V's District Show Results

V had a very interesting and eventful day Saturday at the show.

She didn't want to show in Showmanship but I highly encouraged it. (translation: made her)

She ending up with first place.
L brought Allie to the show.  Our plan was to have her as a back up for the State 4-H Show in case something happened to Pep or Jessica before September.  V tried showing her in western go as you please.  She only made in around 1 1/2 times before Allie got too nervous to continue.  She broke into a canter and V had trouble even stopping her long enough to get off.  I think part of the problem was even though V rode her a long time outside the ring, she had never been in the ring and there was just too much new to deal with.  After that we decided E didn't need to try to show her.

V's largest class was hunter go as you please with 19 horses.  She placed 4th.
She also amazingly got a 5th in hunter pleasure out of 11 where she picked up the wrong lead.  Jessica was racing so fast it was half way around before V could even slow her enough to try again and even then I'm not sure she ever got it right.  At one point when she should have been trotting Jessica broke into a canter then stopped completely to scratch her leg.  Unlike E who's mistakes seemed to come right in front of the judge, he apparently missed all of the drama going on with V.  After that class I had V ride her hard until her next class.  She was much more controlled for equitation where she was 5th out of 13.
Of course I had to take Daddy's favorite shot at the end of the show.

E's District Show Results

The District 4-H Horse Show was Saturday.  We left for the show as 7:30 am and didn't get home until 10:00 pm.  It was a very long day for us.

E did very well in the showmanship pattern, but didn't pay enough attention to the judge in the line up.  She ended up with 3rd.
Western go as you please was her largest class with 12.  She place 5th in it and also 5th in western pleasure.
Although she is loping beautifully here, she did have trouble once again keeping Pep going.  Unfortunately, all the times she broke seemed to happen right in front of the judge.  She placed 3rd in western equitation.
The trail class practicing we did paid off.  She was 2nd out of 10 in this class.  I took the picture from video, it didn't transfer to the blog very well but here they are approaching the mailbox.

We were afraid Pep might go lame on the crushed gravel surface in the ring.  She threw a shoe 2 weeks ago and there wasn't enough hoof left to put one back on, so I just had the other front shoe pulled and we showed her barefoot.  She ended up doing well with no lameness issues.  E now has instructions to lope for at least 30 min. every time she rides so maybe she won't break so often at the shows.

Garden produce

I'm finally getting something I can eat from the garden.  J has been having lettuce with onions and spinach leaves for several weeks now,  but I got my first cucumbers today.

Judging from the vines it looks like I might get more than I can eat by myself.
It is always nice to just walk out the door and be able to pick something to eat.

Trail Class

The girls practiced on some trail class obstacles today.

They had to pick something up, carry it to another place and set it down.
They worked on opening, going through, and closing a makeshift gate.
Jessica always walks across anything without hesitation.
Pep on the other hand took a few tries to get up on the bridge.  Then she is never to sure on the way back off.  The district show is Saturday.  But with the weather having been so rainy then windy, we haven't had much opportunity to ride.

Lawn Ornaments

With all of the rain we have been having this year, I've had some natural lawn ornaments pop up.

Two days ago I saw these from a distance an wondered who had left 3 golf balls on the lawn.  Now they look like little flying saucers.  It will be interesting to see how big they end up getting.

Last Day of School

Yesterday was finally the last day of school for the year.  Graduation was on the 5th so other than exams for the high school, they really did nothing for the last 2 weeks.

Middle school had their awards last week.  E received her class citizenship award, A-B honor roll, and outstanding achievement in reading and science.

Flower Bed

I always enjoy the changing colors in my border bed.

Ebay Purchase

I made my second ever ebay purchase which arrived today.  It is a Billy Royal Mexican sterling silver western show halter.  I had to go catch Pep and try it on her as soon as it came.

E will be very glad to replace the 35 year old buck stitched halter she has been using for shows.

Does this halter look familiar A?

I think this new one looks pretty good on Pep.

J has decided to try and ride V's horse Jessica now.  He got along pretty good on her today in the ring.

Garden Disappointment

I told J this was going to be my year of the garden.  I was going to get it planted on time and keep the weeds hoed out and the tomatoes tied up.

We bought broccoli plants at Lowe's and had them set out by early May.  E was looking forward to having fresh broccoli because she was getting tired of asparagus.
However, it looks like our broccoli has turned out to be cabbage.  This is a major  disappointment as none of us like cabbage.  J said I could always sell them at the farmer's market.

V on Mt. Rogers

V brought along her wilderness kit C had given her.  The binoculars came in handy looking for M back on the trail.

We saw some of the "wild" ponies.  I gave this one a couple of carrots.  It really didn't want to leave us alone after that.
Toward the end of the trip V was getting tired enough to lay on the ground during our rest stops.
She said after 3 trips to Mt. Rogers that it is boring and she would rather go somewhere else.

E on Mt. Rogers

E decided to carry a wide assortment of objects with her for the 16 mile hike.  While I was debating wether or not to carry the added weight of  some band-aids and first aid cream, E was packing along her library book.

She also entertained us with some knock-knock jokes,
brought along a hand exerciser,
and a slinky.
When we got home I also discovered she had carried a rubber lizard that she never showed us.  She claims her shoulders were not sore toting all of this around for 8 1/2 hours.

Mt Rogers 2009

Well, we did it again.  We hiked the 16 mile round trip to the top of Mt. Rogers yesterday.  Some of us are walking better today than others.  The whole trip including rest stops and lunch took 8 1/2 hours.  M was all smiles at the beginning of the trail with Bunny.  Bunny was wearing his parka C made him for Mt. Everest. 

J stopped to wait for some of us by this interesting tree.
The very top of the mountain is tree covered so there is no view from there.  There is however a large open area called the scales that affords wonderful views. 
There has been a lot of rain lately and parts of the trail were very wet and muddy.  E went through 3 pairs of socks trying to keep her feet dry.
You can't tell from this picture but M is all smiles again at the finish.  We were all very glad to make it back in one piece.
More pictures to come...

More Bad Pruning

Our love hate relationship with the goats has swung back to the hate side.  They got in the yard again and showed their preferences for shrubs and trees instead of grass.

They really like this red twig dogwood.
This is the second time they have gone after this poor maple.  I might have to give up on it.
They tried the iris but left the leaves on the ground after biting them off.
They also seemed partial to this river birch.  J is ready to sell them all.

Working Cattle

We worked the cattle at our other farm this morning.  We used the new cattle pens for the first time with the whole herd.  The cattle worked through the chute so much easier than with what was there before.  It took less than 2 hours for the 2 of us to work 39 cow/calf pairs.

Before, I would have to hide so the cattle would come down the chute.  Now I can get in a position to actually help.  Plus, I get to stand in the shade of the covered head gate most of the time.  Quite a luxury on an 80 degree day.

This afternoon I sprayed the thistles in the riding ring.  The horses really hate dodging those things.