Riding High

This Saturday, I loaded Iney up in the Barbie trailer and headed off to Fox Creek Horse Camp in Troutdale, Va.  It's "SUPPOSED" to be only 45 minutes away from my house, but the Nat'l Forestry Service gave some CRAZY directions.  Needless to say, it took me 2 hours to get there and I even ended up in NC at one point.  *SIGH*  Oh, well.  We got there in one piece, and I was very proud of that seeing as it was my first time driving a truck and trailer.  Whew!

 Iney munched on hay waiting on me to get my ride on...

 I met up with Nickie and Grace.  My Craigslist stalkers.  I met Grace (right on gray horse) 2 years ago when she came and took Blackie, our mini, off our hands.  I had listed him on Craiglist and she sounded like the best fit for our little guy.  She's an experienced horse lady and so much fun!  She, in turn, brought Nickie, who SHE met on Craigslist.  This is starting to sound kind of creepy, so I'll end the story about how we met. hee hee

 The best view a gal can have...

 Going up the Virginia Highlands Horse Trail.  We were in Mt. Rogers National Park in Grayson County.  It was BEAUTIFUL and about 10 degrees cooler than further down. 

 We had to figure out where we were going, so Grace refers to my map.

She gets a second opinion from her horse Sophie Mae.  Sophie said we needed to go back.  HA!

 Iney and me!!!

Sophie Mae and the wild pink roses. 

The mountain laurels were about a week from really busting out.  They were bountiful and beautiful.

 Iney loved being in the back of the pack.  At one point, she was in the lead and kept snorting.  We need to build up her confidence a bit, but every ride will do that.  This is only her 2nd ride. 

Nickie on Sugar, me on Iney.  I was BEYOND proud of my girl.  She crossed difficult water passages, bridges, mud, saw deer, heard the wild ponies, saw motorcycles, cars, crossed a busy road, picked through some very rocky terrain and didn't balk once.  She is really coming along as my trail buddy.  Oh, and with the correct directions, it did take me only 45 minutes to get home. 

Here We Go Again...

 Back in college I got into Endurance Racing.  We rode Arabians, and I broke my tail bone more times than not.  Those were some of my happiest times.  Since the days of my frivolous youth, I have transitioned into riding Quarter Horses.  The wonderful thing about Quarter Horses is that they are so gentle, sweet, and CALM.  Anna is the quintessential sweet QH, and then I have Iney.  Iney is an Appendix.  Which means she is 1/2 QH and 1/2 Thoroughbred.  Therefore, she's not AS calm as Anna.  Ha!  I joke that she has the body (and feet) of a Thoroughbred, but the mind of a QH.  I love this horse.  Her sire is a world champion show jumper, and that is one direction I hope to delve into in the future.  Two years ago, after talking with my friend Kay, she said she's interested in getting into endurance.  Kay is a wonderful horsewoman as well as a veterinarian.  I hadn't really thought about doing endurance again, as I no longer had an Arabian.  But, she said she had QH's and was planning on going really slow.  I signed up--thinking Iney would be perfect.  Iney had never been outside of a show barn, ridden outside of an arena, and NEVER on an endurance race.  Our conditioning was limited to riding in the pastures at our farm and neighboring pastures.  Looking back, I shake my head, because it was INSANE to take her on a 30 mile ride without ever being on a trail!  I just had/have such confidence on how well she was trained for 2 years under professional horsemen and women.

Here is Iney and I, 2 years ago at the Virginia Highland's Endurance Race.  It was literally 15 miles up Iron Mountain and 15 miles down Iron Mountain.  I still feel bad for being overly cautious with pushing Iney, because we came in on time, but Iney didn't cool down fast enough for us to have actually qualified as finishing on time.  So, Kay, here is my public apology!!!  I was just so scared of injuring my loved mare. 

We DID finish, and without injury, so I still consider it a success.  This year I know better.  I have 2 months of conditioning to do to get ready!  YIKES!

 Iney chilling out at the trailer.

 About 10 miles in or so.  Iney had really hit her stride, and was doing great.  I was so proud of her!

This was taken at the vet check.  She had all A's on her report card, and was calm.  The only disturbance on this ride was Iney's lack of enthusiasm to cross water.  She did ok at first and then decided it was much better to JUMP all water crossings.  Ultimately, she ended up kicking Kay's horse, Hank The Wonder Horse, and injuring his back hock.  Sorry Hank.  SO, this year, we are doing lots of trail riding, we are going to work on water crossing, and I WILL finish under time.  What's better?  I've encouraged my horsey friend, Grace, to join me!  She has a beautiful gray QH that she'll ride.  Fun times ahead!!! 

The Awkward Stage...

The Dixie Chicks are now 3 weeks old, and have left the cute a fuzzy stage behind. They are now sporting the "dinosaur" look as I call it. Their feathers are really coming in, you can certainly tell in the picture above the Black Barred Rocks and Rhode Island Reds are just that. Black and red. They have huge feet compared to their bodies, and they like to stretch their necks and peer at you with a quizzical eye...

The black one here is Blanche. She's my favorite (for now). She is the one that is the most demonstrative and the one that is always the first to try a new treat. The two in the back are Ida Mae and Goldie.


Here are the girls eating their plain yogurt. I originally recycled a cup of strawberry Greek yogurt Pyper didn't finish, and they LOVED it, but with it having artificial sweeteners, I figured it may not be good for my ladies. So, I decided to go with plain yogurt for them. I also figured if I wasn't going to give artificial sweeteners to my chicks, I shouldn't/wouldn't feed it to my human chick either. Sorry, Pyper, you're going to get plain yogurt with fresh fruit in it from now on...





This RIR that is facing the camera is Myrle. She is a hoot. She's always on Blanche's heels and is her right wing gal.





You may be wondering where I'm coming up with these names. A while back, I started naming my animals after family members whose names were quite....antiquated. That's PC, right? Knowing I'd never name one of my children Mable, or Elmer, or Nelly, I've decided to honor my relatives by naming my much loved pets after them. The Dixie Chicks will all be named after my Grannie Iney's sisters and then other female relatives.





My Appendix mare, Iney, is named after my Grannie Iney, and her signature color was purple. So, my horse Iney's signature color is purple as well.

Last week we bought 4 goldfish for our water troughs. These two are the only 2 that have survived. Gold Member and Goldie. Willie and Willamina died. Gold Member and Goldie are thriving, and we realized it's because the horses were using their watering trough the last few weeks, so we were adding water, thus Oxygen, to the tank. The others up top didn't have any additional water, or shade, so they essentially cooked. Lesson's learned. We will add water to the troughs whether or not we are using them.

This is Smelly Nelly. She was named after one of my Grannie's sisters, Nelly. I added the Smelly part because she used to have a problem with gas...that's all I'll say about that.

This is Hammish, or Shannon's cat. He named him. He wanted to name our future son (if we ever have one, Hammish). I was horrified by this name, and decided when we adopted this kitty HE could be named Hammish instead. Whew! Dodged that bullet. Anyways, Hammish is our garden kitty. He lays in the garden for hours waiting, and watching for any movement. He normally takes care of any pests that venture out there. Here on the back deck, he likes to perch, because he have a perfect view of the garden below.

Intro To Me

My husband, Shannon, and I have been married two years now. I often wonder, "How in the world did I end up in the mountains of rural Virginia?" Well, it's quite simple, really. He is a pharmacist and loved his job here in SW Va, and I was a program analyst in Northern Va and hated mine. So, naturally, I followed him to build our lives and buy our nameless farm. We had looked at what seemed like dozens of homes, and when we saw this old, but newly renovated Craftsman bungalow, none of the other houses had a chance. Needless to say, we fell in love with this home that was built in 1900. It was spring when we bought the house...if we only knew what was to come...

The house was perfect, or so we thought. It is perfect. Perfectly flawed, as only old homes can be. Our pipes froze in the winter, the baseboard heat didn't keep up with the demand of below freezing temperatures, and in January of last year, we got an electric bill of $968! That was our first winter in our home. Oh, and we had a newborn baby that we had to keep warm. Baseboard heat and 10 foot ceilings don't mix.

We have fared better this winter. We had a heat pump put in (thank God!), a gas fireplace put in the family room and a wood burning stove put in the basement in case of power outages. That, and the fact that this winter has been far milder than last year's, we haven't suffered too badly.

We have just under 10 acres, so for all intents and purposes, we will call it 10 acres. 10 acres of rolling hills of pasture, some very steep meadows, a creek, and a huge old barn that once housed sheep, cattle and various other farm critters. Now, the barn is home to Anna, my Paint/Quarter Horse mare, her filly, Abby, a solid black Paint yearling and Iney, a 16.1 hh Appendix mare. In May we are expecting our first chicks to be added to the barn and hopefully not to the dinner plates of resident hawks, owls and barn cats.

All of this happening on the beautiful "gentleman's farm" with no name. Shannon and I have been racking our brains for catchy names, family names, names that make people ask what it means, anything, but nothing sounds right. So, as of now, two years after buying this farm, we have the farm without a name. I keep thinking that one day, I'll hear something, the clouds will part, angels will sing, and I will have found the name for our nameless farm.

So, for those of your out there in never, never cyber land, I ask you, "What constitutes a respectable, catchy, farm name?" I may never have the answer, but while I'm waiting, I'll share with you all the situations I put my poor husband through, funny antidotes of my daughter's, the sad ignorance I portray daily in owning a farm, and my love for God, my family and animals.