Property Trail Riding-Part 2

Playing in the front property, in the deep snow!

This is as XC as we get! 

Love my brave boy...because I am not!

Property Trail Riding-Part 1

Mouthy Laz nibbling his stick

Usually when he's playful like this, it means he's feeling confident and content.

"I likz this stix bacuz it tellz me I'm a gooood boi"

Would you call Laz a high withered boy?

I think he's med to high...it all pertains to my new time obsession of searching for a treeless saddle

Ob.sess.ed!!!

Thanks Janine!!!! I kid, I kid...but she's been fun to discuss options with and knows a lot being she's had 3 different ones!

 Ek.

Sorry for the graphic display below.

BUT...while we are talking about that ...please tell me other horse Moms out there take the extendo opportunity to swipe off the dangling extra skin that just begs to be gently picked off?

No?

Anyone???

crickets....

OK, back to PG

Look at his tail!

 LOVE how long it's getting!

 Free lunging in arena

 Great forward action on his part today!

 Canter...his choice!

 He was great at free lunging, except for today (and on Thurs) he aggressively charged at Mason!!

I'm not sold that it was 100% playful, it seemed to be a little jealousy maybe? 

I say that because today, he kept walking in between Mason and I and twice while riding, he darted at him.  

I did NOT approve.

Mason is my BABY, Laz..and yes you are my baby too, but you are bigger than him so CHILL!

That moon shaped star is so magical and POPs with the snow behind him.

Surely the remnants of where his unicorn horn should have gone

 Hoorah for weekend rides...where I actually have time!

 "Trail riding" on farm property.  Alongside arena and out in front in the deep snow.

Laz's trot today was SO huge it felt like I was riding some Warmblood show horse!

He was really brave today and even though I honestly have to get over my 'leaving our comfort zone fears', he took good care of us.

 Trying to run the BO over and me bouncing almost off ;)

 Front of property

Fun small hills to work on in the future (and a little today)...video to come

 My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard

After our ride, Laz enjoyed a good roll.

No, not during the 4 hours he had his blanket OFF...but 10 minutes after I put it back on.

Laz's other herdmate...the BO's paint Sawyer

This is a perfect shot of him because he's always wanting to rest his face on your shoulder or head when you are in the paddock.

He's a sweet dumb jock..actually not dumb, he's smart, but it's funnier that way.

The mini Chief should be called Houdini because he's an escape artist!

I wouldn't be surprised if at night, he digs a tiny shawshank redemption hole to try and escape.

For what, Mini?! Stay put...we love u!

 After Laz, I offered to the BO to lunge Sawyer and he did great. I worked on some of my Parelli games with him and he rocked it.  He has the complete opposite personality as Laz so it's fun to work with a different type horse.  You could set a bomb under him and he'd be like "What's that burning smell....a joint?"

At the same time, he can be a real pickle when it comes to ground manners.  He has to work on his space/your space and he resists when you ask him to change direction during a lunge, like Laz does. 

The difference is, Laz blows up and Sawyer just stops and plants his feet.

It's fun learning how to work with the different personalities

 Thankfully the predicted snow for Sunday, came early (sarcastic hoorah) and it took me 2 hours to get home.  Pretty though, just makes driving annoying.

Of course I did have this sweet boy in my backseat so it's not all that bad

Stay warm!

Travels with horses-Part 2

This "Travels with horses" is  more about, when your equine is more than just a horse. 

It's your love. 

It's your life. 

Your passion.  

Your connection to something so real, true, honest and magnificent.

And not having your steed included in a family event is unheard of.

Now, when I got married to my Husband, we had just our sweet Mason.

Since then, we've rescued our Pudgie.

And of course, our Lazarus.

I have to think they would have been a HUGE part of our day, somehow, either in life or pictures, or something.

So this idea was brought back into present life, during my recent talks with my sister about her upcoming 2012 wedding.
We get to skype and drool over photographs of other weddings and create 'design bulletin boards' of what we think the day will look, feel, taste, smell like.

Of course, we came across these photos and she sent to me saying "Hey...how about for your 10th anniversary??" wink wink! 

So I know you lovely readers would enjoy these images as much as I did!

I wish I had these as part of my wedding album...there are some equine great details!

These are all borrowed from cool websites...

Wouldn't these be dreamy wedding invites?

 Fun signage!

Swooon...combining wedding planning and ponyLuv..what is better than that?!

Now, I must have a daugher.....

So, since I didn't have Laz as part of my wedding day....what about this option for our future?!

This is Kate, from Lucy's Quest.

She has a seat made of glue and a lovely OTTB Mare Lucy, who tests it often but because she is so beautiful, it's easily forgivable I assume.

She did a wedding dress photo session ( aka "Trash the Dress") that I droooool over!

I may have to do this!!!

And perhaps not even in my wedding dress (b/c at 5 yrs married, would that be odd?) but maybe in a cool long vintagey dress of sorts!

LOVE LOVE LOVE...enjoy these shots!

 Who doesn't dream of this while cantering around in an arena?

It was really beautiful when panning the internet to see how many brides were out there, that included their 'first' love as part of their wedding day, decor, life.
Have any of you done something like this?

The herd of three is still doing well

Eating at sunset last night after the storm...picture provided by my BO

Thank you!  Makes a horse mommy happy to see 

My friend, J9 (Enzo's Mom) is selling her Ansur Classic...and it's a beauty!! 

If you are in the market for a beautiful treeless Dressage saddle that will make your horse's back sigh with comfort, then go over to her blog HERE and check it out!! 

It's a great deal and in perfect condition!

I am now obsessing over treeless saddles and debating which direction to go in once we can start doing 'real' riding with a saddle and possibly trail riding (lightly).

Groundhog...where are you?!

Ack!

8-12" are supposed to come along with 40 mph winds and COOOLD.  

Makes any horse Mommy worry about their baby.

And I thought we were almost done with winter

I went out this morning, to feed my boy an extra wet slurpee slurry for his tummy with extra Aloe Juice to soothe any issue he may have. Weather wise, or new herd wise.

He's keeping himself quite busy protecting his 'baby.'

It's cute and pathetic, really

"See pwetty JessieMare, minimini? She's the boss other than Mom ok?!"

 "Oh HI Lazzie'z mommiez..iz u gunna groomz me againz..i itchysz!!!"

They talk alike, they graze alike...

 Ugh!

How does the most handsome boy scrape himself like this?! At least it didn't break the skin...I put some Dermagel to encourage hair growth. Luckily his fraggle rock bangs cover it for protection (and vanity).

They are total Bff's, Laz herds his 'baby' around and Little Chief (aka Keebler, aka The Baby, aka Minimini) follows him around for his security. So painfully cute!

"What?!..Nooooo, SawYeR, There iz Nooooo Minimini in herez..Go awayz!!!"

 "Whew...alone at last my baby Minimini..."

Remember that 80's show "My Two Dads"

Sharing their two open stalls, the three geldings are a riot.

 Aha! See, Laz bites (gently..like Mommy bites) to move his Minimini around as he wants him to go safely

The baby sometimes squeals but totally listens and sometimes humps his rump at his big brother Laz.

I had to remind Laz that I can touch Little Chief WITHOUT Laz needing to pin his ears at me...!

He got over it and remembered his manners and all was ok again in Barbie dream horse world for him.

Ok, so STAY WARM people!

Our barn's horses are being brought inside for tonight to be in their stalls.  

Good wishes for all horses around to drink your water, keep calm and stay warm!

Travels with horses-Part 1

So first off, these images are from Feb of 2009. It was before I was blogging, so I decided to share some of these past images, as my sister and I talk of her wedding and these images keep popping up in my head, as her wedding will be in SA in 2012 (hoooorah!)

***

A trip to visit my sister who had been (still is) living in Cape Town, South Africa.

On our way, my Dad and I (we planned the trip together) stopped in London. One of our favorite places to visit.  Great to break up the looooong air travel and great to visit London, because we adore it.

Now, this is what Macy's and Nordstrom is missing...Harrod's boasts an Equestrian section. 

Actually, it's their sports section labeled as RIDING. 

Holy....

It took all I had to not crawl up this horse mannequin and start clucking

I bought a brush and a soft rubber curry comb which is still my everyday most used item.  

It was worth the price.

 Outside of London, we visited the Cotswolds, which are a cluster neighborhoods built in the 18th-19th century.  So peaceful and can you imagine a cuter place to visit and have a pony in?

 Then, we were off to South Africa.  What a scene change!

In fact, the whole time I was in and around Cape Town, I was trying to figure it out.  As in "Oh, this looks like California..or the desert in some area, or etc etc."

The truth is, the beauty and magic of this place is there isn't another place like it..it's incredible and I only saw a small amount in comparison of the size of the country.

 Wine country as many of you probably enjoy a good SA wine

Sick beaches...the gorgeous and rough ocean. 

Yes, there are sharks and yes I went surfing with her now, fiancée, and yes I was petrified but figured Jaws would get the better surfers before she could get me. ;)

Oh, and when I saw 'surfed', I mean I body boarded because I couldn't get up!  

2nd attempt coming up in 2012

 Downtown cosmopolitan Cape Town

 Dad, myself and Tina on our way to the southern most tip of Africa.

We teased my Dad and told him we were going to take a day cruise boat to Antarctica

 Sampling the goods.....so good.

The food was insanely amazing..I came back, no joke, 10 lbs heavier. It was worth the gorgefest

So, I digress...back to the Equines.

On our way to a private estate (a friend of their's)...see below. 

Like, really?! 

I felt like we snuck into a Celebrity's Conde Nast home...and was happy to do so!

On our drive up, we past their land FULL of protected game

One of herds were Quagga.

Yes, as in the extinct Quagga.

These are bred to try and bring the lineage back...and they were beautiful.

Notice they are different than the Zebra.  The stripes fade into a brown, then pure white toward their hind

Quagga Momma and baby foal.

Come on! I took this picture and I still can't believe it.

***

 On a different excursion, my sister and I wanted to go horseback riding.  

She had done research and thought that Noordhoek (about 30 minutes from where they live, if I remember correctly) would be the perfect place, as it's horse country.

Our steeds...mine was Paddy, a handsome but sensitive gelding (hmmm..seems familiar) and his breed was called a "Saddler" or a South African Saddlebred.

 Ignore the hunch back but see the smile and scenery?

 Set out on a trail of four of us; the instructor, a girl from London and Tina and I

 Oh! We are approaching the beach...

 Almost reminded me of Michigan's sand dunes and beach...

 Looking behind me at my sister, who clearly knew of the beauty of the beach when she suggested "Let's go horseback riding together in Noordhoek!"

Oh, and remember when I said it reminded me of a Michigan beach....yea, up until I saw this.

This is a sight I've never seen.  

The deepest sand beach I've ever seen.  Terrific footing for horses and welcome for horses and riders to come play in.  We even saw a commercial shoot being shot (of course) at this beach.

Is this view even possible? If I hadn't been there myself...I would doubt it. 

Pure, loud, gut ripping beauty.

Seeing this off a horse's back, made it that much more magical.

 Our trail leader on the gorgeous Blue Roan and a the gray held the lady from London

 Paddy's wide spread beautiful long ears frame the glorious site.

Seriously......the beauty....come on.  I couldn't take it all in.

I tried to capture as much as I could, and then had to put the camera away and just.be.in.the.moment.

 Little sister, who rides horses fearlessly even though she hasn't had 1 real lesson..she has a softness and heart about her that calms any pony...it's cute

This is as close to heaven as I've ever felt.  

Something about Noordhoek, totally spoke to me.

When I thought I was going to lose Laz, I had thought about sending his ashes to my sister to sprinkle here for him to enjoy too.  Thankfully, now, I can focus on finding our own water hole to play in together, alive and healthy, although it won't be as breathtaking as this beach, it will still be heaven.

So this post ends..and Part II is coming up with our return to South Africa for my sister's wedding in 2012 and what images have risen to remind me how important our steeds are in our lives, and even our most special days...