We head out Thursday!! WAHSET

Meghan and Easy are back! We leave for the first High School Equestrian Team Meet tomorrow!

We hope to leave around Noon, it is about a 2 1/2 hour drive up to Elma, Washington and the Grays Harbor county fairgrounds. I think I will take the comp. but I have no idea if there will be any Internet access, (meaning, can I pirate someones wireless connection? he he he) so I may not post again until Mon. I plan on taking a lot of pictures! so I will share when we get home.

All loaded up and ready to go! Its a lot of rig to haul down the road! And I am so happy to be here to be able to take her, last year we had no idea if I would ever be able to again, so I am so excited! And crying while I write this. ( well we still have a few things to put in the camper, but getting close, we dont leave until Noon LOL)

Steer daubing........

Meghan took the old mare steer daubing last night! and they had fun.
For those that dont know what steer daubing is it starts out like roping in the box, but instead of a rope you have a 4' long stick with a tennis ball on the end and when they compete they dip it in mustard so you can see where you touch the calf with the ball. That is the objective, to touch the calf or mark the calf as fast as you can, just like roping.
Here I got them just as the chute opened, the black blur is the calf.


Here is the view down the wall, hopefully you keep the calf between you and the wall.

I keep playing with the settings on my camera, we go from redish to clear natural? I am still figuring it out.

Another run here, Meghan scored quite a few calves, she had a good night, they were not timing them last night. I believe in WASET you have like 15 seconds to score the calf, if you cant touch the calf, then it is a no time.

ya these pics are blurry but if you look close you can see the stick and her scoring the calf,

This run too, you can see the stick and her touching the calf on the hip, it looks like a lot of fun!

The girls waiting for their turn. Meghan has her WAHSET jacket on with the school logo.

and horse prints in the dirt, I just noticed the pattern and had to take a pic.

Meghan will be finishing out the year on our horse Easy, we had a disagreement with the people that were letting her borrow their horse. They did not want her to do cows, particularly steer daubing with him because of the box, for some reason they think he will flip over backwards in the box ???? she has been riding him for 4 months and he has not shown anything that would lead to that, but he wanted to ride him first before he would let Meg do this event, she worked cows on him doing sorting the other night and he didnt get excited at all, he is a lot calmer than our old mare is. He also said that the horse would have to score at least 150 head of cows before he could run??? I dont know what they are thinking, But it is their horse and they said no, so we decided to use our own. So the old mare is out of retirement again! Meghan has been talking about the cow events and I dont know if they didnt hear her or what, thats the events that she wants to do, and they shut it down, the weekend before the first meet. Easy and Meghan did so good last year, and went to the State meet in steer daubing, her fastest times were, 1.5, and 1.8!!, and Easy had never ever, done it before!! We find out she is a cow horse when she is 23 years old! They did respectable in sorting last year too.

Easy is 24 this year and we will have to give her lots of TLC, I hate pulling her out of the pasture and making her compete this weekend, but we have no choice if Meg wants to ride, it may make it a little awkward at drill practice, since it was the drill masters horse she was riding. It is a relief to me though, not to worry about someone Else's horse.

I went and got Easy some Trifecta vitamins with gluc, chond, msm, and hyluronic acid, so she can have some supplements that will help her move better I hope, and I will start feeding her grain three times a day, she eats hay so slow now, she is not losing teeth but has only an 8th of an inch of tooth on the bottom jaw. Easy also cute herself above her eye on Sunday, a board that her and Mickey broke between the stalls, she poked herself on it, and now the edema is running down and making her eyelid swollen, I have been doing hot compresses twice a day and putting furacine on the cut, hopefully most of the swelling is gone before Thursday, as we head out to the first meet on Thursday, it is about two and a half hours away. The hot compresses help a lot, if it was any place else on her I would use liniment, preferably absorbine, but we cant because it would drip down in her eye.

Well that all for now, Meg and Easy have drill practice tonight.

When I am old.........

> Forget the red hat and purple dress.

It's turquoise, diamonds and a straw hat.....

When I am an old horsewoman

I shall wear turquoise and diamonds, and a straw hat that doesn't suit me. I shall spend my social security on white wine and carrots, sit in the alley-way of my barn and listen to my horses breathe.

I will sneak out in the middle of a summer night and ride the old bay gelding (or the old dun mare) across the moonstruck meadow if my old bones will allow.

When people come to call, I will smile and nod as I walk past the gardens to the barn and show instead of the flowers growing the stalls freshened with straw.

I will shovel and sweat and wear hay in my hair as if it were a jewel.

I will be an embarrassment to all who have not yet found the peace in being free to have a horse as a best friend.

A friend who waits at the midnight hour with muzzle and nicker and patient eyes for the kind of woman I will be, when I am an old horsewoman.

~Author Unknown~

A few years ago, AQHA show in Redmond OR.

I took my Appaloosa to an open AQHA show! LOL
A few years ago I got invited to go to a show with a Friend, I handnt shown since 4-H but I decided, I had the money at the time, so I would go, it would be a good experience for Emma. My friend hauled the horses and I took our truck and camper so we would have somewhere to stay. The show was in Redmond OR, I think at the fairgrounds, it is a really nice facility. I talked my friend into taking these few pics of us, but she was busy and it was just the two of us, she was working towards an ROM in something, I dont remember what, maybe WP, or trail, so she had quite a few classes. She has a gorgeous Rugged Lark type dark bay gelding, with a funny sense of humor!

We only did about 4 classes, at $50 each class, ouch LOL, Showmanship, because I hadnt done it in so long, then I was late and didnt get to see the pattern, so I winged it, there were only 6 horses in the class, and lets just say I didnt place last LOL

Aint we cute LOL I dont even own any fancy show clothes and I borrowed the blanket from my friend, it matched my shirt perfect. (my shirt was a pale green and navy petite plaid, and the blanket was a pale green that matched perfect) Emma was so wound up, and there is an old racetrack all the way around the place and it was hot, but I had to take her all the way to the far side and back before she would settle down. Bob Avilas wife was there showing, but I didnt get to meet them, my friend had met them before doing the AQHA circuit.

It was 90+ degrees that weekend, and I had fun, thats all I went for, I knew we couldnt compete, and Emma was still pretty green then, it was in 2004 I think.

The saddest thing I seen was a sorrel gelding with so many pads, and special shoes on its a wonder he could walk, and a big lady riding him, of course they are the ones that won most of their classes, go figure, his trailer had about a foot or more of wet shavings in it too for cool cushion I guess. Why do people keep breeding horses like that, they suffer so much, if its navicular, cryptorchids, or some other fault, dont breed it, there are to many nice horses out there, and a lot of garbage, unfortunately, sorry I will get off of my soapbox now :)

We had a good experience and come home sound and happy, although my friends trailer was to narrow for Emma, she had such a bad bruise on her butt that the hair came off, thats why I dont like to haul her in other trailers, I have taken her on long rides in ours and not had a problem with her.

Team sorting night.......

The WAHSET team got together, those that do the cow events, and went to a place called the Silver Buckle Youth Equestrian Center. It is a wonderful place here in our county that provides horse instruction for youth, even if they dont have their own horse. It is mostly a volunteer ran organization. http://www.handsonhorsesexpo.com/( this goes to Silver Buckle, they have a temp host)




















Here the girls are waiting for everything to be set up, Meghan and Carissa will be partners for team sorting for WAHSET. They had good timing going, one would go get a calf and as they brought it back the other was going to get another, their best run was 10 cows in 1:25, they have 90 seconds in WAHSET to pen their cows.

Go go go! the team is given a # 1-0 and have to bring the calves in, in numerical order, so if they got say #8 then #9, #0, #1 etc. as many as they can bring in the time aloud.

There were quite a few people there, and everyone had a good time, I didnt count but I think there were 10-12 teams and some mom and daughter teams switched with each other, ie more than one sibling came, it is for ages 8 and up! Everyone who rode paid $10 for 4 goes. Which around her to do anything with cows is a good deal!

I didnt realize how hard it would be to get a picture of the calves, old #5 here held still long enough.

Guarding the gate, the pen for example is an 8 shape with the gate in the middle, you have to take the calves from one pen to the other, without any of the ones you dont want following their buddies through or going back through to be back with their buddies.

Meg is guarding the gate and Carissa is getting a calf.

Well the girls had an absolute blast, good runs and the cows werent to sour, meaning they get used a lot and know the drill after awhile.

I had to through this pic in you may have to make it big to see, we were walking out to the truck after they were all done and I went around the corner, all these little pony stalls are on the backside of the arena, all their little heads were poking out, they were so cute! Mostly miniatures and a few shetlands, little fuzzy monsters! did I say they were cute!

Emmas full sister, Ester.......

This is M.P. Exclusive Dream, aka Ester. She is Emmas full sister. They look so much alike. Esters right hind sock is shorter and her blaze is narrower, and she got a bit more dusting of spots. Looking at her its hard to believe this is a yearling picture, look how short her tail is.

Betty was giving the foals biblical barn names. I had to ask her where she came up with them.

Was she ever striking at this color phase. She also is a red dun.















Here Betty is working her getting her ready for a show.


























More dark spots on the butt, otherwise I would swear she was Emma, same color tail.



Cute girl., she was a little smaller here. probably a weaner in this pic.

Ester is now in Idaho in a dude string, she went through a couple different owners since she was first sold. Betty contacted the owners and asked about buying her back, but they wanted $3500. for her. So for now she didnt buy her. From what the Dude string owners said, she was one of their best horses. I can well believe it if she is anything like her sister in personality. They also said that Ester is almost completely white now.

ok blogger is still doing wierd things with the pics, any ideas?

Actual pics of me riding Emma....

Here are some actual pics of me riding Emma, she was always so good, a couple of times she bucked when I lounged her, and oh man! I wouldnt want to have to ride her buck! straight up in the air 4' off of the ground, no kidding! she looked like a Lipizzaner! Going up would be fine its the landing that would hurt! LOL

She was pretty mellow on this day though.

This is our barn behind us, and the mobile that hubbys mom and dad put in, under a hardship, hubbys brother lives there now, as the folks have passed on.

For some reason blogger decided to put some of the pics on the left side today?? Ill go in and reset some stuff.

She has such a cute face, I was looking at her when I turned them out today and she has big white areas above her eyes, she will be lighter this spring when she sheds out.

Sara took these pics of us. I think it was cool and windy that day, thus the big puffy vest, that makes me look huge LOL. But I was warm.














And the neighbors ugly old barn in the background here LOL




I said in the post where I included her sire, that she has a much better chest than he does!
She is such a wild pony, not, LOL I think I had to go get something and wanted to take more pics, so I just let her stand there, she just watched and didnt go anywhere LOL
She is pretty fat in these pics, LOL but so am I, at least we match LOL















Sara is just watching her to see what she is going to do LOL she is like "are you done yet? I am bored"
Pretty face, I love this bridle that I got from Colorado Saddlery, the wide ends seem to suite her well, and that is my favorite Les Vogt snaffle, it is a heavy ring with sweet iron inlaid with copper, reg snaffle mouth. Every horse I have put it on really likes it, including Emma.

All done for the day, always checking for more food LOL she is such a piggy. Sara is riding Easy in the background, I miss having her at home, she was always my riding buddy, Meghan would rather ride alone, except for trail rides.

It was always a dream of mine, as a kid, to own a horse of this quality, and she has a great mind too, it feels a little funny saying that, I got a really good price on her of $1500. which isnt bad at all for what I got, if I do say so myself! I hope that doesnt sound conceded, it not meant to LOL

More on Emma......funny appy color pics

The headless horse picture.....you can still see the dun factor barring on her withers. She also had cobwebing on her neck and leg barring, before we had the "whiteout" as I call it. These pics are from her 3 yr old spring.


The butt pic, she has a cute butt? yes LOL You can still see her line down her back here. Her tail has turned mostly white too.

This is her typical "give me dinner" look, LOL her mane is a lot lighter now, I love how she "spotted out" instead of roaning. My sister in-law makes fun of me when I take butt shots, LOL, they have Arabs,(and NSH's) and I guess you dont take butt shots of Arabs LOL but us stock horse owners know different, yes?

See Emmas mouth here, she squeaks her teeth, usually when she is talking to you, she is so funny.

And a back picture from up on the gate, the flash scared her, something we still have to work on. Her line down her back is pretty hard to see now, I am going to have a hard time convincing people she is dun and not chestnut LOL

I just want to get on and ride!!

This spring after shed out, I will have to take similar pics again, and compare,

I get a new color horse every year, I suppose she will eventually be mostly white as she ages.

Here she is at 4, at a clinic I went to with her, she didnt change a whole lot that year. I loved how the spots wrapped around her hock, here.

This is probably the best shape I have ever had her in, or me, where riding is concerned, I went to a Pat Wyse clinic and I tried to ride at least 3 times a week in the 3 months prior to the clinic. Whenever she was back at the trailer she had food in front of her, I believe in keeping them busy! that way they dont paw or pace or pull, while tied to the trailer, we had stalls to put them in at night, we were at the rodeo grounds in Longbeach, WA. The clinic was at the Red Barn, next door.

You look at her now though, and she is pretty darn white LOL she seems to be keeping her darker front legs and head, although she is pretty roaned on her face.

Lazy Sunday....

Ok I dont watch organized sports, unless a horse in involved LOL, but I do watch some NASCAR. I dont know why but it can be fun! The hubby he made hot wings and beer sausages, out in the garage, just to watch the race! So this is what we do on the weekends during racing season, and a lot of time friends and family come over too, and we have a garage full! cuz lord knows why we cant watch the race on the 46" big screen , but on the 27" in the garage LOL men, go figure LOL gotta love um though LOL


The first race of the season Daytona 500.




And Digger is kinda cute too LOL



Sausages in beer......


Hot wings.......


Little smokies in b-b-q sauce......yum, these are the daughters contribution LOL
AND...... drum role please....... the KING chair, my husbands favorite garage sale find, a barber chair, for $10, it is where he perchs in HIS garage LOL note the chips and the remote.


and the TV on top of the fridge, this is realy the "man" space, but I dont tell him that (LOL honey I love you LOL)





and this is the only reason I will go out there when it is so cold, the wood stove! and it puts out the heat! When we get a deer and cut up the meat we cook in the stove on the right side, with a cast iron skillet, yum yum!

So now all of you have seen the "man" space, without the man, he had to run up to the Moose Lodge for a quick emergency meeting, but he will be back!! and then maybe I will invade the "man" space he he he......

Matt Kenseth won the race, it was called do to rain, so wasnt a great race.