Back to the Alps

We spent the weekend in the Alps again, it was beautiful as always! We went back in to our "usual" spot but got to do some exploring in some new areas from there.  As expected there were a lot of people , so we didn't try to hunt much, instead we just rode and enjoyed the scenery! We carried the rifles just in case but weren't worried about not getting to hunt, we have other rides planned for better hunting!

On the way in... I ended up riding Bailey because Gus ran her under one of the hitching posts at the trailhead and she skinned up her backbone a little and my saddle pad worked the best to clear it. 

Bounce and Jarrett coming up the trail, just a little climb there...


Me and Gus Gus... I ended up riding him the rest of the weekend just to give Bailey's back a chance to heal good, she wasn't sore but no reason to  use her when we had another horse to use... He was actually pretty good for the most part, I was shocked!


Jarrett and Bounce again, what a cute pair!


Melissa and Zeta on another steep spot (we did a lot of climbing on Saturday).


Another basin, we rode up to the top of the ridge behind that basin, 

And found the most spectacular view!! Once you peak the top of the ridge it drops off into a deep valley with those knife edge ridges past that. Just amazing, the pictures don't do it justice at all!
On the way out we ran into a group that was having a little trouble with their pack slipping and the horse not liking the back cinch, so we helped out and threw the load on Gus, and I rode Tex, A big paint. They were a lot of fun, and we had a great trip out and no more pack wrecks! We hated to leave though, one of these summers we are going to have to saddle up and head in for a month and explore!

ENTER TO WIN!!!

Ok all, to amuse you for the weekend while we are off having fun in the Alps again, (It's opening weekend of rifle hunting for Bucks here... what is better than the mountains and hunting??) go visit Malmseys and enter to win a Glass Chocolate for Halloween!  All you have to do is leave a comment on the Malmseys blog!!   And I will be back Tuesday so should post pics from our trip Tues night. 

Draft horses in Training!

We have been busy again. Monday we scouted the way to the river, Tuesday we rode on the river bar, and Wednesday we rode at the park... I got pics on Tuesday:

On the way to the River
Old Serina happy to get out! She will be going out to lease with Sugar in another week to teach some people how to ride so I was giving her a brush up. She still loves to go even at 23!


Bailey wants to play in the water, but dad says it's too cold!

Serina had to get her mohawk in the pic...


Then this weekend was wonderful! I'm still smiling!

Well, first Jarrett's brother showed up from Redding on Friday needing a b-day present for his wife, who's b-day was the next day... So we busted out this purse in about 3 hours. It came out really neat though, I love the eyes!

So then Saturday we set to work and built a small stone boat for Hannah:

She dosn't mind it in the least while it is back there sitting still...

So we went for a ride!

She did perfect!

At first she had trouble getting the weight started from a standstill so we would let her get the sled moving and then step on, but after a bit she learned to lean into it and get it sliding with the weight.

Almost done... We kept it short so she wouldn't get too tired, it was a lot for her to drag by herself. But it told us she is ready for a wheeled cart, so we will get that finished for this weekend hopefully!! 

Then Sunday we had another stellar day, Holly got her first lesson in ground driving! It has been a long time coming and I have done a ton of work with her. She has gone to trying to take off into the next county if you put our hand in the air or pat her neck to being pretty darn trustful. She still has a lot of work to go but did awsome with the ground driving!

Trying to see where the world behind her went once she got her blinders on! 

And off to work! She has never had a bit or bridle on as far as I know, she certinally didn't act like she had the way she was chewing on the bit, but she picked it up quickly. She had a few delimas from time to time but she didn't panic and let me help her, so I was quite impressed. The worst she did was back up for about 50', but we worked that out and she was steering almost perfectly by the end of the lesson, even when a good 1/4 mile from the other horses.

I don't know if this will show up, I know it's blurry, but the full moon was just setting over the pasture and the horses coming up to say bye as I left this morning to go back to work. I hate leaving...

Finally!! Another post!

Ok, finally another post! Sorry for the delay, but we have been incredibly busy, then my computer decided not to cooperate, but fianlly here are some pics from the last few weeks
Tuesday 2 weeks ago, Melissa relaxing on Ze, her first bareback ride! That weekend she got brave enough to climb on bareback in the middle of the pasture with the other horses with no halter or anything.

Last Tuesday we went to Redwood park for an evening ride, unfortunately my camera dosn't like taking pics in the evening up under the redwoods so they all came out really dark.

This weekend we spent most of the time starting to get ready for winter, repairing Black's shed and planning another for the other horses, we will be keeping the big girls and a few saddle horses up there so have to get the place set up for once it starts snowing.  But we did get Hannah out and drove her some. She got a new harness that she got to try out and a new bit as she outgrew the other one, she is getting big!!!
We ground drove her 1/2 mile down to the neighbors so that she could spend some time on the road with the cars and other distractions. She did excellent, some horses in the field down the road got her attention but she only looked and kept right on walking like a pro. Now the cows that came up while we were visiting did get her a bit perplexed for a minute or so while she tried to decide what they were going to do, but she listened to Jarrett and didn't do anything bad, just paused to look at them, but after a reassuring word walked right by them. Though she did keep her eye on them just in case! I think we will start hooking her to a small stone boat or tire or something next time, she is more than ready for it. I would have this time except that I wanted her to get used to her new bit and harness first.  Jarrett was comfortable enough with her to jump up and lay across her while she was loose in the pasture (she has never been backed). She just stood there, as we guessed she would! We still will not ride her for another year or two though, no reason to rush it. 

Holly is coming along nicely, I have been doing a lot of work calming her down about new things and desensitzing her, but still have not harnessed her. I think she may be ready next weekend, we will see. She is very smart and wants to please, but has some major trust issues. We are looking into hopefully borrowing another team to train her along side of, a well broke steady team would help her a lot. 

Mayah is going to be a blast to train, she is extremly intelligent and picks thinks up very fast for a yearling, And she is HUGE!! But for the most part is going to spend the winter just growing, I've got enough work finishing the other two right now!

We rode from Melissa's new pasture tonight to scout the way to the river, tomorrow we are planning on riding that way again so I should get some pics from that.