Beach Ride

Sorry, no pics this week, we decided to just leave the camera at home and have a personal weekend for my birthday. We rode a lot, took Bassira along, she had fun! Was upset when we put her back in the pasture then went out again, she stood there calling away wanting to come along again. 

Tonight we went riding on the beach, it was a nice evening ride, a bit windy but not bad. The highlight of the evening was watching a pod of whales about 200 yds directly off shore for about 30 minutes, shortly before sunset. They put on quite a show for us, we were up on top of the dunes so could see them really well, it was spectacular!  Then we watched the sunset from horseback, which is always a pretty sight over the ocean.  

Will have more pics up next week, definately bringing the camera along, we are headed over to the Rodeo (going to ride over the ridge on Friday to get there) then Shasta is going to be riding one of the mares in the barrels so we will have lots to take pics of... Make sure to check back!

The best weekend ever!!

We spent last weekend in the Trinity Alps, which was my pick for my Birthday trip. We went a week early so Shasta could go with us since she had the rare weekend off from work. It was by far the funnest trip I have ever gone on! I put the pictures in my Photobucket album because there are so many of them! Definitely check them out, but here are a few random ones...

Early Sunday Morning, anyone recognise this pretty girl?

Sunday afternoon coming back from the lake - The small buck. We came across this guy and his buddy first, he is the smallest, a pacific fork way out past his ears (look close,might have to click on it), and he was with a tall 3 x 3. Then there were two more HUGE ones up the hill. This guy didn't even care about us, he stood about 30 yards from us (by the rock pile on the left) for a few minutes and was just walking off here. We then ran the horses up the hill to follow and they just calmly walked through the trees not even caring about us. The bigger bucks didn't stick around though, they were wiser than that! Still, one of the most amazing things ever! We were so stunned that we forgot to take pics, finally remembered to get this one! 

Lots of flowers. The wildflowers were blooming like crazy, so many different kinds, it was just beautiful!

The boys, being silly!

On the way to the lake, the pictures are deceptive, it is a rough & dangerous trail, no room for any error on parts of it (no pics of the worst because it is just too dangerous to have the camera out). The granite is very slippery for the horses and it is sharp, jagged and big, not to mention steep drop offs  too. The horses all did great though, but they definitely  have to trust their riders to get through this safe.

Headed home... But it was still one heck of a good ride!!!

Also, from the weekend before, our new wagon!

It is normally covered in canvas, which we will put on when we use it. It has a camp box on the back, place for 2-3  ice chests, lots of storage, 2 beds... We are going to do some serious camping out of it!!

This weekend we are planning to go back to the basin, so should have some more good pics next week. 

Malmseys!

We have finally gotten our new website up and running! Please check it out and let us know what you think. http://www.Malmseys.com and the new blog http://malmseys.blogspot.com. If you would like to order before August 31, 2008 e-mail me and I will send you a promotion code to use for a 15% discount!! A great opportunity to get some Christmas shopping done.

4th of July Parade!

Wow, where did the weekend go?? We started Friday bright and early heading over to Weaverville for the 4th of July parade,  "The Boys" pulled the restored "Weaverville to Redding" stagecoach for the event. We brought Jarrett's boys over to see the parade, meet the horses and they even got to ride in stagecoach. They loved it! 

All of the boys!

A view from the stagecoach during the parade.

Hyram is taking the shotgun job very seriously!

Saturday we trimmed some feet then saddled up and did an 18 mile ride up to Jarrett's Cousin's house on South Fork Mountain. Jarrett rode Bailey, it was her second time out on the trail and she did great! Other than not really knowing much reining she acted like an old pro! And by the end of the ride she was even reining pretty well! We even had to ride on the highway for a mile or so and they were all great, even with the semi running his jake brake going by us. 

On top of the world! Wait, you aren't supposed to drop the reins on a horses second trail ride, are you?

Me, Glory, and Girly...  Girly was being lazy, she needs to get back in shape!! 

Sunday we were going to ride back to the valley but we still had about 4 tons of hay to unload, then Jason's truck just quit running and we had to tow him and his trailer, so we just trailered the horses back home.

12 tons of hay, stacked to the rafters, We are set for winter!! 

Our wonderful towing adventure, it was a slow ride pulling a 1 ton truck and 4 horse stock trailer up a mountain, but at least we had fun doing it! 

We finally got home at 11:30, and that was it for the weekend...   Next week we should be heading over to get our new wagon! We are very excited, so now I really have to get Holly going so the girls can pull it! 

Oh, and some final pics from last week that I didn't get up then:

What a pair!



My little Bassira is getting so big, and is still as cute as ever!! She is 2 years and 3 months, so still has some growing to do! I'll wait until she is 4 or 5 before I even think about riding her, we have plenty of horses to ride and there is no reason to ruin a good horse by riding her before then! Even though she is big enough physically you can still tell just by looking at her that she isn't ready, her joints aren't closed and she still has that baby look. She will start going on pack trips with us this year though just to tag along and learn the ropes by carrying the sleeping bags.

 

Fishing, Breaking horses, and Fires!

I thought weekends were for resting... Not ours, it was busy & exhausting, but fun! Friday we saddled up Zeta and took Jarrett's boys for rides, they love the horses!

 The 2 yr olds checking each other out!

 Friday night we went to the lake and did some fly fishing for Bluegill. While they were not horribly active it was a lot of fun and we fished until it was too dark to see.

Jarrett's first fish of the day, even holding it out that far dosn't help! 

 This was not the biggest of the day, but closer to it, even so those small guys are a heck of a lot of fun! This was only my second time fly fishing and Jarrett taught me the right way to do it, so I was having a blast!

 A view of the lake through the smoke, most of the time visibility was only about 1/2 mile. A fire could be close and you would never know it. They have closed the Yolla Bolly wilderness because they cannot even find all of the fires out there due to the smoke.   Saturday we got up and checked the fire maps and one showed the Lime fire had crested the ridge and started decending the mountain above Jarrett's cousins house, so we loaded up the chain saw and headed his way to see what was really going on. Up there the smoke was worse, you couldn't see much at all so we drove up to the top of the ridge and found no close fire. We are still not sure what the map was talking about, so we spent the rest of the day cleaning out his barn to prepare it for hay. 

Sunday we had Shasta come out and ride Bailey because she is going to ride her in the Barrels at the Ruth Rodeo in August. Shasta has ridden a lot, but never on this green of a horse! We talked her through it and they both did great!
 

 Jarrett started just lunging Bailey while Shasta sat quiet on her back, (Bailey has only been led with a rider on her back up to this point), after a few minutes Shasta started using the reins along as a supplement to what Jarrett was asking Bailey to do from the ground. Then Jarrett only held the line for saftey and Shasta had complete control.  Bailey never tensed up or offered any thought of a buck. 

 Reining is still sticky but coming along quickly.

Monday Shasta was trotting and loping her around the yard so they even took a ride to the top of the mountain and back, only about a 5 mile ride, but apparently Bailey was perfect, no spooks and she even led for part of the trip.  

 Jarrett made a black powder bag for Jason, so we had him model it for photos...  Let's just say we call it his Man Purse! 

The boys are hauling hay this week, It is a nasty chore but the horses will have lots of hay for the winter.