Ranch Sorting - Woot!

A while back I tried team sorting with Paint Mare. It was fun but even though she is a good cow horse, she's gotten lazy, and we didn't do real well. Had a chance to do something similar, called Ranch Sorting, a couple of weeks ago, and I took Katie because her leg had finally healed and she needed to get out and get working again. Katie gaited, a Spotted Saddle Horse, so I figured we wouldn't do good either but at least we would get out and ride a bit and have fun. Boy was I ever wrong! Katie LOVED the cows and she did GREAT! So tonight we went back. Thanks to Kathy Rhudy, a friend of Mikey The Horseshoeing Housewife, who showed up to watch and was my camera man. However apparently I didn't have the settings right for nighttime... oh well, you will get the idea...

My first attempt to take a picture of the cows... guess the camera focused on the fence!
So I went beyond the fence, but it was awfully dark still

For those who don't know, the idea here is that you have a team of two, an arena divided by a fence with a "gate" (opening about 10 feet or so), and a herd of 12 cows. The cows are numbered 0-9, and the extras are called "trash". The cows are on one side of the gate and the team on the other. As you approach the gate, the timer calls out a number, and you start with that one, cutting out each cow one at a time IN ORDER and sending them through the gate, without letting the trash through, or letting them go out of order, or letting any that are already pushed through come back to the original side... quite fun!!! And, at least to me, much easier than team sorting even though there you have 3 people, because they do not divide the arena and give you a "gate" so you have to guard the whole distance...

Here's Katie and me, after a cow

Katie going into the herd

Hi! I'm No. 2!


My friend Melanie was having trouble with her horse Moses and she asked me to get on him, because she wasn't sure if it was him, or if it was her... well he was even worse for me at first, but I would NOT let him get away with his cr*p. I was very proud of myself for sticking on him through the wait and a whole sorting and not letting him get the better of me. COWGIRL UP!!
Moses kept trying to go up on his rear legs...

I finally got Moses to listen to me...

And got him to stand still at the gate...

Settling the herd

My camera gal had to go but once I was back on Katie we had several more successful runs, and even got a time of under a minute once! WOOT!

Puppy Playtime Of A Different Sort

This is Darci Jean's brother. His name is Beef. Today he came to play.
Ferocious little guy isn't he?
They were playing tug-a-war until I snapped the picture...
Wrestling just like kids...
I guess they wore each other out!

Technology

What would we do without it? Well today I found out. The answer, at least for me, is GO CRAZY!

Today I get to work to find the internet down. This is NOT good. I can't do ANYTHING anymore without the internet... got me started thinking, wow, only a few years ago it wouldn't have been a problem. Now, what would we do without our computers, cell phones, etc. ? There is now so much information available at our fingertips... IF the internet is not down!!!

Puppy Playtime

Sherman wanted to come out and play tonight.
Darci has to get right in the middle of things

All of a sudden he went over to his crate... I thought he might want his mama so I put him inside. He took 2 steps and...
Going potty like a big boy
then he wanted to come right back out!


Ain't I cute?!?

He's getting so big!



He's chewing on one paw while I'm checking out his pads getting dark...
Well hello Sherman!

I started this blog and then had to take another picture - look, we tired him out!

City of Angels

Here's your quote for the day:

"Some things are true, whether you believe them or not."

It's from the movie City of Angels with Nicholas Cage and Meg Ryan. Which by the way I highly recommend.

I think this is a message for someone out there. Because I had no idea what to blog about today and this is what came up. So there you are...

Six... Six... Six... TWENTY!

That title will make no sense to you without the story behind it. See about a year ago I joined a local website, Arizona Back Country Riders http://www.azbcr.com/ and started making a ton of new horsey friends. Early on I tried to host a few rides from my place, and it seemed like each time I did, there were six people. Even the one I did just a few months ago, might have been eight or so. I call them "no-frills" rides because the terrain out here is pretty flat, although there are enough little washes and low hills to keep the ride interesting.

So a few weeks ago I posted again to try and have a ride out from my place. This time my neighbor Melanie who is now on this site as well suggested we do a pot luck barbecue afterward. So much for a "no-frills" ride huh? But we ended up having a fantastic turnout, 20 riders and several non-riding spouses and guests. The ride was great, the food was wonderful, and we can't wait for the next one!

I didn't get my camera out, hosting was enough, but some of the other folks took pics and posted them on the site so here's the link:

http://www.azbackcountryriders.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1205183983;start=all

Carriage Manor Days

Today we drove to Carriage Manor RV Park in Mesa to participate in their Carriage Manor Days parade.
Susie Q - pretty in pink!

Clementine with her orange bow
All dressed up and waiting to go.
Holly and Ozzie

My new buddy Samantha and her family with Becky Lynn.
Holly and her "Pebbles" hairdo

Peggy Sue looking good in blue
Here are some of the other horses that were in the parade:
Talk about ingenuity!
The clown with his pony :)

These ponies did NOT like my critters at all! They were wide-eyed and dancing sideways as they walked past us!
These two were hilarious. I don't know how they did it, but they made these horses "poop" candy!!
Yes, iron horses too!
After the parade Clementine and I hitched a ride with Rick in his golf cart, over to the grassy area where we had a little "petting zoo" time.
Lots of people came to pet and get pictures and ask questions.
Clementine was little miss popular!
Too much excitement for such a tiny girl - Clementine was pretty pooped!