Multimedia message 4 from Tony...

One of the pens the horses will get to roam in!

4th of July Celebration...

Cool Slideshows!

The servers over at Picture Trail are experiencing a temporary hiccup and just as soon as they cure this one, I will add a slideshow of the pictures I took at the 4th of July Celebration...UPDATE ~ Slideshow added!!!

We had a wonderful time on the 4th over at the stables! It was very hot, barely in the triple digits at 100 degrees, feeling so much hotter than that though! About 55 people showed up to share food, conversation and the heat while we waited for the fireworks show that would brighten the sky above the park. There were a few who stayed close to their horses and some that didn't make it out to the stables. I tried to get around and talk with everyone.

I was disappointed that only four people went out on the trail ride, but it was extremely hot. Travis rode Fancy, Tony started out on Coal, Kayla rode Lucky and Kayla's mom rode Pumpkin (Kayla's mare). We could see them on the horizon as they rode up to the palm. Lucky fussed around a little too much, so Tony switched horses with Kayla and had him straightened out by the time they got back to the stables.

Scott Rice came out early to set up in the new round pen with his barbecue grills and smokers, and Leah Mayfield and Jann Hardy were my "angels of mercy" as they stepped right up and helped set up and tear down the food tables!! Scott did an excellent job on the tri-tip (Larry), the hamburger patties (Leah), hot dogs (Jim & Carrie Henshaw), corn on the cob (Kerrie and Chief) and even had a platter of hot peppers and onions that he said would separate the men from the boys!!! A few of us decided without even tasting them that we would fit in the "boys" category! And as a special treat there was a sampler platter with many different flavors on hamburger patties, brats and pork! There was plenty of food and drinks to share with those who didn't get a chance to bring anything.

When we stepped up to the tables, we had many decisions to make! Watermelon, honey dew melon, cantaloupe, calico sweet beans, chili beans in three different flavors, potato salad, cornbread, stuffed peppers, cake, banana pudding (to die for with fresh strawberries and blackberries on top!), jello jigglers, sliced lettuce, tomatoes and onions (both white and red), and a cake decorated like an American Flag that Sheila Horn baked! It was hot enough for the teenagers to have a water war, even though some took refuge beside the sleeping baby and my camera so they could rest!!! Coal, Cahlibur, Belle and Oakley hung their heads over their rails for attention and received some watermelon rind for their efforts! Several people had to leave early, Tony among them, to get to work or beat the car traffic after the fireworks.

I didn't get too many pictures of the fireworks, because they were not as crisp as I wanted them, but I chose 4 of the best to share with you. I hope that everyone had a great 4th and would like to thank everyone for bringing food and drinks (and yourselves) and for braving the heat to come to the barbecue!! Thank you again to Jann and Leah for their wonderful help, to Scott for barbecuing such awesome meat, to Keirdon for helping me clean stalls before everyone arrived (and Cameron for dumping the last load), to Steve for bringing (root)beer for me and to the City of Taft and all the contributors for a wonderful 4th of July Celebration!!!!!!!

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posted 7.8.07 on July 5th to make room for more posts!!!

Personalized Western Birthday Card...

Greeting Card - Birthday - Horse 'n' Eagle

SKU: #03000

This marble, burlap 'n' rope western design includes a picture of your horse(s). Please send nine (9) photographs to personalize this card for the horse lover in your life. Designate which photo is for the front of the card. The rest will be used in the filmstrips on the inside of the card. Verse: You're never too old to be a cowboy...it's true! That's why we wish the best birthday for you!!! Written by Janey Loree Fisher "Where'd my hat go?"

We created this card for Lucky's owner this past weekend! Since my mother and I have our own online gift shoppe, we have decided to make this card available online as well. You will notice that an eagle has swiped the cowboys' hat! Over in PJ's Corner Gift Shoppe, I have used an animated file to show you the whole card.


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Happy Birthday to Lucky!!! He's Three!!!

John and Sheila have owned Lucky since he was 3 month's old! Now he is 3 years old. Check out the other posts about Lucky's training!!!




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Bits and Pieces...

Cool Slideshows

Here are some bits and pieces of pictures I have taken over at the stable over the last week.

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MnC joins Horse Bloggers.com...

MnC just joined "Horse Bloggers, a directory of horse-related blogs (and only horse-related blogs) that’s browseable by topic and discipline or searchable by keyword." We look forward to finding more blogs about horses!!!

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MnC entered the Horse Lovers Blog Carnival...

Gunny just found a "Horse Lovers Blog Carnival". MnC entered our "Lucky's Rainy Day Training..." post. The carnival will be held the 21st of February over at MiKael's Mania - Arabian Horses! If you have a horse blog enter a post, or if you just plain love horses stop by during the carnival to read all the posts about horses!!!

"Let's get the horse blogging community together. If you have a blog post about anything horse realted submit your favorite post to this carnival. This editions of the horse blog carnival will have an "All Things Equine" theme. Anything related to the equine and this includes the donkey, mules, and all other close horse relatives."


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Lucky's Rainy Day Training...

It rained in the San Joaquin Valley today! Most times it will sprinkle and that is it. So Travis, Tony and I headed over to the stables. Tony saddled Coal and headed back over to the house to get the new breast collar he had purchased from Fairfax Saddlery when we were in Bakersfield a couple of days ago. Travis took Cahlibur over to the turn out pen. He just grabbed a hold of Cahliburs' mane and off they went! No halter, no rope, just a cowboy and his horse trusting each other. Tony can do this with Coal, too!

Then Travis headed over to take Lucky out. It started sprinkling! I stuffed my camera in my sweatshirt jacket as I followed Travis. It started sprinkling harder as Travis led Lucky over to the metal hitching post in front of Coal's pen. The first picture shows how intent Lucky was in getting the rope untied. Travis worked with him attempting to stop this habit. I don't know how to spell it, but Travis made a sound that means "No you don't!". It sounds like you are saying the "a" in tr(a)ck twice! If anyone knows how to spell that...please let me know!!!

In the second picture, Lucky is only putting a space between the rope as his nose moves back and forth, as if to say, "I'm not untying, I'm just resting my nose between the ropes!" Travis used the curry comb to brush Lucky down before putting the saddle on him. In the mean time it is really starting to rain...Below are pictures toward Lucky's pen that showed the rain coming down quite hard, the clouds above the stalls, and the sun shining through after the storm broke.

By the time Travis had Lucky saddled, Tony and Coal returned with Katy and Rusty in tow. Rusty is getting better about staying close. He tried to chase a rabbit or ground squirrel, but skidded to a stop and came back just as soon as Tony called him!!

It is now raining very hard, I have since retreated to the truck for cover, Travis took Lucky to the shelter of Cahliburs' stall and Tony, Coal and the dogs sought shelter in Coal's stall. I looked over at the girls and Belle was running back and forth between her stall and playing with Oakley by bucking and throwing her head around. Oakley was getting perfectly wet while she played in the rain. At one point she bucked getting all four hooves off the ground while throwing her head around. The shower must have felt really good! And Cahlibur was searching the turn out pen for something to eat!!!

Back to Lucky's rainy day training...after about 10 minutes the rain stopped and Travis mounted Lucky and headed for the field. Years ago there was a race track on the property. The starting gate was given away in an attempt to clean up the place. I will never forgive the board members that allowed it to get away. What a piece of history taken from a century old horsemen's association...well anyway...Travis took Lucky out past what is left of the race track into the middle for some good old reining exercises.

Along the side of the track are about a dozen or so telephone poles that once held the cable that was used to fence off the track. These poles are now used for training. The third picture shows Lucky weaving back and forth; an excellent neck reining training setup. In the last picture, with a little coaxing, Travis had Lucky walking right through the mud puddle that had gathered by the round pen.

So, even though it rained, it turned to be a rainy day training for Lucky!!! Boy, do I love my new Canon EOS 30D camera!!!

Training Lucky - Day 1...

TnT are putting thirty days of training on this 3 year old gelding named "Lucky", a Quarter Horse Paint. Lucky is ridable, but his owner, John, wants him ironed out a little. The guys like to do round pen work to see where a horse is at. What he knows and more importantly what he doesn't know, so that they can work on those areas.
The first picture shows Tony working with Lucky to come to him when he is free of halter or bridle. Lucky is smart and right away caught on that he needed to pay attention to Tony, instead of checking out the cars going by on the road! He bucked and kicked a little at his first command from Tony, but he soon decided that he got more praise when he did what was asked of him.
In the second picture, Tony found Lucky to be a little head shy. It took just a few minutes to convince Lucky that he didn't need to freak out over Tony's hand moving around his head.
In the third picture, Lucky is working on the end of a short lunge line. (Doesn't it look like a white horse is running next to Lucky?) In the last picture, Lucky may be out of the round pen watching Oakley in training, but, he is learning to stand still. He did very well on his first day!

DAY SIX... Woke up at 6:00am and made coffee and pancakes. After eating we went to fish a little and I caught a 14 inch trout on my 3rd cast. Like an idiot, I turned it loose before my brother could take a picture of it. We fished until around 10:30am in which time I had numerous bites but only one catch. That one was when I put a fly on the end of my line, attached a bobber and a couple of sinkers and tossed it out. What I pulled in was a 6 to 8 inch trout. After stowing our fishing poles, we gathered a little more firewood. By gather I mean throwing our grappling hook into a dead tree and pulling branches down. After putting the wood at the camp we took the horses down to water again. By this time we had gathered enough nerve to take a little dip in the lake, and let me tell you what...that water was cold! I don't mean just a little bit cool. I mean down right frostbite meet hypothermia and grow icicles off your nose cold! After adjusting the water wasn't too bad. We stayed in for around 30 minutes, then climbed out, dried real fast, and made a beeline for our shelter where we sat and played rummy until we had warmed up. After warming up we took the horses down to the far end of the lake to graze. After returning to camp we decided to catch up on our log books. So here I am. I'll write more later tonight... We went fishing on the other side of the lake today. Trav caught four trout over there and I caught none. After fishing we took the horses to feed again. We noticed that Maggey wasn't eating and she hadn't had a bowel movement in a long time. While I made cowboy potatoes, Trav walked her to see if that would help. After eating we played rummy until 8:00pm and then went to bed. Tony

Got up at 6:00am, turned the horses loose in the pasture just west of the camp. After about 50 minutes, we tied them back up and had pancakes for breakfast. We went fishing afterwards and I only got bites when I was using my flyfishing pole. At about 10:30am we started gathering firewood using a rope and grappling hook, by throwing it into a dead tree that was still standing. Then we took the horses out for some water. When we tied them up we went for a swim in the lake for about half an hour. Let me tell you, that was like getting wet and running out into a blizzard! We dried off and stayed in the tent for another thirty minutes playing cards then we took the horses to the farthest west pasture, about a 2 minute walk and let the horses eat for about an hour and then came back, tied them up, and filled in my log book. Went fishing on the south side of the lake. We were on a rock cliff about 10 feet above the water. We fished for about an hour and a half and I caught four fish, the biggest being about 10 inches. Later on that afternoon we fed the horses. Maggey wasn't eating all that much and acting a little hurt in the inside. Walked her for half an hour while Tony cooked potatoes. When he was done, I put Maggey up and we ate. Played cards till 8:00pm and then went to sleep. Travis

Coal 'n' Cahlibur at Wilbur May Lake

Belle, Coal 'n' Cahlibur grazing at Wilbur May Lake

Cahlibur, Belle, Coal, Tony at Wilbur May Lake (Maggey is behind the tree in front of Coal)Tony fishing on Wilbur May Lake