Getting Together With Friends

I had the opportunity to ride with my good buddies, Cathy and Traci, at San Felasco Hammock Preserve in Alachua County yesterday. I absolutely love these trails as they are the closest place around with such a variety of trails with rolling hills and creeks. We share the park with cyclists and they are all so polite....they either stop or announce theirselves so that our horses aren't spooked.

We saw a big ole rattler on one trail and a cottonmouth on another. The rattler was quietly sunning himself about 3 ft off of the trail. Later in the day, we stirred up several deer.

At one point, Cathy had a little hitchhiker on her helmet. Don't worry, no tree frogs were harmed in the making of this blog post. Of course her horse Busta went down in the water .... AGAIN.....

San Felasco is very beautiful....I wish they allowed overnight camping. It makes for a long day with a 1-1/2 hour drive out there, a 4-1/2 hour ride and then another 1-1/2 hour drive home. It's still well worth it!

Friday evening, my good friend Charlotte came over for dinner and we had a grand time catching up on each others lives. She doesn't ride anymore since her gelding died last year, but if she's ever ready, she knows that she can come with me anytime.

We had a great meal that my husband Bobby prepared and then chatted for hours. She was so sweet to bring me flowers!

Today, Bobby, Mom and I drove to Gainesville to celebrate my Mother in law's 78th birthday. We had a great visit and a yummy lunch. We stopped by my daughter's place in Melrose on the way home.

Here are the rest of the pictures of the weekend..... PHOTOS (I'll add Traci's photos tomorrow)

Withlacoochee Fall Trail Ride

My friends and I had a great weekend near Jasper, FL riding along the Withlacoochee River and the Twin Rivers State Park. We went to McCulley Farms for their annual fall ride along with about 200 other like minded folks. We had wonderful cool weather, warm campfires, entertainment and great food to boot!
I got graphics put on my trailer to match our brand while I was there and I really like it. We joined their long guided ride on Saturday with 32 other riders and enjoyed a 4-5 hour ride along the river and sinks. We stopped at a spring along the way for a catered lunch....yum, yum!

Several different groups met up for lunch and then continued on their separate ways to meet back up at the ranch for a tack/yard sale. I was able to sell my Australian saddle in less than 5 minutes of setting it out! It paid for my weekend and my graphics - what a deal!

Due to the major flooding earlier in the year, we passed a refrigerator in one tree and a recliner in another. The McCulleys have a wonderful place and are very gracious hosts - if you ever get a chance, join them for one of their special rides or you can camp quietly any other weekend during the year. There are plenty of trails and you can camp with electricity or primitive.

Here are the rest of the photos that my friends and I took during the weekend.

Two Weekend Catch Up

My daughter Jenny just turned 27 and we had a nice family get together for her last weekend. We enjoyed low country boil and cold beer. (of course there was iced tea as well). Jenny and her boyfriend Joel were there of course, along with me, Bobby, my sister Robbin, her husband Tim, their son JT, Mom and my good friend Cathy. She was the chef extraordinaire for our shindig. You can more photos of the day HERE.

Jen and I had a good mother daughter ride the day before and although the day was smokin' hot, we had a good ride and hung out to watch a Mounted Police/Posse challenge.

Jenny captured this touching photo of a police officer and his daughter and below you can see him making his run.



My two new foster cats are doing well, but my favorite little cat that I took in last year has been missing for a whole week. I saw him the day of the party, but he never greeted me Monday morning. I knew he would hide from all the people, but he usually shows right back up. He is my Siamese mix who acts like a dog. He runs and plays with the dogs and follows me back and forth to the horse pen when I feed up. I sure do miss him and hope he shows back up. Hope you are okay, Sammy.

This past Saturday, Cathy and I met our friend Traci and a new group she's riding with for a poker ride at one of our favorite places nearby - Black Creek Ravines. It was a nice day - not too hot - and we got to meet some new friends. There were 3 Freisians in the group....I've never seen 3 Freisians together on a trail ride before. They were lovely and powerful looking. Maybe you can see the pictures that were taken HERE. (these were taken by someone else and are on a Kodak online account)

Where did the weekend go?

Bobby and I had a very busy weekend. I took my Friday off and spent most of the day working in the horse pen, picking up poop, spreading it in the yard and trying to get the pen leveled out so we can use it to ride in as well. I've taken down the round pen and am using the panels as fencing. I rode each horse bareback for a little while just for fun. Although they all look fat and happy, Stylin's back bone was not feeling very good to my cheekies so I think I'll be bumping up her feed just a little.

Bobby and I spent all day Saturday at Emmaus training and then this morning we had to go into church very early to help greet and show people around during our Consecration Service for the new community family life center that was recently completed.

After church, a friend from work brought me two new cats - a mother and one kitten - we'll probably keep the mom, have her spayed and try to find a home for the kitten. She had taken in the stray female and discovered after the fact that she was pregnant. Then another friend brought me a load of hay. We unloaded 50 bales and now have a good connection for hay through the winter. In between all of that, I've done 4 loads of clothes as well. I'm a little "wo" out.

I've recently begun trimming our three horses' hooves . Today was Maybe's turn. I've read Pete Ramey's book and lots and lots on line and purchased a hoof stand to make it a little easier on my back. I am just using a rasp and by doing a horse each weekend, they each will be getting trimmed/cleaned up every three weeks. That's makes it much easier to stay on top of any issues. I'm working on Stylin's toe cracks by making sure her toe is rounded (it used to be kinda squarish) and just started Lysol treatment today. Maybe's front hooves were a little long so I've been backing up her toes and and addressing her flares slowly. Dixie's feet are pretty good as they are and I just have to clean her up and roll her toes. I'm glad my trimmer and I have a good relationship and he always allowed me to watch and ask questions. I'll probably pay him to come out and check out the girls in a couple of months to see how I'm doing.

I couldn't have a post without a picture so I just took a couple of the new cats....they are dark, but you get the idea. Mom is a small black and white short hair and the baby is a calico type color. Mom looks young and is very sweet. We'll get her fattened back up and she may get to stay in the house instead of joining the other barn cats. She'll have to learn to get along with the dogs if she's going to stay inside.

Rainy Day Smiles

We didn't let the rain stop us from having a fun time on the trails this weekend.

How can you not smile at this cute combination? This is Cory and Beauty. She hung with us on the 3.5 hour ride with probably half of it in the rain. Stayed in the saddle like a champ when her pony spooked and never complained.

Didn't we all dream of having a cute little pony like this?

Cathy was all smiles riding Maybe as well. Her stress free ride on a well mannered horse has given her more determination to put the work in with her horse Busta.

This is what we looked like after the first downpour.....first it was a nice, cool sprinkle, but then it turned into a steady rain. No lightning, so we decided to continue. The rain helped with the bugs and the heat.

The sun came out and held the rain at bay until we were loading our ponies back up in the trailers. We all got totally soaked again!

Fun on the Farm

Stylin and I went on a solo trail ride this morning and had a good time. The mosquitos were awful but at least they were only in spells. We saw a black snake, a moccasin and some turkey hens. We did a lot a trotting and gave our new Renegade Hoof Boots a good test.

Later on in the evening, after getting my chores done, I got on Dixie bareback and tried to take a video with my cell phone.

In this video I got her to canter and hold on to the cell phone, but when I asked her to stop - she stopped hard and I almost went onto her neck. Then you can here me cackling - I tickled myself - but I am easily amused. :-) The sound may not come across.... :-(

Does this saddle make my butt look big? :-0

I recently saw a picture of myself and Stylin and it looked like I was too big for my saddle. I was embarrassed and heartbroken because I LOVE the saddle and it fits my horse very well. I was considering trading it in, but just couldn't do it. I decided that Stylin and I liked it and that was that. Then a friend took a picture of me today and I see that the saddle isn't too small - it just has a very low cantle. Whew! I bought this Sharon Saare endurance saddle over a year ago; it's very well made, and is comfortable even on long rides.

I rode today at the Jacksonville Equestrian Center again today with Marilyn, her friend Susan and Traci. The JEC has marked the equestrian trails now and we explored some more. There is an 8 mile trail that goes to Pope Duval Park off US 90 which I've heard goes under I-10. Dixie came up a little lame so we didn't try to go the whole way. We'll save it for another time when it's a little cooler, pack a lunch, start out early and make a full day of it.

Traci rode my Dixie today because her property is too wet to get her big trailer out.

Marilyn rode her Arab, Spirit and let her friend Susan ride her new little Kentucky mule, Bonnie. Bonnie is such a cute little thing and her feet are tough as nails. She just had her shoes pulled a week or so ago and she never had a problem today. She's so different from Marilyn's other mule Clyde - in size and personality.