May 2012 !!!

Hi all, well it's good to be back - and I can't believe I found this forum again under the new name! (tried 'foops + horses') and here we are. Carol and Ark, you're right, it's the same me from the old forum a long time ago indeed. And I remember the great time I had in Minneapolis with Carol and Marilyn. So.. a brief update! My son is still in the USA, but moved to TX - couldn't stand the COLD winters! I'm still living in Ireland, but visit Texas twice a year, to see the family, including my 2 new grandsons (now 6 and . I'm still riding and competing my dressage horse and also found a new sport called TREC (orienteering on Horseback) which we LOVE. And last year, myself and some Irish friends spent a week in Montana on a ranch going trailriding out each day, which was wonderful, the scenery was breathtaking. Now, that's enough about me for now - how's everyone else getting along?

HEY Silverdancer...My wife and I are leaving on the 8th of the month for 17 days vacation to Wales and "a little bit" of England. This will be my 5th time to set foot on UK soil...but I've NOT been to Ireland as yet. Maybe in a couple more years we can "do" a bit of Ireland. On one of our trips...that got down into southern England...we were able to make connections and go visit with Linda. (aka FOXHUNTER, I believe??)

I'm officially "retired" now since 7 May, 2010 @ 12:30PM!!.... and stay as lazy/busy as I feel like it. I was a commercial truck driver for 1 1/2 million miles and miss that lifestyle about as much as a horse misses a swarm of biting horseflies lying dead on the ground.

As you've probably already figured out...this group...though maybe smaller in number...is as crazy as ever. There is "one" member you need to be forewarned about and that is SNOOP. He is my imaginary alter ego. You can look back on here and read his introduction to JODI and some comments by others.

Welcome back HOME!! We've missed you!!

Love to all....Rick & Snoop

Hey there SilverD...where in Texas is your son? Hubby and I are moving to Texas soon...near San Angelo.
Nice to hear from you and see you here. My whole family did orienteering on horseback here in ID, OR, NV...we loved it, but hubby and I don't have the time to do them anymore, maybe after he retires in the fall. We just mainly pleasure ride now.
Hope you stick around!

Jodi, you too! We arn't all certifiable on here...just RICK! but we love him anyway, and yes Snoop has visited several of us and we soon send him packin' back to Rick...Snoop can sure get into some trouble! OK, well, maybe I am also a tad certifiable....

Oh brother, this is GREAT, SILVERDANCER.............CAROL will flip when she sees you posted.

I sure am glad to read you are still in the saddle and having a great time. Boy, I'm sure you loved Montana. I'm also sure you realize Montana even makes Ireland lood good in the winter............it is tough living in the winter there.

Welcome back and please stay in touch.

God bless. Prayers for ALL.

Well...My fist cat Violet...She's very old. she's white.

My second cat...Booger...He's Black. and Very Sassy Sometimes

My third cat...Miley...She's gray.

When I work out how to do it, I'll try and post a picture like the rest of you have done. Rick - I remember you too, and your truckin' around! Good that you get to visit my side of the 'pond' for holidays, do try and make Ireland sometime, it's well worth visiting. I retired in September, 2009, and agree it's a great life. Apart from doing horsy stuff, it leaves me time to read, watch TV and travel a bit.
CB, my son lives just outside Austin. I'll be visiting him from mid June to mid July, because the kiddies are off school and we can spend time together - I didn't want them growing up with Grandma a stranger! And this summer, for the 1st time, we are going to take them riding, my son has booked them a couple of lessons, so that will be great fun.

Just spent the last hour, now that I'm logged on, reading the posts from last month and trying to catch up with everyone and what's happening. Only got a fraction of it read! What a lot of news - good, bad, sad, happy. It's life, I guess! But I really enjoyed seeing so many of the old names here, amazing after such a long time, and lovely that everyone has remained friends. But it's now midnight here and I'm done reading. G'night!

silverdancer wrote:

And this summer, for the 1st time, we are going to take them riding, my son has booked them a couple of lessons, so that will be great fun.

Have Fun

Silverdancer so good to see you here. It has been a long time.

Raining like mad here so what else is new? This years weather has been nuts. Usually this time of year it is starting to get hot and we can take a blanket or two off the beds. Not this year. Still cold in the mornings. Tuesday morning we had frost.

I have finally got the OK to get a portable 02 concentrator so hopefully I can get on with my life and not be tied to these dang big tanks.

Everyone have a great evening. Of course some of you back east are ready for bed I guess.

Olman here and -----

Glad you are back Silver!!! Way back we were Clan Irwin .

In the mean time Rick, explain to me how this older age works. Keys stick and horses look at me funny. Son has picked up mowing and spring "weed eating". He outworks me and my two cohorts.

Is a 10 ft heavy duty bush "hawg" too too much for my 60 horse blue paint New holland ---it groans a lot. Go back to 6 footer?????? Also ask Ark about Arab and Spanish horse skin color and change color please

GENE...your "problem" is more of excessive weight...when picking up and turning... than anything else. I would think 60hp should handle a 10 footer in grass/weeds/light brush all day long. Basically, if it can "ride it down" it ought to handle the cutting. Pull the ears back on that ole hoss and let er bellow!! It'll do it good. Just keep eye on radiator getting choked with debris and causing overheating.

Rick...the occasional tractor guy...still

SNOOP here: That Miss JODI sure is nice...she has agreed to help me with my latest psycho test and here she is in action conducting the test.. This is Adult version of The Marshmellow Test:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQvBrEEYS20&feature=fvwrel

Snoop...ever curious
(We couldn't use fudge for obvious reasons)

SILVERDANCER:
Hurray! It is so good to see you! Is my memory totally messed up or didn't you live in Wales before? Last I remember, you were selling your house, but I don't think I ever heard anything past that. I am really glad to hear you are living in such a lovely place and are still doing dressage! Tell us about your horse and where you ride, please! You found us by googling "Foops and horses"? That's incredible! We just moved the foop troop three months ago after our SuddenLaunch site collapsed again. I hope this forum lasts longer.

OL'MAN:
I don't quite understand the Arab/Spanish skin color question. My Arabs all have black skin, although their hair has changed from black to grey to white. Is one of your horses having a problem? My first cutting of hay is supposed to happen in a couple of weeks. I sure hope so...

SUNNY:
Check your email, I have changed your password. It should work now.

KATHI:
Great that you can get the smaller bottles of oxygen! Hopefully that will make life a bit easier. Sorry about the rain. We had a thunderstorm again today and the humidity is fierce.

FLESSA:
Thanks for posting CB's pix, that really is helpful! Did you get your plumbing problem fixed?

GRAYMARE:
It was in the high 80s here today. I may need to go sit on a mountain in June if this keeps up. Whew, too hot, too early. I gave poor Zippy a much needed bath and hope to clip him tomorrow. He is still hanging on to most of his winter coat and is very sweaty. The Pergolide hasn't seemed to kick in yet.

RICK:
How many days until you ride on a jet plane? Need a chaperone?

JODI:
Your kitties sound nice. How old is the white one? ELLEN has the oldest cat I know of at 18. I have never managed to get one past 16.


Kumquat and Creampuff

CAROL:
Been riding this week?

I washed Zippy today, tomorrow I will wash the horse trailer. That isn't as easy as it sounds, the roof is 9 feet tall and needs to be scrubbed on top. Since we will be hauling Ivan to a poker ride on Saturday, I would like to have it looking a bit better.

I have 3 more pics to post but it said something about not being able to upload because the storage limit had been reached? And haven't figured out how to include them in a message.

Mystery at work turned out to be what I expected. no fun there.

And plumbing problems were temporarily handled too. all is good here for the moment.

FLESSA

Try again....I think I have increased the photo storage space.

still getting that message. but maybe i can post them here and then you can move them into an album for CB?

here she is from the other side

and here is Curious Georgia

Thank you Flessa! I love sharing the pics, and one day I'll learn!

Brought Stormy home last night, her feedt need a good softening and let be grown out and I think she can use a bit of weight on her, but she sees gentle enuf and she is green broke where they have ridden her around the back roads out of the arena at least...so it shouldn't take too much to get her going good. She loves attetion and comes up to be petted....easy catch, loaded and unloaded good and seems to get along with the other guys over the fence good. She is a purty lil girl!

Puppies are all growing I think the littlest one is out of the woods now...she has become a lil chow hound! and the other two I am still trying to figure out their coloring...I'll have to get on line and get some more info about that color.

Well we are off to get our newest acquisition...we were trying to figure out how to get things hauled down to Texas....and a friend of ours called and said "did you see the motorhome on craigslist?" well duh...yes...I'm always on craigslist but I was wondering if it were feasible...and the friend said he looked at it and thought it could be, so we wnt and looked and hubby decided it could be fixed enuf...so....we have our work cut out but I'd rather be busy than not! For $300 dollars we got a 31 foot motor home that runs well, the insdie just needs lots of work...this will haul a trailer down to Texas (hopefully) and all of Hubbys' tools and my washer and dryer...it will then become our tack room and workshop...and whatever else...and we can haul everything down now without making double trips. Confused? well...I am too a bit! It will come together...we never know what the hay we are doing for sure, but it always seems to fall into place...and that's all that counts. My life is always in chaos but its never dull!

thank you again Ark for getting me back online Kent is still hanging on just waiting for Social Security to answer him, so again thank you for everything Iam glad to be back it was frustrating to not be able to post

I like Stormy. Would love to know her bloodlines. Looks like she has a lot of old time foundation appaloosa in her, not so much quarter horse. Your $300 motor home sounds like you can gut the inside and use it like a box truck. Lots of storage room for you. And if it gets you down in one trip instead of having to take 2, then that's a great investment.

Welcome back Sunny.

My good news is that I'm now a Great Aunt. My first Great Neice entered the world yesterday around 3:00 in the afternoon. My plan is to stop at the hospital after work and meet her. Hmm... need to start looking for that perfect first pony.....

Ark, where did you get that lovely picture of me?! I look like that all the time, of course.
Your memory is only slightly at fault, my original roots are Scottish so maybe that's where you got the Celtic link from. But I've been here in Ireland for over (*!&% hmmm) years so everyone thinks of me as Irish (me too a lot of the time )
And fancy you remembering about me moving house, wow, was it that long ago. I now live in a lovely bungalow (like a little single level ranch house) beside an ancient estate called Castletown (google Castletown House, Ireland - but I only live BESIDE it, alas) where I can go walking anytime along the River Liffey. I keep my horse, Zaristo, at livery about a half hour away. He's a good boy, chestnut, about 16.1 hands, half Hanoverian warmblood, half thoroughbred. Great temperament, loads and travels like a dream, lovely paces. BUT, (there's always a 'but' isn't there?!) despite now being 15 years, he still has a little spook which he likes to use once in a while, just to make sure I'm awake - but not in the dressage arena, thank goodness. And he loves to whuffle in my hair, which I love too!
Other than that, I have a polite little cat, adopted when he was 10 who is now 16 and definitely getting elderly. He is called Jeckyll and used to have a sister called Heide before he came to me (jeckyll & Heide - get it? Or maybe that's an English tale, if so please ignore my attempt at a joke!)
Nearly forgot to mention my family, ha, ha. You know about 1 son in Texas, there's another son in Dublin too, who is nice enough to call his mom when he's going to a SCIFI movie with his friends, cos none of mine will go! So I see him quite a lot. And I love visiting other son in TExas, because I love visiting the USA!!! Had SUCH a good first time there in MN, couldn't stay away. And Carol - I still have that cowboy hat!
I'm delighted I found this forum again - thank you all for your welcome. Isn't it amazing after so many years that 'foops and horses' is still the keywording? Especially since you all just changed the forum... spooky, what made me try it?
I'm enjoying reading all the chat, hearing about pets, families, travels... and the horses, of course.

[quote="Rick Angell"]SNOOP here: That Miss JODI sure is nice...she has agreed to help me with my latest psycho test and here she is in action conducting the test.. This is Adult version of The Marshmellow Test:

I DID NOT AGREE RICK!!!!

JODI...ya gotta understand that if SNOOP tells it that IT IS the truth. Now sometimes I don't have much control over him He was a little confused...which happens frequently...and couldn't say for sure if you were the lady conducting the test or the lady at the very end....AFTER THE CREDITS. You might wanna go replay the video and report back to SNOOP just which one you are, etc.

Love to all...RICK who is wondering where SNOOP has been today

Indy Congrats. That first pony is a must.

Ark my old Thumper cat lived to 21 and my mother had one that made it to 24. Both went outside too which the vet said was amazing ages for cats that did not spend their whole lives in doors.

I had a motor home that pulled my horse trailer just fine. It was only a 28 footer though. I used it for horse camping because camping to me means a trailer or a hotel room. I do not sleep on the ground. Even when young I did not sleep on the ground. I have my father to thank for this because his idea of camping was a hotel room or a cabin in the woods. I love the out doors for everything except sleeping.

INDYAPP:
Congrats on the new Great Niece!! Yep, gotta buy a pony. I bought my only great niece, Rachel, a pink stick pony when she was a month old. I suspect she didn't use it much then. She is a year and a half now and may be figuring it out. You've got to indoctrinate them young!

BEECH:
You are right! I forgot to mention the most important animal in my life when I did my roll-call: Donnie , da hubby of 38 years! He isn't quite as hairy as the rest of our crew, but he's quite a cutey! He may be as hairy when he gets through clipping Zippy this weekend.

SUNNY:
Welcome back! I'm glad the new password worked out. How's the weather down there? It has been in the eighties here this week, sort of hot for us this time of year.

SILVERDANCER:
Glad you liked your picture . You can put any avatar you'd like up, I just can't resist filling a blank space. I'd love to go to Ireland, I have seen it from the air a few times. Yep, it is green! I'll look up that castle. We need pix of you and your steed! I could have sworn you were from Wales. Your name is Fiona, right? (I may be having a major case of CRS..... ) Which sci-fi movies have you seen lately? My favorite type of show, too. I am really looking forward to a few shows coming out soon....Dark Shadows next week! (Not exactly Sci-fi, but anything with Johnny Depp and Barnabas Collins has got to be good. ) I used to watch that show after school back when it was first on the air. I loved Barnabas Collins! BTW: I live outside Dublin, too......Dublin, Virginia.

KATHI:
Well I am impressed with the age of your cats! I'd be very happy to achieve that with Kumquat and Creampuff. They are indoor cats.

CB:
That motor home sounds like a steal! What a deal you found. I have never 'done' Craigs List. I think I may have to start looking at it. Congrats on your new horsie! Hope she works out well.

JODI:
You have to forgive SNOOP. He is a great teaser. We'd all like to catch him and work him over a little now and then . Your best bet is to aim barbs back at him.


I have to be up before my chickens in the morning. We are hauling Ivan to Ivanhoe, VA to a poker ride benefiting two volunteer rescue squads in the county we used to live in before we moved here. I hope, hope, hope that Ivan is as good as he was last Sunday! I'll be riding with the Morab mare, Amanda, again, so Ivan will have one horse along that he has met. I'll let you know how it goes.......