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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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!

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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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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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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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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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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