Saturday, December 31, 2011

2011 comes to a close. What a year it has been too. I wish to all of you a very wonderful New Years weekend, and a joyful, prosperous and fulfilling 2012!

We've had a fun week, even with the ups and down of the weather. A highlight for me is that Jess has finally decided that maybe she will pull the cart after all. We've been working hard with her, and while she really has no fear of the cart ( or of pulling the tire and make-shift shafts ) she does seem to think that this type of work is beneath her and she only will tolerate so much of it. She pulled the tire well a couple of times early this week, and then Forrest and I had three days in a row with her pulling the cart very nicely, both in the indoor and outdoor arenas. She looks great and we are very pleased with her. I'll just ground drive her today to give her a break from harder work, and she will have Sunday off.

Jet is doing very well also, as is his owner- both are learning in leaps and bounds ( not literally thank goodness ) She and Barb will be here today from NJ to ride, and the days weather is going to be accommodating.

Robbie made it home on Wednesday evening from his 'wilderness trip'. He really enjoyed his time out at 'snowcamp' and came home with a new found appreciation for running water and indoor toilets!

We will have three stallions on exhibit at the PA Horse Expo!! I'm quite excited about this years demo's. Lori and I will be working towards having another fun demo made up, and we will have a nice representation of the breed there, Pleasure, Performance, Fino and Specialty! The people involved with helping out are wonderful too, so it looks like we are in for a fun expo weekend. ( Feb 23-26- Harrisburg)

HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM RO-NO RANCH!!!



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Tuesday, December 27, 2011

What a whirl-wind weekend! Friday we had tons of friends stop by, had a wonderful lunch with Deb, Pam, Robbie and Melissa. Then Amy stopped in to ride, and Rose. Just a fun, hectic day. Erin had Sat. and Christmas Day off, so Robbie was my main helper all weekend. Sunday morning he and I get the horses fed and watered, then we were off to the in-laws for a wonderful Christmas breakfast. Then we hopped next door for the rest of the day, lots of food, fun and family. ( and margaritas and brandy alexanders! ) I ran home to feed, then back to the family.
Yesterday we slammed through stalls, then hit to road to take Robbie to visit with Richard and Nina. We got to go up to the 'snowcamp' and it was a really neat visit. Had to take a 20+ minute ride on a 6-trak ( with chains on 4 of its tires) up a mountainside to get to the camp. Richard was 75 when he built this cabin, and it is a beautiful thing!
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Friday, December 23, 2011

Oscar, my Jack Russell/Basset Hound cross dog, has not been feeling well. He's always a bit loggy, not a bouncy dog, but lately he's been even more sluggish than usual. I made an appointment to bring him in to the vet, thinking perhaps he had Lymes disease. ( We just had a horse w/ Lymes symptoms, and he responded very well to a treatment of doxycycline.) They did test Oscar for Lyme, and he does have it. So, easy enough, onto doxy he goes to treat that. But that wasn't all my poor puppy is suffering from. When the vet examined him, she thought that he looked unusually pale in the gums. She pulled a bit extra blood for tests ( had a hard time finding a vein- turns out there was a reason for that ) and discovered that his CBC was 15.4, very low. ( at 12 they want to do a blood transfusion! ) His blood was very thin, and very weak. He has Auto Immune Hemolytic Anemia. Her thoughts were if he had gone a few more days without treatment his system would have crashed and we would have lost him. Unfortunately, we still may. Said he was in a bad enough condition that there was still a 50/50 chance that his system will crash. He got a shot at the office, and is on Prednizone now, and will be for the next month ( along with the doxy for the Lymes) She did say that if he makes it through this next week his chances are much improved. The treatment that he is on is all that we can do. Steroids ( the pred ) aren't helpful with Lymes, but the Anemia is a much larger danger to him right now than the Lymes is. No idea what is causing the Anemia, most likely a different problem entirely from the Lymes, though it is slightly possible that the Lymes triggered it. Hopefully the underlying cause isn't a tumor of some sort, which is a possibility. We'll take it day by day and see how it goes. We'll ( hopefully ) be back at the vets office next Thursday to re-check his CBC.


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Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Julie headed home to Ohio this morning for a weeks visit with her family. Haven't heard yet if her trip was uneventful, but I do know she made it safely there. It's very hard to believe that Christmas is only days away! I have managed to get all my presents wrapped, and I think I am actually ready for the Big Day! :) My boys are excited, and I've finally been able to relax a bit and enjoy the Christmas Spirit! It's been so nice down at the barn, everyone seems to be in the Holiday Spirit!
Got a nice, big load of shavings in on Tuesday, so we are all set for a few weeks on that. I always enjoy getting the sawdust bin filled, generates a similar feeling to getting the feed room filled up, or hay put into the barn. Of course, it doesn't take very long for the coffers to empty again.
Between Erin, Julie and myself, we are well caught up on all the training horses.We've even been able to get one or two of our own worked too. Got to enjoy a trail ride yesterday, saw a couple of buck while out, so we know that a few of them made it through hunting season.
Today Erin and I blasted thru chores, had all the stalls done well before noon, and a new round bale out for the herd. Dan cam to visit, he brought a ton of homemade goodies!! :) He hung out for a bit, and then rode Sebastian while I got JB worked. Then he was off, I schooled Jess with the cart while Erin worked Al. It was neat to have full siblings at work together in the arena. Alaina got to RO-NO at 3 and put a good ride on Jose, then on Calif. My lesson came to ride her Tenn Walker Jet who is here for training, and we had a very productive time. All in all a very good day. Now I am sitting on the couch with my lap top, supper is cooked and eaten, Hunter is sitting next to me playing with a piece of string and a plastic fork ( doesn't take much to entertain a 3 year old!) Robbie is reading a magazine, and Rob is finishing a piece of pecan pie. Life is good!

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Monday, December 19, 2011

It was a good weekend. Saturday I spent most of the day cleaning my house, had a party here in the evening for all of the boarders and RO-NO Crew. Melissa came up from Philly, got a couple rides in on Val, Nic and Jenna got some riding time in this weekend, as did Pam. Spent a good portion of the day yesterday helping my hubby bring firewood up from the woods, then got to spend time in the house trying to get more Christmas stuff done. The boys worked on building and decorating a gingerbread house, and I got my Illinois dentistry notices made up and ready to go into todays mail.
This morning I'll get a few things done in the house and head out a bit late. Hunter will go to my MIL's, and then I'll head to Hamlin for a couple of round bales. Then back to the ranch to get to work.
The weanlings seem to be doing well. We brought Scratchy and Charlie up to Maribelles on Thursday, took Dually home. She and London will ( hopefully ) go out to pasture later this week. All five youngsters are up at Maribelle's now! It's baby land up there.
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Friday, December 16, 2011

Maribelle and I had quite the adventure on Wednesday. We left early ( early for Maribelle- it was 8 a.m. :) ) and we hit the road headed for Tunkhannock. I had a new horse dentistry client to visit and all went smoothly there. From there we headed north west to go visit Richard G. He is the gentleman from Alaska who had bought a young Paso mare named Nina from me several years ago. ( that is a separate story that I'll have to write about soon ) He had given me directions, and we found his place with no trouble. Along the way Maribelle and I witnessed some of the horrible devastation that was caused by this past years flooding. Roads still out, bridges gone, houses destroyed. It was sobering.
We got to where Richards cabin is, with the small barn on the hillside above. Nina's fencing encompasses the cabin, and she ran down the hill to greet us. In the few years that Richard has owned her, they have traveled all over the north and south west, and into Alaska! He has sent me pictures of her in Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana, North & South Dakota, Arizona, Alaska and more!! He has travelled solo with his horse and his dog. He is 81 years old!!!!! He has lived in his cabin since 1946, no running water, an outhouse about 30 foot from his home. There is a beautiful wood cook stove that both heats his house and his food. He is happy and content ( as is his horse ) and loves the life that he has. We had a wonderful visit and I'm looking forward to returning.
I'm writing an article about some of his journeys for our Paso breed magazine. I'll try to remember to get back on the blog with the story of how he came to my ranch to get Nina, and some pictures of his travels.
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Sunday, December 11, 2011

Have had a couple of productive days here. Friday was a work as usual day with Erin. We mucked and shuffled horses and so on, getting a few worked here and there. Forrest was out and ended up having a great time with Jess, even driving her around our outdoor arena for a few laps. We were very pleased. Pam rode with us, Sneak is a good girl and doesn't at all mind the cart. Robbie and I got in some Christmas shopping that evening with the new neighbor, and Hunter stayed the night with his new friends, with plans to go have breakfast with Santa on Saturday morning.
Saturday I got an early start, up again to cook breakfast for the hunters. All in all the group got four dear, two doe, two buck. Our freezers are happy. Barb and Conni came from NJ for their lessons, and Michelle got her lesson in the afternoon from Julie. The boys had a 2:30 appointment at the photographers in Lake Ariel to have pics taken with their Pop-Pop, and from there I stayed in the house when I got back to work on the driving article that I have to have in soon to the Paso Horse World Magazine. When my eyes got tired of writing I worked on Christmas presents. Plenty of activity went on down at the barn, Nicole got in some riding time, Amy went trail riding with Erin ( she rode Al- he has been an absolute awesome youngster- gaits like nobodys business and is bold- loves to go out) Rhonda came and rode too, so it was a good day.
This morning Rob, Jim and I went to the Cherry Ridge Airport to meet Lori and Tom. They had a fantastic flight in- and we had a lovely visit. Lori and I got some pow-wowing done to do with the upcoming demo's at the PA Horse Expo. From there Rob took me home, picked up Robbie and went to hit Sams Club and get some Christmas shopping done. I worked on finishing the driving article, doing some house cleaning, Christmas present wrapping, ( I also sewed two cute/funny camo Christmas stockings for Hunter and Robbie) and then dinner ( tilapia, carrots and homemade oatmeal/raisin/chocolate cookies! :) ) Now, it's time to relax, eat some dinner with the family, and not think about work until tomorrow morning!
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Thursday, December 8, 2011

Time is just flying! Cannot believe that this week has gone by so quickly. I look back at the days past and am amazed at how much we accomplish every day ( and yet every day I feel as though nothing gets done!! ) Still have barely put a dent in to what I need to have done before Christmas gets here. Not just Christmas stuff either, I need to have one ( hopefully two ) articles put together for the Paso Fino Horse World Magazine ( they had asked me to write an article, with pictures, on breaking a Paso in to drive. Jess has been our photo study ) Notices have to be made up and sent out to all of my Illinois clients ( I still need to figure out my dates for that as well) Then there's just the regular everyday 'stuff' that keeps us so busy. But... I'm glad to be able to do it.
Jess was driven independently of a handler for a bit yesterday. Progress is slow but steady with her. She looks gorgeous under harness and I'm excited about her future driving career.
Bobby brought a load of hay yesterday, stacked in a trailer. We had him back it in to the indoor, up along side of the breeding dummy. I never gave that spot a second thought, until my hubby said to me this morning, 'You have a horse really hollering down at the barn'. I stepped outside to listen, and could tell from the sound that all was not well. Now, it did snow a fair amount last night, and I didn't want to take the time to change out of my jammies, so I rolled my cuffs, put on boots and headed down. Got to the indoor, saw that the gate had been broken open and Kat was standing by herself behind it. She obviously was the good girl of the herd, because all the rest of them were nowhere to be seen. Hay was pulled off the trailer and strewn about the indoor, and I did see hoof prints outside in the snow. Went to investigate, found the whole herd down by Rusty and Coloso. Thank the Good Lord that Coloso is such a good stallion. He hadn't tested the fence, just stood by while the herd teased him. I caught up Sneak by her mane and led her back through the indoor, knowing that the rest of the herd would follow, and put them all back out to pasture. So much for getting up at 4:30 to get a bunch of stuff done at the house!
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Sunday, December 4, 2011

It's been a great couple of days. Had a full day on Thursday, working horses and just general stuff around the farm. Hit the road late to drop Savanna off at Rose's, pick up Carbi and Achilles, then head south to York to pick up Sebastian. Didn't get back until nearly 2:30 in the morning! Up and attem early ( though not too early ) on Friday. Had people coming from West Virginia to check out RO-NO. The raise Rocky Mountain horses and were coming to visit to see if they wanted to use us as their training barn. Had a wonderful day with them. ( thanks Angie and Jim for helping out) Worked quite a few gaited horses so that they could see our training style and simply had a nice day. We did get Jess harnessed and hooked back up and did some driving with her, she was a bit stubborn but good.
Up early again Saturday to cook for my three Robert's before they headed out to the woods. A few hours later they were back, with two buck!! Glad I had a pot of chili ready for them, so they could have lunch when they were all finished. Got plenty of horses worked as well, and had a great lesson with Barb and Conni. Rose made it out too, she rode Pastor, watched me school JQ and she rode him to cool him out. Alaina had a couple of good rides on Calif and Jose, and Nic got to enjoy rides on her boys too. Rachel and Audrey were out for a visit too, it was great getting to spend time with them.
Today I will clean the house, work on Christmas stuff, and for a few hours this morning I'll have the neighbors twin three year olds over for a play date with Hunter!
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Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Happy Birthday to my Hubby! It's 5:45 and he left for work a good 10 minutes ago, but he is hoping to get away this afternoon to get some hunting time in. He saw a huge buck on Monday, but it was moving fast chasing a doe so he was not able to get a clear shot at it. The guys all saw a few deer, but none taken yet here.
The new Tenn. Walker ( Jet ) has been a gem. He needs a lot of work, learning to give and flex and settle when asked to work, but he is willing to try and I like that. He also wants to know what is going on! He's been ridden once or twice a week on trails and now he is hard at work every day in the ring.
Sebastian is coming back to RO-NO. He is a lovely Paso gelding, everyone here always liked him, and he is re-joining us as a boarder. He does have Cushings ( mildly I believe ) and will have to be managed with some meds, but the hope is that with a bit of exercise he may thrive and may possibly be able to cut back on medication. ( that's your invite gals to take him for a spin! ) I'm hoping to help his owner out, and possibly find someone to on-farm lease him.
I'll hit the road either tomorrow or Friday night to drop Savanna off at Rose's, pick up Achilles and Carbi, and then go get Sebastian. Achilles needs a bit of ground work, and we will go ahead and start fitting a saddle to him, do some lunging work and get him ready to be started under saddle. He has really grown, and this new work he will be getting will most likely boost a growth spurt. Carbi is still for sale, we've been going back and forth with a gal from TN about purchasing her, but are still waiting to see if she will be able to follow thru.
We had to pick up a horse last night ( RO-NO Removal Service ) This lovely old guy had EPM, and had some wasting of muscle in his hind end. He'd fallen a week or so ago and the owners knew that the time had come to euthanize him. Never any easy decision for people to make, but they knew it was the right thing to do for their gelding.
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Sunday, November 27, 2011

Fantastic day yesterday!! The weather couldn't have been any better. The girls had stalls done very early,so we got going on other projects. Today should be nice and smooth for them down at the barn. We should have visitors tomorrow, folks from Virginia that own Mountain Horses are planning to come visit to see if RO-NO will be where they send their horses for training. I'm looking forward to meeting them.
Today I will clean the house, work on getting food prepped for tomorrow for the hunters, get laundry caught up, and maybe help Rob and Jim with getting some firewood in. After all that is done, if there is still some daylight, I may just take a horse out for a spin!
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Saturday, November 26, 2011

Beautiful day yesterday. Erin and Julie had off, so Robbie came down to the barn with me to help with chores. Got down there to find that Jim had already hayed everyone, done a few stalls and was in the process of watering the horses in the old barn. He and Robbie had all the stalls and turnout done by 9:20!!! How nice! I had to leave early for a chiropractor appointment ( don't have to go very often, but really needed to yesterday) came back to the barn to find Nicole getting JB in. She had a ride on him, I schooled Jess with her driving ( wont be long and I'll have her hooked to the cart! ) Barb came for her lesson and a bunch of us ended up going out on the trail. Had a lovely ride, so nice to have this type of weather in late November.
Today will be gorgeous as well. Christina Fehlner is coming over this morning with one of her horses, and we have a training horse coming in mid-day today. Tenn. Walker gelding that needs work on his gait. Jim and Alaina ( and Shanna? ) will come out as well, hopefully we can get in another nice trail ride.
Our new tenants pretty much finished moving in yesterday. I didn't have time to bake cookies as a 'welcome' gift, but I did stop at DD's to get a 50 pack of Munchkins!
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Thursday, November 24, 2011

Happy Thanksgiving. My wonderful girls gave me the morning off, Erin and Julie fed, did chores/stalls, made up evening grain and had everything all set for me for this evenings chores. The horses are all happy and well fed, and the day went smoothly. ( pretty much we are all happy and well fed too! Had a wonderful day at Rob's sister Alisons house with the family)
Rob and I finished cleaning up at the tenants house this morning, they will finish moving in tomorrow. It will be nice having neighbors again, and nice for Hunter to have a few kids around that are his own age. ( The folks moving in have 3 year old twins!!!)
Tomorrow I am going to have the whole barn to myself for the day, Julie is off, and I told Erin to take the day off too. Robbie will help in the morning, and Jim may be by to pitch in as well. Folks will be by around noon time for gaited horse lessons, and on Saturday a new gaited horse is coming in for training.
Well, have to get off the computer, my little boy wants to get in my lap for a snuggle, so duty calls!
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Monday, November 21, 2011

We had a productive weekend, full of good weather, nice visitors and plenty to do. On Saturday Jim helped me get another paddock cleaned out. Nicole and Alaina got to trail ride a little, the Jim and Alaina headed out. I had a few folks come from NJ to ride Paso's and we hit the trail as well. Got Pastor out after we returned for them to experience Fino. Sunday was busy too, more paddocks got cleaned, ( some excitement was added when Kokomo the mule got loose while Maribelle was riding, but he never came near her..phew....) Maribelle, Pam, Katie ( and maybe one or two more ) went trail riding. Earlyish in the day Julie texted me to say that Al had cut his nose, would I please come and see if I thought he needed a vet. It was bad enough to need a few stitches, so off to call the vet I went. Dr. Hank came out, and as I watched him draw some tranq to sedate Al for the stitching, I asked if he would mind gelding him while he was at it. Dr. Hank is great, he didn't have any problem with that, said 'might as well not have to tranq him twice', and a short time later Al's nose was stitched up and he was no longer a colt. ( he's doing just fine today, doesn't even have any swelling yet).
Today was eventful as well. I headed out early to do teeth. Pretty neat place. They raise Longhorn Cattle, a couple batches of pigs, ( I'm thinking of buying one or two of this latest batch, they are about 8 weeks old right now), and they have about 9 horses, most of which were rescues. Very cool people that run the place, I enjoyed getting to talk with them while I worked on their horses teeth. From there I went and got feed, went home to un-load it. Forrest and Maryann were both riding, and Julie was getting ready to school Sneak. Erin and I put out some round bales, then I went to harness up Jess for some driving training. Unfortunately as I was nearing the end of my training session with her, I took a bad step and went down hard, twisting my ankle pretty badly. Drat! :( Not much to be done, I tried walking it off for a bit, then went to wrap it up. As I was sitting and getting the wrap on, a gal came down to the barn asking if we had seen a loose black pony. Guess a few miles up the road a small black pony had gotten loose and run off, not a good thing on any day, worse when it is bear season! Erin and I both kept our eyes open for it as we went to town. ( she was off to the bank, I was off to go on another dentistry call) I hobbled through doing a couple of older TB's teeth, and then sent a text off to the owner of the pony to see if they needed us to saddle up a few horses to go searching. Shortly before I got home we received word that the pony was safely back home. Just another day at RO-NO...we'll see what tomorrow brings!
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Friday, November 18, 2011

Today was a good day. I'm sitting with my feet up ( my foot still hurts, had a cortisone shot in my heel yesterday ) and it's 8:20 p.m. Dinner and dishes are done, my glass of wine is empty and I'm relaxing. We had some visitors today , here to look at some of the studs and try some Paso's and they had a good time. I worked with Jess on driving and she was great, spent a good half hour having her drag a tire around the arena ( which of course did my foot no good, thus the ice on it right now ) then had a phenomenal ride on JQ- best ride he ever gave me. It was a good day :)
Today Karen and a friend of hers are stopping by to see Calif and Cardillo as potential studs for an App. mare. The 'Tiger Horse' ( a cross between the Paso Fino and Appaloosas ) is a breed growing in popularity, and this gal has a lovely app mare that she would like to breed. We have one App X Paso here, Erin's horse DJ, and he is wonderful.
Tomorrow Barb from NJ is coming back for another gaited horse lesson, and she too is bringing a friend. This gal has two Tenn. Walkers that she may want to have some training done on.
We may be getting in some Rocky Mountain horses soon for training as well, they are a breed I enjoy working with.
John put some 'snow shoes' on a couple of the horses yesterday. No snow yet, but it is coming and I'd hate to have these that he just shod have to go without. Over the next couple of times out here, John will get everyone who is shod transitioned over to pads and studs.
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Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Our new heifer is doing well. She is getting friendlier and has realized that she enjoys being scratched/rubbed. Charlie ( London's colt ) has also been doing well. London throws beautiful but stand-off-ish babies, so we have our work cut out for us with him. I can get a halter on him without help, but it takes a minute. Jim went into the stall last night to handle him some. It took Charlie a few minutes, but he settled down and enjoyed ( well, maybe tolerated is a better word) the attention. Scratchy of course loves attention and doesn't understand why we would pet anyone but him.
The last section of the arena wall got fixed on Saturday, thanks to Jim. I need to set aside some time to really water then harrow before winter comes. So far we've been pretty fortunate to maintain good footing all winter ( for the most part ). Out next project is sprucing up the wall by Cardillo's stall. The wall is sound, but needs a little TLC.
Another project that I am working on is getting a 'lab' set up in the basement. I've got all the equipment for semen collection and shipping, but I need a good lab area. I'm working on clearing an area in the basement to have a utility sink and some counter space, and room for all the accouterments. Easier access to the microscope means we can do fecals more often ( though so far we have been pleased with the results that we have here) and having a comfortable lab area will be handy when breeding season gets here. We have breedings booked and I want things to run smoothly when we get the calls that we need to ship.
Today I head south to do teeth, and I hope to be back by late afternoon. Jess is officially in training for driving, and I'm looking forward to really getting her going.
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Saturday, November 12, 2011

Our two steers have ( unfortunately ) been going walk-a-bout too often lately. They don't wander far, but I really wish they wouldn't wander at all! On Wednesday- as I was going up the road with tractor and round bale, I saw the steers out in my yard, then saw that there was a truck coming the other way, then saw MaryAnn in my driveway on Torey! Pretty much the only ones free to do as they pleased were the steers! All went well- I pulled over, the truck went on by, Erin hopped off from where she was riding the tractor to let MaryAnn know that Torey wouldn't freak from the steers ( which was good as Lars seemed to want to lumber over to say hi) and we all went on our merry way. Once the bale was put out to the herd, Erin hiked back up the road to chase the steers my way- and back thru the gate they went. Situations like this are pretty much a daily occurrence...
Got a new heifer a couple nights ago. Half sister to Terry ( so now we have Terry and Barb, short for Terriyaki and Barbecue ) Rob and I managed to get her into a stanchion in the old barn, where she will stay until she is a bit friendlier, then she will join Terry out in the pasture. Lars will soon be, well.... meeting his destiny.
Things are looking to be a bit busier here. We've had a few new folks in for lessons, someone is coming here today from NJ for a gaited horse lesson, may have someone stopping out to see if they want to board here ( and truth be told- them visiting is my chance to see if I want them to board here) I've a ton of dentistry trips scheduled too.
We got another paddock cleaned out yesterday ( I saw we- pretty much it was all Jim ) and today we may be able to start fixing up the last section of the arena wall that I want repaired before winter hits. Feels very good to get all these projects completed.
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Thursday, November 10, 2011



Loving this quiet weather. We have all taken a vote here at RO-NO and have decided that this weather must stay just like it is for the rest of November. ( wish it was that easy!)
Calif has been a good boy, have had the opportunity to harness him up and drive a few times over the past week. Young Jess is progressing well too, wont be long and she'll be pulling the cart as well. Little Al is riding wonderfully ( if he is still mine come spring- he'll have to attend a few Paso shows). Mojito is doing very well also- still hoping that he has a new mom. Will hopefully know for sure this weekend.
Heard from Richard Gregory this week. He is the older gentleman from Alaska who bought a young filly from me a few years ago. They have since traveled the southwestern and northwestern states, Canada and Alaska together. He occasionally sends photos and notes of their adventures. I'll post some of them soon.
Wonderful Appaloosa Mare For Sale Cute 14.2h 16 yr old mare. Val is an incredible jumper. She has placed well in hunters, jumpers, pleasure & equitation. Has been used as a lesson pony. Great on trails & jumps 2’6”with ease. Would be a great cross country mount or a wonderful Pony Club or 4H project. Would be great for games & gymkhana too. Absolutely loves baths. She loads, trailers, clips & stands for the farrier like an angel. She is barefoot & always has been. I hate to sell her, but I have really outgrown her. Serious inquiries only. Please email xfranklinx3@aim.com for more information. $3500
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Friday, November 4, 2011

Here's some info from Kerry B- she has this filly for sale and she would really like to get her off to a good home before winter sets in.

Cheyenne is an Arab/Saddlebred and still growing. She is 3 years old. She green to walk trot. She loads, picks up all four foot, works on lunge. Bare foot, easy keeper and shes a love bug. This horse has a great future as a trail horse .... Has a phenomenal jump too!

Here's some info from Kerry B- she has this filly for sale and she would really like to get her off to a good home before winter sets in. Cheyenne is an Arab/Saddlebred and still growing. She is 3 years old. She green to walk trot. She loads, picks up all four foot, works on lunge. Bare foot, easy keeper and shes a love bug. This horse has a great future as a trail horse .... Has a phenomenal jump too!Here's some info from Kerry B- she has this filly for sale and she would really like to get her off to a good home before winter sets in. Cheyenne is an Arab/Saddlebred and still growing. She is 3 years old. She green to walk trot. She loads, picks up all four foot, works on lunge. Bare foot, easy keeper and shes a love bug. This horse has a great future as a trail horse .... Has a phenomenal jump too!
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Thursday, November 3, 2011

I'm really hoping that today will be just like yesterday. We had such a nice, productive and enjoyable day it would be great to have a repeat. So far it's not looking too good though- Rob came back in the house when he was leaving at 5 this morning, said he just saw one of my mules running down the road in front of one of the neighbors trucks. I went down, it was Edgar, caught him and put him in a stall. Went back to the house to work on my Spanish ( taking a Rosetta Stone course on the computer ) and got a call that another neighbor just saw a mule in the road in front of the house, guess Jack is loose too. They have been jumping out every day- but they mostly stay down in the hay field or in the barnyard. Sigh...
Plenty going on today. Kendra is stopping by this morning to pick up kitties Piper and Lance to take them to a spay/neuter clinic going on in town today. A new potential client named Wendy will be stopping by. She is interested in Mounted Archery, and we are happy to accommodate ( Forrest has a strong interest in this as well, so I think we have a new goal to accomplish this winter ) Our new neighbors will also be coming by today, a lovely family that will be renting Grams house from us. ( she has 3 year old twins!! Hunter will love it) Forrest is coming for a driving lesson, and there will be a few other things going on as well. I'm thankful for the nice weather.
Kendra, the gal picking up the cats for me today, is possibly interested in getting Mojito. She rode him for about 2 hours yesterday and they really got along wonderfully. He is ready to have someone take over with his training and she would be a fantastic 'Mom' for him.
Tomorrow will most likely be more of the same- nice weather and a productive day.
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Tuesday, November 1, 2011



I love our homebred horses! ( and my boarders!!) Forrest has decided that he would like to train Jess to drive, and we are well on our way. Jess is a feisty and spirited Paso, but she is also very sensible and level headed, and is used to all the funny things we humans like to do with our horses. She took to the harness like she had always worn one ( didn't even cringe at the crupper! ) and Forrest is happily ground driving her around. In our lessons this week we will progress to having her feel some weight being pulled behind her, from there we will get her to drag a tire around, we'll put make-shift shafts on her and go from there. Before too long we'll get to see Forrest and Jess driving the cart around the farm. Love it!

Monday, October 31, 2011

Here are two of Lori's mares that are for sale. The pinto is really cool, she's sweet and mischievous and is ready to go under saddle. She is a 2008 model and her name is Cinema Sin Par. The bay is Cerveza Sin Par. We started here this past summer and she was a breeze. Easy and gentle and wanting to please. She is a 2007, and will make someone a great partner.


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Thursday, October 27, 2011

It's not quite 6 a.m. and I'm sitting on the couch enjoying my second cup of coffee. What I'm not enjoying is the very sore throat that I have, and the nasty headache that has accompanied it. Every fall anymore I seem to get sick after I get home from Nationals. Not sure if it's the time of year, or if my body simply lets its guard down once the hecticness of the season is over. Caught a cold as soon as I got home from Nat's, thought I was over it, but am run down again now. Sigh....hopefully it will soon be gone and I'll be able to really enjoy the fall. It's my favorite time of year.
This morning I have to head to Clark Summit to do teeth, and I will hurry home, as John ( our farrier ) will be here today and he has a long list, and I have a driving lesson with Forrest and Jess.
Had an old friend stop by yesterday afternoon. She took lessons from me years ago, and had become quite the accomplished young horsewoman. Time and life happened and she hasn't done much with horses for the past few years, and she's hoping to get back into the equestrian way of life. She took an interest in our little Mojito, and she'll be back soon to ride him. Julie got him out last night and hopped on him to show him off, and he was a very good boy. Julie has done a very nice job with him.
Speaking of doing a nice job, Erin has been riding Al and he looks great! This little guy can really gait and he is enjoying getting to strut his stuff. I'm looking forward to getting him into the show ring next year.
Tomorrow I have more teeth to do, horses to work, and possibly a Halloween party to attend.
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Monday, October 24, 2011

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARIBELLE!!!!
It's been just over a year since Calif and I ( and Rachel and Amy ) were in Kentucky at the World Equestrian Games. Looking back, it was a busy and exciting time. ( I was on the road for over 20 days in Sept. and Oct., between the Paso Nationals and the WEG ) So much work went into preparing for both events, and it was certainly worth it. Calif hasn't been overly busy this past year, though the last couple of months he's had a bit more to do. He's been being used for some Mounted Shooting, and now he'll be helping me with two different driving projects. Project 1.- Forrest wants to learn to drive, and wants to teach Jess to drive. We pulled the harness out of storage and cleaned it up, and one day last week threw it onto Calif for what was going to be a harnessing and ground driving lesson for Forrest. ( Calif hasn't been driven since the WEG, so I figured it would be best to ground drive him a few times before hooking him up to the cart.) Well, Calif was so good I figured what the heck, and with Julie and Forrests help we hooked Calif to the cart. And....he was perfect. :) I drove him around for a bit, showing Forrest and Julie how to manage the lines, then Forrest hopped in next to me and I drove him around for a bit, then handed over the lines. He did great, and so did Julie when she took a turn. I do love Calif, he was his usual tolerant self and just worked for us.
Project 2., Catherine King, the editor of the Paso Fino Horse World magazine, has asked me to write an article on training Paso Fino's to drive, so Calif ( and hopefully Jess ) will be photo subjects for the article. ( the article will be in the February PFHW )
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Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Here are some dates for next years Paso Fino horse shows.
Dillsburg- May 5th & 6th.
Lexington- June 8th -10th.
Cobleskill- July 14th-15th
Nationals- Held at the Kentucky Horse Park- Oct. 7th-13th. Hard to believe that we are already marking our calendars for next season, but it helps to plan ahead.
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Monday, October 17, 2011

We had a great weekend at Malibu Dude Ranch. The owners made us all feel right at home, and boy did everyone get some riding time in! The day started with some gymkhana games, then moved on to an Arena Trial/Extreme Cowboy Race. ( the real extreme cowboy race had actually been demonstrated earlier in the games by Angie- she was racing back across the finish line, kind of forgot how quickly the gate was coming up and came to an abrupt stop/flying dismount off of her Arabian Azi. ) After the mornings fun we broke for lunch, then tacked back up for a 2 hour trail ride. We pretty much relaxed after that until dinner, though we did have our choices of things to do, ranging from fishing, archery, rifle range, rowboats, volleyball, games/billards room, and a few other things. Sunday morning we played in the arena for a bit, then Tom and I got in some Mounted Shooting practice, then lunch out by the pond, then another trail ride. All in all a pretty enjoyable weekend.
Rose had extra horses all weekend, later today I'll be headed down to deliver some hay to her, and bring the ponies home. Tomorrow, after I get some horse dentitstry calls done, I'll be taking Shadow to her new home ( Deb is still hoping to re-home this mare if anyone is looking for a companion horse- she's fine to ride, would be best if she could just follow another horse)
Just think- only about 9 more weeks until Christmas! Yikes!
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Saturday, October 15, 2011

JQ is doing just fine after his little incident earlier in the week. He is something else, not many horses could get in and out of the predicament he was in.
Dusty, Torey and Pastor are off on an adventure. Rose has some company in for the weekend, and she needed a few extra horses to have on hand, so I trailered them down on Thursday. They will come home on Monday.
Tuesday Shadow and Deb's horse Cheyenne will move to their new home, the new location for Liberty Reins Ranch. We wish Deb every success at her new place.
This morning we are off to Malibu Dude Ranch. Gymkhana and Trail Trial, dinner at the ranch, hang out in the saloon afterwards, then Trail Trial and Mounted Shooting Practice tomorrow. Rob, Robbie and Jim hope to get some target practice in too, on the rifle range. I've promised Hunter some swimming time, the indoor pool sure has looked inviting when I've been past it, so in we will go.
Tuesday and Wednesday I have horse dentistry scheduled, Friday too I think. Showed the rental house to two sets of people yesterday- we've really had a lot of interest in the house, now it is just a matter of getting references checked and going from there. A woman and three of her four kids stopped by yesterday, and I really liked her- she took a rental application, and I'm hoping to hear back from her.
I'm rambling this morning! Woke up early and couldn't fall back to sleep, figured I'd get on here for a quick blog. Soon the whole house will be up, and then we'll all be on the road.
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Monday, October 10, 2011

I've been in the house all day, working on typing up the lease form for our rental house ( left our house twice to show it to family's) working on the web site4s ( very frustrating- I've got the Royal Flush web site all updates, and now my site seems to be totally down. My computer does not like my web site!) Also got some other paperwork done, made a few transportation arrangements and so on. I was in the computer room when I hear Erin come into the house saying she needed my help. Said that JQ had gotten cast some how in his turnout. She said he had his legs away from the pen, but that he seemed to be caught between the pile of hay in the pen and it's panels. ( if you are reading this Rose before I get a chance to tell you, don't worry- he is fine) Erin hops in the truck with me and down to the pen we go. I can just see the top of his head sticking up from out of the hay. I walk around the outside to check things out, and see that his legs all seem to be unencumbered, not sure why he isn't getting up. I have Erin hand me his halter- and reach down to try to put it on him so that we can attach a rope and open up the panels to flip him over, thinking that the hay is just too steep for him to roll up onto to get his legs under him. Only thing is, I can't get the halter on him, his head seems to be stuck. Now, there is hay everywhere, and I cannot see his head clearly, so I run my hand down his face to go to cup his jaw so that I can lift it to get the halter on. Nothing budges!!! He has gotten the panel between his upper and lower jaws, and it's stuck fat! It went in past his teeth and is resting on the bars, and he now cannot open his mouth wide enough to get loose, and his neck is all kinked around! It's totally wedged, and at an angle, it's pretty freaky. I slip my hand into his mouth and twist his head just a little and get it popped off! Whew!!!! He sat right up and got up, was a little unsteady on his feet for a second or two, but then literally shook it off and walked over for a drink. Now that it was over my heart started going, he could have broken his neck or jaw- just like that! He even had the bars bent slightly from the pressure his mouth had put on them- what a freaky think to have happen. Would never have been able to imagine that in a hundred years. Thank goodness for Erin. She had just put him out, had walked back to the barns and heard the panels rattling. She looked out and couldn't see him, so she went down to check on him, then ran up to the house for me when she saw him cast. She and I both thought at first that he had simply 'turtled' himself. Other than a little tearing at the edges of his outer-upper inscisors he seems totally fine. Other than making sure he doesn't get any swelling or have any issues eating over the next few days- I think we got off easy!
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Saturday, October 8, 2011

Many thanks to Catherine King and her Hubby for taking these shots and sending them to me. Catherine is the editor of our PFHW magazine.




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Thursday, October 6, 2011

We have the original farm house on the property nearly all renovated and ready to rent out. Yesterday I called two papers to put ads in, and I also put an advert on Craigs List. Today the phone was ringing off the hook! We have one woman coming over Sunday ( she's flying in from Florida to house hunt) and we had two other sets of people want to come out tomorrow to see the house. One other woman wanted to come out this afternoon, but I did not hear back from her.
We finally sit down to dinner, and get a phone call from one of the sets of people wanting to come over tomorrow- they were in the area- could they please stop by. We said sure, they said they'd be by in about 30 minutes. We sat to quickly eat, five minutes later the phone rings again, poor connection, it's a woman wanting directions. They are close, so we walk down. Turns out it was the people that I had expected earlier in the day- they finally had made it over, so we still had the other folks coming over. Ahh!! All went well enough- the first people were just leaving when the second set arrived. We now have to start going through the process of finding the right people to rent to I guess. It would be great if we could find someone who was looking to stay long term, and were good tenants. ( both sets of folks that stopped by seemed nice- so fingers crossed)
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Nicole on the big screen while riding under it.
Cardillo being tortured in his stall.
Schooling Tappy
Nic and Pastor with their ribbon!
Cardillo and I getting the mail in Trail Class
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Monday, October 3, 2011

Here's a couple pics from the show.


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After too many hours in the truck ( we had two 'breakdowns' on the way home) we finally made it back home from Memphis. Our Nationals Show was fantastic, all the horses were great, and for me personally the fact that Rose rode Pastor and won 3rd National Champion A/O Fino Stallions was just phenomenal! I'm so proud of her, and of Nicole ( 4th National Youth Fino Stallions!!)
Other wins include JQ, 6th National Chmp 4 Yr old Performance Stallion, and a 4th Place Nat. Chmp in Versatility for Nicole and Cardillo. Cardillo also did very well for me in Trail, we were Honorable Mention ( 7th ) and for Cardillo to be there in Trail Class at the National level was just great, already looking forward to how well he will do next year. His behavior at the show was excellent, and he really excelled in the Mounted Shooting. This was an official CMSA Event, held strictly for Paso Fino's, and Cardillo and I were 3rd National Champ. in Mounted Shooting. His times were fast enough for us to have been Reserve, but I missed one balloon! ( but hey, one miss out of four runs ain't bad!) and that miss knocked us down out of second place. He was excellent though, all that hard work paid off. I'm looking forward to getting more shooting in on him, and maybe hitting a few more matches before the weather really gets bad.
Tappy was excellent. He did get a bit strong in Nicoles class and they were DQ'd. In my class he was perfection, just didn't make the cut. We had 20 in our class, and he really showed everyone that Pinto Paso's can excel in the show ring. We received dozens of complements on him, and lots of people, including several PFHA judges, thought he should have made the cut and placed. All in all we were very pleased with his performance.
On Friday evening the President of PFHA, Lee Vulgaris, walked up to me and asked me to go with him. He took me over to where they had Profeta standing after his demo ( Profeta is a legendary Paso Fino Stallion, one of our very best in the history of the breed) Lee asked if I'd like a photo taken of me and Profeta, and just like that had one of the professional photographers come over for the photo op. I'm not usually one to be thrilled by this, but it was a neat opportunity, and Profeta is the sire of Rosanne's Fino Stallion, who had done so well for us.
There's so much more to tell about our trip to Memphis, hopefully I'll get my head together and get more of it on here. Right now I'm going on too little sleep ( I was at the showgrounds until 2 a.m. on Friday, was back there by 8 a.m. and that was the last sleep I got until last night!) and my brain is foggy. There were some awesome photo's taken of the Mounted Shooting, I'll get some up soon.
( Robbie just told me that he was elected to be Class President at school! )
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Saturday, September 24, 2011

Memphis! We made the drive here in about 19 hours. Left the farm at around 7 at night on Thursday, got here in the early afternoon on Friday and got all unloaded. Horses took the trip well, we will school a bit later today.

The facility is not quite as snazzy as Perry, but it's just fine and we are going to have a great week. I hope to get a little mounted shooting practice in later today.

Have to get to the showgrounds now and get to the office to check in. Nicole has two classes tomorrow.

Wish us luck!

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Thursday, September 22, 2011

Hopefully by this evening we will be loaded up and on the road. It's about 1000 miles for us to drive to Memphis. We've decided to leave as soon as all is packed up and Nicole is out of school. We'll drive thru the night and arrive at a decent time in the afternoon tomorrow. There is one slight hitch to our plan though... Lori called last night, one of her horses got cornered in a stall and got herself kicked up pretty badly. Lori says the filly is a bit of an instigator, and she must have bothered one of the other horses a bit too much. Got beat up badly enough that Lori had to have the vet out... so we'll see what the mare looks like this morning, that will decide when Lori can get here, so that we can get the trailer packed. Hopefully all is well this morning.
Julie took one more step towards leaving her 'flat-lander' roots earlier this week. She had quite the eventful day, helped Rob wrangle the steers back thru the fence, then stood guard while he got the chainsaw to fix a downed tree that was on the fenceline. She had to keep a gun with her, as Rob had seen a good sized bobcat while in the woods. She received ( and enjoyed ) a brief shooting lesson too... Go Julie!!
My folks arrived last night. They will stay here and take care of Hunter and help out here, making sure Robbie gets homework done, help with dinner and all that. I so do appreciate their help. They do find our weather a bit chilly, no Arizona heat here!
Wish us luck! We'll finish up packing, set things up here for while I'm gone then we are off. I'll try my best to post updates on how we are doing.
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Sunday, September 18, 2011

Time has just been flying by! Before the week is over we will be on the road to Memphis. Our horses are as ready as can be, so now it's just time to get everything at home in order and get ready to pack up the trailer. Over the next couple of days I will hit the library ( love having books on CD for long trips!) get groceries for the house and grain for the barn, clean the house more ( I did some today, but then helped put hay in) My folks will be here Wednesday evening, Rose is coming Wednesday as well. I have my own packing to do, and various things to have done in the house before we leave.
Rob cut hay on Friday, tedded it yesterday and today we were able to get it all baled and put into the barn. 475 bales of second cutting hay! Makes me very happy to have that done! Thanks for all the help Erin and Jim!!
Nicole was a huge help today as well. She went through our trailers and organized a lot of what we will need to pack, made lists of what we have, and what we need. That will go a long way in helping us to be ready to go on Thursday. Our original plan was to leave very early Friday morning, but now it looks like we will hit the road Thursday evening, as soon as we have everything loaded and set to go.
Well, Hunter is ready for his night-time story, so it is off the computer for me and time to read to him.
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Tuesday, September 13, 2011



Been up and spinning my wheels since 4:30 this morning. The mornings tend to be my most productive time in the house ( when I come in at night, once supper is made and I've sat down, all I want to do is spend time with Hunter and relax- so not much gets done in the house) and a productive morning sets a good trend for the day.
Yesterday I picked up alfalfa cubes ( for JQ ) and lime ( for the old barn ) after dropping Hunter off. Then back to the barn to help Erin with morning chores, had coffee at Maribelles and got some paperwork done, back to barn to do turnout and stalls, then on the road to get a load of sawdust. Took lunch and did some computer work, back to barn and work some horses, then time for chores. ( no wonder I appreciate my time in the house in the morning!)
Today I'll hit the road by about 10 to go to Duck Harbor to do teeth. I'll go to Agway and Pet Central while I'm in the Honesdale area, and perhaps grab a few groceries too. I've two horses ( at least ) that I want to get to work today, and I'm hoping to start going thru some of the stuff that I will need to bring to Nationals. We ( RO-NO ) have a nice set of stall drapes, and we always have a nice table set up in the ailseway at Nationals, advertising the farm. I tend to just pack everything up willy-nilly at the show, and I need to go thru stuff to see what we need. Space is limited, so only the necessities should go.
Here's a pic from the shooting competition last month on LI.
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Thursday, September 8, 2011

School closed again! This is just not fun, was already down to the barn this morning, flooding not any worse than yesterday. Folks west and north of us really have been hit hard. Was on the phone with Lori ( out near Sunbury) last night. She said that the flooding there was the worst she had ever seen. They had to move their plane out of it's hanger as the water was rising there. So many people having to evacuate their homes due to the rivers overflowing the banks. I'll keep a nervous eye on our creek all day, as in the past it has risen higher and quicker that we like to see. So far though all is well.
We worked on fixing the arena walls again yesterday. Over the years the kick wall has bowed out, and we now have the project over 2/3rds done. It's a good feeling to be able to accomplish some constructive work while all this goes on.
I've an interesting dental case to work on today. Got a call last night about a horse that has suddenly developed a swelling on the side of its face. They say it has a hard lump along the side of its jaw, though seems to be eating well. I'll let you know tomorrow ( or whenever I next get to get on here) about what I find.
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Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Rain, rain go away.... this is what we've all been thinking, but the rain still comes down. We've more water in our fields right now than we did with Irene. The sound of the rushing water from the creek was so loud this morning that I went down to the barn at 5:00 a.m. just to check that all was well, that we didn't need to start evacuating horses due to rising flood waters. It will be a long day, water is still coming up, and the rain is still coming down.
We had planned on trailering horses to Malibu Dude Ranch yesterday to get some schooling in. ( We've 16 days to go until we leave for Memphis!) Had to scratch those plans though, and todays as well. So much water and flooding that they have closed all our local schools! Nicole and I did manage to trailer over to Lake E in the afternoon yesterday, just to get three of the Nationals horses out and about at a new arena. All three (b JQ, Tappy and Cardillo ) did very well and I was glad that we made the effort to get them there. No go today though, too much flooding. I may try to get Cardillo over to Malibu this weekend to get some shooting practice in.
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Friday, September 2, 2011

Here are a few pics from the Aberdeen Show the day before the hurricane. I think we are already drenched in the pictures.



The horses were all very good, it was a great schooling opportunity for the horses going to Nationals, plus a lot of fun and another way for us to support everyone from Over the Hill Farm.
eb B's mare Shadow is coming back here tomorrow for a months tune-up. Deb is hoping to find her a good home and wants her as set as possible beforehand. If anyone out there is looking for a companion horse, please let us know.

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

I'm so thankful that we never lost power here with Irene. I was on facebook earlier, read a lot of posts from folks who do not have power. ( Thank goodness for cell phones and car chargers!) It's hard enough dealing with ab house with no power, add to that a barnful of horses really makes it a challenge. Hope everyone gets power back soon.
Our day trip to Rose's yesterday with Tappy, Pastor and JQ went smoothly. They loaded right up, Rose had stalls waiting, we schooled and then headed home. Next week it will be a trip to Malibu Dude Ranch, and I'll be able to get some mounted shooting practice in on Cardillo. They are talking about having some evening practices this fall, I'm all for it.
Today I hit the road for New Milford. Have horse dentistry to do there, then back home to try to get some hay moved. Robbie starts High School today!!!
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Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Goodbye Irene. Some rain started here on Saturday afternoon. We did make it to the benefit show at Aberdeen ( it went great, there was a fantastic turnout. ) We got sandbags set out, stuff tied down, horses put away and then we prayed. The rain really got going at about 3 Sunday morning, and tapered off around 12:30 that afternoon. The wind pretty much went on all day long. We watched the water rise, and then thankfully watched as it stalled and started to go down. All in all, we did not get hit badly at RO-NO.
Julie left early on Saturday morning with her horse Mambo for the Aberdeen Show. She was very pleased with how he behaved and performed for her. This was her first trip by herself with the horse to a show, and I'm so very pleased that she had a good time. Erin, Robbie, Nicole M, Hunter and myself set off for the show with 5 horses at around 11. We hit a little rain on the way, but it settled and we got started without a hitch. Erins Mom Peg was along as well ( thank goodness, as she watched Hunter a good bit for me) About halfway through the Western Show I noticed some pretty nasty looking black clouds rolling in. I hollered to my crew that we needed to scratch our horses and leave. We didn't even make it to the trailer when the rain hit. It poured! We loaded up as quickly as we could to bet out of there. They had us parked in a grass field and we were way at the bottom of a big hill. I knew it would be tough getting out of there. ( They had already had someone else get stuck in the driveway!) Off we went, me in the lead. I made it up to the road and went back on foot to see how Erin was making out ( she was driving Maribelle's truck and trailer) She was stuck, but after a little help from Glen ( the hubs hadn't locked in all the way- so he did that) she backed up and tried again and pulled out onto the road. Phew...
We got back to the ranch and started getting things settled for the storm. The rain started for real early the next morning, and all we could do was wait to see how bad it would get. The creeks started rising late in the morning, but fortunately never got really bad. The wind was pretty significant, but again, at the Ranch it didn't seem to do to much damage. We kept power the whole time ( lots of folks around us did not, so we were fortunate with that as well) and things are pretty much back to normal here.
Yesterday I spent a good part of the day on the road in NJ doing teeth. Lots of damage there, had to keep re-routing, as my GPS tried to get me where I needed to go. Trees down, rocks and debris across roads, or simply no road at all everywhere I turned. Today I'll be bringing a load of horses to Rose's to school, tomorrow doing teeth up in New Milford.
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Saturday, August 27, 2011

A few more hours of calm before Irene hits PA. We'll probably spend too many hours playing today, and not enough prepping things for the storm, but we hate to not go to Aberdeen to support Over the Hill Farm. So, today I'll feel a bit more like the grasshopper and less like an ant. Since this will be an exception and not the norm, I'll try to not feel guilty about it. :)
We are taking four Pasos and one Quarter Horse to the gaming part of the Aberdeen show. A slightly nervous Julie left a little while ago with Mambo in tow, headed out to the earlier English classes. This is the first time that she has taken off on her own to a horse show. Go Julie! We will meet up with her near noon time, with Pastor, Tappy, JQ, Cardillo and Scotch.
Once we return to RO-NO however, the fun and games end. We'll be getting horses in, setting out some sandbags, putting away anything that could blow away, latching all the barn doors and so on. I'm really hoping that it wont be too bad, and that it leaves as quickly as they say it will
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Thursday, August 25, 2011

Good Grief, 4 months until Christmas!!
Spent the last two days on the road alot, doing teeth up in New York and in Equinunk. Enjoying the weather before the hurricane brings rain our way. Rob has spent this week finishing up the haying at the neighbors farm. We got it all in yesterday, 6 wagons or so of gorgeous hay. Glad to have that done. Now we just need another nice stretch of weather so that we can tackle our own second cutting. I'd love it if we could fill the left side of the loft with sweet second cutting, we use that to keep the stallions happy all winter.
Today I get to stay home ( at least that is the plan right now) We had the farrier here all day on Monday, I managed to bring home a load of sawdust on Tuesday, so hopefully today I'll stay here and get some extra horses worked.Nicole schooled Pastor and Tappy yesterday, I did get to work JQ on both Tuesday and Wednesday, and will get to him and Cardillo today. I've a few trips planned over the next couple weeks to get the horses that we are taking to Nationals out to different rings to school.
We are hoping to take about 7 horses to the Over The Hill Benefit Show at Aberdeen on Saturday- let's hope it doesn't rain!
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Monday, August 22, 2011

Whew...it's been busy here. We've all been working hard and playing hard too. :) Nicole M has been riding away on her Scotch, and she did very well at 4-H Districts yesterday, placing well in 3 of her 4 classes. Erin took three days off to head out for some R & R with her boyfriend, Amy did the same, Rose has been working, riding here, coordinating horse soccer games at home and so on. Rachel has been riding her horse Yorkie, Jenna is enjoying the freedom of having her licence, Pam has been here riding, Forrest, Jim and Shanna and Alaina, everyone has been able to come enjoy the good weather we've had. Julie's been keeping busy giving lessons and working horses, Kerry has been enjoying her driving freedom as well-
The township has been working on our bridges, so we never know what road will be open and what one will be closed. We'll see how things go with that this week. Keep this in mind when coming out here. The workers couldn't let me know just when they would be out again to work, so just watch for the road signs ( if they put them out- apparently that was not mandatory last week!)
Spent the day on Long Island yesterday. Took Cardillo and Calif. For once, Cardillo outshined his older brother. Calif was good, but seemed to get a bit fed up with the shooting and didn't always run as straight as he could have ( but his rider handled it very well and she shot great!) Cardillo really came on, getting better and better throughout the day. We had 5 runs, and ended up second in our division! Then the highlight of the day for me, the Cowboy Challenge. This was a timed shooting and obstacle event, kind of a combination Mounted Shooting and Extreme Cowboy Race. Cardillo rocked!!! He was super settled for the two shooting runs, and he flew thru the obstacles, never even hesitating at obstacles other horses wouldn't even attempt. He was great. Our end time was about 1/2 half of what the second place riders was, and there were 10 entries in the Challenge. It was a great end to a very fun and challenging day. I'll post pics when I get some.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011






Here's just a few photos from our fun evening on Sat. Jim, Pam and Erin are displaying some of the 'Extreme' part of the evening!! Thanks again to everyone for such a great day! ( We're still eating Erin's cupcakes!)
Monday was spent on the road for me, working on horses ( and mules ) teeth all over the Montrose, New Milford areas. Came home whooped and was very glad that there were plenty of leftovers. We had tons of help here yesterday, started getting things put back together here. I'd moved all of our trailers up to Maribelle's to make room here, so with Kerry's help we have them back in our own barnyard. The girls got all the garbage cleaned out of here on Sunday, so things are pretty ship shape now. I'm actually here all day today, a rare thing anymore. Rose plans on being around tomorrow to school, only 5 weeks till we are on the road to Memphis!
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Sunday, August 14, 2011

Thank you, thank you to everyone who attended our fundraiser event for Over the Hill Farm. We had a fantastic turnout for the Extreme Cowboy Race. 17 riders and over 50 spectators joined us in our effort to raise money and collect donated items. All in all, we were able to collect over $500 and the amount of donated items more than fill the back of my pick up truck! Rachel brought T-Shirts and bracelets and sold all that she had. Everyone was so very generous, so again, thank you for your help and support. It has been wonderful to see how our Equine Community has come together to help fellow horse owners in their time of need.
Our indoor obstacles ranged from pushing a 3' soccer ball through a chute, going through a water obstacle, a teeter-totter, a bridge ( sounding board ), an archway hung with ribbons and more. Outdoors riders had to ride through an upright round bale feeder, go through two creeks, over logs and through an archway with pool noodles sticking out of it. Everyone had a great time and we had fantastic food. All in all it was a great big barn party. ( we should have some good pictures soon).
I have horse dentistry to do near New Milford tomorrow, so I hope to stop by at Over the Hill Farm in the morning to drop off the items that are here still.
Next Sunday brings another mounted shooting competition. This one is on Long Island. We'll bring Calif again, as he seems to be a good influence on Cardillo. After that we will have one last month to have the horses ready to go to Nationals.
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Friday, August 12, 2011

Kerry and Erin- the mighty hunters!
One day left to have everything ready for the Extreme Cowboy Race! I've had so many people tell us that they will be here, it's going to be a great day.
I've the obstacles nearly all set and ready to go. We've a few odds and ends to finish up, but so far all looks to be in pretty good shape for us for tomorrow.
Yesterday was just beautiful. The weather couldn't have been nicer, and we got so much accomplished. Tons of horses got worked, we got in a load of hay, we did some more clean up for tomorrows festivities. Ended the day with a nice trail ride- it doesn't get any better.
Today we'll get a few horses worked and start marking trails and such- get stuff all set for tomorrow. It's an awesome day!
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Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Good, long day. Robbie had an early orthodontist appointment, so we hit the road, got that done, then got a haircut for Robbie, glasses picked out and ordered for both Robbie and myself, some grocery shopping done, new chainsaw blade for my chainsaw, some other odds and ends of shopping done, and we were back at the farm by noon. Rose was here with Madison and Brooke, both girls got to ride, and Rose got in good rides on both Pastor, JQ and Azura. Robbie schooled someone for me, and ended up hitting the dirt! An uncommon occurrence to be sure. I got several good training rides in, Tappy, Jose and Scotch were at the top of their game! And then....
I was made very proud by my two studs. It was getting late and I really wanted to get both Calif and Cardillo schooled, at least get them some good exercise. So... I decided to work them both at the same time. Got them both tacked up, left a halter on under Calif's bridle with chain attached, and left him in the cross ties. Took Cardillo into the arena and warmed him up a little, then rode into the barn and popped Calif out of the cross ties while still mounted on Cardillo. Un-looped the lead from the saddle and ponied Calif into the arena. It took a bit for Calif to catch on that I needed him to follow/keep up with Cardillo. I think at first he was a bit leery of being asked to keep so close to another horse when in the past this has always pretty much been taboo. After a bit though he was following quite well, good enough that we could gait and canter!! I was so pleased with both of them, especially Cardillo- he never hesitated- he was great. Not studdy- not annoyed that Calif was right at his side, he just worked. I was so very pleased. We even grabbed the flag from Jim and carried it around the arena, neither of them minded at all. Then went up to the pedestal, which both will step up onto, and I managed to get both of them up side by side on the pedestal, twice! We also went side by side down the board. It is so nice to have such good boys!
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Monday, August 8, 2011

Wow, time is flying by! I still don't totally feel like I'm 'home' as it seems every day I'm off and running on one errand or another. But, all is well at RO-NO, we're keeping busy and are looking forward to this weekends event.
Took Nicole M and Scotch to their 4-H County show on Saturday. They did well, and we now know just what we need to work on to be ready for Districts! Unfortunately, I wont be here for that show, as it falls on the same day as my next mounted shooting event. But, we'll have her all ready to go and she will do well.
Took Robbie and Hunter fishing yesterday morning. Had a blast, Hunter got to reel in a number of blue gills and sunny's, and we brought them home to release into our pond. Robbie found a couple of snakes as well, but seeing as we both thought they were water moccasins we left them their space. Came home from fishing to find Jim out in the outdoor riding arena weed whacking, so I grabbed my gloves and went to work clearing brush and branches, we'll hopefully have it better then ever back there soon. Went to work then on my landscaping at the house. I'd picked up a load of mulch last week, and yesterday ( with Robbies help) I got my entire project completed ( for now) Everything is mulched, and I think it looks great. It felt great to get that job completed.
Today I'm off this morning to do teeth at Happy Trails in Mt. Pocono, from there I will go pick up feed and then head for home to work some horses. We've plenty to do here, day to day work of chores and training, and ad to that getting the place prepped for Saturdays Extreme Cowboy Race, gonna be a fun week!
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Wednesday, August 3, 2011

OK, so when I wrote the blog yesterday I thought the new steer was in the corral still with Lars. I was wrong. Looked out the window to see how Lars and the new steer were doing, saw Lars pacing the corral and then saw the herd running. Dang it that steer hadn't scaled the wall and had gotten loose. Jack, Robbies 17 year old mule, believes that the pasture is his domain and does not care for intruders. He'd chased the steer, who jumped out of the pasture and into our hayfield. So much for getting a new steer to help make things less complicated ( we got him in hopes that he would settle Lars down and stop Lars from going to visit the neighbors cows.) Robbie headed down to try to get the steer back up towards the barn while I called Terry ( he's an neighbor- he sold us the steer) to see if he could come and help. I'm at the house with Hunter, watching Robbie slowly maneuver the steer closer to the barn. Just as they got out of sight, I heard a horrible commotion, metal panels banging and clanging! I though, 'why would the steer jump into the panels?' then realized that it wasn't the steer, but two horses that were turned out in those panels and the steer must have spooked them. Yikes!! I left Julie in charge of Hunter and I went racing down to the barn. Fortunately the horses were fine. Long story short, both Terry and Rob had to come to get this guy caught. We tried for awhile, but he kept running back into the grove of hemlocks next to our outdoor riding arena. We opened up some panels on a corral nearby, and finally got him chased in there. Then Terry and I both got a lasso on him, made a headstall and frog marched him to the old barn, where he is now residing in a set of stanchions. Hopefully after a week or two we can turn him out with Lars again, and when they go to pasture Jack will have to wear hobbles for awhile.
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