Sharing

We live right up the hill from John's family home.  We bought land from his parents twenty years ago and while some would think 1/4 mile is too close to your in-laws, it has suited us well all these years. John never had to leave home really and that's how he likes it.  

So when there are family events or holidays, the younger kids gravitate towards our place.  The boys would play video games or bounce on the trampoline but the girl cousins always wanted to see the horses.  It would take us as long to saddle them as it would to give the obligatory pony rides.  As they grew older, I would let them ride in the arena by themselves and then last year, they got to go on a real trail ride around our property without being ponied to our side.  

On the day before Easter, Case had his friend, Jesse, here.  I have been asking her if she wanted to ride and she did, so we planned to ride Saturday morning.  Of course the wind was blowing huge gusts but the temps were warm.  John, Case and I saddled up four horses.  We have a temporary boarder horse named Concho and Case wanted to ride him.  So John got on Butter, I was on Windy and I put Jesse on Fancy because everyone who doesn't know how to ride gets Fancy because she is the best.  We headed down the pasture and Blue and Baby were crying like bitches for being left behind.  Fancy would call back to them and Jesse would circle her back around.  We weren't on the trail for five minutes when Fancy bucked.  Yes, Fancy bucked.  Jesse lost her balance and fell off and Fancy hightailed it back to Blue's corral.

I jumped off Windy and went to Jesse.  She had sat up but then she laid back down again.  Oh my gosh!  Case finally has a girlfriend and I cripple her!  By the time I approach her, she is up and smiling.  She got the wind knocked out of her, banged her tail bone a bit but otherwise survived.  And you know what?  She still wanted to ride.  

So we walked back up the hill and put the boarder horse away and pulled out Blue, our old faithful.  John got on Fancy and ponied Baby and off we went again.  We had a very nice four mile ride.  

Later that evening, my sister Ann and her family came over.  After dinner and a few margaritas serving as a shot of courage for my sister, and we saddled up again.  My sister will not ride any horse but Blue and I have to pony her.   (She and Ginger parted ways a dozen years ago and her fear remains strong).  I put Jesse on Windy, niece Kelsey on Concho, Ann on Blue and Case on Butter.  I rode Fancy.  We headed out to the pasture.  It was dusk when we rode out and night time when we got back so none of the pictures turned out very well. 

I was glad everyone had a good ride and we ended on a good note.  

(To Be Cont’d)

Hodge Podge

I can't remember when it was that I last treated myself to a new computer.  I was running on the Vista operating system if that dates it at all.  I heard so many jokes about Vista throughout the years but I have to say that I never had any issues with it.  I have more photos loaded on that hard drive than I will ever view in a lifetime.  And lots of hours blogging, and updating my website.  And lots more hours spent on Facebook - the ultimate time killer!

While I figured I would replace only my CPU, my brother told me I should consider going Mac since I fell in love with the iPhone and the iPad.  And when I saw the HD monitors, I realized what I have been missing so ended up going whole hog with the complete iMac system.  Its been several weeks so far and no regrets.  There has been a small learning curve, but it is pretty intuitive.  However, some of my PC programs don't work on Macs so I have been playing with different "like-type" programs and so far, have not missed my PC at all.  (Does anyone know an easy Blogger program?  I used Windows Live in the past.  Blogger doesn't give me the option of editing my picture while in this program and it is really bugging me!)

It's been awhile since I have posted here.  Once again, I find Facebook takes precedence over blogging.  Not because I like it more but it is quick and easy.  I was able to quickly post the results of our trail clearing at Two Rivers on April 5 (thank you all very much who came and helped) and we had a great Platte River Riders season opener at that same trail this past Wednesday.  There were 43 riders!

We did get out a few times last month.  Having a March birthday, the weather is not always conducive to a birthday ride, but I did get lucky this year.  Not only did we have fairly decent weather, but McCain was home for a few weeks and both boys agreed to ride with me that day.  It was my plan to recreate the above picture taken in 2008 with an updated version.  And we came close!

Case brought along a friend who was riding Blue so he didn't make the picture.  And of course we have since lost Ginger.  I forgot how we were all lined up for the previous picture but what the heck?  It turned out just fine.  I hope its not another six years before the boys ride with me again, but it was good to see them in the saddle on this day.

Our first Competitive Trail Ride is May 3.  While it has always been our plan that I would ride Fancy this year, I have since reconsidered.  Having a good ride and good scores is a challenge but Fancy makes it easier on me than Windy.  But isn't the goal to have a good score riding the horse you normally ride?  I've decided it is more important for me to compete between the ears of my own horse than on a ringer.  So it may not be pretty but I hope that Turkey Creek ride last fall set the baseline for us and it is only better from hear on out.

Yesterday was 80 degrees in Nebraska.  Today it is 38 degrees and raining pretty good right now.  Some areas of the state has snow.  I am not complaining.  We need the moisture terribly bad.  There will be other days to ride.

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Tack Sale on Saturday!

Thanks to everyone who had a booth at the tack sale 

and who came and shopped.

(Raise your hand if you did both!)

The sale was a huge success!  

Just a reminder that there is a tack sale at Chance Ridge, Skyline Drive and W. Dodge Road in Elkhorn, this coming Saturday, April 12, at 9:00 AM.  Free admission!

Lots of booths already reserved and walk-ins welcome if you didn't have time to register.   ($30 per booth).

If you have a horse for sale, you are welcome to use the arena to showcase your horse.  $10 arena fee.

For complete information, visit the Tack Sale.