I can't think of a better way to celebrate an anniversary than by going out for dinner and a trail ride afterwards! ;-) What a fabulous evening! It is so great to be back in the riding routine and have the horses back on pasture.

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I am such a sap, I just had to put together a video of Tracy and Chy's memories. I guess it is closure for me. Click the link below:

At 9:20 a.m. on Wednesday morning, Chy stepped off the trailer and landed on NY soil. Inspite of the long trip, he was in excellent shape and ready to "rock and roll" as Deirdre says. She even managed a short ride on him later in the day and said he was a perfect gentleman. I love this picture of Molly hugging Chy. He seems a bit distracted at the time, but tomorrow will be a whole different story.....she will have green horse slobber all over her in no time!

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Chy and new owners, Molly & Deirdre in New York.

I was scrolling through some old pics because I think it is interesting that Chy's FIRST little girl was also named Molly. She bought Chy when he was 2, started him under saddle and then sold him to us as a 4 year old. She was 16 years old at the time. Here are some pics of her for fun. Chy sure has filled out since then! I sure wish we all grew older so gracefully. ;-)

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Chy and his first owner, Molly in Washington State.

Back to good ol' Chocolate boy --- Erin and I had a wonderful ride last night. We even managed to do a bit of trotting and cantering this time. lol. I am so ready to get myself and Reese in shape. The night was cool and few bugs..which was so nice. I had moved the horses to pasture earlier in the day so by the time we rode, Reese was more than content -- a belly full of grass. I need to run over and check on them this morning. It was SO funny --- when I hauled them over, I unloaded Reese first and let him eat grass while I got Zig out. When I walked out with him, Reese KNEW what we were up to and started walking right ahead of us, towards the pasture -- up this little dirt road. All of a sudden he went into a canter, full steam head!! Ruby was right in front of him and my heart was in my throat. Those little legs were going as fast as they could....like "help!!!" -- I saw his chocolate butt disappear around the corner and then I heard a gate banging....ugh, I couldn't imagine what was going on. (ruby then showed up, panting..coming back to me thank goodness) I came around the corner and there he was quietly grazing next to the pasture gate. hummmm....was I hearing things? Upon closer inspection, I saw right at the gate there were 4 long skid marks in the grass - he must have planned to gallop through the gate and then realized it wasn't open far enough or something. What a goof!!! I was SO glad he wasn't hurt!! Geesh.....

AND today is my wedding anniversary! Married a whopping 26 years! Every year it is always so busy, that we brush over this day and plan to celebrate later in the summer and it never happens. We have gotten used to a simple dinner, which is probably what we will do again. Probably head to the Albany...our favorite burger spot.

Have a super day everyone!!!!

Tracy came home this weekend to say good by to her faithful and loyal friend, Cheyene. It is time to let go in order for him to be truely loved again by another little girl that needs him. As we rode we both agreed that letting him go 'feels right' - and it was time, but you don't say goodbye to such a special horse without many tears. There will never ever be another Chy boy. I know Tracy would not be the person she is today without him in her life. He taught her so many things and gave her confidence in herself.

We rode about 8 miles with lots of trotting and cantering -- we rode out by the dunes for a change. It was just wonderful.....I will cherish these moments forever.

A few pics below and some goofy video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2v-HpN-jtQ

The FIRST nice day in a while and I warned Tom ahead of time that I was cutting out of work by 3 to ride. Knowing how cranky I have been lately due to NOT riding, he answered, "GREAT!" LoL.

I loaded up the dogs and Reese and hauled to the trails. At first, I thought Reese might be a handful, but he was just a little anxious about the black flies and kept wanting to move around as I tacked him. A good dose of fly spray and he was golden. ;-) My rides seem to be few and far between...so the minute I sat in my saddle, it was like I hit a button and jet rocketed to 'happy land' lol. What is it about being on the back of the horse that does so much for the soul? I also realized the value in the miles I have put on Reese these past 2 years - we can take time off and yet I can just hop on him and go. His canter was absolutely beautiful and we did his amazing extended trot quite a while. It felt SO great. I appreciate this horse so much!

We headed up the trail - the afternoon was beautiful with a beautiful breeze. Ruby and Pete are such great company - it is a joy to have them along. I took a little video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v =iy_k3EZ2Ql8

Here are a couple pics:

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Tracy is due home this morning.....and we are planning a nice ride this afternoon. I am really glad she gets to ride one last time and say goodbye...although I know she plans to visit Chy in NY in the not-to-long future. ;-)

UPDATE: Chy is still with us. Saturday came and went without a follow up call from the hauler....we knew something was up because he has been a great communicator up til now. I left a second message and his voice mail box was full - another sign that something happened.......Sunday morning Phil was able to reach us and was very apologetic. He was on his way to TX and his truck broke down in MO. He was stranded without cell phone service in the middle of nowhere. At this point, the haul is rescheduled for late this week or weekend. Tom is hoping he doesn't have to drive on the holiday, so hopefully sooner than later. In the meantime Chy gets to stay a bit longer...probably a good thing since it was TOO cold to give him a bath last weekend and I hated to send him to NY dirty! lol.

I hauled alot of my tack/equip and water buckets etc. to the pasture yesterday. Once it dries up and Chy is gone we will haul the 2 horses over there.......instead of riding, I have been going on long walks with the dogs...it's been very peaceful and nice.

More later. ;-)

Cheyene leaves us this Sunday. ;-( Tom will haul him as far as Grand Rapids and the hauler will take him the rest of the way. We are using Pride of the Fleet. They sound wonderful! I still don't have any regrets and am excited to see him start his new life with Deirdre and Molly. I guess that is when you know it is meant to be when you feel at peace.

I bathed him again last weekend and no sooner had I turned my back and he rolled - UGH! I hate white horses!!! LoL. (Deirdre good luck keeping that boy clean! HA) At least when Zig did it, you can't see just how deep the dirt went! lol. I bathed all 3 horses again and cleaned Zig and Reese's shealth....first time for those two and they were so good. I have been getting them out eating grass for about an hour a day to prepare them for the pasture. Chy will have pasture in NY and Zig and Reese will go to our pasture next week....after Chy leaves. I am looking forward to moving alot less tack....and going through less hay and hauling less water this summer. BUT, I know I will miss the bugger - it won't be the same around here as we adjust. 10 years is a long time to have a horse...it will be an adjustment for him too. But by the sounds of it, Chy is going to be in horse heaven...lots of attention, riding, showing, grooming and pampering!

I was thinking as I was brushing Zig today....how we have come full circle....back to 2 horses. Zig and a mare named Star where our very first curlies....so many years later, Zig is still here as many horses have come and gone.....only difference is instead of Star, I have Reese. Just interesting.....

I washed all the tack and have everything organized to take to the pasture for the summer riding season. I can't wait..I am dying to put miles on Reese again...and burn off some stress. ;-) I am hoping that Tom and I can haul out a few times and go on more rides together....

I bought a new helmet, a Charles Owen but it is WAY too hot! So I am sending it back and getting the new Tipperary Sportage Plus helmet in chocolate brown. They say they are great for endurance/distance riding. Much more comfortable than the troxels. So we shall see.

Weekend ahead.......hoping to ride tomorrow!

Some pics taken on Mom's day. Left to right: Denise & Tom; Tracy & Ruby- taken in late April...love that pic!

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I called Erin to go on a trail ride with me last night. Everything worked out and I hauled Reese over there. I took Ruby and Pete -- Ruby is getting into the routine finally! While I was tacking Reese up in the round pen, the dogs were so excited they started chasing each other around and around...between Reese's legs, around by his head.....Reese had his head down eating grass....I think a bomb could have gone off and he didn't care one bit! One time, when Ruby wasn't paying attention she bumped into his back leg and Reese just stepped calmly forward. It was too funny!!

I then headed out, with dogs loaded. We had a wonderful ride and as always an awesome chat. So much so, that we forgot to take advantage of the areas where we could trot and canter.....but that's okay, next time, eh Erin?

The horses are still shedding their winter hair, I am going to bathe this weekend again before we take them to the pasture. The corral has dried up rather nice so maybe they will stay clean even if it's another week before we move them.

Nothing else new really - I am just glad to be able to haul out to ride again -- I must admit I am a bit sore, but it feels great!

Hope you are all enjoying the spring riding too!

Off Topic a bit here this morning. I just had to share with you something a friend of mine told me about (Lisa from Sterling Curlies) and it's so awesome, I felt it was worth putting on my blog.

CHIA SEED

What is it? Chia seed is a tiny black seed that humans can take with amazing health benefits. I started sprinkling 1-2 TBS on my oatmeal every morning and I can not believe how great I feel. I have low-blood sugar which affects my energy and my cravings throughout the day, but since eating Chia Seed, I feel so much more stable during the day and able to deal with stress SO much better! I also have incredible energy!! It offers as much calcium is 3 glasses of milk, as much iron as 5 cups of spinich and all the omegas of 28 oz of salmon! Pretty powerful stuff, eh? It is also great for digestion. Anyway, there are many websites online to learn more, here is just one of them: http://www.thyroid-info.com/articles/chia.htm

For Dogs?

Yes! I also started this a.m. putting just a 1/4 tsp. in Ruby's breakfast. It is supposed to boost immune systems in dogs and also help with skin/coat conditions. I am trying to keep her diet as natural as I can because we suspect she may have mild allergies. http://chiaforhealth.com/chiafordogs.html

Where to buy?

This is where I buy mine. http://naturalremi-teas.com/ChiaSeeds.htm

I also make granola bars, which was suggested to me by Lisa. So this summer when I am out on my long trail rides, I can toss one of those in my backpack and I am good to go! I am just so excited about this, I just had to pass it along!

Goodness, I can't believe in the last month just how little I have ridden! Work had dominated my schedule it seems and once out of the routine of riding, I guess it just gets easy to say, "maybe tomorrow" --- why does that seem to happen when riding does so much for our inner spirit??  It has been SO beautiful - maybe a bit chilly but I love this time of year..no bugs!! I knew I had better get busy and ride or I would regret it.

My trailer hitch has been broken since our caroling ride (still usable if I wanted to do the redneck thing) and I told Tom on Saturday if I didn't get to ride on Sunday I was going to go insane! (I really wanted to haul out for a nice long ride.) Tom takes those comments literally (HA) and went right to work on taking the hitch apart and found a welder to fix it asap. I was impressed!

So yesterday afternoon (after trying to get another horse buddy to ride with me, but to no avail) I decided it was going to be just me and Reese and my new dog Ruby and good ol' Pete. It was so cool because I have done this so many times with Reese that he knows the routine, we tack, he loads himself, positions his body right next to the tiny hay pile in the trailer and away we go. ;-)

What a GREAT ride. Reese was exceptional and this being Ruby's first trail ride (she has only been off leash 2 times before) she did amazing!! She followed Pete's lead and stayed close and kept checking to see where I was. She even did well when we trotted and cantered...she kept her distance and stayed behind...then at the walk, she moved back in front and up ahead. One time when Reese sort of does his deep moan she tucked her tail and stepped aside, but then realized he wasn't a bear growling! lol. She learned to ignore his goofy sounds after a while. ;-) (he has been known to chase her in the corral)

One really neat thing on the trip which is so typical curly is that Reese stepped over this rather big branch that was 1/2 buried in the dry leaves and I felt him kick out (rather abruptly) one of his legs in back. I thought maybe he was kicking at the dogs who were fairly close. (which would be odd for him, since he has never done that before) And then he just stopped and stood still. I looked down and there was this huge branch there, so I dismounted. This branch had 2 long branches off it and one end was stuck in front of his hind foot and the other was jamming him up near the groin area! Poor Reese! I helped him out of his tangled mess and he stood like a statue. What a good boy.

No pics, my camera is busted...GGrrrrrr...whatever will I do???

p.s. This is the NY therapeutic riding center that Chy will be a part of (among his other duties like pony club etc.) once he leaves us. Click here

While having Chy xrayed last week, I took Reese down to the vet too. I wanted to have a flexion test done on him and I also wanted to get Dr. M's opinion on Reese as a CTR/Endurance prospect. I was worried I would be forcing something on Reese that he was not built to do, even at a low key pace. What she said comforted me. She said because he has such a deep & narrow girth, she felt he would do great. (unlike Chy who is very wide through the ribs with a shallow girth) She even thought he had a little 'gaiting' going on as I trotted him off for the test. I do know he has an extended trot to die for, so who knows. At this point, my goal is to do a CTR (25 miles) in September and work towards that this summer. Right now I need to focus on Cheyene and get him settled and figure out what we are doing with selling our lake house.

SO, Reese sits another week until we move them to pasture. Once he sheds out, I am going to take some pictures because I think he looks REALLY good this spring. I am feeding him 1/2 cup of soybean meal per day along with his 2 cups basic grain and vitamin E added. I know for a fact the soybean meal and vit E are what is making the difference. It is fun to finally find the right recipe for him. Can't wait to get his hind built up and then he will look amazing! ;-) All in good time.

Ruby is doing really well. I even took her off leash last nite on our walk. Gosh, she is such a cuddler! At least 3 times a day she insists on being in my lap and then flops on my chest like this -- it's hilarious. She is such a great dog.