Carousel Horse Canter

Remember as a kid your first ride on the carousel? Riding a big firey horse (I always picked a black one) up and down and around? You felt like you were riding the wind and each leap of the horse your heart soared higher and higher. You wished the ride would never stop because you would have to come back to earth and leave the magnificent steed you were on. Well..........

I got to relive that wonderful floating above the earth feeling yesterday. I got my big bay boy to canter! For some of you reading this you might be thinking, so what??? I haven't cantered a horse in over 20 years; I have had Gilly for 5 years but we have been going slow with our training and I have fallen off or been rolled on several times so I had some fear issues. For several months I have dreamed of cantering Gilly, his black mane flying up was we rode across the grass his feet barely touching the ground. I could even feel the upward movement as he covered the ground. I got up in the morning determined to canter and I did!!! It was hard work getting him to canter, he isn't big on going forward, his impulsion button needs some grease! But oh, my when he did canter I almost cried with joy. He has a beautiful canter, it feels like riding the carousel horse; BIG up and down suspended movement...........heaven!
Did I get any pictures of this ride, sorry no but maybe next time. Oh, how I wanted to ride today but it rained last night and the round pen and arena were too wet. Now I can't wait to do it again. It's like your first taste of chocolate, you crave more!!!
(forgot to mention that my round pen is 53 feet and we did TWO laps at a canter the last time!!!)
Thank you Sir Gilly for the giddy ride!

Clouds

All of these cloud pictures were taken last September. The clouds were fast moving that day and they seemed like you could just reach right up and touch them, beautiful!! (click on each picture to make larger) Enjoy!!

Primroses

I was outside yesterday evening and spotted these primroses peeking out of the periwinkle vines. I planted these flowers years ago and they still come up every spring, there were more of them but these are the only ones still surviving. Love their beautiful colors!

Horse Trailers

Gilly and I need a horse trailer so I've been looking on the internet about different brands. This one, Brenderup, I have seen many ads for them over the years and have wondered about them. They say you can pull them with a car!!! Really???
It was on the DVD..........


This is one I have been looking at. Called the Prestige, a two horse model. First I thought of the one horse but then if I need to take Pokey with me guess I'd better be thinking two horse or horse and a half!

I sent for information about these trailers and received a DVD to watch. Watched it last night and I have to tell you I was impressed! Here is some information I got from a web site:

Brenderup has years (more than 50) of experience in the design and manufacture of horse trailers in close cooperation with specialists in the field. Their overriding concern is the safety of the horses -- before, during, and after transport. By choosing a Brenderup horse trailer you are investing in the safety of your horse. From 14-18+ hands, you have the luxury of towing with any vehicle, having a wheelbase over 93 inches and an engine developing at least 120 horsepower. Brenderup makes 4 distinct one- and two-horse models, differing in size, empty weight, and carrying capacity. Brenderup horse trailers are different for all the right reasons, including your horse's safety. The white, one-piece molded fiberglass roof helps create a light interior. The Solid Phenolic Core resin walls are literally kick-proof. Neither the fiberglass roof nor the SPC walls are conductive, keeping the inside cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. Under the ribbed, rubber mats is an extremely strong but giving floor made of a one-piece, 17-layer Baltic birch laminate. The entire shell sits on a low-maintenance, galvanized steel frame. The horse's weight is centered over the dual rubber torsion axles with shock absorbers to create the most comfortable ride possible. With a full drop-down ramp, solid, yet adjustable chest and butt bars for security, and forward-facing, adjustable, vented windows, horses like to ride in this trailer. They arrive at their destination refreshed.

Side groom door, it looks like in the DVD that it is a pretty large opening watching the man climb in and out of it. Not a dressing room but I don't really need one of those just a place to store my tack.

Here is a picture of how the back works. It does not seal tight around the drop down so that air can move out of the trailer when the vents are open. Nice! You can leave the back down and it is above the horses backs, then there is the ramp a five foot one and it's very stable, long enough for the horse to stand all four feet on it. Very easy up and down too, easy door locking system.

This is the inside of a one horse trailer, very large and roomy. I really liked what I saw in the DVD they even showed you the under carriage of the trailer and how it's made. I WANT one!!! Now just have to convince my husband that I really need one. Gilly and I need to travel and get out and see the world.

What kind of trailers do you all have? Does anyone have a Brenderup? Please do tell!!!

Old log church

Went to North Bend State Park for Easter Buffet dinner and it was wonderful! They had prime rib, turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, scalloped potatoes, steamed broccoli, salad bar, gravies, stuffing, veggie lasagna and other yummy things. Oh, and of course the dessert bar! All kinds of cakes, pies and a chocolate type of cake? called genaush. OMG it was DELICIOUS!! Everything was yummy! and the best part I didn't have to cook! Ahhhh Then we went for a drive through the park, didn't see any deer but it was a nice drive.
The picture of the old log church was on the way out of the park on a road we hadn't been on before. A pretty long stretch of back road that sometimes we weren't sure if we would make it back to a better road, but we did. Glad we went because the old church was really neat! The sign on the church says, "Bear Run Church 1891".(click on pictures to see larger)
Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter with family or friends or both!

Gilly in a magazine

I rode today but didn't get any pictures so I thought I would post a picture of the rug I hooked several years ago of my boy Gilly. He was a yearling in this picture I used for this rug. It was featured in Early American Life magazine's 2005 Directory of Traditional American Crafts. Gilly's rug was sent to the magazine headquarters in Shaker Heights, Ohio to be photographed for the magazine. I was thrilled that my rug and especially one with Gilly on it was going to be in the magazine! Below is the picture from the magazine; photographed at Hancock Shaker Village in a museum setting. My rug earned a ranking of "museum quality" from the judges.


This was the second year that my work had been chosen for the directory but the first and only one in the magazine. In all my work was chosen for the directory all four years that I submitted my work, 2004-2007.
I have also done some horse portrait rugs for clients; here are two of them. This horse's name is "Whoop-Te-Do" and the client picked the colors and helped design the rug.


This one is a hunter/jumper named "Massandro" for a clients daughter; her favorite horse. It was a gift for Christmas, she was thrilled!

I haven't hooked for awhile since I have been working more with Gilly and with the economy the way it is right now, the market is down for buying pricey custom work. Will I go back to hooking, at some point. Right now my mind is on learning to ride and work with Gilly, this is just way too much fun!!!

Gilly at dressage clinic Nov. 2007

I don't have any new pictures to post, the snow came back and it's sloppy and muddy so I thought I would dig out some video of Gilly in November of 2007. He was at a dressage clinic, instructor was a lady originally from UK who now lives in Florida. Her name is Roanne Winnett, at one time she trained and rode the Queen of England's dressage horses; her late husband John Winnett was several times in the 70's the captain of the US dressage team. Sheri is riding Gilly in these videos because I didn't feel that I knew enough to ride him there. It was a fun experience and Roanne said that Gilly had potential! That is if someone else is training and riding him, not me!

Play Time

Nice Day for a Nap

Pokey says, "Gilly lay down and take a snooze like I am, it's so nice and warm out here today! Ahhhh!"
Gilly says, "I have to stand guard in case something comes along to bother us. I am watching!"

Gilly says, "Well, OK, maybe there isn't anything sneaking around today. I'll let Lucy watch out for us! Let me get turned around here."

Pokey says, "I knew I could talk you into a nap, heeheehaw!"
Gilly says, "Opps, I came down a little harder than planned, blew my bangs up in the air!"

Pokey says, "Gee, Gilly you made the ground shake!"
Gilly says, "Sorry, I slipped....wait till I get my butt settled....ahhhhh, almost there!"

Gilly says, "Ahhh, Pokey you are right. This is a good day for a nap......I can hardly keep my eyes open."
Pokey says, "Shhhhh, can't you see I'm asleep?"

Gilly, "ZZZZZZZZZZZ snorkkk...."
Pokey, "Boy, is he loud!!! A donkey can't get much sleep with him snoring like that, snort!"

OK, haveing a little fun with pictures! The last picture Gilly went to sleep so quickly and was sleeping so soundly that he was twitching all over. It looked kind of scary if you didn't know horses did that, his ears, jaw muscles and eyes were twitching a lot but he was in a very deep sleep. Since horses need to lay down to get their really good sleep that's what he was doing for about 20 minutes. Pokey was flopping back and forth between being up and down. (These pictures were taken from and upstairs window looking down on them)

Later on in the day I got Gilly out for a ride. We just rode in front of the house, it's a good long stretch from one end of the proberty to the other. Had to because of Pokey, he was loose in the field. Gilly and I worked on small things, leg yeilds, side passes, following my body in a turn, around things in the hay field, trees in the yard. Pokey finally tired of running the fence line and would just watch; finally I took Gilly out of his sight, he heehawed a few times but didn't seem to look for him. Pokey got a lesson too! Gilly and I rode a little farther up the road and onto the gravel part of the road, Gilly doesn't like gravel but.......he learned that his feet are now really hard and it didn't bother him; we even trotted on the gravel!!! BIG break through for him. Next time we will try the creek crossing that he used to have such a fit over.
Sorry no pictures of the ride, just the napping boys!