Home Away From Home

I am home. I left My Boy at the beginning of a thunder and lightening storm. The weather took a change this evening. But we had great horsin' around weather all day. We got in a ride in the late morning, before it got too warm and muggy.

I worked on side passing. My Boy side passes well to the right, but has a tougher time going to the left. Which, coincidentally, is the side he is stiff on. Something to make a note of.

Here we are lined up over the log, ready to begin.

Can you see my short left leg just pushed into his side? Sometimes I feel like my legs are nothing but wet fettucini noodles pushing into a brick wall.

I am thankful my sister snapped these series of photos. Look at how my upper body is completely leaning to the left. Which way is my horse side passing? To the right. Which way should my torso and seat bones be leading him? To the right!

It was a good, mellow ride. The warm weather always makes my horse a bit lazy.

Did you know we have a tree that watches us while we ride?

I am sorry if you are having flashbacks of those scary trees from "The Wizard of Oz" right now.

This part of the arena fence line is starting to overgrow with temptation. How My Boy passes this section of rail without snagging a bite, is beyond me. But he does. Good boy.

After I rode, I hosed down My Boy and began to suds and condition his tail. I decided to wait on doing the full body bath until right before our guest ranch trip in August.

After air drying, I detangled My Boy's tail then took him out to graze. The grass in "the meadow" is about 4 ft. tall and beginning to seed right now.

The goats had been tethered out all day to enjoy the spring grass, as well. Later, I helped my sister put them away. It is always fun watching her do goat round-up, while I man the gate so the horses wouldn't escape. Last night, I tried helping with goat round-up and failed miserably. I had Ralph on the lead rope and he took off running towards the pasture. Goats do not stop when they are on leadrope. I should have let go but held on and then hit a hole in the grass and bit it. My sister said she wished she'd had the camera. I'd prefer that my less than stellar goat-wrangling skills not be caught on film at this point.

I visited with Edgar, one of my favorite goats. I love his little goat beard and his one nubbin horn. He is very personable.

Edgar has very interesting eyes. They are amber yellow and have a rectangular shaped pupil.

It was a productive visit to the Painted Creek. My sister and her boyfriend take good care of me. Yesterday I got a burger, fries, and chocolate shake for lunch. Homemade omelet for dinner. Today, a Butterfinger ice cream bar for a hot afternoon snack. And tonight before I left, BBQ baby back ribs and homemade fried potatoes with those little crunchy onion toppers on them. Goodness. With all the good food and my most favorite spotted in the world horse up there, why wouldn't I want to go back? Oh yes, heat up the waffle maker, I'll be back for the 4th of July!