Say What ( Bath)

Poor dog, Sage was the recipient of an unexpected bath. Sage does not like bathing and these photos show that fairly well. Sage has a tendency to find ....how shall I put this.... really gross disgusting!!!!!! things to roll in. Yesterday at some time she did just that. I'm still not sure what it was but I am sure I don't want to know!!!!! All I know is it required the use of rubber gloves. Anyhow we hooked up the hose from the basement so I could wash her with warm water, I really really did not want to put her in the bathtub. The outside system worked well. After she was washed and towelled off she stayed in the house for the rest of the night. Happy camper.....not.

High And Dry

These two decided to put aside their differences and stay warm and dry together. It was such a dismal day, rain and then some snow, it felt like winter coming not leaving. they spent most of the day doing just what you see here.....smart! You can see from the expressions that they weren't to impressed with the whole thing either. .

Another New Place To Ride

I was able to go riding on Sat for a few hours. It was to be an all day ride with some of the Kootenay Backcountry Horsemen but I couldn't do the all day thing but hey something is better than nothing. We were riding in an area that I was unfamiliar with, it is out in the Wasa Lake area. We started out our ride with some very iffy weather conditions. It was cloudy but not bad ,before we got off the road to the trailhead the wind picked up. The horses and mules started acting a bit goofy. After a while everybody settled in, we had been riding for about 20 min to a half hour when the hail hit.....and boy did it come down. That's what you can see on the ground,I took a shot of it when it was really coming down but it really didn't turn out. I discovered my little mare does not like riding in a hail storm

This is a shot of some of the scenery across from where we were riding.

This pic is of a little lake we came across, for the life of me I can't remember what they said the name was.

After riding for an hour or so I had to turn back...other commitments....don't ya just hate that life interfering with what you really want to do....oh well. I was able to follow our tracks back most of the way, there were quite a few places where I lost the tracks and had to search a little bit.( I have a tendency to get turned around when I'm on my own) All in all it was a really nice ride. My horse was a real doll when she had to go on her own, she reminded me on that ride why I keep her. ( She can be a real ? when she wants to be) On my way back I ran into some fellow KBCH just on their way out. This is Marcel with the Paints and his friend on the Bay. We chatted for awhile, Marcel had just purchased the black and white , boy he is a beauty he will do well with this one he's a four year old that has been well started but never been in the bush. He was so calm and willing. Good deal there Marcel.

Well that's it for this ,I'm late as usual and gotta run. Have a great Day. Hey Shirley this is a pretty good place to ride barefoot( not perfectbut pretty good for this area )you will like it come on over??????

Sunday Challenge "Barns"

This week's challenge is Barns. I was pretty excited about it, I thought I would cruise around the area and get some shots of cool old barns. As usual I ran out of time and didn't really go far to get my selections. This is our barn, it's dinner time so you should see a few more critters make use of said barn.

This is what the inside looks like, you can't quite see the whole length of it from this shot but you get the jist of it. Please don't judge too harshly I haven't got around to a Spring cleaning yet. Tex and Jazz waiting for their dinner.Tex and Jazz are in the same pen so they both have access to a stall of their own if they so choose. There was a time when you would never have seen Tex in any kind of a shelter, now in his old age he really seems to enjoy the comforts of his stall. This barn has been a great thing for us, it has certainly been used since we have been hereit is a real feature of this property, I wish it was finished but hey you just can't have everything. ( I'll take it the way it is ....and like it)
This is an all metal barn......not really being used as a barn anymore. Can you imagine being an animal in that building in a rain or hail storm....yikes deafening, at any rate I thought it was kind of impressive. Sorry this one is pretty dark....but it was almost dark when I took the pic. I still haven't got night shots down. I took this at about 8:30 - 9:00pm.This and the next few barns are taken from around our little plot. You can't see it well but this is a nice old barn. I'm happy that I only see parts of this one from across the highway...the yard is kinda scary.

I really like the last shot. Those are really old barns that have been there for a long time. If they could talk. They must have been built good and strong when they were new. This area is a snow belt and so those barns have stood up to tons of snow over the years and there they still are.

These were the kind of shots I was hoping to get for this post. Maybe sometime I will go for a drive and just hunt down old barns. Anyhow that's it for me. I'm late for chores etc etc. Look forward to seeing what you all got later. Hey cruise over to Ride A Good Horse and see if she has baby pics up yet. Her mare foaled just before midnight last night. Hmmm maybe she should in corporate that in the name....it's part of Daddies name to ....hmmm. Later Have a great day.

China Wall Part 2

This should have been part 1 but I was having technical difficulties at the time and then went of course. Anyhow this was how my ride started. Sage loves to ride with me she gets so excited she can hardly contain herself. Since Sage was injured she is unable to ride with me if I go for any lenghth of time. I feel really guilty when I go without her, on this particular ride I knew it would be to hard for her....so home is where she needed to stay. This is what she looked like when she was waiting and thinking she was going. If you could see her eyes you would see how excited and happy she looked.

This is what she looked like after I told her she had to stay home, she went to her house and that look, man did I feel guilty..... how sad is that.
The next few photos are just of the surrounding countryside and the river again, I'm not sure if you can see them but there are two holes along the riverbank, they look like caves. I wonder if something lives in there. We do have a few Badgers and Wolverines in this area. They are pretty big though so ....any ideas.

This last photo is of a part of the trail, I wanted to show you how awful the ground can be around here.....after all it is in the mountains.( You can't see it very well but it is all jagged shale) The reason I wanted to show how hard the ground is ....is because I have been considering keeping my riding horses Barefoot. As much as I understand and believe in the concept I am not quite sold on the idea of riding my horses over this type of ground barefoot. Just about anywhere we ride is ground like this. I think while waiting for my horses feet to toughen up I would be having the worst rides possible. I think I will need to ponder on this subject some more. Have a great Week -end enjoy the outdoors.

Sorry Shirley

This was going to be a wordless Wednesday but I just had to show Shirley over at Ride A Good Horse her Roses, or I should say what's left of her Roses.....they were just about ready to bloom too. I should have taken a pic the other day to show her all the buds but well you know I didn't and of course this is what they look like now.

I had some unwanted visitors to the Greenhouse. The deer went right into the Greenhouse and started mowing stuff down, what they didn't like they just pulled from pots and threw on the floor. I have closed off the doors so they can't go in but they can still chow down on the stuff along the sides. Did I say yet how much I dislike deer.....well that's not quite true I dislike them when they hang around our place. I will have to do a post sometime on the strange deer around here you will know what I mean if I can capture it on film. Anyhow sorry Shirley now they have to start over.

China Wall Ride Part 1

Well I finally got to go riding, it has been awhile coming. I was able to load up my horse and head out to the China Wall, now that we have moved it is about an hour and a half away. I was late so I never did meet up with the KBCH group but that's Ok we had a good ride by ourselves.
Finally stuff is coming awake and starting to green up, so it should it is April 19th this is a Dogwood shrub.

There was quite a few tattered looking sheep scattered about the hillsides.

This is a view of the Elk River from up on top, well not all the way up. This is I guess what you would call a table and then there would be a really steep climb to the top. This is the level I like, it is a steady climb to get to it then it levels out and you can ride around all over the place with minimal effort.

Well that's it for part 1. Iwill do some more later. Have a great day.

Sunday Challenge " Potluck"

This week's challenge is "Potluck" whatever was fun and or interesting. I don't think I got either but here goes. I never had time to get anything new, what I ended up with was pics that meant something to me good or bad. This first shot is a planting I did at the Cranbrook Golf Course I just love how well it turned out.

I picked this one because it makes me smile, how could you not.

And this one is a little interesting Golf balls from heaven....I think they come from the crows or a neighbor with a really long shot. I pick these up out of the horse pasture.

Shadow smiling, as it turns out it is a good thing this is on file because it is something we will never get to see again as Shadow had to be put down this month...

And again last but not least my sweet Sage. This is Sage on the rock that almost did her in. It has been almost two years since her horrible injury....she will never be OK but she gets by pretty good. Well guys I don't think I met this challenge but I'm tired and I wanted to put something on here. i will just have to try harder next week.I will try very hard to get back on here and see what you all came up with, have a great day, it's supposed to be beautiful here tomorrow and I'm going to take full advantage of it.

Wacky Weather

We have been having the strangest of weather..........but then who hasn't. This is what it looked like last Thursday around here.....ugly.....!!!!it wasn't much fun going out to do chores in that. Today beautiful blue sky and the only snow for miles around is sitting right where it belongs
at the top of them thar mountains. It is my hope that that's where it stays and we are done.....but I'll tell ya I'm not holding my breath.

Have a great day and catch you soon.

Sunday Challenge " Hands"

Ed's task for us this week is hands....should be easy....not really. I guess I could have found more stuff but I hardly ever get to the computer anymore, so guys this is it.

Dave with his Baby ......that is what I have named his computer......his little baby, he even sleeps with it....not in bed in his chair, then he is poised and ready for action the second he wakes up.

OK these are not hands in the traditional sense of the word but Sage uses her paws very much like hands. She can grab and manipulate that toy just as well as a person can with their hands.

Well lame I know but I gotta go, have a great week everyone.

Why Jazz ? ( Sparkle) You Ask

I am being asked to tell the story of Jazz or to put it differently why Jazz. Let me just say before I get all caught up in this post - I have known Shirley for about a dozen or so years now, I have probably seen any horse she has produced or owned in that time frame. Shirley has great horses good minded, very usable, nice horses, up until now I have never been all that interested in owning one.....don't get me wrong anyone that gets a horse from Shirley is getting a good horse. I have Morgans, I have raised all the ones I have now and don't really plan on producing anymore..... well maybe a baby here and there.....never say never. What I'm trying to say is I am a Morgan fan and probably always will be. OK this post is going to be long you might want to grab a coffee, I hope it isn't boring. Anyhow in order to explain why Jazz I need to go back pretty far and tell you a story from my childhood. I'm not really sure how old I was but I think it's right around the time I was becoming a problem child. Anyhow we had a friend of the family that had a bunch of horses which he used to let me ride. We didn't have any horses at that time. He had a horse named Barbie big black beautiful Appendix Quarter Horse......oh how I loved that horse. I wasn't supposed to be riding her because I think my parents thought she was a nut job......she was an awesome- amazing- horse so I rode her anyhow..........did I say how I loved that horse. At some point our friend offered to sell Barbie to us......... of course it was a flat out no. I was heartbroken I so wanted that horse, I coveted her every waking moment , I had dreams about Barbie and I being famous.......World Champion Barrel Racers.......and trust me she could have done it.....all I would have had to do was hang on. To try and make this story shorter I will jump ahead a bit. In time I quit riding Barbie it just hurt to much to not have her and then I had to share her with another kid I just couldn't do it so I quit going over to their house. Have I said how much I loved that horse. So now from time to time I come across a horse that makes me say there's my Barbie, actually Shirley was with me on just such an occasion, I tried to buy that horse right there, the girl wasn't all that keen on the idea but she didn't say no. I called her a few times but she didn't go for it, just not meant to be I guess. So If I had to hazard a guess at how many times I have said there's my Barbie it would be maybe 3. OK now I will tell you how I ended up with Jazz ( Sparkle) We went to Shirley's to have dinner, when we arrived there she had Jazz tied to the hitching rail there was just something about her. I never said it but Shirley did she said I should buy her because she could be my Barbie. I thought about it for a bit and as I said there is just something about her. No I don't want to go Barrel Racing or any of that stuff anymore but I'm betting she's going to have cow sense and I would like to go penning and sorting. My Morgans will do that but their hearts just aren't in it.....well maybe Jade someday, her Sire was an accomplished cutting horse.I think Karen over at the Rough String said it best, she said "A good Horse Is A Good Horse It Doesn't Matter What Breed It Is" I couldn't agree more. At any rate it was a spur of the moment decision and before ya knew it I had a new horse, needless to say I wound up with a bit more than dinner. To show you how much I loved Barbie I will share part of a conversation I had with my Dad not long before he passed away. I was visiting at my parents ,we were outside in my Dad's shop and I overheard him say to one of his friends that I didn't like him very much. There was a time in my life when that statement was very true. I sat down beside my Dad and told him it's OK I'm over it. I told him I could forgive him for everything except one thing, when he asked what that was he sure wasn't expecting the answer (Barbie) You have to understand that many.....many years have gone by since I was a kid in love with a beautiful black horse but she is still with me even now.....ya ya I know cheesy....but true.I don't live my life with the what ifs but sometimes I do wonder what path my life may have taken "If "my parents had bought Barbie. Wow did this story get super long. This answer is for 2manyhorses. I got Jazz because she's special and well because I can. I think you will see it too. I guess I could have just said that and not bored everyone to tears.

Integration (Free At Last)

Free at last, just shy of two weeks Jazz is finally getting out of her little pen. I thought she would kick up a bit and have some fun, she came out and the others went in....I think they thought her food was better or something.She wandered around checking everything out and that looked like the end of it.....pretty boring.....I'll take boring, rather that then hitting fences and kicking and fighting.
It looks like they are accepting her right off the bat, she is eating with them and checking out stuff together.

As soon as I left they started being a little mean to her not too bad but Jake decided he didn't want her eating with them, she didn't seem to mind to much she had her own pile. Jazz seems to be quite sensible I hope she grows up with this attitude it will make her easy to work with. Yes that's snow it just doesn't seem to want to go away yet.

As the day progressed Jake started getting aggressive with Jazz he started chasing her and trying to get her into corners.....good thing for her she can out maneuver him and she's smarter than he is so no damage done.....so far.

I think Jazz discovered the pair wasn't worth all the crying and running she had done everytime they got out of her sight. As I was doing my chores tonight it started snowing pretty good so I decided to put Jazz back in her pen where she will be safe and warmer with the lean to and straw bedding. She can go back out in the morning and spend the day with them. I think Jazz and Lily will be ok, they seem to like each other when Jake isn't around.