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Star Creek Ranch and All Things Miss MinnieMountain Mama and Miss Minnie are hitting the road!!! |
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6/30/2009 Ride with JaniceToday Janice and I had a good 3 hour ride. It was just the two of us, but we had a great time. I did not take any photos but will on Friday when I hope we have more of a group. Tomorrow Louise comes to try out Duchess in the hopes that we will trail ride once a week and get Duch out and I will ride Prin to get her out and about a bit. The weather is heating up here again. The house is nice and cool. I am doing laundry and getting the recycle caught up. The bin was full when they collected it today, so now I am putting more stuff in it. I also am collecting some clothes for the freecycle site I am also on.
Friends and GuestLast Friday I rode with my friend Lyn, new friends Diane, Judy and Judy's sister Linda. Diane I knew but had not ridden with and Judy I had met through my horse Meet Up group. Judy's sister Linda brought her horse to ride also. We had a wonderful time. Linda's horse is an arena/show horse so did not have lots of trail experience. She did well but the creek crossing was a bit of a challenge, but Linda handled it well and we are all pretty patient with this type as thing as we have all been there. We rode a good 2.5 hours and as you can see by the photos had a great time.
Last Thursday afternoon our friend, Ron, from the UK flew in to SeaTac. Garry and I picked him up and brought him up to our place for the weekend. Ron is attending a conference this week and will be flying home on this Friday. We stopped at Goldberg's Deli for a meal on the way home. Ron loves horses and used to ride a lot when he was younger. He cleaned stalls, watered and helped me with the feedings while he was here. On Saturday morning, we took Princess and Miss Minnie to Bracken and headed out on a trail ride. Ron and Prin were a good fit and we had a lovely 2.5 hour ride. We would have ridden longer, but the bugs were horrible. At one point something was buzzing around Miss Minnie's hindquarters and she started jumping a bit. I got off and tried to chase it away. I was able to remount and finish the ride, but the bug spray I had used was not helping very much. I am almost out of the good stuff and cannot find any. I will have to look online for more. I have another type that I need to mix with water and I used some spot on on MM and that is helping a bit. I think Ron had a good time and he was a help to me. While we were gone on Saturday, Garry picked up in the barn for me as he knew we would be tired when we got back.
Peg, any chance of you coming down one Saturday early and we can ride? Duchess is doing well and I think you would enjoy her. My understanding is Blanchard is crowded on the weekends. If we get to Bracken by 9:30 we are good for parking. I can meet you there as before.
I am riding today and Friday with Janice and hopefully Judy and her sister will join us on Friday. Tomorrow I have a gal named Louise coming to ride the filly and if that works out she will trail ride with me once a week. It is nice that I have met some nice gals to ride with. My friend Dolores is laid up for a few weeks so will think of her as I ride.
Off to do some laundry and housework prior to leaving for my ride. 6/23/2009 Where does the time go?I have not been on again for a while for whatever reason. I did have a great ride with Janice B last Wednesday. It sprinkled on the way tot he trail head, but Janice and I intrepid and brave horsewomen that we are mounted up (is that like Cowboy Up?) and headed off down the trails. Janice was riding her new Fjord that I had not seen before. I will download the photos (Dolores, I lied I do not always immediately download my photos, but do 99% of the time) the post them in this blog. Heidi was not in good shape when Janice bought her but is coming along nicely. She is pretty short especially next to Miss Minnie. Both mares got along fine. We did the same route Ronni and I had done, so we had 4 bridge crossings and went up and down some good hills.
    The weather turned rainy again so I have been cleaning house to be ready for Ron's visit in two days. Michael did the whole yard yesterday and things look really well. Once or twice during the summer I have him do the mowing and trimming for me. Usually he just does the back yard once a week until things dry out again.
I am off to feed and do some more house chores. I am meeting my longtime friend Arlene for lunch at the Claim Jumper Restaurant near her house today. I want to stop at Petsmart and get more Ferret food and some teeth cleaning kibble for the pups.
6/16/2009 The Last Lesson for a WhileI had a lesson with clinician Scot Hansen of Horse Think yesterday. I drove out to the far side of Carnation next to the farm where he had clinics in early 2008. It was very quiet there and we worked in a 70 foot round pen. We had to walk through some lovely tall grass which Miss Minnie wanted to munch on, but we made it to the pen. I love Scot's clinics, but the last two private lessons I have had have helped me a lot. Scot worked with Miss Minnie for a while on her ground work, mainly softening and her backing up. She was not doing it properly and now I know how to get her to back up by responding to my cues and not being a slug. I then got on her (I remembered and took my tall mounting block with me) and we worked on my softening her while I am in the saddle. Things started to click for me and Miss Minnie was amazing. Now she backs up properly with me hardly putting any pressure on the reins. She has been working off my legs better since I took all the dressage lessons from Ronni last year and Scot has taught me who to soften her and get her to focus on what I want.
Miss Minnie is a gawker from way back. She was terrible about doing this when we participated in the 2 day clinic in March 2008. Between Ronni and Scot now I can nip it in the bud if I pay attention. Scot said I have come a long way since I first started working with him in early 2008. He likes Miss Minnie and he also says she takes care of me. I was tired but we had a great session. I like being able to ride and control MM without hanging on her mouth.
Today I took some clothes to the shelter and have been cleaning. Tomorrow Joan and I go for a trail ride. Thursday is Harley to the groomers and I get my nails done and Friday I ride again. I could ride Miss Minnie 3 hours every day and I do not think it would faze her.
Off to make the bed and get things ready for Garry to come home. I did tighten my riding helmet yesterday so I did not look so dorky. It is not a good look for me, but safe and I am all about safety. 6/14/2009 Amazing WeekThis past week as been an amazing one for me. Ronni is back from Australia for some months and we had 4 days of 2 hour sessions working with Duchess and getting her out on two trail rides. The first day we spent at Lyn's arena. I have been trying to practice what I learned last year from Ronni and she was happy with me and told me I had progressed and she could tell I had been applying what I had learned. That was great to hear. Duchess did well in the arena for not having been ridden for months. Thursday we took Duch on her first trail ride and the only two things that worried her was the short bridge, I went first and a huge chunk of pipe from the logging days at one fork in some trails. Yesterday she she walked right by it. We did arena work on Friday again and I put my new saddle on Duchess and rode her for a bit. My saddle is squeaking again and that bothered her a bit so she was not working really well for me. Miss Minnie and I finally cantered a bit and that went well. Ronni took some video of us and she was happy the way they turned out. Friday evening, we met Lyn, Ronni and her friend Tim for dinner at the OutBack Restaurant in Everett. We had a really great time. Yesterday, Saturday, I met Ronni at Bracken at 3 pm for another trail ride. We had discussed cantering a bit as there are several sandy slopes that would be safe for me to do this. We did 4 bridge crossings over the 3 bridges there and then cantered once up and the slope and the second time Miss Minnnie went into a gallop and we flew up the trail. It was great fun. I am really much more confident and Miss Minnie is much more relaxed because I am relaxed also. Now I need to get comfortable with trotting and cantering out in open spaces as there are some lovely areas along the top that are perfect for this. Ronni will be back at the end of July and she has be down for 2 or 3 sessions then.
I suggested to Garry that we go for a trail ride today and he told me I had better ask Miss Minnie. I was kidding. I need a day off. Tomorrow morning I leave at 7 am for a 90 minute haul to have a lesson with Scot Hansen my clinician that I work with. This has been very exciting for me and knowing that I am making good progress is gr  .JPG) |
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