovered that she had picked up mange. So now, a month after the vet, Tama has spunk, she had lost about 25 pounds during the non-working treatments, and she's got her appetite back and does more than just sit and scratch. They smell better too.

My first summer update

2009-06-15T23:02:00.004-05:00

It's one week and two days since high school graduation. Already we have done a lot and nothing at all. Our church has a new Bible study they started. It's called "Walk through the Bible" and is held in the church arena. Before and after the Bible study, we are able to ride our horse in the arena. Of course, I also ride on some Sundays and Mondays when they aren't promoting the arena portion of the property. The advantage is that there are others there to ride as well. So I want to attend the Bible study but have not been able to attend but one time. That was the Thursday BEFORE graduation.

The weekend of graduation, the church had a Tractor Pull. If you've never attended one of those, I would suggest you attend one. I don't know that I would be interested in going every week, but when my church hosts it should be ok. We invited my Dad to come watch and he came over Friday. He also returned my kiddo who spent the week with him while I finished school for the year.

The first week of summer was spent kinda relaxing, kinda cleaning house. The kid got a new (to her) bedroom set. This required that she CLEAN her room. We have now removed 2 lawn garbage bags and 3 boxes (1 large) of junk that she doesn't need want anymore. We have to have the house clean by the 25th for the kid's b'day party.

Thursday, we loaded up the horse, dogs, and kid and went to my dad's. My sis fed us our birthday shrimp dinner. My birthday was in May and Dad's was June 1st. We hung out and chatted on Thursday night and I cleaned his house on Friday - all day Friday. After it was clean, we decided to get the horses out (my 4 legged and his 6 wheeled). My dad has been wanting to ride Koda for a while. We brushed her down and saddled her up. I always lunge her before I ride and started to do so that night and she decided that since it's rodeo weekend in a nearby town, she'd celebrate. She started bucking and rearing and running out of the lunge. I finally calmed her down. She did the crazy routine at his house last time we were there and I didn't ride her because of it. This time I was not going to let her get away with it. I took her into dad's smallest pasture and rode her around a little.

We had a birthday party to work (we do sound for our church) on Saturday. (Saturday was a very popular day for events...2 birthday parties planned, a family reunion, and a parade and rodeo). After the party, we went home and waited until it was cool. The kid and I went to the rodeo and hung out.

Sunday, Hubby's parents came over and picked up the kid to go home with them. We had lunch and shipped them off. They were coming in from the reunion and were hauling a camper trailer and a boat. They also were carrying 4 dogs. It made quite a show when they pulled in to the church parking lot. The dogs got loose and ran around and into the church.

Today, I worked on shredding old bills and then we had a meeting at the church. I couldn't let the evening trip to the church go to waste, so I took Koda up to practice riding in the arena. That was interesting. We did some turn work around some traffic cones and then worked on establishing a cruise control on her trot. I also want to start working on side passing.

I'll post about the goats and dogs tomorrow. Meanwhile, I'm enjoying not having many requirements.

Please hurry Summer

2009-05-21T13:41:00.002-05:00

Ok, so I know I posted that it's coming and here and all but if that's so, why am I still at school???? Nothing much else is happening except trying to survive 2 more weeks.

Summer's coming...

2009-05-12T13:24:00.002-05:00

(Well the holiday part, the weather's already here.)

Only 3 weeks and 3 days of school left!!! Summer's almost here!

Wow, summer's here!!!

2009-05-10T21:35:00.004-05:00

I took Koda to church to ride today and, after church and lunch, I went out to groom her and start to ride. It was at that time that I decided that 91 degrees (according to our local school's marque) and humid was too hot to ride. There went the ride. Our church is starting a Bible study on Thursdays at 7 pm through the summer. I think this is a GREAT alternative to Midday riding during the summer.
One of the local news stations said that these were our actual numbers for the temp today. This does not include our humidity at 65%. Ouch!, I'm melting!

Unwelcome Guests

2009-05-07T18:42:00.007-05:00

My daughter's puppy is having trouble behaving in the house. She is over 7 months old and still uses the restroom in the house. I took her outside at around 11:30 pm. Hubby started to follow me out and said "Oh, Crap!" and went back in the house. He saw a snake right by the garage door - the one that opens to the house. We started to chase it around the garage and finally caught it. I was moving stuff around with a garden rake and Hubby had 2 machetes he was hunting with. When we finally caught it, I was holding it still with the rake and Hubby started hacking. When it quit trying to get away, we moved it into the open and Made sure it was dead. I told hubby NOT to chop it's head off. I wanted to take it to school for the science teachers. They told me that it's a bull snake - good for killing rats and mice. They were VERY upset that I killed it. :( The arrow points to his head.

So today my hubby called while I was tutoring and said he found another one. Sent me this pic. I told him I wanted that one in the feed shed. I have a nice dinner in there for him. Bon Appetit, snakey. It must be spring. Many varieties of wildlife are popping up around our house.

Get the gun! or the camera!

2009-04-30T20:07:00.004-05:00

So let me set the scene. I cleaned out the feed buckets and decided that at 6:45, I still was not ready to sit inside in a drab house. So I leashed the dog and went walking through the pasture. It rained Monday and Tuesday all day so I wanted to check out our pasture and the fences a little. I also like to check in on the pond. Well the pond is FULL and overflowing. I walked around behind the pond and was halfway to the area between the pond and the creek. By the way, this is where Koda found the snake last April. As I walked on top of the pond embankment, a coyote ran from between the pond and creek across the pasture and into the trees in the back corner of the pasture. I stood still and watched it go. When I called my hubby, he said the proper protocol is to shoot it. I was too enraptured or shocked or something to pull out the handgun sitting in my pocket. I didn't have a good camera. So I didn't shoot the thing either way. I'm glad I didn't have Koda too!

For the nature enthusiasts who want to slam me for possibly shooting a coyote, please remember that I live on a ranch where some of our income is provided by live prey animals. Well, in order to get money they have to be alive. Coyotes work to make them not so alive. I understand that they need to eat too, but my goat babies are generally part of their menu. Anyway, I didn't shoot him or her. I let it live to get hit by cars on the highway or shot by another rancher nearby, or kicked by one of the donkeys currently residing on our property.

I did start getting "eaten alive" though. The skeeters are out in full force!

A Little Praise Where it's Deserved

2009-04-30T18:57:00.002-05:00

Today, I looked at another blog site that I follow and they posted about a saddle they found advertised. I volunteer occasionally with a therapeutic riding organization designed to help people with various handicaps, including children and veterans. This saddle is designed by special order and accommodates the handicapped needs. I applaud the owners and creators of this saddle for their desire to help. You can check them out at http://www.grayscustomsaddlery.com. Another interesting I discovered on their website is that they also created a saddle for a Cowboy Church in their area. It was beautiful and was used as a prize in one of their events.

Have a good day.

Sometimes

2009-04-29T22:32:00.003-05:00

Sometimes there are weeks at a time where nothing really happens ranch-wise. We do the same ole' same ole', and go about life. I don't really believe that anyone who reads (and there aren't that many) really want to know every Sunday the details of me sitting in a saddle doing about nothing.

This past weekend, our church had our one year anniversary. It was a big deal, but I'm not sure what to write about it. We had barrel racing and team roping on Saturday and Kids' Playday on Sunday. I rode around on Koda Saturday, but didn't do much on her but trot a lot. I kinda pretended to have a job. I was supposed to direct traffic but people in vehicles don't take a lady on a horse riding up to their window to mean that they should roll their window down and take directions. I guess they already knew how to park and didn't want help.

We sold the donkeys. We were supposed to have them for view up at the church on Saturday, but who knew that they do coggins on donkeys too. Not me! Had to take them home, then there was the revelation that I should have picked up their tail and checked their packages. We thought they were geldings but the nursery rhyme "Yes sir, yes sir, 2 bags full" comes to mind now. Last time I trust that rancher on gender labeling. Love ya Mr. Dave! That will be a fun time to tease. Anyway, the grey sold for $20 and the black for $10. The jury's still out on the black's sale though.

Other wise, we have had a LOT of rain, Whoo Hoo!! Over 3 inches since Sunday. (This is Wednesday.) That keeps us pretty well inside with no outside chores. It has also filled up our pond and overflowed the creek. This is a much needed attack on our drought.

That's all the news from D²C Ranch. Can't wait for Summer!!

Donkey Pics

2009-04-18T22:57:00.004-05:00

These are the donkeys that we picked up from my dad's for auction. We've taken to calling the grey one Donque and the black one Otie

Once a year trip!

2009-04-18T19:37:00.006-05:00

It's that time again. Spring, when all God's creatures turn their hearts towards love and flowers. And Koda gets to make a very special trip. So we loaded up and drove the 45 min down to her favorite person, the vet! Koda got her blood drawn for coggins, then her Tetanus and West Nile shot. I used think that the WNV shot was a big hype, but we think that my friend's horse died from WNV. Anyway. He then gave her a sedative and she started stumbling around. It was kind of funny except it was then that the vet then thought about the fact that he should have sedated her AFTER she was in the wash rack and secure. We finally got her there with the help of a broom handle. Then the midevil torture began. It's teeth floating time. We have had Koda for about a year and I have never had any horse's teeth floated. They talked about putting Scarlet completely to sleep to float her's. But since she was almost 30, there was not much point in grinding teeth that weren't there. So I was interested in seeing how it was done. It was kind of weird. The doc worked on her for a little while and about the time that he was done, she started waking up again.

Wow, it's been a long time!

2009-04-12T20:49:00.003-05:00

It's been a long time and there's not much ranch-wise to catch up on. County fair weekend was everything it promised, right down to the major allergy attack. Between the fair and our 40 mph winds, I ended up taking that Thursday off work. We did nothing farmish except that the mama goat died last Saturday. :( I dragged her out into the big pasture on Monday with the 4-wheeler and Dennis' lasso. We've had a good deal of rain and our fields are all nice and green (with weeds mostly).

We were all off work Friday for Good Friday. We slept in, did some house work, then went to my dad's house. We took the horse and most especially the trailer. He is cleaning out one of his barns and needed a covered trailer to carry some good furniture. I cleaned on Saturday and we had a nice lunch. I think I left his house dirtier than when I got there though. My sis coked brownies and left the kitchen a mess and I washed his sheets but never remade his bed. We did go do some target practice though and thoroughly dimpled a metal pig. That was fun.

After the target practice we had to chase down some donkeys to load in our trailer. They are going to be temporary tenants on our property. They are going to be sold in auction at our church. I'll post pics this week.

I rode today. I was the only one at the church to ride, but I loaded up Koda this morning and took her to the church. I left her in a small round pen through church and lunch. I went up at around 4:30 worked her on the ground for a little while and then rode. The church was having an Easter egg hunt, supper, and a sunset service. I worked, and rode, her while people were getting ready. She did great.

Now it's time for Walmart, so, have a nice week and ride your horses please.

Fair Weather

2009-03-27T22:58:00.005-05:00

It's county fair weekend in our county! woo hoo. I'm excited. yea. um, yippee. Ok so we aren't entering anything this year, there are NO horse activities, and the shows are boring. We go for the time with friends. Well, my kid's friends. She wants to meet up with her friends and ride the carnival rides and visit. I told her this year she had to pay for me to get in if she wanted to go (I ended up there without cash!) No prob, Mom.

Half our church was there showing tonight and I even got to attend a birthday party for a little girl from the church. Umm, cake. The goat show is tomorrow at 12:30. I think it would be wise to attend since we are wanting to show goats next year.

The sun was shining and the sky was beautiful. It was very windy, though, and the wind was cold. We were all the way down to 45! Break out the heavy parkas.

10 after 11 and time for bed!

Good night.

(ps. I don't know why the blog says it's 10 til when my computer says it's 10 after)

All about food time!

2009-03-24T23:48:00.015-05:00

I got home yesterday and hooked up the four-wheeler to the spreader. We got this spreader from home depot and modified it. It will spread seed and fertilizer as well as dry manure. I put out 100# in 2 acres. There was already grass out there, I just want to encourage the stubs of grass to turn into a lush 12in deep bed of grass. Koda's hanging out in the front pasture instead of hers in order to allow "re-grassing."

Once that was over, it was feeding time at the ranch. Koda was hollerin' for her food. "Ok Mom, you're home, where's my dinner? You've taken too long. I'm hungry!" So I went and grabbed her feed. She gets just under 2 scoops of strategy every day and currently a box of gelatin every night.

Koda had her hoof pedicure last week and the ferrier said to feed her various amounts of gelatin to help her increase the length of her hoofs to the proper length. Koda gets to "enjoy" the cherry flavored. It's lip-smacking good. "Like my lipstick?" It looks like my daughter when she eats colored foods.

Then the little ones get their yummies. My girl does that. They get two scoops also. (Sounds like a Raisin Bran commercial doesn't it?) Here's those loverlies getting their grub.

Then we have to put the bucket away...
I won't tell you what her nickname used to be, but I think I've seen this pose before.
Then, it rained today!!!!!!! We were told it would, but you know, in Texas, you never can tell. Here's a couple of tonight's sunset views. Now the rain can work in the fertilizer and the horse will be ecstatic.

Spring Break Fantasies

2009-03-19T21:37:00.005-05:00

One of my recent posts told of our expectations for spring break. Here's the reality of the week. First, I want to say that it's really difficult to get on a computer at my in-laws house. They have a computer, but there were 3 teenage girls there, along with 4 other adults. My Mom-in-law also had other plans, such as sewing a quilt that they wanted my help with. So, I have not posted since we got there.

When we got to the in-laws, it was still daylight, but barely. We set up the portable electric corral and put in the water and feed pans. We put Koda in just as it was getting dark or I would have taken a pic of her in the "play pen" as one of my blog friends said. I kept checking on her through the evening and well into the night. My husband said I was being like a mother hen.

As always, when we schedule to visit the in-laws, dad-in-law plans to be off work, but they call him in for the entire time we are there to visit. He had to leave on Monday morning at around 4:30 so he went to bed kinda early. We went to bed at around midnight (after checking on Koda one more time). When dad-in-law left he noticed that the corral fence was down and there was NO sign of Koda!!! Talk about a wake-up call. Hubby and I threw on boots and jackets and hollered at the kid to get up and help. I grabbed a lead rope and went one way while hubby went another. Mom-in-law grabbed keys and went in the car a third way. Thankfully they live on a dead-end street, and far from a highway. The horse went the correct way also. She went to the end of the street and got stuck in a corner of 2 fences. She was easy to catch and we walked her back home even though she was completely keyed up. She kept running circles around me, literally. We got back to the house, and, not having an electric corral, put her in the back yard. It's about a half acre in size and completely enclosed with fence about 5ft tall.

When I got up the next morning, I went and looked at the fence to see if it could possibly work and saw that the side where she broke out had a metal u-shaped pen that was split in half. I started by calling the makers of the fence, then the company I bought it from. The makers, Zareba, only offered to replace the broken part. Stateline Tack offered to replace the whole corral. My husband and I contend that there is no point in having it if it can't even keep the horse for one night. We finally convinced Stateline to refund our money, but they only gave us a credit on our account.

If ya'll didn't catch this...I DON'T RECOMMEND THIS PRODUCT. I took the fence down today (after snapping the pics shown) and noticed that the electric tape is stretched in a couple of places where it connects to the corner posts. Also the "u-bolt", or what ever it's called, where the tape connects to the corner post is not a single piece, but connected together with a very thin piece of plastic sleeve. I don't think this could keep a horse in unless it's a 35 yr old nag that's too old to move more than 5 ft from home without SERIOUS cajoling. DO NOT spend your $300 on this product!!! If we had been out in an open area camping, it is fairly possible that we would not have found Koda EVER. I will look into a locking metal panel system at twice the price, minimum. My horse is worth it.

My other fantasy was that I would ride every day. And I did ride on Monday. However, Tuesday, the climate change caught me and I was miserable with allergies. Wednesday, mom-in-law caught me and I was busy with quilt and family activities. Today was busy packing and heading home, after sleeping until 10.

My husband took a live video of Koda eating in their back yard. It appears to have just done a still shot with several seconds of air time so don't bother clicking play. Something went wrong with his phone's recording. Either way, here's Koda in my in-laws backyard.

On our way!

2009-03-15T16:16:00.002-05:00

Tama is finally allowing the pup near her.

We are on our way to Ft. Worth for Spring Break (well, we were when I sent this pic, but now I am sitting in my in-law's house because this didn't post to the internet.)

Horse, dogs, and people all made it here safe. I found out after we got here that there will also be another couple here. They annoy the crap out of me and I kinda wish that they had waited until next week. They think our rottie is evil. Oh well.

New look

2009-03-12T22:20:00.000-05:00

I thought I'd get a new look. What do you think?

Portable horses

2009-03-10T20:57:00.002-05:00

We have used our horses as a great excuse to NOT have to spend more than 1 or 2 nights with parents and such, especially when we had the old mare. She could not get nourishment from pasture grasses or hay so she had to be fed 2 times daily. We did however understand that a day would come when we would need to be at my in-laws for more than 1 day and would need to make other arrangements. So I started looking into local barns that rented paddocks. I went and checked one out that was really close to the parents house and it was reasonably priced. I think they said $10 per horse per night. No problem for a couple days having my horse nearby.

Well, Spring Break is coming and the inevitable has happened. I have to go Sunday night and am coming back on Thursday. That's 4 nights and I now only have 1 horse, so I called the people to schedule a place for my horse. The price went up to $20 a night. That's $80!!!!! You know I rent about 35 acres for 10 -15 head of cattle for $20 a MONTH. The 20 was just a place to stay. That did not include hay or feed of any kind. I was supposed to bring my own feed. WOW!!!!

So, I started looking for other options. We had looked into getting an electric corral for when we went camping and hubby got paid extra this month sooo... I got this portable corral from Stateline Tack. Of course, I looked at several on the internet before deciding on the Stateline one. It helps that I already had a Stateline account. The fence is 900 sq ft and both hubby and Koda informed me that it works. :)

We are going to put her in it for an hour or so every day until Spring Break, then she'll have to stay in it at the in-laws. I think I just figured out how to mow the grass with out the lawn mower!

I am curious if it is expandable though. The in-laws have an acre and it would be a shame to pen her in such a small area if not necessary.

Trail Ride

2009-03-08T20:38:00.002-05:00

The church had a trail ride today. We went the same route as the last trail ride. We started at one church family's house, went down the road from her house to our pastor's property, through the trees and back to the original property. As usual, Koda acted a fool all the way down the first road. She wanted to run. She wanted to be in front, I think. I fought her all the way to the end of the road where she finally decided that she could walk. After that, she was good. On the way back, one of our boys (about 13 yrs old) started having trouble with his horse. The main problem was that he hurt himself on Thursday while riding his horse. His horse loves to try to run back to the barn and usually the boy will sidepass on him to wear him out some. This time the sidepassing hurt. We convinced him to switch horses and ride a calm horse.

The real fun started after we got back to the starting location. We grabbed a snack then went on a second ride. This time we actually used a trail. There were ravines, gullies and logs to climb over. I like those rides better than the road rides.

Is this Sid?

2009-03-07T21:59:00.001-06:00

I saw this @ a car dealer. I thought that maybe someone plucked the feathers off Sid Vicious, a rooster discussed on Laughing Orca Ranch's blog.

Sunday riding

2009-03-04T18:20:00.004-06:00

So I am a little late with this post but I thought I'd feel you in on how my ride went Sunday. I took her to the church arena again and longed her before I even thought about riding. She was responding pretty well, so I climbed on. Meanwhile, there were 3 other people in the arena and they were playing with cattle. They would release one from the chute with a loud clang and then chase it down to rope it or run it to the cattle exit. Koda gets REALLY excited/nervous when they do this.

I'll finish this in a few hours gotta go to town first.

(the next Sunday...)
Sorry, I never managed to finish this post. I will sum it up with letting you briefly know what happened.

We struggled with attitude for a little while especially when we were around the cattle chute. She finally calmed down after I took her around some cones in a straight line.

Missing blogs

2009-02-28T22:25:00.002-06:00

When I posted last night about my kid's competition, I checked to make sure that the page looked ok the way it was. It was good, so I went to bed, then spent the day at my dad's. When I got home, I went on my post to read the comment that was posted, and my posts were missing. I had my hubby check it on his computer and his looked the same as mine.

The info at the right was still there, such as my profile and my blog archive. So I clicked on one of the posts in the archive. They were still accessible. I was (and still am) really puzzled about why everything in the main blog section was gone. I decided to sign in and see if I accidentally erased that section from the page layout. It showed to still be there, so I clicked on edit to see if there was a feature that was selected wrong and everything looked ok there, too. I'm stymied. So, I went back to the page and there were my posts.

This is really weird. Did anyone else have this problem today?

My baby's Goooooodd!

2009-02-27T21:00:00.004-06:00

My kid's in 6th grade band at her school and plays the clarinet. She started "band" in 4th grade with a recorder, then went to the clarinet in 5th grade. Her grandpa, my dad, bought her a subscription to an internet program called SmartMusic that helps her with her work at home. Most kids have to be forced to practice and "forget" to take their instruments home. Mine begged us to go to the school during the holidays so she could practice.

So, she went with the band to a local competition. It was a private judging, so it was just her in the room with the judges. They grade on a scale of 1 -4 with 1 being the best and 4 needs work. LAST year, she got a 2. That's with only a semester of clarinet practice. THIS year, she go a 1!!!!. She rocks!!!!

She loves band and is planning to use that for scholarship opportunities for college. You go girl!

Sorry the picture is blurry. It's from my old cell phone.

Memory Lane

2009-02-25T22:40:00.013-06:00

Remember the pictures of the goats I promised? I finally got them today. When I loaded them on the computer, I had an unscheduled trip down memory lane. I'll share a little with you.

I hope I don't offend anyone at the church, but they will be on our church website anyway. But here are some pictures of Common Ground Cowboy Church's 1st trailride. We had fun and I think I wrote about it already. Koda likes to kick others was one thing I learned that day.

The Baby was passed from horse to horse and was asleep before the end of the ride.

This man, Brad, is our 4-H riding club leader and a good man.

Melanie hosted the trail ride from her house. We left her house and went down the country road onto our pastor's land. There we got lemonade and did some ravines and "forest" trails. After that we went back to Melanie's. Thanks Melanie.

I let a girl my daughter's age ride our old mare. I require anyone under 18 riding my horses or on my land to wear a helmet. Scarlet got kicked by Koda on this ride and scared the fire out of the girl. It was her first ride and I had to pony her a little while.

Anyway, here are some pictures of our goats: BRIAN

You've met Brian. He's our billy. There are better pictures but you already know him so I wasn't worried.

MAMMA
Mamma is the older nanny we bought. She's around 3 I think. She is the mother of our baby Lulu.

LULU

Lulu is so cute. She is just getting her nubs and is still friendly enough to come running when we go out. With or without food. She's a sweetheart.

LILLY

The "middle-aged" (as in not oldest or youngest) female. We think she may already be pregnant. She may have been pregnant when we got her, but if not, she should be now. She's been with Brian for a couple of weeks now.

And don't forget my favorite, who came up to investigate what we were doing and if we had food.

This puts my tribute into perspective

2009-02-22T17:11:00.002-06:00

An awesome testimony from a mother who just had to say goodbye to her son. Please read Sweet Cottage Dreams' blog and let her know we appreciate the sacrifice her family has made for our freedom.

Three's a crowd here... Tribute to Samson

2009-02-17T21:07:00.009-06:00

You know they say that bad things always come in threes? Well, here that statement qualifies in the "three's a crowd" category. Since school started this year, My family has been to 3 funerals - my step-mom's, and Hubby's cousin and grandfather. The first 2 hit hard and all funerals were in the first semester of school. This semester the deaths seem to be confined to animals, but we have now had 2 important animals die. I wrote about our goats already (and have not had a chance to get pics yet). We've taken care of that.

First some background. Samson was MY dog. I have never before owned a dog that was mine. When one of our other dogs had died, my hubby got him for our family for Mother's Day 2 years ago. We rescued him from a shelter on his last day there. He was big, goofy, and sometimes annoying or stupid. His big head would get onto the counter after our leftovers. His big tail would knock drinks off side tables or whack in rhythm against the wall when he was waiting for dinner or happy. He enjoyed many nights outside (we usually keep our pups inside) due to his ignoring our calls or his love for skunks. I loved him. I took him with me whenever I went out of time.

His undoing (and the stupid in him) was that he LOVED to chase cars. I could not convince him to stop and he would ignore us when we called him back. When a car or truck drove by, his job was to make sure he ran truck off. He would run the entire distance of our property (about a half mile) to run off an intruder. He was proud that he scared off those crazy noisy beasts.

Last night, I had taken Samson outside with me to feed my horse and got distracted. I went back inside and then remembered that he was outside. I called him but he didn't come so I assumed that he was running in the pasture. I figured that he would be back soon and would hit the door to let him in. I didn't even hear the truck come down the road. It hit him on his head and there was nothing we could do for him. Within minutes, he was having a very hard time breathing and his right side of his head was swollen. By the time my husband had him in the back of the truck and toward the pasture, he had almost stopped breathing. Hubby had to take care of him and was hurting by the fact that his daughter and wife just lost their dog.

The worst part was that my daughter was the one to find him. She was heading out to feed her goats and he was right in front of the garage. This is the second dog we found like this.

I CAN'T WAIT to find a place that is far enough from roads that I can let my dogs run the property without worrying about cars hitting them. I hate having 38 acres and having to tie or fence my dogs up close to the house.

Hopefully this is the last post like this, and I am sorry to poor out my pity party all over the internet, but this is why I have this post. I want to chronicle the adventures, good and bad, of our life on a ranch. Maybe through this, I, and others, will be able to learn what not to do and what is good.

Thanks for reading.

Sad News

2009-02-03T20:47:00.002-06:00

Remember that we have 2 goats. One female and one male. We were hoping to raise babies for my daughter to show at the county fair. So the goats hang out together with the horse and have been since around November. The horse has been with the female since April last year. We think that she was going to have her babies at the end of March. Unfortunately, when I got home yesterday, the female was not happy.

My daughter and I went out to feed all of the animals and Bryan (the male) came running to the feed pen. Koda kind of came up to the fence but didn't come close. That's unusual. But even more unusual is the fact that June (the female) did not come up at all. I could hear her hollering, but normally she's almost butting us and mostly climbing up on us to get to the food. I found her in the horse run-in shed laying down in the poo. I could not convince her to get up and saw that her front leg was cut. I sent my daughter after her dad and the truck and had him help me check her out. We started to pick her up and her belly was bleeding.

We took her a couple of miles down the road to a local vet. Now you have to understand that there's not a real vet office anywhere near our house. The vet has the basics you would need for small animal issues and vaccine shots. He looked at her on the back of the truck pronounced her ok said we can't do any stitches and gave her some penicillin. He said if she didn't improve, to bring her back in the morning.

Well, she didn't improve. We got home, washed her sores the best we could and wrapped them in VetRap. I was eating supper at 9:00. We went to bed at 10:15 and I checked on her first. She wasn't moving.

The poor girl didn't make it. Since she was pregnant, neither did the babies. And there went next year's county fair. Very sad.

We are gonna try to get another adult breeding female this year.

Weekend Warrior Rides again

2009-02-01T21:54:00.002-06:00

Can you say "Weekend Warrior Rides" 3 times without mixing the W's and R's? I don't think I can. Anyway...

My horse life has been reduced to the Weekend Warrior lifestyle. I can only work with her on the weekends and not every day of the weekends every week. So I have committed to working with her on Sundays especially. Today, we had church. Then at 11 hubby had to do firefighter stuff (he left church early). No one was doing anything horsey at the church, so I went home and fixed lunch for me and the kid. Then I took a nap. After the nap, I got horsey motivated. We stayed at the house this time and hubby was back so I felt more comfortable. I brushed her and saddled her, longed for a few minutes then got on. We walked down the road and I decided I needed my phone so we turned around. I remembered what my horse trainer friend said: "On the way home, stop and back constantly." So I decided to try. Well, she wouldn't back up. He also said to put her in a shank snaffle so I said, "OK, wanna be a pest? I know how to fix this." I went home and got the shank snaffle out. I only road her around the yard after that because it's a lot softer than the road if I end up on the ground. She did back a LOT better though.

I just hate to go harder. I figure the softer the better, and she was only in a hackamore when I got her. I was riding her in a ring snaffle.

The Playday

2009-01-25T18:00:00.002-06:00

The Mare was an angel. Ok maybe she had a small horn holding her halo but she was still a completely different horse than the last playday we went to. We are getting along so much better. I did not participate in the playday itself but did sit on the horse and make her stand still. She doesn't like doing that (that's where the horn was). I also worked her on opening and closing gates and trotting.

My husband's still broken so I didn't get any pictures. Maybe someone from the church will have some I can post.

Oooh the weekend

2009-01-24T21:44:00.002-06:00

Weekends are when everything happens for me. I was notified this week by the pastor's wife that She really felt I needed to go to the Cowgirls of Faith weekend retreat. I had decided that I wasn't going to go. The retreat started on Friday, and I work until 4 and an hour from my house. By the time I got home and then headed out to East Texas, the Friday events would be over. I would only be able to attend the Saturday sessions. I did not think that it would be a wise use of my money to pay for a hotel room and the full registration, when I would only get Saturday. (I digress) So, the pastor's wife says that I should go. Then my hubby says I should go. Pastor's wife said that someone else thought I needed to go, so my room was paid and my ticket, along with my daughter's. AND, a friend would be coming past my house at 5:30ish anyway headed toward the retreat so I also had a ride. So I went. It was fun. And I'm not entirely sure that I am through learning from it yet. Still don't know what I'll tell the church tomorrow if called on to talk.

Speaking of tomorrow... Our church also has a playday. A playday has a lot of the rodeo type events, but without the pressure of the rodeo and no bulls. There will be all the timed events such as barrels and poles. There will also be goat type events and breakaway roping. I am taking my horse but will not ride in the events. I really need to socialize her. I'll have video and pictures soon.

I am sooooo tired now, though. I am going to bed!!

When does the confidence come? (Book warning)

2009-01-18T19:00:00.003-06:00

I took Koda to church today. Ok I took her after church, and since our church is a cowboy church it's highly encouraged. Last time I took her there when there was stuff going on, she acted like a demon. The pastor's comment from the pulpit was that he's "seen some of our horses, and some of us need to spend more time praying on them." My husband starts laughing because Pastor must be talking about Koda and me. She was THAT bad.

Today, I loaded her up. I have to put a longe line on her and loop it just below her rump to force her into the trailer, but she seems to load better and with less trauma that way. We got there and I did a few longe circles with her - walk, trot, turn and stuff. There were lots of adults and older teenagers. Very few children - that's how I wanted it next time I took her up there. There were steer and dairy calves and lots of noise and people everywhere.

I walked her around the barrels then just walked around the arena on her. Wanting to expose her to as much as possible I tried to be close to the action (but not in it). I was outside the arena when they were running the steers from the back of the arena to the front. Two of the steer escaped. Someone hollered and I was trying to figure out what to do. I want to be able to help run cattle on her, but have no experience. I turned Koda to get her out of the way. I guess she was as excited as I was. I think she was trying to decide if she was supposed to chase or run (just like me). When I turned her and started to walk her away, she decided that meant she was supposed to run. I reined her in though.

Life went on and I had to feed the family, so I took everyone home, fed everyone, and left them all home except the horse. Then I went back to the church.

I actually cantered!!

I decided to chase one of the calves. She didn't whoa when I told her, but I just kept turning her until she slowed down and listened again. I wish I had the confidence and the knowledge to ride her and concentrate on moving the cattle without having to convince my horse what she's supposed to do.

I seriously need a riding buddy who knows what she is doing. Maybe, if I keep praying, when we move to our new ranch (in 2 or 3 years) there will be a built in riding buddy living beside me.

Meanwhile, I need to get my hubby's camera and camera finger working again. Need some photos for you to see.

The weekend update time

2009-01-17T20:37:00.002-06:00

Puppy update:
I took Emma to the vet (remember? if not read the previous post). I had to take her before school and drop her off at a new (to me) vet before 8:00 in the morning. They were ready for her and all the girls gushed over how cute she is. I already had all the paperwork filled out and was able to just leave here there until I got off work. They called to let me know that she was ready around 11:30 and said that she was just sore. No broken or dislocated bones. She was given pain killers and a puppy package which includes a free dose of heartworm and flea treatment. She is now running around like a normal puppy. Peeing everywhere, chewing on everything, and annoying the fire out of my kid. :) She no longer has the worm belly. She looks great. Even the road rash is now gone.

Horse update:
Our horse pasture is out of grass. She's getting some hay every morning and a half scope of Purina Strategy. I leave for work in the morning after pulling off her blanket and throwing some hay in the feed tub. It's still dark. The sun comes up about 20 minutes into my drive. When I get home, the sun is going down. I have just enough time to get her blanket on her and give her some grain before I can't see. Needless to day, I don't get the chance to work with Koda during the week right now. I got her out today to groom and get her pedicure done. Luckily I had plenty of time before the farrier came, because she started acting like an idiot. I guess she be going through hormone issues right now. I had to run her in circles for about 30 minutes before she started to lower her head and listen to me. I brushed her down and was finishing her last hoof when the farrier arrived. Her toes look so pretty now. I took all the grass and dirt off her coat and out of her tail. She was per-ty. So, of course, the first thing she does is roll to put it all back.

I plan to take her to the church tomorrow to ride in the arena. Maybe I can work out her hormones before the church playday next week. Maybe her stupid demon streak will be exorcised before she gets there next Sunday.

Sorry, no pictures today.

Oh no, not the vet

2009-01-06T21:44:00.003-06:00

We decided tonight that we need to go to the vet tomorrow.
The puppy was walking around on her leg ok, then, all of the sudden, she was crying and would not use the leg at all. So now, on the day my students come back to school, I have to take the dog to the vet.

She's walking on it now but has been very quiet in her crate since she had started crying. We aren't vets and really did not intend to have another creature at the house right now. We would love to not have to take her, but since she's having complications, we don't want to risk her permanent injury.

I have another video, but may have to work on it to upload.

New Year's Weekend

2009-01-05T20:08:00.004-06:00

It's been a few days since I posted and a lot has happened at D²C Ranch. My husband's grandfather passed away on Tuesday so we rearranged our weekend plans with some friends from Houston. The original plan was for them to escape Houston on New Year's Day and stay with us till Saturday. The funeral was Saturday so we decided instead to stay with them Friday night. Husband had to work Friday so I worked on laundry Friday, packed clothes and cleaned up my kitchen.

I noticed the billy goat was out of the fence again, so I went out and moved the goats. I had to tie up Koda first, then bribe the goats with food to get them to the other pen. I went to untie Koda and decided to ride her instead. So I looped and tied the lead rope around to the other side of the halter, grabbed my helmet, and climbed up -- bareback! Notice, I had only a halter on her also. She did ok, but next time I will use a bridle and bit.

I then loaded the garbage to take it to the dump and off I went. While there, I found...
Two Black Mouth Curs. The two girls are probably not full-blooded, but they were sooooo cute, hungry, and very wormy. We think they are about 10 weeks old. I took them home with me, then to our friends' house. Things were going great. We left the friends' and went through downtown Houston to go to the funeral and the one my kid picked did a flying leap off the side of the truck. We were going about 65 mph in downtown. We shut down the highway, well part of it anyway, to get that puppy back. She's a little sore and now has a nickname of "Speedbump." The other one was promptly pawned off on one of my husband's cousins. We kept the one standing up on the top picture.

Here she is with our rottie. Tama doesn't like small dogs. She growls and snaps at them but hasn't hurt them yet. She only does that when they are in her personal space. She doesn't go after them. She's supposed to belong to my kid, the kid named her Emma and is responsible for EVERYTHING involved with the puppy. You know, the feeding, walking, cleaning up all the pee and poo messes. Hehehehe.

What breed am I really?

2009-01-02T16:00:00.003-06:00

I took the Horse breed test to find out what breed of horse I would be. It's kind of lame but cute. It didn't list my favorite shoes for example. I normally wear my Justin's waterproof workboots. The site claimed I would be a mustang. Here's the picture and quote they listed for me.

If you want to take the test go to the Horse test site.

Happy New Year!!

2009-01-01T01:47:00.002-06:00

I hope you get to do all the horsey stuff (and other stuff) you want to do this year. Since it is now 1:48 in the morning, I am supposed to turn on the electric blanket and climb in my warm bed. Good night ya'll and see you in 2009.

Scrap!

2008-12-31T12:42:00.003-06:00

No that's not a cuss word (I don't think.) I have been scrapped by Breathe and as far as I understand, the rules are to list 10 pieces of material that I would put on a quilt for sentimental reasons (and the reasons). So I'll have to think about it and post as I find them.

1. When we were married, my husband's family made some purple silk rose bird seed throwers. I kept a couple dozen in vases for several years, then reduced to a half dozen. Now I just have 1 or I would get one and use the material for scraps.

2. The baby blanket my daughter used. It's soft blue and really soft. It has a silk trim that she used to rub across her face. She called it "Mine." I had to wash it when she was asleep and make sure it was dry when she got up. She took it everywhere with her. If she left it somewhere she would not go to sleep. The other cool thing about that blanket was that it was her dad's when he was a baby. He carried it until he was 4. It is now a holey blanket and threadbare. It's just in the keepsake box.

3. Then there's my baby blanket. It's really a crib sheet but I shredded it from carrying it so much. It's white with blue sheep.

4. My dress blues with the chevrons from my short military stay. The Air Force issued me my husband, my daughter, and a college education. I would do it again if I had to start over.

5. A square from the quilt I gave my mom before she died. It's white background with blue star pattern.

6. A collection of material from my stepmom who just passed away and left a ceder chest full of quilt material to me.

7. Some leather from my first saddle, and some purple cloth from my first horse blanket. Since I'm still using them, this might be difficult. I have only had them a couple of years.

(That's all I could think of right now.)

To go along with the Wet Christmas...

2008-12-25T01:31:00.004-06:00

Christmas Day's high will be 70 degrees. :)

Watch this YouTube video if you can... It's clean for little ones.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhei5sUY3I4

Merry Christmas!!

Update: It was warmish, overcast, and occasionally drizzly. I wore a sleeveless shirt all day.

Koda had a little spirit when I pulled her out of the pasture. I always longe her before riding and am glad that I did. She was breaking into a canter on her longe without prompting. By the end of our ground work, she was licking her lips. I am still working with her on riding from the house and walking back. Today, she walked back with her head low. I was absolutely in heaven on hooves. We startled some deer on our ride. Koda just twitched a little. We watched them for a second.

I got Horse decorations from my family for Christmas, along with some books and a couple of boxes of chocolate covered cherries. Koda got a good rubdown, work, hay, and grain.

Who do I call?

2008-12-21T13:57:00.003-06:00

We headed out yesterday in the big truck to go Christmas shopping. We got about 15 minutes from the house and stopped at the gas station. We got back in the truck and it wouldn't start. It had a busted fuel line. We had it towed to the shop and won't get it back for at least a week (this being Christmas week). SO, I borrowed my dad's Honda CRV yesterday and we have no truck that will haul my horse. I was fairly upset that I can't take Koda to ride at the church today, but it's cold and have myself just about convinced that I don't want to ride.
We got home from church and my husband says "Just go park the truck" or something like that. I looked into the horse pasture and my heart sank. There was Koda in the back of the pasture laying down. Now, I have seen her roll, lay down, and such, but not laying with her leg sticking up in the air. Didn't know horses did that. But there she was. I ran for my pasture key in the house (it was actually in my purse in the truck) and started to run to the pasture. I thought she was hurt. She was laying right beside the fence. I started to call for her and she didn't respond. I was almost halfway across the pasture, my daughter running right behind me, when she just gets up like nothing happened. I guess on a beautiful sunny day, girls just like to sun bathe and she's no exception. Stupid horse, scaring me like that. Man!! Sigh!
The question in my head was who do I call for help. I will need an experienced horse person, with a trailer ready truck, to help me get her to the vet. I was opening the fence running through the list. Pastor, 4-H leader, close-by neighbor... etc. Good thing she's okay. I really hate to have to call and bother people because I am not prepared. I guess I'll just get a slice of pecan pie instead.

That's more like it

2008-12-18T21:49:00.002-06:00

I guess the saying "ask and you shall receive" applied here. We now have 70 degrees, HUMID and rain. Here are some pictures:

I'm dreamin' of a wet Christmas...

2008-12-16T19:03:00.003-06:00

...Just like the one's I used to know...

I live in Central Texas. You know, cactus, scorpions, tumbleweeds and super hot. Except that right now it's below 30 degrees and today it did not get above 35.

(and the horse related stuff) Yesterday when I got home from work, the wind was blowing and the temp was around 30 and felt like 20!! I decided that my central Texas horse needed her horse blankie. I went to put it on her and she kept walking away. My kid had a band concert to perform in so I let Koda go without the blanket. We went to the concert and it started raining. Umm, rain in less than 30 degree weather = ice. When we got home, I gathered the halter (used my brain this time) and blanket. Koda had a layer of ice in her mane and on her tail. Poor thing was cold. She doesn't normally stand in the run-in shed, but there she was. I hope she doesn't get sick from me putting the blanket on her while her coat was wet.

I don't remember having it this cold before Christmas before. It usually doesn't happen until at least February.

(Oh the picture is from April, 2007 - Our rottie, Tama.)

Another Sunday

2008-12-07T21:30:00.004-06:00

I did not ride at the church today. Our church had team sorting practice. It was interesting. For those who don't know: They have 2 round pens set up together and 10 numbered cattle. The object is to get the 1 calf selected by the judge into the other round pen by itself. This is difficult because the cattle run together or try to slip past the "gate" horse. There are 2 riders. One to cut the calf from the group, the other to block the other pen from the incorrect cattle. I enjoyed watching the teams and was surprised to see that one of the best riders was a girl about 6 or 7 years old.

I did not want to take Koda to the church for this because of the number of children running around. I don't like that I can't control her at the church. She kind of goes berserk when there are other horses at the church. So after we left the church ground, I decided to ride at the house. Now remember that Koda also tries to run away with me when I turn back to come home. (These are the 2 main vices that I find in Koda - reasons I don't let my kid ride the horse.) I live on the corner of a dirt road and a highway. I rode Koda down the dirt road just past the end of our property, then turned her back to the house. I had to keep her on the rocky part of the road to remind her to go semi-slow, but she didn't run off with me. When we got to the house, I past it and went south on the highway to the end of our property and turned around. Then I went north to the other neighbor's house and turned around. I walked back torward the house, and turned her around again. I am trying to stop her from running home so I kept taking her past it to keep her guessing.

I had a good ride and had very little trouble with her. Next week is my Kid's 4-H riding club meeting. We go so I can ride. The kid doesn't ride so much since her last horse wreck.

Thanksgiving Rides

2008-12-01T12:57:00.002-06:00

One of my best friends came up on Tuesday before Thanksgiving to take my daughter to Oklahoma. Her youngest daughter got SICK (yuck) during the night so instead of Oklahoma, they hung out at our house until little girl felt better then went home. The older daughter and I went for a ride on our horses. We have ridden together before. She has a paint gelding that she has trained (She's 15 and amazing) to be a true western pleasure horse. Then of course there's my Arab speed walker/crazy mare. My kid was going to go on the old mare that we used to have that came to visit us for the day. She managed to find her out when the stirrup broke.

So the older girl and I left the house down the dirt road. We crossed a wooden bridge and about in the middle of the bridge, a bird flew out from under the bridge. My horse went about a foot sideways before settling down again. We decided to go to a friend's house that is just past the end of my road on the local highway. Between my road and the friends house, we found a lonely horse we thought was going to jump the fence to be with us, so we crossed to the other side of the hwy and continued on. Well, the friend was not home and it was time for my husband to start home so we turned around to head back.

The problems started. My mare already walks fast. On the way home she wants to run. She also forgets to listen to my "whoa" and "easy" commands. I have to one-reign stop her to get her to stop. I asked my riding partner if we could go a different route home to confuse the mare, and she agreed. This route goes all the way to the end of the local highway to a major highway. The major highway has half the road shut down for construction and would be safe to ride on. So here we go. We trot/walk to the dirt road turn off, with me getting off her back before she turns stupid. Then, she struggles for a while to figure out what I mean by not going home. I get back on the girl and she still wants to run out of my stops. We went for about a mile before I found a pasture to teach her that I really mean for her to stop. At the end of the pasture, there was a horse and very vocal dog. We skipped back to the other side of the higway only to find 2 more horses. Here's where my horse acts right and the gelding turns stupid. He forgot that he's NOT a stud. She had to remind him and then we were off again. There weren't any more crazy incidences, just silly, after that.

We got on the new section of the main highway and continued to head home. My horse all the while is looking at those orange barrels like they might attack her. There was a pile of asphalt rock left on the side of the road that was also very menacing. Both horses walked past it with their eye focused completely on that pile.

Of course for most of the trip, my speed walker was in front. I would stop her and wait for the other horse to catch up, then continue. On the highway, I actually turned her around, went behind the other horse and looped back. Both horses thought the world was going to end because the gelding was in front.

All in all, a 3 hour ride that was very exciting, fun, and educational.

I did not ride this Sunday, due to the need to get the prodigal daughter.

Weekly rides

2008-11-23T16:43:00.002-06:00

I have been trying to figure out a way to get more riding in without making my husband sit around for an hour doing nothing. Our church solved the problem for me. The church has an arena. That was the first thing they built after raising the tent. I have used the arena a couple of times but feel weird going by myself or making my husband go. So today at church, the pastor announced that at 1 pm on Sundays, there would be guitar lessons. My husband plays the guitar some but wants to learn more. I want time to ride my horse there. Voila, I now have 1 hour horse ride built in every week. I rode around and around the arena, around barrels, in and out of the roping setup (you know, where the horses wait for the cattle to be released).

My pastor informed me from the pulpit that I needed to spend more time on my horse. When your pastor says to do something (as long as it's not against God's Word) you do it. Thanks Pastor Terry. :)

You know that saying "Grass is always greener..."

2008-10-28T22:49:00.002-05:00

Our new baby is testing the theory. He is finding any possible way that he can use to get out of the pasture. Today, my husband came home and found him outside the fence. He put him back. I got home a little later and he was out again. I stopped on the road and called him to me but he didn't come. All he did was stand still and "Baaaaaaah" He had apparently decided that he wanted back in the fence but got stuck. I wish I had gotten pictures.

The riding

2008-10-27T19:57:00.003-05:00

It's really weird. I completely enjoy myself most of the time when I ride my young mare. (That's not weird.) The weird part comes when it's time to ride her by myself. I get really nervous and worried that she'll freak out or that I won't be able to control her or something. I guess it doesn't help that I have occasional bad days with her.

Here's what's happened lately. I took her to our church playday. I could not ride her because she was so keyed up. She seems to have a combination of Buddy-sourness, group shyness, and being spoiled. So during the playday, I tied her to the trailer and she managed to rear up and break the lead rope. She ended up being fine and relaxing completely when I tied her to the trailer next to the other mare.

She also freaks now when I try to load her in the trailer. I think it has something to do with the fact that we carry her and the 4-wheeler in the trailer at the same time sometimes. So trailering her to the playday already had her nervous.

Any way. I finally had to submit to the financial crisis and remove a large part of my horse fee every month. I hated to do that. Our 30 yr old mare went home to her real owners. Thankfully, I think they are going to use her to give riding lessons. That eases my mind some. The problem is that she only gets her nutrients from senior feed. That gets expensive when you are having to cut unnecessary costs.

Now, my poor mare, Takoda, now is the only horse on our property. She's not alone though. She has 2 goats to keep her company. But here I am chasing rabbits and forgot the original point of the post.

Back to the weird stuff.

So I took Koda to the 4-H riding club meeting yesterday and tied her in the arena there. The leader had 4 horses there that were penned up just outside the arena. Koda stayed relaxed and calm the whole time she was tied up and then lunged perfectly and rode perfectly. We did turns, rollbacks, walking, and trotting. When it was time to go home, I rode her out of the arena, through a ditch and up a hill. We then went back down the hill, through that ditch again and then through another ditch. When we went through the second ditch, she found a natural, deeper water channel. That made her a little nervous. She went through it though. I really enjoyed the time I spent on her. I love riding.

So, again, why do I avoid riding when I enjoy it so much the times I do ride?

We have a new member at our ranch. I mentioned him earlier. His name is Bryan and he is a Nubien/Boer cross. He is 5 months old and has two jobs - become a daddy, and entertain our indoor-bound kid. (I say "indoor-bound", because the kid can't seem to find the out-of-doors) :)

I can dress them up, but...

2008-09-25T19:45:00.003-05:00

I have no time to do ANY horse stuff. I don't know the last time I even groomed my horse. I know I have not ridden since I got the saddle back. I guess school has hit with a fury. Oh well, maybe this weekend.

Back in the saddle again!

2008-09-01T21:52:00.002-05:00

Well, today is Labor Day and I was able to go get a saddle I had sent off for repairs. Now we can both get on a horse at the same time. Yeah!!

Helmet debat

2008-07-14T15:42:00.003-05:00

I live in Texas where everything is bigger, and I guess that includes the vanity. So I began recently to wonder what is it about the western sports that insist that participants wear cowboy hats. I understand that people look "dorky" in helmets, and you can look at the post below and see how I look, but I think I would rather look dorky while I ride than have an accident and not be able to walk or possibly worse. So, My question again. English sports and racing require helmets, even for adults, but western events, with the speed and unpredictability of all the animals involved do not. It doesn't make sense to me. See the following youtube video to maybe get your brain working more on this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0-A6T45xB0&feature=related

For more information about my opinion read more of my posts, especially the one labeled helmet.

Parade Picture

2008-07-13T15:35:00.002-05:00

Here's a picture from the 1st parade Koda and I were in. Notice the new blanket bought just for the parade. Isn't she purty!! No, I'm not pregnant!

Holiday Riding

2008-07-06T22:11:00.005-05:00

Yep, Takoda's my dream horse!

I rode her three times this Saturday and Sunday, and have fallen in love. I will tell mainly about the 1st ride then skim the others. But first some background. My horse friends came up from near San Antonio and spent the weekend with us. They brought their 3 beautiful horses. Tib is an 11yr old bay and white paint gelding that a very smart 14 yr old girl rides. She is going to the state horse show on him and does well in western pleasure riding events. Chubby is a 16 yr old palomino mare that the 11 yr old sister rides in the same events and is also doing very well and going to state. The mom was riding a 4yr old buckskin mare named Demi that the family is training for a cousin of theirs. Demi is green broke and has around 6 months training. She was started when she was 2, but got hurt so was not ridden for over a year.

In addition, my Kid rode her 30 yr old horse Scarlet (the first time outside an arena since the big fall (see the helmet to the right). I rode my WONDERFUL mare Koda.

The first ride was just with the mom, Gay, and her horse. We rode out in the big pasture with the snakes, cows, and pond. Demi was trying to spoke at anything that would move, but Gay's good. She had Demi side-pass to the gate to open the gate. A side-pass is where you make the horse walk sideways instead of foward. Koda did everything that I asked her to do. I walked her behind the 4 wheeler (she hates that) and then went to the pond. There is a ravine into the pond that draws the water from the pasture. She went down the side of the ravine and to the water. She took a sniff, a drink, and then plowed through. No extra prodding needed. Then up the steep bank on the back side of the pond and a meander around to the dry creek bed. Again the sides were steep. We followed the cow trail in and up to the other side. We can't go in that pasture because of all the bugers we might find in the tall briars. Back through that creek bed and up a steeper section out. Gay and I then began searching for logs to cross. I started it with a small limb that was maybe a 3 inch diameter and we worked our way to more complex obstacles. All of this Koda just took in stride except for one limb. It was forked and she got her back legs tangled the first time she went over it. I had to work her back to that section of the limb. We quit after the logs to get the older daughter from the train station.

When we got her home from the station, we saddled all 5 horses and walked down our dirt road for about a half mile. We had to turn back because it was dark. Danged nighttime interferring with our riding! Again, Koda did everything I asked her to.

Today, we rode at the church arena after church. I go to a cowboy church and they just got the arena ready enough that people can cautiously ride. It still needs work but the church has only been open for 2 months. The kid wasn't feeling good so she just went home with her dad. I cantered (loped) on Koda for the first time today. I felt like I was going to fall of the whole time I cantered. I adjusted the stirrups and still felt like that. We do well in short distance trots but I really enjoy trail rides so I guess trot and canter are not very important right now. I guess that's something we have to work on. We did more trailriding type rides there and then came home.

Now that's a weekend like I have always wanted to have.

Summer update

2008-07-01T00:03:00.008-05:00

I think Koda and I have finally figured out the bonding thing. Usually, when I go in the pasture to catch her or just to go up and scratch her, she runs away taking the other horse with her. Since Saturday, she's been standing still and letting me catch her or at least not running off to the other end of the pasture.

So the routine with Koda has been every night or at least 4 nights a week, I go out and do something with her. I wait until 7pm to do anything because it is still so hot here that it's torture before that time. As it is, we are both sweating profusely within 20 mins. We started the month with longe line work. I did that for about 2 weeks. Then one day, I finally got brave again and saddled her up. The first day I did that, I rode her with a hackamore. We got the hackamore from her previous owner when we got her. She has never accepted the reining commands I give with the hackamore and that day was no different. I had my husband hold her on longe line while I instructed her gaits (walk, trot, and stop) and directions. Later that week, I got off the longe line and rode her in the small section of the pasture. By this time I changed her to a ring snaffle bit. I eventually started riding her in the big part of that same pasture.

The big change was this past week. We went to New Braunfels Wednesday, and I rode Koda out in the open. No fence to block her in. She did great. She got a little skittish when it got dark and the other horse we were riding with disappeared. She was probably sensing some of my concern too. The other rider is an accomplished rider who started training my kid and myself before she moved. She was riding a horse they are training and it was acting silly. My concerns were that it was dark, I couldn't see the path, and she didn't know it that well either. And there was always the possibility of the horse throwing her. It was dark after all. But Koda was great, just a little nervous and everyone made it home.
The next day, we took her with us to their horse show. One of my friend's girls rode Koda most of the morning and she behaved really well, until her friend left the arena (notice a pattern here?). Then I took her on Friday evening on a trial ride where we were going to ride in the parade. I even took her to the fire station where they were getting ready. They blew their sirens. She was a perfect angel for all except the truck's backing racket ("beep, beep") but even then, she just was jittery. She listened to me and followed my instructions.

The parade was a HUGE success for us!! She was perfect. She did kick at 2 horses, but we think she did it because she is in heat. When she kicked, she did not make contact. I think it was a warning to the other horses..."I'm slightly moody right now and my boyfriend is in New Braunfels, Back Off!" We will have to watch that to see. By the way, we will be in the 4th of July parade in a nearby town.

Pictures coming soon.

Summer's Here!!!

2008-06-11T21:46:00.005-05:00

It's almost been one week since school let out and I have been busy. Of course there's the standard catching up on laundry, cleaning house and so on. In addition to that it's now time for the horse and myself to seriously bond. I started at the beginning of this week with daily training for both of us. The goal is to be ready to ride Takoda in a parade at the end of the month.

I am learning how to longe her. I found a website that has great information. http://www.kbrhorse.net/tra/line01.html has a step-by-step guide to longing, round pen work, and other basics. We have been working on getting the instructions for walk, trot and canter (though I think I am going to say "lope" instead) together. Koda and I are having to do the ground work without a round pen. I just found a place in the pasture close to the house and started doing the ground work. We are having issues with keeping the circle round and having serious trouble with the lope. It will come though. I will have the husband record a session and I'll post it soon.

When, if, I start teaching others to ride, I think I will begin the students with ground work. When they can do the ground work, they can then begin to ride. Ground work is hard and has not been covered at my riding lessons or at the 4-H riding club meetings. It's kind of weird that the way to get respect from horses gets neglected in the training sessions.

Horse events coming up this summer:
There is a rodeo in a nearby town this week, then a local 4-H district horse show next week for our 4-H district. The ferrier comes next weekend and then the following week, we go to New Braunfels to visit some friends and go to their district horse show. That weekend is the local parade I want to ride Koda in.

Dogs, Horses and Wind

2008-05-07T22:30:00.003-05:00

I got home from work today with a couple of expectations. First was that my husband would be in a class tonight and not home. Second, we were supposed to have lots of rain. Third, is that I had to rotate the animals tonight.

Our wonderful labweiler (part lab - part rottweiler - mostly goofy) decided to let his lab parts shine lately. He is escaping the fence where we keep him during the day. To correct this temporarily, we will put them in the horse pasture. It's fenced with bull wire and is about 2 acres of land. He should be happier in there for a little while. We closed off part of the cow pasture and put the horses in there. This is good because it was time to rotate pastures anyway. The 2 problems with this pasture are that it is leased for cattle (we have permission to rotate occasionally as long as the horses don't eat it all to the roots.) and there is not much shelter from anything in there. We build the loafing shed in the horse pasture.

So I decided the weather was going to miss us so the kid and I went out and got the horses and started grooming them. As we were grooming, it started thundering. We picked up the pace. I asked the kid if she wanted to go ahead and put them in the new pasture or wait until tomorrow morning in case it storms. We decided we don't get up early enough to switch pastures in the morning. So first, I close the pasture off, then the horses are released. Then we have to deal with the feed. Their feed containers are clipped to the fence on the horse pasture and have to be moved to the new one. And we have to feed and we have to water.

Meanwhile, remember the thunder? It's getting worse and now there's even lightening to go with it and the wind picks up. We got through with every thing except the water as the worst of the storm is beginning. It was around 8pm. I left the water running and ran the kid inside so we could listen to the fire dept scanner. As I turned it on they announced that there was a TORNADO warning for our county and specifically that they have sighted funnel clouds in our town!! We got flashlights, cell phones, and my kid's mattress and huddled on the floor by my bed for a while. The tornado touched down southeast of our town and we are west of the town.

The horses are ok (no thanks to us moving them in the shelter-free pasture) and we had absolutely no damage at our house. Unfortunately, my husband, the firefighter, is out still helping with damage repair in our area. He was called out of his class to help.

It is now 11pm. The stars and moon are out and my household is safe even though he's still out.

Bareback lessons

2008-05-03T23:22:00.003-05:00

I got on Takoda bareback today. This is the first time I have ever been on a horse bareback. She had no saddle, bridle, or halter. I also was not appropriately dressed. I had on blue jean capris and sandles with no helmet. OOPS. It went ok though. We have to work on driving cues. She does the stop ok. I only sat on her for a few minutes but enjoyed almost all of it. I had to get my balance for the first 30 seconds or so.
We got the horses a new toy. It's a hanging apple barn toy. We hung it in the loafing shed. I don't know if they have played with it yet. When I went to town today they had not played with it. I got home and it was too dark to even see where the horses were.

Trade #2, Meet Takoda

2008-04-19T21:57:00.003-05:00

So we took Bella back to her mom and got Takoda. Her name was Chula. Takoda is Souix and means "friend of anyone." Chula is Spanish means "pretty girl." I like Takoda better. Anyway, we took Takoda to a friend's for some round pen work yesterday and just did some ground work with her. Today, we went out to the pasture and pond. I did some more ground work with her on longe line for a little while. I then put my saddle on her. Since we had a back cinch, I trotted her again on the line to make sure she was ok with that. I got on her and rode her near the picnic area. Then moved out further and kept working my way out away from my "safe area", the area where my husband was. I rode her into and around in the pond. She did everything I asked her to. I did find that her reverse gear "jumps" a little. When I told her to back up near the house, she did a little hop and spin around on her back legs. Unfortunately, my pasture is not conducive to making her canter and trot for any distance. My goddaughter got on her bareback when she was tied out in the pasture. Mary enjoyed the ride.

Hello Bella and Goodbye

2008-04-11T23:31:00.003-05:00

Apparently the trade didn't work. I was ok with the trade of Bella for Tonto. Especially the "for Tonto" part. He is extremely green broke. I guess the previous owners let him do whatever he wanted to when they rode and never made him do what they wanted. He is ok to ride if you don't challenge his opinion of what to do. He has already bucked off and hurt someone at his new home. The part that didn't work was her losing Bella. She decided she can't live without Bella. She's going to let us have a 14yr old Arab/Quarter horse that is for beginners. She is a light bay color. Other than that, I don't know much about her. We'll see.

Tonto's Gone!!

2008-04-07T21:23:00.002-05:00

This weekend, we traded Tonto for a better model. As I said in a previous post, Tonto was not the horse for us. Instead, we now have an 18 yr old Tennessee Walker that is about the color of dark chocolate. Her name is Bella. She is very sweet but probably starting to be a little arthritic and needs to gain between 100 and 200 pounds. I got her Saturday and rode her Saturday, and Sunday. I have never ridden a gaited horse and am not entirely sure about how to ride in the gaited walk. I am used to a western pleasure type horse.

Of riding and the inevitable fall...

2008-02-06T14:43:00.001-06:00

We went riding yesterday at our riding lessons. Our horse, Scarlet has a cut on her leg we wanted to let heal so we both, the kid and I, rode stable horses. I rode the horse that the kid normally rides. He has a very jarring trot. I am appearantly still learning the proper way to sit through a trot. The kid was on a 19 yr old Arabian hunter. She's beautiful!! She's gray with a beautiful long silky tail. Anyway, so we went in the arena and started riding. My stirrups had to be adjusted so the kid started walking her horse around the arena. We then got into the trotting. I was, as I said, having trouble with the trotting when the kid passed me. As they passed, the horse kicked up her speed a little. The kid did NOT like this and got scared. The kid shrieked for the riding instructor. When the kid did, the horse got spooked and went faster, which prompted the shriek again, and the spook. Every time the kid shrieked, the horse went faster. At one point, the kid was quiet for a second and the horse slowed down. Then, the shriek again, and the horse sped up. This time the horse stumbled and there went the kid over the saddle and the horse's neck. She landed on her helmet. The helmet cracked and her forehead has a nasty red bump. It cracked from the vent hole to the front of the brim, as well as from that crack around the helmet where the brim attaches to the helmet.

You know, I was kind of lax about requiring the kid to wear a helmet. After this accident, I don't think either of us will ever ride without one again. If this happened to the helmet, think about what would have happened without the helmet.

Riding and riding

2008-01-26T22:51:00.000-06:00

We have attended 3 riding lessons. The first, I have already discussed. The second lesson was a bit different since there was no riding. We got there and it was raining. Instead of riding, we worked on horse care and grooming. We learned a while back that Scarlet, our mare, had a fungus on her legs. We thought it was gone, but discovered that it is still as strong as ever. We shaved her legs up to her knees and the next day I started to apply generic Listerine to each leg. It's looking better now but I have to continue until they are all good.
This week we rode again and worked on trotting and "half-halting." This is where you slow your horse down but it stays in the same gait. For example, going from a fast trot to a slow trot.

Today, we went to the stables to work. We cleaned some of the stalls, pulled carrots from the garden, and helped bring in horses. We also got a chance to ride. The riding instructor, Lisa, has many beautiful Arabian horses. Some so light grey that they are white. Some are bay, sorrel, and black. She has one poor bay-colored baby that has pneumonia. It is so sick and looks really bad. She has so many doctors working on this one horse that you'd almost think it would get well by osmosis.

Meanwhile, poor Tonto is still up for sale and is being practically neglected. I feed him and groom him as often as possible, but I don't know what to do with him for training. And I do not want to get on him because I can't afford to get hurt. He is right now a very spirited pasture ornament.

2008-01-15T13:22:00.000-06:00

Sunday, we went to my dad's house to visit. You would not believe the work that this entailed. We decided to go ride horse and ATV's at his house. Here's how it went. We started getting ready around noon. First, we had to groom the horse and hook the trailer to the truck. We have a 3-horse slant trailer with a tackroom. We had decided that the 4-wheeler should be in the front of the trailer in case there was a problem and we needed to unload the horse quickly. We ran the 4-wheeler up into the trailer and tried to close the front slant gate. It didn't fit. We removed that gate (they come out fairly easily) and closed the other gate.

We then had to find our tie-down straps, tie down the 4-wheeler, and bring the horse around. We had locked Tonto and June in the pasture. Scarlet is very finicky about getting in the trailer. We finally loaded her and I was tying her to the trailer when I heard June (remember, the goat) outside the trailer. She had escaped the pasture - again. We (the husband) wrangled her back in the pasture and we had to tie her up to keep her in the pasture. We made sure all the tack was loaded and almost left the bridle in the house. Then had to load our house horses, the dogs, into the back of the truck. We needed their obedience collars and their leashes.

We finally got to my dad's house and had to unload it all. dogs go first so they don't hurt the horse. Then the horse and tie her just outside the trailer's tackroom. Then the 4-wheeler. Had to re-groom the horse and tack her up. By the time we did all this I was hungry, so it was inside for a quick sandwich. Dad and husband stayed at the house to put together a seeder/spreader. Sis, kid and I went off into the pasture. Sis and kid on the ATV and me on the horse. Woo Hoo!!

I started to follow the 4-wheeler but Scarlet wanted to run after it so I turned her away and went towards the back of the pasture. My dad's cows followed us around for a little while. We went all over his pastures. Through ravines and over logs. Well the 4-wheeler went over less and smaller logs. I had a blast. Scarlet went everywhere I wanted her to go without complaint except into the stock tank my dad has close to his house. I think that the mud was too muddy for Scarlet to follow my instructions into. After instructing her for about 10 minutes to go in various places in the pond, I finally decided that the horse may know something about the mud that I don't and walked her away. We trotted a little in some places that we had already walked across. I was really concerned about animal burrows and other various holes, but when I found a track of land that was solid, flat, and free of holes, I allowed her to trot. She did this willingly enough.

I am learning that Scarlet likes to neck reign better than direct reign and I switched her bit to a ring-snaffle bit. The ring with a bending post through the mouth. We had a shank-snaffle on her, but our riding instructor recommended the ring-snaffle. I guess that I have the names correct.

Internet Games

2008-01-12T00:13:00.000-06:00

My kid introduced me to a internet game for horse lovers. It is originally made in France and has been formated to fit the American screen. The address is www.howrse.com and it is FREE to play. There is a cost involved that is purely optional and in no way is required for fun on the game.

The objective of Howrse is to become the best breeder of horses in general, and your favorite breed specifically. You start with a foal and raise and train it to compete in English riding events. The competitions include trotting and galloping races, cross-country events, and show jumping competitions. You can also breed, buy and sell the virtual horses in this community and run an Equestrian Center (EC).

There has been some discussion about adding Western competitions to the game, but I don't know if that is in the plans or not. There are competitions for virtual prizes for the players, and forums for discussions of various kinds. These forums are HIGHLY moderated and if there is unseemly language or discussions, they are removed. The moderators and administrators of the game work very hard to keep the game PG rated. As always, parents should monitor their "kids" on any internet site to ensure their safety. Any repeat offenders are locked out of the game completely.

This also has a small amount of educational activity mostly about the horses. However, it does encourage reading and writing, money management, and responsibility towards animals.

If you want to try it out, use me as your sponsor. My username is d2cmom. Also, you can see my horses and EC.

Hoof Care

2008-01-10T21:18:00.002-06:00

Ok. So I have been having problems with Thrush on my horses. I had been using a store bought thrush medicine that is green, thin, stinks and expensive. I would try to use a little each time but the liquid was so thin I always wasted some. At $10+ a bottle, I was getting kind of aggravated that I would waste so much and the horses still had thrush. The real owner of Scarlet (She's really just on loan) suggested that I mix water and plain bleach. She said this wasn't dangerous for the horses since they don't lick their hooves. So I got a small cosmetic spray bottle and mixed half bleach and half water together. I have used it to help clean the hooves. First, I scrape and brush the packed dirt and stuff out of the hoof. Then, I spray the hoof with the bleach and brush again. I may spray again and brush again if needed. Last I hold the hoof for a couple of seconds to allow the hoof to dry a little.

This has been a wonder! Their hooves all look (and smell) a lot better. THANKS, GIRL-FRIEND!!

HORSE FOR SALE

2008-01-09T19:59:00.000-06:00

We have reluctantly decided that Tonto is WAY too much horse for us amateurs. We are asking $800 for him. He is an upper level intermediate or experienced rider horse. He has learned to back and lunge since we got him, but he has a teenager attitude. I don't think we are good for each other. If you know anyone who needs an Appaloosa, feel free to respond.

Official and Professional and everything

2008-01-09T19:43:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, the kid and I went to our first professional riding lesson. We had to be there at 7:00pm and there was so much we needed to learn and discuss. We didn't leave until 10:00. First, I learned the proper way to hold a hoof-pick so that it's comfortable to go from the back of the hoof to the toe. Then I discovered that Scarlet will neck reign very well. She will trot, but not over pipe obstacles. I found out that you have to do "The Twist" when trotting for more comfort for the horse and myself. In other words, keep the shoulders still while twisting your tail. Of course, I can't quite get it, yet. But I'm practicing.

The stables where we are taking our lessons have several beautiful Arabians. Their website is: http://rlarabians.com/index.html. She offers Western and basic English lessons, as well as bareback.

I think we're going to have fun.

The animals.

2008-01-07T23:12:00.000-06:00

Scarlet - Our first horse. Really, she's on loan from a good friend so we can learn how to ride horses. Scarlet is a 30 yr old red and white Quarter horse/Paint mix. She's the boss mare if I'm not there. Her baby is June.

Tonto- Our 10 year old gelding and the first horse we have bought. He's for sale especially if I can't get him where I (the new horse person) can ride him. He's a beautiful Red Roan Appaloosa.

June - Scarlet's goat. June was born on our ranch and we kicked her family off. (They belonged to someone else and we needed the land for the horses.) Scarlet has adopted June and June follows Scarlet on all our trail rides.

Tama - 4 year old purebred rottweiler and rotten to the core. She's my husband's dog and we've had her since she was 5 weeks old.

Samson - My big boy labweiler or rottendor retriever. He appears to be a cross between a black lab and rottweiler. He's pretty big, but he's my lap dog. He's 4 yrs old and was a Mother's Day present in 2007.

Cloud - reasonably ok cat used for mousing purposes. Of all the animals, I am NOT a cat person. The kid thinks he (the cat) needs to come inside when it's cold outside. I think his coat's thick enough that he could stay outside in the extremely cold 30 degrees we get in Texas. Especially since it lives in the garage.

Pictures will be posted soon. Keep watching.

My first post!!

2008-01-07T22:03:00.001-06:00

Hi, My name is Carol and my husband and I own D²C Ranch, a small ranch in the heart of Texas. We started D²C Ranch about a year ago with a small patch of land and some borrowed cows. Since then we have acquired a goat and two horses. Our goal is to eventually have our own working horse and cattle ranch. I am absolutely in love with horses. My husband calls it a contagious disease. He says I have infected our kid.

I got the idea for a blog from a nice family in Tennessee at www.ourfirsthorse.com. Check them out for more horse experiences. Also, check back for more of our story, issues, and experiences we have as we go though the effort to "Treat" my disease.