Tuesday, February 28, 2012





Here are a few shots from the expo.
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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.

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Sunday, February 19, 2012

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!!

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Friday, February 17, 2012

Today we'll finish getting ready for tomorrows clinic. To add to the days hecticness, I've got the vet coming out to geld the new training colt. He is really a very sweet Arabian, and we are all looking forward to getting him started under saddle. Also, Carolyn M and her family will be over around 1ish. Carolyn will be riding in tomorrows clinic, and she's here ahead of time to get to know the horse she will be riding. ( Torey ) I've got to hit the road early today to get in a load of hay, and with any luck I'll be able to fit in getting a few horses worked as well.


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Thursday, February 16, 2012

Had an eventful day yesterday. I was scheduled to go pick up Jubilee, the big Irish Sport Horse mare, for a 'spring tune-up'. Earlier in the morning I received a phone call from a gentleman in Dallas PA. He had spoken with me previously abut getting a 3 year old Arabian colt of his to start, and he wondered if I could fit that in. Also, my neighbor Zack had a 2 year old TB filly he needed to pick up, so we worked together for the day to go get all of these critters.
Started with the colt. I wasn't sure what to expect, as I knew this fellow had not had much work. He ended up being s sweetie and we had very little trouble loading him. ( Zack actually put a shoulder to the colts rump and onto the trailer he went.) He traveled well and we soon had him safely tucked into a stall.
Then we went for Jubilee. She's been here before, and has loaded well, and has had times that she didn't load well. This was one of those times. I think she knew her vacation was over and it was time to go back to work! But with a little persuasion she was soon loaded up and headed to the Ranch.
Now for the third one. This mare wasn't too far away, it took less time to travel to her farm and home than it took to catch her! She's destined for the racetrack, but as of yet has not had a lot of handling. Zack had worked with her some for her owner awhile back ( thank goodness!) but she had not had much handling recently and she did not want to be caught. We arrived and went to her stall. Zack went in and tried for a bit to catch her up and get a halter on her, but the big filly was having none of that! We tried this and that for a bit to get a rope around her neck, but to no avail. Finally I used a long rope to make a loop and roped her. When the loop fell onto her head she was really not pleased!! I quickly got the rope dallied around a post and slowly inched her toward a corner. Then with Zack manning the rope I managed to get a loop of a lead line around her nose and around her neck, then got a halter on her. Whew... But that was just the first step! We still had to get her onto the trailer. We managed that without too much more trouble, and headed back to Zacks with her. She did sweat up a good bit, but she was a pretty willing filly, didn't want to hurt us, just didn't really know what was going on. Shouldn't be long and Zack will be riding her.

Today I head north into New York to work on a bunch of draft horse teeth, then back here to work a few horses. Lots to be done before Saturdays clinic!


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Monday, February 13, 2012

We have our times for the Paso Demos at the Horse Expo. We are first up every day for the stallion demos, 4:00 on Thursday, 12:00 on Friday, 1:00 on Sat and 11:00 on Sunday. Breed Demo times are 12:30 on Thursday, 6:00 on Friday, 9:30 on Saturday and 3:15 on Sunday. Come see us if you are at the Expo.

Saturday will be the first of our Gaited Horse Clinics. I've 6-7 riders lined up and I'm really looking forward to the day. Looks like we will have a full house of auditors as well.

I feel like my winter break is over. I've the clinic and horse expo this month. Florida trip and clinic in March, Arizona trip and clinic in April, and our first show is in early May!! I'm glad that winter has flown by!! Only 3 more weeks and we will start to see robins, and sap is already running. Yeah Spring!!


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Monday, February 6, 2012

Another weekend has flown by! No complaints, it just seems like I don't get everything done that I want to get to- I should be thankful that I have such long 'to-do' lists, and that I'm able to work on them every day.

Farrier day on Thursday went very well, horses behaved ( and for the most part so did our farrier ) We got plenty of critters worked, and the weather has been so agreeable! Friday was a whirlwind of a day- Erin and I slammed thru stalls, I got some errands run, took Robbie to the Dr.'s ( annual checkup ) and came home in time to work some horses before evening chores. Sat. morning I ran for round bales, helped with stalls, worked horses, gave lessons, then ran a load of hay to Rose's in the evening. Sunday was house cleaning, paperwork, cooking and then the Super Bowl ( plus a Scrabble game w/ Robbie )

Today I've a horribly long 'to-do' list- and I know I wont get to all of it, but I will try. Nic moved a lot of the breeding stuff up to the house from the camper, so I need to get organizing that as well. Rob spent a lot of the weekend working on my old truck, fixing the brakes on the dump trailer and cutting firewood, so he was not able to work on the sink- but I know he'll get to it soon. I'm going to be looking for a 'mini fridge' to put in the basement if anyone has a good one for sale!

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Thursday, February 2, 2012

So this morning we get to find out from a groundhog what type of spring we have ahead of us. All I now is that the worst of winter is behind us ( and it really wasn't bad ) and even if we get hit hard by a couple weeks of real winter weather the end of it is in sight. Aahhh...

Tuesday was a warm, wonderful day. Decided to end the day with a nice relaxing trail ride, ...right... Our horses were goofy for a lot of the ride, jumping at shadows, but not really too bad, just feeling their oats. We got in a couple of nice runs, and some long stretched of good gaiting. On our way home both of our horses got a little spooked by someone chopping wood at the side of the road. A van came by just then, and Jim had to dismount to get Jose through. Just then two pick up trucks came roaring up, but slowed down due to the fact that the van had stopped, the road was narrow and we were squeezing through. The horses settled and we headed home. We were nearly back when we could hear the two trucks coming up behind us fast and hard. We had just gotten to a section of the road where there is barbed wire on either side, and it's pretty narrow. The trucks were a good 40-50 foot apart, and as the first one blasted past ( they didn't even attempt to slow down or move over!! ) Jim hollered to slow down, and I swung my horse in front of the second truck! The kid stopped ( just in time- but I knew he didn't want to get his nice little pick up's front end crumpled up by a horse ) Let me tell you, did I ever give those kids a well deserved tongue lashing. I think I was spitting fire and my head was rotating around on my shoulders like a possessed demon. There kids had been going way too fast ( this isn't the first time they've been speeding by). I have a three year old boy, and my neighbors have 3 year old twins! Our dirt roads are not race tracks, they are roads that belong to farmers and families, and these teens need to remember that. They're probably a bit miffed at receiving a lecture from a red-headed amazon, but so be it.

Today is farrier day. We've a long list for John, he definitely has job security here. We'll get critters worked, though a few will get a break today. Last night we had a good practice with the crew going to the expo, but then we gave those four horses their flu vacs, just to be sure that they have good immunity at the horse expo. We gave them some bute last night, so hopefully no one has a sore neck today, but just in case they get today off.

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