Finesse Saturdays

We played with Finesse today! Sideways was my main goal because my sideways under saddle is iffy, so riding with a carrot stick or dressage whip [I switched back and forth] to help emphasize my point, me and Mo played with that.

Online and at liberty were also focused on sidways things, to help her understand the point of today. We went sideways all the way over a long log and around the entire round pen. I didnt do *to* much online/liberty stuff, just a warm up, because I knew I wanted to keep ahold of her energy and vigor that she had since she was tired anyways from yesterday already.

Im tired so I wont go into detail a lot, but we did a lot of nice concentrated rein Finesse in the Cradle with some relaly nice results and softness! Hovercraft in the works!

:-)
S

Good Fridays

Yesterday was a good day to. It rained and we played a little in the rain, but nothing serious. Just little liberty things.

Today was a really good day though. It was cloudyish this morning, but it cleared up really nice. It has been a long sleeve day, and I think Mo was glad for the reprieve from the clasting warm weather we have had. I have no complaints either way. If it is above zero, I am good with it!!

Mo was in a good mood. She walked up to me happily. And stuck with me for the whole walk to the trailer across the pasture. She ended up running away from me later though because I was talking to someone without keeping her entertained. It wasnt hard to go get her though. We played a little on the 45' and in the round pen at liberty, working on our liberty figure eights at a trot. Our draw is getting pretty good! I can get her to trot to me most times even!

I practiced a little bit of trying to mount from the neck but it didnt go so well so I am not sure how I am going to procede with that. Mo acts like I am to much weight for her to move around, which I very well may be. I really dont know. I am going to experiment some more with it another day.

I took Mo out on the 45 again, trying to break it in and we had some adrenaline which was fun to deal with. I like it when Mo has days like this because it is hard to motivate her when she is hot! I saddled her up and took out to play some more online, we worked on our changes of direction and maintaing gait.

I decided to ride in the Cradle bridle today to do some more exprimenting, and I think it went prett well. Me and Mo played around with changes within gait and our freestyle in my made up 'arena' around the logs. Mo is finally figuring out that she cant go faster under saddle. I am happy for that because her cute little hunter canter isnt good for everything! We did some trotting over the logs, the single ones and the medium pile. We *almost* went over the big pile, but then I had a threshold because I wasnt sure if she was going to do a deer jump and throw me off, so I dismounted. I attached my rein to her throatlatch and sent her over the big jump by herself. She did it three times and each time I was thinking to myself "Yea, I could ride that" so I remounted and came around at it again. This time WE JUMPED IT!!! YEY!!!

B told me later that it was three feet high! GO MO!!! That was REALLY cool! The jumping day session in ..Fluidity 1? really helped Mo figure out her jumping ability! We went around some more, not over the big one, but the other ones, cantering over them and helping Mo find her distance. That was really cool.

Mo had some more adrenaline after a rest break so we did some canter laps around the lower pasture. When we came back over to the round pen we experimented with the exercise Linda demo'ed in a recent Savvy Club dvd about moving the haunches in a disengage vs engagement exercises. Our disengage is pretty goo dso we tried working on the engagemnt exercise which involves bending the head in the direction of travel and moving just the hindquarters over. Mo was pretty confused about it, and I am sure it was because of me not knowing quite where to be, but we got a few steps in both directions eventually and I left it at that.

After walking around some more I brought Mo over to the trailer to untack. B had vaccated the round pen so I put Mo back on the 45 and went in the to practice our change of direction and change of gait in simulating liberty. That went really well so after a bit I ditched the halter and went to sit on the fence just to relax for a minute, but Mo offered her back so I mounted her backwards and used her bum as my pillow and afterwards practiced our backing by the tail while riding. That cracks me up. I love it.

Eventually I let us out of the round pen and we rode around bareback and bridless around the pasture at all gaits. THAT was really fun. Really confidence inspiring! After bombing around for a while we went to stand by the round pen and I took a mini nap lying on Mo's back. She was a doll and just stood there.

B and I did a little mini cool off 'trail' ride around the pasture to finish and then called it a day.

Four and a half hours later, that seems like a fair enough assessment! I LOVE having nothing better to do for a day than to play with my horses!!! Mo is doing great!

What Happens When You Think the Trailer is Locked...

As per my newly assumed routine, when B leaves to her feeding job, I go over to feed Indy and Crystal and then over to the other J's to play with Mo, and then B comes to play with Chance to. Well! Yesterday I was clever, and asked B for her trailer keys. She normally keeps it locked because we have all of our things inside the tackroom. Today I wasnt so clever. I later found out it wasnt locked for this express reason, but for the time being, keep in mind I thought it was.

As far as tools go that left me with my shiny [ugh] new 45' and the savvy string on my belt. Oh Boy! Looks like I really get to practice that liberty I have been procrastinating on! I called Mo. She looked up from her hiding spot in the woods but didnt come over until I got closer. But she did come somewhat in the end so that was good! We played hard yesterday and it was very warm so I am glad she doesnt hate me for that. It was a little cooler today and overcast so that was nice for her. We even got showered on two or three times, so a nice little cool down mid play was good.

When I met up with Mo, Chance and Reggie [J's horse] came to say hi to because I was carrying a plastic bag with my water and a snack in it, as well as Mo's carrot chunks. I was thoroughly investigated before shooing the other two away and protecting my herd of two. I put a coul of my 45 around Mo's neck and we set off over to the trailer. Half way to my end point I did a big interal DOH and groaned aloud Im sure, becuase I realized I had no keys and therefore no halter, no carrot stick no saddle. GUH. Round pen and liberty it is!

We went over to the round pen and played a bit. Our departs we crappy in the bigging until I figured out that swinging a small portion of the rope to make a whirring noise works better than throwing the whole coil at her hind end. THEN we got some go. But not a lot. Mo goes on a rollercoaster of adrenaline. up and down in the span of a minute. One second shes all "WHOOOHOO YEEHAWWW" and the next shes plodding around like shes eighty. Which is fine. Its just an observation.

I have been playing with transitions to backup on the rail in the circling game so we played some more with that and got our stick to me yo-yos going pretty good! Some real hind quarter power going on there! That big draft butt is actually getting some use! In my grand lack of imagination I got bored and just jumped on bareback and bridless because with Mo I just can... in a round pen her go level is uber low anyways so mostly we just stood around. Eventually I jumped off again and we played a little more with stick to me.

B came around then and showed me my brilliance in that the tack door WAS OPEN. *headdesk* Oh well. I ran with the theme and only extracted a carrot stick from the formerly-locked-but-not-any-more room. Mo perked up then. TOOLS are important. It was so much easier to be CLEAR and precise with what I was trying to get across with the carrot stick. We played in the round pen with B and Chance there to and THAT was an adventure!

Each horse had to figure out who was directing who and not react when, say B was slapping the ground at Chance, Mo had to know to still stay with me. I kept jumping on and off Mo because I am not creative enough to keep coming up with things, but on one of those time I DID kneel on her back, and stand almost all the way up! I could have stood all the way, but I dont trust MY coordination. Yet anyways. I am working on it.

We played around doing little things and I found out that my sideways circle game that I invented [?] works REALLY well at liberty! I just put my hand in the same place and off she goes into a sideways circle! I knew I was being super precise about the change in REGULAR circle hand to SIDEWAYS circle hand for a reason! I felt slightly clever at that.

I hadnt planned on riding really. Mo worked hard yesterday, and I was happy just plodding around bareback, but when I finally [and I mean like hours later] got Mo on the 45' with a halter and we were playing around in the yard with the logs an drunning and jumping and doing changes of direction at 40', my addiction kicked in and I just couldnt resist. I LOVE playing on the ground, but I am ADDICTED to riding. It fuels my passion. Ground play is fun, and very cool, it is something I always want to get better at, but riding is what I want to excel at. I ADORE being on my horses. Sometimes that bites me in the ass and I mount to soon.. but live and learn right?

So anyways after that strong run around warm up [adrenaline boost inserted here] I saddled Mo and did our preflight stuff. She was happy and so I bridled her [which she is getting SO GOOD AT! I am super proud of that, no more head throwing or anything, bridling OR unbridling!] with the Cradle for kicks and off we went. We played around circling the round pen from the outside since B and Chance we in there, and that went good, just freestyle. Then I made myself pick up the reins, since thats another thing I procrastinate - FINESSE! I am just fine riding around freestyle, I like it, my horse likes it, and we have a good time. I found out in my six weeks that Mo is ready for Finesse, so I know all thats holding us up is me. I have a hard time picking up those reins. Donno why, I just have a brace about it. I am working on that to...

Reins in hand we went around walk and trot and over to the logs, where Mo 'saw' something and got all snorty [for her.. she doesnt really 'do' snorty!] uppity, lets call it uppity. Her usually level head comes up and her ears prick and she looks at whatever and she trots faster. We did figure eights around the two logs until she calmed down and thought about the pattern. Yey Patterns! Ill have to get pictures of J's Playground. Its really cute !

When my dearheart calmed down we trotted over the two logs, jumping them and that was COOL! We started with one and then the other and then jumped both as a double jump! YEY MO! I will make a hunter of you yet! Then we went down the scarier end of the feild and did patterns ddown there and jumped the other single log and then the medium size pile of three logs! YEY! I am so proud of Mo! The only set she hasnt done [undersaddle] is the big pile of logs that is just *this* side of my comfort zone with Mo because she is such a sporadic jumper. Maybe tomorrow :-) I also dont want her to get sick of jumping, so we only did it two or three times.

After jumping we went back over to the round pen to work on should swinging and then went on tour around the pasture fenceline over to the water trough to get a drink. Yesterday in the confidence snaffle Mo couldnt get enough suction to get a drink so I had taken off her bridle for her to drink. It was quite the to-do to get the thing back on without dismounting [lazy me] so when Mo turned her head to ask me to take off her bridle again I politely declined and listend for lacking suction noises, there were none, she was just trying a new trick HA! Smart pony!

Finishing our tour of the fenceline I headed us back to the trailer to unsaddle. We went into the round pen again and played some more at liberty. We played with our figure eights at liberty, which, after some support from B to reinforce stick to me, went really well at a walk! AND then I had a Mo glued to my shoulder thereafter. It was great! Mo was even sad to see me go! Looking all forlorn at the gate and whatnot! SO CUTE!

We were supposed to bring Indy and Crystal over to the other J's [home] again tonight like last night but we were all to tired so we just skipped and planned for tomorrow. Indy was happy for dinner today, and is happy and healthy except her left lower eyelid is swollen a little. B is going to red light it for me tomorrow. Hopefully that will help.

Other than getting some groceries [by me-style groceries I mean milk, OJ and some tasty brownies that caught my fancy] thats about all I did today. About 4 hours with Mo, home for lunch, groceries, then tired relaxing on the couch and computer! I am liking this 'holiday' concept!

:-)
S

It's WARM! We Got Hay and PLAYED!

Today dawned bright and WARM! 80 degrees by lunch time. I LOVE it! I 'slept in' til 8:15 then got up for breakfast [mmmmm omlette!] and then went to feed Indy and Crystal down the street. When B got back from her feeding job we went on adventure to get hay. We were considering how many bales to get, 10 or 15 but then the lady said you can get a bundle of twenty one bales that is all tied together with metal tie straps. We opted for that since that much hay should keep us for the whole three months here!

It was loaded into Goliath with a fork lift and it even fit all the way in so I could close the tailgate! From there we went to the farm where Chance and Mo live to go play and get some metal snippers.

Mo was in an interesting mood today. I think she was still the tiniest bit right brain from moving and being with a new herd and things. She was responsive, but sluggish, both because she was warm and because she was distracted. She did come around eventually and we got some neat things done.

We played in the round pen and over some logs, practicing our liberty a bit. Change of direction was good, and draw was good to most of the time, though usually just at a walk. I can get trot draw online, but at liberty not so much! We are playing with it though. I got some carrots to cut up for incentive to have tomorrow.

After playing around with some liberty I stood on the pedestal and Mo sidepassed over so I jumped on and we played with some bridless around the cones I had set up in a square around the pedestal. That was fun. Really good focus task. We started by weaving around through them like we did online and then I started getting her to do circles around each one. Both at a walk and a trot. We cantered a little bit, doing canter halt transitions, and then Mo was really sweaty and warm so we just walked around. I attached a savvy string to her halter for one rein and then we went out over to where B and Chance were getting a log to put under the trailer tailgate so we can practice loading.

Mo and I just stood in some shade and waited, and then B mounted up and we went on a 'trail ride' around the fence line of the pasture to cool out. We had a following from the other horses in the pasture and that was fun, being able to protect our space without scaring our own horses. We found out that if B protects her space more, Chance wont be making ugly faces at Mo! That was pretty interesting.

Trail ride completed we called it a day and went home to find food. We need to be better prepared tomorrow and bring food and water with us!

:-)
S

New Day, New Friends

This, my first official day back in Florida started in an excellent manner - with bacon and pancakes. YEY. Todays mission, should we choose to accept it, and we did, was to move my ponies from their location at J's to their respective places for the next three months/9 days. Indy was moving down the street two houses to a pasture board and Mo was moving to another J' s about fifteen minutes away. Also, B's second horse needed to be moved to the pasture with Indy.

So, I walked Indy over to her new digs, she thought that was pretty cool. Mo actually surprised me and worried a little when I took Indy away. It was cute, and over in the 10 minutes between me leaving the house and B driving by with her horse in the trailer. Brief, but cute separation anxiety. Thankfully brief.

Putting Indy and Crystal together should have been fun. There should have been fireworks. I should have been able to get some really pretty and gorgeous awesome running and playing pictures because their pasture is beautiful! Camera at hand, we let them go... and what do they do? they sniff noses and GRAZE. Nothing exciting. Not a single squeal. Sheesh!

Those two taken care of went home to switch B's truck and trailer for Goliath and my trailer. We are leaving my trailer at the pasture because we can keep B's with Mo and Chance for slant load practice. Four ponies, two trailers, it works out perfect. After the trailer was unhitched we went back home to load Mo. Her first time in a slant load! She did really really well! I am really proud of her! Having never loaded a horse into a slant, B helped me figure it out, and Mo was a real trooper. She tries so hard!

When we got to the other J's Mo unloaded great, and then we took her into the roundpen to meet Chance over the fence. Neither did anything. No snortyness, no squeals. So we opened the gate and B brought Chance in and let him go... which turned into a liberty session because he had NO interest in attacking Mo at all! Which is really ironic since it was his prime objective on the beach! I let Mo go to, and we played at liberty a bit and then we tried to get some action out of them by sending them both out to the rail, but they both just ran together like "We have leaders, we dont need to squable with each other" IT WAS SO COOL!

Both horses are usually tackle-newbies types so it was really interesting that by being a leader and being present we could keep things under control - and it wasnt even an issue! B and I both jumped on for a quick bareback/bridless ride around the pen for a bit before taking Mo and Chance back to the rest of the herd. Mo had some fun with the herd, I protected her space for a bit then let her do her own bubble protecting.

She would sniff noses with the other horses, then turn to walk away and they would nsiff her bum so she would lift a leg and say clearly I AM GOING TO KICK YOU and then take a step backwards. She would do this three or four times beffore actually throwing a kick. It was hysterical! She would be high step marching backwards and the horse behind her would just be backing in his own line. And then she would kick. Slowly and deliberately. To cute! Left brain all the way!

Nothing major even happened with the rest of the herd either. I am glad but I still a little tiny bit dissapointed! I like first meeting running pictures. Some of the best stuff I have of Indy and Mo is from Indy's first day!

Everything is still awesome in Florida!

:-)
S

WE'RE HERE!!

Me, Mo, Indy and B all made it officially to Florida this afternoon, but I am getting ahead of myself. Firstly, the journey.

We went on Wednesday to pick up B in Syracuse at the airport - no pssport means no international flying so this was the next best option. That went well, despite some minor snowyness. Thursday was a flurry of activity trying ot get al lthe lsat minute things done and ready to go. Getting the truck and trailer loaded up and backed up to the barn, along with other crucial things like visiting Grammie and Grampie one last time before departing had to be taken care of.

We got everything loaded and ready to go, Indy and Mo had a breif refresher course with the trailer and B huddled for warmth in the tack room trying to be warm. Luckily our spell of -40 disapeared and it was semi-mild for her! Or at least it seemed that way to me....

At the crack of dawn [before actually] on Friday we hauled our butts out of bed [ I literally had to drag B out LOL] and got everything last minute ready and got into Goliath [Goliath being my "new" ride - an '89 Dodge Ram 250] and set off down the road with Richard as our guide. WHOOHOOO!!!

Two hours later we pull up at the Canadian border and get delayed for an hour while the poor border vet lady struggles to get her computer program opened because they just reset all the pass words. As much as I wanted to be in and out ASAP, I felt kind of bad because she was really sad and frustrated. It all worked out though and we eventually got on our way. We drove and drove and drove and drove allllllllllll the way down through New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, hit some traffic there and through Virginia and then finally into North Carolina. We pulled into our overnight in North Carolina around 12:30 and unloaded my darling [and oh so tolerant] ponies into their stalls for the night. They seemed happy and muched on their hay. We went to sleep for a few hours and then got back up and on the road by 7:30.

Today was a harder start for me. Yesterday was all full of adrenaline and not a little bit of fear of the great unknown - previously I was untested in long road trips, and this is a helluva way to find out I can do it - sink or swim for sure! Today was a little more dragging. This morning anyways. After we stopped at a gas station I was a bit revived and the second time came soda, which cures all with caffeine. We cruised through South Carolina and into Georgia with no problems at all. Goliath was amazing and an awesome drive. We had no problems on any of the hills even with my chunky trailer and fat ponies in the back! YEY!

We FINALLY crossed into my darling Florida and stopped at the Ag stop and then we were on the HOME STRETCH!!!

Richard kept telling us we had three hours left but we proved him wrong and went with the km's left vs the hours left and made it in two hours. WE FINALLY MADE IT TO J'S HOUSE!!!!!!!

I cant really express how exciting this is when you have been going stir crazy on the road - two LBE's in a small box..... good times! Of course we both escape Goliath ASAP and run in to say hi to R who I am THRILLED to see again :-) J was away at a clinic with her pony so she wasnt home. We unloaded the ponies and let them out into their paddock to stretch and play and Mo did her walking with giant action thing she did before with is so cute and Indy just kind of followed her around like a lost puppy. SO CUTE!

Indy and Mo went about walking and trotting - with Indy showing off her fancyness by passaging around and being floaty and gorgeous. Mo tried to mirror her, but it was just a cute try, it is not so natural to her. Watching Mo and Indy go around for a while it was REALLY obvious that Indy was mirroring Mo!! It was SOOOOO NEAT! Indy was pretty much completely RBI the whole trailer ride and so she was looking for a leader big time, and even though she really doesnt like Mo, Mo was [is] confident in new places and so she followed her around.

Mo would stop, Indy would stop, Mo would go, Indy would go, Mo would walk with her head down, Indy would walk with her head down. It was just to adorable.

When they were happy enough, we gave them some hay and then unloaded my [copious amounts of] stuff. Then came the best part - SHOWERING! I forget how much fun showering is after road tripping. Getting all that grime off is NICE. Since we wanted to make the best possible time we could, we kinda skipped meals and lived off of emergency crackers and whatever we could get at gas stations yesterday and today so we went out for supper for a real meal at Sonic and then picked up a few extra organixational requirements for our shared arangements at Wally World. Dangerous place that Wally Wolrd.... credit card balances run high all on their own between those walls.....

So thats my story. Tomorrow we move Indy to her boarding pasture, and Mo over to where B keeps her horse for nine days until we go to the Parelli Centre so that we can play hardcore to get back into practice. Everyone made it safe and sound on the long haul :-)

:-)
S

Kota has Left the Building

Dakota officially left my care this morning.

We tried to go last night but whiteout conditions forced us to turn around, so Kota spent the night at Auntys house instead. He was a good giant pony and when we loaded up again this morning, it was clear but bloody cold. -37 including the windchill. That is COLD - since -40 is the same farenhieght or celcius, you know how cold that is no matter what country you hail from!

So after dressing in a million layers and lots of fleecy things, we went off to find his new home. The directions we clear but it was waaaaaaay out in seemingly the middle of nowhere on a winding road. We drove very slowly to get there for fear of missing the lane and not being able to turn around, the return drive was much faster [isnt is always though?]

As we went around the round about laneway I heard a little scuffling but nothing major so I guessed Kota was just shifting around, but when we stopped there was a big stomping sound but that stopped to, so I just thought he was being anxious to get off the trailer. Its not his usual tactics, but it was an interesting day. I was wrong. We opened the trailer door and Kota was LYING DOWN. HOLY CRAP.

Pardon the expression, but I was shitting bricks. After the hell of driving a horse trailer through sudden whiteouts the night before to this now, I was not impressed. He seemed fine, the divider was a little bent, and he was just curled up on the ground like he was sleeping. He wasnt panicing, just laying there and looking at me like "Will you help me now?" Thank goodness. So we opened the door and I held his head and we tried to get the divider over so he could get up since half his body was under it [its a swinging divider, not a full wall] Somehow [and I am still not sure how] he just got himelf up before we could move the divider.

I clipped a lead on and backed him off, he seemed fine and calm. He had a cut on his knee, just superficial, that was bleeding a bit, a cut on his lip and some fur missing off his other knee. Other than that he was fine. He wasnt being spooksy or freaking or anything. I got him to move around a bit and he didnt favor anything, and was calm. THANK GOD!

So we led him to his new pasture, which involved some interesting squeezes between I-dont-know-whats covered in plastic and the house that werent much wider than him, and he didnt even flinch or jump at all! He has a paddock all to himself right now, sharing a fenceline with his new buddy, a thoroughbred who looks like a dainty pony next to him, its cute really. The did the sqealy strike thing over the fence while I still had a line on him and then Kota looked at me like "Now what?' So I let him go and he went over to the hay piles his new owner put out for him. Easily satisfied he is.....

She showed me her barn, and Kota's new stall, all set up with fresh shavings. It is a really nice place with rolling hills and an old style century barn thats been renovated. I think Kota is going to be so happy there. He will have a whole family to dote on him and love him and he will have a gelding friend to keep him company. I am very happy with the home choice. I feel really comfortable knowing that is where he is going to be, and I have been invited to visit anytime, which I intend to do when I get back from being an extern.

So now I am down to two horses - Mo and Indy, and almost on my way to Florida. B flies in on wednesday afternoon, I called Parelli to organize payment yesterday, and my awesome dad already has the trailer to work on fixing the centre bar. Funny side note, my dad, who hasnt always been the most ...in favour... of my horsey obsession-must-make-it-a-career choices, I think is really proud of me for this trip this time around. Im going to be gone three months, by myself [not really, just without blood family] and being an extern... he made a big deal about my big trip so I thought that was nice. Its cool that he is proud of me [or I at least feel like he is] especially since it used to feel like he really didnt like me as a person. So yey for that. Side note done...

Et Voila. Life = Happy now. Everything is working out. Karma maybe still loves me!

Interesting quote from the Universe this morning, really seemed apt for me right now:

Folks are often so mesmerized, Sandy, by gold medals, trophies, and the daunting heights they aspire to, they tend to forget that their heroes and heroines, more often than not, started with far less than they now have.
You are poised for greatness,
The Universe

I like it anyways! :-)

S

Updates

Travel plans are progressing along well. Trailer is road worthy, truck [big one from dad] is being transfered/getting plates since it has only a dealer plate, and B is arriving next thursday! Mo and Indy got their coggins tests done last night and were total troopers. Funny story about that actually [sort of, mostly just makes me smile] I wasnt late really, but five minutes behind my usual schedule and the vet was early, conspiring to get here to the farm one minute before me.

So, I felt terrible that my horses werent in and waiting and to boot they were in the far lower corner of the pasture. DOH. So after apologizing quite a lot I went out to the back door and called Mo. I LOVE AND ADORE MO BEYOND ALL EVERYTHING! My pony snaps up her head, goes OMG YOURE HERE and runs over to me. She mostly brings the herd because they think its dinner time, but Mo bee-lines it to me and I just step aside to let her in the barn and she goes to a stall.

Indy was peeing while this was happening, but as soon as she was done she high tailed it over, shoved her way through the crowd and gave me this "IM HERE! SEE!" look and went right in the barn to. YEY!!! I didnt feel so bad about being late anymore. THAT was impressive. My ponies rock. AND Indy got complemented on how quiet she was for the blood taking and standing to get diagramed [sorry she is so complicated... paint coggins are no fun!] So that was my excitement. Having your horse RUN to you really makes a difference when you are behind schedule!

In other news, Dakota is going to his new home tonight. I am ambiguous about this. Half devastated still, half relieved he has a place to go. I will eventually figure out what I feel for sure, but last night was a good hint, having Mo and Indy in the barn together, both having run to me, and nickering for me to visit with them in their stalls just felt like an outpouring of love. It was soooo nice. It felt right, and that helps a lot. Indy was so great. I sort of expect Mo to have a better standard of behaviour for these things because ... well I am not sure why, I just do. But I always worry just a little with Indy because she hasnt experienced as much with me as Mo has, but she was perfect AND lowered her head and brought it around when I haltered her with NO hesitation. LOVE IT! If someone takes her as a lease horse, they are going to have a BLAST, she is becoming SUCH A JOY!

So my list of to do's is still kind of long, but its getting under control. I still have to:
Call Parelli to get payment organized
Call AgriCan to get Health Certs signed after I get them on Friday
Pick up B at the Airport
Make waffles with C [see? I didnt forget you!]
Re-practice trailer loading with Indy, just to make sure
Trade trucks with popsy
PACK
Get my tack re-organized
Find small saddle rack from Apple for gooseneck
Get my manifest faxed to the 730 truck stop
ummm I think thats near to all of it. OH and I have to confirm what day with the horsey motel. Thats all :-) Major thing was getting the coggins done, and now they are, so life is good. Well, getting Dakota a home was major, but thats done to. Everything is falling into place! Its almost time to go!

:-)
S

Happenings

Not much has been happening out here in the cold. We have had a string of windy cold snowy days and now the grass has gone again. I managed to get stuck something like four times in one day trying to get out of Aunty's laneway. Joy, only notreally. I HATE getting stuck, with a passion. It frustrates me SO MUCH! I feel helpless, which I loathe to feel and there is nothing I can do about it really. So I called my mom and her and Rob came and towed me down the lane. Stupid two feet of snow... OF COURSE you can get in just fine but not out! HA!

In other news, Dakota is getting his pre-purchase vet check tomorrow. Should be a novel experience, since I have never seen/been part of one of those before. I dont really know what it entails, but the lady buying him said dont ride before and then they need to see him undersaddle. So I hope to high heaven it isnt -40 plus windchill tomorrow! If all goes well, they will be taking him home. They are a nice family and work with a friend of mine so I will be able to keep track of him I hope. He is selling with a buy-back contract, so hopefully he will be safe forever.

I have found a fun new thing to do - http://www.photoinpress.ca/en/software/download_bookdesigner.html
it is a program that you can make a scrap book esque book of your own using pre-existing templates but pictures from your own life. You can even get it printed when you finish into a coffee table style bound hard cover book. AND ITS FREE! There are all kinds of different templates - like 5 photos on a page, 3 horizontal and 2 vertical with some words ..e tc.. you can have up to 16 pictures on one page! I find it a lot of fun, but I am picture obsessed and love programs that can help me organize them.

I have been trying to organize all the pictures on my laptop and old PC computer since one is yelling at me for having a full hard drive and the other I am afraid will just die with all my precious things on it. I have SO MANY pictures, I never really thought about it before, but my 4G memory stick is FULL and it wasnt even half... oh boy! Good thing I just bought a stack of CD's! It took four to get all the pictures fromt he stick onto cd's.... yey! Of course the joy being I can only burn either at work [on someone elses pc even, mine has nothing] or on mom's computer at home. None of mine have that capability. Joy. New laptop is on the list... someday!

Mo and Indy are good. The vet is coming to do their coggins tests on Monday - she was supposed to come Wednesday but we got a HUGE blizzard so we re-scheduled. No problem with that... its a peril of living in Canadia. Dad is working on the truck and trailer, getting everything travel-a-bazillion-miles ready. I got haybags yesterday from the tack store, since haynets went over so badly on the past trip. Now all I need is one of those midget saddle racks for inside the goosneck and everything should be ready [other than packing]

:-)
S

Warmward Bound!

I GOT THE EXTERNSHIP!!!

In 25 days I will be taking Mo, Indy and Myself all the way back to Florida for another three month adventure!! HOW AMAZING IS THAT!!
I cant wait!
And, as a bonus, I get to stop in Franklin TN on the way down to go to the tour stop!
B is coming up here for the drive down [yey!!] and we are going to layover and hopefully volunteer at the Celebration!

SO MUCH TO DO!!!!

:-D
S