horses, vacation pix

Okay, I'm trying to get caught up... barely making a dent in things.

Tuesday was mostly just a travel day. Shylah, as you may recall, had been there for a month getting some additional training. Wednesday and Thursday we went on short trail rides in the mornings, and I spent some time in the arena trying out Shylah's new moves. J had to work those days so when I wasn't out with the horses or baking cakes or something I kept myself busy working on a portrait of Aragorn and Zena.

Friday was a busy day, with a longer trail ride in the morning and then prepping for the horse show the rest of the day. J got the horses cleaned up and I helped with the trailer and the supplies.

Saturday I got up just after 4am. We left at 5am and headed north two and a half hours to Yreka for the Gypsy Horse show. OMG it was so cold that morning! But it warmed up to a gorgeous day by afternoon. It was a fun day, but grueling. I helped with grooming and "babysitting" whichever horse was not being shown at the time. We got back around 6pm or so. A long day, I slept well that night.

Sunday was the longest of the trail rides, which was complicated slightly by Shylah not feeling well (ate too many acorns) but I figured getting out and walking would do her good, and indeed by the middle the ride she had gotten her guts moving well and was considerably perkier. She is, however, the laziest horse on the planet, and frustratingly slow compared to 99% of the other horses out there, including J's trail horse Rocket (who lives up to his name). I don't mind the slowness when riding alone but it drives me nuts when I'm trying to keep up with someone else. She is terrible with hills, and maybe partly it's that she's still young and still developing muscle, but geez it should not be that hard for a horse to walk up or down a hill, and she acts like it's the most difficult thing in the universe, even a slight hill. She seems to climb hills by pulling herself along with her front end instead of pushing herself up with her hind end..lacking 4-wheel drive I guess. It's very strange to me. And the rocks really seem to bother her, which again seems strange since her feet are REALLY hard. It would be interesting to try out some boots on her. Don't get me wrong, I love this horse, but there are some things about her that drive me up the wall, and I wish she wasn't sooooooo lazy.

Anyway, next thing I knew it was Monday and I was headed home. It sure seemed like a quick trip, I can't believe I was there for almost a week, didn't seem any longer than when I'm there for two days.

I have a couple of art works-in-progress that have not been photographed (my studio is still buried in a pile of art show junk, I have not even had time to clean up, much less make anything new. AAAACK!!!!

Now lots of photos:

Remember the kitten I called "Poopy" last year? He's J's mom's cat, and was there for a day this time, it was fun to see him all grown up. Other than lacking a tail he could be my cat Homer's twin, similar looks (especially the face) and very similar personalities:


Photographic proof that I was up early. Taken Saturday morning heading north on I-5 (that's Mount Shasta):


Weird metal cow sculpture in a field along side I-5:


Pics from the horse show... Aragorn is the black and white yearling Gypsy colt, and Zena is the buckskin and white yearling Gypsy filly.




One of the cute entries in the costume class (I don't know who these people are):


Heading back late that afternoon, another view of Mt. Shasta:


A few random photos of Aragorn:




Pics from the ride on Sunday: