Macro Monday

It's not flowers this time - Yay! This may be self-indulgence at it's worst though. I was having fun taking pictures of the stack of ribbons I won at the SAFE Benefit Horse Show. For the rest of the story of these ribbons you can check out my previous post.

SAFE Benefit Horse Show

Well, I did it. I went to the SAFE Benefit Horse Show yesterday and I survived! It was a whirl wind day, but I have to say that it was such a wonderful show! Everyone was super nice, the whole thing was very laid back and it was just a great day! Very fun!

I decided to do a bit of everything at the show and ended up in ten classes. I started off the morning with Showmanship. I have done Showmanship before, back in my 4-H days, so I had an idea of what I was getting myself into. Unfortunately patterns have gotten a little tricky since my day and I only read the written description, didn't study the diagram, which did not describe the pattern entirely. Or I just managed to skip about half of it. lol I did the pattern totally wrong, but still walked out of the rather large class with a 5th place. Bummer I did the pattern wrong! Halter was next, which I've never done before. It was pretty simple though and we did well.

Wanna see something funny?

Check this out....

That's me and my little cutting/reining/drill horse riding english! I was laughing at myself pretty much the whole time. I felt like I was going to go flying right over her head! I rode english for the first time in 3-4 years the day before the show just to make sure the saddle and everything fit and I could really do it! I'm pretty sure it's the first time Midori has ever been ridden english. We only did two equitation classes because I don't really have a pleasure horse. The funniest part of the whole thing was the second equitation class that I went in I won. I couldn't believe it when they called my number for 1st place. I was cracking up!

After english we took a little break, changed saddles and headed over to the trail course. It was a pretty easy course, except for the little buggers tied to the fence to the right of me in this pic.

Yep, there were GOATS! Not just any goats, but Horse Eating Monster Goats! Midori was eye ballin' them as soon as we hit the log you see in the picture. She wouldn't hardly stand still to do the gate that I'm working on in that pic. Luckily she does trust me and will usually do what I ask so we made it past the goaties just fine and the rest of the course was a snap.

Some where in the course of the afternoon my camera got a smudge on the lens so most of the rest of the pictures have a big smudge across them, but there were still some cute ones!

This is us in a western class, probably one of my equitation classes. I did both pleasure and equitation classes in western. I went to the show with jrosey and we would give each other a super cheesy smile when we came around the arena and saw the camera pointed at us.

Here is my super cheesy pose with my first place ribbon in Western Equitation.

I also did bareback and survived! Oh my goodness that was a long class though! My legs were burning before we had even reversed! Guess I don't ride bareback enough!

I loved this picture, even with the smudge. The goaties' trailer was parked right by us and they were hanging out in the shade for a bit until it was time to go home so I took Midori over to visit with them for a bit.

WARNING: This is where I get a tad bit self-indulgent...I had fun at the show...

I've never walked away from a show with a wad of ribbons like that! It was fun! :-) In my 4-H days I wasn't bad, but I never won a class. I did get a 2nd place. Once. I would get in the ribbons here and there and was usually just good enough to make it to state or championship classes, but then I was bottom of the pack there, so this was new and very exciting for me!


The best part.....

I won the western high point! Well, technically I tied for the western high point, but they broke the tie with our overall scores, which means it was a darn good thing I did english! I couldn't believe I won though!!! I was so excited! On top of the super cool big fat ribbon I got a cool little western package that included a pretty purple saddle blanket and a pretty nice headstall. Wohoo! That was a VERY fun way to end the day!

It was a great day and I'd highly recommend the SAFE Benefit Horse show to anyone wanting to dip their toes in the show world, looking for an excuse to get their horse out, former 4-Her's wanting a rail class fix (like me) or anyone that shows regularly! It's just a really fun show! And the Bribe Your Horse class at the end of the day was just hilarious to watch!

Macro Monday

Last week my mom brought over a beautiful bouquet of flowers when she came for the family reunion that we hosted. I always get excited when I have a bouquet of flowers because I looooove getting macro shots of them! Here's a few of my faves, all straight out of the camera, save for a little cropping...

Happy Monday everyone!

Updates ~ I Am Alive!

Yes, I am alive! Even though I've only managed to get some of the Sunday Stills posts up for the last umm...4 weeks. Yikes! Man, time funs when you're having flies! Or something like that.

So lets go back and start at my state meet for drill. Midori looooves going to shows because she gets a nice clean stall and shavings to roll around in. Seriously, not 5 minutes after I stick her in the stall this is what she looks like. Isn't she the cutest pony ever?!

The state meet went well. Of course it wasn't without drama, but it was all resolved fairly early on and the rest of the weekend went well. I remembered all the drills, loped a couple of them for the first time that weekend. It was really fun! We came in 6th over all out of 13 teams. Not fabulous, but considering all the shaking up and filling spots and switching around we did, not too shabby!

This is me in Freestyle. I was the only flag. I liked my spot though, other the Midori running off with me a bit. She liked being on the outside of the sweep for a lap and a quarter and didn't want to check back to make he 90 degree turn into the center to be on the outside of the crack.

Also, notice we are on the wrong lead in this pic? We're not going to talk about that.

We are also not going to talk about this...

I will say that our quad placed 6th (I think) out of like 20 something teams, so that was fun! It was a fun ride, but the first time I had loped that drill this year and to say we hauled ass in an understatement.

About 2 hours before I rode the flag in Freestyle I was at a cutting show. The timing ended up working out perfectly, I was so happy! We had a fabulous ride, Midori really cowed up and I think enjoyed the break from the drill team boot camp she had suddenly found herself in. We didn't score well, but I was thrilled with our ride considering we hadn't worked buffalo in a couple weeks. The boyfriend called me as I was pulling in back at the drill meet and informed me that my score had held for 2nd place! Yahoo!!!

That was a very fun weekend. It was nice to hang out with my drill team again and I've always loved state.

Next update: Chey has kitties for lunch!

Just kidding! She got to meet them for the first time without bars between them! She was SOOO excited, she could hardly contain herself. Just imagine her little nubbin tail going a mile a minute here.

The kitties were just as curious about her. Chunk was a little more timid about walking right up to her and tended to keep her distance, but Legs would walk right up to her, rub up against her, roll over in front of her and swat at her.

Chey did really well with them, though did get a little excited a few times. She is definately intense and we keep an eye on her to make sure she's not mauling them to death on accident. Do you see the kitty tail sticking out from under her paw in this picture?

She loves to nibble them, like sort of cleaning, like I imagine a momma would do to her puppies. She also stands over them protectively. She really is gentle and good with them, just really intense. Go figure, since she's an Aussie. Since she didn't eat them for lunch that time we let them out in the house to play now. For the most part it is just fine, though there have been some epic chases. The kittens run from Chey playfully, she tears after them, the cats go oh sh**! and run, Chey continues to chase them...etc. And then there is the comedic relief that is Chey trying to herd kittens. Oh my goodness, funniest thing ever! She just does not understand why it doesn't work! She tries to push them up and they lay down in front of her. If she does happen to herd them together for a second, they'll take off in opposite directions. You can just see the smoke coming out of her ears as she tries to decide which one to chase!

The kittens haven't gone outside yet, but I guess it's getting to be that time. I just have to let go of my overprotective tendencies and kick their butts outside. They are also officially June Bug and May Belle now. Legs is June Bug and Chunk is May Belle. I still call them Legs and Chunk most of the time though. They are getting huge! And rambunctious! Holy cow, they are tearing my house apart! Part of why they need to go outside!

We had another cutting show a couple weeks ago. That one didn't go so well. It had been really hot, record highs around here, and we hadn't been riding at all. The cows I got were just awful and my turn back riders were no help at all. Sugar was full of piss and vinegar and Justin was having no luck with her either. Fortunately, everyone seemed to be having an off day, so my 65 held for a tie for 4th and 5th out of 8 riders. I'm still hanging on to 1st place in the series by a half point. No pressure for the next show, huh? Ugh!

The week leading up to that show we learned that the boyfriends mom had been admitted to the hospital and was scheduled to have open heart surgery. That made for a very hectic week, going up to the hospital every evening. We were also trying to get our house and yard presentable because we were hosting my small family reunion a couple weeks later. I had just started a painting project when we found out she was in the hospital, and what should have taken me 2 evenings to finish up ended up taking me a full week. We were busy and it just wasn't a fun time. But the surgery went well and she is doing good. It's amazing how staining the deck and planting flowers in the front flower bed are suddenly not a priority when stuff like that happens. :-) We did manage to get the house and yard somewhat presentable and the reunion was fun. We had tons of leftovers so I haven't had to cook all week and I was really happy to have a clean, clean house for the first time in a while!

This week and weekend has been really nice to catch up, relax and just not have any big obligations. I really love summer and the sun and warm temps, but fall is by far my favorite season just because it's not as crazy busy as summer. Next weekend I will be attending the SAFE horse show. That should be interesting! It's been a while since I've done pleasure, equitation and showmanship classes! And I'm doing a halter class, which I've never done. No clue what I'm doing there! :-) I'm looking forward to it though! I do miss rail classes every once in a while.

So that's my story. Nothing terribly interesting, but it's been a busy, busy summer!

Hope everyone is enjoying their summers!

Sunday Stills Challenge - Clouds

I have lots of pics in my archives of clouds and since it's been a little dreary and gray around here this week I'm putting them to good use! These were all taken last year with my little point and shoot and are all straight out of the camera, no editing done.

This was taken at Alki Beach. I love going up there, it brings back so many memories, but I just don't get up there all that often. This particular day we were meeting my cousin for a quick lunch and it happened to be an absolutely gorgeous day at the beach. We didn't stay long, but I had to snap some pictures before we left.

These next two were taken at the boyfriend's parent's old house. I think some thunder storms were moving thru and the clouds were just beautiful.

This one was taken from a hay field where we were picking up 5 tons of hay for our ponies. I was driving the truck around the field while the boyfriend loaded the hay up. I got a little distracted by the sunset and the sky.

This one was taken from our "arena-to-be", when we had the round pen up. It's the only place on our property that you can see the sunset.


Check out lots more cloud pics here!

Sunday Stills Challenge - The Elements

I've been just a touch busy lately *snort*, but I had the perfect picture for this challenge just chillin' in my archives so I had to get it up.

Check it out...all 5 elements in one pic! My interpretation of the 5 elements in one pic, of course, but I think it qualifies.

It's a picture from when we were clearing our property last year and burning all the brush. So we have 1. fire (obviously) 2. earth, lots of dirt, rocks, etc. 3. wind - the industrial fan 4. water - there is a hose that I promise you is full of water 5. love - Cheyanne and the boyfriend are both in the pic, they are my loves (and while love isn't neccessarily pictured, it counts because I say it does! ;) )

I added this pic in just because I like it. Earth, wind and fire.

Alrighty, I'd better get my butt back in gear. Hope you're all having a wonderful weekend!