Grandpa's Farm

J hasn't been anywhere recently, so this weekend we made a day trip to Blacksburg to see V.  We also got to visit with sister L and husband T and Mama.  

 When visiting L I got to ride Wrangler.  This is the farm my grandparents owned.  My mother now leases it out, but growing up I got to ride all over it.

 Acres and acres of flat ground.  Of course I had to follow behind which ever field had been mowed so every 2 weeks or so I would be riding somewhere else.  But I also had hills and mountains and trails.  I miss not having direct access to trails but we don't have to haul very far for some really nice ones.

Now this is L and T's view.  Beautiful.

Just Kit Sunday #21

Kit hanging out with the zinnias and hydrangea. 

Bubble Wrap Please

We leave for the State 4-H Horse Show in 6 days. 

E has been keeping Pep in a smaller field with no rocks in hopes that she will avoid another abscess.

 When J was working on the driveway the other day he looked over and saw Pep with her back down hill and her head underneath the woven wire fence.  She must have been rolling too close to the fence and slid under.  She managed to get herself out before J got to her.  Luckily, she just had a few abrasions and minor cuts on her head and front legs.

Otoelene, as the back up horse, now has an abscess on her back hoof so she has been keeping Pep company in the "safe" field while she is recuperating and on antibiotics. 

Hank is hanging out to see what happens.  I've already started riding him more to get him back in shape for endurance riding.  But now we are working on gates, backing, and leads just in case.

New Home

We sold Thumper last night.  He has pretty much been for sale for the last 4 years, but I didn't get really serious about it until this year.  

 We got him 5 years ago for J to ride, but they just didn't work together.  (He looked kind of scrawny back then)

 I would ride him a few times each year to keep him tuned up but that was about it.

 Last year we took him to a couple of shows so that could go on his resume.

 He even won a couple of blue ribbons in the process.

It seemed like anyone that showed interest in him wanted a trail horse.  So I concentrated on that this year.  And what better way to make a trail horse that to take him on an endurance ride.  All of the extra riding paid off in a much better broke horse. Here's a link to the video that the buyer fell in love with you tube. He said he and his friend studied it all day.   A bitter sweet day, after all of that riding someone else will get to enjoy him.  I guess now I can concentrate more on Brother, Otoelene and now getting Hank in condition for a possible endurance ride in Kentucky in October.
Happy trails Thumper.

Road Work

Our driveway has been a mess.  We had some really hard rains this spring and one gully was nearing the size of the Grand Canyon.  

 J ended up hiring a neighbor with a dozer and backhoe to come work on it.

 There is over half a mile that needs attention.

 It was decided to put in 5 new culverts.

 We had had the telephone line marked the week before but not at the point where they decided to put in a culvert after the original discussion.

I imagine you can guess what happened.  Yes, they cut the telephone line.  Luckily, another neighbor is retired from the telephone company and instead of going through all of the hoops to get someone here (Friday afternoon before a Monday holiday) he just called one of his friends who came right out and fixed it within the hour.  Good neighbors - priceless.

New Vautler

We did some more horse vaulting at our last 4-H meeting.  I challenged the other adult at the meeting to try it.  She is about my age and an excellent rider but has never done any vaulting before.  Of course she said she would do it if I would.  Well, that wasn't much of challenge because I love to vault, I'm just not quite as flexible as I use to be.

Anyway, she about made it on with her first try.  I think she would have made it had it not been for the saddle pad wadding up.

Her biggest problem was that she wanted to control the horse's speed and kept trying to que him herself which is a big no no in vaulting.

I think we really showed the kids up on this one.   They have a lot more practicing to do to catch us old women.  And once again Hank proved himself a superstar with his quiet patience with everything.

Too Many Peaches

Our little peach tree had a few small peaches last year. 

 J said they were really good and sweet.

 This year the tree is loaded.

 I didn't pay attention to how loaded it really was until it was too late.

The largest main branch has split.  I'm not sure what the tree will look like after we have to saw that one off.  It's still a very young tree so maybe it will be ok.  J has mentioned wanting E to make some peach preserves.