Jinxed Myself

So, you know how yesterday I mentioned that I like sunburns?

Ya....

I'm a lobster. It sucks.

Off to find some aloe vera.

What a great day!

Yesterday totally rocked! It was very exciting for a few different reasons.

1. We had a cutting show. I love cutting shows.

2. Midori totally cowed up at the show so I was able to concentrate more on trying to make her correct instead of getting her to chase the cow. It was AWESOME!!!

3. I won my class.

4. The boyfriend got 3rd in the class! He had a great run also! Sugar was pretty cowy and much more focused this time. Also AWESOME!!!

5. It was sunny and upper 70's.

6. I got a sunburn. I love sunburns! Well, slight sunburns anyways. The bad ones aren't so much fun. But it's already turned to tan this morning so back out to the sun I go today! YEEHAW!!!

I love Saturdays like that!

Rays of Golden Sun!

This just happened to catch my attention this morning as I was leaving for work. I was running late, as usual, but I absolutely could not pull out without atleast snapping a couple pictures. I really could have stayed out there for hours getting different angles and shots!

It was just a touch foggy and the sun was shining bright through the trees at the bottom of our property creating the rays. It was absolutely amazing!

Side note: This last picture is a bit of a preview of a future B&A. I'm posting it regardless because it's shadowy and dark and certainly not the focus. Can you guess which project it might be?

Sun and Frisbee Dog!

Well, the sun stuck around yesterday! Wohoo!!! I was really happy when I got home and it was a beautiful day still! I wanted to play with all the kids and of course take some pictures. I'm always excited to grab the camera when the sun is out.

Cheyanne had been stuck inside all day so I played frisbee with her first.

Really Mom? Frisbee?!? Wohoo, frisbee!!! Frisbee, frisbee, frisbee, frisbee!

Please ignore the hole in the deck. It was a somewhat rotted board when we bought the house and Chey decided to make herself useful one day and help with the removal process. Another project for this summer.

Yahoo! She threw the frisbee! Frisbee, frisbee, frisbee, frisbee!

I can't seem to throw the frisbee and get the camera up in time to take pictures of her streaking across the lawn to retrieve the frisbee, but it's pretty funny to watch. She's about 6 inches off the ground and all you see is her hair blowing with every stride she takes and a blur where her legs should be. She is FAST!

She looks like she is going to be a good dog and bring the frisbee right back to me, then she does this...

You can't have the frisbee! You caaaan't haaaaaave it! Frisbee, frisbee, frisbee, frisbee! Oh, you almost got it, but not quite! You can't haaaaaaaaaave it! Hahahahaha! Frisbee!

She wants to be good and "Come" like she's supposed to, but she doesn't want to give the frisbee up either, so she "comes" but stays juuuuust out of my reach. I'm trying to teach her to come straight to me, sit facing me, put it in my hand and then wait until I throw it again. I'm working with treats but I can see the internal battle with her...I want the treat, but I love my frisbee...but it's cheese! But it's my frisbee! Cheese! Frisbee! It's annoying.

She eventually comes close enough for me to snag the frisbee, but I don't want to have to "snag" it. I want her to give it to me. I've tried getting her to trade for another toy, but then she gets A.D.D. and drops the frisbee 10 feet away from me in anticipation of chasing the other toy I have. Atleast with a treat I can get her close to me. Not really sure what to do. I really want to play with her, but when she doesn't want to give the toy up and 75% of play time is spent trying to get her to give it up, it's more frustrating then fun.

But then she does this...

Frisbee? Throw the frisbee! Throw it! Frisbee, frisbee, frisbee, frisbee!

And she is so stinking cute, how can you not throw it again!?!

I know part of why she doesn't want to give it up is because she thinks I'll take it away. That is a ligitimate fear because if I leave it where she can have it unsupervised, she will shred the thing, which is no fun, so I do take it away at the end of our play time. But I give her treats and try to find one of her outdoor toys to replace it with and try to make it a happy occasion, not like I'm the big, bad, toy stealing monster. I'm just not really sure how to improve this situation. She's a total toy whore, not as much of a treat whore, but it's close. Guess we'll have to work on some obedience stuff, like I've been saying since we brought her home, and see where that goes.

Now on to sun!

After playing with Chey for a while I wandered around the property with the camera. I love blue skies and fluffy white clouds so that is what most of my shots were.

That and the big maple tree that is finally coming back to life.

I noticed a buzzing sound while I was out bugging Midori and realized that the bee hive is back in business after the winter. And I think they've expanded. I don't remember it being that busy last year. Then I realized they were all over the ground in Midori's paddock and seemed to be sunning themselves on the rocks just outside of the fence. Yikes!

We tried spraying it a couple times last year, but those bastards just would not die! I got the boyfriend on a mission to kill it good and dead this weekend. I'm allergic to most bees, apparently there is one type around here that won't kill me, but I don't know which kind that is and I'm not willing to chance finding out if these guys are it. They aren't aggressive and never bothered us at all last year, but it doesn't take an aggressive bee to sting. It just takes me walking around outside barefoot (which I never do because I'm too scared) or falling and landing on one or something like that. The time I was stung and found out about the allergy I was drying my hands in a towel that the hornet happened to be wrapped up in. That was fun! My whole hand swelled up!

I do wish they weren't right there, so close to the house, the barn and the paddocks. If they were on the other side of the property or some where that wasn't so central I'd be inclined to leave them alone. I don't mind bees. It's the wasps and hornets that I really can't stand.

So that was my afternoon. When I was finally able to put the camera down for a while I got all the ponies out one at a time and pulled their blankets and gave them a little TLC and did some ground work with them. They were all about ready to crawl out of their skin from boredom and were VERY excited to get out on the long lead. I wasn't sure how the footing was going to be in the arena-to-be since it has rained around here so much this week. I didn't want to lunge them for fear of them slipping and sliding in the mud and wiping out so I just put them on the 15' lead and did a little ground work, getting them to listen to me, change directions, trot out a bit. Then I worked on showmanship type ground manners, moving away from me, not getting in my space. All three of them were snorty and jumpy as hell at first on the lead. It took me a little while to get them working in a circle and not taking off when I asked for a direction change. I know they knew what I wanted, but they just couldn't contain themselves. Poor bored ponies.

Hopefully this nice weather will stick around for a little while so they can get out and we can get some wet saddle blankets! They don't have any turnout at the moment because the pasture is "under construction" and the arena-to-be isn't fenced and the rest of the property is pretty much still a mess. Hopefully we'll get some B&A's of all that stuff coming soon!

Until then, here's hopin' the sun sticks around!!!

What is that?!?

Is that....the sun? Nooo...couldn't be! But it is!

The sun actually showed it's face this morning. Unfortunatley I was driving right into it on my way to work, but it was so pretty I couldn't not look at it. And no, I totally didn't snap a picture with my camera phone while I was driving down the freeway staring at the sunshine. And no, that is not the yellow line that I am totally crossing over while taking the picture either. I'm a totally safe driver and always obey the laws.

It's a pretty crappy picture, but I took my little camera out of my purse to load pictures and forgot to put it back in so my phone was the only camera I had with me and doesn't even begin to do the beautiful sky justice. It's all I had and just couldn't not snap a picture. Even though I was driving. 60 mph. Possibly (probably) more. Shhhh...

And please ignore the gross, dirty windshield.

And try to picture it way more impressive too. The pic is rather disappointing. The clouds were practically sparkling and they shaded the sun just right so I could see it. I think. I really had to look at it because it looked like a full moon hanging there. I'm pretty sure it was the sun though. I had to do a fact check...if the moon was there, then the sun would be more or less behind it and it would look more like a shadow, like it does when there is an eclipse. Right? Right?!? I really have no clue. I'm not an astronomer. I don't even play one on tv.

Regardless, it was a beautiful morning. I'm looking forward to some sun for a day or two. Hoping the weather guys aren't full of poop.

The Roll

Midori had fun rolling last week after her new hair cut. The pictures turned out kinda cute and kinda funny and I have to post them. If for no other reason then a total lack of inspiration for any other topic. And because I love my pony and think she is the cutest pony ever!

Sniffing around for the perfect spot...

Going down!

Oh yaaaaa...dirt!

And over she goes!

Oh, check out that lip! Must be a reeeally good spot! Check out that washboard stomach too! Do horses get six-packs?!?


Ok, just about done...



Ups-a-daisy!

Whew, that felt good!

Yeehaw!


And last...CHECK OUT THAT ASS!!!

My pony has the best ass! I like to grab it and pat it a lot. I give it hugs too.

Sun!

Bee-u-tee-ful sun!

Since I was a total rock star last weekend got at least a million and twelve things accomplished (okay, so it was more like 3, but they were big things!) I decided to just kick back, relax and enjoy the sunshine a bit tonight.

You know what relaxing and enjoying the sunshine means? Playing with the ponies and taking lots of pictures!

Here are a few of my favorites from the day.

I was trying to shoot the sun peeking out over Midori's neck, but she wouldn't stand still. This was the best I could do.

Then I decided to sit down in a corner of her paddock to get some pictures from a different angle. Thought it might be interesting.

Then she snarfed me.

So I shooed her away and she went to the opposite corner to pout.

Then I realized I had an audience.



The blackberry bushes behind me were full of little birds.

When I was done crawling around in the paddocks I noticed these cute little flowers. They are the only flowers I found on the property, other then dandelions, and though they weren't very impressive, it gave me something else to shoot. Trying to get the flowers in focus, the sun to shine thru them just right and Sug to cooperate so I had a horse silhouette in the background was tough work! I still don't think I totally hit it, but it's a cute enough picture.

Then I got to sit on the porch and eat the first barbecued bratwurst of the year with a beautiful view of the mountain, blue skies and the moon.

Does it get any better?

Sunday Stills Challenge - Motion

The first Sunday Stills challenge that I am taking is In Motion. "This can be anything that conveys motion." Since the weather around here is horrible this week and I can't really think of any indoor action shots that wouldn't suck, I decided to cheat just a little bit and go back to some older pictures.

This challenge also happens to coincide with a blog that's been percolating in my head since I took these pictures a month and a half ago. It has everything to do with motion and these pictures definately "convey motion"!

First off though, this is my "official entry" for the Sunday Stills Challenge: In Motion...

This was a beautiful, sunny day in January that we pulled the horses blankets and turned our two mares out together to romp and have some fun. This is Sugar and she was not waiting so patiently for her turn. This was about a half a second after her halter was off. Brat. There are a ton more motion shots here, where I originally blogged about that day. I was shooting on the continuous action shot mode. I did make a few minor adjustments in the color and exposure with my Windows Photo Gallery program to perk it up a little bit. Unfortunately, it does not edit out the obnoxious white electric tape fence.

When I was going thru all of the pictures from that day I noticed something interesting. I had to really pick thru the pictures of Sugar to find ones where she didn't look like she was about to fall over or like a complete retard. She just wasn't that graceful looking. Midori, on the other hand, was totally photogenic and I was hard pressed to find a bad action shot of her. Atleast one that was her fault or caught her in a bad position. There were some bad ones, but I was still getting used to my new camera and the bad ones of Midori were mostly my fault.

It is funny looking at it though.

First up, lets look at their roll. It's pretty much the first thing they do when they get out there.

Midori is on the top and this was the goofiest pic of her in the bunch. She is right in the middle of flipping sides so her back is arched and there is a lot of effort going into the roll. She still looks pretty coordinated though. The second pic is Sugar. This was a pretty typical picture of her rolling. Her legs are going every where and I've never seen her roll from one side to the other so all that effort is just going into getting mud on every single square inch of her.

Next up, the running.

Above is Midori running. Perfectly horsie and graceful. Below is Sug running. Perfectly...not horsie or graceful. I don't even know what is going on in the first picture. The last two I was waiting for the nose dive and flip, but somehow she caught herself and kept on going. No idea how she managed that. (Not sure why, but when the sun was bright in the picture it would show streaks, still need to do some research on the new camera to get that to stop, so just ignore the crappy quality of the shot and pay attention to how funny Sug looks!)

And last, their "bucks". I use the quote marks because they are pretty pathetic bucks. Not that I'm complaining.

Above is Midori's "buck". It's decent, coordinated. Spunky, but controlled. In the pic to the right Sug is the red head on the left and that is her "buck", if you can even call it that. I think the tail gives it away. There was obviously some effort, though she just looks gangly and awkward.

It really made me think looking thru those pictures and noticing just how different those girls really move. I wonder why they are so different also. I suppose it could be their age. Midori is coming 7-ish (she's not registered) and Sug is going to be 4 this year. They both look and move great under saddle. Sugar has never struck me as uncoordinated under saddle, just a little baby-ish at times.

The boyfriend says it's because of him, that she's a reflection of him, just like Midori is a reflection of me. lol I'm not sure that's entirely true in this particular case, but I think I'm going to go with it anyways.

So there's my pics of motion. I'm anxious to see what the next challenge is and hopefully I'll be able to actually challenge myself to take some new pics! :-)

Naked ponies frolicking

Since it was so sunny and pretty out on Sunday we decided to turn the ponies out naked for a bit. Boy did they have fun!

Midori went out first. This is her "I'm an Arab" look.

This is her "Yeehaw, I'm free!" run.

This is her half assed "Yeehaw, I'm free" buck. I don't mind that she's not a great bucker. :-)

This is her "wohoo, MUD" roll. Check out that lip! Must be a good spot.

Then out came Sugar. This is her going, "sha, FINALLY! I'm outta here!"

And literally, about 3 strides later, she just dropped and rolled. And then got up, switched sides and rolled again.

Then she jumped up and took off towards Midori. I think she was trying to buck in this pic. She can't buck to save her life. Usually about all she accomplishes is a couple really loud farts. It's hilarious!

And a couple of laps later, she's still going strong.

I think they had a blast out there. They came out sweaty, muddy gross messes, but it was worth it to watch them play. And I had a ton of fun with the continuous shoot mode on my camera!

Mister did not have quite as much fun. He isn't as insanely respectful of our dinky fence as the girls are (he likes to walk right under it) so he got turned out in the round pen by himself. Poor guy. He didn't romp around too much. In fact, I don't think I saw him get into more then a nice jog.

He was a dirty, muddy mess by the end of the day though so atleast he got a couple good rolls in!