02 Saturday Feb 2013
Posted in Weather
Since I seem to be on a weather kick lately, I’ll stay on it long enough to discuss blankets. It’s a subject I feel strongly about, because for most horse owners, in most situations, horse blankets are a waste of money.
This is a mountain horse. Do you see a winter blanket on her?
31 Thursday Jan 2013
Posted in General
Fire is one of the biggest drawbacks to living out West because it takes so little to set one off. A live cigarette butt carelessly tossed out of a car window. A not-quite-OSHA-approved lawnmower and a stray spark. A little kid playing with matches, as most little kids like to do. In the 14 years John and I have lived here, we’ve been evacuated twice, and believe me, it’s not fun—especially when there’s no guarantee that you will ever see your home again.
Watching the fire approach our house.
29 Tuesday Jan 2013
Posted in Text-Free Tuesday
This is a nicely-bred Australian horse, probably a Thoroughbred hunter/jumper. As in the United States, horses are not native to Australia.
26 Saturday Jan 2013
Posted in Weather
When I woke up this morning, it was snowing so hard and fast I could barely see the garden gate. While not exactly a whiteout, it was close. Since I was in no rush to feed the horses—I have deadlines to meet—I fed the dogs and cats and went to work. By the time I went out to feed and clean, the snow had melted and the sky was a brilliant, cloudless blue.
24 Thursday Jan 2013
Posted in Weather
If you’re lucky enough to have purchased property with no horse-related improvements on it—such as a barn, a pipe corral or two, a tackroom, and a hay shed—you can design and build nearly anything you want to. (Be sure to check with local ordinances regarding size, etc. before you start.) You can also build it any where you want to.
I was trying to clean Prim’s feet but her tail kept blowing in my face. So I knotted it. Her tail, not her feet.
22 Tuesday Jan 2013
Posted in Text-Free Tuesday
Photo by Charles Hood
17 Thursday Jan 2013
Posted in Horses and Kids
Evelyn, the granddaughter of a friend of mine, began riding when she was five—she absolutely insisted on it, and Grandma, who taught grade school for many years, helped her mother vet the riding instructors until all three of them agreed on one. If you Google horse breeds, most will say the horses are suitable for children. Not so.
These two children have a babysitter, and he´s an Arabian.
15 Tuesday Jan 2013
Posted in Text-Free Tuesday
Photo Credit: Gina Cresse
12 Saturday Jan 2013
Posted in General
Most parents and all riding-lesson givers want a dependable, somewhat lazy (one with more whoa than go) horse for their children. Such horses are also called “bomb-proof” because if something startles them, they won’t shy, rear, buck, or run away. Nothing startles them, not even a bomb.
Prim, my fraidy-cat trail horse. In 22 years she has only dumped me once, and it was my fault. Not hers.
10 Thursday Jan 2013
Posted in General
Trail dogs are good company, especially for somebody who rides alone, as I do most of the time. They let me know when I need to be aware of something—a strange animal, a strange vehicle, a strange person. In magazine articles, total strangers insist that riding alone is not safe, and that people ought to ride with other people.
Jesse was the perfect trail dog—with one exception. She attracted coyotes, who mistook her for one of them.
Backyard Horsekeeping 