Great clinic yesterday. We had six horse/rider teams and the horses worked great. Thanks to everyone for coming and making it such a fantastic day. We got a lot of extra riding in afterwards, Allie made it out here from NJ ( she was hoping to make the clinic but couldn't quite get here in time- so we ad-libbed and kept going ) Lisa Lee rode a horse or two for me, and Makayla, Kenny and Hannah kept on riding well into the evening. ( then the all went either fishing or to the movies- oh to be young again!! )
Our new training horses are all progressing well, I cannot wait to get into the saddle with them, they are all very nice quality animals and they are going to be fun to ride. Today is my day to get the house cleaned and get paperwork done. The sun is shining and I am enviously looking out the window at the crew down in the arena working with the horses. I'll have my turn out there later though. This afternoon I need to work with our coming yearlings, and then late in the day we will have our mounted shooting practice.
Just a few more days to be ready for the Dillsburg Show. All the horses got worked yesterday and they are doing very well. Robbie will be showing in Performance for the first time, he looks great in his tux!

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Frost again this morning. Springs reminder to not plan on planting anything until after Memorial day. After the weeks of very warm weather earlier this spring, I was very tempted to fill our planters with new spring flowers, and I'm glad I resisted. It was 29 degrees yesterday morning, and at 5 this morning it was 27 degrees. It's due to warm up nicely today, so I have no complaints.

Time sure goes by quickly. We've only today and tomorrow to get ready for this Saturdays Gaited Horse Clinic. I've two Pasos coming down from NY state, the Tenn. Walker owned by Peggy of Bubbas Tack, and a bunch of in house riders participating in the clinic. We may have one or two more 'out of towners' bringing horses as well. It will be a fun and productive day.

Had a group session last night for the Mounted Shooting, and it went well. Am planning on a more extensive practice on Sunday. We are hoping to have a nice group of horses going to a shooting competition late in May up in Conn.

Here are a few pics of the new trailer. It tows beautifully and I am super pleased with it. It still seems a bit foreign to see it sitting in my barnyard.

We leave a week tomorrow for the Paso Show at Dillsburg. We've a lovely group of horses going and everyone is really looking forward to the show.


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Good morning friends. I am sitting at the computer in Henrietta Ratliffs kitchen in Florida, watching hummingbirds feed while waiting for my sister-in law Alison to finish getting ready to head outside. Alison and I left North Carolina yesterday morning to head for Atlanta. We got there a bit early ( my appt was at 2 ) se we had lunch while the truck had its tires rotated and balanced. Then we went on our way and pulled into the Ford dealership that was storing the Featherlite trailer that I'd driven down to purchase. It is gorgeous! It is huge! It tows beautifully! I LOVE IT!! I've been so excited about this new acquisition for the Ranch, it's been much needed. I did a lot of on-line searching to find just the right trailer, and the only thing this one is missing is a roof hay rack, which hopefully I will soon be able to have one put on. I'll try to get pics up soon, for some reason the ones that I sent to facebook from my phone are not wanting to go thru.

Today we will spend the day at Greener Pastures, though I do have some teeth to do as well. Then in the morning we will be hooked up and headed north with a new broodmare for a client, and will get to West Virginia to pick up some training horses.

Have a great weekend!


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It's 4:15 and I have just enough time to throw a few sentences on here before I have to hit the road. I'll pick up my sis-in-law by 5, and we will head for Maryland to do teeth at Lisa Gorsuch's place ( lots of lovely Paso Finos ). From there we will continue south to Georgia, where my new trailer awaits me! It is a 2009 6 horse slant load Featherlite and everyone here at RO-NO is excited to see it arrive back at the ranch. Once we've got everything settled in Georgia we will trailer to Florida to Greener Pastures to pick up a lovely Capitan Paso mare who will be coming to RO-NO to be bred to Rosannes Jarenero Stallion Je Ne Sais Quoi Sin Par. Once we're out of Florida it is north to West Virginia. We've two Rocky Mountain horses to pick up for training, and then a Paso Fino mare to pick up at another location. She's headed to RO-NO for training as well.
I'd best close down the computer and finish packing. I'll post pics soon of the new trailer!

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The weekend just flew by! I had a wonderful time with my family yesterday. We went to the massive garage sale at West Point. Today was cooking and cleaning, and then Erin's Baby Shower here at the house at 2. We had a lovely time, Erin and her baby got some wonderful gifts to help welcome the youngster here. She is due one month from today. After the baby shower, a bunch of us met at the barn to tack up and head out back with the guns. We had a very constructive mounted shooting practice and had a great time too. Julie even hopped up on Cardillo to take him for a spin, with gun in tow and she and he did a fine job of it. Jim shot off of Jose for the second time, Michelle had Dodge tacked up and made a few runs while 'mock' shooting, and Erin rode too! She hopped up on Calif, in her sundress!!, and rode around for a bit after we were all done with the shooting practice. All in all a very nice weekend.


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It's so good to be home!! We had a great trip/time in Arizona, and as always I really enjoyed seeing my folks and having my hubby along while I made my rounds. But still, it's good to be home!

The gang here did a great job holding down the fort while we were gone. It was a busy week, and they got everything done! It's going to be busier yet soon, spring is here and everyone wants their horses worked. We've a full plate, but we're all geared up to work and things are going ( relatively ) smoothly. The horses have been working well, and we've some lovely ones to work with right now. It is only going to be a few more weeks and we will be at our first Paso show! We are all looking forward to it. ( That reminds me- I need copies of 2012 PFHA membership cards from all of you who are going to show) (This is not an USEF show, so those cards are not needed yet.)

I'll have to be on the road for a few days next week. Trip to MD to do teeth, to Georgia to pick up the new trailer, then FL to pick up a client horse, then WV to pick up 3 new training horses. Like I said, it's been busy!

Today we got our share of horses worked, five of the 10 who will be going to the show. Tomorrow should be good and productive, I've lots of help lined up. Rosanne made it out today and rode Pastor and she and I worked Savannah on double lines for Bella Forma. I'm hoping to do more of the same tomorrow, and maybe fit in some mounted shooting as well.


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HAPPY EASTER!!! I wish all of you a wonderful day.

Our trip in AZ is coming to a close. I do have a little work to do today, and a full day tomorrow, and Tuesday morning we will head home. We've had a very busy trip, our days full with work and evenings filled with visiting my folks and enjoying margaritas! Tomorrows job is at a very fun place, full of trick horses, mounted shooting horses and great characters to chat with.

Julie has had her hands full at home. She's been riding overtime, to cover for me, and has had to deal with loose mules and loose steers. We had to call in the cavalry ( a nearly nine months pregnant Erin ) to bring the cattle home. What a sight that must have been, very cute, very pregnant girl in a sundress luring home the steers with a bucket of grain!! Wish I'd been there to see it.

Time to get ready for Church, then home to change and go work, then back home to my folks for Easter dinner.

Enjoy your day!


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Woke up this morning to see the sun coming up over the mountains!! It is a cloudless sky here in Arizona, and shortly Rob and I will be on the road to start the first of my rounds. Yesterday went quite smoothly, no real hitches to our travels and we got to my parents place relatively early. The remainder of the day was pretty fuzzy though. We had gotten up at 12:30 a.m. to head to the airport in Philly ( Rob and I had to chuckle on our drive out- the bars were still open and here we had already gone to bed and gotten up again ) and I really didn't sleep much during our flight. Then my Dad made two batches of margaritas, so I went to bed early to rest up. With the 3 hour time difference here I was afraid that I'd be up and awake at 2 or 3 in the morning, but managed to stay asleep until nearly 5 this morning, and I feel rested and ready to work.

Julie and the crew at home had a very productive day yesterday, and hopefully things go smoothly for them today as well.


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Delivered 'Emily' to her new home last night. She is the Paso mare that came up from North Carolina last week. Her new 'Mom' is just thrilled with her, and all seemed well when I delivered her. I now have their nice QH gelding for sale. He is a good sized, handsome boy, chestnut w/flaxen mane and tail. The woman who owned him had decided that she needed a smaller, narrower horse to ride, thus her reason for acquiring Emily. ( Carolyn had broken both legs in January, and sitting astride a wide horse now seems a bit difficult.) 'Rusty' , her QH, will get worked a few times and will be for sale. He is a nice trail gelding.

Today I'll be doing laundry and getting out the suitcases. We will hit the road very early on Tuesday morning, headed to Arizona. I've a full schedule, and I have my Dad's margaritas waiting for me!

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