The Problem With Dark Horses

Our horses are out on about 15 acres with a variety of trees.  They like to hang out under the trees in hot weather. 

 Can you see me now?

 How about now?

 This is their favorite spot.  Can you see me now?

There they are!  Can you see the problem with dark horses?

Good Fences #28

This is a safety plea.  

 New gates are hung with hinges that are drilled all the way through the post.  We have several of these on new sections of fence that have been built recently.   J and I have said many times how we need to cut these off.  Well, a good friend just lost her horse to a hinge like this.  It ran into the bolt with it's neck and bled to death.

 J and I were out there the next day sawing these off,

both top and bottom hinges. 

I feel a little better now.  Horses can find any number of ways to hurt themselves, we don't need to make it any easier for them.

For more Good Fences click HERE.

First Fall Ride

Yesterday was beautiful and J had some extra time so we went for a little spin on Horse Heaven.

 J is wanting to keep Jessica in shape in case he decides to go on another endurance ride this year.

 I wanted to take Wrangler because I have never had him out on a trail yet and wanted to add some trail pictures to his For Sale ad.

 He did better than I expected although there were some annoying things.  There is absolutely no way he could hope to keep up with Jessica at a trot.  He will go a little faster than in the show ring but not by much.

And he was a little bit like trying to ride a blood hound.  He head was down sniffing the ground for at least the first hour.  But at least he wasn't spooky or nervous.  A good ride on a beautiful day.

Our First Cowboy Challenge

Our horse club put on a Cowboy Challenge Saturday.  It was postponed from August because of rain.  This time the weather was perfect.  I asked if they needed help running the event or did they need me to bring horses.  The answer was, bring horses.  We had added a Jr. Horse category and they wanted to make sure that there would be several entries so that's what we brought.  

J rode Brother.  This was J's first time showing in anything.  He claimed afterward that he wasn't nervous all but I have my doubts.  I rode Wangler and I was plenty nervous.  He acted the best he's ever done though, not a single whinny the whole day.  It pretty much goes without saying that Brother was a dream.  The event was judged on horsemanship and style.  There was a time limit but time was only used as a tie breaker in the event of a scoring tie.  J went before me and his score was 79 1/2.  He was the only one that they gave a time warning to but he managed to finish all of the obstacles.   E took some videos of him but they are pretty long.  

Wrangler on the other hand flew through the course.  He had never been under a tent like that but the way he was loping I was hopeful that he would just keep going but no, had to stop first.  I got extra points for waving the flag around but lost them when he fell out of the plastic bottle box.  Our score was 84 1/2 which tied for 1st but the other horse ended up about 12 seconds faster.  Oh well.  2nd and 4th out of 6 wasn't too bad.  I count it as a success for our first try.

Just Kit Sunday #64

Just Kit and the great outdoors. 

In Bloom At The 4R's

The flower season is winding down here but a few things are still blooming pretty. 

 E's mums continue to come back year after year.

 The Ever Blooming Hydrangea really didn't have many blooms this year due to a late freeze this spring.  But now it has several new blooms starting.

 Looks like the butterfly bushes will continue to bloom until frost.

 This late summer weather was very confusing to the forsythia.  It is taking this opportunity to bloom for a second time this year.

And yes, I know, these aren't blooms but they started out that way.  The pears are getting ripe.  Not as many this year but they sure are big.  Unfortunately, J says their flavor isn't as good this year.  Maybe they will improve as they ripen more.
Hope things are pretty where you are.

Good Fences #27

Last week when I was photographing the goats I noticed this fence post.  It looks like something I just not sure what and I'm a little afraid to ask. 

But here goes.  What do you see?

For more Good Fences click HERE.