Gifts of Christmas....

Mike got me earrings to go with the necklace he got me last year for Christmas; made by the same woman, Ayala Bar (click her name to see her site)

Close up of the earrings, that's actually fabric on some of the beads. Very interesting pieces, I love them!

Things my daughter got me; horse note cards; a DVD that I love, Somewhere In Time; an old copy of National Velvet; and Last of the Saddle Tramps! This is a wonderful book, I couldn't put it down! A woman back in 1953 at the age of 63 left Maine on a horse and crossed the USA to travel to California.....amazing!!! (I will tell more about it in another post.)

Two illustrations from National Velvet. This book was first printed in 1935; love the pictures in it. Love old books, Jennifer found this at an antique mall.

What a jump, what a horse! I remember reading this in junior high. It will be fun to read it again because I don't remember that much about it! LOL well, except it's about a horse, of course!

Necklace from Jennifer's boyfriend. Ribbon and thin leather cords with a glass bobble. Very nice!

My friend, Darby, who is a knitter made this felted wool bowl, that looks somewhat like a little hat! Two bars of handmade soaps that smell heavenly and some sweet almond oil lip balm! YUM!

I know I should have posted this last week but..........doing other things and didn't get to it. (sigh)

I am a little bummed today the weather here is very heavy overcast and raining which is suppose to turn to snow later on. I probably won't get to get any pictures of the "Blue Moon".....but I will try. The sky could clear up and I might get a shot; my tripod and camera are set up and ready to go.

Happy New Year!!!

Snowy Sunday

Friday night, late it started snowing some; not much at first but it kept it up all night so in the morning we about 4 inches of snow! Yesterday and today it had been overcast and some interesting clouds out there.

Then the sun came out and boy! Talk about knocking your eyes-out-blue!! WOW! (these photos were taken with my little Canon Power Shot) This is taken from our side door looking up the creek to the neighbors. That's our hay field that the boys have been in lately. The pump jack is fenced off from Pokey-The-Termit's little teeth too. I am sure he would chew the hoses off the tank...and...Gilly would feel obligated to help!

The boys sunning themselves, Gilly had been laying this his head stretched out but just as I got ready to snap the picture he raised his head. Bad Gilly!!!!

Awwww, now for a roll in the snow (he is not as close to the fence as it looks)

Here we go all four in the air! If I had turned the camera to action I could have gotten more of the roll but this one is pretty good!

LOL....really love this one! Looks like he is sitting back on his haunches!
"Ugh...I think I can get back up! Snort!"

"Pssssfff!!!! Pokey I'll bet you can't do that!"

"Yes, I can and you are too fat to roll completely over....I on the other hand can roll over many times! But....I just don't want to today! snort...dumb horse!
I am the ASS and I rule this farm!!!"

Merry Christmas All!


Pokey too!

Window of opportunity....

Sorry to say I have no pictures in this post, didn't have time. Yesterday I was making Hot Pepper Butter which is mustard, hot peppers, green peppers, onions, sugar and vinegar cooked down makes some yummy dip for chips, pretzels and spread on ham sandwiches. I was making this for Christmas presents; when I finished I had to head outside to fill the bird feeder and noticed that it was pretty nice out. Even though the temp was only 33 degrees the sun was shining and it felt good out there.

Well, hey, I thought it's pretty nice out here how about a short ride on Gil! I looked up in the field and YIPPEE he wasn't very dirty at all so......back into the house for my coat, hat and gloves. I called Gil and he came, nickering as he moved toward the gate. I had grabbed his bridle with his new bitless noseband; he put his head right in it, unlike he did with the bit. Did a quick brush, he had burrs in his tail but what the heck, we only had about an hour before the sun went over the hills. When the sun goes over the hills here the temp starts dropping so I was in a hurry. Saddled up with the western saddle; got him to do some side ways, backing and a little trotting on the lunge line. Can't use the round pen, frozen. So I hopped on and took my chances! He was pretty full of himself as we started off.

When we got to the neighbors he decided he was NOT going anymore. Started backing up, rather fast and little hops like he wanted to rear! Well, we aren't having any of that so I got off, real quick! I had hooked a lead rope to the halter ring that came with the bitless noseband, great idea! He wanted to back up so we backed about 100 feet to the bridge and then some! He decided that backing wasn't really what he wanted to do. I found a high spot in the road bank and climbed back in the saddle. Gilly decided that going forward was a GOOD idea now! Good boy!

We rode on up the road without incident. He was moving at a nice walk and the bitless noseband worked fine. I think I still need to adjust the chinstrap a bit but he did really well with it. I am glad! I could feel my feet starting to get cold so I thought I had better head back toward the house. When we got back to the barn I decided just a few minutes more so we headed back the hollow to the shed. As we crossed the creek I wished I had brought the camera, there was ice frozen along the edges that really looked neat. Beautiful but cold.

Back at the barn after I unsaddled I realized I had forgotten to get the rhythm beads to put on Gil. DARN!!! I tied him up and went back to the house to get them; I can at least put them on him and trot him down the road a ways. Just as soon as he started to trot, he really arched his neck and flagged his tail, bouncing along so the bells would really jingle! I think he really likes his bells......hopefully next time I get to ride I will remember the bells!

Later that night I was looking though my horse catalogs for winter boots. Found some!!! Ariat, my favs, tall boots, insulated, back zipper, stylish.....Merry Christmas to me! LOL And they will be here before Christmas....so they say! Doesn't matter anyway, I just needed some warm boots. What do ya think? Like 'em?


Not sure when I will get the opportunity to ride again. It's raining outside right now and snow is on the way; temps are dropping. We are supposed to get up to 3 inches of snow and then more tomorrow. We may get a white Christmas after all!

Merry Christmas!

I have been absent for awhile because 1.) I've been lazy 2.) I've been busy (playing with the computer graphics, see above)
I think LAZY is the number one reason I haven't been on here! LOL I have really wanted to post about my new bitless nose band I got for Gilly but haven't had the right weather or the time to ride so I can see how he does with it. If the weather will warm up a bit, I am NOT a cold weather rider. The weather here has been a damp cold, which I hate, it goes right through your bones, well mine anyway......so I stay inside and wish I could be out there riding! (sigh)
Today I have pepper mustard to make, it's yummy stuff, for Christmas gifts, cookies to bake and presents to wrap and more cards and gift tags to make! Hard to believe that a week from today it's Christmas Eve!!!
Also we have been working on our downstairs bathroom! YIPPEE! Soon we will have a bathroom downstairs and the room finished! Then I am hoping that we have all the home remodeling DONE! Not one of my fav things to do and this one has really taken a long time. Tons of work that was done before we could even start on it. LONG story on that! A lot of the work has been behind the scenes and no one can see it, duct work for furnace, plumbing, wiring all done by Mike....I don't do crawl spaces! NO, NO....too many creepy crawlers under there for my liking....that's man's work! LOL

Enjoy the blingy card I made and click on the picture of Pokey to see it larger so you can read the writing!(if you click on Gil's picture it takes you to an ad, I couldn't get it off the picture! ugh!)

HAVE A WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS!!!!!

Gilly's got rhythm (beads)

When I ordered Gilly's new bitless noseband from Cynthia at Natural Horse World I was looking through her links and found a site for rhythm beads. I'd never heard of them before but thought they looked pretty neat! So I had a lot of bits and pieces of earrings, necklaces and such laying around and thought....hey I can do this! So I did some research on the Internet and found lots of places that sold them and read about them and the semi precious stones and their meanings.

Above Gil is modeling his new bling, after he got used to the bells! That was pretty funny! I walked from the house jingling them and he came running from behind the house. Blowing loud, tail flagged way up and prancing like he was running on air!!! I mean he was really strutting his stuff; came running to the gate with neck arched and still blowing. Pokey was scared to death of them, go figure? Just the jingling of the bells made him afraid. Gilly finally calmed down and smelled them and was really checking them out.

I went into the barn and rubbed them all over him and then slipped the necklace over his head, awww beautiful. I got him to walk around in the barn to make them jingle; Pokey still wouldn't come in the barn.....I'm tooooo scared, he said!!!!

Gilly is pretty hairy so the necklace kind of gets lost in all the winter hair!

Below is the necklace, it's 50 inches long but I should have made it 60 for Gilly's big neck. It has 7 bells three large ones and four smaller. The stones are:
Red Jasper - helps with conflict and aggression, promotes grace and perseverance.
Picture Jasper - stabilizing, balancing stone.
Hematite - great stone for grounding, calms and soothes, reducing stress.
Turquoise - healing stone, luck, happiness.
Unakite - promotes balance and emotional stability. Transforms negative emotions into positive ones. A grounding stone. (the medallion)
Also has silver beads and a silver bear and feather with turquoise dots.
The symbol of the bear means, strength, health and stability.

The colors mean:
Black - strong protection from negative energies. Reduces fears, obsessions, neurosis, and panic with a calm rootedness.
Red - (warm) attracting recognition and respect, red is the color of good fortune. Encouraging joy, luck and money it promotes confidence and courage...and is very grounding. I has been known to escalate the body's metabolism with vibrancy and passion.
Green - (cool) is peaceful and calming, refreshing, nurturing, balancing and normalizing..it is a good color for healing and health (physical, emotional and spiritual) Green cleanses and balances our energy, to give a feeling of renewal, peace and harmony. Green connects us to unconditional love and is used for balancing our whole being. It connects us to nature and to empathy to others.

I'm sure there are more color descriptions but that is all I found in my search so far. I placed an alligator clip on the end so the necklace will stay in place if Gilly lowers his head to get a drink when we are out. These are not to be left on the horse when you aren't with him.

I also added some pretty silver spacer beads just for looks and to break up the rows of beads.

A close up of the medallion with the bear and feather which hangs at Gilly's chest. There are also two long silver beads by the turquoise but they are tarnished, I need to polish them but then Gilly will sweat on them and tarnish them again!
(copied from the internet)
also known as speed beads, bear bells, horse necklace, cadence beads or horse beads; not only enhance he natural beauty of your horse, they create an auditory learning experience and are a valuable training aid used to improve performance and are quickly gaining recognition and wholehearted support from jumpers, gated horse riders, endurance riders, dressage riders, trail riders, barrel racers and horse trainers of all breeds and disciplines around the world.

Rhythm beads encourage your horse to follow a rhythm or cadence, much like a musician to a metronome through timed beats. The soft jingle of the bells accentuates the rhythm of horse's gaits, which is useful for adjusting the tempo/rhythm of the horse's movements. the bells help the rider pick up the correct diagonal and detect whether they are cantering/loping on the correct lead.

Rhythm beads are an excellent resource for all riding disciplines, including training and desensitizing young horses. On the trail, the bells are useful for alerting both wildlife and other riders that you are approaching.

My horse is trying to tell me something....

I have been absent lately because I have been looking at a lot of my pictures of Gilly. A lot are painful to look at. The faces he is making and his mouth open, he is telling me he hates the bit. I know I will probably get a lot of flack over this but..........what I see my horse telling me is he is in pain. I have a bitless bridle but started using a bit over a year ago because others have said that the horse needs a bit. Why? Why did I listen, Gilly does just fine with out one, he can be light, collected and doesn't need something in his mouth to guide and direct him. Do these pictures look like a happy horse?


I recently watched a DVD by Stormy May called "The Path of the Horse" something worth watching.
Review from Natural Horse Magazine "To produce this exceptional documentary,Stormy May 'gave up' her horse training career. She set off on a mission to find better and this video portrays what she learned and experienced on the journey, which will astound the viewer who is new to this kind of horse-human relationship.
This beautifully produced DVD, featuring Stormy and the visionary horsemen and women she interviews (Mark Rashid, Linda Kohanov, Klaus Ferdinand Hempfling, Alexander Nevzorov and Carolyn resnick), clearly demonstrates how horses do have a gift to share and that the future of horse-human relationships is looking much better.
Footage of what is typical in today's training and treatment of horses is shown in stark contrast to the gentle, elegant and natural ways these folks relate to their horses and to amazing things with them, also shown.
We can be better horse people and The Path of the Horse challenges us to transcend. Thanks to Stormy May and her very impressive work, we have a place to start. This is a must-see, must-share video. Here's hoping it's impact on the horse world will spread far and wide fast."

Below is a trailer and from it.



This has given me a lot of food for thought. I need to listen more to my horse, he has a lot to say. He also has a lot to teach me, can my mind be still enough to hear him?

And before anyone asks, no it's not his teeth giving him any problems. His teeth are fine. The bit said it was a gentle training bit, expensive......but after thinking on this would I want it in my mouth? No matter how light and gentle someones hands would be it's still metal in the mouth, one of the most sensitive parts of a horse. The collage below is a sharp reminder of this, I can't stand to see him like this so we are going to leave bits behind us and move on.

To see some really amazing things with horses, check out Alexander Novzorov and Klaus Ferdinand Hempfling.


This is a picture taken several years ago when I first got him the Dr. Cooke's bitless bridle. A much happier horse; check out the link to learn more about his bridle. We are going back to bitless. I was lucky and able to send the expensive bit back where I got it for a refund because Gilly hated it. Now I have a nice synthetic dressage bridle that I thought I couldn't use but then I found this site, Natural Horse World the link will take you to the bitless bridle page. Cynthia has a bitless nose band that will fit my bridle so I can still use it and be bitless too. I am going to give Gilly a chance to chose which one he likes best or feels best on a given day. He should have a say in his comfort I think. A new chapter in our relationship; for the better!

The Old Barn

We have some termites working on our old barn, equine termites, with large teeth!!! Every fence post, every building that they can reach has chew marks on them. Even the neat garden gate I made has been chewed, bad boys!!

I was taking pictures as I was waiting for Kim to come up the road to get me, she was going to the little grocery/diner to get water at the water station. Kim's well has been low on water all summer, so she has a water tank that fits in the back of the truck to carry water. Of course when we were up there we had to have lunch! LOL
(I know someone is going to ask, "What'd you have to eat?" I had a stacker, a slice of French bread, a slice of meatloaf, mashed potatoes and gravy. YUM They also have chicken and roast beef. All really good home cooking. I will have to take pictures for another post. This little place is only 8 miles from home.)

The chain that holds the gate closed. I love the look of the weathered old barn, the rusty chain adds some color to the picture.

Six of the boards on this side of the barn Mike and I replaced. They were old too be not as worn out as the ones that were on there. This is the funny part, the old boards had a horse head on it too. Look closely at the fifth board from the left, can you see the horse, or maybe it's a donkey?

I cropped and enlarged it for you to see closer. Can you see his sleepy eye, nose, mouth and ears tipped back? He has kind of a Roman nose too.
This old barn has a lot of character!!! And there are a couple of characters that live in it too!

Sunday Sunsets

I took these pictures several weeks ago on a late Sunday afternoon on our way home after visiting some friends.

All pictures are on the same stretch of road and high enough to get these shots.

All were taken while Mike was driving and I was looking out the passenger side window.

I love how this little Canon camera takes pictures. I had the setting on "sunset" and boy what gorgeous pictures I got, if I do say so myself!!!!
The first picture is a cropped one from the second one. Love it!
Have a wonderful evening.

HALLOWEEN

*************Have a Frightfully Good Halloween!!!*************
(click on pictures to enlarge!)

Ride to the old Church

Last Monday when the weather was nice Gilly and I went for a ride to and old church about 2 miles from home. The name of the church is Wexler Church and it's pretty old, I can't remember for sure but sometime in the 1800's. On one side of the church is the old, old part of the cemetery. Some very interesting head stones, I didn't get a lot of pictures of them, will have to go back again.
The picture above is Lucy ahead of us on the old road, it's a beautiful ride on this short road off the main road.

The water tower, I was standing on the church steps to take this picture. The road turns into the church yard as you can see. It also goes on past the tower to the left and back down to a county road; Gilly and I came in from the right on the old road.

Here is the church and on this side is the newer part of the cemetery. I love coming up here it's so pretty and peaceful.

This is a bench mark set into the sandstone steps of the church. I think it's pretty neat, this is the first one I have ever seen!

This picture was taken at the very end of the cemetery, down by the road at the tree line. It's on the left in the picture of the tower.

Gilly taking a breather after our ride up to the church. There was a nice breeze blowing that day and it was warm. Gilly was watching some squirrels and some how Lucy missed them.

Looking toward the church from the far corner of the church yard. The picture below is of that spot where the red tree is.

This is a short video clip of me and Gilly riding up the old road with Lucy in the lead. Gonzo had to stay home that day, he doesn't mind really well when we have to ride on the main road way and I am afraid he will get hit. All the house dogs were home guarding the house! LOL
I wish for more days like I had for this ride, I fear that winter will come too fast, then I won't be riding much at all.