May of 2016

CB, Oh Lordy, tough road for you and Harry, you've already overcome so much, will keep you guys in my prayers.

GM, promise I will try to stay safe and healthy! Inky is such a sweet, sweet fellow and since both his sire and dam are such loves, he can't help but be that way. Of course he will go through all the colt stages and he cannot have the big snip till he's developed, but trust me he will have it. Weird though, he's got ink spots (thus his name) and I had no idea, makes him homogeneous and would never sire anything but a colored foal, never a solid! Leave it to me to get a half-breed who would always produce color Also, I have a camera being shipped with image stabilization to overcome my functional tremor and take many pictures of my boy (and of course drive ya'll crazy with posting them!! )

My sweet Robin approved of Inky and that's so very important and unexpected because she swore after my accident that I was not ever going to ride again. She knows all the Gypsies and Inky's Pinto dam and she is totally alright with him! A miracle I think

CB, I can't tell you how sorry I am that you are having so much heartache. I'll continue to pray for both of you.

Rose, you will have a great time with your new baby. Can't wait to see the pictures of him as he grows up. Maybe you can drive him and ride him.

I have finished the designs on all 15 shirts, and the names on 13 of them. Gotta get a new hoop to do the little shirts, which I'll do tomorrow. Since I was given the assignment last Sunday, I feel pretty good about getting so much done quickly. Just have to clean up the thread on the backs, and wash out the stabilizer.

Boy, oh boy, the rain has really brought up the water level. My dock isn't floating yet, but I'll probably tie it down tomorrow to keep it from floating away because we have more rain coming tonight.

CB
 I am so sad about what is happening to your family.  I sincerely hope that both you and Harry can stabilize your health problems and start living your retirement as you planned.    


ELLEN
 Quick !  They will be very happy!  How about a photo of one of the shirts?   It rained here overnight, but was pretty all day.  

ROSE
Congrats on Baby Inky! I look forward to seeing his pix! Luckily, I have not dragged the cart out of the garage or had the harness repaired yet. It won't hurt them to continue living there. Maybe I will give Cactus Jack a lesson or two to see if he has any talents.



Our "new" trailer didn't get set up quick enough, so we are taking the old one tomorrow.  Since the temps are going down to near freezing in Ivanhoe Saturday night, we have decided to just make a long day of it and not camp out.  We will be going in the morning and come back after dinner.  Ivan will be happier, and we won't sleep in a tent in the cold.  We are wimps, .  The campground is about 50 miles from here and about 25 miles from our old house in Grayson County.

Ark, have a fun day

Rose,, inky is cute, I hope he is perfect for you

Hubby and I cleaned out the gooseneck horse trailer, maaannnnnn he had a a lot of stuff in there. Now we can vacuum, and get pictures to sell it. I hope.

Well I know now we had allergies, weird, but when. The neighbors mower stopped so did the runaway nose and sneezing. Boy what a vicious attack. We felt fine in a short time, whewwwww. Our neighbor isn't even that close to us, we have cow pastures between us, I wonder if he was putting weed spray on or something?

Everyone have a great weekend. Dr

Ark, how was your ride yesterday?

ELLEN
It was about half okay. The weather was cool, rained lightly a couple of times, and very windy. Ivan decided to have a difficult day. He was fairly obnoxious for the first half of the ride, pulling and wanting to run. We went 8 miles. He hasn't been like this for over a year. One of the ladies only had been riding for a year, so we were walking to make it easy for her. Ivan fought me to go faster until we turned to return to the campground. Then he walked on a loose rein. He spooked three times, but I never lost my seat. He did manage to step on my foot and grind on it for a bit, which is now very colorful, but not broken. My language at that moment wasn't very polite.... It is probably good that I wasn't packing a firearm right about then...

A rock that was about a foot across fell off the side of the cliff and landed in the path right in front of us, which caused one of the spooks. That could have ended badly.

On the plus side, the company was very pleasant, the lunch and dinner were quite tasty, and we enjoyed ourselves. Ivan was better in a paddock than a stall. He never had any issues with the three other horses, no bar room brawls or anything. He just couldn't settle down for a quiet ride. He wanted to run. Had it been a warm day, it may have been different. Only Ivan knows.

We got home after dark. Today we got a load of hay moved into the barn. Tomorrow I am going to sleep late!

ARK, thank goodness the spooks weren't bad!  You are so right that one could have ended badly.  Who knows what Ivan was thinking?  Lori wasn't there?  Just wondering if all new people unsettled him?  You deserve to sleep in tomorrow!

ROSE
Lori and Tonto were there. Ivan liked a new horse better, Bandit, and basically stayed near him in the front. Lori rode mostly behind us a little with the new to riding lady and her mare, an 18 year old QH who has only been ridden for the past year. They both did great. Only Ivan was a nervous wreck. I do think Ivan does better with only one other horse on a ride. More than that and he thinks it is a race that he has to win.

I will post your Inky photo tomorrow when I get on my computer. He is very cute!

ROSE:
 What a cute baby!   You will have a hard time keeping your hands off of him!  



I had a lesson witth Lori this afternoon.  I decided since I was fairly sore from my ride Saturday, that I would only ride Areion today.  So after her lesson, I crawled up on her and had a little lesson about reins, steering, pressure, backing, and turning circles.  Areion is a smooth ride, which was all I was up for today.  She did so nice.  Ivan got to cool his heels today, but was discussed thoroughly.  We will be trying some different things to get his mind where it should be when we are with a group, including a different bit.  


Here is the picture of our group last Saturday in Ivanhoe, VA.




Lori in pink, I am in blue.

Oh ROSE...........Inky is a doll!!! You will sure be having fun now!

ARK, your pics are great!!! Glad to read you had fun> Sorry Ivan was a butt, however, it was his first ride out this year in a group............ he just needs miles of big groups.........and miles, and miles. It's fun to know you're riding Areion and that she is a smooth ride..............

Nice day here today with breezes and lower temps........87.

Hey, where's RICK? Are he & Carol gone on their trip?

Everyone have a good evening...............

Inky equals adorable.

Ark, who knows why a horse will do what they do....I'd put something that smells good on his nose, use it at home, too, if things smell familiar maybe he will settle in groups. Rosemary and lavender work good, calming....
Whew, bro is back in hospital, he's had four transfusions. Did endoscopy today, tomorrow a colonoscopy.....to see where he is loosing blood....geesh, if its not one thing, tis another.

Had dinner with Jeff's mom and step dad, he is about the same....we r hoping he shows some improvement, soon.
Raining here all day....can we spell mud?

Here is a YouTube video of Areion.  Lori finally caught her with her phone camera.  Areion rolls on one side, then sits up like a dog, crosses her feet a few times, then flops down on her other side to roll.  She has done this all her life.  She is such a goof!  


.


https://youtu.be/CWg9PzQCsps


(Click on link if picture of video doesn't work... :-) )

Rose, you're going to have such fun with Inky. He's as cute as they come.

Ark, your ride sounds a bit challenging for the first half. I hope you had a little chance to enjoy the scenery. Areion is efficient in her rolling. Why should she get all the way up to her feet just to lie down again? That is funny!

Bro is in hospital, he has had three units of blood and now they r trying to figure out why....Jeff's mom was in CCU last night after our dinner and all day today, Dr told her she had to leave and go home to Arkansas for a few days....she is worn to a frazzle.

We r getting rain, rain, rain measured in inches....I'm wondering if we will be able to now the yard or have someone come bale it!

((((((((((((((((((((((CB & Harry)))))))))))))))))))) & Prayers...........

CB, you sure have a lot to deal with right now. I hope things will get better fast.

It was a really nice day today. Mowed the yard, went to the grocery, washed a few windows, and stayed with the little girls for a couple of hours. Busy day, but a good one.

ARK.................Areion is hysterical..............does she always scratch her butt in front of others?

Hope everyone is having a good day..............

Nobody's home...............

I'm here. Not too much exciting going on, unless you call blowing the little rocks off the driveway and hauling the rug out onto the deck to clean it, and the floor under where it usually lies. It was a gorgeous day here today.

GRAYMARE
Yep, Areion is not shy about her scratching, . She has always rolled like this, we just were never quick enough to photograph her. She is not quite like our other horses....

ELLEN
It rained here this morning, but got nice in the late afternoon. It was nice to see some sun. I re-bedded all the stalls, took Donnie to work since his truck was in the shop getting a hitch for the gooseneck trailer, went to make an appointment for a new physical therapist for my increasingly irritating hip joints, went back and got Donnie after work and retrieved the truck from the shop. I had a busy day!

CB
I hope your brother and cousin are improving. Any news?

We're having a neighborhood get-together tomorrow. I made two batches of ice cream today. I spooned it out into cups with lids. Much easier to serve and nothing to clean up afterward. I hope we have a nice day tomorrow.
I don't know when the party will be over, but I will be here in front of my TV at race time.

I had to re sign in as I totally cleared my computer for cleaning. Anyhow, it showed one reg member online, me, and 5 guests.

Race day tomorrow........I wonder if Nyquist will run it right across the finish line again..............

I was explaining horse racing to Eli today.........he liked the thought of opening a gate and running like mad........LOL Reality is he's a pretty lazy colt............

We have a game party for the reading kids tomorrow w horses. It's our last party and our year is over...........They are very excited as they know they can all ride the best............LOL Kids just warm my heart as their enthusiasm is contagious.

Later gators...............prayers for ALL.

Horse racing sure is crazy..........according to today's odds, only two horses are competitive.....................Nyquist & Exaggerator..........so, we shall see.........
I hope 30-1, of which there are two, wins............and that they're safe. Not as crazy with only ten horses running................

It seems even the Kings can't afford this horse game..............

NBCS starts their coverage of some of the early races at 2:30 EST, then switches to the local NBC station at 5:00 for the big race.  I have to go to a neighborhood picnic at noon, but I'll try to get home around 2:00 to see all the races.
Yes.  Praying for a safe race for all.


It is now 4 hours later. I didn't make it home for the races at 2:00, but I'll see everything from 4:30 on through to the end. The neighborhood picnic was a big success, with a nearly perfect afternoon of weather. Good neighbors and good conversation.

The end of the year party for the kids was a hit.........we served lunch after some fun horse games...........by that time, hot & windy. I would say the kids were really tired, but in reality, the adults were. Glad to be home & in sitting watching NBC waiting for the race................

I always love the hype the announcers throw out over each horse..........a horse is a horse is a horse, unless, of course, it wins a million or so...........LOL