Preg Check

J put me to work today pregnancy checking 3 heifers he's seen come in heat.

They were all open. Good thing we kept a few extra when we did the culling. This puts us down to 19 spring heifers.

The Race

We finished the race! With no lasting injuries!!

The Vet check in was Friday afternoon.
J and Jessica trotted well to the cone and back. A breeze considering we had 30 miles ahead of us the next day. We then saddled up to take a short ride but Jessica didn't want to participate. She had a bucking and rearing fit so J took her back and lounged her. She was perfect for the ride though. When J lounged her Saturday morning before the ride he said she was just like a kitten.
We took our friend Aimee and her 16.1 hand 4 year old QH mare Inny. She decided that the first time ever that she would trail ride Inny would be the endurance ride. Never been on a trail, never trotted or cantered on a trail, never had 2-way horse traffic, never crossed water, never trotted across rocks... Did surprisingly well.
We were disappointed to get to the halfway point 25 minutes late (had to wait on Inny a bit) but we thought we could make up some time on the way back. Because we were running behind, the photographer had already left so we have no trail pictures. We cantered most of the last 6 miles and got back with 12 minutes left. Unfortunately, the horses' pulses didn't drop until 23 minutes later so we finished 11 minutes over the time limit but we were not disqualified on metabolic. (because the pulse dropped before the 30 min. limit.) The only injury (other than sore muscles) was when Inny jumped a creek, squeezed past Hank then kicked him in the stifle. It left a hoof shaped cut but no swelling or lameness. Jessica had a bad muscle cramp but was better after about 10 minutes. J is already planning his strategy for next year and looking for other rides to go on.

Helmet

Looks like J will be doing the endurance ride with me instead of V.

He has really gotten serious about it now. The only tack or attire requirement is a helmet which J bought yesterday (the ones we already had didn't fit him). He practiced riding in it this evening. The saddle we borrowed is about 20 pounds lighter than his other one. I guess we're ready for the 30 mile race.

Toad

I have been working on staining the deck for the last month. I finally got the rails finished and started on the floor. I finished most of the first coat yesterday. It started raining last night so I thought I would check to see if the water was beading up.

Look who surprised me.
Isn't he a handsome fellow. He had to come up 3 stairs to enjoy the new deck surface. I hope he ate some spiders while he was visiting.

State Show Decorations.

The 4-H club decided on a winter theme for the stall decorations at the state show this year. We had a work session/camp out this weekend. I thought I would take "winter" pictures of the girls for the stall IDs.

E says I can add falling snow to the pictures on flicka.
I was surprised and glad that V didn't mind dressing up.
Katelyn, our newest member was very enthusiastic. But she pretty much is about anything horse related.
Sydney did consent to having her picture taken but no amount of shaming would make her dress up.

I think the pictures turned out very cute. They should look even better with the fake snow.

Trail Ride

V is acting like she will back out on the endurance ride next week. Please encourage her to do it. Between all of the homework she has for Governor's School, trying to relearn the math she never learned properly to start with and cross county practice every day, she hasn't had much time to ride.

J has been good enough to step in and help with Jessica's conditioning. This morning we hauled the horses up the rode to the national forest for a quick 8 mile ride. Jessica was feeling pretty spirited to start with.
J had to fight with the cinch to get the girth on his Big Horn cutting saddle tight enough.
Then he had to fight with Jessica for a minute.
He finally got everything straightened out and ready to go. I think Jessica will think the ride a breeze if V goes. She'll be carrying 80 less pounds from what she did today. If J does the ride we will try to borrow a lighter synthetic saddle. I think J would do a great job, but I hate for V to miss out on these experiences growing up.

First Day of School

Today was the first day of county schools. V has already been going to Governor's School since last Thursday. She reminded me after the first day that I didn't get her traditional picture but I had the fall back position that it wasn't her normal school. So today I had to get up before she left at 6:20 to take her picture.

It was too dark to take it outside.
The sun had come up by the time E left for school at the more decent time of 7:40.

A weather update... 2 1/2 inches of rain yesterday!!! Things are already greening up.