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.

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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.

RAIN

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

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!!

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!!!