Columbia river Dike trail ride......

Didnt post Sat., I ended up with a bad cold and sore throat, and have just felt terrible, getting better now, still feel fuzzy.

These pics are from a ride that Sara and I took on one of her trips home. We rode on the Washougal dike, and along the Columbia river, this is a city park.

Easy and Emma, we are headed down the dike, it is a gravel road on top.
The ride all the way down the dike is about 3 miles, so it is a good quick ride, it ends at a locked gate on private property.

Sara on Easy, there is a funny story here. When we headed back to the trailer, we got mobbed by a large Russian family, all their little kids. They just wanted to pet the horses, we let them all pet Easy, as Emma wouldn't hold still, and I didnt want to squash the little kids LOL they spoke no English, just "horse, horse" LOL We like to be good ambassadors when we are out. They did thank us for letting the kids pet the horse.

Me and Emma on the side of the dike, Emma didnt have shoes on so we walked in the grass. The field beyond us is Steigerwald national wildlife refuge, I jokingly call it Steigerwald mosquito farm. I wish they had riding trails through the refuge as it is over 200 acres.

http://vancouveraudubon.org/steigerwaldnwr.html Here is a link to the refuge, I know the man that wrote the article. They have started on the visitors center, and there are some more good pics of the refuge area.

We went down in the sand beside the river. This beach has had so many names, growing up we called it Cottonwood or B.A beach, now it officially is called Captain William Clark Park, I dont know who's idea that was LOL, supposedly Lewis and Clark came through here on their way to the ocean.Emma and I on the beach.

oooooo scary things LOL Emma didnt like this concrete barricade, so we circled it........

.....and circled it.......... Easy was not impressed, "what was the big deal" she thought LOL

......until she put her nose on it, then it was no big deal, silly horse LOL

Coming up the trail back onto the dike.



This was a beautiful section through the tall grass, cool light, huh.

When we where down on the sand this was the view East.
We had to be careful riding down through some of the pools as there is mud they can sink in pretty bad.

And the view West.
Looks like two different places, up river for some reason had a lot of moss/algae on the sand bars. We so get just a little of the ocean tide up here, but not much.

And we were treated with a beautiful sunset at the end of our ride.

Inaugural MUSTANGS from Spokane!!!!!!

don't forget to look for the Mustangs in the inaugural parade on Tuesday!!

The group is from Spokane WA!!

http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/wild_horse_and_burro/news/inaugural_parade_horses.html

How cool is that!!!!

Mickey part 3...

This is one of my favorite pictures of Mickey. I think I have told this story before, I was calling Meghan to get a pic and Mickey looked at my instead of her! Is that a "please, get me out of here look" LOL The kids always have fun painting a decorating their horses on gaming day at the fair.

And...... Easy's soft eye, quiet contemplation, and trust.

I have Lemonade now! cool I love lemonade!

I redieved this cute little award from gttyup over at Life at the Rough String http://jksroughstring.blogspot.com/ Thanks gttyup!!!

Recipients of this award are bloggers who show Great Attitude and/or Great Gratitude in their blog.
So, here's how this Lemonade Stand award works....

1. You must add the logo to your blog or post.
2. Nominate at least 10 blogs which show Great Attitude and/or Gratitude.
3. Link to your nominees within your post.

4. Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
5. Share the love and link this post to the person from who you received your award.

Okay, 10 people that have a GREAT attitude......

1. http://bushbabe.blogspot.com/ She always makes me laugh, has crazy contests, and really cute family, and foals!!! On the other side of my world LOL

2. http://www.cowboysandsunsets.com/ Ah! Trainwreck, she always makes me laugh too, and keeps up with her roper husband!

3. http://nuzzlingmuzzles.blogspot.com/ a really sweet person! one of my top commenter's! Great stories and pics of her horses.

4. http://ponygirlridesagain.blogspot.com/ I am still in love with My Boy, LOL, great stories and pics of the cutest spotted boy out there!

5. http://dvmswife.blogspot.com/ I always laugh at her crazy stories, I want to go to Camp Yellow Ring!!

6. http://horsecrazyamerican.blogspot.com/ Lytha and her boy Baasha, great stories of learning how to be a horse person in a different country, and she is from my home state of Washington!

7. http://www.raisingcountrykids.com/ Great stories of raising kids on the farm, beautiful blog great pictures.

8. http://lifesfunnylikethat.blogspot.com/ The trials and tribulation of going through cancer, with a lot of good life thrown in!

9. http://chunkymountains.blogspot.com/ The Rocky Mtn. Retreat, she takes beautiful pictures, I wish I could have my own mountain, I would be a hermit LOL thanks Rocky Mtn Girl!

10. http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com Life on A Colorado Farm, great stories of on the farm and life, and she just had a birthday! Happy birthday!

I really enjoy reading all of your blogs, and love hearing from you on mine! keep up the good tales all of you!

Columbia Gorge, Beacon Rock hike.......

Our hike up Beacon Rock took us about 45 min., it is a beautiful hike on a sunny day. This first picture is off of the website. It is one of the most prominent features in the Gorge.

Here is the website if you want more info http://www.parks.wa.gov/parkpage.asp?selectedpark=Beacon%20Rock&pageno=1

and another site......

http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/Washington/BeaconRock/VisitVolcano/framework.html

sign at the beginning of the trail.


Here we go, up, up, up......

This is the first view you get, after climbing.........

(This beach is the local"nude" beach, yes nude beach, you should see the yachts that line up along here in hot weather, and they get out of these yachts and wash them, nude, guys and gals. This is right by my Hubbys favorite fishing hole LOL and not just because of the nude beach LOL although it is entertaining LOL Right here is a really good sturgeon hole. The beach is actually Rooster Rock state park in Oregon.)

.........all of this, on the SW side. Ashely kept freaking out over the little bridges on the way up LOL.

.....and this. on the west side.

This is the view to the East up river.

This little plaque is about half way up. The trail is pretty old.

And we made it to the top! Eastward view again. Ashely, Meghan and me.

North view.

This guy was flying around the Rock that day, thats how high up we were!

Sara, Ashley and Meghan, time to start back down.

The views are all worth the hike, this is a West view down the river, from the top.

The Gorge majorly affects our weather here, it is one giant funnel from west to east or east to west, which ever why the wind decides to blow!

Mickey part 2......

Ok I just spent a 1/2 hour putting all my comments with these photos and blogger , didnt post the text!! grr LOL well here goes again.



Meghan rode Mickey for 3 years in 4-H, they did ok, blues, reds, and some whites in speed events, Mickey is no speed demon LOL. I think I have posted this pic before, but it is one of my favorites



They rode in everything, Showmanship, Western, Huntseat, and Bareback Equitation, gaming which included, poles, barrels, key race, figure 8, and flags. Both of the girls rode in everything, and they did groom squad and horse judging class too. I wasnt of a mind to specialize while they were learning, I wanted them to get a taste of everything. I have let Meghan specialize for Equestrian team, she does Drill and gaming, and cows, performance classes she doesnt like so she isnt doing them, she has to do one, and that is usually IHOR, in hand obstacle relay, where they lead the horse through a trail course.

here they are running barrels at horse camp. They did horse camp every year, 5 days with their horses doing all the classes, they had a lot of fun.

Here Meghan is in a Huntseat clinic, ya her stirrups are to long and she doesnt look like she wants to be there at all LOL, probably tired of Mom yelling at her to do this and do that from the stands LOL I think Mickey looked really cute Huntseat.

Western Eq. at a horse show, Meghan colors were green and burgundy, we found a cute vest at Goodwill, and bought a matching saddle blanket.

This is their first blue ribbon, in bareback Eq. First place out of 6-8, she sure was happy!

I did say Mickey is the only horse to ever send me to the hospital, all my fault. She was a green 3 year old and was wanting to buck, I didnt give her a way out, I asked her to turn instead of go straight and buck, and she went up instead and came over backwards with me, as she was getting up she stepped on my left elbow, and I hit my head hard on the ground, no helmet, when I sat up my arms were spasming in front of me, scare. I managed to get up and walk to the back deck and proceeded to faint, when I came to, they had called an ambulance, no broken bones or head, I think I fainted from the pain in my arm. I should have gotten off, and did something else until she worked through the bucking fit. Hindsight LOL.

I will say she is the horse that has taught me the most, and is the most comfortable to ride. I purchased her when she was 2, and she is 20 now.

Beautiful hike, Columbia Gorge

The beautiful Columbia Gorge, but I am biased, as I grew up here. Mom and Dad moved up to Washington in 1969, when I was 2 years old. They came from California, in the Bay area.

We decided to tour the Gorge one day on a whim, these pics are on the Oregon side of the Columbia River.

Here we are hiking up to Horsetail Falls, Meghan, Ashley, and I. Ashley is our adopted kid sometimes. Sara is taking pics. Walking through the emerald forest, I absolutely love the green, whenever we take a trip I know when we are close to home, it turns green again, and you can smell the fir trees, this was in August 2007, I think, I have to date things better.

Meghan and Ashley are quit the hams, I think Ashley was taking this pic.

The view of the Washington side of the river from the trail.

Oh, I can see, and hear, the falls.

The pics in no way show how large that this is......

Here are Meghan and Ashley behind the falls, wow!

And the view from behind the falls, it was a huge cave.

I hope you enjoyed this part of our trip. We also went to Beacon Rock, Multnoma Falls and the Vista house, we had a long day and a beautiful trip, all within one hour of home. This was actually the first time I had been over there, sad huh, we will go back, great places to take pictures!


This is blurry but one of the only pics we got with Sara and I. I will post more of this trip. (ah geez that tall blonde amazon came out of me LOL)

Doc report...

I finally got to see my Neurologist today. He also said everything looked good and I am ahead of the timeline he expected! I am getting some things back earlier than he thought I might. He also said that it could take 5 years for some of my deficits to resolve, if they are going to. Something to work on anyway. I go back in for speech therapy soon, to see if they can help me with that, ie I can not call the cat, as in "here kitty kitty" kitty doesnt come out right, and I still can not make the "R" sound. For those that dont know my tongue was part paralyzed by surgery of a tumor on my brainstem.( along with some other deficits that are left too)

Anyway just an update, dont have to have an MRI for another 9-12 months, and that is good! for my kind of tumor. Now I just need to RIDE, that will be good therepy!!

My next horse......Mickey.

What do I do when I run out of horses, oh thats right I live with them LOL they are always up to something.
Lady McKenzie, is the next horse in my timeline. She is the first horse that I purchased as an adult. Mickey was an unbroke, spoiled (everyone fed her treats at the stable) 2 yr old when I bought her, originally for my husband, but we all know how far that went. He did try, I still give him that, to bad he is such a natural.

Mickey is a Hollywood Gold Bar, granddaughter, a good old friend still owns the stallion she was sired by, Hollywoods Dynamo, I bet he is 31 this year. That is her only claim to fame. her Dam was a QH/Morgan cross, her dams dam being a pony horse up at Long acres racetrack, when it was still open in Seattle, she was bred to one of the racehorses up there and Flame was born. The barn where they were had, at the time, a handicapped riding group, Flame was one of these horses. I thought with that background Mickey would be pretty mellow, NOT. Mickey was unused by the handicapped program, she was only two, and handled very little except for being led out to the arena at night, or out to the front paddock. She had not even been under a tree before.( I will tell you that story)anyway they couldnt use her so they posted her for sale. I made a bid on her and bought her for $300. I wont say it was a steal, she is one of my horses that has taught me the most, and the only one to send me to the hospital.(again my fault)


She isnt to bad looking for a 3/4QH-Morgan mare, she is about 3 in this picture. Wide shouldered and smooth gaited, she has a trot to die for and a rocking horse canter. To bad she was never very atheletic, but a really good trail horse.


Micky is the 2nd horse that I trained to ride. Dusty being the first. Mickey though had a bucking issue, that took me years to figure out. It ends up she is claustrophobic when cinched up. She only bucked with me on her one time, and that is because I hit her with my spur one to many times, my fault. But, she would buck as soon as you put the saddle on her, and I had to lounge her out of it for years. Despite all that, this little mare, she is 14.3, has not a mean bone in her body. And because of all the ground work she needed she has impeccable manners on the ground, and now that she is 20yrs old, shes not to bad in the saddle either.
Its funny to think that I have had her for that long, I almost sold her at one time, but she was still a little green when those folks came out.



The kids rode her a little bit, Sara here, and Meghan rode her in 4-H for 3 years,(ya this was before we did 4-H and started wearing our helmets) but thats the next post.......

Sunday Funnys.....

....as in Spongebob Labrador pants, LOL, Luxor is so goofy sometimes, Hubby got these boys underwear as part of a xmas gift, as a gag LOL well Luxor found them and was carrying them around, so Hubby put them on his head, and yes he still has them in his mouth LOL.


This is what he does he carrys things around, today it was his blanket, a pair of pliers, and the underpants LOL

He carried them around for a long time then.......

Hubby and David got the bright idea to put them on him like shorts LOL we were laughing so hard, a Luxor is none the worse for the wear LOL, he carried them around for a long time after he got pantsed LOL he didnt much care for "wearing" them though LOL

Parelli part 3, Meghan and Easy

This is the last Parelli summer post. The first picture is probably one of the most dynamic pics that I was able to take of the two of them. Its pretty cool huh?The connection that Meghan and Easy formed was so cool to watch, she just wiggled her fingers and bent down and Easy was coming right to her.

Every ounce and awhile Easy would cheat and follow Meghan around the side of the barrel, instead of over, LOL then Meg would have to jump too, the next time or she would keep doing it.

Meghan had Easy helping her on bareback, she would ask her to put her head down and slide down her neck to get on, until Easy got wise and quit picking up her head, leaving Meg in the air over her neck, but not on LOL. I caught them right away and had them put on their helmets, you can see she forgot here.

I said I would explain Easy being a master of body language, in these next couple of pics she is matching Oakeys stride, step for step, same lead, same side, we thought it was a fluke at first, but she kept doing it on different days too. She tries to get in sink with any horse that is next to her, I dont know if it helps her feel less friction or what but its pretty cool to watch. They are cantering in sink here.

And here again they are in sink. She is so funny when she does it, and it doesnt take her very long to move into it. She just kept doing it time after time, and amazed us, most horses dont do that. Carissa is riding Oakey a 20 year old gelding at the time, he is @15.2 and is a QH/Appy. She used Belle for all the ground work and Oakey for the riding.

Jumping bareback side by side. sorry its blurry but still cool. I wish I could stay on like that! But both of them were in really good shape at the time, as they had been riding a lot.
And it is all over, they are having another question and answer session, they got judged at the fair on this demo. and earned grand champion for demonstrations.

I wish we could have Easy again, young again, she is such a good horse. Messy in the stall, she walks a track in her stall, and she always runs outside when you go in, kicks down the barn sigh, but I would have her again, she is an exceptional horse. We never figured out until she was 22 how good she is with cattle, Meghan got a 1.5 and a 1.8 seconds, on her very first, neither of them had done it before, runs on steer daubing! and placed well and went to WAHSET state last year with Easy. I dont know that Rocket is going to be as fast as Easy, we will see. They also did well in Team sorting, Easy is a natural, god forbid she actually follows her breeding !! LOL She got failed as a cutting horse because of her nervous disposition, I think that they just rough handled her and she couldnt take the abuse.

Now I have to come up with something else for tomorrows post.........hmmm I think I know.

I won a prize!!!!!!

Katharine over at Pony Tales blog, http://www.ponytalesblog.com/ Had a contest I won. She sent me this..........
........ Wonderful book for entering a drawing over at her blog. Katharine rescued Panama, she tells of her trials of being a horse owner. You can buy Panama a treat while you are there too, Cactus Jack would probably like that LOL.

Thank you Katharine, the book is wonderful, and it really does have "Everything Horse" in it, from history to grooming and vet info, its pretty cool!