Here's a little angel for Lizette.. to accompany her today and everyday on her journey to ensure her safety and well-being.

She'll keep her protected and safe. :)

She doesn't know endurance from trail riding, but this lady knows how to write extremely well (captivating way of engaging her reader) and she knows how to train cow horses.

http://mugwumpchronicles.blogspot.com/

I love her blog!

The mornings this past week have been pretty rough. I'm still jet-lagged from our vacation last week and so I've been living on lots of coffee in the mornings. I can't wait until Saturday where I can sleep in.. that will be loverly.

I just had to mention, yesterday was such a happy day for me. I could not have been more content with everything going on in my life. After work I went and worked with Maria for a while.. she's having issues standing still mounting. Apparently 2 owners ago, she was kicked while being mounted so she isn't a fan. Fortunately she is VERY food driven and after working with her Monday (with Matt's help) then yesterday with carrots in hand, she stood quietly after just 2 tries. I couldn't have been more proud of her. We then headed out and circled our hay field and our neighbor's hay field. She was pretty quiet and we had a great ride. She does like to jig a bit, but if I take light contact on her mouth and pre-emptively check her when she starts to gather herself up, she'll walk nicely. I just have to do that every 10 seconds.. which is annoying, but considering everything, I'll take it over other bad habits..

Matt re-heated some chicken and biscuit soup leftovers we had (which caused him gastrointestinal issues this morning) then I installed Spore on my frankenputer machine. The graphics and creatures are so cute! I played while Matt watched over my shoulder..

It was just a nice, quiet, night.

I've been debating going to an endurance ride on Saturday to do a 25 miler with Maria, but I don't think I will. For one, we are still bonding with each other.. she is learning to trust me and me her. I did this ride earlier in the year and mentally, it is quite difficult with a lot of really fast riders. Not really my cup of tea. So I'll probably just take it easy, sleep in Saturday, and ride with an endurance friend of mine I haven't seen since Isabella went lame on Sunday.

Isabella is still uber lame after pulling her inferior check ligament a few weeks ago. She doesn't fail to run out into pasture when I let her out in the mornings still, leaving me frowning and shaking my head at her. :( I've heard from enough people that pasture rest will eventually heal her, so I'm leaving my faith in her healing body and doing the best I can to keep her healthy.

Now, I'm calling our local organic farm neighbors to see if they can use some nice fresh horse poop for their fields..

So friggin cool.

Next generation of digital video.. the digital SLR.

Toad hollow winery

Toad hollow winery
Originally uploaded by Julienne:).

Harvesting grapes for Matt's dad

First up on the agenda after landing in California

First up on the agenda after landing in California
Originally uploaded by Julienne:).

Ocean and Colombos sandwich.

Maria is settling in well. No major tiffs between the two Spanish ladies in pasture. I thought, after the first day, Isabella was head honcho out there. When I took a bucket of grain to bring them in for the night, Isabella snaked her head angrily at Maria when she tried to get near. *sigh* I thought tyranny still reigned throughout the Pasture World. She does not know how to be the top mare without baring her teeth constantly and kicking out whenever a horse gets near her. However, last night I brought them in and Isabella stood quietly by while Maria got her bite of grain first. Strange, I thought, then when I brought them in Maria got to her pile of hay first and Isabella angrily tossing her head and pinning her ears (sooo not happy) went around her to the other pile of hay. From what I've seen of Maria, she's been a gentle leader, one who will quietly rule with flicks of her ear and tail. Hooray! Justice has prevailed and the tyrannical leader has been ousted!

As an effort to bond with the new gentle leader I took her out in pasture and hung out with her a bit. We worked on behaving in hand and trotting out (for vet checks). I measured her for a blanket (75!! huge for a 14.3hh horse) because she doesn't have much fat or insulation.. she is a beefcake right now. She's a lot of fun, I'm so happy to have her home!

Maria - welcome home!

New home
Originally uploaded by Julienne:).

Today I met up with Marlene Moss from Los Pinos Ranch in Florence, Co to exchange horses. Franky I wasn't enjoying riding Josey very much (too green, too looky-loo) and wanted a steadier horse to ride endurance. She had an 8 year old grade QH mare she didn't want to sell (because Maria is simply a doll) but I've known Marlene for a number of years and she knew I'd give Maria a great home.

We met up at the Colorado Horse Park endurance ride for me to look at another horse she had for sale, Allie, but Allie proved to be a little greener than I was looking for.. but Maria was there and was a steady little trooper.. she definitely caught my eye! We met up the next few weekends for Marlene and Stace (her hubby) to meet Josey and try her out on a few trail rides and today I brought Maria home.

The photoset includes a few videos.. of Maria checking the place out for the first time and meeting Isabella for the first time. She is a bit spooky but I think she'll settle in well.

Got the furthest I've even been in Nethack last night (without a powerful polymorphed pet either!). Went up to the Castle, got the drawbridge down, and started peeling off soldiers and monsters one by one. Got cocky and didn't pay attention.. soldier picked up a cockatrice corpse and stoned me. I sunk into the moat :~(

I dreamed about the whole thing over and over again all night. Very sad. No Nethack for a while *grieving*

Last night I let the horses graze longer than usual. I was pretty pooped after a ride earlier in the day (so out of shape) that I stayed inside for a while for the light thunderstorm to pass through. It was still raining around 6:30 so I went outside in my short and rain jacket - with the rain the mosquitoes were probably hiding, right? Completely wrong wrong wrong! As soon as I stepped into the horses' paddock the rain stopped and millions of gazillions of mosquitoes began swarming. I called the horses in and that doubled the number of mosquitoes. I must've gotten bitten over 20 times in 5 minutes, including 3 bites on my face. I came in and felt okay for a while, but after an hour I began feeling the poison of all the mosquitoes all at once and felt quite nauseous and hot for a while.

Matt insisted on taking me to the emergency room but I didn't have a fever (just felt hot from the bites on my face) so I took a few Aleve and felt better after a few hours. That'll teach me to go outside in shorts at dusk again. My legs are pure candy to bloodsucking insects. :(