Headed home! Right now I am cooling my heels at the Tallahassee Airport, flight has been delayed due to heavy fog, hopefully I will make my connecting flights.

Florida trip was great, got lots of work done, and had a chance to ride at Greener Pastures, under Robins tutelage. Great time as always. Rose made the trip out on Monday evening, and she got a few lessons in as well. We celebrated my B-Day on Tuesday evening, and Robins B-Day on Wednesday evening. Then yesterday, after riding a few horses, Rose and I accompanied Robin to a Paso Show in Ocala. It was great getting to touch base with folks that we usually just see at Nationals.

Back to business as usual tomorrow. Have our regulars coming in the late morning, have a few new clients coming in the afternoon. Sunday we will work with Jen W on collecting a few of the stallions and such to get set for breeding season, and our new working student will be coming here around noontime! Busy weekend :)


www.ro-noranch.com

My Florida trip is progressing well. Worked on about 18 very nice Paso Finos yesterday at Greener Pastures. I'm off this morning to work on a few Pasos at another farm, then have rounds to make for the rest of the day. From there I will either head back to Henriettas and go out with the gang tonight to listen to a local band, or I'll head west in preparation for my days work tomorrow out near Pensacola. I'll just have to see what the day throws at me.

After tomorrow most of my work will be local to where I am staying, and on Monday Rosanne flys in, so a lot of our work will be focused on finishing up here at Greener Pastures. My birthday and Robins birthday are this coming week, so one night we will get a chance to go out and celebrate!

Off to take some ibuprofen now so that my arm is limber enough to work!

www.ro-noranch.com

Sitting in an airport in Charlotte NC waiting for my connection to Tallahassee. Yesterday was a long, drawn out day with lots needing to be accomplished before heading to the airport this morning. But, it was a good day, we got a lot done, and I finished up not too late last night. Got up early to finish packing, and we hit the road at 6 this morning. Rob and Hunter in the car, and me in the truck. Dropped the truck off for repairs while I am gone ( from the mystery impact it received on Feb 1st )( it will be nice to come home to an un-dented truck ) then hopped in with Rob and Hunter and off to the airport we went for them to drop me off. Got checked in and thru security with no trouble ( Wilkes-Barre is getting fancy- they now have a cylindrical shaped security vault that you have to stand in, hands raised, before passing thru security ) and now here I sit waiting for my next flight. I'm using the time wisely though, I have my notices along that need to be addressed and stamped to send off to my AZ clients in preparation for next months trip.
The girls are all set for my absence. I filled the barns with hay yesterday, got in a new load of shavings, and the schedule is all set with which horses need to be worked on which days. They are efficient at what they do, and as always, I can rest easy knowing that everything will get done.
Once I land I'll grab the rental that is waiting for me ( thanks to my insurance company- this is my replacement for while the truck is being repaired ) and head straight to my first appointment. Just one job to do today, then off to Henrietta Ratliff's place at Greener Pastures, where a Scrabble game and a gimlet await me!


www.ro-noranch.com

We've another busy couple of days ahead of us. There is still a ton of snow on the ground from yesterdays storm, even though places west of here have nothing. All good though, as it is covering up the mud! Much of my day yesterday was spent getting caught up on paperwork, and getting things in order for my upcoming trip to Florida.

Things are changing up a bit for Maribelle, and I'm hoping that a positive spin is in the air. The young man who has worked for her for years let her know yesterday that his last day would be this Saturday! Now, Maribelle had knee surgery a little less than a month ago, so she is reliant upon her helper and us to get all cared for up at her barn. While I do possibly have someone new coming on at RO-NO soon who would work for her, we were not ready for so sudden a departure of her help. He had moved in to her house quite a few months ago ( he apparently had no where else to go, so kind hearted Maribelle opened her home to him ) Anyway, I made a call last night and have a wonderful guy lined up to come over today to meet with Maribelle and hopefully start work on Sunday/Monday. It may only be temporary, but I think it is a positive step up for Maribelle and her horses. We'll see where things go from here.

Tomorrow is going to be a very busy day. The farrier will be here, I may have a new working student stopping by to meet us, and Jen W is stopping by to go over some of our breeding/collection equipment with me as well. Should be a full and enjoyable day!


www.ro-noranch.com

Here are a few shots from the expo.

www.ro-noranch.com

What a whirl-wind February has been. Hard to believe that March is right around the corner. All the time that we spent getting people and horses ready for the PA Horse World Expo was well spent, our demos were great and we all had a great time. There is nothing like having Youth riders out on the arena floor showing off for the crowds, and doing it well. They worked hard to prepare for it and it showed! Good job everyone!! And many thanks to all of you who helped prepare for the demo, and helped out to man the booth and set up/tear down. This is volunteer work to help promote the breed that we love, and the Association that we show under, and all the help is very much appreciated.

We are slammed here at RO-NO. Spring fever is hitting and I'm working hard to have room for all the folks wanting to get their horses in for training. It's a good problem :) I'll also be hitting the road soon for my yearly trip to do horse dentistry in Florida, and then we will have the second clinic in our spring series of gaited horse clinincs. Got to talk with a lot of folks at the expo, and many are planning on attending our remaining clinics. I'll need to schedule a few more, and need to schedule some trail trials/extreme cowboy races as well.

www.ro-noranch.com

Saturdays Clinic was great. We had 5 horse/rider teams and plenty of auditors. Peggy and Dave from Bubbas Tack Shop were set up, we had tons of donuts and lots of hot coffee, and the day flew by. Everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves, and folks all said they would be back for the March Clinic. I really enjoyed working with everyone and answering questions, it was a very pleasant day!

Today was spent ( as will be the next couple of days ) getting things ready for the upcoming PA Horse Expo in Harrisburg. We will head out around noon time on Wednesday to get the stalls set up, the horses schooled, bathed and settled in. Thursday we have our first stallion demo and breed demo, and we will be helping man the Mason-Dixon PFHA booth. The horse expo is a lot of work, but it is also an enjoyable couple of days. We get to see people that we don't get to see but once or twice a year, and we also get to make new acquaintances as well.

So, I'll get off the computer now. I've buttons to sew onto a vest, other sew repairs to make on some show pants and on a horse cooler. Tomorrow I'll get a load of sawdust, get feed, load hay in the horse trailer, organize some tack containers, clip horses and so on. Phew, think I'd best try to go to bed early!!

www.ro-noranch.com