Horse Ride for Vanessa's Birthday

I can't even remember how it came up, but Vanessa mentioned that she would love to go on a horse ride with us. Her birthday was on Friday, so we told her we would take her on Saturday. 

That morning, it was stormy, but we didn't want to cancel on her, so we just kept an eye on the weather. I had another activity I went to, so we decided we would see what the weather was like after I finished that. 

We couldn't go to Josh's favorite place, because the road was too muddy. But he found a spot just as beautiful near Moon Lake. 

As you can see, we had beautiful blue sky!

 

I hadn't been with Josh on the horses for over a year, so I was excited to go also.

But not near as excited as Vanessa was. She has loved horses ever since she was little, but has never really had a chance to pursue that passion.

I told Josh I didn't want to be too saddle sore the next day, so we didn't plan to go far. But then it started to rain and our ride was cut even shorter. By the time we got back to the truck, we were soaked clear through.

Our ride ended with a beautiful rainbow. Unfortunately, my camera got wet in my pocket and wouldn't turn on. By the time I got my phone out of the truck, the rainbow was gone. But I still had to take a picture of the storm cloud that caught us unaware. (I did put my camera in a bag of rice and it was fine the next day.)

It was a fun day and hopefully we can go again soon, but without the rain.

A Horse Trailer to Call Our Own

After years of looking, we found us a horse trailer that we can pull behind our truck.

 

It needs some work.

 A new floor.

Some new wiring.

A new tire.

A paint job.

 

But its ours.

And its paid for.

That makes it almost perfect. 

Jazzy Comes home

After 11 weeks, Jazzy came home. I'm not sure who was more excited, her or Josh.

 

Probably Josh. He was very tired of driving to check on her twice a day and having to clean out her stall.

 

Or maybe she was more excited. A few weeks ago, she got depressed. We think it was from a lack of sunshine. After that, we started putting her outside in a stall during the day and back inside the arena stall at night.

 

Yep, its been a long ELEVEN weeks for everyone.

 

Because we've been taking Sugar to ride every Sunday, she wasn't as excited as every one else was to see her. I don't think Shorty is going to let Jazzy out of his sight for a LONG time.

 

Riding Horses

Josh and I have taken up riding horses on the weekends.

 

Even in this frigid cold weather?

 

Yep.

 

The people who are letting us keep Jazzy in a stall, have also been kind enough to let us ride their horses, in their indoor arena. We still have to dress in two (or three) layers, but its been fun.

 

I don't have any pictures, but I'll remember to take a camera one of these weekends.

 

Its been fun to ride with JoLynn and Robin. I'm not a very experienced horse rider and they have been so much help. I feel like I'm gaining confidence (and hopefully some skills).

 

I swore I would never ride a horse past a walk, but on the very first weekend, they had me trotting. And then even a little bit of loping. I have loved riding in the arena where I don't have to worry about anything spooking me.

 

The last two weekends, we've gone riding on Sunday, but this weekend, we ended up riding on Saturday. We were there checking on Jazzy and just as we were leaving, they showed up to ride. We told them we would join them tomorrow, but they insisted we stay, so we did. They had some other friends coming so they could work on their cutting for their competition next weekend.

 

I rode one of their horses, but Josh rode Jazzy. I think she really enjoyed being a horse and hanging with other horses today. When it was time to put her back up, her and another horse went to the other end of the arena. Glad to see she made a friend.

 

It was fun to watch them and it seems we were both helpful in helping with the cows. Hopefully we'll get to do it again someday. We also hope to ride our own horses next weekend for our anniversary.

 

 

New Year's Eve

We had big plans for New Year's Eve. We had planned a Wii party (with lots of food) with Josh's brother and his wife. Then just a few days before, we both got sick. The morning of New Year's Eve, we decided to cancel. Just a lazy night were we planned to be in bed by 8:00.

 

Then around 5:00, Josh called me. His horse was hurt. I got home just in time to hop in the truck and drive back to Roosevelt to the vet. One back foot just had a few shallow cuts, but her other back foot was bleeding pretty good. The vet got it cleaned up. She was cut clear down to the bone and had just barely missed the tendons.



 

We got her bandaged and then headed home. Not the quite evening we had planned, but at least everything turned out ok. We have a friend with an indoor arena and they are letting us keep her there for now. 

 

 

A Wild Ride

On Sunday, some of Josh's extended family came up to BBQ and celebrate Tyler's birthday. Shortly after eating, Jeff's girls started asking if we could catch the horses and give them a ride. We learned that after we bought Sugar, their family had call to inquire about her. I almost feel bad they don't have a horse yet, but I LOVE my horse.

  

Some of the eager riders waiting by the truck.

Doesn't she look so pretty? And calm??

Jazzy has been having foot problems, so Josh put the goop on her hoofs and then turned her out in the corral. Then he saddled Sugar so we could let the kids ride. He went to get on her first to ride her for a minute, but I protested. She is MY horse, I should be the one to ride her.

I am finally feeling more comfortable on a horse. I jumped on and started down the field, with a caution to watch out for the hand lines. As I rode away I thought "Wow, I feel so good up here. I'm so glad I have this figured out and I'm not scared anymore."

We started up the field where she was kind of a pain, until she got even with the other horses that were in the corral. Then she stopped. I got after her and finally got her to go again. We went up the field a little more and then turned around to head back.

Then I'm not sure what happened. Next thing I knew we were RACING down the field. I'm comfortable at a slow walk. At a run, I broke into a panic. I tried to pull back on the reins, but she just kept going. So instead I clung to the saddle horn for dear life.

About then, the adults (who had been looking at the other horses) noticed something was wrong. That was just as Sugar turned and ran behind some trees. She probably hadn't been running for 2 full minutes, but I had had enough. I was suddenly worried we would run into a fence or a sprinkler line, so I ducked down and rolled off the side of her. Half way down, I realized, I should've kept holding on, but it was too late.

I was still behind the tree line, so no one actually saw me fall off. In a way, I'm grateful. I'm glad the young kids didn't see it, I'd hate for them to be scared of horses now.

I landed on my back and wanted to scream out in pain, but I was out of breathe. In my confused state, I was worried Josh would get after me. So before I could even see anyone, I started saying "I'm okay," but it just sounded like a mumbled. I rolled over to my knees and tried to get up, but didn't have the energy yet, so I feel back down on my back and just tried to find my breathe.

When Josh got to me I mumbled, "I'm okay. Find my sunglasses." Their prescription glasses and I didn't want someone stepping on them. I laid for another minute and then was able to get up.

After everyone knew I was ok, Josh hopped on Sugar and took her around for a minute, but we finally decided to get Jazzy back out. After that, Sugar was an almost perfect horse. Josh and I rode the horses down the lane halfway and back. Then we took turns giving all the kids rides. With six kids, I don't know why we didn't start with both horses.

The rides ended with Josh giving Tyler a ride. All the other kids rode by themselves, but Josh hopped on Jazzy and let Tyler ride with him. Tyler LOVES riding and did NOT want to get off, not even to go eat his cake.

Matt asked me if I was going to blog about this, and I told him I didn't have to since the camera got lost in the rush and there were no pictures to prove anything. But Josh keeps telling me I'm a real cowgirl now.

That was definitely a wild rid I never want to go on again.

Riding in Dry Gulch

This weekend we headed up Dry Gulch with family to ride our horses. 

But first, here is how tricked out my horse has become. :) I'm convinced she is the prettiest horse on the farm. 

On Thursday night I went to Vernal to meet Josh and pick out the rest of the stuff I needed for my saddle. It was hard to choose a saddle blanket. I wanted something in purple, but the only purple they had was ugly, and expensive. I was finally able to settle on this neutral one. 

The only thing I was able to pick out on my own, without Josh there to guide me, was the harness and lead rope, which I did a few weeks ago. The pictures don't show up well though, the harness is purple, not pink. The lead rope is purple, pink and blue. 

I also picked out a breast collar when I met Josh in Vernal. 

 We went with Mel and her family, Dallon & Natalie, and met Josh's uncle Willard and Aunt Judy who had brought a few of their nephews with them. We had 5 horses between all of, so we had to take turns. Willard and Judy's horses, Tuner & Peanuts, are the calmest horses ever. 

 The boys LOVED riding the horses. I didn't get pictures of Judy's nephews, but each time one of the boys came back, another boy was begging to go. For the most part, the boys only got to ride Peanuts and Tuner, but at one point, Josh took Sugar and let Tyler ride with him.  (No picture though, the camera was in Josh's pocket.)

 No one thought Colter would ride, but when he saw how calm the horses were, he decided to go too. Tyler missed the first family ride while he finished his nap.

Then we started to get up for the long ride which included, myself, Josh, Dallon, Natalie and Willard

 Tyler woke up, so he got a quick ride in with his uncle Josh before we left.

We rode for about 2 hours along a trail that took us through some pretty country. I forgot my camera, but was able to borrow Barb's. Some of the pictures are blurry because its hard to take pictures on a moving horse. 

I tried to take a few pictures over my head to get pictures of Dallon and Natalie.

We stopped at this pond to look around when suddenly something started to move in the middle. 

At this point I gave the camera to Josh and told him to get lots of pictures. He did a great job. 

My thought on this picture was, why didn't I think of that and hold hands with Josh? But his horse was in one of her "sassy" moods, so we probably couldn't of anyways. 

 Sugar and I did so well together. She is a pretty calm horse and I'm getting more comfortable riding. I'm not near as sore as I was last week after we went riding. 

Back at the trucks so the others can take turns again. The spot we met at was so nice. We set up our blankets and picnic food in the shade of a few trees that kept us nice and cool. Then there was a huge field where all the kids could run and play and we could be able to keep an eye on them. And there was no running water nearby so it was nice to not have to worry about that. 

Josh took these pictures of Dallon and Natalie. Watch closely.

I can't figure out where Preston came from. Maybe he was hiding behind that tree?

Melanie & Colter took one last ride with Tyler. They said he kept switching between them and he never stopped talking to the hose. He LOVED it!

It was the perfect fun day. Hopefully we can go again soon.