Rein 'em In

Rein 'em In

I have been making reins for about 7 years now.  My first set of mohair reins I bought 8 years ago.  I don't remember where I bought them, but they were a natural color, split reins about 10 feet long and I LOVED them!  I think they were a mohair blend because I wore them out :-)  

I tried to find another set to replace them but nope, nada, nowhere could I find them, so......I decided to make my own.  I found a place to buy 100% Mohair so I bought some, bought a book and braided my own.  Again a natural color. 

I enjoyed making them so much that I made another set.  This time a Dark Brown color.  

Here is Jordan and I last year at a CTR at Turkey Creek.  So I have used these same brown reins on Jordan for 7 years now.  I still love these reins.  So I started making them and donating them to some of the rides I went to for prizes.  Turns out they were a big hit.  So nice that others liked them too.  

Now I have sold a few sets now to friends and so I decided to setup a facebook page to promote them.  

So now I make reins that I love and share them with my friends.  Don't get much better :-)

Why I luv riden :-)

In the distance derby 2013 I now have almost 600 miles.  Should get there after this weekend.  I am doing a "timing ride" for the Turkey Trot CTR coming up at the end of Sept.  All of my CTRs so far have been at the novice level which is about 30-35 miles for 2 days.  In May I did a LD Endurance ride where Jordan and I rode 25 miles in less then 6 hours, so I figured we should be able to do an Open CTR which is 30 miles on Sat. and 20 miles on Sunday (ave.) for a timing ride.  We will see.

Last Chance Dance LD Endurance Ride at Admire, KS

I sure "Luv Riden" oh so much and have been having a great time riding with wonderful friends.  Now I have 2 horses to ride regularly, Jordan and River.  So I "have" to ride more :-)  That's my story and I am sticking to it :-) We have been here almost a year.  I think one of the first rides I did was at Wilderness Park last Nov.  I know it was the first time I rode Jordan in the snow.

I also rode at Branched Oak in Dec. and it was pretty cold, but a wonderful ride.

                                

Since then I have ridden at Br.Oak many, many times and love riding there.  Winter, spring, summer or fall, all you got to do is just call and I will be there.....(name that tune)....to ride :-)

I have been riding River as much as possible too.  We rode at Rock Creek Station with friends and he did pretty good.  He took alot of things in stride, but doesn't know how to use his rear end going down hills so I still have to be careful where I ride him.  I really don't like flying down hills!  He seemed to like the Conestoga wagons though and we enjoyed riding where the wagon ruts are still on the prairie.

Did the timing ride at Turkey Creek and we didn't do as well as I wanted too...but that was OK :-)  We tried to do open on those long a** hills (to coin a often used phrase from that weekend) and Jordan is just not conditioned well enough for that, so we we stopped at 18.35 of the 29 miles that open would be doing for the first day and on Sunday we did the novice ride which was 13.56 miles and Jordan did it like a trooper!  We had a great time but it was very hot, hot, hot!  The views were breath-taking!

The Spring Creek Prairie Audubon is sponsoring a trail ride next weekend and I am now a volunteer to help with that ride.  I rode it last year for the first time and loved it and rode it again this year just for fun.  I am looking forward to showing the area and the history to others on another ride.

I have so much more riden to do this year!  I have almost as many miles this year as I did the past 2 years!  I'm sure it is because I have so many more places to ride and more wonderful friends to ride them with.  Being part of the Nebraska Horse Trails Committee (NHTC) , the Nebraska Endurance and Competitive Trail Riders Conference (NECTRA), Platte River Riders (PRR) and Distance Derby (DD2013) has given me so many more opportunities to ride that I am LUV RIDEN even more :-) 

Time to say a different kind of goodbye

It was time to say goodbye to Dancer.  We have had him for 8 years.  I got him as a 3 year old to be a 2nd horse so my husband could ride with me.  The seller told me he would only grow to be 14.3hh, well he grew to 15.3hh and a beautiful full-bodied Missouri Fox Trotter.

Over the years I have ridden him some, but we never really connected.  My husband loved him because he has such a fun personality and is a character.  He stomps in his waterer, throws his grain pan around the pasture, steals your hat, screwdrivers out of your pocket and unlatches the gates.  We finally had to put a lock on the gates to stop him :-)  This year my husband finally decided he is not going to ride and if he does ride it will be his motorcycle.  I am 5'2" tall on a good day and with a 15.3hh horse I decided he is way to tall for the type of riding I do, which is trail riding and CTRs.  Getting on and off him is difficult at best.

This is Dancer eating his last dinner here.  He and my mare were up the hill in our 1 acre pasture and when I whistled like I usually do, he came running.  He loves people and treats and always comes to visit and get treats if you have one.  

We decided it was time to let him go to someone who will ride him and love him and have fun with him, he is too great of a horse to be a pasture pet.  So I put him on the internet and got an email from a wonderful lady down in Kentucky who was looking for a big boy that was gaited and she loved the way he looked and moved after she saw the videos I posted on utube.  He is now in KY on a farm with 15 acres and 2 other horses on the edge of a national forest.  She is 5'6" tall, just the right height for Dancer :-) and an experienced rider.  I hope he will be happy there and that she and him become a great partnership.

Yes, I was a weather weenie :-(

Went to the Hill & Dale CTR ride on Friday and rode Saturday and decided with the severe weather warnings for KS and NE, I pulled and came home this morning.  It started to pour as I was putting up camp and watching everyone else getting ready to time out to ride for the day.  While I slowly drove out I heard very loud thunder and lightning very close and it rained all the way out of Kansas!  Haven't heard from Brenda, Shari or Robin yet so I hope they had a good ride.  

Saturday's ride was really fun Shari introduced me to a very nice So. Dakota lady who is starting CTR's and rides a gaited morgan and we decided to ride together.  Jordan and her horse Rambo were closely matched and we had an awesome ride together.  We did about 12 miles before lunch and then 8 miles after lunch.  The 2nd part there were alot of rocks and boggy areas.  So we couldn't make very good time and a about 10 of us (novice riders) got off trail (aka lost) and had to rush to make up time when we realized we had to backtrack.   Pat and I came in last, (she had a hold at the 2nd P&R), but not least, and had a great ride :-) 

This morning with the storms during the night which I couldn't sleep through, and the storm in the morning and knowing that the bogs would be even worse, I decided to use my "weather weenie" card and not ride :-)  Got home, watched Jordan roll and roll and roll, then unpacked when I heard thunder and saw lightning.  Ackkkkk the bad weather caught up with me!!  

After note:  A friend who was also at the CTR, said that yes it was raining when they started on Sunday morning, but after a big crack of lightening and thunder, it cleared up and was nice for the rest of the day....so there ya go....

Dogs: pets, 4 footed friends, beloved members of the family

No matter how you say it they have been a part of my life since my husband and I got married almost 30 years ago.  Our first dog was a Norwegian Elkhound we named Miscka.  She was the only dog we "bought".  She was the runt of the litter but soooo cute. We had her for 15 years.  We got her when she was 16 weeks old.  She was My dog.  I loved her very much and we lost her to congestive heart failure.

When she was about 1 year old, we adopted a mutt dog who was about 2 years old.  His name was Tripod because he only had 3 legs.  Somewhere as a pup he lost his right front leg to a lawn mower.  He was a Keyshound mixed with something :-)  He could dig long skinny trenches like a demon.  He loved my husband to no end.  We lost him to old age.  At 17 y/o he was deaf and blind and his left shoulder (which was over used) gave out on him and we had to let him go :-(

When Tripod was about 5 and Miscka was 4, we were given a cute bundle of white fluff of a pup that was part American Eskimo and Husky.  We named him Kannick.  He liked to lay on his back and hold up walls upside down :-).  He was our son's dog.  Our son loved to use him as a pillow when he was laying on the floor.  Our daughter  was born about a year after we had all 3 dogs and we attribute her walking early to needing to get off the floor
and away from the dogs.

One day when my husband was running early in the morning with Miska and Kannick around our neighborhood, he found another really cute bundle of white fluff who followed him home (much to Kannick's dislike).  He was our first Great Pyrenees whom we named Newton.  He grew and grew and grew and was the gentlest of dogs.  He loved to eat his food laying down and taught Kannick to do it too :-)  We lost him at 9 years of age from kidney failure due to medication to help with his cancer.

We lost Miscka first, then Tripod and then Newton.  After Miscka & Tripod passed, we rescued another dog named Leyla ( 14 months old) for our 10 y/o daughter. She is a flat-coated retriever/border collie mix.  Our daughter took her to puppy training and together they learned fun things, like crawling, rolling over and giving a high-five.  She is now 11 y/o and still getting around.  She hates being outside and cardboard boxes.  Oh and men with hats and boots. She loves laying on stairs and behind wood stoves.

So, we had 3 dogs, got 1 more, lost 2 dogs and got 2 more.  We then decided to adopt and older Australian Sheepdog named Shyanne.  She was already about 10 y/o but we wanted to get her a good life as long as we could.

We also adopted another Great Pyrenees male dog who was named Santa Paws which we renamed Santana. Santana loved to do circles in the Excursion when he saw bicycles.   Back to 4 dogs :-)  Now it was Kannick, Leyla, Shyanne and Santana.

                                                   

When we moved from the West Coast to the Midwest, we had a noah's ark.  Four dogs, 3 cats, 1 rabbit, 3 hermit crabs and 2 fish.  We moved them all in an Excursion and a Sable.  It was a sight to see when we had to check into a motel for the night :-)

We put up a 6 ft. high chainlink fence 500 sq. ft. backyard for the dogs when we moved to the country and they loved it.  They could bark to their hearts content....at the deer, geese, squirrals, grass blowing....anything and everything :-)

We lost Shyanne first at our new home, she had a stroke and couldn't recover.  Next we lost Kannick of old age, he was 16 y/o when he passed.  We now had Leyla and Santana and my husband wanted a female Pyr, so we adopted Cloe.  She was 11 months old and cute as a BIG bundle of white dog can be (Cloe on left).

 I remember when we went to pick her up from the rescue.  She met my hubby and it was love at first sight.  Her and I sat in the car while he and the rescue person did the paperwork and she never took her eyes off of husband.  Still like that to this day.  Cloe loves to bark and walk the perimeter of the fenceline :-)  That is her "job".  Back to 3 dogs.....

In December of 2009 there were some really bad snow storms and we had about 2-3 feet of snow in our back yard.  Santana was about 9 by then and loved to go out to "his" tree out by the far end of the yard.  His hips were getting worse all the time and we tried to keep him on the patio that winter so he wouldn't get in the deep snow.  One day, he was determined to get to his tree and off he went.  I went to check on him and saw him about 1/2 way back and he couldn't move.  Destroyed both his hips and we had to let him go :-(  We then had Cloe and Leyla and were content (or so I thought)...

Two years later husband was ready for another Pyr!  We adopted a male pyr that was 3 years old, Winston.  He loves to bark and chase the school buses as they pass the yard :-)  He also loves my husband (he has a way with dogs) and will sit next to him and put his paw on his knee to get him to pet him. Oh, he also "sings".

Back to 3 dogs......

I really am going somewhere with all this....I am waxing philosophically.....I guess..... Cloe is now 9 years old and it is our turn to make the hard decision for her.  Back in '09 when Santana destroyed his hips in the deep snow, Cloe hurt hers too.  She was young but hip damage in youth comes due in old age and now she is paying the price.  Her left hip doesn't work at all and her right one is close behind.  We have been trying to make this tuff decision for a month now and today I finally called and made the appointment that we dread to make.  Today we take her in and help her to the rainbow bridge with many, many tears and caresses of love to a wonderful companion and protector.

                          

There she will meet Miscka, Tripod, Newton, Shyanne, Kannick, & Santana.  All will be young and energetic and be able to run and bark at everything they see together.

I'm sure we will get another dog and when Leyla (11) and Winston (5) get to their end, we again will have to make this heart wrenching, mind stressing decision.  We will sadly but determinedly make it each as they come so we may have the unconditional love and joy of our beloved furry 4 legged family.

Kanopolis Weather Roulette CTR

I had a wonderful time.  Jordon too I think LOL.  I pulled in on Friday, just after Shari & Robin; and Brenda & Virginia.  I got a spot way out in the back forty where no one else was, so thankfully, some closer had canceled and I took their spot.  I am so very thankful I got that spot!  Hindsight says I should have asked what would be a camping spot near the other Nebraskans but I registered late so I didn't.  It was so windy I didn't even try to put up my handy-dandy canopy, but I really didn't need it.  I just went and bugged everyone else and sat in their trailers LOL.

Got Jordan checked in and then settled for the night.  Ride briefing was at 7ish  and we got nice maps (I sure could use a map reading class, but I am learning).  Slept well and wasn't cold so I didn't even turn on my little electric blanket!  Nice and cozy in my Excursion with all the windows covered.  I put Jordan's heavy duty winter blanket with a neck piece on Friday night.  That wind was really cold!  

Got up at 5:30am and said "am I really have fun getting up at O'dark thirty at 29* and 30mph winds to go riding?????   Yup, I am...so out the truck I went to feed Miss Jordan her morning grain and hay.  She was looking good, did her poop and pee thing just fine :-)  I know, TMI, <hehe>.  Ate my bar and drank my juice (just like every day) and got my tack ready to go.  

Shari & Robin graciously agreed to have me tag along with them for the days ride, but I almost was going to ride with two other novices when I remembered the last time I decided not to ride with them (2 years ago) and rode with someone else and did the thighmaster at Indian Cave twice (we weren't supposed to do it at ALL that day), I decided too be wise and stick with those two veterans :-)  I wore 3 layers of pants and 4 layers of shirts/jackets and heavy winter gloves so except for my face, I wasn't cold.   

We were supposed to open a gate as an novice obstacle, and I just passed on it.  Earlier I tried to open a gate just for fun and Jordan wouldn't even get close to it!  That is really something we need to work on!!!  The canyons were beautiful with either red dirt or golden yellow and so fun to climb up and down.  We did some great water crossings all of which Jordan did without any problem.  We even stood about 20 ft. from devil cows while Shari opened a gate and Jordan just looked at them :-)  I did have a unplanned dismount on Saturday.  There are deep ruts going down the canyons from all the riders on the trails that are upto 3 feet deep!  Jordan and I got off kilter and I was trying to get her on a safer path and my saddle started slipping!  I was trying to get it back up when Jordan jigged as I jagged and...dddoooowwwwnnn i slid off in slow motion down into one of the 3 ft. deep ruts!  My boot came off and like a dope I kept holding the reins, so Jordan was trying to get in and out of the ruts and almost stepped on me a few times.  I'm yelling at her and then went DUH!  let go of the reins dummy!  Then she could move herself away from me and I could get up.  I was all flustered and was not making sense.  Everyone was trying to help me and I wasn't thinking straight.  I finally found a big rock and finally got Jordan to stand still after I calmed down and I got back on and off we went.  So grateful to Robin and Shari for all their support!!!

Sunday a very nice 1st time B rider (which was just Sunday ride)   who rode a Rocky Mountain Horse, so Jordan & I hooked up with them and kind of either stayed a little behind Shari and Robin or even better, we stayed alittle ahead.  I really had to keep track of my time and map since I was with a newbie (even newer then me) so we could stay on track.  I was really, really glad that Shari & Robin were behind us to bail me out when I turned the wrong way on the trail!  Sunday turned out to be a beautiful day and I was over dressed but didn't take the time to pull off layers til we got back to camp.  I was sweating, soooo different then Sat. 

Mud Bath

Arggghhh!  Living in NW Iowa I didn't have to deal with mud like I do now that we are in NE.  The property we had had great drainage for the horses and was a high sand content so it dried quickly.  Sure I had a little mud, but not much and my horses didn't stand in it day after day like they do here.  This is what Jordan usually looked like, oh she got long hair in the winter and but shed out nicely in the spring.

Here is what she usually looks like now when we have had snow or rain and lays down in the mud.  I think she thinks a mud bath is good for her complexion or something.  Me, I really think she just likes to make my life more dirty :-)  Even Dancer doesn't get as muddy as she does.  I thought having a brown horse would be easier.....NOT!

I went on a camping trip this past weekend with friends and since Jordan looked like a 4 legged version of Pigpen, I gave her a bath and I am soooo glad I did.  She was all clean when we got there and I guess she likes the water too :-)