Horse Talk Indiana

Birthday Gift for a Year

2012-02-14T18:02:00.005-06:00

My brother and sister-in-law are so thoughtful. For my birthday (in December) they got me a subscription to Horse Illustrated magazine!

Because I got into horses late in life (in my 40's) and did not grow up with them or around them, I am acutely aware that I am pretty clueless when it comes to understanding horses. I understand my mare, Divna, because we have been together for 11 years now. But still, I am aware there is a lot that I can learn which would make me a better horse owner for her.

I've received two issues of the magazine so far, and have really enjoyed them. It came as a real suirprise to find that I am actually doing something right! The article on training your horse to neck rein pretty much describes what I am doing, which made me feel great. There have also been some great articles on fly control, and ground work exercises.

So a big thanks to Terry and Leslie for this wonderful gift, which will last me a year!

The Answer to the Question

2012-02-09T19:05:00.019-06:00

In my last post, I posed a question about trailering horses in the winter. John and I were considering going to visit my brother in the North Woods of Wisconsin, and taking the horses. From our home in Northwest Indiana, it would be about an 8 hour drive. Temperatures could be anywhere from 20 degrees to zero, and possibly below. In the end, we decided not to go.

I got some great comments from my blog friends, and it was suggested that I do a post with the responses, so here they are:

Desert Rose

i would have more than likely come up with the same decision as you did...my horses safety would be my fist choices. Did you consult a vet to see if there was criterea for winter hauling when it is that cold...plus wind chill factored in. maybe you can post again with everyones responses?

Canadian Cowgirl

I would have first checked the forecasted weather at both locations and the areas I'd be travelling in between. If the weather looked decent I probably would have hit the road.A couple things:A lot of people here have similar trailers and in the winter they use plywood or plexiglass (?) to cover MOST of those openings. Not all as you do want some airflow, especially if you don't have roof vents.If your horses have a good winter coat then use blankets at your judgement. You could always bring blankets/extra blankets along and add them if you need them.Also, if you're returning after riding give the horses a chance to get good and dry first.I haul in the winter and it can get very cold here! If its going to be really cold I don't load up but on those days I do I still crack my windows open a bit. (not all the way, just a crack!)

Jeni

I probably would have come up with the same decision just because of the temps being below 20 F. However, for winter hauling if you ever need to. I would cover the openings on your stock trailer. They do make plexi inserts for those open spaces. Leave a couple openings at the back of the trailer for some air flow.As for blankets - Do you currently blanket them? If not I would be hesitate to blanket them, it would depend. It gets pretty warm in the trailer, especially if it's closed up. Always take a blanket or sheet with you.Yesterday it was 30 something here in Cincinnati. I put a cotton cooler on Rosie because she was just a tiny bit sweaty when I loaded her on the trailer to come home from the clinic. It was enough to wick whatever moisture there was off her and keep the chill off. Once I got home I brushed her hair back up (against the grain) to fluff it up again as blankets flatten it.

Shirley

I pretty much agree with everyone's comments; avoid hauling in the really cold weather, but if you must, close off the sides and the gap in the back door, but do allow some airflow. I do blanket on cold hauls, because there is always some wind that gets in, and with a horse that's standing still, they can get quite chilled. However, check at regular intervals to see if they are sweating; you'd have to take the blanket off. A polar fleece cooler is a good option too, as they won't get too hot and it wicks the moisture away, but they are standing there with a damp blanket on in that case, so keep a dry regular blanket handy to use if needed.

Breathe

I wouldn't haul because I wouldn't ride! If it drops under 50, im looking for a warm blanket for ME. This is why i live in Texas...LolBut I have hauled in pretty cold temps, horses blanketed. Not -20 though. It probably is wise to take them on a training haul with blankets on. Plenty of hay, stops for water.But better safe than sorry, I say. Hot cocoa and horses in the barn. Spring is coming!

Ashlee Ashby

Do heated, closed horse trailers exist?

Endurance Granny

Our trailer is similar to your's and we live in SE Indiana. Not quite as cold as you guys, but plenty cold still. We blocked off the sides with exterior grade plywood painted the color of our trailer. It has worked very well. If it is below freezing I will blanket in the trailer as it is like a fridge in those steel trailers. I try to think what it would be like in their barn with a little breeze and use a blanket weight for that. Horses do move a lot while trailering to keep their blanance and that in itself can make them sweat, so it can work to your good or your bad! I honestly worry less about trailering than I do about road conditions. I checked the weather one weekend, hauled to the Clark State Forest and was ten miles out when it started snowing. I almost didn't get my horse trailer out of that park! The parks don't service those roads during the closed part of the season. Lesson learned. Thanks for stopping by E.G.

Thanks everyone for helping me out! I had to laugh at Breathe -- no riding under 50 degrees for her!

Also, loved Ashlee's query as to whether closed, heated horse trailers exist. I am sure they do, but for the Derby horses! Not for us poor folks in Indiana!

My blog friends are the best!!!

Question About Traveling in Winter With Horses

2012-01-21T16:42:00.004-06:00

I've got a question for my more experienced horse-friends out there in the blog world.

This is as far as I got when I first started writing this post on January 21. It is now January 26, and we have changed our minds about the whole thing. But I am going to go ahead and finish the ost because I am curious to hear other horse-owners' views on this.

My brother lives in the beautiful North Woods of Wisconsin. He met some people up there who have horses. Of course he told them about his sister and brother-in-law living in Indiana with horses. Before too long we found ourselves in e-conversations with two different people up there who graciously and generously invited us to come up for some riding. They both offered their barns for boarding our horses (even had a little friendly competition between the two of them to try to "woo" us to their particular barn!). We were excited about the prospect of riding in the North Woods. We made plans to go up there over Memorial Day weekend 2011.

Then John got a temp job, and we could not go....it was disappointing, but the job was more important. So we put those plans on hold.

The temp job has come to an end, and we were toying with the idea of going up sometime in February to ride. We love winter riding, and it is just beautiful up there in winter.

Which brings me to my question......

It being about an 8 hour drive from Northwest Indiana to North Woods Wisconsin, and considering in February temperatures could be low -- anywhere from 20 degrees to Zero -- would it be too hard on the horses to make the trip?

Here are a couple of photos of our trailer. They are not the best pictures, but at the moment I am to lazy to go to the upstairs comptuer where there are better ones stored. But this gives you the idea.

We thought about blocking off the open space on the sides, and on the door at the back if the weather was severe. We thought we could also blanket The Girls.

But in the end we decided it would not be worth the risk. I would never forgive myself if one of them got sick from being too cold on the trip. Even though it has been a really mild winter around here so far (contrary to all the predictions that the Chicago area was going to have the worst winter ever in 2011-2012), it would be our luck the Arctic blast would happen right when we were making the trip.

So we will plan our riding trip for Spring.....

The Best Cowgirl Boots

2011-12-08T21:20:00.008-06:00

My boots are absolutely the best.

I got them at least 13-15 years ago, when John and I caught the horseback riding bug while on a vacation in Mexico. We started taking lessons, rode friends' horses whenever possible, and started planning for having horses our own. Part of this plan was getting cowboy hats and riding boots.

We went to a western-themed chain store that sold all sorts of cowboy type clothing -- I cannot remember the name of that store to save my soul. But it was there that I bought these boots. I believe the salesperson called them "Ropers." I am not sure of the brand anymore, either. Any sign of it that was either embossed someplace on the leather or stamped on the sole or inside material has long since faded away. I do not remember what I paid for them, but I do remember at the time thinking they were expensive.

We have had our own horses; "The Girls," Zora and Divna, for eleven years now. These are the only riding boots I have ever owned, the only boots I have worn riding.

They have been on horses in Tennessee, Michigan, North Carolina, and all over Indiana in this country. They have been on foreign horses in Mexico, Italy and Germany.

From the saddle I have watched them disappear under water when trails have been flooded, and one time when Divna decided to lay down in a trail that went through a pond's edge. They are caked with mud each spring with the thaw, and in autumn when rain turns our pasture into a mucky pit. In the heat and dryness of summer they are covered in a film of dust where not protected by blue jeans. Only the laces have been replaced in all this time -- even after all the miles of trails, who-counts-how-many falls from the saddle, and how much distance covered chasing a loose horse....

They have been better to me than I to them. After riding, I come in, unlace them and toss them under the staircase, leaving them in whatever condition they happen to be in until the next ride.

But when cleaning tack recently, I decided to show them a little care as well. Once the dried mud was scraped off, polish applied, then mink oil, and a good buffing to finish the job I realized that these are boots to be appreciated. I thought about how they have been with me, literally, every step of the way on my journey to horseownership.

And I realize they are really cool boots.

And I realize I got my money's worth.

I love them.

Short Dunes Ride

2011-11-13T12:45:00.007-06:00

We got a phone call from our equestrian friends on Friday evening about meeting at Deep River County Park for a Saturday ride. Sounded great -- we had only been there once (see my previous post), and I really like the trails. I've been sick for two weeks with bronchitis, and have been anxious to go riding again.

But this was one of those days when nothing went as planned. The problem with Deep River is that when it rains a lot, the parking area becomes too muddy for horse trailers to negotiate. And that was the case on Saturday -- we got a call from one of our fellow riders saying that the gates were closed. Some of the others we were going to meet were able to park at a nearby horse stable, and rode to the trails from there. John and I do not have a connection for that type of parking arrangement, so we knew Deep River wasn't going to happen for us. So we decided to go to The Dunes instead.

As usual, it was beautiful. The parks department has wisely added boardwalk beyond the ends of the bridges. The situation was becoming unsafe -- the ground at the end of the bridges would become mud pits at certain times of the year. Horses would be freaked out by all the mud, and I know of one woman who ended up with a broken arm when her horse spooked trying to negotiate the mud. You can see the extension to the bridge in this picture....

Unfortunately, I was not yet back up to speed from the bronchitis. After only riding a third of the trail, I realized I was not up to it. We turned back too early....

But when we got back to the parking lot, we met these two guys on absolutely gorgeous Paso Fino horses.......here are the "Paso Fino Dudes"

The man in the first picture raises, trains and sells Paso Fino horses. If anyone is interested, I have his contact info.

We were too soon back at our barn, and I rested while John unloaded the trailer....

I hope to be able to hit the trails next weekend, and get in a full ride.

Clearing Trails - New Trails- Winter Hay

2011-11-08T16:07:00.023-06:00

Clearing Trails

As I recover from a particularly nasty bout of bronchitis, with a sinus infection thrown in for good measure, I thought I would update my blog on our recent horse-related activities.

About 2-3 weeks ago we had some really strong winds here in Northwest Indiana. We knew that meant the trails in our area and the abandonded railroad line where we ride would be in need of grooming. We were correct.

This is what greeted us at the entrance to the railroad line.......

We had our work cut out for us. We could not decide if it would be better to get thru this mess, or try to blaze a new trail around it. A new trail would require going up an embankment and around. Here is John, checking it out.

It was pretty steep, but we felt our horses could handle it. But with all the rain lately, it was pretty slippery, and since we wanted to ride later that day, we opted for going thru the tangle of trees on the railroad line.

In the end, we cleared enough to get under and around the tree trunks. What's a trail ride without a bit of a challenge on the way? Without that, you have nothing to talk about later around the campfire.

This is negotiable -- we rode this trail later in the day. You can pick your way around and under all this stuff on a good trail horse.

New Trails

Our riding buddy, Dee Dee, has been telling us for ages about some trails in a county park near here. So finally we got it together enough to get out there to ride, and boy was it worth it! I wish we had listened to her a long time ago.

Deep River County Park in Lake County (Hobart/Merrillville) Indiana has some very nice trails. Most people think of Indiana as flat land -- corn country. But the glacier that formed Lake Michigan cut through Northwest Indiana, leaving some irregular terraine (the "Valparaiso Moraine," I believe it is called).

The trails at this park have hills, some ponds, and the river snaking though which provides some fantastic views.

My photographic skills are non-existent, so these pictures do not do it justice.....

It was a great ride, but on this day my bronchitis was becoming full-blown. This is a ride I should not have taken. I paid dearly for it.

And then, we had to get the last load of our hay for the winter. There was no avoiding this chore....

Winter Hay

It had to be done. The last 70 bales had to be loaded into the loft. So with John doing 90% of the work, we got to it.....

Here is the face of misery.......

My only job was to sit there and hook the bales to the electric hoist. Note the small glass of "medicine" a/k/a rakija.

We got it done. I am hopeful that I will be recovered enough to ride this weekend.

Happy Trails to all.....Enjoy the ride!

Horse Play

2011-10-22T11:18:00.004-05:00

Caught The Girls playing last weekend. Of course by the time I got the video camera out they had stopped jumping and kicking. But they were still running around a bit and playing a sort of "catch" game....

John Rides Bareback on Zora

2011-10-13T05:30:00.005-05:00

We finally got the last of our round pen panels so we can do some ground work with The Girls. Zora has always been a challenge -- she is way hot, and in a perfect world would be ridden every day. We are hoping some time in the round pen will help take some of the fire out of her.

John has always wanted to ride her bareback.

So here was his chance. I was nervous about it, because she is such a psycho. But he did really good on her. I think she has made him a really good rider.

Check it out...... (Warning -- It may make you a little motion sick, especially at the beginning. I was on Divna bareback while I was taking this. It took me a bit to get the hang of it)

I have a better video that I wanted to use, but for some reason it will not upload (?). That really bugs me because it was so much better. Zora was crow-hopping in that one, and John stayed on her! That video did upload to my Facebook page, so you can check it out there. I have a Facebook badge on my blog (bottom right) that will direct you there.

Came to a Conclusion

2011-09-24T23:59:00.013-05:00

We finally took "The Girls" for a camping trip last weekend. Went to Tippecanoe State Park here in Indiana. We have been there before, and to be honest, I never really liked it. However, this time the park won me over.

When we were there before, it was one of those freak weather things -- a weekend in October that turned out to be 90 degrees. It was AWFUL! Too blasted hot, too many mosquitos, too many flies (doesn't everyone use the fly control feed thru pellets? Evidently not....). The trails seemed too sandy and tough on the horses. Plus, the horse camp is primitive -- no showers, only pit toilets....and the park "gendarmes" will not allow the equestrian campers to use the nice facilities in the family camping area. So I had a bad experience, and therefore an attitude about the park.

But since then, we developed a "shower" system to use in our horse trailer (see my post from last October), and last weekend the temperatures were mild and perfect for riding. In fact, we had three great rides......really had a chance to explore the trails there, and to my surprise, they are really nice trails. It was great riding.

But, I had an epiphany -- I did realize something........

All this time, I knew John and I were different. But now I have actually put my finger on it, and understand the reality of the situation.

Most horseback riders have a certain look and demeanor about them. They ride past our campsite, looking very much "together." Immaculate tack, riding at a slow, calm, relaxed pace....just really civilized and proper.

Quite the opposite of John and me -- no matter how hard I try, or how much I get prepared, we just always look like a couple of maniacs on our maniac horses.

This is everyone else .....

This is us.......

It finally dawned on me....if the horseback riding world was like the motorcycle riding world, John and I would be the "Hell's Angels." Everyone else is the nice, together, sensible family type motorcyclists, and we are the bad boys of the road.

Pretty strange.....

How Do You Give a Horse the Heimlich Maneuver?

2011-09-16T10:46:00.003-05:00

At the evening feeding yesterday, something happened that scared the hell out of me. We are taking The Girls camping this weekend to Tippecanoe State Park. I had everyone closed in the stalls for the feeding because I had to leave the gate open so John could pull the truck in and hook up the trailer. I am in Divna's stall with her and Marco (black goat).

Divna took a big bite of hay, then made this strange noise, stretched her neck out, and started coughing violently. Hay was flying out of her mouth and she kept coughing and straining. I was terrified -- she was choking! I had no idea what to do. Tears started coming out of her eye, so I knew it was serioius.. I started thinking of the Heimlich Maneuver, but had no clue as to how that is done on a horse.

I thought about human anatomy, and how you are supposed to put your arms around the person and press your fist upwards under their sternum. So I tried to judge where her sternjum (or equivalent) may be, made a fist and just pounded. I then rubbed her neck upwards, and pounded again. I did this a few times. She kept coughing up hay.

In a short amount of time (seemed like hours) she started breathing normally and her eye stopped tearing. It looked like she was OK. I went and got her a bucket of water.

She is fine, but it scared me to death......

Turtle

2011-09-11T12:33:00.005-05:00

After trailering The Girls to Bluhm Park for a ride a ride back in June (yes, June....I am really behind on my posts!) we came home, unloaded The Girls, emptied out the trailer, and went to put it in its parking place. I always get out of the truck and guide John into the parking spot, telling him when to stop when the trailer wheel is at the proper position. On this particular day, I had to stop him before he even got near the parking place.

Ms. Turtle selected a place right in front of the parking spot for the trailer to lay her eggs!!

We left the trailer out in the pasture. Not knowing how long we would have to leave the trailer out, I checked the internet too find the incubation period for turtle eggs. As it turns out, it is quite a long time -- much longer than I would have thought -- most likely 2 months, possibly longer.

Unfortunately, about 2 weeks later while cleaning the pasture, I found that the egg spot had been raided. It was most likely a racoon. The eggs had been dug up and eaten. There were shells littering the area. It was really sad.

This is Getting Ridiculous!

2011-09-04T10:57:00.012-05:00

I just looked back, and my last post was in JUNE!!!! I really miss blogging, and really miss all the blogs I normally used to read! This new schedule of ours has wrecked my "blog-life!" I simply must find a way to get more time on the blogs......

A lot has happened. It has been a lousy summer for riding -- to blasted hot and humid, and WAY too many bugs. But we have managed to get in a few rides, and of course they have each had their own little adventures attached to them. Now let me see if I can remember back over the almost three months since I have updated this site.

One of the neatest things to happen this summer was around the 4th of July weekend. We had absolute monsoon rains. It was like something out of a movie. It was just a deluge for over 24 hours, and everything was flooded. My drive to work was a nightmare in my little car. Fortunately, our home is on a hill, so forutnately and thankfully our house did not flood.

But our property did in some places. So we decided to go check it out with the horses and goats. We were completely surprised by what we found. Check this out...

It was pretty deep, and it just got deeper the farther we went into that particular section of our property.

I was really worried that the goats would freak out and do who-knows-what and cause all kinds of chaos....

.....but as you can see, they handled it well!

It really was a neat experience.

I'm Back!!! It's a Long Story!

2011-06-12T21:29:00.014-05:00

PART I

Wow! It has been over a month since I have posted anything or read any of the blogs I follow!!! I have a perfectly good reason/excuse for my absence. ..... and it is the subject of this blog posting, which will be broken up into stages because there is so much ground to cover....

First -- I think most of you know John and I have a real estate business with a sub-speciality in equestrian properties. Well, the real estate market has been in the gutter for a couple of years now, and the way things are going, it doesn't look like it is going to come back. At least not soon enough for folks like us in their mid 50's to be able to rebound financially. So we finally had to face reality and close our business. It was not an easy decision -- we have put so many years into this, and a lot of effort -- as corney as it sounds, a lot of love and dedication. It was very difficult. (Also, we lost a lot of $$$$$ )

Along with the decision to close the business, we realized John had to get a job. So he has been job hunting. It is not easy out there for unemployed people....especially one who is older -- even though he has a master's degree. But thankfully he did find something....he went to Kelly Services, a temp agency, and got a job at a local manufaturing facility. We are so grateful for the job.

However, this brings me to Part II.

PART II

John starts work at 5:00 AM. This means getting up at 3:30 A.M. On top of it, he works until 3:30 -4:30 p.m. -- 10 or 11 hour days. Needless to say, we are still adjusting!!! We have been living like zombies....walking around during the day with glazed looks on our faces....sleeping at odd times on the weekends. It has been strange, but a good strange. HOWEVER, he is still looking for a job with a more normal schedule, and one that is more in line with his degrees and experience.

This has all played havoc with our horseback riding. Which brings me to Part III.

Part III

We had been planning for a few months to go up to the North Woods of Wisconsin where my brother lives. He met some people who have horses, and they told him to tell us to come up to ride with them...they would board our horses and show us the trails and everything. Now, the North Woods are just BEAUTIFUL and we were so excited, and really touched by the generous offer to board our horses and show us the trails...we planned to go up there over Memorial Day weekend. I was going to take Thursday, Friday, and the following Tuesday off.

As fate would have it, John got a job the week prior to the holiday week. So we had to cancel.

We had a long weekend on Memorial Day weekend, but the weather here did not lend itself to horseback riding. It was rainy every day until Sunday when it was 90+ degrees! So we did not ride at all over the long holiday weekend..

Part IV

So , we finally got a chance to ride last weekend. We went to a local county park, and when we got there, we noticed some familiar horse trailers. As it turned out, some of our friends were there riding! It was great....

Above is Karen with Misty......

Below is Paul with Easy....

We rode along for a while, and then sure enough we ran across them on the trail. We all had a great ride together. But the best part was our friend Dolly, who gets a"Part" in this blog all her own.....Part IV, Dolly Gets a Gaited Horse......

Part V

Dolly and Klassic Dr. Pepper

Dolly is a quarter-horse rider who has been with us gaited (Tennessee Walkers, Rocky Mountain) horseback riders for years now. She has been considering getting a gaited horse, and has now officially taken the plunge!!

I think she and "Pepper" belong together.. they are both blonde and petite....

They had a great ride that day.....

PRESENTING!!! DOLLY AND "PEPPER"!!!!

Mane & Rein - Indian Joe - Another Day at the Dunes

2011-05-03T21:09:00.025-05:00

Last Saturday we decided to take a trail ride at The Dunes again. It was a pretty day, and we got the trailer hooked up and loaded the tack the night before (efficient, for once in our lives) .

We were hoping for some trails under water, like they were a couple of Springs ago, but not this Spring -- the trails were pretty dry. Feeling really comfortable in the saddle, we had an exciting ride.

I rode for a while with her mane in my reins -- I like doing this. It makes me feel really connected to her.

During a calm stretch, I leaned out and got this shot of Divna -- she is such a great horse. I love her so much!!

After the lively ride, we walked The Girls the last stretch back......

Back in the parking lot, we met up with some other trail riders. We have met these people before, and talked with them out at The Dunes. One of the men is someone knows as "Indiana Joe." He rides Paso Fino horses, and is very good at handling them. He showed us a trick.....

He can get his horse to lay down.....

These pictures may look strange, but trust me -- he was gentle and it was not hard on the horse or painful for the horse....

It was quite a sight....

And later, he took the halter off the horse, and the horse just followed him around like a dog...pretty impressive!

We also met some really nice people from Chicago that afternoon that we hope to see again in the future and possibly become friends.

Great riding! Great Day!

Making It To First Cutting

2011-04-26T21:12:00.010-05:00

The hay supply was getting low. A count of the bales and simple math told us we would need about 50 more to safely get to 1st cutting, which around here is somewhere between late May and mid-June depending on rain.

We were told about a farmer with hay in LaCrosse, about a half hour drive from us, so we set off on a rainy Saturday morning to pick it up. We took the horse trailer, praying that 50 bales would fit. We don't ever pick up our own hay -- the farmer we usually buy it from delivers it on a flatbed trailer. But he did not have any extra, so we got the lead on the LaCrosse farmer from someone I work with.

Using the GPS and directions from my friend at work, we still managed to pass up the turn to his house, and had to take the long way around. He was a really nice guy and helped us load the hay into the trailer. All 50 bales fit, even though it took John and the farmer both leaning on the door to get it shut. I know John was glad he did not have to put any in the bed of his new truck...

I thought I took some photos of the horse trailer all loaded up, but evidently I didn't.... I wish I had.

It has been raining so much here lately, that we could not pull the horse trailer into the pasture. We had to park in the driveway as close to the barn as possible and carry the bales in. They are stacked up in our tack area in the picture above.

Since we only had 50 bales, and had to bring it up to the loft from the tack area, we could not use our electric hoist. So it had to be done the hard way.....

Yes, that is John up there, pulling the bales up by hand. I am in the tack area and attach the hook to the bales, and then he hoists them up. For 55 he is in great shape....

He got all 50 bales up into the loft and stacked them, though I did help with some of the stacking.
The cats were there to keep us company. Here is our boy cat, Simo....

And "The Princess," Sonya

So now our critters will be fed until more hay is harvested....

Time to take a break.

Critter Walk

2011-04-18T19:45:00.010-05:00

Lately we have taken to going for walks with the goats and horses. It always proves to be quite an experience.

We have the horses on halters and lead ropes, and the goats are just free. They don't wander off -- they are truly of the heard mentality. But they always keep things interesting.

A lesson was learned on this walk -- keep the lead rope short! At one point we had both goats tangled up in lead ropes and two nervous horses! It dawned on us that a few years ago, we would have panicked at this situation, and it could have been disastrous. I guess that we have learned something after all over all these years. We got everyone untangled and the situation did not get out of hand. Thank Heavens for these small miracles!

We went thru the woods on our property and over to a nearby house that is vacant right now. The grass there has its spring growth happening, and no one there to mow it. So we took all four of our critters down there for a treat.

It is a nice way for all six of us to get some exercise, for John and I to spend time with the animals, and for them to get a little change of scenery. We plan to do this more in the future.

2 Rides in 2 Days

2011-04-03T21:41:00.014-05:00

On Saturday morning, I sent a text to my Cowgirl friends: "Going 2 the Dunes 2 day 2 ride..."

Got a text back from Cowgirl Dee: "Who is this??" Ego deflated (evidently I am not in her "Contacts" list...), I texted back "Zdravich" and began preparations for going to the Dunes. By the time we got there, Dee and Dolly were already on the trail. As we were grooming "The Girls" (by the way, filthy from shedding and laying in the muddy pasture), two riders came in off the trail. We had been looking at their trailer with intense curiosity the entire time. So I decided to ask them about the trailer. As it turns out, it became one of those classic parking lot encounters at the Indiana Dunes....we got to talking about horse trailers, rides, escapades, horse issues. etc... and the time just flew!! We were still there talking when Dee and Dolly got back from their trail ride. The conversation continued with all 6 of us, and it was so much fun!!

The unique trailer was from Belgium (you can see a bit of it on the far right of the above photo) -- it was called "Brendarup" (or something very similar). It is made from fiberglass, and therefore very light. She could pull it with a minivan!!! Expensive though, about $12K!!! Maybe less expensive than getting a trailer and truck strong enough to pull it.... Dolly, Dee and I all have the same cowgirl hat -- John bought this hat for me as a gift, and Dee and Dolly liked it so much that they got one, too! So now we are triplets! Unfortunately, Dee did not have hers with her on this day, so here is Dolly and I modeling our matching hats. Look how beautiful Dolly is...

So after we all sufficiently socialized, they all left, and John and I took our trail ride. As always, the Dunes are a wonderful place to be....

The look and the trails change from season to season. In the Spring, it can be flooded and just beautiful with water and budding plants...

Because it is a sort of wet ecosystem, there are a series of bridges to cross on the trails.... We had a great ride! The Girls just loved having a chance to get out and explore the Dunes again. (Here is a photo of an acutal "dune" on the trail). Believe me, the photo does not do it justice...

On Sunday (today) we rode the abandonded railroad line near our house, and through the woods of our property. It was the warmest day so far this year for us -- close to 70 degrees!! It was one of those days when everything falls together -- the horses are into it, the weather is great, you feel good in the saddle...it is all working for you! We are so thankful and so fortunate to have such great riding opportunities so close to home!!

1st 2011 Ride at the Indiana Dunes

2011-03-21T19:13:00.012-05:00

Now that the snow is gone the Dunes are open to horseback riding again. The trails get turned over to the cross country skiers during the winter months, but now it is spring and it is our turn once more. We made plans to ride on Saturday with friends.

Dee and Paul got there before us (they live closer and got an earlier start, plus we are always late!). They were already out on the trail. We were grooming our horses and saddling up when we got some visitors.

This happens kind of frequently at the Dunes: the parking lot is on a busy US Highway, and people driving by will see us out there and stop and ask if they and/or their children can pet the horses.

Saturday was one of those days. Two women with two little girls stopped to see the horses. One of the little girls is "horse-crazy" according to her mother. Instead of having a doll house with dolls to play with, she has a toy barn and little horse figures to play with. We spent a lot of time talking with them and taking pictures. John even put each girl up on Divna and we took their pictures in the saddle. They were thrilled...it was pretty cool.

Just as we got on the trail, Dee and Paul were coming off. They went back to the lot and groomed their horses, had a snack and hung out until we went through the trails.

We had a great ride. I felt so comfortable in the saddle that day -- some days I just seem to "have it" and keep my seat so well. The ride on Saturday was like that. It was really neat to be back in the Dunes again.

This is my goofy "self-portrait" taken while riding on the trail...I just sort of held the camera out to my side and snapped the picture.

After the ride we all went home and fed our critters and put them away, then met at a little bar/restaurant near where we live for dinner and drinks. A great way to spend the weekend!

On the Wrong Side of the Fence

2011-03-13T15:50:00.011-05:00

This morning, John looked out the window and said, "We have goats in the yard."

Now this is not an unusual occurance. Anyone who owns goats could tell you that they are escape artists. Our Misho (white goat -- half LaMancha and half African Boer) is famous for getting out. He lays on the ground near the fence and sticks his head out into the yard to munch grass. As he munches, he wriggles out farther and farther to get to the longer grass. At some point, he is then outside the fence.

When the goats get out they don't go far, so we just go out there and put them back in. So this morning it was not a big deal that they were out. Then John says "Well, they went back in. They must have knocked down the barricade near the shed."

So I go and look out another window, and I see Divna is also out.

A goat being out is one thing, a horse getting out is quite another.

Here she is, on the wrong side of the fence.

Zora was having a meltdown.

She is the Alpha Animal of our little critter family, and for Divna to be out while she was still in the pasture was completely unacceptable. She was running around, kicking, calling out, throwing her head....just making a spectacle of herself! She had the goats terrified! All this tough acting was a result of her being too afraid to go past the stuff laying around in the "escape area." If she was really a tough girl, she would have been outside too.

It was easy enough to get Divna back in the pasture -- she was hungry. All I had to do was come out and act like I was going to feed them, put a lead rope around her neck, and there she was....back in the pasture safe and sound.

John got to work on re-barricading the area. This should keep them in until he can get some proper fencing up.

I gave them some hay to comfort them after the trauma. Something happened with this batch of hay we got from the nearby farmer. Someone must have had a birthday party outside near the hay field. We have found a lot of balloons in the flakes of hay. This scares me --- looks like it could clog up a horse digestive tract in a big way.....

And later in the day they were all laying down out in the pasture, getting some sun and relaxing.

The goats had been laying down, too, but as soon as I got out there with the camera they jumped up....too bad, it would have been a neat picture with all four of them napping.

I LOVE my animals!!!!

A Different Sort of Ride

2011-03-06T18:49:00.008-06:00

This morning, I looked out the window to see what appeared to be a dead horse -- there was one of our "Girls" laying flat out in the pasture. They do that sometimes, and I think it is so neat because I read something from a real experienced horsepeson who said that they will only lay flat out like that if they feel perfectly safe. So I took a picture, but I had to zoom in between tree branches, and it looks funny. But if you look closely, you can make out the horse laying on the ground near the other one...

The plan was to ride with Dee and Paul yesterday, but I was exhausted, and while the temps were in the 30's, there was a wicked north wind, and it was snowing....so we wimped out. Here in Northwest Indiana, when that north wind comes across Lake Michigan it can cut you in half.

Today we awoke to sunny skies and mild temperatures, so we knew this was the perfect opportunity to ride. It is a chance that you have to take advantage of....so we decided to sieze the day! We brushed them out prior to the ride, and found that it is that time of year again...they are letting loose of their winter fur, as evidenced by this cury comb.

So off we went....down the railroad line. It was a great ride. Just the right mix of walking and running. At the end of the railroad line we decided to get adventerous and visit the apartment/single family home complex/neighborhood near Purdue North Central. This leg of the ride was a challenge for all 4 of us, as we were in a neighborhood, and on paved roads. It was really interesting....we went by a house under construction and Divna did not want to get anywhere near it -- I think the dumpster in the front yard must have been a horse killer!! But with some coaxing and encouraging words she got past it, and we rode thru the entire complex. It was prety cool. Of course Zora was just up for anything.

Our tack was pretty muddy when we got home, so John got to work on cleaning it up.

Once we got the horses, goats and chickens fed and settled in for the evening, we came into the house to have some fresh homemade Pasul i hleb (Serbian bean soup and bread).

What a great ending to a great weekend!!! Life doesn't get much better than this!

1st and 2nd Ride Since Divna's Injury

2011-02-20T12:44:00.015-06:00

Divna has finally healed up enough to go out on the trails. It is amazing how long it has taken this injury to heal. The wound is not completely closed, but it is way better than it was. The other amazing thing is that you can still see the marks on her neck from where the wire fence was around her. It has been over two months since the incident....

We started our ride by stopping to visit the neighbors horses. Here is Harley, Bubba, Ozzie, and the minature horse whose name I do not know....

We took the abandoned railroad line near our house. It has been about 2 months since we have ridden -- so we were concerned about how The Girls would behave, especially Zora. If she hasn't been out in a while, all she wants to do is run like the proverbial bat out of hell. Also, I did not want Divna running because she is still healing. But on this particular day we didn't think we would have to worry about it -- it was the perfect day to have the first ride in a long time...Because....

We have had a LOT of snow lately!!!

The snow was really deep, and it kept them slowed down. They went thru drifts up to their bellies. It absolutely took the wind out of their sails!

Here is John and Zora walking down the railroad line!

Ont he way back it started to get a bit dark on us, but with the moon and all that snow, we could easily see our way. Anyhow, I think The Girls have the trail memorized, and would find their way no matter what...

It was SO GREAT to be back in the saddle and on the trail. I really missed it..

We took a ride yesterday, too. The snow is about gone now because we have had some warm days. As a result, it was really muddy. I didn't get any pictures, but it was a great ride nonetheless.

I think The Girls were happy to finally be back out on the trail, away from the goofball Goat Boys, seeing some different scenery and getting a chance to stretch their legs.

I always say to John "These horses are the best money we ever spent!"

I stand by that.

A Blizzard and a Set Back for Divna

2011-02-02T16:32:00.004-06:00

On Sunday when I went out to feed the horses, goats and chickens, I noticed that Divna's wound had broken open!!! The vet had left 3 remaining sutures in on the last visit, and only 2 of them are still there. The rest of the injury was closed up, but not anymore -- it broke open. I can see there is healing underneath. It is not as deep as it was, but it opened back up. Very upsetting. the Vet's assistant called on Tuesday morning, and after that conversation I felt better.

She said that due to the location of the injury, it is not surprising that it opened back up. But it had healing deep down, so it could just continue to heal. She said keep it as clean as possible, and they would check back with us in another week. we would leave the last 2 remaining sutures for a while longer. It is going to take along time to heal. I feel so bad for her!

So we are doing our best to keep the wound clean, and watching for signs of recurring infection. I guess I won't be riding for at least a couple more weeks. I am just glad she is not in pain, and seems to be doing well.

Yesterday and today Northwest Indiana got hammered with a snowstorm. Everything was closed today, including the shop where I work. We spent the day digging out. We got together with the neighbors and paid a local guy to plow the lane that leads to the nearest road, and he made a pass over our driveway. We finished up shoveling the driveway by hand, and clearing our sidewalks, and path to the barn and bird feeders. We actually did that twice -- once last night and once again today. Great calorie burner!

Of course the horses are not bothered one bit by the snow. It is going to get pretty cold tonight so they are going to spend the night in the barn. It is still snowing, so we will just have to see if we can get out tomorrow....

Another Divna Update

2011-01-25T20:16:00.003-06:00

The vet came back today to remove Divna's sutures and check out the healing process. He removed the sutures, but found that it was still a bit too open in one spot, so he had to put 3 back in. We also have to start back up with antibiotics. It is sort of like two steps forward and one step back. Here we are as I am about to administer the antibiotic (I load it into an empty bute dispenser).

H said she his healing nicely, though, so that is good news. No riding yet, and he comes back in another week to re-assess.

The saga continues.....

Here is the injury as it stands now.

Divna Update

2011-01-17T21:45:00.003-06:00

The vet was here today to assess Divna's healing. It is good news -- he said everything looks good, and it is coming along just fine. (Whew!!! Sigh Of Relief!!)

He took out the drainage tube, and irrigated the wound with sterile saline solution. He left some more solution with us so we can irrigate it over the next couple of days.

No riding for at least 10 more days.

I am really happy to have this positive progress report!

Thanks to everyone who has given me moral support through this situation. I got some nice comments on the previous post, and my Cowgirl Friends, Dolly and DeeDee came by last night to visit Divna. All of this really means a lot to me! Bless all of you......

Cold, Slick, Short Ride

2011-01-03T21:35:00.018-06:00

The weekend before the fence incident, we were able to take a ride. We have not ridden since then, which is not good. I hate to go this long between rides. It seems like the beginning of November it has been one thing or another preventing us from riding -- either weather, social obligations, work, or one of us not feeling well.

Actually, that was the first ride in a long time, too. But we had the opportunity to go, so we felt we should take advantage of it. It is not good for Zora to go so long without being ridden. She is a really hot horse anyway, and in a perfect world would be ridden every day to keep her under control. John has to spend a lot of time going around in the pasture to "get her head straight" for the trail.

It was the 18th of December, and about 12 degrees outside.
So we bundled up.

Here I am in my longjohns and wool socks...

In Northwest Indiana in November and December you have to have lots of orange on as it is hunting season. It would be awful to get shot by an overzealous deer hunter!

We were really bundled up for this ride. It had been snowing quite a bit here, and any surfaces that had been gone over with a snowplow were very slick.

You gotta do what you can to stay warm!

I miss riding!!!

It was much too short of a ride. Because of the cold and because it was so slick and we were concerned about Zora possibly falling, we cut it short. Hopefully we will get out again soon!!

The Horse Did Not Make It

2010-12-27T11:44:00.001-06:00

I just checked my cell phone voice mail -- I have had my cell turned off all weekend. There was a message from Dolly. She went out to check on the horse at 6 a.m., and he had passed on.

I am just sick over this. That poor thing.....it did NOT have to be this way....

Horse Rescue, of Sorts

2010-12-27T02:32:00.003-06:00

Today (well, yesterday technically, since I am writing this after midnight) was an unbelievable day.

We woke to our answering machine. It was our friend and fellow equestrian, Dolly, in a panic "I am taking care of D and K's horses while they are out of town. I got here this morning to feed them, and one of them is down. I can't get him up! He won't eat, and he is laying in the snow and shaking!"

We immediately got up, called her back, went out and threw down some hay for our horses and goats. I threw some Banamine, a syringe and some mineral oil in a bag, grabbed the two thick blankets we use for our horses, and we took off.

When we got there, Patty (another neighbor and friend) was there. The poor horse was laying out in the pasture, and he was just shaking. Dolly and Patty had put blankets on him, but he was very, very cold. I immediately put a dose of Banamine in his mouth, and noticed his gums and tongue were a grey-ish color -- not good.

The horse has a history of founder. So was it founder, or was it colic, or something else??? A call was placed to the horse's owner who said they would be home the next day, do not call the Vet!!

After a few minutes, John started trying to get him up. The Banamine had kicked in, so with some pulling and pushing, we got him up. We finally got him into his stall, and started working on him. Another friend and fellow equestrian, Dee, showed up. Patty's husband Greg also came over. Dolly's husband Tom came as soon as he got off work. We had a team of people on this horse. He had absolutely no body heat of his own. We were all rubbing him and brushing him, giving him syring after syring of mineral oil. We found a torpedo heater that we brought to the stall, we found a tarp to close off the stall. we had blankets on him. We listened to his gut and heard some slight gurgling sounds, but not a lot of activity there.

Once we got him warmed up, we started walking him. He did release a little gas, and he did poop a little (not much -- not enough to make us feel better about the situation). We brought out a heated bucket, and he drank a little.

Dolly and Tom wanted to be able to keep a close eye on him, so we took him and his buddy down to their place. They have a very nice indoor faciltiy, with a round pen. We put the two horses in there, and took turns walking the sick one, continued to give him syringe afte syringe of mineral oil. He did keep drinking water, but never really dumped a good load -- just a little bit at a time.

The last update we got late tonight was that he did make a dump, but does not yet seem normal. I am very worried abut this horse. I am afraid he will not make it....I am really scared for this horse. I cannot sleep.

Divna Had A Bad Week

2010-12-19T20:38:00.013-06:00

About 2 weeks ago I broke a mirror. Now I am not really superstitious, but being in real estate these days makes you a little shakey. You start to get nervous about everything.

About two or three days after I broke the mirror, I got a call at work from John...I could tell by his voice something was wrong.....

"Something is wrong with Divna," he says. "She did not eat this morning, and she just laid down, flat out."

I have to back up a bit at this point. We usually leave our barn open -- goats and horses go in and out as they see fit. But in the winter when the temperatures get below 15 degrees F, we put the goats and horse in and close up the barn doors. We put Divna (horse) with Marco (goat) and Zora (horse)with Misho (goat).

Winter arrived early here in Northwest Indiana, and we have been closing the animals up in the barn since early in December. One night last week, we must have forgotten to close one of the stall doors completely -- the stall door that leads into the tack area where we also store the food for the animals. John went out the next morning to find Divna and Marco feasting on the cracked corn we give the chickens.

After a call to the vet, and remembering the cracked corn incident, it was of course determined to be colic. Thank heavens for our friend, neighbor and fellow equestrian, Terri. She is also a Vet Technician and had some Banamine. After a dose of that and some mineral oil, she thankfully got past it.

Then, on Saturday I was out in the barn for the morning feeding. While I was tethering the goats, I heard this very strange sound.....it was sort of a cross between a fishing line being cast and a circular saw starting up. I just could not figure out what it was...then I heard hoofbeats -- lots of loud hoofbeats. I ran out into the pasture to see Divna running with the wire from the fence around her neck, and Zora frantically stepping nearby with it around her front legs!

I couldn't believe my eyes!i! I was a bit panicked....but then realized that I had to get control of this situation, FAST.....

As calmly as I could, I approached Divna speaking quietly and in what I hoped would be a comforting tone. I was able to lift the wire over her head -- with that accomplished, Zora was a bit easier to deal with. I was able to get her to back up as I slipped the wire under her hooves as she stepped up. The danger was not yet over, however. The wire was still laying all out in the pasture, and Divna was frantically running around still very freaked out. I was afraid she was going to run into the wire laying out there and get tangled up again. I was trying to gather up the loose wire before she ended up in it again. Very tense, very scary. But THANK GOD it all worked out. I was very shaken after it was all over.....

Needless to say we went to the Tractor Supply Store and bought some new fencing that day. We repaired the old wire as best we could, and put everyone in the barn until we could get rid of that problem fencing.

Our plans for Sunday was to install the new fencing. As it turns out, that was the day that we had our first real blizzard of the winter season...

Here is the offending wire.

That blizzard did not stop us. We got that fencing up. These pictures don't do the snowstorm justice -- it was really coming down.

Here are a couple of photos of the new fencing.

Poor Divna, she really did have a bad week!

Taking Advantage of the Relatives at Thanksgiving

2010-12-12T12:51:00.007-06:00

I can't believe it has been a month since I have posted on my blog....actually, I have only read a couple of blogs in the last month. What happens to the time? Well, here I am, back from hiatus with a couple of stories.

We hosted Thanksgiving again this year. I guess it is becoming a tradition for us to have Thanksgiving now that John's mother is getting older and had her hip replacement. We had John's brother and his wife (Alex and Cindy) and her parents (Chuck and Lois) from Lafayette, and this year my brother and his wife (Terry and Leslie) and my nephew (Nigel) were here from Wisconsin. It was great to have everyone here....Terry, Leslie and Nigel were here from Wednesday to Saturday, and we just had non-stop fun with them. We had a small party on Friday after Thanksgiving, and it was just a really nice way to kick off the Holiday Season 2010. The above photo is all of us on Wednesday evening....that's me, Nigel, Leslie, and Terry's arms....

These are pictures from the get-together with friends on Friday evening.... These 2 nice looking young people from the right in this photo used to help us with hay when they were youngsters growing up in Otis.

But, I have a confession to make....we did sort of take advantage of the relatives. Here is a picture from Friday morning of me with my brother Terry....

You see, we had not yet gotten our supply of hay to get us thru the winter. The time just slipped by, and here it was November again and we did not have our hay loft filled. (The same thing happened to us a couple of years ago, and I swore I would nver let November arrive again without our hay loft being full.)

So, unknown to Terry, Leslie and Nigel, we arranged to have our hay delivery on Friday -- the day after Thanksgiving!! We thought, "well, we have people herre to help, so why not have it delivered when we have extrra folks around?" So that is what we did. Except, we did not tell them about it until after they arrived and had a couple of cocktails. Really sneaky and underhanded, I know. But you gotta do what you gotta do, right??

They were really good about it, and it turned out to be fun. Terry has some major back problems, and just had his 3rd surgery in September, so he was assigned the job of "water boy" -- literally...he brought us all water as we were working. Luckily the weather cooperated -- not too cold, and we actually enjoyed it. And John and I were so grateful to them for helping us with this HUGE task!!

Some Firsts

2010-11-10T18:42:00.012-06:00

I've been behind on the blogging lately -- both reading and writing, because I have been sick with bronchitis AGAIN! I get this bout 2 or 3 times a year sometimes 4) and this has been going on for about 20 years.....anyway, I am off track. This is "horse talk" not "complain about your health like an old woman talk."

For a long tme now, John and I have talked about having our riding friends over for a day of riding, then a cookout/party. We finally planned it for the last weekend of October this year, when the leaves on the Northwest Indiana trees were in full color, and hopefully the weather would be dry.

So we invited all of our riding friends, and as luck would have it, it was a beautiful day -- dry and warm for this time of year, but not too warm.

Though we only had 6 riders and 9 for the after-ride meal and party, it was a really fun day. Everyone pitched in with food, and it was all tasty...so I suppose we could call this the 1st Annual Otis Trail Ride.

We hope to make this an annual event, and have even more riders.

The first Friday of November, we had our first snow!! This is our deck with the patio furniture still in place, and our Halloween pumpkin on one of the chairs!

I planted this tree when we first bought our property out here in Otis about 20 years ago. It was just a stick. It is so beautiful in the snow.

Our barn looks nice in the snow....

This is my attempt at being artistic with the camera. The yellow and green leaves looked so unbelievable with snow clinging to them. This photo does not do it justice.

Two days later the snow was all melted, and since then we have had really warm days for this time of year in Northwest Indiana. But this is a sign of things to come, and since I really enjoy winter riding, I look forward to it.

Hope you are enjoying Fall in your neck of the woods!

Videos and Photos - this time for real!

2010-10-24T21:17:00.003-05:00

Tuesday, October 26 note: What a moron!! I started getting this post ready on Sunday while we were visiting a friend in Indy -- we had had a couple of beers and some rakija, and like I moron instead of just saving it as a draft, I posted it and I did not have the video's and photos uploaded... DUH!

My apologies to anyone who read this on Monday or today.......

We were in a campground without shower facilities. We knew ahead of time there would be no showers, so John came up with a solution.... This is our horsetrailer.....

Here are the Allegan County Riders!

John was operating the video camera, so we had to make a separate video for him...

The parks in Michigan require securing the horses with a high line. We never had to do one before, but thankfully Karen knew how....

High tech camper in a primitive campsite!!!!

The last bottle of Giacamo Mori Chianti! Thanks to Tom and Dolly for sharing!

Allegan County Michigan -- Silver Creek Campground

2010-10-13T07:22:00.011-05:00

Our friend Dee Dee, who is the horsewoman extraordinaire, has been telling us for the longest time that we need to go up to Michigan to go riding. So we finally got our horses Coggins tested, and set off for a weekend of horse camping at Silver Creek Campground, Allegan County Michigan. She was not exaggerating. The riding at this place was amazing.

Here is an overview of our campsite.....

When we first rolled into the campground my thoughts were "Oh my...this is really rustic!" And it was. The campsites have no electric, there is a pump for getting water, and there are only pit toilets. So it is really roughing it, but it was worth it. (John devised a shower system for us which will be explained in a separate post.)

Here is a photo me at the water pump....

There are miles and miles and acres and acres of trails. The camp itself is not real big, but it is right next to some sort of state-owned preserve area with snowmobile trails, and fishing and hunting areas which was available to equestrians. The trails consisted of everything -- woods, meadows, wide sandy trails, narrow muddy trails, switchback trails with trees too close -- challenging and seemingly endless riding....

Here is Dee Dee (left) and Karen (right) on the trail. These pictures do not do the trails justice -- the colors and the beauty of the scenery are much more striking in person.....

We had visitors -- day riders on Friday Tom and Dolly, and then for the evening festivities and riding on Saturday was Vern ("He's All That") and wife Sara, who is expecting their first child!

The weather was really warm for this time of year (in the 80 degree range!) and the leaves were turning, so it was just beautiful. One trail takes you to a lake, and you can actually ride in the lake just a bit offshore and meet up with the trail instead of just riding thru the woods. We went to the "Water Trail" and let our horses get a drink. We rode the Water Trail for a bit, and it was really refreshing.

The above pictures were the last ones I took the whole weekend, because just after they were taken, Divna decided the lake was so refreshing she just had to lay down! That's right -- Divna laid down in the water, with me on her and the camera strapped to the saddle horn! Unfortunately we do not have a photo of that event, but I can tell you it was an experience! I was soaked up to my armpits, but finished the rest of the ride. Surprisingly, the camera survived

Dee Dee's birthday was Saturday, and we had a cake and gifts for her. She rode the Michigan Shore-to-Shore event this summer, which is no small accomplishment. We are grateful to her for introducing us to Allegan County, and we will definitely go back for more fantastic riding!

Potato Creek Camping-Mishaps Continue-Part II

2010-10-04T15:11:00.014-05:00

John woke me in the middle of the night -- there was a full moon outside, and the dying campfire was still glowing. "I just saw a big black shadow go by. I think one of the horses is loose." I jumped up and out of the tent, and sure enough, there stood Divna. All I could think was, "Please don't run. I am not up to this!!" Luckily, she just stood there. I took the lead rope (soaking wet -- it must have fallen into the water bucket) and got her back to the hitching post and re-tied her. No big deal, no horse-running-full-speed-through-crowded-campground scenario -- so it was all OK.

Back to sleep.

Very early morning. Sun just barely coming up -- that real dim, grey light. I woke to a sound....strange sound...a crunching sound. Then I realized it was a horse eating grass. Immediately I knew it had to be Divna. Sure enough, once I was out of the tent again, there was Divna grazing. Zora was still tied to the hitching post and she was not happy. I could see on her face that she was upset that Divna was grazing and she wasn't!! So once again, I got lucky -- Divna did not try to get away. I just grabbed the lead rope and put her back in place, this time tying a better knot!

Back to sleep.

After an uneventful breakfast (I cooked over the campfire rather than the out of control roaring inferno of a Coleman stove), we decided it was time to deal with the low tire situation. Some other folks in the campground told us there was an air pump at the Camp Store, located near the family campground on the other side of the park. Potato Creek is a large park, and it is quite a ways to the other side. So I took off to go get air while John took care of things around camp. I got all the way over there on a low tire, and was told that the place to get tires aired up in at the Service Center, near the Horsemen's Campground! The park employee at the family campground called the Service Center and they said for me to drive around back -- they would be waiting for me.

So back I go to the Horsemen's Camp and the Service Center. The guy was real nice and filled the tire. As soon as he put the valve cap back on we started hearing a hissing sound. Sure enough, the valve stem was leaking. Not good. So I drove back to our campsite and gave John the good news/bad news. We noticed that if we held the valve stem to one side, it stopped hissing, so we started brainstorming ways to keep the stem in place. We came up with this......

It was John's idea, but with me being a former Dental Assistant, I think it is very appropriate. We tied the valve stem in place with dental floss -- mint flavor at that!! Got us all the way home with no more loss of air. Take that, McGuyver/McGruber!!!

We were able to take our final ride of the weekend without any worries about the tire.

We did not know, though, that we had to worry about the donkeys.

More and more we are seeing donkeys/mules (which is it??) on the trails. I think they are becoming pretty popular. There were some at Potato Creek that weekend, and we came upon them on the trail. The people riding them had children with them. One woman had a small child on the saddle with her -- there was another child on the donkey/mule alone, but another woman was ponying it.

John and Zora were in the lead, as usual, and the group moved over on the trail to let us by. Once Zora got past, and Divna was close to the group I could feel her getting nervous. I think she knew these were not horses. With Zora now out of sight, she got scared of being near these "creatures" by herself. I was talking to her and coaxing her to walk past them, but as we got close to them she did a half turn and kicked out. She did not make contact, but it scared me because there were children on these animals. I immediately turned her around and walked her back down the trail in the direction we came from.

I told the group that she was afraid, and that she might kick them, so I was going to keep her out of the way. I thought it might help if she could see Zora, so I started calling for John. All the time I am apologizing to the people in the group. They kept saying it was alright, it was not a problem, they were really cool about it. But I was not wanting to let Divna walk past them with those children in the saddles.

John and Zora appeared, and the people in the group said they would move off the trail, over into the meadow area. They did, and we went by them safely. All the time with me apologizing all over the place. They kept saying it was no problem, but I did really feel bad about it. I was just really nervous because of those young children.

The rest of the ride was beautiful, but uneventful. We got back to camp, ate lunch, packed up and went home. A good camping weekend all-in-all, in spite of the many mishaps.

Next weekend, camping in Michigan with The Girls and friends....

P.S. Dolly sent me the GPS map that Tom made on his Droid when we were trail riding. It is really cool -- you can see the whole route we took. I cannot figure out how to get it uploaded here. I am going to work on it and see if I can post it.....

Potato Creek Camping Part I - Everything worked out OK

2010-10-01T07:40:00.018-05:00

I got out of work early last Friday so we could go camping with the horses. Our reservations were made on September 3, so we were glad the weather was cooperating. Upon arrival at the gate to Potato Creek State Park they asked the question they always ask, one to which we believed we knew the right answer: "Are you bringing in firewood?" Of course we told them "yes," because we were. Next question (also one they always ask), "From which county?"

Indiana is at war with the Emerald Ash Borer. In an effort to keep it from spreading and destroying our beautiful woods, there are residents of certain counties that are prohibited from bringing in firewood. LaPorte county does not have an Emerald Ash Borer problem (or so we thought). So our answer was "LaPorte."

Then we heard something we never heard before "LaPorte county has been quarantined. You will have to unload your firewood here." Shocker!!! Turns out that LaPorte county went on the list of Emerald Ash Borer counties on September 4 -- one day after we made our camping reservations. After much whining on our part, the DNR person told us that they would have some "safe" firewood brought to our campsite. So that turned out OK after all. Whew!! A late September weekend in a tent in Northern Indiana is no place to be without firewood. We proceeded to our campsite.

Once there, after everything was unloaded, I noticed the low tire -- back tire on tbe right side of the trailer. We figured we would deal with it the next day. Drive into town, go to a gas station and fill it up. No big deal. We set up camp.

First we took a quick ride around the area, just to get acclimated. It is always so neat to see all the horse, the different rigs and camping styles of everyone in the park -- just really enjoyable.

We came back and started in on dinner after a couple of libations. We had bought a new camp stove, but it was still in the box, so we were cooking over the campfire. At one point, things got frantic -- the fire was a bit high, the steaks needed to be turned, the smoke was blowing in, our faces. In an attempt to help, I moved the foil-covered cooking grate, but made a wrong move -- the food flipped around. Two steaks at the edge of the fire, one ended up wrapped in the foil and on the ground. But after retrieving the two from the fire and washing them off, we put them all back on the grate and everything was OK. We had a great dinner and settled in for the night.

Next morning we were ready to make a wonderful breakfast on our new Coleman stove. First thing I saw when I got out of the tent was that we still had a low tire on the trailer, but now the one in front of it was completely flat! Then we discovered we forgot the coffee pot!!!

We needed to eat first, so the tire we have to wait. We had the coffee and filters but no pot!! We had to make what my mother used to call "jailhouse coffee." I have also heard others refer to it as "cowboy coffee" which in this case is more appropriate. By putting water and grounds into a pot and cooking to a boil, we had coffee after all. So it worked out OK.

John started changing the tire on the trailer, and with the new Coleman stove set up, I started to make breakfast. It was windy, which made it difficult to light the stove. It was sunny, making it difficult to see the height of the flame. When I turned the control down, the flame would go out. This happened several times, and I was going thru matches like crazy because of the wind. I decided to just make the best of it and cook on the sky high flame. It was a challenge, and though slightly burned, breakfast was edible. So it worked out OK. John got the tire changed in spite of not having the proper jack.....

Our friends Tom and Dolly came out with their horses, and the four of us had a great trail ride.
The trails are really pretty, and thanks to Dolly we did not get lost. Tom had a cool phone witha GPS gizmo that actually mapped out our course. Our horses behaved, and even walked with the quarter horses. We were all so calm and slow, that I actually fell asleep on the ride! I woke to Tom yelling at me to be careful, as I was about to strangle myself on a low hanging grapvine.

Back at camp we had a great lunch and a lot of fun just talking and laughing. It was a great trail ride. John and I took another ride later that afternoon and also ran into some people we know from riding at the Dunes and our saddle club.

It was a little colder than it was forecasted to be, but we really did have nice trail rides and a lot of fun with our friends. So it worked out to be a great Saturday!

Part II -- Sunday's adventures......

Challenging Horse Camping Weekend

2010-09-28T21:24:00.006-05:00

With our reservations made at Potato Creek State Park earlier this month, and a favorable weather forecast for the weekend (sunny and temperatures in the 60 degree range), we set off to go camping with The Girls. Here is a summary of what we had to deal with:

Friday

Our Firewood was confiscated upon our arrival at the park
When we arrived at our campsite and got out of the truck, I noticed one of our horse trailer tires was really low on air
The pork steaks we cooked for dinner ended up in the camp fire

Saturday

Woke up to find we had a flat tire on the horse trailer -- not the tire that was low, but a different tire
We forgot the coffee pot
It was really windy, and temperatures in the 50's
We bought a Coleman stove for this trip -- could not figure out how to adjust the flame, so it was an absolute inferno that burned everything we tried to cook!
I fell asleep on the trail ride
Batteries went out on both flashlights
Divna got loose in the middle of the night

Sunday

Divna got loose in the very early morning
There were some mules on the trail, and Divna freaked out
Repaired the low tire McGuyver/McGruber style

Details and photos to follow........

Revisiting Old Trails

2010-09-20T20:58:00.012-05:00

On Saturday, John and I tackled our semi-annual task of clearing the abandoned railroad line. We usually go down this trail each spring and fall to remove any fallen trees, and cut back encroaching growth. We haven't ridden the railroad line much this summer, so we knew it was in need of grooming.

In one spot on the trail there has always been a washout area. The trail had been re-routed around the washout -- last year, the washout got even bigger, so we had to cut another trail around it. We were not prepared for what we saw this time. The washout area is now HUGE! It seems to be following the trail, and expanding. At this particular spot, the trail has a pretty steep dropoff on both sides. Due to the size of the washout, the new path around it had to go down the dropoff. We had to pick a path that we could handle with our chainsaw (not a real big one) because we had to cut down trees. So now the trail goes down at a steep angle and then up again. I was curious to see how "The Girls" would handle it. We planned to ride it on Sunday. It was not an easy job doing all that clearing and re-routing the trail around the washout. It was dark as we walked back to the truck.

On Sunday we headed out to try out our newly cleared trail. When we got near our neighbors house (Terri), the horses started heading up her driveway. They decided to do this on their own -- it was really strange. So we thought, "what the heck. let's go visit her horses before we go to the railroad line." Imagine our surprise when we got to her barn, and there she was, saddling up! She said two other of our friends (Tom and Dolly) were trailering their horses to her house to go riding. So, we decidded to join them, and are SO glad we did. We had the best ride.

Here is the group -- I am usually not in front like this!!

We did not go down the railroad line. Instead, we went to a nearby farm which is owned by some really great people. They have a beautiful place, and their property has crops, and a pond/small lake, and trails. They do not have horses, but they let us ride their trails. In fact, they even clear trails for us to ride. They are really nice people. John and I had not ridden their farm in a long time -- maybe two years or so.

It was such a pretty ride, and an interesting one. Thankfully I had my camera. There is a spot on the trail where it climbs a pretty high hill overlooking a ravine with a creek flowing through it. It was such a beautiful sight (unfortunately I did not get a picture -- I was concentrating on what I was doing at the time!!).

We also rode around our other neighbors beautiful horse property. I got some pictures of some of their horses.

It was such a neat ride -- good friends, good weather, and beautiful early fall scenery. Our horses actually walked with our friends' quarter horses, so we were able to talk and enjoy each other's company. Even Divna behaved and didn't kick any of the other horses! All this fantastic behavior was even more amazing considering Terri's horse, Reba, was in estrus!

A ride like that is just good therapy, and helps make one aware of their many blessings.

New Look

2010-09-18T13:14:00.002-05:00

Decided it was time for a new look. Played around with a few of the templates, and chose this one. Not sure if I am going to stick with it. None of the templates had horse themes ...I wish I was better at this sort of thing. If I were, I would design my own. Oh well, we can't all be creative!!!

Tack Cleaning With Goat Audience

2010-08-26T21:25:00.007-05:00

Just about all month it has been just too hot to ride, so what do you do??? We decided it was time to do some tack cleaning.

So with Serbian folk music blasting, a couple of beers and some rakija, we started on our project. Our tack really needed cleaning -- but to me it is a badge of honor to have tack that is dusty and has remnants of mud. It proves you actually ride your horses!

I believe our animals speak Serbian -- they know when they hear the Serbian music that there is a good chance they will get some treats. Sure enough, we were not in the barn very long before each goat showed up...

Misho arrived first, checking us out from Divna's stall.... hoping for a Vanilla Wafer.....

Then, Marco's face appears in Zora's stall, also hoping for a Vanilla Wafer.... Of course we gave them some.

Eventually the horses figured out what was going on, that treats were being handed out, so they decided they should be in on it, too....

Next thing you know, all of us are in the barn. It was a really neat way to spend a hot, humid summer evening...

I even put some "bling" on John's saddle. His old turquiose ring from the 60's has now become a "saddle ornament."

And a beautiful sunset to finish off the day.....................

Another Artist

2010-08-19T21:17:00.005-05:00

Just a quick post to let everyone see some really cool artwork given to us by friends. This is a sort of layered photo print -- I am sure that is not the official name, but it is what I call it. Our good friends David and Roxane gave this to us. (John did a blog post about David on his blog, http://www.theotisrules.blogspot.com/ titled "Revenge")

The artist is David's nephew (or is it cousin??), and he loves photographing horses. This picture is really unique -- it looks like he layered some interesting landscape photos with one of a horse.

I tried to take a picture of it, and got a bit of reflection from the room lighting. May have been better if I had photographed it during the daytime (natural light), but this is when I had time to do it. I think you can still see it clearly enough.

If not, he has a website (a really cool one, actually) where you can view his work. Here is the link:

Hutch Media Design

www.hutchmd.com

Check it out -- I think you will like it!

Trails of Sand and Mud with Deerflies

2010-08-05T18:21:00.005-05:00

Since our weekends are going to be taken up with festivals and camping with our "non-horse" friends, we thought we had better get a ride in. It was last Saturday, and the temperature was a bit cooler, with the hot weather expected to return soon, so we put off all the Saturday chores and headed out to the Indiana Dunes.

I have referred to the Dunes as the State Park and the National Lakeshore in my blog....it is a bit confusing. We do have an Indiana Dunes State Park and the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. I am pretty sure the riding trails are part of the National Lakeshore. You would think I would know by now....not that it is terribly important, but I should be accurate.

Anyway, we did make it out there for a ride. Talked with some nice people who were saddling up at the same time as us, and hit the trails. We have had a lot of rain lately, so there was a bit of mud. But I am proud to report that Zora only hesitated for a minute or so at the bridge which has the giant mudpit at the end of it. In the past we have been on that bridge for 10 minutes trying to get her to cross. This time, she was much more brave. Good for her!

The deerflies were just horrible. I spent most of my time looking at the back of Divna's head and ears and leaning over to squish deerflies. I even left some of the dead ones in her mane hoping that other deerflies would see them and not want to risk the same fate.

It didn't work. The Indiana Dunes deerflies must be of the same mentality as the WWII Kamikazi pilots, or our modern day Suicide Bombers. In spite of seeing carcases of their comrades, they would land on Divna and try to bite anyway. I killed as many of them as I could.

Since I didn't take my camera, and I hate to post without pictures. Here are a couple that I took back in June.

Here is my Divna drinking water....to me she is so beautiful!

Here is John and I -- I was holding the camera and trying to get us both in the picture. John's face looks enormous here....

This was taken after a ride, so you have excuse our grubby appearance.

Talk to everyone soon, in the meantime, Keep Riding!!

P.S. John has a new post at http://www.theotisrules.blogspot.com/ . Check it out - his writing is pretty entertaining!

Too Hot and Too Buggy to Ride

2010-07-25T13:25:00.006-05:00

I looked at the date on my last post and was amazed at how much time has gone by!! It has been just too blasted hot and the bugs are too bad these days for riding. But I do have some catching up to do here, so here goes.

Don't ever wear a white T-Shirt for riding. This is how I looked on our last ride before we ever got The Girls loaded into the trailer!!!

We did ride earlier this month (or was it late last month??) with our friends Paul and DeeDee. Paul just got a Tennessee Walking Horse, so now he has a gaited horse like the rest of us (his wife DeeDee has a Rocky Mountain). We all met at the Dunes and rode those trails. It was a really nice ride -- the 4 of us actually rode together, now that we are all gaited. Paul's horse is just so handsome -- really tall and nice looking. DeeDee is in training for the Michigan Shore-to-Shore ride. I believe she has done this ride before, at least part of it, and she says it is really a nice ride. It goes across Michigan at the point where Lake Erie (I believe -- I can't find my map to check it right now) is on the east, and Lake Michigan on the west. It takes a few days to do and they camp out, etc. She keeps trying to get John and I to do it, but the time factor is a problem. I don't have a lot of vacation time, and with other constraints it is just not really doable for us. But I am impressed that she can do it, and we look forward to hearing the stories and seeing the pictures once she gets back. Here's Paul and DeeDee on their horses at the Dunes.

John finally got rid of the truck we had and got one that has a bigger engine. Now hauling the horses is much easier. The other truck had a mechanical problem (again!) and that was the final straw. He is really happy with the is new truck, and is kicking himself for not doing this a long time ago. Here is a picture of his new ride...Pretty cool, huh??

On a really sad note -- a woman that we have ridden with in the past, and one that DeeDee has ridden with quite a bit lost her husband to a freak accident recently. He was cutting a tree and it fell on him. So horrible. I did a post with pictures of her and her horse last fall -- she has a Tennessee Walking Horse, too, and we rode at Bluhm County together. It was the day we had about 7 riders out here at our house. We are so sad for her. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers....

My Most Recent Ride - Proud of Divna

2010-07-09T21:25:00.002-05:00

Divna is not a dominant horse -- Zora rules the pasture at our place, and Divna just goes along with whatever Zora wants. If Zora wants to finish Divna's grain, it is OK with her; if Zora insists on the first to get treats or attention from visitors, it is OK with her. In fact. when people visit, Zora runs up to the fence for the petting and attention, and Divna hangs back. She is completely comfortable letting Zora have the spotlight.

She also freaks out when she doesn't see or hear Zora for a period of time. On the trail, if we get separated, she comes unglued (no pun intended) if she loses sight of Zora (also no pun intended-- Divna only has one eye) after three minutes or so.

So I was really, really proud of Divna on the last ride we took.

We were at The Indiana Dunes, and met Dee Dee and Karen for a ride. Of course we never saw Dee Dee and Karen -- they left a few minutes before us, and were riding the trail backwards, which always screws us up.

Once back at the lot after our Separate-But-Together-Ride Dee Dee realized her shirt was missing. Not the only one she was wearing (relax, men) but an extra one she had on her saddle horn....She knew where she lost it -- on one of the curves just before getting back to the trail head.

She was already back with her horse, so I boldly said "I'll go back for it!" And off I went -- taking Divna down the trail alone, just the two of us!!

She was OK for about 2 minutes. Then she started getting nervous. I kept talking to her and moving her along, all the while looking for the lost shirt.

She started getting upset, started calling out for Zora. I kept talking to her and pressing her along.

Then she was beginning to get more upset, but I kept comforting her and urging her on. Surprisingly she did do very well. We found the shirt -- she stood still while I dismounted and retrieved the lost article of clothing. I got back on her, turned her around, and she knew she was going back to where Zora was. She was obviously really, really happy.....

But I did not let her run, even though I could tell that is all she wanted to do. We kept a good pace until we met up with Zora and John and Shawnee and Dee Dee who had followed us onto the trail.

It was just great that Divna made such a breakthrough like that! You have no idea...this is a horse that was afraid of everything when I first got her -- a horse that cannot bear to be more than 20 feet away from Zora....she walked down that trail and retrieved a shirt...

I LOVE HER!!!!!

Chinese ???

2010-07-09T07:14:00.002-05:00

Is anyone else out there getting comments in Chinese?? I have been afraid to click on the link to the person who posted the comment -- I did one time and it looks like a prostitution site for Asian women....not sure what is going on here. Could it be a virus type thing??? Does anyone know what this is all about?

In Praise of Mares - Not Missing The Storm

2010-06-26T15:42:00.006-05:00

We have been out to the Indiana Dunes to ride the trails the last couple of weekends, and of course, there is always something to talk about afterwards. To me that is what is so neat about trail riding -- it is always an adventure of some sort. Even if we are just going for a short ride on the trails near our house, something always makes the ride unique -- sometimes scary, sometimes funny, sometimes just a bit more interesting.

A couple of Saturdays ago, the day looked beautiful in spite of the weather channel warnings that storms were headed our way. We looked outside at the blue sky, felt the perfect temperature, and then looked again at the weather channel and its green blobs headed our way and agreed -- "What the heck! Let's go anyway. We will be done riding by the time the storm gets here."

Sure, we would have been thru the trails before the storm got there. The day was still beautiful when we arrived at the Dunes and began grooming the girls and tacking them up. The day was still beautiful as we admired a new truck in the parking lot, then met the owner as he came back from his ride. It was still beautiful as we stood there talking trucks and horses for about 45 minutes.

He was riding a mare, and we talked about how some people say mares are so awful. None of us could understand that -- our mares are great!

It was still beautiful when a husband and wife came out from the trail, also riding mares, and stopped to talk. It was the first time we had been to those trails when every horse there was a mare! There were only 3 trucks and trailers in the lot, and we were all there in the parking lot together and we were all riding mares! It was so neat!! The husband and wife do some training, and said that they would rather train a mare than a gelding -- they said that mares learn faster (no surprise here -- females are smarter!!). In fact, they own 5 or 6 horses, and they are all mares. So it was still beautiful as we stood there feeling all "mare superior" and talking for another half hour.

Finally we started on our ride, and there were some grey clouds overhead. We get almost all the way thru the trails, we were about 3 miles out, and it started to rain. I mean really rain. Thankfully the Dunes are pretty wooded, so we were not getting soaked. But I could also hear thunder..... So we picked up the pace. It was not long until John and Zora were way ahead of Divna and me.

I got to one point on the trail where it comes to a "T" -- to the right takes you back to the parking lot; to the left takes you back out on the trail. I had a premonition that John and Zora went off to the left. Somehow I just knew it.

Sure enough, when we got back to the parking lot they were not there. Once in the parking lot I could see there was lightening with this storm. I did not want to be out in the clear and take a chance of becoming a lightening rod. Also, out in the open like that I was getting soaked, so we went back in a little ways onto the trail to wait for John and Zora.

Divna started getting all nervous being without Zora. It seemed like eternity until they showed up. Sure enough, they took a left at the "T" -- John got mixed up, so he let Zora find the way back.

We waited under a picnic shelter until the rain subsided.

All in all, a pretty good ride!!!

Tippecanoe State Park

2010-06-13T12:38:00.007-05:00

We are fortunate that Indiana has parks close by that have horse trails. Tippecanoe State Park is about an hour or so drive from our house, and they have riding trails and a horseman's campground. We don't like to camp there, because the horse camp does not have shower facilities -- and they are almost militant about horse people going over to the family campground to shower. Let's face it, if you are around horses all day and riding the trails you definitely need a shower at the end of the day. It is pretty poor planing of the park system not to recognize that. We decided if we ever do go there to camp again, we will pay for a camping spot in the family campground, set up our extra tent there, and make it look "occupied" so we can go and take a shower. John is going to write a letter to the state parks department and let them know about this situation, but he hasn't yet. At any rate, we went there last weekend for day riding.

It was a nice day, and there were lots of riders there. We have only been there a couple of times, so we don't know the trails. We got a trail map, which is really sort of a joke for us. We can never follow those things. In Indiana they print the trail map in green, so it is just a lot of squiggly green lines on the paper -- we always get lost and the map never helps. But this time we met some people on the trail who knew where they were going, so we rode with them. I was proud of our Girls -- they are getting so much better about riding with other horses. Zora was even content to be last in the line, and Divna didn't kick any of the other horses. They were very well behaved, and I think they enjoyed it.

They were really nice people, and as it turns out, live in Northwest Indiana, too. So it looks like we may have some new people to ride with. After the ride we sat around the picnic table near where we were parked and had snacks and cold drinks. We talked for the longest time -- it is so neat to meet other horse people like that. We are really looking forward to going riding with them again. They know of some places in Lake County where we have never ridden before, and we hope to meet them at the Dunes or have them out to our place to ride the trails around our house.

It was a great day and a lot of fun. The best money we ever spent was on our horses....having them has provided us with so much in terms of entertainment and meeting great people.

End of The Idiot Saga

2010-06-08T19:30:00.014-05:00

Note: If you have not read the previous post, this one will make no sense......

So the First Idiot says to the Second Idiot "What do you think?" (Doesn't really matter which of us is the First Idiot and which is the Second Idiot)

Second Idiot, "I think we will be OK. What about you?" First Idiot "Yeah, I think so too. The parking lot shouldn't be too far from here, and our horses are really good."

First Idiot "OK, then. Let's go"

So there we go, down U.S. Highway 20 (key word there is Highway). We were on the north side of the road, so we were facing traffic, which was probably for the best. There was a pretty large space of grass on my left, highway on my right. Just beyond the grass was a barbed wire fence, so there was no getting over any farther away from the road. All was well until a ditch appeared.

Divna is missing her right eye -- so her blind side was to the road. But her sighted side caught sight of that ditch, and she did not like it one bit. It was full of water, and I am certain it was not very deep, but it may as well have been the Pacific Ocean. She did not want to go near it, and kept trying to get over to her right -- right into the road. It was a struggle to keep her over to the left.

In the meantime, John and Zora are ahead of us, going at a steady pace in pretty much a straight line. I was happy to see that....one less thing to worry about.

We rode for what felt like forever. Most drivers had enough sense to move over into their left lane to give us space. Some drivers were as big of idiots as we were, and stayed in the right lane, even when the left was empty!! At one point, Divna's back end started drifting onto the street, right when a car was in that lane. That is a moment I will never forget.

Did I mention semi-trucks use U.S. 20? And that there is a train track that runs along the south side of the highway?

I was starting to realize exactly how stupid of a move this was. Not just for us, and our horses but for innocent drivers on U.S.20. A real tragedy could have unfolded there that day, one that could have impacted so many lives, all because of our stupid decision.... That is what bothers me most of all about this, and what terrifies me if I give myself a chance to imagine what could have been.

As it turns out, we got back safely, Thank God.

One day after work I drove our little detour-route. It is almost exactly one mile.

The next weekend we went to Tippecanoe Park in Winamac and rode the trails there. We met some really nice people, and had a normal ride.

We Are Idiots -- Part I

2010-05-31T20:47:00.009-05:00

John and I are idiots, and have no business being married to each other. Most couples balance each other out -- one is reckless, the other cautious; one is extroverted, the other introverted; one is impulsive, the other calculated...you get the picture. John and I are both reckless and impulsive....bad combination.

We took The Girls out to the trails at the Dunes about 2 weeks ago. It was after the bout of bronchitis I had. As I said on a previous post I have my chronical order all mixed up here...

One good thing -- Divna had been having trouble in the trailer ever since our friend hauled cows in it. John had an idea. He thought it might help if when he was cleaning the pasture to put some of our horses' manuer in the trailer. This way, perhaps their "smell" would overcome the smell of the cows. So he did that a few days before we went riding.

I am happy to say it worked! We loaded The Girls, and Divna did not dance around the trailer like she has the last few times. So that was a victory. At least we did one thing right....

The trails at The Dunes are one way -- because we share the trails with hikers, equestrians are to keep to the right. We have ridden the trails backwards with our friends, Dee Dee and Karen a time or two in the past. We have never done the trails backwards on our own. You see, John and I get lost in every State Park in Indiana. We get the maps with the squiggly green lines, and after about 5 minutes of riding we have no idea where we are. We turn the map in every direction, look for guideposts, and inevitably have to ask another rider how to get back to the trail head.

So this day, I don't know what possessed us to ride the trail backwards without someone to help us, but we did. And sure enough, we got so mixed up we could not figure out where we were.

One good thing though -- we saw a couple of wild turkeys. They were so neat...very close to us so we could really see them. They were beautiful. I did not get a picture, unfortunately.

We had been out there for a while and were getting tired (The Girls were tired as well). and we came upon a street. Believing it was the street that runs perpendicular to the parking lot and is essentially a short cut, we decided to take it.

Turns out, that was not the same street. It lead to U.S. 20 -- a 4 lane, U.S. highway that is heavily travelled. Believing we were only a short distance to the parking lot, we both believed it was OK to ride along side U.S. 20 to the parking lot of the park.

Bad idea. Dumb, actually. Very, very stupid.

Breakthrough for Zora - Not for Divna

2010-05-29T10:28:00.008-05:00

The weekend before my last bout of bronchitis, we did go to the Indiana Dunes to ride the trails. I have got my chronological order mixed up here on my posts -- this one should have been posted before the last one, but ..... whatever. Anyway, this happened before I got sick.

The last time we trailered The Girls, Divna was having mini freak-out sessions in the trailer. We have never had trailer problems, loading or un-loading problems with our Girls, so we deduced it was because a friend had used our horse trailer to haul some cows. Divna was probably smelling the cows and thought they were going to kill her. It had been suggested we take the trailer to a car wash to get rid of the smell, but of course we did not get to that task.

The last time we were at the Dunes, Zora had an issue with a mud pit at the end of one of the bridges there. It took John what seemed lke 10 minutes to get her to cross that mud pit and get off the bridge.

So we loaded them up, and sure enough, Divna was still smelling those cows. She started dancing around and pushing up against Zora, which just irritated Zora. Once we got moving she was better, but I still don't like the fact that she was jittery back there. I am afraid she is going to hurt herself.

At the Dunes, we could tell it was still pretty wet on the trails. We had been having some rain, and the Dunes area is naturally sort of wet ayway. So we got to "Zora's Bridge" and I am happy to report that after just a bit of coaxing, she conqured that fear and went across the Evil Mud Pit.

So Zora made progress with the bridge, but poor Divna is still having problems with the cows. John had an idea -- when we got home, he put some horse manuer from our pasture in the trailer. The idea being that her own pasture smell may overcome the cow smell. Hopefully that will work.

I still do not have decent photos for this post, because my pictures from the last couple of rides are "trapped" inside a non-working photoshop program.

But here is one of Divna after unloading from the Scary Cow Trailer....

She has on her fancy sparkly eye patch. Too bad it is such a lousy photo!!!

Trail Ride Postponed

2010-05-25T20:28:00.004-05:00

The first weekend after I started to get sick with the latest bout of bronchits, it was really beautiful outside. I wanted to ride in the worst way. It seems like it had been such a long time since we rode. But on both Saturday and Sunday, I tried and was just not up to it.

On Saturday I figured since I couldn't ride, I may as well vaccinate The Girls. I know I am late with the spring vaccines -- they should have been done about a month ago -- so I needed to get them taken care of.

As usual Zora was perfect -- stood there like a statue of a horse for all three shots. Divna, on the other hand, was a totally different story. She has always been a bit jumpy about the vaccines, and the wormer for that matter. After all her surgeries for her eye at Purdue she did get some better about it. Then after she lost the eye, I would approach her on her blind side and it was much easier to vaccinate her that way. For some reason this time it did not work. I was on her blind side, and she started jumping all over the place. I was sick and just not up to it, so I decided to save it for another day. Perhaps she was in estrus -- sometimes she will act up then if I try to vaccinate her.

On Sunday I managed to get out to the barn and groom Divna, and that was all I had energy for. So John decided it was a good time to clean up the tack.

So we built a small bonfire, I sat on a lawnchair and watched John clean the saddles and bridles. I had on my riding boots, and he even cleaned the boots for me while I was wearing them! What a guy!! I am not real good at keeping my boots polished....

I took some pictures, but had a complication with my photo software. I am not real good at figuring out the "whole digital camera download to a program upload to other places" routine. It is a long story (and a boring one), so I will spare you the details. What it boils down to is that I uploaded the digital photos to a photoshop software program that evidently is no longer valid or supported. So now my photos are "trapped" in this program. I tried to take a photo of the photos on the computer screen. Here you can barely make out John cleaning the saddles.

MIA

2010-05-22T13:40:00.003-05:00

I have been unable to post or participate in the blog world for about the last 2 weeks. Have been suffering from bronchitis again, and to top it off, have been having to work overtime at my job. I have some stories to share about Divna and the trailer, Zora and the mud, Divna and the vaccines, and some other stuff.

We are going riding this afternoon (in about 5 minutes), so I am sure I will have something else to relate.

I'll be reading every one else's blogs soon and catching up. I could also use a couple of new blogs to read, since some of the ones I have been following and enjoying over the last year have sadly dropped out. Any suggestions??

Talk to all of y'all soon!!!

Trailer Incident

2010-05-04T21:12:00.003-05:00

I had a "trailer incident" with Divna the other day. Really surprising because both of our horses have always loaded and unloaded with no problem. Perhaps this was because of the cows...

A friend of ours decided to get a couple of cows to raise for food (I could never do that -- I would end up naming the cows and not wanting to butcher them. Our chickens are getting older and the egg production is not what it used to be -- people tell us to make soup out of them, but I just can't do it. I would be a vegetarian if I had to kill my own meat). They were young animals, about 500 pounds each, so he borrowed our horse trailer to transport them to his house.

On Sunday we decided to take The Girls down to Bluhm County Park to ride the trails, and we have to trailer them there now because someone bought the last section of abandoned railroad line and blocked it off so we can no longer ride there (sob!!). We got them both in the trailer, John went in the house to set the alarm and I was in the barn grabbing some last minute item I forgot to pack. I heard a lot of ruckus outside and ran out there, and The Girls were bouncing around in the back of the trailer. They have never done that before....I went up and started talking to them and got them calmed down, but it was really strange. I couldn't really tell what was going on, but it was almost like Divna was crowding Zora, and Zora was trying to keep her away.

We went to the park and just had a really nice ride. There were these beautiful flowers in bloom all over the place -- they were big white flowers growing off of this broad leafed 3-leaved plant that grows very close to the ground. (My friend Dee told me what they were called, but I can't remember what she said -- "Tremblis" or something like that ???) I usually take my camera on trail rides, but did not have it that day -- I was kicking myself for that. The pictures would have been beautiful (the picture above of me and Divna by the trailer is one from a couple of summers ago at Potato Creek State Park -- I just wanted a picture for the post, so I cheated!).

When we would ride the abandoned railroad line all the way to Bluhm County Park we would not go on all of the trails. The ride down there is about 5 miles, so we would always just ride the periphery trails and then head back. We have only ridden the main trails all thru the park a couple of times, and that has been years ago. It is not a park for winter riding -- the trails are just mainly switchbacks. In the winter when the leaves are all gone you can see the trail snaking around and it just doesn't seem to make much sense (it could make you "horse sick" like someone I know from the blogs -- Desert Rose, perhaps???). But when it is leafy, it is a neat ride partly because of the switchbacks and partly because it is pretty hilly for Northwest Indiana. But it was just a really challenging and enjoyable ride. We all loved it.

Then when we went to load The Girls to go home, I made the classic mistake of being too casual about everything. I am so used to Divna loading with no problem, that I walked in, tied the lead rope and turned around to leave the trailer. When I did, I saw that she only had her front feet in the trailer -- her back legs and back end were still outside. So I pushed on her rear end to get her to step in. She was having none of it. She started to pull back. I realized I needed to release that rope, but she had pulled it so tight that I could not get it undone, even though it was a quick release knot. So John jumped in and pulled it loose.

Divna was nerved up, so I walked her a bit around the parking lot to calm her down. It took some coaxing to get her to load. It sort of scared me -- I was afraid she would break her own neck struggling against that lead rope.

John is wondering if they could smell the cows and that is what was causing them to act up this time. I hope I don't have a problem with loading her in the future.

Grooming Sessions - First Dunes Ride of 2010

2010-04-22T21:26:00.009-05:00

Every critter we have is shedding (except the chickens). If I could ball all the hair up together, it would probably be the size of a small planet.

We have spent more time currying, brushing and combing lately. The last two Friday nights we even made it our evening entertainment. We go out to the barn with some beers, rakija and Serbian music and give everybody a thorough grooming. Then we spoil them with carrots and Vanilla Wafers (our goats are crazy about Vanilla Wafers).

You can see all the horse hair in the curry comb here. I use the shaving brush on Divna's eye socket. It gets pretty dusty in there, so I brush it out for her as part of the grooming ritual.

Zora is so sweet (that is, until you try to ride her -- then she turns into a crazy rocket!). When John grooms her, she can't wait for the chance to rest her big head on his shoulder. I think she is in love with him.

We went for our first ride in the Indiana Dunes last weekend. It is closed to horses during the Winter so the cross country skiiers can use it. It was a pretty day -- a bit chilly, but that was OK. The trails looked so different than they did the in the Fall, when we were there last. Also, last Spring the trails were underwater the first time we went back for the season. Not this time -- there was some water, but it was not flooded. But the Dunes are coming to life right now, and it was really pretty. We are so fortunate to have this great riding place so close to home.

Along the trail there are little bridges because there are creeks and wet spots in the Dunes. At one bridge, there was a huge mud pit on the trail at the end of the bridge. Zora and John were in the lead, and Zora was having no part of going thru that mud. We were not going to turn around and go back (the trails are supposed to be ridden one-way only), and besides, the bridge is so narrow that I don't believe turning around is even possible.

So there we stood. John coaxed, kicked, smacked her rump -- every thing he could think of. No way was she going thru that mud. She is such a goofball, and comes up with some of the craziest stuff sometimes. At one point she actually started to kneel down! I think she was just overwhelmed over the prospect of walking through that mud, and didn't know what else to do!

After what seemed like 10 minutes, John finally had to get off and pull her across.

Divna went thru it like a champ!! I loved it......It's not often I can "one-up" him on the trail. It was finally my turn!

Expensive Goat

2010-04-18T20:09:00.008-05:00

A few years ago, we got ripped off on E-Bay. We bought a horse trailer thru an authorized dealer (Stephen Lewis, USA Cowboy) for Delta Horse Tailers out of Arkansas, which were being sold on E-Bay. It was a "Buy It Now" transaction, not an auction. It is a long story, and one for another post, but the end result was that we paid $3,500 for a horse trailer that we never got. We filed police reports in Indiana and Oklahoma, and contacted the FBI for internet fraud. We filed complaints with the Attorneys General in Indiana, Arkansas and Oklahoma (where USA Cowboy was located); went to small claims court in Indiana and Arkansas, and all we got was our $600 deposit back from Delta Trailers. We ended up talking to two other victims of Stephen Lewis, one of which told us he went to court in Oklahoma and was was told that he would have to wait in a long line -- there were a lot of folks out there trying to get justice from dealings with Stephen Lewis, USA Cowboy.

Then, about 2 years after we were robbed by this guy, out of the clear blue sky, the Attorney General of Oklahoma called us to say they were about to arrest him, and asked if we had any documentation of our dealings with him. They were building a case, and needed as much evidence as they could get. Well, as it turns out, we did have a file -- a rather thick one, and I copied the entire thing and sent it off to Oklahoma.

Yesterday, I went to the mailbox, and there was a letter there from the Oklahoma Attorney General. I was really excited, believing this would be some sort of news on this thieving creep that ripped us off. I did not open it -- I held off, wanting to open it with John so we could both read it together.

John was out in the pasture with the goats and horses, cutting up a tree that had fallen late last year. I went out to him with the envelope....I opened it, and pulled the letter out. Just as I did that, our white goat, Misho, jumped up and took a huge bite out of the letter!! It happened so fast! I unfolded the partially eaten letter, and my eyes fell on the phrase

"...the enclosed check...."

My heart jumped....I realized I was holding two pieces of paper.... I looked at the second page of the letter, and sure enough, it was a check!!! Only now it was missing the bottom right section...I said "John, this is a check!!!" We both looked at Misho, and he was just standing there, chewing away on our restitution check. There was no way to get it back to piece it back together -- it was gone forever, down the goat's gullet!

Once we recovered from our disbelief and shock, we laughed for about 10 minutes........

So now we have to write to the Attorney General of Oklahoma, return the partially eaten check, and request it to be reissued! I am going to send him these photos as proof...

And yes, Misho is still alive...John did not kill him. I keep telling Misho he owes us money...............

Lost Our Trail

2010-04-06T07:15:00.004-05:00

Well, we have definitely lost the last portion of the abandoned railroad line that connects us to the horseback riding park. John finally made it to the county courthouse to do some research. With internet and GPS and all this great technology, he was able to go online and find that someone did, in fact, buy that stretch of the abandoned rail line. We wrote to the owner, asking for permission to ride to the park, promising a hold-harmless for any injuries, and gave our word that we would not litter or cause a problem. As of yet we have no response from them, so we are operating und the belief that "no news is bad news" in this case.

It seems the only thing we can do now is contact the property owners on the other side of that stretch of line and ask if we can cut a narrow path through their parcels parallel to the railroad line. I believe there are about four different owners we would have to ask. Could be a long shot....

We rode down there on Sunday, and there is still a big tree across the entrance to that part of the railroad line. Looking down the line, we also see large boulders across the path as well. So it looks like things are changing.

Since we could not ride that part of the railroad line, we did something different. We rode down the street (which I do not like doing) and went to an area where there are some apartments for the Purdue North Central students and some new homes being built. It is really pretty there with ponds and bridges and beautiful grass. So we rode around there a bit and then came home.

I've got to compose a really nice letter to those property owners by the railroad line. Maybe I will include some pictures of our horses......

Maybe we should offer to pay them??? But with us being in real estate, there is not a lot of money to go around. Any suggestions???

Good Friday - Velika Petak

2010-04-03T01:14:00.002-05:00

This has been one hell of a week. It is Holy Week, and Passover Week, and Stress Week - in terms of work and family. John's mother broke her hip on Monday, and for some inexplicable reason work has been unusually challenging....a perfect storm of family and professional trauma.

Today was Good Friday for those of us following the Orthodox Faith ("Velika Petak" in Serbian), which this year, coincides with Catholic/Protestant Good Friday. Usually, we are a week or two or more behind...but because of the way the full moon and Jewish Passover fell this year, we are on the same "Holy Week" Schedule. Very unusual. It will be that way next year as well. I do not like when it falls at the same time, because I like to buy Easter candy at a discount. Most years Orthodox Easter is later than the Catholic/Protestant Easter, and all the Easter candy is at least 50% off. I go to the local Fannie Mae store and clean up.

So, today was Velika Petak...we went to the hospital to see John's mother (who looked so worn out from PT) and then to the Church for a fish dinner, which they did not have on Good Friday, which they have on almost very other Friday of the year, but not tonight which makes no sense at all because if you are going to serve a fish dinner, the one day of the year when it makes perfect sense to do so is on GOOD FRIDAY...

Anyway......we went to our Kumovi/Friends' house, after stopping for fish and ajvar and other fasting-appropriate foods to share with them. We had a few drinks there, and a really nice time.

Then we came home. John fell asleep (he has been under a lot of stress lately) and I went out to feed/spoil our animals.

It is unseasonably warm in Northwest Indiana right now. It has been about 80 degrees in the daytime -- the normal is about 50 or 60 degrees.

So I am outside, giving treats to the goats and horses, spoiling them with extra hay, and I notice The Girls are really shedding. So I decided to curry them. It is amazing how much hair comes off of them this time of year. We have had these horses living with us for a decade now, and it is always shocking how much hair they lose every Spring. I got the curry comb out and started in on them. It was such a special experience -- dead of night (around midnight), no one around, just me and the animals.

I curried away, and got off enough hair to make a blanket. Time wore on....Divna decided she was ready to sleep, and she walked far downfield.

The moon was out....the temperature was comfortable. I followed her. She was standing beneath the evergreen tree. I walked up and stroked her mane. Then, I laid on the ground a few feet from her. She turned, walked over to me, and ran her muzzle over my feet and lower legs, then stood beside me. I looked up at the stars, listened to the frogs croaking, felt the cold ground beneath me and the warm air above me. It was wonderful. I could see Divna's strong profile in the moonlight. She was beautiful, the night was beautiful, the spiritual significance of the week was powerful.....

I was aware of the fact that if I continued to lay there, that it would most likely be where I was "found".....the ground was cold, and it is still early April in the Midwest. I believe they call it "exposure." It was tempting....looking up at the stars....looking at my strong, beautiful horse in the moonlight..........................................realizing everything could be over in a few hours....

But I got up, came in the house, looked at my wonderful, loving, sleeping husband, and then wrote the most honest post I have ever written.

It is Easter and Passover. The Golden Rule applies. Bless all of you...

Grooming Session - Smoking Goat

2010-03-30T07:57:00.005-05:00

We did not ride this weekend. After the last ride, we felt it would be best for John to let his shoulder heal up a bit more before we got back on the trail. With this being the shedding season, we decided to do some grooming instead.

What a mess! The Girls are losing enough hair to make another animal. They have been rolling around in the mud, and have all manner of straw, sticks, and leaves in their tails. It was quite the job getting them cleaned up, but we finally did. And then as soon as we let them out, Divna promptly rolled again!! After getting all spruced up, Zora tried on John's hat!

We tacked the task of trimming goat hooves, and attempted to curry them as they are shedding as well. Of course we cannot do this without proper "fortification" (beer, rakija, and a cigar for John).We discovered that they absolutely love John's cigars! Especially Misho....

John also took the time to write a new post for his blog -- check it out at www.theotisrules.blogspot.com It really is funny, and you have to have a sense of humor when reading his posts and not take them personally.....

READER WARNING: Those who are easily offended by adult "blue" language read with caution!!

(It is pretty strange given the subject matter of this blog -- he posted it a few days ago, and then yesterday his mother fell and broke her hip!)

1st Post-Op Ride

2010-03-22T20:29:00.006-05:00

On Sunday we had our first ride since John's surgery. I was a little nervous about it, seeing how Zora is such a handful, but he felt like he was ready. He had been working with her on a lunge line a bit recently, and we counted on that to wear her out enough to be on her best behavior. He lunged her a couple of times last week, and then again just before we rode. That is, once I was able to "capture" The Girls...

Check out this video -- they were being real stinkers running from me. They haven't done this in a long time. It is so strange how they mess with me like this. They would run and avoid me, then all of a sudden just decide to stand still and be haltered. I think they plan it.

I didn't realize you could hear me talking. Notice I never once said "Whoa!!" (Duh!!). You can also hear the halter buckles klinking together, and when I get close to the barn you can hear the Serbian music blasting!

So then John did a lunge session with Zora saddled up.

We hit the trails through the woods just around our house. It was a short ride because we didn't want to take a chance on him re-injuring his shoulder. Plus a really nasty cold wind had kicked up, and we were wimps about it. He said the only part that seemed to not agree with the shoulder was when he was getting in the saddle -- pulling himself up aggravated the surgery site a bit. But overall, it was OK. We should be back to normal riding sooner than anticipated. Originally we thought it would be a full 6 weeks, but here it is less than a month and he can manage it. We will still have to be careful and take it easy, but at least we won't miss all the Spring riding.

Equine Artist

2010-03-17T07:19:00.008-05:00

Here in Northwest Indiana there is a woman who loves to do pencil drawings of people and their horses. She is a retired Realtor (coincidence!) who draws these pictures from photographs she sees of people with their horses. Years ago she had done a picture of our friend Dee from a photo of her and her horse that was in the newspaper (I forget what they had done to get in the newspaper -- it was something good though, not a crime or anything like that).

Dee showed her a photo of me with Divna, and she made a drawing. Here they are, side-by-side, the photo and the drawing.

The photo is one taken before Divna lost her eye. We used to use it in advertising for our real estate business. Divna's ears are cut off, which is really too bad, because I like the picture. She was gracious enough to put Divna's ears back in for the drawing.

Recently, she saw an ad in a real estate magazine with John and Zora's picture. She drew John and Zora, and called to tell him that she had drawn his picture. She did not know that we are friends of Dee's, and that she had drawn a picture of Divna and me a while back. Strange coincidence. She was pretty surprised. So here is a side-by-side of John and Zora -- photo and drawing.

(Sorry, I am not real good at positioning the photos on the blog........)

She always puts the drawings in a black frame. She says she is good at drawing horses, but not so good at drawing people's faces. I think her drawings have an unexplainable charm; even the way she draws the people is interesting to me.

We really like these drawings. John took Dee and the artist to lunch as a thank you....

Surgery - Visitors - The Last Ride

2010-03-10T07:07:00.005-06:00

It has been crazy around here!! Our exchange student from 2001 was here to visit -- she is like a daughter to us, and we were so excited to see her again. She was here from the 2nd to the 7th, and we had the best time. Well, except for Friday the 5th when John had surgery on his arthritic shoulder (not the same shoulder he shattered in the riding incident; the other shoulder).

So with him out of commission, we won't be on a ride for another six weeks!! Way too long, especially because the weather is now breaking -- the ice is melting, the snow is almost gone, the temperatures are warming up a bit, and the Indiana Dunes will be available to equestrians again (the cross country skiiers' loss is our gain).

One of the last rides we took was a couple of weeks before his surgery. Zora got a new saddle blanket, so we took it on its maiden voyage. The saddle pad he has for her is so thick -- I have never seen another like it. It is fine for the winter, but I always feel sorry for her in the summer. She is so high-charged under saddle that she sweats even when standing still. So he got her this new blanket, and I think it is quite attractive. She will be more comfortable this spring and summer.

We took the trails around here -- through the woods of Otis, and across a nearby corn field. The trails in the woods were a touch beat up from the four-wheelers. I am not complaining here -- the four wheelers have just as much right to the trails as we do. I would just prefer to be on the trails when they are not there. They freak the horses out a bit. Luckily, we are usually on different schedules. During this melting time of the year the four wheelers do make some ruts in the trails. Nothing we can't handle, though!

So it was a pretty nice ride -- a bit muddy but that is part of the deal, isn't it?

"I've Won A Major Award"

2010-03-04T07:31:00.008-06:00

That was the line from the movie "A Christmas Story" and it seemed appropriate here. My blog-world friend Callie has once again passed an award on to me. It has taken me a while to pick it up and post on it, and I do not want to appear ungrateful -- which I am not. In fact, I am really flattered and pleased. We have had a visitor this week -- our foreign exchange student who was with us in 2001 has been here for a visit. Lydia is from Italy, and she is our first "exchange daughter." We haved another, Marie from Germany. I wish she were here too....

But on to the business at hand. As I said, this award was presented to me from Callie at Midwest Horse Blog http://midwesthorse.blogspot.com/ She has been a great blogger friend. We both live in the Midwest and can relate.

The object is to tell 7 things about myself, and pass the award on to 15 others. I can tell 7 things, but I don't think I know 15 others to send it on to, so I will do my best in that regard.

1. I love a good vodka martini on the rocks with bleu cheese stuffed olives.

2. The shop where I work employs 55 people -- only two of us are women, and I am the only woman working full-time there.

3. The book "Lost in the Shuffle" literally changed my life.

4. I have ridden horses in 4 countries -- Mexico, Italy, Germany and the U.S.

5. One of my biggest regrets in life is that I did not go to college. I was not motivated, neither of my parents pushed it, so I just did not go. My high school counselor was the only one urging me, and that was not enough evidently. The counselor was right......

6. I have started playing guitar again recently. When I was in my 20's I played, and though never great at it, could play a few songs half way decently. My mother had a natural talent for music -- she could hear a song on the radio and then be able to play it on the piano within an hour. She could also play almost any other instrument she picked up. My brother inherited that talent. I did not -- I had to work at it. I fell out of the guitar playing, but recently decided to try it again. My fingers are killing me!! I have to get my callouses back....

7. When I was single I was into bicycling. The farthest I ever rode in one day was 62 miles. I took a vacation (by myself) to Vermont for a bicycling weekend, and it remains one of the best vacations I ever had.

Now, who do I pass this along to????

My good friend, Debby at Webquilts....http://webquilts.blogspot.com/

I am not sure who else??? Will have to get back to everyone later on this one.....

Visiting...

2010-02-27T18:21:00.007-06:00

We finally got a chance to ride again. It was last week (boy, it takes me a long time to find the time to post!!!), and the weather finally cooperated -- mild temps, no ice. So we took The Girls out and visited the neighboring barns. There are quite a few horses in Otis...actually, in our little "town" of 175 people, we have 3 one-eyed horses. My Divna, Terri's Reba, and Linda's I-don't-know-his/her name."

The Marich barn is closest to us. They have two geldings, Bubba (nose-to-nose with Zora) and Ozzy(white blaze); and one mare, Harley (facing other direction).

The Sajdera barn is where our horses go when they get out. Strange, because Divna just hates Terri's horses, but she always runs to their barn when she can. Perhaps that is because when we go away for long vacations (like when we go to Europe) she boards our horses for us. She has a great horse property -- lots of acreage, a large barn, round pen, several separated fenced in pastures...it is a very nice set up. Terri has owned horses her whole life, and even boarded Divna when she was suffering from glaucoma. She gave Divna medicine and administered eye drops, etc. Just a great friend!!! Terri has one mare, Reba; and two geldings, Ziggy and Timber (the geldings are the ones with white blazes). They are all related. I believe Reba is the mother of both geldings. Reba is one-eyed. She actually poked a hole in her eyeball somehow a few winters ago. She can't see out of that eye, but still has her eyeball. It actually looks much better than it used to. I made an eye patch for her, but of course she is not wearing it now.

The Munson horses. We don't know them very well, but one of the horses (the white one) is one-eyed. The other looks like some sort of Mongolian horse.....short, stocky, with long hair on the legs...Anyone out there know what kind of horse that is??

So it was a neat day of just riding around and visiting...

The Ride That Wasn't

2010-02-17T20:59:00.006-06:00

This past weekend was finally riding time -- everything was in place. Not too cold, not too icy, sun was shining, great winter riding conditions.

John was outside "catching" The Girls and starting on the pre-ride grooming. I was in the house finishing up some last minute things.

I walked outside and heard voices and thought "Boy, he really has the Serbian music cranked up today." Then I saw a car in the driveway.

I opened the barn door and there stood Dragan -- our very good friend who moved to Indianapolis a few years back. No wonder it sounded like the Serbian music was cranked -- there were two Serbs in the barn talking!!! He was in town for the weekend and stopped by!! It was so great to see him!!

So of course we just gave the horses some treats and let them go, and spent the evening with Dragan.

This is one time that I did not mind missing out on a ride! We had a great time that night....we should be able to ride next weekend.

Here is Drag with Zora.....

Help Wanted: Goat Farrier

2010-02-02T20:38:00.005-06:00

(This picture of Misho and me was taken the day after the trimming. I am holding the trimming tool in my left hand but you can't really see it.)

The farrier was out to trim The Girls' hooves last week, which is our reminder that it is also time to trim the goats' hooves. Well, "reminder" is not quite the right word -- it is more of a "sentence" -- the kind the Judge hands down when the charges are serious.

Anyone out there with goats should be able to relate. When we got our first goat, and the hoof trimming procedure was demonstrated to us, it looked so easy....

We bought our first goat, Marco (a.k.a "The Alien" and "You Are An Ass!!") from the LaPorte County Fair. We had decided we needed a goat because some of the weeds in the pasture became so overgrown that we had to mow -- these were weeds that for some reason the horses would not eat. We had been to my cousin's house in the mountains of North Carolina a few years before. He wanted to clear a piece of property he had purchased, and got two or three goats. He left them on the property, and they cleared it so beautifully. We imagined the same thing would happen to the gangly weeds in our pasture -- they would be beautifully cleared if only we had a goat.

At the Fair we went into the Goat Barn, located a young 4H member who was showing goats and asked if he wanted to sell one. Of course he did. He showed us Marco (who at the time was named "Sampson") and explained that this particular goat was headed for the meat truck when the Fair closed. He was the cutest little goat -- maybe 20 pounds. I couldn't stand the thought of him being in the next Gyro sandwich we would order in a Greektown restaurant in Chicago at some point in the future, so we gave the 4H boy $20 and promised to pick Sampson/Marco up on the last day of the Fair. We got to talking about how to care for goats, and 4H Dad showed us how to trim the hooves.

Standing beside the darling little goat, he pulled up a leg, took a rasp and ran it over the bottom of the hoof a time or two. "See! That's all you have to do." Like a couple of green city folks turned country, we bought it -- and the goat.

The reality of our lives with goats is quite different than what I imagined on that warm July day at the Fair in the Goat Barn, looking at sweet little Sampson/Marco munching on hay in his cute little pen. Within 24 hours of bringing Marco home we had another tiny, young goat -- yes, we called the 4H Family to ask if they had another goat to sell us (that is a story for another post). And now when it is hoof trimming time we must get properly liquored up to endure the ordeal.

The Goat Boys are full grown now -- on hind legs they stand at about 6' tall and weigh well over 100# each. And they absolutely hate having their hooves trimmed. You can do the math and realize this is not a match-up either John or I would win easily. Alone, neither of us would have a snowball's chance. So we have to team up.

Our battle plan consists of a two-front attack (following consumption of a beer and a couple of zoomers of rajkia each). We tether the goats to the stall doors. John grabs the one we decide to work on first (usually Marco, because as noted above he is "...An Ass!!!"), pins him up against the stall door keeping a hand firmly on the collar in case a mild choke is needed. I grab a hoof, try to hold it still, and do the trimming. When they start to kick, I have to let go of the hoof, regroup, and try again. Sometimes John loses control of the goat, and then we have to stop, regroup, and try again. Often we have to take another rajkia break between hooves.

It is an exhausting ordeal. I must say, as they have gotten older it has gotten a bit easier. They are a touch more calm.

But I can't help but wonder how we are going to do this when we are a bit older. (????)

Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention.....we still have to mow the overgrown weeds in the pasture.

This picture of John and one of the chickens is included here for no particular reason.

Night Ride in the Snowfall

2010-01-26T07:20:00.004-06:00

In December we had quite a bit of snow -- Yes, December. I am really behind on posting and reading blogs. Anyway, it was also really beautiful snow. Very light and fluffy, the kind that hangs in the trees. And it was not too cold, which is a plus. So one Saturday night for our "night out," we decided to take The Girls out to play in the snow. (A lot less expensive than going out to dinner or a movie.) A light snow was falling, and though there was not a full moon, it was light enough outside so we could see. We stayed really close to home -- we took the trails and fields closest to our house. Here are some "action" photos from the ride, taken from the back of my horse..............

I think The Girls just love being out in the snow. It was one of the most beautiful rides we have had. Actually it was also the most recent ride we had....it has been really icy most of the time since then. So we have done no riding so far in January -- that is not good! Hopefully this weekend we will get a ride in.

This is a lawn ornament/gazing ball that my friend Debby (webquilts.com) made -- she made this from an old bowling ball decorated with pieces of ceramic tile and mirror, and beads, etc...It is just so cool. One of the goats (Misho) knocked it off its perch last summer and broke one of the eyes and part of the nose off. With all this snow on its head I think it looks like Marge Simpson.

Sick

2010-01-14T12:58:00.002-06:00

I have been sick with bronchitis for the past week....

I have done ZERO blogging -- no reading, no posting.

I have done ZERO at home (sorry John) -- just using all my energy for my job and that is it.

There is lots to post about -- trip to the Northwoods, a night ride in the snow.......

But it will have to wait until next week.

I need to catch up with all of you by reading your blogs as well, but not today...............

See you soon..............................Reg

Icy Ride

2009-12-27T13:34:00.006-06:00

Our weather has been down right bizarre lately -- snow, rain, ice, sleet, warming, then temperatures dropping again....

It was really icy here, especially on the flat surfaces that had been plowed. There was a melting, then a re-freezing, making those flat surfaces as smooth and slick as an ice skating rink.

We got a cover of snow on Saturday, and it was not real cold. John and I wanted to take a ride, but the icy conditions concerned us a bit. A walk thru the woods proved that the trails were not slick -- just the roadways. So we decided to walk the girls to the abandoned railroad line, and only ride once we were in the woods. This worked out great -- we walked on the lane, keeping the girls off to the side where it was easier for them to get their footing.

The snow was falling and it was just beautiful. I could have kicked myself because I did not have my camera with me!!! The snow was in those great big flakes that we get whenever it is lake effect snow. (Around here, Lake Michigan creates strange weather patterns -- we are directly south of the lake, and that causes what they call "Lake Effect" snow. It can be blizzard conditions here, but if you go 5 miles either east or west of us there could be just light snow or none at all.) Our mares just love the snow. They really wanted to cut loose and run, but we did not dare -- if they hit a small ice patch that could be disastrous.

We have to go on the street between sections of the railroad line, and at those times we walked them. We got to the last section of railroad line, and sure enough, someone had blocked it off by cutting down some large trees. This is really infuriating -- I have written before about the people who keep trying to block the railroad line. We thought this problem was solved, but evidently not. So we could not ride the last section of railroad line. It was when we turned back from there that we had our little incident for the day (something always happens on our trail rides it seems!!).

John and Zora being faster, were already turning off from the street onto the trail. Divna and I were still on the street when I heard it -- a snowplow was coming our way. I just knew this was not going to be good. Sure enough, it turned and came up the street we were on. Thank heavens I was not in the saddle. She saw that large machine, and heard that blade scraping on the street, and saw the snow flying and she just lost her little mind. She wanted to bolt in the worst way, and was dancing around and jumping......thankfully the snow plow driver had enough sense to see and appreciate what was going on. He slowed down and lifted the blade until I got Divna under control and walked her up to the entrance to the trail. My heart was pounding!

Back on the trail everything was good -- both girls were calm, and we started the ride home. By the time we got close to home, the sun was setting and the temperature had dropped a bit. The streets were really slick then, and my riding boots are smooth on the soles. I was the one having trouble staying standing!! We also came across the snowplow again, this time both horses had a meltdown. By the time we got home we were exhausted....it was a lot of walking, and a lot of work "saving" the girls from the "killer snowplow."

But it was just so beautiful with the snow falling....on the way home in the fading light it looked like a black and white photograph. I wish I had had my camera with me!!!

The Chickens' New Roommate

2009-12-27T13:21:00.006-06:00

Because I have a 9-5 job, and John has the more flexible schedule (he runs our real estate business) he does the morning feedings. He called me at work one morning last week to say the chicken coop had a new resident -- a possum (or is it "an opposum"???) !!

He somehow got past the electric tape around the fence surrounding the coop, and took up residence in one of the nesting boxes. Here he is....

At first this sort of freaked me out -- I was afraid he would kill the chickens. When I got home from work I went out to see for myself, and sure enough, there he was just sitting in a nesting box. The chickens were all sitting on their roosting ladder-type thing just a couple of feet away from him. No one seemed concerned. Still, John and I were trying to brainstorm ways to get him out. We did not want to risk picking him up...........

When it seemed apparent he was not going to eat a chicken, we just left them all alone. He was with us for about three days. We went out one morning, and he was gone. It will be interesting to see if he comes back.....

Bareback Riding and Creative Outlet for John

2009-12-16T19:01:00.004-06:00

It has been cold, cold, COLD here, so there hasn't been much riding. The other day we went out believing we were going to ride, but instead John just lunged (I never know how to spell that) Zora, and I rode Divna bareback in the pasture.

I only mention that part because this is a "horse blog" and I feel strange if I don't mention something about horses or riding. But actually, I want to introduce everyone to an endeavor John has embarked on.

We started out thinking we would both write on this blog, but it hasn't turned out that way. I have been the one who has been doing the blogging here, and I have really enjoyed it.

When I first met John, he was a writer and desktop publisher. It is a long story, but he realized he did not like working in an office, so he went to the Carpenter's Apprenticeship program and began working construction and then eventually rehabbing houses. Over the years he has sent out entertaining e-mails and invitations to friends which showcased his writing skills. He has a knack for comedic/sarcastic writing that our friends have found really entertaining. People tell him all the time that he should continue writing. With the slow real estate market, he has decided he needs a creative outlet.

Therefore, he is launching his own blog -- myotisrules.blogspot.com -- and as it happens, his first post is about horses. The next one that will come in a few days is a Christmas Letter (fictional -- not the story of our lives for the past year). So check him out if you like. I realize everyone has a lot of blogs to read and follow.....but you may like it, or want to recommend it to someone.

To explain the name of his blog -- we live in a very small town (175 people) named Otis. One of John's very best friends is an entertainer (singer-guitarist-DJ). Whenever we go to a bar where he is working, he always introduces us as "the Mayor and First Lady of Otis." Most of the time no one knows where Otis is, but sometimes people do...One night, after our introduction, a guy stood up and yelled "Otis Rules!!" We use that expression a lot, and it sort of has a double meaning...

I hope you enjoy his writing. There is a link on the left of my page here under "Blogs I Follow."

New Ad

2009-12-13T16:42:00.004-06:00

We are fortunate enough to have a friend who is a graphic designer, and also a true, generous friend. He designed some new ads for our real estate business. We do all kinds of residential and vacant land real estate -- working with both buyers and sellers, but since we own horses we understand what buyers and sellers of equine properties need, so we are carving out a niche in that specialty.

The ad we used to use featured Divna and me. Now that John has taken over the real estate business, and I had to get a "real job" we needed the ad updated to feature him and Zora.

He made three versions of this ad. I like this one because the horse is looking at the camera. The picture of John and Zora is smaller on this version than on the other two. This way we have different "looks" for the different types of advertising we will do. I am excited about these new ads...

I hope they bring in lots of new business!!! Wish us luck! (If you click on the ad, it will resize so you can read it if you like.)

Friendship

2009-12-10T07:03:00.005-06:00

Last week, before we had our first dusting of snow, and before our temperatures plummeted and the wind brought us below zero chill factors, we had a nice, sunny, late fall day. I was working in the house, and happened to look out the window and saw something that kept my attention for at least 10 minutes.

Divna (my mare) was laying in the sun. Marco (our black goat) was pawing at her tail, which was on the ground stretched out behind her. I kept expecting Divna to turn around and toss her head at him to make him stop, but she just lay there, doing nothing. Then he walked up near her head and started nuzzling her! It was the cutest thing! He was just rubbing his head on her neck and the side of her face.....Then I noticed she was responding to him, nuzzling back at him. It was just such a sweet exchange of affection I was mesmerized.

Of course I went to get the camera. I took this photo, which is really not very good (it doesn't help that they are both black...). I wanted to get closer to get a better shot, but was afraid if I opened the door they would move, Divna would get up, and it would ruin the moment. So I tried to video it through the dining room window, zooming in. The quality here is not the greatest, but I believe you can see some of the nuzzling that was going on. I am so glad I saw this.....

The 4 Rides Since Vacation

2009-11-30T07:07:00.007-06:00

We have had four great rides since coming back from our vacation. All of the leaves are down now, and things look so different. We were lucky to have some cool, dry weather. It rained the entire time we were in Mexico, so it is a mud pit around our barn and the water trough, but the trails were nice.

First Ride -- Dunes at Dusk -- We went out to the Dunes for our first ride back and met our friend Dee Dee. Karen wasn't with her this time (we missed you, Karen) so it was just the three of us (6 of us counting the horses). We had a nice ride out there, but it was too short because we were late getting there. We were late getting there because we had a flat tire on our horse trailer. This is the 2nd time that tire has gone flat, and both times it was a leak around the air stem. But John got it changed pretty quickly with help from our neighbor, Roy, who happened to come by. After the ride we stood around Dee Dee's trailer, and her horse kept sticking his head out the window....he was so cute. I think he was trying to get in on the conversation. Here he is.....

Second Ride -- Our Otis Trails -- The next day we went on the trails around where we live. Divna started having water and mud issues again, which really surprised me since I thought the water issues had been resolved. She will go thru a flooded area up to her chest, but when it comes to a small (and I do mean small) stream she freezes up with fear. She did just that on this particular ride, and also tensed up at a muddy spot.... Zora handled it all perfectly, so naturally John took this opportunity to talk about how "superior" his horse is to mine.....

Third Ride -- Knee vs. Tree - Tree Wins -- Thanksgiving was really hectic and rushed for us. For some reason this year it just seemed like a blur. We had the dinner at our house, and it was over way too soon -- leaving us with a real disaster in the kitchen. So on Friday we decided to take a ride on our trails again. There is a pretty good sized hill on the trail, and usually we take the hill going down. This time we decided to take that part of the trail on the way home, so we took the hill going up. At the bottom of the hill is a pretty serious muddy spot. It takes up the whole trail, and the trees are close around the perimeter. I could feel Divna hesitating, and looking into the woods for an alternate path around that mud. I kept urging her on -- I didn't want her to be making the decision at that point. Finally she starts moving forward, but then I detected something....I have had this horse for 9 years, and I just know what she is thinking sometimes. I knew she was going to head for the edge of the mud pit. I was trying like crazy to keep her in the center, but she was determined not to get too much mud on her dainty hooves, and kept bearing to the right. My right ankle is the one injured at the moment, and all I could think of was protecting it from the trees at the edge of the mud -- I knew Divna was headed there. So I lifted my leg up and behind me, and sure enough, she got too close to a tree and my knee hit it pretty hard. But at least I protected my ankle!!! Here is the damage.....

Fourth Ride -- The Horseshoe Is On the Other Hoof -- On Saturday we were going to take care of things around the house that need to be done, run some errands, and stuff like that. But after breakfast we decided "to heck with it" and hitched up the trailer and headed for the Dunes. It was about 50 degrees outside and sunny. We saw a fellow member from the Midwestern Saddle Club, which was pretty cool. I also got my revenge on this ride.....the Dunes has wooden bridges here and there on the trail that go over streams and marshy areas. It was on one of these bridges where John learned "what goes around, comes around." There was a large muddy spot at the end of one of the bridges. Divna and I were in front, she crossed the bridge and went thru the muddy spot with no hesitation. However, she did do it with a lot of flair -- mud was flying. Zora saw this and decided she wanted no part of crossing through that mud. It took John quite a few minutes to coax her through that mud. I was up ahead on the trail laughing and talking about how "superior" my horse is to his!!

Too Many Rides to Write About

2009-11-28T11:53:00.005-06:00

We have been back from our mini-vacation to Cancun for one week and two days now, and have had 3 rides. But also during this time we have had a dinner party with overnight friends, hosted Thanksgiving, and I have been buried at work from being gone for a week. Not to mention the ton of laundry to do, large pile of mail to go thru, and who knows how many pounds of horse and chicken manuer (spelling???) to clean up. Our neighbors took very good care of our animals while we were gone, but we do not ask them to clean the pasture and coop....that is a bit beyond "good neighbor" tasks. As a result, I have not had time to blog -- to read or to post. I really miss reading everyone's blogs. I feel like I am out of touch.....

So we are off to the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore today for a long ride, and our "last fling" of what has basically been two weeks of vacation. Tomorrow is going to be reserved for getting ready for the first full work-week in 2 weeks and catching up on things (like my blog). (Above photo is the moon rising over the Indiana Dunes -- I took that on our 2nd ride after the vacation -- we were at the park riding with our friend DeeDee)

I will be reading everyone's posts and putting up some of my own soon..................

Happy trails to all out there. Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving holiday. We all have so much to be thankful for. See you soon..........

We Are Back!

2009-11-22T15:09:00.005-06:00

I have been out of the blog world for a while because we have been on vacation. We got home on Thursday, and since then have managed to get in two trail rides. I will post on those soon!!

Short but Sweet

2009-11-10T06:47:00.007-06:00

Busy weekend -- too many social events planned, so we only had time for a short ride on Sunday. But what a perfect day for it! It was so beautiful outside -- warm and clear.

We had to fix a broken spot on the fence while we had daylight. We think a deer must have gone thru it -- that happens sometimes. Once that was done, we only had about an hour for riding, due to the really early nightfall since we moved the clocks back, so we decied to stick to the trails through the woods around our house. We hadn't ridden them in a while, so it was nice to be out there again.

Zora (John's horse) was way too charged up, so we put Divna in the lead. When we got to the spot where the little stream sometimes trickles (and I do mean "trickles") across the trail, I was surprised that Divna was afraid to cross! I thought we had gotten past her water fears....here is a horse who goes in water up to her chest when the Dunes are flooded in the spring. Now she is having a problem with a little, teeny, tiny stream of water! Well, she had to learn that I was not going to ask her to do anything that would hurt her....I just kept urging her to move forward. She finally got brave and went across, and I just kept petting her neck and telling her what a good girl she was....

The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful, except for having to backtrack around a fallen tree (another project for John and his chainsaw). We got to a harvested cornfield, and let The Girls stretch their legs and run a bit. When we got to the other side we could hear voices -- we had ended up on the backside of this really cool spot someone made. It is a place called "Dave's Pond." There is a little pond (hence the name) and they have a fire pit set up, a bunch of benches, a small trailer, and another small box-car looking thing that I suspect is a kitchen of some type. This place is just set up too cute -- there is a group of friends/family who use it for parties at warm weather holidays and birthdays, etc. We are always ingrigued by this place and the ingenuity that went into it. Well, they were all gathered there for some reason on Sunday. They heard the horses, and the next thing we knew, our Girls were getting loads of attention. It was pretty neat.

We got home just at dark, and The Girls got well deserved treats of carrots, and then of course their grain and dinner. Another really nice ride!

Divna Zora

Eventful Ride

2009-11-03T07:33:00.013-06:00

This time of year we wear orange -- too many hunters out there!

We actually rode twice last weekend -- a short ride (about an hour) on Saturday, and then a longer one on Sunday. I really should have waited another week or so to let this ankle heal up a bit more, but it was just too nice outside, and it has been too long.

The Saturday ride was pretty uneventful, outside of the pain. On Sunday it was much more interesting. We had seven riders in the group. We haven't ridden with that many people in a long time. The ride started at our place. Our friends Tom and Dolly came with their Quarter Horses, Dee with her Rocky Mountain horse and her friend Juliette with her Tennessee Walking Horse. We were to meet Karen on her Tennessee Walker at the park. I got photos of everyone except Karen....

(From top left --Dee with Shawney, Juliette with Beauty, Tom with Hawk, and Dolly with Duke)

The Quarter Horse riders decided to ride the trails thru the woods around our place -- not necessary to go on any roads or cross any railroad tracks. They were into a more leisurely ride. The gaited horse crew took the abandoned railroad line, across the toll road, then back on the line all the way to the park so we could meet Karen. We did not have to do much street riding thanks to John -- he cleared a trail around the big washout area on the first leg of the railroad line. I will have to get a photo of that.....

We were quite the sight with three black Tennessee Walking Horse mares!!

We should have known it was going to be an eventful ride. I rode with my injured ankle out of the stirrup most of the time. Thank goodness for the saddle horn...We were only on the trail for a little while when we thought we saw two deer on the trail up ahead. John and Zora were in the lead, and he yells out, "Those aren't deer! They are coyotes!!" Sure enough, the two coyotes ran down the ravine and disappeared into the woods...thankfully none of the horses spooked.

Dee and Juliette cross the Indiana Toll Road!

We made it down to the park in really good time, and as soon as we got to the park grounds we ran into Karen. She had just become a grandma for the first time, and was just really glowing. Karen and Dolly decided to head back up to our place. The three black mares wanted to stretch their legs, so we turned them loose a bit on the deserted wide grassy area near a bean field. It was pretty neat.....Then when we were slowing down and coming around the corner of the field, the horses spotted a "horse killer." It was one of those strange bicycles where the rider sits low to the ground with their legs straight out in front of them. To make matters worse, the bike had a long pole attached to the back of it with an orange flag -- most likely a safety feature. Well, Juliette's mare saw that and made a really fast move to the right. Juliette had too much momentum going, and ended up falling -- actually more like sliding out of the saddle. She hung onto the reins, and everything was OK. No one hurt, no big deal.

Then as she was getting back on, down the path comes a group of "horse killers." It was a miniature horse pulling a cart being driven by a woman, a teenager on a bicycle with a dog on a leash, a young girl walking with a dog on a leash. Well, this group was more than our mares were ready to deal with. Zora starts acting up -- she can't handle all these strange looking critters. Everyone was very gracious and knew what to do. We all worked together to handle the situation. We turned the horses around, and the group passed us. All was calm until we overtook them.....when we got close to the group again, the miniature horse (who had blinders on) could sense something was going on behind him/her, and started getting really agitated. So again, our two groups had to work together to get thru the situation. We stopped our horses, the woman driving the cart turned it around so the little horse could see us and calm down. The guy on the bike with the dog on the leash rode way up ahead and out of the way. It all worked out once more.

When we got back to our house, the Quarter Horse friends met back up with us. Dolly lost her cell phone somewhere along the trail.

What a day! What a ride! Uusally we come back to our place nad John throws something on the grill for a meal, but this time Dolly brought meatloaf and bread, Dee brought shrimp cocktail, and we all had beer. It was so nice of them -- Dolly even brought the cutest fall-themed paper plates and napkins. So we gathered in our dining room and had a great meal and talked about our adventures. It is fantastic to ride with friends!

Peak Colors

2009-10-30T12:57:00.006-05:00

(My attempt at creative photography-I put the camera on the tree trunk and shot the photo straight up...)

Here in Northwest Indiana, we had our peak colors of fall in the last two weeks. That is all over now, because it has been raining and the rain knocks all the leaves off the trees. I believe most people in the country don't think of Indiana as a beautiful state, if they think if Indiana at all...but actually it is really pretty here; and at different times of the year there are specific times where it is particularly striking. In the fall, people come from around the midwest to our state parks to see the colors at their peak.

That is one of the best times for horseback riding --in the fall at the peak of the colors. That is what I missed this season...but I do have some photos of scenes around where I live. Of course the pictures do not do it justice. We had a lot of golds and yellows this year. On my drive to work there are two spots I go through that I swear just glowed with the color.

So here we are, another fall season about gone......you know what comes next!! Snow!!!!

Kiva -- Loans that Change Lives

2009-10-26T07:07:00.004-05:00

When John and I started our real estate company, Dunewood Homes, we decided to do something when each deal closed. We feel very fortunate in our lives, and though things have not always run smoothly, we have a lot to be thankful for. So we decided that at each closing, we would give a monetary donation to a charity. At first we would send something to the local Humane Society and the battered women's shelter. In looking for other organizations to give to, we found the Unity Foundation. It is an organization in LaPorte County that sets up endowments and gives regular donations to a number of local charities. Then the war broke out in Serbia. John has relatives there. And while we could not send anything to Serbia while the war was on (our government put a ban on the postal service delivering there), after the war was over we were able to help his cousin. The country's economy was in shambles, and she is a single mother who really needed some help.

Recently, I saw an interview with Bill Clinton the PBS news program "The News Hour with Jim Lehrer." He was talking about microfinance and how it helps people in poor countries. One of the organizations is called "Kiva" and they make small loans to people who are struggling to get their small businesses to succeed. These people do not qualify for traditional loans thru banks because they are too small, have no start up capital, or things like that. Many times, these loans help people get started on a venture that lifts them out of poverty. I was really intrigued, and went to the website kiva.org to find out more about it. I have a link to Kiva on the upper left corner of my blog here. I also put one of their banners at the bottom of the page. I think I am going to change to a different banner -- this one looks sort of lost there. For $25 you can help someone....

We had two closings recently (unbelievable -- the market may be beginning to pick up) so I selected four people to loan money to. It was hard to choose....I wanted to send something to an entrepreneur in Eastern Europe, but they were all funded. I also wanted to send something to someone in Vietnam because I believe we have a lot to live down in that country, but they were all funded too. But I did find 4 -- two in Asia (one in southeast), one in Dominican Republic, and one in Africa (because John wants to go there and I refuse).

I thought I might let all of you know so you can check it out for yourselves.

One Week Down. How Many Left to Go?

2009-10-19T14:39:00.007-05:00

I have been out of commission with this sprained ankle for one week now. It is just making me crazy, because this is a really great time for riding in Northwest Indiana. Our trees are almost at peak color, and the temperatures are mild.

Sunday was particularly difficult -- it was really nice outside, and it was exactly the kind of day when we would have gone for a ride. I was in the kitchen cooking and I heard a friend's voice calling out a "hello" to me. Sure enough, it was Dolly, Tom and Terri stopping by for a visit. They had been out riding -- I was so envious!!! Here they are, on their horses getting ready to leave. Look at these pictures of them on their horses and enjoying a wonderful fall day....

Now look at this picture of me with this contraption on my foot, unable to ride.....Who do you think is having the better time????

You have to look up on the deck of the house to see me.....

Count Your Blessings

2009-10-15T22:00:00.002-05:00

This happened about a week and a half ago. I cannot seem to get it out of my mind, so I thought I should post it.

I was driving to work, and stopped at a red light. The car in the lane next to me was a big, beautiful Mercedez Benz. I sat there looking at that car and thinking about the person driving it. I was thinking things like “Wow…it must be nice to be able to afford a car like that. This person must really have it made – no money worries or anything.” As I was thinking this, a small face appeared in the window of the backseat – it was the face of a child with Down’s Syndrome.

This hit me like a ton of bricks. I was reminded of something I already knew, which is – you never know what challenges people are facing in their lives. No matter how wonderful everything looks on the outside, we all have difficulties to deal with. I believe God put me at that red light to remind me of this. Perhaps lately I have not been as patient and compassionate as I should be, and I needed a wake-up call. I can tell you this – I got the message.

Horseback Riding Friends to the Rescue

2009-10-12T11:06:00.008-05:00

I did it again...for the THIRD time I have screwed up an ankle! First time was when we were building our house -- I twisted my right ankle and broke a bone in my foot on an uneven stair step. Last summer I twisted the other ankle simply by stepping off a small retaining wall onto the driveway. Now Sunday I twisted my right ankle while stepping out of the barn with an armload of hay. All I did was take a step down onto the ground like normal, like I do at least twice a day every day....I heard a loud cracking sound, and then there was blinding pain, and I was on the ground. I knew immediatelyI was in trouble. And I was really TICKED OFF because we were going to go riding Sunday afternoon........

By the time I got in the house it looked like I had a baseball attached to the side of my ankle. Thankfully we had some Vocodin left over from when John had to have a root canal....

So I am sitting there, bummed out because I can't ride and because I know what I am in for over the next few weeks. The phone rings, and it is our horseback-riding-cell-phone-talking friend Dee. She and Dolly and Karen and Terri are out riding the woods near our house. Of course we told them to stop by. Thank goodness! Made me feel much better to see horses in my yard and be able to have a beer and some laughs with friends.

Here is Karen and Dee arriving on the scene.

The chickens came to visit Dee's horse.

Dolly's horse making friends with Zora and Misho.

Karen's horse -- He is a handsome guy, isn't he?

I should have gotten some photos of us around the table, but didn't think to do that (duh). I took a lot of other pictures, but they are too dark -- you know my photographer skills are not the best.

So I have been to the podiatrist, had x-rays.....it is not broken, just a severe sprain. I won't be riding for a while (BUMMER!!!!). But at least he gave me a boot-type thing so I don't have to use the crutches anymore.

I hope it heals fast................

A Clean Barn is a Happy Barn

2009-10-07T07:31:00.011-05:00

I took a couple of vacation days last week -- Friday and Monday -- so that I would have a long weekend. We were supposed to go to the Northwoods to help my brother, who just had back surgery, get his wood chopped and stacked for the winter. His wood delivery guy broke his foot, so there was no delivery. Here I was with four days off work!! First time I have had time off without being sick in a long time!! We decided to put it to good use.

We ordered our hay for the winter (150 bales to join the 100 or so we already have on hand) and figured this was as good a time as any for the annual barn cleaning. Here is John, blowing the dust off the rafters. As you can see, there is a mini-dust storm going on in our barn. It is going to be interesting to see if the barn stays a bit cleaner since we changed the stall floors from dirt/straw to crushed limestone/mats/pellets. It was a big job, but when we got finished that barn just sparkled!! Well worth the effort! I think the animals appreciated it, though it was difficult to tell. The goats just kept staring at me......

We got the hay delivery early one morning following a night out with friends....needless to say, it was a painful day of hoisting up and stacking bales. Our pasture area is a mud pit from all the recent rain, and the heavy tractor and trailer were sliding around a bit when our hay guy delivered. As a result, our outside hay feeder was a casualty -- the trailer slid into it when he was backing up, and just snapped those 4x4 poles like they were toothpicks. No big loss -- we have known for a long time that the feeder was in the wrong spot and needed to be moved. Misho could not resist climbing all the way to the top of the stack.

We took a couple of breaks during the job, and we got thru it. Feels good to be set for the winter. The animals had an "all you can eat buffet" while we were working on the stack. Even the chickens got into it. At one point every animal we have was somewhere on or around the hay trailer. Most impressive was Sonja, the princess kitty who is usually laying on a pillow someplace, exerted enough energy to climb on the haystack.

So that is two big winter jobs out of the way.

Two down, and who knows how many more to go!

Horse Club Campout

2009-09-30T07:56:00.006-05:00

Our saddle club had its annual camp out last weekend. Everyone in the club comes to the grounds and brings their horses and some food. We have a campfire, and people can ride in the large show arena and in the smaller practice arena. It really is a good time. We spend most of the summer doing all the work so other people can show and compete with their horses, so this is our time to use the arenas. We had a great campfire, lots of good food, and plenty of laughs. John brought his famous Serbian rakija for everyone to sample (keeps the chill off on an autumn night). I took some photos, but they are just dreadful....I will have mercy on all of you and not both to post them here. (The photo above is our saddles hanging on the fence at The Dunes after our Sunday ride.)

We rode The Girls in the arena, and it was pretty neat. It is fun to ride the arena, because you know it is a groomed, safe surface with no holes, rocks, etc. I also like to ride Divna around the barrels and pretend I am in competition.

On Sunday we went out and rode in the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore again. I just love those trails -- they always look different so it is not like riding the same trail over and over. The vegetation in the Dunes changes so much with the seasons, and the recent tornado in that area "adjusted" some of the trees, and as a result, some of the trails. No falls this time, which was fantastic -- everyone stayed upright! It was a nice, normal ride with a mix of walking and loping. There were a lot of riders out on Sunday because it was such a beautiful day. We are going to have to use these trails while we can -- the park service closes them to equestrians in the winter so the cross-country skiers can have their fun. No problem, because we are fortunate enough to have trails nearby......

Last Horse Show of 2009.....

2009-09-20T14:34:00.012-05:00

Yesterday we had our last show of the 2009 season for the Midwestern Saddle Club. It was a perfect day, and John and I had been looking forward to helping out at the show and seeing everyone for the last time this season. On Thursday, I came down with a wicked case of bronchitis, and have been pretty sick.

So there has been no riding, and no working at the horse show for me. But we did go to the show for a couple of hours.....I probably shouldn't have, but we really wanted to be a part of it. So here are some photos from the day...

One of our young contestants getting ready to barrel race.

Another racing contestant.....

And another......

The club holds raffles at each event to help riase funds. We always buy some tickets, and we bought these neat hooded sweatshirts...Here I am checking our tickets. We didn't win. Even though I was sick, and we were only there for a short time, it was enjoyable. I think it did me some good to get out a little bit, and it is always good to be around horses!!!

John Hates My Hat

2009-09-13T21:25:00.004-05:00

Yes, my husband hates my hat. He says it is a disgrace. He feels it should be clean, perfectly formed, and represent me as a "together" person. Well, here is a photo of my hat.

As you can see, it is dirty, crumpled, and generally in shabby condition. And I love it......to me, my hat says "the person who wears this hat has really ridden a horse." It says that I have tackled about everything the trail can throw at me, and made it through (sometimes barely). It says, "The woman under this hat is a horseperson!"

On a different note.....this time of year apples are plentiful. We have a lot of them -- a really good friend of ours has quite a few apple trees in his yard, and he gives us lots of apples. Our animals love this time of year, because we put apples into every feeding. Recently, John and I noticed that Zora "saves" her apple pieces to eat last. Divna will just eat -- if an apple piece comes into her path, she eats it. Zora will actually move the grain aside, eat the grain, and save the apple pieces. She then eats them last. I have watched her do this several times, and today I got a photo of it.

She moved her head aside just long enough for me to get this picture.

And by the way, we had a really nice ride today....a good weekend overall......

Labor Day Weekend Trail Rides

2009-09-07T12:49:00.005-05:00

We have had the best rides over this Labor Day Weekend. On Saturday our friends DeeDee and Karen came to our place, and we rode our trails. I did not get any pictures, so I have none to post and I really regret that. We rode our abandoned railroad line, and got a pleasant surprise. Out of curiosity, we rode to the section where the people had purchased the adjacent property. I have written about this in the past, because these people claimed they now own the abandoned rail line on that section, and were closing it off. They did not want anyone riding horses, bicycles, or 4-wheelers there anymore. They were putting huge concrete blocks across the path. We were devastated, and have not been back there since. Well, on Saturday we rode down to that section out of curiosity to see what they had done. To our amazement, the trail was wide open -- completely clear!! Something happened down there......they have done the exact opposite of what they said they were going to do. Rather than close it off, it is opened up more that it was before! So now we can ride all the way to the county park like we used to. We are so happy about that! After the railroad line we came back up to our house and rode in the nearby on the new trails. It was a perfect temperature outside, and the trails were great. When we got back to our house we put their horses in our stalls and left our horses out in the pasture. We fed all of them, then cooked our dinner on the grill and just had a great time. I made Turkish coffee for everyone, and we just talked and laughed for a couple of hours. It was a great day....

Sunday was going to church and visiting friends afterwards, so no riding....

Monday, with the day off and it being a georgous day, we went riding again. The girls had a big day on Monday. I gave them their second round of vaccines for the year, and then John took Zora to the neighbors outdoor arena to work in the round pen for a while. Long story, which I will share another time, but the neighbors have this nice outdoor arena and we bought the round pen panels. The round pen is really good for Zora -- it does help calm her down and learn to maintain a speed. So after her "lesson" we took a nice long trailride at a walk for a change (they were tired from the other day!!). When we got back we gave them a much needed bath -- or is "shower" a better description?? Divna gets a little riled up when the water goes over her head and face. Zora handles it all pretty well. They are now very clean and soft. All in all a good ending to the summer of 2009!!

(Zora on the right -- Divna on the left)

Starting to Look Like Fall

2009-09-07T12:46:00.001-05:00

I was washing the dishes one day last week. I looked out the window above the sink, and this is what I saw. Fall is going to be here soon!!

New Reins

2009-09-04T18:00:00.004-05:00

I got some new reins the other day....some real cheapo's from the Big R store that just opened in Michigan City. The reins I have been using for the past 9 years that we have owned horses were actually English reins. I just cannot use the Western-style split reins. They never feel right to me -- they are too long, and they are always too slack.....I just cannot control them. I also have a fear of dropping one while riding and having a real situation on my hands (or out of my hands, as the case would be!).

So here is a photo of the new reins on their "maiden voyage." They are actually roping reins, they are cheap (like I said before -- $20!!), and they do not match the rest of my tack, and I really like them!!!

It's a holdiay weekend, and we plan to do a lot of riding. We got the trails near out house shaped up, and some friends are going to come out with their horses and join us tomorrow. Should be a lot of fun. The weather is going to be perfect, and we have food to throw on the grill after the ride!

Almost a Tragedy!!!

2009-08-31T13:28:00.006-05:00

On Sunday we went to the Dunes to ride with friends. Everything started out great -- we actually rode with them this time! We have met these friends out there before, but we never see each other on the trail...this is usually because John and I are late, and/or our horses are taking the trails at a faster pace. But these friends have Rocky Mountain horses which are also gaited, so we don't have the problem we usually have when riding with Quarter Horse friends. Another thing that made this ride so neat was that we had a trail dog with us! She was great! It has been a lot of years since we have had a trail dog along on ride....almost forgot how enjoyable it is.

A tornado came thru this area of the county a couple of weeks ago. We saw lots of uprooted and broken trees on the trail. The park employees must have spent a lot of hours clearing the trails. I took some photos -- I hope they are clear enough. I am not the best photographer.

On the trail our friends were in the lead, and John and I followed. At one point, we went on ahead to do a bit of loping/cantering. The trails in the Dunes have bridges over the little creeks and other perpetually wet areas. These bridges can be tricky -- they are in the shade most of the time, and develop a sort of mossy glaze on them. When we are moving thru the trails, we always slow down to a walk for the bridges. We were ahead of our friends at this point. Well, we came to the long bridge, and Divna took a few steps and almost lost her footing. About that time I saw Zora struggling to keep her footing -- she lost the battle and fell....

My heart was in my throat. I screamed to John "Are you alright??" and he said yes, he was...Then I said "What about Zora??" He answered, "I don't know....."

We were almost panicky. Zora has fallen many times -- she falls in the pasture when she and Divna are running and playing, she has fallen on the trail before, she slipped on the ice one time in the winter and fell . She always jumps right back up. This time she did not. She lay there on that bridge with two legs under her and two of her hooves off the side of the bridge. She didn't thrash around (Thank God!!), she didn't do anything. She just sat there looking at John. It was strange how small and vulnerable she looked. In my mind I imagined at least one broken leg and who knew what other kinds of injuries. I will never forget the look on John's face. We were both so scared.

I could not help him with her -- Divna kept getting in the way. I think she knew something was wrong. She is so attached to Zora. Our friends caught up to us a short time after the fall. I went back to see if one of them could help him get Zora up. Karen jumped off her horse and started to tie him off so she could help, and we heard John call out "She's up! I think she is OK." I cannot describe the relief I felt!!

By the time we all got to them, Zora was up and walking. Nothing was broken!! She was putting all four hooves on the ground, which we were so happy to see....

We got her home, I gave her some Bute and rubbed her down with linament. She seems fine, but we are going to continue to watch her. What a horrible experience!

Camping with "The Girls" at Potato Creek

2009-08-25T14:05:00.008-05:00

The forecast for the weekend was cool and overcast -- here in Northwest Indiana the weather can be brutal in August -- 90 degrees and humidity to match. So we decided to take advantage of this unusual break and take the horses camping. It may be one of the last chances we have to ride before the heat takes hold again. Last minute plans -- John had to scramble on Friday to get everything ready to leave as early as possible on Saturday.

Potato Creek is only about an hour away from our house. It is a really nice state park -- the horse camping area is great. There are nice clean showers and bathrooms, and the trails are good. Some of our state parks do not have shower facilities for horse campers, which really sucks...but Potato Creek takes care of the horse people.

When we got there on Saturday we set up camp and then took a ride. It had been a while since we had been on the trails, and it was nice and cool, so The Girls were pretty excited and wanted to run. There were not many riders out there late Saturday afternoon, so we let them lope quite a bit. It was great, as usual. Even though the trails are not very long, we always manage to get lost there. The map doesn't do us much good, and the signs labeling the trails are confusing -- maybe it is just us....But we enjoyed it.

It rained a little on us when we were making dinner, but nothing too bad. Dinner was great -- grilled a lot of our own fresh veggies from our garden. What is it about camping that makes the simplest food taste so good???

On Sunday we rode again, and it was a much calmer ride. The Girls were tired from the ride the day before, and I am sure they did not sleep much. Good thing they were calmer, because the trails were much more crowded on Sunday. We talked to a lot of other horse people, and saw some beautiful horses. We even saw one with an eye problem -- we stopped and talked to them for quite a while. They had noticed Divna's eye patch, so we traded horse eye stories.

So for a last-minute planned trip, it turned out pretty good. It was nice to spend time with the horses. I even had the time to comb out all the tangles from manes and tails, which is something I rarely get to do. Just a nice weekend...... Take a look at this photo -- this is the leg and boot of someone who rode a horse, and has the dirt to prove it!!!