SHOW SEASON IS ABOUT TO BEGIN!

I can't believe it but it's been two years since we showed our horses! that is waaaay too long!  I miss it dearly but sometimes you have to be gone to be missed.  I miss it!  Now that my daughter Madison is living in L.A. I'll have the chance to show her horse this summer, which I am really excited about!  Max is an awesome horse and totally lives up to his registered name: User-Friendly Max!

Maddie and Max - isn't he just stunning!

And I will be showing my Arabian Khrome at a few Class A Arab shows.  Thanks to my daughter Samantha who will be training him and getting him ready to be the star I know he can be!

I've mostly used Khrome for trail riding, which is my utmost favorite thing to so with horses, and was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to break him a few years back.  I showed him a few times after I first broke him in walk/trot classes but this year Sam will take the reins and finish him to be a great show horse.  She's super good at training horses, both my girls are.  They trained all their horses and they succeeded well. I'm super excited!  He's just a beauty and no I am not biased!  He's a cute mover, cleans up well and is a great ride.

isn't he handsome??!!

Ok, sorry, all this horse terminology can get confusing.  So here's the easy explanation:

Class A shows:  there are different types of shows that you can show your horse in, one is open shows, meaning they are open to anyone, no registered horses required and beginner riders can enter, and then there are Class B shows which are a little higher up and then Class A shows for purebred horses.

Registered horses:  this is a horse that has 'papers' meaning registered through their breed affiliations.

Break a horse: means taking a horse at age of 2-3 and teaching it to be ridden.

Finishing a horse:  training a horse to be show quality, ie learning many different gaits (walk/trot/lope/canter), slowing him down (collecting), etc.

Cute/great mover: looks good trotting.

So today Sam and I moved our horses, Honor & Glory (barn name Honor) and Khrome by Khemo (barn name Khrome) from our barn down to our neighbor's farm.

Sam and Honor at the Badger Show in Milwaukee. Honor is just a beaut!!!

Barn name:  the name you call your horse on a regular basis - not his registered name.

Our neighbors  have an indoor arena to ride in and since we are expecting a good foot of snow or more in the next few days, we needed a place to ride and train because the first show is in three weeks!  Khrome won't be ready by then but Honor will be.

So because it is still so icy out I walked the horses the half mile down the road to our neighbors.  All the while Sam followed in the Durango. I needed the exercise. And the sunshine.  She suggested holding their lead ropes out the window while we drove and lead them that way but I knew better. That was just a wreck waiting to happen!

Wreck:  when a horse gets spooked (scared) at something and does something silly like take off, you fall off, you get hurt, the horse gets hurt or the horse rears up.

And of course Sam had to post this to Facebook.

What bothers me most is that my ass is almost as big as the horses!!

Geez, I need more exercise...

MERRY CHRISTMAS DAY 2012

Ha!  It was a wonderful day, in spite of not having my baby girl, Madison here.  She's living in L.A. now and had no money to come back home for Christmas.  Waaahhhhh!  But lucky for me, Sam came over for Bob's birthday on Christmas eve and stayed the night, so she was here in the morning, just like the old days!  That made me very happy! : )

This was the start of Christmas morning:  an asiago bagel with artichoke and spinach cream cheese ( a new find) onions and cucumbers. Nummy!  and a real treat for me since I don't eat much bread anymore.

NO!  I do not have too many cats!!!

So all the animals got their special treat:  the pig - a whole apple

the cats - cans of cat food

The horses:  extra hay

 Edy got one of those smart toys that you put treats into and they have to move the little nobs around to find the treats.  She figured it out right away, of course!
Percy and Louie got a bone that they immediately unwrapped.  Edy got one too.

This was my pile, which included this really cool coffee mug:

it's even purple too!  (I now it looks black here but trust me it's purple)

and my new awesomest Carhardt Jacket!  Now I'll really look cool riding the tractor!

Here's Sam's pile!

and here's Bob's!  See that Life Is Good shirt?  It has Bob on it, with a dog and a cup of coffee and a barcolounger.  Which is Bob.

Then Edy had a moment of selfishness and rage:

 Louie got too close to her bone.  Although Louie denied the whole thing!  Look at that innocent face!

I'm warning you!

I'll eat you alive!

So Louie went and hid by grandpa.

 Cashew's first Christmas!  Not quite sure what's going on.

 We offered Edy some food and water because guarding your bone from the evil Louie can be tiresome.

The carnage!

And then it was over.

IT'S A SAD DAY

Yes, the time has come.  Ezzy is slowing down in her milk production and I feel it is time to stop milking her and dry her off.  So sad!  I'm not sure I will breed again, as I am a really bad farmer and refuse to get rid of any of my kids so I do have too many. My goat milk customer is not gonna be happy! And I think for now, the break will be nice.  Not having to milk twice a day will afford us some time away from the farm too.  Most helpers don't mind the tossing of hay out for the animals, but the milking thing gets them a little freaked out sometimes.  I don't know why, it's just a little teat.

I will miss my goat milk, but I was smart this time and planned ahead, knowing the inevitable.  I froze a whole bunch!  This way when I get a craving for some chevre - I'll just whip out a bag of frozen and make it!

Sometimes my mind works….sometimes it don't.

This here is Ezzy when we first got her:

 

This here is Ezzy when we had her horns removed, (I'm sure the vet thought we were nuts, but we wanted to show her at the fair and you can't show a goat with horns and besides he probably knew better: you don't mess with a 4H mom!).  She had to wear this babooshka looking bandage for a week. And read the paper on the latest events in town (she's a socialite, what can I say?)

This here is Ezzy when we took her with us in the parade with the horses:

This here is Ezzy lounging with me in the hammock, I love my goat!

This here is Ezzy and me after she gave birth to her first set of kids:

And here is Ezzy and me after her second set of kids:

This is Maddie with Hermes and Athena

and this here is Percy enjoying milk - straight from the teat.

HOW MUCH FUN CAN ONE PERSON HAVE? (WELL, TWO OR MORE PEOPLE I GUESS)

So what is all this fun i've been talking about that we had in July?  It's all here in pictures:

The Artists Happy Hour at the Rochester Civic Theatre's Outdoor Patio

A Be CD release party in the Barn Bar.  Bob plays mandolin with these boys and they asked him to record with them on their new CD.  So we had a release party.

Then our band Blue Monk played at the Olmsted County Fair. This is Madison's fine artwork:

"yeah, I'm with the band."

And our band played at the Rochester Civic Theatre's Friday Night Bistro:

And Bob played with Ted at Daniel's NorthWoods Lounge:

Of course, we were at Thursday's on First and Third every Thursday (except for that one day that was 110 Degrees)

Image compliments of Don Vaughan

So with all this playing out we had to practice a little.  So our friend's Susan and Roger made us all pizza in their outdoor brick oven after we practice on their farm called Squash Blossom Farm.

Maddie took her training horse Maui out to Haycreek for her first real trail ride.  I think she liked the water!

oh small pic!

And I got published on the cover of Rochester Women Magazine!

Annnnddddd…. We got some tomatoes out of the garden.
Phew!  i am exhausted just thinking about it!