Gilly and I went to a clinic!

WARNING: this is a long one, take a bathroom break, pop some popcorn, get a drink, sit back and relax for a good read! :-)

Meet Marvin Thomey and his horse Flash, yes, the horse has no bridle! Flash didn't come to the clinic with Marvin, I got this photo from Marvin's web site, click on his name to go there read about him and horse training equipment (this link will take you to eBay, you can see more of Flash here and Marvin's sales page) he designs and sells. (Probably a good thing that Flash didn't come, Gilly would have been in love with this golden blonde!)

OK, back to the clinic!!!

This was on Saturday morning, Gilly wasn't there yet, will explain later. Marvin explaining how to get the horse to back away from you. Martha and Hess are also in the picture (we were at Sheri's in the Coverall arena....WOW...really, really nice!!!) Sheri has a PA system also so we all who were auditing could hear really well.
I had really wanted to bring Gilly to the clinic but knew I probably couldn't get the brat into the trailer to take him there. Even thought of riding him there, 8 miles, but he is SLOW so.... I probably would have had to start the day before to get there on time! LOL

One of the participants of the clinic, I can't remember her name but the horses name is Sly Fox.

Sheri and Max, her new horse, he is a big boy! Taller than Gilly but I think Gilly out weighs him.

After lunch and everyone was back in the arena they brought in a trailer and worked with a horse who didn't want to load. Oh, how I wished Gilly was there, he really needed lessons in trailer loading! The more I watched the more I wanted to go home and try to get him loaded and bring him to the clinic; even if I would only be in it for one day.

Finally at 2:00 I couldn't stand it anymore and asked Sheri and Marvin if I could go get him, they said sure! Then I said what if I can't get him to get in the trailer???? They said call if you can't and let us know. So Kim and I got into her truck and headed home to try and convince Big Gil that he needed to hop in the trailer and go to school......LOL....yea, right!!!

Got home, got Gilly haltered, he actually whinned when he saw us pull up in the trailer, Pokey had a sour look on his face though...(oh, NO, you are going to take Gilly away again...Gilly, Gilly....DON'T get on that white thing with wheels!!!!!)
I worked Gilly on each side of the trailer, just doing the squeeze game, him passing back and forth between me and the trailer and moving those feet. Then we went for the trailer, he would walk in with front feet only but the rear would not get on. Over and over we did this for over 2 hours, still no go! He would look at me, very unconcerned and say, "You aren't the boss of ME!" And you know what? He was RIGHT!!!!! I was not the boss of him, he was the leader and I was the underling only there to do his bidding. He's one smart horse.....I'll tell you why he was right later on....keep reading!

After all that work and getting no where, well, except for the grass being chewed to bits where Gil's big feet were churning it up. I called Sheri and Marvin, this was going on 5 o'clock and the clinic ended for the day at 5; they said they would be over after that. So I went back to work with Gilly but didn't expect to get anywhere. (I know I heard Pokey snickering under his breath, saying, goodie Gilly won't get in there, heeheehee!)

Finally at 5:40 here they came and 4 others from the clinic, I knew them all so that was OK...now we have watchers! But it turned out to be a good lesson for everyone, especially me!
Marvin started working Gilly around, moving his feet, the squeeze game again for about 10 minutes....then went to the trailer....guess what???? Gilly hopped in but he squatted down and his hind end was really shaking, then he backed off. I didn't think he was afraid of the trailer but something happened at some point in the past that had him fearful. Again he was asked to go into the trailer, this time with he was less fearful. Then two more time and he just stood there.

OK, now it's my turn to get him in. This is where the "I'm not the boss of the horse comes back" , when I asked he stepped toward me and I stepped back!!! Then he said, "See, I don't have to get in for you because you submitted to me by backing up; I'm the leader not you!"
Well, DUH!!!??? I knew that you don't move your feet when the horse comes at you and tries to move you with his head, neck or shoulder and I wasn't even aware I did it. But to the horse it's a really BIG deal, it says to him that you, the human, are under him in the pecking order so he is the leader because he caused you to move out of his way. To the human it's no big deal, here is 1,200 pounds of muscle coming at you and what do you do??? Get out of it's way, right? Wrong!!! Something so insignificant to us is MONUMENTAL to the horse, horse's communicate with body language and it's so subtle that we most time don't get it. The twitch of an ear, hardness in the eye, flick of the tail, shake of the head, stretching the neck, it's all language to the horse; so when we step into their world we should be able to speak "equus" the language of the horse, the language the horse understands.

So again I asked him to go into the trailer, and this time I planted my feet. When he moved toward me to move me I put up my hands and pumped the air toward him in a "get back" motion and he did, then he went into the trailer!!! We did this several more times, I had to keep being reminded to not move my feet. Finally it has become fixed in my head, "DON'T MOVE YOUR FEET!" Gilly looks a me a little differently now, he is asked to stay out of my space and stay a step or two behind me when I lead him.......yes, I already knew all of this but because of not practicing it enough I back slid and the horse took the reins, he was driving the coach not me. Such a simple thing and no force or intimidation was used just a shift in body carriage and foot placement.

OK, back to the horse and the trailer. Everyone there took a turn at putting Gilly in the trailer with Marvin's guidance and he did what he was ask, when asked right. He loaded and stood so we closed the doors and off we went to Sheri's farm. He rode fine in the trailer and hardly moved on the way over. We got there unloaded put him in a waiting stall and got him fed, watered and bedded down for the night. Kim and I headed back home.

Poor little Pokey, he was looking up and down the road looking for Gilly and would let out a pitiful bray every so often. He didn't want to eat, would get a mouthful of hay then go out and look for Gilly. Lucy wasn't too happy that he was making all that noise so she would howl when he brayed.....this went on several times all night long!

Kim and I were up bright and early to head back to Sheri's wonderful covered arena (did I say I am SO ENVIOUS of this gorgeous place???? Soooooo nice to ride in, weather is never an issue there!
Gilly was ready to get the heck out of that stall, he had companions on either side of him but he hates to be shut in the barn; he is used to being able to come and go as he pleased and he was none to happy being in there.
He was really excited to see all the other horses and wanted to socialize not work, "What is the matter with you human??? Oh, look there are two pretty girls here.....and Hess my beauty! Remember me? We went to a dressage clinic together??? Kissy, kissy!" Hess wasn't happy to see him, she was in heat and pretty PMSy!!! LOL

In the picture below you can see Hess in the background, she had just squealed at Gilly and hurt his feelings! LOL Gilly said, "No matter.....look small humans! I wanna smell them!" He was fascinated with them, licking their hands and smelling their faces which made them laugh! The little one (with his mom) had been crying but when Gilly stuck his nose through the bars of the panel and stated snuffling him he started laughing and giggling. He liked Gilly a lot because he kept reaching for him.

Marvin fell in love with Gilly also. He loved his big personality, his big heart and his playfulness; he said that those were the kind of horses he liked the very best.
He is showing me how to get him to disengage his hindquarters.

Marvin's methods are similar to Clinton Anderson but I think he explains even more than Clinton and it has seemed to stick in my hard head :-D a lot better.....especially the "don't move your feet" part!

Participating in a clinic is wonderful, you get to experience it with your horse and also to watch others doing the same thing but everyone's horse is different. Some will respond sooner than others and some don't want to hand the leadership to the human, they want to stay driving the coach. Gilly will turn it back over if you are fair, kind and mostly he wants a strong leader....boy, do I have my work cut out for me.

Gilly getting ready to disengage the hind quarters, this one wasn't a snappy cross over so we worked on it a lot more. We want him to pop that rear around when I just look at it, he can do it but if I don't look like I mean it, he is a slug about it.

More work on moving that butt! He knows it and knows how to do it really fast but if I am not on my game he won't be either.
The girl behind us had never had worked her horse like this and this horse said, "NO WAY not ME.....I wanna hang onto the drivers seat....YOU get off the bus! I'm drivin' it!" She went round and round with her mare quite a few times but she finally got it. Gilly was a real pill when Sheri worked with him for the first time when he was 2. He was jumping and flopping like a fish out of water, a real bugger!!

Just ignore the dumb looking human on Gilly's back! (good lord, I am NOT photogenic at all! I should just crop my head off in all these pictures...eekkk!) We were sitting out watching some of the others work, then we did.

The tape on the reins was for the one rein stop exercise. Slide your hand down to the tape, pull back to your hip, hold until the horse turns his head, softens, gives and stops moving his feet. At this point we were just walking the horses around if they went to fast, got too close to another horse we could do the one rein stop to get out of a situation we, the rider, didn't like.
After that we were to trot!! OMG.....Gilly wanted to really go, go, go he thought it was social hour!!! One woman just let her horse go where ever it wanted, she was running into others with the horse and did nothing to steer the horse away, I don't think Gilly would kick but one never knows in situations like this. A few other horses where pinning ears and squealing, no one kicked or even came close to it but I was not comfortable with it. When I was a kid and riding my horse another horse and rider ran into me, my horse wasn't a kicker or fighter but this horse was and I got hurt and scared pretty bad so I don't like being in that position, not one bit!!!
Marvin ask if anyone was uncomfortable with it, oh, yea, ME!!! Gilly also decided he wanted to head sling because I wouldn't let him go party! LOL Marvin said he could fix that, so I gladly hopped off and handed the reins of the big boy to him!
See Gilly does not like to give to pressure and sometimes will really put up a fight, my fault for not stopping this bad habit years ago! He threw up his head a few times and almost hit Marvin in the face, he said he could see the star on his forehead!!! Yikkess, bad Gilly!!!

This is one of the ugly head slings, not a high one though. Marvin is holding the reins down on the front of the saddle until Gilly gives to the pressure. When he (Gilly) gives Marvin drops the reins, picks them up and does it again until Gilly gets the idea that when he backs off the pressure it goes away. Light bulb for the horse!!!

Picking up the reins to do it again........

Throw the reins away and look, Gilly's head is staying nice and soft. Brat, he knows this too but is always testing to see just how far he can go.....with me, he gets away with a lot...man do I have a lot of work to do. This horse is not easy, that mind is always working, working, working on something; thank goodness he is a kind horse and not mean!

Marvin riding Gilly and continuing to work with the others, I watched from the side lines. Gilly did a few bucks with him and he got a crack on the butt and had to continue doing with Marvin told him to do, he is always testing to see if you are a strong leader of a timid one, I fall into the timid one on his back. More work coming for me!!!

This is what Marvin said about Gilly: "He needs a strong leader, he craves it; maybe more than most. He wants a strong leader that is also very kind and fair. A delicate balance is needed with Gil."
"One way to transfer respect earned on the ground to the saddle is to do lots and lots of roll backs at the walk, trot and canter and make snappy departures"

Well, I think that there may be some more trips to Sheri's for some lessons coming up. I don't have an arena to work with these kind of exercises; it won't work in the round pen. Will Gilly like going to school??? Yes, he does, he loves things that challenge his mind....I gotta smart cookie here and I will really have to up my game to keep ahead of him (I need some smart pills and my Wheaties for sure!)

At the end of the day we were standing around talking about horses and someone was telling about a horse that someone just gave to a girl because the owner was displeased with the horses performance at a parade. This horse has a good blood line and I believe is registered too. Marvin said to me if all the horses there were free and Gilly was a high dollar horse, he would have to get out the check book, credit card whatever and buy him. Why? Because of Gilly's big personality, big kind heart and wanting to please his leader. Gilly was always nuzzling Marvin, he really liked him and was given the name, "Teddy Bear".
Gilly has the personality to make a great trick horse, like Flash (remember the golden blonde at the top of the page?) She is a trained trick horse, if you look up Marvin on eBay you will see a lot of pictures of Flash doing tricks....and one picture Gilly would love, she is surrounded by beer bottles, standing on a platform and has one in her mouth! Remember Gilly loves beer, he would be in love!!! LOL So if Gilly comes up missing I'll know where to look..... Missouri!! :-)

This was one great clinic....wish I had tried to get Gil over there so I could have been there both days but that's OK, we had a WONDERFUL time and learned a lot in just one day! Is Marvin going to come back to Sheri's again? I sure hope so cause I will be there and be better because me and Gil are going to work on a lot this summer. I'm not looking for perfection, no, just looking for a better relationship with my horse and to speak his language more clearly to be a better leader for him and for little Pokey too.

On Monday after the clinic I took Pokey down to Kim's, she still had the truck hooked up to the trailer and guess what??? That little donkey went into the trailer for me in about 10 minutes or less! (sorry I didn't take the camera so I have not pictures) but he went right in looked around, checked everything out and then walked out; I let him turn around and come out front first, it's a long step down for the little guy. We will work on him backing out at another time. He did good and hopped in several times, I was proud of him!

This is what I saw after I put Gilly back in the field after we got home from the clinic! One big butt flying over the hill. He wouldn't come back to eat his supper in the barn, probably thought I was going to make him stay in the stall all night! He doesn't think highly of being in lock-up!

Gilly says, "Hey, don't you know I am a wild mustang and my side kick is a wild ass? We're outta here!!!! We might come down to eat in the morning!" (the sound of thundering hoofs fading away into the distance)

THE END!!!
(wake up this is the end! :-) did you make it all the way through??? )

White Stallion Brands

During the show one of the stallions was unsaddled and lead around the arena so we could see all the brands on him. All the Lipizzaner horses have many brands on them. One on their left jaw "L" for Lipizzan. They also have a brand, numbers on the right side....now I can't remember what the number was for!

On the left side again, the "F" on this horse stands for the stallion line of "Favory" from Kladrub, Bohemia born in 1779. The next brand under that is the dam's bloodline. The hip brand is the Royal Crown of Piber.

Above is a picture of the Royal Crown of Piber, it doesn't show up very well in the picture. This brand tells you that the horse was born at the Piber stud farm in Austria. (This one was the only one in the troupe that had this brand).
Piber is the official breeding farm of the Spanish Riding School of Vienna, Austria and only in Piber is there a complete family tree of every Lipizzaner whose ancestry goes back to the classical founding stallions.

(click on the picture above to better see the information there)
Every Lipizzaner stallion in the world has a two-part name. The first part is always his father's blood line. The 2nd part is his mother's name or a given name. There are only six male Lipizzaner bloodlines (and only 18 bloodlines for mares). That means that every Lipizzaner stallion in the world will have one of only six possible first names.
Very interesting!!!

A picture I took of the inside back of the book that I bought at the show. Lots of good information in it, it was $15 well spent. There is a history lesson in there, the story of how General George S. Patton saved the horses during WW II. Also pictures and story by a soldier named Vito Spadafino.

Cover of the book; it is for sale on their web site www.lipizzaner.com plus a lot of other things and there is more information there.
If you ever get a chance to see them do go, very beautiful to behold!

White Stallions

I promised that I would post about the white stallions so here are a few of the pictures. I am sick with a sinus infection, allergies something horrid and it's making my head feel like it's about to burst!!! Meds are making me really sleepy and loopy; more so than normal!!!
These horses are the American troupe that travel around the country not the Royal Lipizzaner's from Austria. They were good and it was a joy to see then.

Getting good photos was hard because they turned out the lights and only had spot lights on the horses. Some of my photos look like ghosts because of the light reflecting off the white horses. But still I did get some good ones.

The riders were all women except for one man. One rider was from Canton, Ohio and the head rider, a woman also was 56....WOW!!!

This was difficult to get all the riders in the shot. We had seats on the floor, which didn't allow for very good shots.

The only man in the troupe riding an Andalusian, beautiful horse. I did buy one of the booklets they had for sale to the next post, when my head is working properly, I can tell you more about them. One interesting thing was all the brands they have on them. That's for later or I will screw this up BIG time!!!
Until later!
Oh, forgot to add the link to their web site.
http://www.lipizzaner.com/home.asp

Equine Affaire - Columbus, Ohio

Here is my ticket to the Equine Affaire that was this past weekend in Columbus, Ohio. I when with a couple of friends and we had a great time. I was mainly looking to see the Aussie Saddle guy there so I could check out his saddles; of course I was looking around at other stuff too.

I did find this neat tie snap by Josh Lyons. Saw a demo on it and decided this was a pretty neat item! So I bought it and that's the only thing I bought, spent $20 but my friends spent a little more. Below is a picture of them with their goodies.

Sheri, Martha and Martha's daughter Isabella. Look at Isabella she was making a face at me when I took the picture!!! Martha bought a really, really neat bareback saddle I wish I had gotten a picture of it, will have to get the name of it from her and post about it later. I looked like a dressage saddle but made out of fleece! Even had knee rolls.

This is what I came for to talk to Colin Dangaard the owner of The Australian Stock Saddle Company. I wanted to look at the saddles and talk to Colin to find more about them. The saddle he is standing by is the Muster Master with a lot of tooling on it....one beautiful saddle!

Here you can see a little more of it, lots of fancy leather work on it. I sat on one and oh, my! It was soooo comfortable but the one thing I don't like about it is that it weighs 26 pounds. That's the reason I sold the one I had, it was too heavy for me to lift up on Gilly's back. So I would have to say that it is definitely not on my list of a saddles that I might be considering.

The one below is called the "Squire" has a quilted seat, very nice looking, picture doesn't show any stirrups or girthing system so I will have to call about it. It weighs 16 pounds!The one a is one used by mounted police "Poley Patrol" and is light weight, of course I would get it without the horn. This one looks somewhat like the one I had before and since it only weighs 23 pounds this one is in the running but will have to call about it too for more info.
This one is the "Fox Poley" and I like the look of it too. This one has a higher back I like that. Like the stirrups too they are tipped back to keep your heels down wider than the dressage stirrups I have, I like it. Don't know what this one weighs.


This one is the "Jackaroo" I like it too nice deep seat, not sure of the weight.
This is the is the "Bronco Poley", weighs 20 pounds but says it's for medium withered horses, don't know if it would work for Gilly or not. Another one to call and talk to them about. I didn't have time to talk to Colin about all of them, they were busy.....

My friends were done with their shopping and we had to get back to the car. We need to get to the arena where the Lipizzaner horses were preforming.
But what do you think of the saddles, which do you like??

To be continued!!!

Aussie saddles

Here is Gilly as in August of 2004, he was a year and a half old with the first saddle I had for him. A bit big isn't it? I had just set it on his back to see what he would do with a saddle on, didn't even have a girth on, it wouldn't have fit anyway. I walked him up and down the road a few times just so he could feel it. He doesn't look too happy about it does he? He didn't buck or even hump up his back just took it all in stride, the thing he really didn't like was the bit in his mouth. Look how long the stirrups are on him. Then look at the picture below as a three year old, stirrups have changed considerably!

Gilly in the round pen at Kim's as a three year old. I loved that saddle but eventually sold it because it was so heavy and hard to girth up but it was a comfortable saddle and I really liked it. It also seemed to fit him well. I then went to several other saddles that didn't fit at all before going to the Abetta western and the Thornhill dressage saddles that I now have. Both of those saddles are nice but........

Another picture of Gilly at three. I also had the crupper for the saddle and he was OK with that too, no bucking. I figured he might throw a fit about it but good boy that he is, he was fine.
Why am I writing about this if I like the saddles I have now??? Because of Jill at Buckskin and Bay...go and check out her new Aussie saddle! Here is the web site to look at some more of them www.aussiesaddle.com. I have been reading and reading about these saddles and that they will fit your horse by you taking tracings for the horses back and shoulders. That first saddle I had was a cheap saddle and after looking that the ones at Aussie Saddle, I see a big difference and I can get it to fit Gilly's back much better.
Now here's the best part.....they are going to be at the Equine Affaire in Columbus, Ohio this weekend and ....... I am going with a couple of friends!!! Jill got to see and talk to them at a horse expo in her town and really check out the saddles. Well, me too!!! I am excited!! I have missed the Aussie saddle, even though I love my dressage saddle and the Abetta western. I will tell them good bye to have another Aussie saddle. I have a lot of thinking and studying to do before then but..... I ain't no dressage rider and don't really wanna be, I just wanna ride on the country roads and me and Gilly both be comfortable with saddle and bridle. I have the bridle, just need to redo the saddle part.
I hope to get pictures tomorrow and have a story to tell after the trip. Oh, we are also going to see the Lipizzaner horses too, what a fun day! Don't worry, I have pain pills to take along, I know my feet are going to hurt even in my good Ariat boots but to see these horses and check out a new saddle....sigh....I will suffer through it!!! :-)

Beautiful Blogger Award

Thank you JeniQ at Super Size My Cob for giving me this Beautiful Blogger award! Not sure just how well I will do at finding 7 things to post about, but I will try.

The Beautiful Blogger award rules are:
1. Link back to the person who gave you the award
2. Share 7 things about yourself
3. Pass the award to 15 other bloggers


1.) In 1955, when I was 4 we took my brother to San Diego, California to the Marine base out there. I remember a lot about the trip and I remember the beautiful white sands of Balboa Beach. My mother collected some of the sand in a glass bottle, sprigs of wonderful smelling juniper tree and post cards all along the way.

2.) I had a saddle with my first horse but it was to heavy, I was 9, and I couldn't lift it on his back so my dad sold it. I rode for years bareback and was really good at it, riding bareback now....scary!

3.) Art class was my favorite class in high school, had 4 years of it!

4.) I used to be a hairdresser but haven't done that since 1980....still cut my husbands hair and sometimes my daughter.

5.) I worked for 5 years as a postal clerk in our tiny little post office and could take my dogs to work with me. It was right across the street from our house.

6.) I used to love oyster soup, then in high school we had biology class right before lunch and we had to dissect muscles. After opening the shells and seeing the slimy insides, I could never eat oysters again after that!

7.) The thing I have always thought I would really like to do it is Cowboy Mounted Shooting! I'm a fair shot standing still but riding and shooting, well....LOL...then you have to have a horse that wants to move...Gilly??? OK, guess it's only a dream! :-)

Wow that was hard!!! Glad there aren't anymore!!!

I'm not going to name 15 others for this award, that's a lot to name and so many others already have it, so I'll just do this. If you are reading this blog then you can take this award and play along if you like or not.

So there you go some things you didn't know about me! LOL

Things Yellow and Other stuff

This was the sky here this morning the moon was actually hiding behind that long charcoal cloud; I like the pink of the jet trail lingering against the blue sky. The sun hadn't come up over the hills yet so the trees look black. The weather people were calling for rain today, hope not! (this turned into a LONG ONE so before you keep reading, get comfy, grab a drink, some popcorn, whatever! heehee)

Before I go on let me tell you about yesterday, Easter Sunday. Our daughter, Jennifer came out to spend time with us, nice! Before she came I had been helping pick up some rocks where Mike had put new dirt in a low spot in the hay field by the house. The day was warm, breezy and just gorgeous, with rain supposedly coming the next day, I longed to get in just one ride before MUD!

In my best pathetic voice I asked if he minded if I got the Big Boy out to play in the round pen then ride a little. See I was feeling much better with the temporary meds I was taking that I just couldn't pass up a chance to ride. He didn't care so I got Gil out and brushed a bushel basket of hair, only a fraction of the hair still to come off....UGH....played with him in the round pen, saddled him up, dressage saddle this time, :-) rode for a bit in the round pen...still trying to sit that high lofty trot of his. I did manage to do it for a bit, hard, hard work!!! Did some work moving and turning him with my legs only, he is getting better; then went to open the gate while on him. He will walk over to the gate, move when I use my legs to get him in the right spot, open the gate, keep hold of it while I move him around it, let go, back up and then through the gate. I haven't tried to close it yet but I'll bet it will be no problem. I'll tell you sometimes I wish for a short horse, Lisa!!! LOL, it would be easier to reach than to lean way OVER for that latch!!!

Hey, just look at that beautiful sky, looked just like that when me and Gil went for our little ride up the creek. Nothing exciting here but it sure was nice to be astride that big horse just going on a relaxing ride. All the while I rode I made him pass from one side of the road to the other by just using my legs and seat. Would like to teach him to neck rein too, you never know when things like that would come in handy riding on the trails! I think Gilly really enjoys ride like this because he looks at everything around him, studies the cows, neighbors dogs, birds....nice for a change of scenery.

After riding for about an hour I was done for! My feet and legs were hurting??? don't know why but the bottoms of my feet really hurt. When I first started riding again I wanted to really push my feet into the stirrups, putting a lot of weight there and my feet were too far forward. Now I am very aware of keeping my legs down and back where they should be and no weight in the stirrups but still they hurt. Time to get off!

Jennifer came out about 2 and we sat for a bit looking at her NEW Apple computer, Mac Book Pro......wow...what a NICE little computer, so light weight and so many neat things! When it's time for a new laptop I may just have to get one like that! :-D
She brought out duck eggs to make deviled eggs and fresh asparagus. For our dinner I made Rock Cornish Game hens, with rice and pineapple stuffing, basted with a soy sauce glaze, YUM! I had also made a carrot cake with sour cream icing that had crushed pineapple, walnuts and coconut mixed in. What a great meal!!! Then the best part for me and Jen, foot massages! Don't laugh, my feet were hurting and so were hers from hiking the day before, her not me......nothing better than a good foot massage....ahhhhh!!!
The day ended all too soon and she had to head back to her home. :-(

OK, fast forward to today and the color yellow! I wanted to do something today but couldn't seem to get the motivation to do anything but laundry.....what fun, NOT! But I had picked three, cause that's all that came up this year, daffodils yesterday and they were sitting in the window in a vase. I thought I would take a picture of them because they were so pretty. Well, the indoor shot didn't turn out so good so I took them outside on the patio in the sun for a shot. Then one thing lead to another.......

These little yellow beauties caught my eye next, right by the patio in a big pot from last year! I can't believe that they came up after all the snow that was piled on top of them all winter! Hardy little things they are! Don't they have the cutest little faces? Oh, do click on all the pictures here to enlarge them and to see the detail, I didn't downsize any of them.

Next were these in the yard, not a favorite by a long shot but still that buttery yellow that just hits you in the eye in a sea of green grass.

Then as I kept walking through the yard I came on this poking it's head out to get some sunshine. I think these are the flowers my grandma called these Spring Beauties, they are so delicate looking and just a touch of lavender in the center and the veins, but wait there is a bit of yellow in the picture. Look at the bottom left at the tiny little weed flower there, a small bit of yellow at it's throat!

I came back in the house for a moment and there was more yellow to see, Peeps, yellow marshmellowy peeps!!! They have been unwrapped for two weeks so they get really good and stale, we love them to be really chewy! Have already bit the heads off another box but thought it was too graph to show here! LOL
Then back outside and more yellow! See the yellow electric fence insulator on the post? It's right by Pokey, see it? There are also a couple of horses' asses in this picture, oh, no wait it's a horse ass and an ass ass......LOL

Then more yellow caught my eye....look in Pokey's mouth bright yellow hay! Or maybe it's Peep hay???

Then LOOK.....poor Gonzo fell into a yellow bucket of paint! He is very klutzy you know. You know I think he had some help from a photo paint program.....
I think I was out in the sun too long.....WAY TOO MUCH YELLOW!!!