Day 3 of 7

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 ...

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

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...

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...

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

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!

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.