Natchez Trace and Shiloh

Shiloh

Shiloh

Steve and Crickett

Steve, Topper and Kyffin

Kyffin and Topper

Riding, car trips and art

So much has happened since I last blogged. Winter is finally winding down, the days are getting longer. The daffodils are up in full bloom even though there is still a nip in the air. Spring is just around the corner. The horses are loosing their fuzzy jammies. I groom them while they are eating with a slicker brush like one buys to groom a thickly coated dog. I haven't found a horse brush that will get down into the horses thick winter coats quite like a slicker brush will. I have to be real careful not to scratch or poke their skin with the slicker needles though. The birds will have lots of slicker shaped horse hair clumps to build their nests with. I am going to have to get after Solly with the clipper blades as soon as it dries up a little, I hope it isn't so late that I will mess up her incoming Summer coat.

Our group of friends, Steve's work buddies and family and friends, had three Christmastime gatherings. As usual, the food and the company was unrivalled!

A few weeks ago Steve and I piled the Labbies in the truck and drove a little ways up the Natchez Trace to Shiloh. The Trace is always a lovely drive and Shiloh always takes my breath away, between its beauty and the history it is truly an awesome place every Southerner should visit. If trees could talk ...

A couple weeks ago Shari called me up and said, "Grab your saddle and catch your horse if you want to go riding with us, we'll be there to pick you and Solly up in 45 minutes!" We went back to the Brushy Loop, but since it was late in the day we didn't ride the whole loop. I think we went to a parking spot in the middle of the loop and turned north this time.
http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/alabama/maps/documents/OwlCreekMap_letter_size.pdf
We - Shari on Dancer, Kimberly on Raven, and me on Solly - rode well past the swamp and the deer meadow and turned around. In the deer meadow Shari got on Solly, while I held her Dancer, and gave me a lesson on controlling her forwardness without hanging on her mouth every second. I don't call her my go-go bunny for nothing. Solly likes to run down hills. In the woods on leaf strewn trails that will often have slick mud hidden under the leaves, hurtling downhill at twenty miles an hour on a horse is not pleasant. She is also a horse who really thinks she ought to be the leader and she sometimes gets hard to handle when she isn't first horse on the trail. She almost ran over young Raven, when I had a lax moment and Solly took control and tried to get in front. It's a good thing Raven is a good natured little gal. Shari taught me to not be afraid to use the bit quite sharp if she is really ignoring me, the annoying bug on her back, and how to get her to listen to me better. Earlier she reminded me to use my legs to move her hind end when I use the one rein stop, that only turning her head is not a proper one rein stop. The lesson helped quite a bit. The sky got darker and darker until we were riding back to the truck and trailer past dusk. It's been many years since I rode horses in the forest at night and it was glorious. Shari told us stories of riding in endurance rides that started before the sun came up. The stars were out as bright as they would be in the mountains, we could see them clearly through the bare winter trees. Orion. The Seven Sisters. A beautiful, bright planet - Mars maybe? We found the road and Arnold the truck and marveled at how fun a ride we had as we unsaddled and groomed our good horses. Steve had delicious hot chili ready for us when we got to the house so we turned Dancer and Raven out in the barn paddock and tossed them some Bermuda hay for their visit, and went into the house for dinner. Does a day get any better than that?

Last Thursday, Shari and I, her family, and some other folks from our local Parelli club piled into our vehicles and went and spent three days at the Parelli Celebration in Franklin, Tennessee. Making new friends, watching beautiful and outstanding horses, learning new ways to connect with your horse so you can control them better and enjoy them more, and just being inspired is what I got out of the time I spent there. I also got their Patterns series, I think they will help me, the way my brain works, better than any horse instruction I have ever found other than my irl teachers. I cried buckets watching Lauren Barwick and Maile and hearing her tell her story.
http://www.daylife.com/photo/0cIv1uy1b9gil
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1Td1eBSKkI
I laughed till I cried when the two little boys and their tiny ponies did their shtick. Linda gave me lots of pointers about how to handle my silly left-brained introverted and left-brained extroverted ponies. Watching Pats demonstrations always leaves one knowing how you can improve upon your horsemanship. I enjoyed everything all weekend long, even swearing about the hotel clerk who gave us a horrible time. The high spots were too numerous to list them all. Except I missed my husband and doggies. Steve came up for a few hours on Saturday and came all day Sunday and brought the dogs, but, unfortunately he had a wicked bad headache and didn't enjoy himself. And after the Level 1 photo shoot, Pat touched my shoulder as I helped him come down off a barrel ... I may never wash my green, corduroy shirt again ! Fingers crossed for my Level 2 this year!

Apparently, my drawings on the name tags Steve made for the NFHR annual meet were a big hit! I have been getting lots of requests for nametags and designs for NFHR and other Fjord clubs and groups. That is quite complimentary ... thanks everyone for the kind praise. I have been busy on designs and will get in touch soon.