Five Months Later. . .

 Catching up a little. . . 

Lynn and I have had so much going on that I am going to use that as my excuse for not writing on the blog. Some good things have happened: Sweet Georgia Brown, “Georgie,” came into my family in March. She was advertised as a Moyen, but she’s going to be a Mini. Minis are advertised as being “cheeky,” and that fits her perfectly. She is a handful! She is so tiny (and young) that I have to have a babysitter when we ride. Thankfully, Gene really wants me to be available to ride, so he gives up his own activities to hang out at my house with her.  I keep a puzzle on the table, Sudoku on the counter, and there are westerns on the TV, so hopefully it’s only a little boring for him. Lee had an accident the week before Georgie came home with me, so his babysitting days are postponed for now. I know he is sad about it.

Here is her introduction:

Meet Chocolate

Poodle · 3 months old

Chocolate is stunning and petite! She is a snuggle bug, smart, adventurous, aims to please and people focused. We expect her to be 15-25 lbs full grown and 14-17 inches tall. She will make a great family friend!

• Color

• Phantom (non-standard)

• Size

• Moyen

• Expected adult weight

• 15 lbs. - 25 lbs.

*Rachel is available to ride on Wednesdays and Saturdays, so we jump at the chance to ride with her when we can. Last Wednesday, we rode Underwood. It was perfect weather. All the horses and the dogs were happy and we all enjoyed the ride. The only problem is, I thought it was Saturday for the rest of the day! That caused me a couple issues and a missed baseball game. Lol

**We have ridden the ranch a few times and Toby is so good about crossing the creek now! He barely even hesitates. We haven’t seen any animals lately, but the trails are great. A few more trees and large branches have come down, but nothing that stops us. We rode up the steep spot to the road and came home our regular route one day. That was fun--a little added adventure.

***We rode Cobweb alley and not only is it cobwebby, it is poison-oaky!! Sheesh! The poison oak has really enjoyed our weather pattern this year and is super healthy everywhere. We took Rachel up Lynn’s favorite trail one day and it was great. Even the top where the creek ravine is--the motorcycle guys cut the branch coming up to the road and it is easy peasy to navigate now.

****We  rode brushy balls last weekend and bushwacked our way yet another way! Lol Jupes says to me, just let me go. I’ll show you the way. Sheesh. We laughed about how that trail got its name and we took Rachel with us another time. She is a good sport to put up with all our horse yoga. 

*****"Let's just ride the ranch and stay away from the wind on top of the ridge. It'll be easy." HA. Right off the git, there were cows! We had a couple BIG shies from our brave steeds. That set the tone. It was still a little breezy on the ranch and both boys kept an eye out for other monsters and sure enough, a couple deer flashed by. We could hear the wind and decided maybe we should head home after the trip around the loop.

******Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum rode a couple ponies to the turtle pond. LOL. What a day. First of all, Jupiter is clanging not one, but THREE shoes. So we decided not to ride Lynn's favorite trail and instead "just" go to the turtle pond. All was fine until we headed back. Toby started acting like he was going to buck. Lynn got off and walked him a little, kind of looking him over. She got back on and we started off from the pond again. I was in front. I looked down at Jupiter's face and thought, "why does your nose look funny?" We weren't even to the log across the trail and I looked again and saw my headstall "just a swangin'" under his chin. Sheesh Louise. It was broken again. We both jumped off and Lynn fixed it.

Back on and we headed to the left trail--I always think of it as the BIG bull trail. Toby settled down and took the lead. We came to a spot where I think the motorcycles have torn up the trail, leaving it pretty duffy. I saw a root and thought, "that could trip us and yard off one of our loose shoes." Nope. Instead it became a hole and Jupes was kind of pitched forward. His back foot was also in a hole. I was hanging off his neck. Lynn was hollering, "Stay there. I'm coming!" But I couldn't wait. lol. So I flopped off. It wasn't far. Lynn said I had my legs wrapped around Jupes and my arms were around his neck. He was great. He stopped when I asked him to and he just stood still. He's so good.

We got back on and headed out. We rode without incident to the get off spot. Then Lynn saw why Toby was unhappy. His crupper fastener had pulled out of the saddle. Sharp pieces of metal were loose and Lynn has a hoof pick tied to the strap as well. Both were swinging along his hip, but before that, the crupper was in place under his tail, so who knows where he was being touched by those sharp edges. Poor guy. He was trying to tell her.

So anyway, it was a fun day. You know. Just sitting there letting the horses do all the work. Just a a couple of sacks of potatoes rolling along. 

It keeps us healthy and sane and happy.

Barefootin'

 It's Saturday! Ride day! We met Rachel on Underwood to try riding again--this time without boots. I was nervous; I wasn't sure what was going on with Jupiter, but I was willing to try again. We took a different path and missed the low branch bridge this time by skirting the pond. It worked really well. Jupes was a little jiggy and really wanting to charge up the trails. 

We went up to Dad's overlook and there are daffodils coming up! Lynn's bulbs for dad. :) We rode from there to the meadow bog. Jupes took off charging up the hill and I reached for his mane like always and only grabbed a sliver of hair! Dang1 Silly boy has rubbed off my "grab some mane and hold on!" handle. 

Coming down the back side, he got a little jiggy and humped up and kicked out. I got off and took Lynn's advice and tightened his crupper. It worked. He still was a on fast walk, but he relaxed a little and I tried really hard to stay deep in the saddle and back on his butt more. We had a good ride. It felt good to be out there.

Then Rachel could not get Steele into the trailer. That guy is stubborn. Nothing worked. Finally he loaded up with our boys and we took him down the hill to her driveway. She texted Lynn and said she finally loaded him. Yay!

2026 First ride

This is the perfect picture to show our first ride of 2026. First of all, Jupes is shoeless. It's January, after all. So I bought some gold boots for us to ride in when we needed to to. Lynn put them on and we started off toward our Underwood trail. What that means is: Jupes and I started off to our get on stump. Well, there are some little cedars growing up right there and they've gotten bigger. Jupes doesn't like little cedars touching his privates. So we looked around for somewhere to get on. Although that picture is not the very beginning, that view in the picture is how Lynn saw me all day. 

We headed up our trail. boots staying on nicely. We pooped. We peed. All is good. We got up the road a little more and we drank. Easy peasy. When we got to the low bridge branch. I jumped off and we went under it, no problem. Then when I was looking for a place to get back on, I saw that Jupes' foot was out of his boot and it was like an anklet around his leg instead. Lynn came back and worked to put it back on more tightly. I bent down to help and whoosh, down came my chinks around my ankles. ??? What the heck. Cracking up, Lynn helped by unbuckling me and I was able to step out of them. Good grief.

Boot on. Chinks up. And here I am in the picture above, attempting to get on while my saddle swings over. 

As I get on, I tell her my life is out of balance. I have broken three things in last week and I rarely break stuff. I'm pretty careful. Sheesh. Lynn laughs and tells me that if I want to go back and be done, she's fine with that. I say, okay, I could go back. I try not to be the one who says I'm done, but there it is. 

So we start back. The boot comes off again. I think it came off three times total. So I took both off and we went barefoot. We had a pretty good ride through the woods next to the pond and back toward the upper dirt road. Jupes wanted to go a different way and kind of was balky about it. I told him we were headed back the way we came.

Years ago when Jupes and Ziggy were young, I would have issues with Jupiter coming down the first hill. A lot. Haven't had any issues there in a very long time. Actually, haven't had any issues at all for a couple years, I think. Well, today was the day. Kicking up, humping, head tossing, bowed neck. What the heck!? It was a DOGGONE IT, JUPITER! kind of day. Well, end of the day. 

I finally got off right before the little slick spot to the road. 

At least I got to ride. I am so thankful that Lynn is patient and kind and puts up with the two of us. Sheez Louise. He and I are a mess.

Oh and he stepped on my spur and pull me out of it!

 

Links without a story--so far

LHC 50 cent Ride  

Gray's Side 9.16.25

Walking at Sandy Bar 

GRAYS side 10.5.25

Flowers for Mr. Kurtz

Sandy Bar

 Three miles and with Three BAZILLION gnats. Sandy Bar

Lynn is certainly blessed. :)

I'm missing it. I'm going to miss all next week, too. It's tough having friends and family that need me to do stuff. I guess that's another kind of blessing. 

A Wet One

 Lynn is out again:

"I am completely soaked; not smart when you grab a madrone tree at the Slap Trail to push it out of the way so it doesn't take your head off and all the leaves waterfall over you. The temperature of the water cupped in the leaves is cold!"

I texted her: "Where's your chinks?" (Although they wouldn't have helped the top half!)

Silly girl.

Lynn's Bored

 Lynn was bored and restless, so out she went.

Soft Hooves and a Squeaky Saddle