A Happy, Hellacious Holiday!

Well, survived Christmas Eve with the family. GADS I spent all day cooking, wrapping, packing, toting, decorating, cleaning...made horse-shaped sugar cookies, got those decorated Tuesday night. Weds. morning I made not one but TWO pumpkin pies (crust from scratch as well, move over Martha!). Toted a carload of stuff over to the barn...punch fixin's, decorations, table cloths, candles, radio, pies, sweet potatoes, dishes/plasticware (can't call it silverware, ha), etc, etc etc. Cleaned what I could, dragged the heavy wooden tables around into position, they'd moved the wet stinky horse blankets out of the way.

Eventually I got Quzqo in, he was soaked through from the heavy snow...even soaked through his winter blanket, poor guy, he looked like a drowned rat! Rode him for a little bit, found him to be near comatose...good! At least he'll have time to dry off before having to perform his Christmas Eve performance!

My brother showed up around 4 & helped move some benches, set up his "robot" Christmas Teddy Bears (cute HUGE animated things), made some snarky disparaging remarks about the facility (windows are dirty, you can't see out the front window because it's covered in snow, the driveway needs plowing, the wiring for the furnace blower looks funny, family will be late as usual, etc etc), and then went back home. Fine...you don't like the place, we'll hold Christmas at YOUR house next year, hah???? It's certainly big enough!

I did go home and fed the dogs, had a cuppa coffee, then back to the barn to get things started...officially the party started at 7, since when I sent out the invites, I was assuming I had to work that day, not knowing we'd all get the day off (glad I did, can't imagine how I could have gotten all that done otherwise!!). My niece showed up around 5 to help how she could, and to bring in her food (she had to work 'til 3)...her husband was coming later with presents and some of the kids... the rest of her kids were with her brother's wife for the day, helping her out (new baby & all).

We went out to bring in Roly Poly Oly the Shetland Pony...and discovered that for the past weeks, Bob had been content to just toss hay over the fence, never bothering to open the gate to the Pony Pasture...so there was about 10 feet of knee-high SNOW blocking the gate!!! The gate itself was ICED into the ground! ARRRGH!!!! Between the two of us we kicked the snow out of the way (keep in mind it's 22 degrees with 15 mph sustained winds and heavy system snow), wrenched the gate from the ice, got the hotwire unhooked, then had to trudge through knee-deep snow into the paddock to catch Roly! One good thing, the deep snow kept the ponies from coming near the gate, ha (Bob's got around 6 ponies in there, cuteness overload!!). Luckily they were all involved in their evening hay to care.

Roly is a typical snotty pony, and was GLAZED with ice, LOL...he looked like a glazed donut (fat enough too). We just turned him loose in the indoor arena where he trotted around a little bit before settling down to clean up the hay scraps here and there.

We were relaxing up in the viewing room when my brother came back with the ham and presents, and as we were yakking, we heard a thudding crash in the distance.... since there were 3 horses in the barn, I figured it was just somebody kicking the wall or something.

A couple of teen girls showed up and went to ride their horses...soon the younger one came up and informed us that Roly had squeezed through the arena rails and was running loose in the aisles!!! She'd caught him and put him in a stall, LOL! That little shit! Guess that's what the thudding crash was!! (the "rails" are PVC pipe, so easily pushed aside or back into place)

Well, eventually everyone else showed up... We managed to get through the food...same stuff they all bring every year...overcooked green bean casserole; COLD potato casserole; overcooked unsalted potatoes and beans, my sweet potatoes were disgusting as well (pineapple sounded like a good addition...it isn't). The ham was good, the pie was good at least, though they only ate half of one pie, so I'm living on pumpkin pie this week!

After that we went down to the barn to harass equines. We got Roly saddled up and the pony rides commenced for the little kids. They LOVE Roly, and he IS a good kid pony, despite being a little shit that bites whoever's leading him, ha ha! One of my niece's middle kids was on him, being led by her older brother, when she started CRYING because Mom had left the scene (c'mon, she's 7...it's a little OLD to be acting that way)...I mean SCREAMING crying, and Roly just stood there like "Oy veh, what-EVER, kid." He shook himself, and that got the girl SCREAMING in terror...poor big brother, was totally befuddled...of course Mom came tearing back, ready to lay into the older boy for tormenting his sister... I defended him, because he wasn't doing anything at all! The girl wanted OFF and she wanted OFF NOW! but Mom wouldn't have any of it, and made her stay on the pony, ha ha! She led her around until she stopped crying, then made him trot, which got her crying again, lol! They did end on a good note, which is what's important. I still can't figure out what was so terrifying about Roly... she'll ride Quzqo with no problem!

Go Roly Go!

Maybe she saw Roly BUCK when Mom put the two 5-yr old boys on him...lol, then we figured one kid at a time is what Roly prefers!

We got Quzqo harnessed up and hitched to his cart, and I drove him around a few times to just make sure he was all right, then gave the reins to my oldest grand-niece...she's driven him before. So she got to drive the kids around, and I HOPE her dad was suitably impressed!!! LOL, she sure got Quz trotting a LOT...needless to say the cart had less weight without ME in it, so he was able to easily pull it through the deep, soft footing.

Pretty soon my younger-older brother was standing in the window of the viewing room, pointing at his watch. Okay, so it WAS around 9:30 at night, but still, c'mon, what, you got someplace to be??? The kids were having FUN, who cares if he was bored? He could have come down to the barn and led the pony around or HELPED OUT.

The guys were getting impatient, so the kids dashed on upstairs to open presents, leaving my niece and me holding horses, literally! She got Roly untacked and tried to get him back into a stall, but Roly wanted NOTHING to do with that, and smashed his way OUT, almost dragged her down the aisle, and stepped on her toe! She didn't know what to do, I couldn't help her because I was trying to unhitch Quzqo and couldn't leave him unattended! She just gave Roly a flake of hay right there in the aisle and held the lead. Meanwhile we could see my brother in the window, staring down with disapproval (well, his body language in his silhouette sent that message) Gee, maybe come down and HELP???

Got Quzqo back in his stall, I literally threw the harness back into my tack cupboard, then my niece and I led Roly back out into the stormy night. Our previous footsteps were obliterated by the new snow, the gate was drifted over AGAIN, again we had to dig it out with our feet and wrestle the gate wide enough to fit Roly's considerable width through. I got him back in (he was the perfect gentleman, I was afraid he'd barge through and knock me down), he trudged through the belly-high snow back to his hay!

We finally get back to the barn (it was 30 minutes from the expiration of our Winter Storm Warning), & everyone was seated around the Christmas Tree (my 4' aluminum one on a table, lol). I made a grumbly comment about gee how nice everyone thanked me for the pony rides and all (i.e. NObody did), as I was cold and tired and headachey and had snow down my socks. My older older brother made a loud comment to the room in general about whose horses did they all just ride? There was a silence, like duuuuh? Then I got a rousing "THANK YOU AUNT SUE". U-huh.

So, they disemboweled the gifts...I copped out and gave Breyers to the kids, snrk...from my body box that I couldn't sell. Hey, they don't know! I gave my niece this old old Japan china horse, and when I told her that it had belonged to her mother who gave me her small horse collection back before she was born, she started tearing up and got real quiet... I'm thinking maybe I made a mistake, but I think she was touched by that. She said she didn't even realize her mother HAD a horse collection. Well, if you want to call 6 ceramic horses a "collection".

They were all busy packing up their booty, so I went back down to the barn to continue cleaning up...had to blanket the horse, give him water, turn off lights, put the cart back, close doors, sweep up, *sigh*. By the time I got back upstairs, they had the tables stripped & were toting stuff out to my car. It was nice they took the initiative, but as I found out yesterday, they'd also toted stuff that belonged to the barn, and instead of placing items IN the boxes and bags I had, they took individual things out and put them on the floor of the car!! Candles, holders, plates, bottles...erm...wouldn't it be better to put them in BAGS and tote the BAGS out????

O, I was ranting and raving yesterday when I went back to the barn to clean up!! Tsk, no Christmas Spirit for me, ha! Returned the stuff taken from the barn, pulled the tables back to where they belonged, yanked down the decorations, swept up, put my harness away properly, put the tack from Roly back in the barn's tack room. No wonder I only wanted to lay around like a lump, sheesh!!!

I dunno, there was an undertone I felt of disapproval and snarkiness...I'm sick of it. I don't think I'll host it next year...if I have to listen to complaints about the barn, bitching about the horses, little if any HELP...what's the point??? I bust my ass and I'm still the only one walking around in the cold and dark, turning out the lights. Personally, I wouldn't mind spending a quiet evening alone, watching a good movie and relaxing.

But, as I like to remind myself, at least nobody was rushed to the Emergency Room, and nobody wet their pants!

Today is Blog Action Day 08

Today is some feel-good foolery where everyone with a Blog is supposed to post on "Poverty". http://blogactionday.org/

Only because I don't have anything better to do, I'll play along. I've boarded horses for nearly 20 years, so that means I've paid board every month for 240 months. The first board I paid was only $165/mo. Today's board is $300/mo. Taking an average it comes out to $220/mo. Multiply that by 240, and I've spent roughly $52,800 paying for my horses' room and board! That's not counting farriers, veterinary, tack, treats, carrots and Starlight mints!

When I first bought my old horse, Tezlu, I was reprimanded by my yuppy brother about "wasting" money, how the horse would never increase in value, and it'd be a wiser choice to invest that $2000 I spent on Tezzer into Mutual Funds. Well, maybe that was true for a while, but considering today's market, I think I've broken even...if the $$ was in the market, it'd be worth nothing, and since Tezlu is pushing up Canadian Thistle, well...he's not increasing in value.

Anyway, I don't know where this is going actually. I could be richer if I didn't have board to pay every month, but we all know riches can't be counted monetarily, and spending that nearly $53,000 is proof that you CAN buy happiness!

We return you to your previously-scheduled self-loathing about how you have so much and others live in poverty!

Color Tour Trail Ride

Y'know, it's been probably 2 YEARS since I've gone out on a group trail ride. Last year, of course, I broke my leg (or more accurately, Quzqo broke it for me!), and even when I was able to ride again, the pain kept me from going out for extended periods of time.

This year my past trail riding buddies had either moved away, or their horses were crippled, or too green, or they were too busy with horse shows, so pretty much all my rides (with the exception of a few that didn't get a mile from the barn) were solitary.

Since Autumn is a brief and glorious period here in Northern Michigan, and our riding days are numbered with firearm deer season a month away, I took a shot (no pun) and wrote out an invite to a group ride on the dry erase board at the barn.

"Color Tour Trail Ride
Sunday, October 12
(weather permitting)
Departing 2 p.m.
Everyone Welcome!"

Sunday arrived, and it was GLORIOUS! Ridiculously fantastically glorious weather, almostunheard of in Northern Michigan in mid-October! Sunny, no breeze, mid-70's, and the trees in an orgasmic display of fall spectacle! I got to the barn around 1, not caring if anyone was going to come on the ride with me or not, it was too beautiful to not go!!

Since this was going to be a "real" ride, I went full-out tacking up the horse; trail saddle, gel seat pad for my butt, breastcollar, bear bells, water bottle, an apple in case I get hungry, camera, hoof pick, toilet paper (you never know...)(course there'd be no shortage of leaves if needed...), baling twine, and to top it all off, his biothane bitless bridle! All I forgot to do was the red ribbon for his tail, but since as far as I knew I was going alone, why bother!

Well, as it turns out, Bob and his wife, Pam, were coming along, and had to go catch their horses to ride! Another girl who had been riding in the indoor ring also decided to come along on her HUGE Percheron-X gelding named "Steven". And a mother and daughter team (relatively new boarders at the barn) also were saddling up, turns out they were avid trail riders, but didn't know anyone who rode the trails at the barn, and didn't know where the trails even were! Well well well, it felt like Christmas Morning!

We headed off around 2:20, with Quzqo and me in the lead! Even before we were off the barn property, we were overtaken by Bob on this new blue roan he'd just gotten in last week, and the girl on Steven (no surprise a Percheron-X had a longer stride than a 14.2 Arabian!). Steven kept crowding Quzqo's butt, and JUST as I was going to open my mouth to warn his rider, Quzqo kicked out at him with both hind feet! He did that twice, but missed both times. She never did make a real effort to keep him away from Quz (I don't think she could...Steven was quite large and strong), so I had to keep moving behind him out of the way) Everyone rode along the shoulder and headed East towards the Lake Dubonnet campground. It didn't take but a few minutes for Mr. Pokey-Butt Quzqo to be the dog-last horse in the line.


We have an informal arrangement with a small TWH farm down the road (Quz and I have terrorized those horses in the past with our scary cart) that we can use the two-track alongside their property and the wonderful horse trails cut into the forest behind them. That is a beautiful ride through there no matter the season. Very narrow trail, very winding, lots of hills and trees, and it works its way along a swamp/bog/river leading to Lake Dubonnet. Just beautiful! A couple of times I had to clamp my feet against the horse to keep from smacking them into a nearby tree trunk, and Quz helpfully would move to the left or right when I asked.

Lots of hardwoods and bracken fern. In a week or two I suspect the actual trail will be hidden by all the fallen leaves, so it's a good thing we went when we did!


Yeah, it's a little difficult taking photos from a moving horse.


It was amusing; us ladies were just ooing and aaahing at the beautiful trees and colors, pointing out a particularly spectacular maple or beech, or a bright yellow bracken, or a notable stand of birches, and up ahead of us, Bob was yakking away on his &^%$# cell phone! I told Pam he needed to get a Bluetooth headset so he can have both hands on the reins, ha! (He has one, he just doesn't like to use it).

We made it to the dam near Lake Dubonnet, it's just gorgeous (okay, I need more words than "gorgeous"...time to check out thesaurus.com!) Ah...it's just respendent! That's a good word!

I mean c'mon....you've got to agree:


There's a horse-watering area near there, as it's near the Shore-to-Shore Lake Dubonnet Trail Camp, so we all went down there. Bob's new horse didn't want anything to do with the water. Steven the Percheron-X went in gamely and out again. "Showtime" the QH went in and got a drink. Once the others cleared out, Quzqo walked right in up to his knees (he would have kept going but I stopped him...I once saw a fellow on a QH go out towards the middle and both he and his horse fell into a hole and both went underwater!!!)(I have a deep-seated terror of drowning, it's a childhood thing). Quz dropped his head and began fladdling his lips in the water, he'd paw mightily, splashing everyone around, then he'd plunge his FACE into the water and toss it so water went everywhere. He'd paw and splash and was just having too much fun! I was alert for the sensation of his hindquarters dropping, meaning he was about to roll, but I didn't let him stay out there long enough. I've never SEEN him roll in water,or even attempt it, but I wasn't about to try now!

With both of us pretty well soaked, we continued on and to "The Loop" rather than turn back. I got the feeling Bob would have liked to have turned back (ha ha). We got up to the road and Quzqo headed to the left...trouble being, we needed to go to the RIGHT! And he would NOT stop, would NOT turn, the little bugger!! We got about 60 feet down the road before I was able to crank his head around so that the rest of him followed and a pop on the butt with the whip got him following the other horses. That's pretty much when the whole tone of the ride changed. And not for the better.

There comes a point in every group trail ride where the horses succumb to the herd mentality, and it almost becomes like they have some sort of mind-meld, and all become one. Sort of like the Borg. It was fun at first...we'd all be trotting down the road or trail, then someone's horse breaks into a canter...which means they ALL have to break into a canter, which turns into a gallop, and you can forget about slowing or stopping or pretty much ANY frickin' form of control! Especially when you're dumb enough to use a BITLESS bridle!! But more on that in a bit.

I strongly suspect the mother-and-daughter team didn't have the best control over their steeds, or else they LIKED to trot down hills and gallop UP hills, because that's pretty much what they did for the entire ride! I do NOT like trotting down hills (I do like galloping up hills though, ha ha!)(although I prefer to have some sort of CONTROL over my horse while doing so!). We'd just come down a small sandy hill, and the horses way ahead of me broke into a gallop up the next hill...I held Quzqo back, not easy to do, and I knew I couldn't hold him for long, so as we got to the base of the hill, I totally gave him his head, his hindquarters bunched up and we LAUNCHED up that hill!!! I had grabbed a handful of mane and just held the hell on! YeeHOOOO! that boy can GALLOP!!!

Course at the top of the hill the leaders had slowed down, and we ALMOST bounced off Steven's massive rump! After about the dozenth time they did that, Pam and I gave them advice to keep going once they reach the hilltop so the horses behind wouldn't rear-end the horse in front!

The trails around there are just lovely, er, magnificent (by Michigan standards...okay, no grand mountainscapes or canyons or fjords), it was downright balmy, not a bug to be seen, no tourists, no dirt bikers, no hunters. It couldn't have been a better day!

Occasionally Quzqo and I got to the head of the pack, and I got to do some nice, civilized trotting and slow, controlled cantering, and then we'd wait for the rest to catch up.

Eventually we made it to a nice narrow two-track through the woods, and the horses up ahead took off at a canter, which means they ALL took off at a canter - hand gallop - GALLOP! If I'd dared let go, I would have thrown my hands up in the air in exasperation and said "to heck with it!" but I had one hand in the horse's mane (I keep it long for this very reason!) and the other on the reins, and for the first time in a long time, I was frickin' PANICKED! Blind, unreasoning, ready-to-fall-off-and-DIE panic! Trees were flying past at blinding speed, Quz was galloping after the others at breakneck (literally) speed, and although my seat was firmly in the saddle and really in no danger of becoming unhorsed, my mental block reared up and I briefly hunched forward into the typical N00b panic pose! Damn, I HATE THAT! I managed to regain my composure, sat back upright (still at a gallop over hill and over dale) and managed to shout out "CAN WE SLOW DOWN PLEASE!!!!"

Thankfully they did slow down and again we almost bounced off of Steven's butt! I was gasping for breath, all the horses were huffing and puffing. I don't mind the occasional canter, but I'm no fan of speed! Although I am impressed that Quzqo HAS such speed in his lazy old self!

The horses were really in no mood for a slow, relaxed amble through the forest any longer. They were ALL wired up, shying at stumps, taking off at the trot. We zipped right by my favorite little destination, "Peanut Lake" (a tiny little lake surrounded by hardwoods), and came to the swamp that'd been an obstacle to me all summer long . There's a three-four foot wide mucky spot in the trail that Quzqo would NOT cross when we were alone. My theory was that if five other horses go through it before him, he'd follow (if not, I'd really be in a predicament, ha ha!)

We came to the spot, and Steven was first...he balked, crashed sideways into the trees, then tromped his way through. The next four horses either hopped, jumped, or slogged, but all got through. Quzqo was in such a hurry to keep up, he pretty much jumped-hopped through it and we made it in one piece!

More hills to gallop up...this time I was "centered" and calm and just let the horse carry me... was it John Lyons who says "I can ride as fast as the horse can run"...I have to remember that one. The lead horses were tiring (QHs...no surprise there), and eventually Quzqo and I made our way to the lead. We came to a paved road, and just as we were stepping onto the pavement, Bob and his horse pop out of the trees a few yards down the road, startling Quz into another danged sideways spin! I didn't lose so much as a stirrup, but I don't care for watching the pavement swirl around beneath me!

Yeah, I ride with a helmet, why?

Final leg home through some flamboyant hardwood forests! Bob made a snarky comment about my bear bells/rhythm beads (i.e. he can't stand them)! Truth be told, I don't "hear" them, I'm so used to them I don't notice them. I'd rather endure a constant tinkling noise than a sudden burst of deer or grouse (kind of like last weekend!).

Quz and I got to trotting, and since we were in the lead, he was more relaxed and had a nice ground-covering trot. But of course that got the other horses excited (though I thought I was far enough ahead of everyone that they couldn't see... there's a lot of curves on that trail, but maybe they heard the hoofbeats), and soon enough the two QHs and Steven were literally on our tail...them cantering, Quz trotting, and me laughing at the complaints from the ladies behind me! A line from "Jaws" came to mind...."Your turn, Quint!" How do YOU like it, ha!

Turns out we'd left Bob and Pam in the dust, and we had a five minute or so wait for them to catch up. Quzqo wasn't impressed with having to stand still, and was pawing and tossing his head (and flinging his spit-foam up over his head to hit me in the chest!) and walking in circles, tail-switching.

Again more trotting and hand-galloping down the dirt road, pausing only a moment when Quzqo shied at a circular tire-track in the road, where I lost my left stirrup, but managed to regain it without missing a beat!

Still more dazzling foliage to enjoy between bursts of trotting and cantering:


I got back to the barn exactly three hours from when we left. I say "I" because the other three decided to take the long way back to the barn, riding along the far side of the property. Me, my butt wanted to get home quickly, so we took the more direct route. Only when I got back to the barn did I see Bob and Pam emerging from the far trees about a mile away! Maybe I should have ridden with them and their nice leisurely walking pace!

Quzqo does not look impressed.

Maybe a good all-over body shake will help!

Quzqo would have won the Sweatiest Horse Award, but I suspect part of it was due to nerves, and the rest to being a galloping dork.


Sometimes the best part of a trail ride is when you get home, sore and bone-tired, hungry and thirsty, and knowing you can relax, get a bite to eat, take a hot shower, and thank the Lord for keeping you alive to ride another day!

Like tomorrow!


Our route:

A Qollection of Quzqo Portraits

One nice thing about being a model horse customizer, is that I can make my own model horse portraits! These are a few of the mini-me versions of Quzqo that I've created or accumulated over the years:


A Young Quzqo, done on the Bridgette Eberl "Jamil" resin, painted by myself. I have NO idea if he looked like this, I'm just assuming:

An older Quzqo (and much thinner!) done on the Peter Stone "Chip" Arabian, painted and customized by myself. This was obviously done before he got that scar on his hip.
A Breyer Stablemate(tm) Arabian painted by my friend, Marcia Seelhoff, as a portrait of Himself this year, in a feistier mood than normal!

Fun!

The Trail Drive

Driving the horse down the road is a blast, but it's even more fun with company!

This late afternoon I was hitching up Quzqo for a drive 'round the (4 mile ) block, and imagine my delight to see Bob and his wife, and a few boarders were also tacking up for a trail ride! We all finished about the same time, and as I was getting into the cart outside the barn, the trail riders all emerged from the indoor arena, and we all set out together!!

Now there's no way I can take a cart on a horse trail (well, not the one-horse-wide ones anyway), and since I saw the riders were heading South to take the long route around the property, I told them I'd probably see them up on the road, and Quz and I headed off down the main paved road Northwards!


By the time we made it to the road and leisurely walked up the hill, the trail ride was halfway up the hayfield perpendicular to the road. We waited for a few minutes at the top, until an approaching car made me move the horse out of the way, and seeing the riders were still about 1/4 mile away, and I was bored, we continued on down the road and down the steep hill.

After we'd made it down the hill, which takes a while because Quzqo is very careful, pushing his butt back into the breeching to keep the cart from running up on his heels, the riders finally crested the hill and made their way down towards us. We waited for them to catch up, Quzqo straining to listen and turning his head to try to see what was coming up behind! He could hear the snorts and hoofbeats and the voices, but those darned blinkers kept him from seeing. When the horses magically appeared within his field of vision, he did startle in place, but then relaxed, and seeing that none of the horses were spooked by the cart, we walked along with them!

That was different...let's just say "Dusty", ha! Things are a lot dustier down at horse-butt level with half a dozen horses walking down a dry dirt road...not that appealing!

The riders soon took a right turn into the woods down an old logging trail, and I bade them farewell, and we continued down the nice dirt road at a snappy trot. Apparently Quzqo's feet no longer bothered him, and he was willing and able to do his best roadster imitation!

We headed North on the paved road, and I got Quzqo trotting again; the little bugger actually broke into a canter before I slowed him! I heard something unusual coming up behind us, turns out it was a tractor with a front loader...hmm...that should be okay...???? They passed us, and Quzqo tensed up but didn't spook...until the big white pick-up following the tractor went BLASTING past, and poor Quz about jumped out of his harness! The driver had a big shit-eating grin on his face...yeah, well, there's a special place in Hell for jerks like you, my friend!!

Today we did something different...when we got up to Bronson Lake, we turned left instead of just wimping out and heading right ("around the block"). If you go left, you go down a dirt road bordered by some of the downright scariest redneck hovels in the township. Quzqo usually spooks a couple of times along this stretch when I ride him, how would he behave being driven? It was pretty quiet, nobody working on the wrecked cars in the driveways, nobody sitting on the porches of the singlewides, drinking beer, nobody driving their ATVs or dirt bikes...looked safe enough.

Once we got over some small hills, I got him trotting again, and he went right to it, head high, tail up, just happy as can be! It didn't take us long to make our way to the end of the road. It does continue into the woods as a two-track, and eventually joins the Michigan Shore-To-Shore trail, but I couldn't picture anyplace wide enough in there to turn a cart around (and there's no way I could go all the way through to the paved road on the far side...it's a little too adventurous in there for a horse and cart)(famous last words!). We turned around at the cul-de-sac (fancy name for a dirt turnaround spot), and headed back just in time to see the trail riders from the barn emerging from the woods waaaaay down the road by the redneck hovels!

Yeah, I'll admit I felt a little snarky, seeing as I was obviously covering more ground quicker than them...I suppose if they stuck to the roads and did as much trotting, they'd be heading home too, but that's not the point of a nice trail ride. We passed by them as they headed for the woods and we headed towards home.

We pretty much followed the same route as the previous time, heading down the residential road, absolutely nothing spookworthy to be seen. In fact, it looked something like this:




Sorry, no sound, just imagine the clip-clop-clip-clop and the squeak of the leather and jingle of the harness hardware!

Uneventful drive South on Lake Ann road other than seeing a white pick-up hauling a BIG white 5th Wheel travel trailer approaching. I just stopped the horse, turned his head to the right, he couldn't see it coming due the blinkers, truck passed, horse was oblivious, we continued on!

It was just a beautiful afternoon/evening, temps in the upper 60's, only bugs being the little no-see-ums floating in the sunshine, the colors on the trees are just beginning to turn...totally glorious! There'll be precious few lovely days like that before winter sets in, I intend to enjoy as many as I can!

The Near-Perfect Trail Ride

• Sunny
• Warm, but not too hot
• Horse in good mood
• No spooks
• Met friendly dirt bikers on the trail who waved back
• Found three beer cans...that's 30 cents deposit, and me getting off and on the horse two times successfully!
• No bugs
• A good time had by all!
  

They Call Him "Scarface"

If there's a way for a horse to injure himself, he will find it!!

Came to the barn yesterday evening, fully anticipating a lovely quiet evening trail ride, maybe using the bitless bridle for a change. It was in the low 70's, sunny, the trees are finally starting to think about changing color for Fall...it'd be perfect.

There's probably some sort of horseman's Murphy's Law.... the more you WANT to do a horse-related activity, the greater the chance the horse will be injured, preventing that activity.

This is what I found waiting for me in the pasture:

Don't have a clue as to how he did that to himself. Common theories revolve around a little greedy Arabian sticking his head through a wooden fence section and then being spooked so that he bumped his noggin and scraped half his face hide off.

Whatever he did, he gave himself a big swollen nose for his trouble! To me he looked like a Kladruber, no more lovely Arabian dish!

He didn't want me to touch his face (no surprise there), I knew there's no way I could get a cold compress on there.

But hey, the rest of him was in good shape, so I did take him for a short trail ride through the neighborhood. Needless to say, the bitless bridle was "out" (all that noseband pressure...ouch!), we used a snaffle without a cavesson instead.

Inconsiderate monkey that I am, I did get him cantering, and he kept halting...then it dawned on me; he probably couldn't breathe very well through those swollen nostrils!!! Arrrgh! I apologized profusely and we walked the rest of the way home. My poor boyo!

Before (cute little dish face!):






















And After:






















Kladruber Nose!!!

Well, it gives him character, and so what if everyone thinks I beat my horse with barbed wire!

====================
UPDATE 10/7/08

Happy to say the nosal swelling has disappeared with no permanent lumps, and the scrapes are filling in with white (and fleabitten) fuzz! Whew! He'll be normal-looking in no time... or as normal-looking as Quzqo can be!

Our Portraits

A Big Thank-You to my two dear friends, Cheryl Monroe and (Evile) Suzanne Feld, for these lovely portraits of Quzqo and myself. I've wanted a "good" photo of the two of us, which isn't easy, since either:

1. The Horse Looks Goofy
2. The Horse is Misbehaving
3. The Horse's Eyes Are Closed

or

1. I look Goofy
2. I'm Misbehaving
3. My Eyes Are Closed

But the benefit of taking nearly 50 photos between the pair, I came up with a few shots I actually like!


I really like this one...it's not posed, and we both look pretty pleased with ourselves!
Another unposed shot...I should have just had them follow me around with a camera as I did my usual routine, they probably would have gotten more nice photos like this!


Totally UNPOSED, LOL! I wasn't really cussing him out (er, maybe I was)...
Fun!

Friends Shouldn't Let Friends Ride Quarter Horses

My Evile Twin came to visit this past weekend, up from the Big City. She's a horse-lover like myself, and used to ride back in the day. I'd actually taken her on an "interesting" trail ride a couple of years ago with Leo the Bucking QH as her steed. Though he hadn't begun the bucking thing back then.

I promised her a better mount this time around, and we headed out to the barn on a lovely Friday morning. It was SO peaceful out there; school's in session, so no kids at all (yaay!), all the adults were at work, except Carlos the Spaniard who showed up around noon to do some work around the place. It felt like my own personal barn!

We got good ole' Colby the QH who was up by the front gate and tucked him into an empty stall with a bit of grain for a treat, and then hiked the 2/3 mile or so into the pasture to get Quzqo. By the time we returned, Colby had finished, had peed and pooped and was ready for whatever else we had in store!

Got him tacked up, I let Suzanne, my twin (not really, we just look similar in a vague sort of way) borrow my bitless bridle, and got her on board the horse and warming up in the indoor arena. Once I got Quzqo tacked up, she was ready to go!

Last time we left the property and headed for the Shore-to-Shore trail (didn't make it due to Leo's misbehavior). This time we stayed closer in, and originally were just going to ride along the property line outside the pasture fences. But Colby and Suzanne were doing so well, I figured we should push the envelope, and headed for the woods!

We didn't get into the actual trees before something went "snap" in the forest, and Quzqo jammed on the brakes, ducked and did a 180 degree spin (but I stayed on) and bolt! Colby also spooked and spun, but much more sedately, and hey, Suzanne stayed on as well! Yay Us! Don't have a clue what made the scary snapping noise in the woods, could have been anything, and I managed to get Quzqo to actually walk on.

I haven't been in these woods since last year. There's new people living in the house behind the barn property, and they like their ATVs. It was apparent they also liked the woods (not their property either) because there were now some wonderful cleared trails smashed through the rotting tree tops left over from logging done years ago! Awesome! It was quite pretty in there (when have I ever said "Oh, it was so frickin' fugly in those woods!"), and we did a little bit of brush-poppin' where the trails had become overgrown with blackberry brambles. Quzqo still managed to snatch a mouthful of blackberry leaves or maple branches as we went.

Other than the one spook-fit, it was pretty uneventful. Suzanne had the joys of learning to ride a remote controlled push-button trained-to-the-gills Showhorse who'd almost work off of brain waves, he was so responsive. It took a bit to figure out why he'd suddenly take off trotting... seems a little lean forward was all it took!

The horses were spoiled with Fuji apples and plenty of grooming before being released from their bondage. Rough life, but somebody's got to live it!

To Boldly Go Where No Horse Has Driven Before

Y'know what I think is great? That I can now harness up the horse, hitch him up by myself, and hop in and take off without the fear and nervousness of the past. I'm so glad I did the work I did with him so that he now stands quietly while I get in the cart, I no longer need someone to hold his head or to help me hitch him up! Why didn't I do this years ago! Oh, I didn't own Quzqo back then...I guess that's a good enough reason!

The Sunday before Labor Day this year was a balmy golden day, I got out to the barn around 5-ish. The horse already had eaten the bulk of his dinner, so he was in an accommodating, pleasant mood (Arabians are so much easier to deal with when they're in a good mood). Got him hitched up, and off we went down Lake Ann Road. A few cars whizzed by, a truck or two as well, he doesn't care, and I'm not as nervous as I used to be, driving on the road. Then I remind myself what happened the last time I got lackadaisical about anything involving the horse...8 screws and a metal plate in my leg, that's what!

We hooked a left onto Fewins Road, a nice dirt road with a few residences on it. We've been there before, only up to the top of the hill where I'd normally turn around and head back. Not today, today we go beyond the hill...we go....DOWN the hill!!!

We're talkin' STEEP...Poor Quzqo put on the brakes and braced his butt up against the breeching to hold the cart back as he carefully, but gamely, made his way down the slope! What a boy!

Of course it wouldn't be a trip down the steep, narrow hill with HIGH dirt banks on both sides (we're talking canyon quality here) without...a big dually pick-up truck coming the other way!!! There is room for a truck to pass if I pulled waaaay off to the side, but bless his heart, the driver just stopped at the bottom of the hill, off to the side, and waited. We took our time going down the hill, and when we got even to the truck, I thanked the fellow profusely for his consideration!! I appreciated it, more than he'll know!

Once off the hill, we had a nice trot to the next main road, and hooked a right onto the shoulder of that road. That's got a nice WIDE crushed gravel shoulder, plenty of room for horse and cart, and no houses, just woods on both sides. I got him trottin' and he put his shoulders to the breastcollar and just motored on up the road, me bouncing merrily along behind! What a blast!! A few cars slowed and passed us, but Quzqo just kept on trotting up the low hill to another intersection.

We turned right onto a paved residential street, in effect, going "around the block" (granted the "block" is a mile or so long on all four sides...). Oh, this was SO quiet and peaceful and downright magical with the golden early evening light, little bugs flittering in the sunlight, no sound but the horse's hooves on the pavement and the noise of the harness creaking and clinking. I'd wished I had a reclining cart seat so I could have really relaxed and enjoyed it.

We passed the Lake Ann Elementary School, and I wished I'd brought my recycling along, I could have dropped it off, ha ha! Maybe next time!

Back on to the road that the barn is on, about 1-1/2 miles to the south. Much more traffic, but again, a nice wide shoulder, many houses and driveways, but the horse didn't care. He was getting tuckered by then, and less inclined to be silly. We were passing one particularly nice home when I heard a dog barking, and saw a very large mixed breed tearing across the massive front lawn right for us. I had my whip at the ready...Quzqo sort of twisted between the shafts, trying to see what was coming up beside him, and I "felt" his hindquarters tense up for the bolt. The dog's owner was yelling after him "GUS! GUS! GET BACK HERE GUS!" but of course Gus wouldn't have any of it, and came running right into the road, into the path of an oncoming car!

Well, the car had already slowed because of the horse and cart (funny how drivers will slow for a horse and cart, but will blast right by a horse and rider like they aren't even there), and stopped while Gus' dad dragged him by his collar back to the house. Quzqo let out an audible sigh, and onward we walked.

That was such a wonderful drive, I'm glad we were "brave" enough to crest the hill and see what there was to see. I wouldn't do it again on a Saturday afternoon or a Wednesday morning, but Sunday evening on a holiday weekend...that's do-able.

I am lovin' that horse!

The Journey To Peanut Lake

Quzqo got his feet trimmed back on the 15th, and I suspect they were trimmed too short, because he's been ouchy-footed on gravel ever since. So in order not to discomfit Himself, our latest trail ride was as much woodsy trails as possible. We had a bit of gravel road to negotiate, but that's what soft, sandy shoulders are for!

Last weekend we were on a woodsy trail, and paused a moment so Quz could scarf down some green tasty maple leaves...suddenly he JUMPED backwards and spun 180 degrees and started to bolt back down the trail! I remember hanging off his side and thinking "I MUST NOT FALL OFF!!!" and simultaneously regained my upright position and gathered up the yards and yards of slack reins and was able to stop his headlong plunge into the forest. After a minute or so of discussion that involved another spin, a little half-rear, and much backing, I got him back to the scene of terror, his heart was pounding so hard I could feel it through the leather of the saddle fenders... warily, warily he tip-toed to the side of the path as much as he could and giving the ground the hairy eyeball, crept past the horror...

I never saw what that horror was...there was "nothing" there...if it was still there, it was in an alternate dimension that only horses can see. My theory (judging from the violence of his spook) was that there was a snake on the trail that suddenly slithered off. That'd scare ME too. But it traumatized Quzqo to his core, and the entire balance of the ride featured a psychotic obsession with...STICKS! Any stick laying on the ground was at the least given the hairy eyeball, at worst...a four-legged spook-stop and snort.

But that was last week. This week...horses are related to elephants I think, because yes, sticks were still the Spook du Jour. We were walking down a hill on a dirt road, and since Quzqo's toes were still ouchy, he was keeping to the shoulder where the sand was soft. He got so close to the grassy bank that he stepped over a branch laying slightly in his path, and apparently hooked it with a foot, that dragged the branch underneath him, and (I imagine, because I couldn't see and wasn't paying that much attention) hit his hind legs.

Well, that fat little Arabian shot up in the air and BUCKED a couple of crow-hops down the road, dislodging the branch! I laughed and was glad I had my trail saddle and not the English one I used to use in my younger, stupider days (yeah, 40 is "young"). What a maroon, that horse!

We enjoyed a lovely woodsy ride, other than the stick issue, that soon transfered to a stump issue. I'd forgotten my bear bells, but luckily the biggest animal that we spooked was a squirrel.

It's sort of a boring time of year for trail rides. The Spring and Summer wildflowers are past, and the autumn foliage has yet to make an appearance. There's not a lot of birdsong, just the distant whine of chainsaws as people prepare their firewood supplies for winter. We've had so much rain this summer that the landscape is still a beautiful rich green...a pleasant change from summers past where things are dry and brown by this time. Also noteworthy was the absence of bugs...we missed the mid-summer weeks where the deer flies are the worst, I guess that's one benefit to being lazy.

Today's objective was to ride to Peanut Lake, a TINY little lake about 5 miles from the barn, right on the Michigan Shore-to-Shore trail. It's a gorgeous, uninhabited spot, with beautiful hardwoods and pines, and a nice scenic ride through the woods.

We went our usual route, passing the skeletal remains of the dead doe that terrorized us earlier this year. No beer cans on the roadside to collect for the dime deposit, no dirt bikers, no hunters, a very peaceful and pleasant ride...other than the sticks, of course.

We crossed the wonderful wooden bridge built by the Michigan Trail Riders Association back in 1997....Quz just can't seem to step up on that thing, he always has to LEAP. Usually we turn around and go back to the barn at that point, which is what the horse fully expected. Nope, not today, today we go on, we go up the hill and down the two-track at the top. HA! Let's just say we had a little discussion, with the horse having a different opinion than me, but as usual, I won and we trotted up the narrow tree-lined horse trail.

I love the two-track at the top, it's about a mile, maybe longer, with mysterious off-ramps into the woods, probably leading to the meth labs or pot plots or the orgy groves, I don't know, I've never bothered to investigate. But what's nice is the road is straight, level, with a minimum of spooky things, and one can really get their horse into a nice road-eating trot or even a canter and just enjoy the woods on both sides!

There's a paved main road to cross, and we've been working on his manners at these "intersections" as well as with the cart and harness. Let's just say we need more work... he started walking and swung his hindquarters into the road as the lone pick-up on the road came our way... of course he did!

Across the road the route degrades back into the narrow horse trail (keep your toes in or get them snapped off by a nearby tree!), it's beautiful in there (see photo above), all hardwoods and hilly and windy and full of sticks that must be avoided. Usually we see deer, but not this time.

Well, we got to the swamp at the bottom of a very long, steep hill (I used to have to dismount and lead old Tezlu down that thing...it's so nice to have an agile sure-footed relative youngster to ride!)...I was HOPING that the bog at the bottom would have dried up by now, but no, it was still four feet of hoof-sucking mud that I knew Quzqo would have nothing to do with. I suppose if we were other riders, and their horses went over it, he would jump it, but without that, my ride was at an end. No Peanut Lake.

See, now if we'd had a normal dry August, that bog would be just soft dirt, and we could have crossed it without a problem!

The trip wasn't a total loss, I finally got to photograph this awesome tree growing out of a cedar stump...I saw this stump back in 2006 but for many obvious reasons, never got back to photograph it until now. I just think it's cool, in a parasitic Alien face-hugger sort of way.

An uneventful ride back to the barn, the day was so nice, that the horse wasn't even hurrying like normal. I'll take uneventful any day of the week!

My New Old Saddle!

Went to an estate sale this weekend in a nearby town, the ad stated "old horse tack". You never know what you'll find so I went!

Well now, when they said "old", they meant OLD, as in Antique! I couldn't resist, even though it about emptied my checking account (but still, under $300), this old beauty definitely from the 1900's or earlier!!!

Of course there's no maker's marks on it, which means it might be from Sears & Roebuck, according to my minimal research. Its condition is amazing...just a few scuffies, NO rot, NO mold, just a bit of cracking on the fenders...I still can't believe it!












Look at the amazing detail on this thing though...I love the leather-wrapped rings for the cinch...
















And the neat detailing on the back (yes, even the sheepskin underside is in very good condition!)














Obviously (to me) machine-embossed decoration, which really makes me think it's mass-produced for Sears Roebuck. But definitely old... lots of green oxidation on the rivets there.












Neat rawhide detailing on the pommel. Even the horn is in excellent shape with not one missing stitch! Now THAT is rare!!























Of course Quzqo had to model it! It fit him perfectly...I guess they had smaller horses back in the 19th Century. He looks rather pleased with himself for some reason.

















I took him for a short trail ride around the property...it was more than obvious that the stirrups were too long, and the seat is amazingly hard (as in rock hard!). But talk about secure, LOL...with that high cantle and pommel, I don't see how anyone could fall out!

The next day I took it back home, and shortened the stirrups "one notch", which in this case, is about 3". Unfortunately my legs wanted it shortened only 2", so the next ride I took was even more uncomfortable (but much more secure!). It took four days for my broken ankle to quit hurting...no thanks!

Now I suppose I could drill holes so I could make the stirrups the proper length, but I'm hesitant to do anything to it which would ruin its "mint condition"! Like, would I ever really ride with it? I hate the horn...I ride with a hornless trail saddle for a reason. I suppose maybe SOMEday Quzqo will do a proper Western Pleasure class and I'd need a proper Western saddle (after I spend $500/month to get him professionally trained)(and we'd still be beaten by all the stock breeds up here). Or maybe I will eventually put it on eBay and hopefully get the $1000.00 it's obviously worth. Or maybe I'll just keep it and enjoy looking at it, because it is darned neat looking. And then it can be sold at MY Estate Sale...and they'll wonder why it's in such good shape!

2008 Speckle Update

One of the joys of owning a greying horse; you get a new color horse every year!!

Remember 2004:

And 2005:

2006:

2007:



































And today in 2008: (pardon the poop stains)

At the rate he's speckling, I'll have a brown horse again in no time!

Pewp!

After the horse show, both Quzqo and I were sort of sick of each other, and I gave him a bit of a vacation. We had a couple of relaxing, pleasant (except for the bugs) trail rides, and found some new routes to take, and discovered that you can't lead a balky Arabian through ankle-deep sucking swamp mud without losing your $90 riding sneaker in the quagmire (I did get it back though), and spent some time working on his headset, which he IS getting, so he no longer goes along like a nearsighted anteater with his nose sticking way out front.

I took a week-long vacation to Kentucky, so he got 10 days' vacation, and by the time I got back, he was glad to see me, and I was glad to see him, and now we're back on track.

My niece and niece-in-law came out to the barn this past Sunday with a passel of chill'un to visit the horsie and do pony rides and cart rides. We drafted Colby the Quarter Horse to handle the riding, and I'd lunged Himself before they arrived so he'd be half-civilized for the cart-pulling.

The nieces arrived with three girls and two boys, between the ages of 4 and 10. We hiked out into the pasture to catch Colby.... Quzqo was already in his stall, inhaling his dinner I noticed... never mind it was noon... if it's there, it will be eaten!

As we negotiated the countless heaps of mummified meadow muffins, the youngest girl kept shouting out warnings! "PEWP!" "PEWP!" "Look out for the PEWP!" We were laughing, and from that point forward, any and all references to manure was "Pewp!" It's always great to have a new word to add to the vocabulary!

Colby was brought in, brushed and saddled, once he was busy giving rides, the oldest girl helped me harness Quzqo, and we got him hitched to the cart without problems. Happily it seems he remembered his lessons earlier this year in "standing quietly until asked to move forward". THAT is a big relief!

My plan was to load the cart up with a couple of kids, then take the horse about 1/2 mile down the main road, and back again...that'll be more interesting than walking around in the arena. I took two of the smallest girls first trip out, and even though Quz hadn't been in harness since the horse show, he did VERY well! I warned the kids about no shouting or screaming, to hang on, and keep their feet in the cart. They let out a few excited squeals during the ride, especially when we were trotting, but that didn't bother the horse one bit. He did perfect!

We returned to the barn, and loaded up the two boys (both 4 years old). The youngest girl admonished them "no screaming!" which caused my niece to raise her eyebrows a bit. Hey, it's good advice!

The boys were having a time of their life, and we got to trotting down the roadside at a good clip. One of the boys let out a loud "WhoaHO!", which Quzqo mistook for "WHOA" and he jammed on the brakes on his own, ha! I told them sternly "no yelling!"... last thing I need is for some kid to holler out "HAW!" and have the horse cut to the left (into the lane of traffic!)

It wasn't just fun-time-horsey-rides though, I was working on Quzqo and those "issues" we had about standing quietly, especially at intersections. We stopped at the intersection with the lilac bushes, and he did put up a little hissy, but a pretty feeble hissy, and eventually stood quietly until I told him to "walk".

On the way back to the barn (the boys were VERY concerned that we were actually leaving the barn...they kept track of how far away we were...and were very concerned when they couldn't see it any more...until we cleared the shrubbery that blocked their view) they began to jabber quietly to themselves (I'm sorry, I'm not fluent in pre-schooler)...the one boy began singing softly to himself, mostly to hear his voice go up and down with the jouncing of the cart at the trot, LOL. Cute.

Dumped that load of kids and loaded up the oldest girl and one of the younger ones sneaking a second ride. All went well until I saw something large and white approaching us from the other direction. I thought it was a truck pulling a utility trailer, nothing to worry about. Er...no, it's not just a truck, it's an 18-wheeler hauling a big flatbed full of cherry containers (cherry harvest is in full bore up here). Quzqo slowed...I could see him tensing up...gathering himself up.... raising his head up....the truck approached...the driver DID slow down (bless his heart), but the massive whiteness of it all was too much, and as the truck passed us, the horse bolted forward and to the right towards the (shallow, thank God) ditch! I got him stopped and up on the road again, the girls, of course, thought it was fun as could be. Couldn't fault the horse, I don't believe he's ever seen an 18-wheeler while in harness (and there's a good reason I've tried to avoid that). WHY there's commercial trucking going on on a late Sunday afternoon, well...

When we got back to the barn I gave the oldest girl some lessons on driving, and we went into the indoor arena and I let her have the reins! She was THRILLED to death, and after once around I could tell she was getting the hang of it, the horse was totally bored, so I got out of the cart and let her drive by herself. She loaded up with two other siblings and away they went, walking around in the indoor arena! TOO cute! Colby the QH was giving pony rides to the one 4 year old boy, who was riding all by himself like a big boy (Colby is THE best baby-sitter horse there is....and little Joey was wearing a helmet, for the record). Eventually Colby decided he'd prefer to follow Quzqo around the arena...it was the cutest thing ever, I wish I'd brought a camera!

Eventually all the kids and adults were horsed-out, I can sincerely say that was the most fun I've ever had with all the kids out there. The weather was dry and perfect, nobody got hurt, nobody cried, nobody wet their pants. It doesn't get much better than that!

Show, Day Two

During the night I'd come to the revelation that shows don't matter, and after the previous day's disappointments and bitter doses of reality, that today didn't matter either. But the horse was 20 miles away at the fairgrounds, I'd already paid for everything, so I might as well go and make whoever is judging today look at us, whether they like the view or not.

I made a few adjustments so I could avoid yesterday's madness. Since the weather forecast was for much cooler temps, I wore my breeches underneath my jeans. That'll save a few precious seconds in the clothes-changing department later on! I wore a universal white shirt, so I wouldn't be changing into my Official Huntseat Shirt With Collar and Stock Pin. Nothing wrong with a nice white collared Oxford. Having the proper clothes didn't seem to help, so this couldn't hurt.

The horse didn't sleep well, I could tell by the lack of green stains on his sides. But Sunday is always Bran Mash day, horse show days being no exception, so he greedily tucked in to his white bucket of branny delights while I went about moving all my tack/equipment from the draft horse stall at the far end of the barn, to right outside the stall. Less steps to take, less time to waste!!

People were busying themselves preparing for the Showmanship and Halter classes, and I sat in the sun, enjoying a hot cuppa coffee and reading a paperback. The girl a couple of stalls down had her big white Arabian out, prepping him/her for the halter classes I assumed. She was busy spraying him with something. I got a whiff...dang, that STINKS! Phew! Another shower walked by and made some comment to her about how artificial showing has become, and she said something to the effect of "yeah, well, you do what you have to do!" and continued spraying her horse's lower legs...with a can of RUST-OLEUM!!

Yes, gentle reader, that girl was spray-painting her horse's lower white legs with RUST-OLEUM! I thought I recognized the smell, since I'd spray-painted my cart days earlier with the same product!! She stopped to shake the can, and I could clearly see the black and yellow oval logo, and the red plaid design element....couldn't see if it was gloss or matte. What the hell! Granted, it did make the horse's legs very very white...she was more "misting" it over, not going for complete coverage. The fur took on a white, but flat color, maybe she figured the judge would be so bedazzled by the bright white that she wouldn't notice the lack of natural silvery sheen.

Yet one more thing to write in the "showing-is-not-for-me" column.

Eventually I got my un-enameled horse tacked up, hitched up, warmed up, and we once again found ourselves parked in front of my car, waiting for lunch to be over. A friend came up to chat, and her little girl was eyeing the cart...the conversation got around to that eventually, and I asked her if she'd like to go for a ride! Of course, and she got up into the seat with me, and Quzqo headed on away from the showgrounds down the dirt road towards the back of the fairgrounds. I got him trotting (we'd been practicing our "road trot" vs "park trot" and he was actually getting it)...A couple of spins around the field, then trotting back down the road to her mom's horse trailer where I offloaded her. She had a blast, I had a blast, that was more fun than the actual class!

Again we were back by the car, dozing in the sun, Quzqo with his head lowered and a hind leg cocked, looking like the ole' grey plow hoss at lunchtime. Another family came by, and the young girl very shyly muttered something about if I was selling rides. LOL, no, but you're welcome to ride anyway! So she and her younger brother (with Mom's approval of course, not like I'm some horse-drawn child snatcher...though I could have been!) climbed in, one on each side, and off we went, same route as the last time. The kids really enjoyed the trotting, especially when we hit the washboard portion of the road, LOL!

Seriously, I could have made some good money selling cart rides that day. Maybe that's something to consider in the future, LOL!

Eventually the class came again, and I had NO nerves whatsoever. Either I was too tired or too numb, haven't decided which. The competition was already in the arena, "working at will", waiting for them to officially call for the class. Knowing Quzqo's opinion of arenas, I opted to just stay outside in the shade of a tree, until the announcer told me to get in there. Kind of an informal arrangement, but, okay. We just walked along the rail, the judges were standing in the middle, talking to each other, my competitor was already trotting her horse, I didn't quite know what to do, so I started to get Quzqo into some sort of trot when the announcer finally said "Drivers, Trot your horse!"

Now today there was no "park trot" or "road trot". No, today we just had "trot" and "extend the trot". Well, don't know about that, so I just made him trot faster, hoping he was extending. We got going quite well, he had more energy than the previous day, that's for sure! The judges called for us to "reverse"...not "reverse across the diagonal", just "reverse". I was just turning the corner onto the short end of the arena, so there was no way I could reverse across the diagonal, so I just did a big circle until I was facing the wrong direction. My competition did the across-the-diagonal because she was already on the long side and could do that without looking ridiculous. The fix was in, eh?

Quzqo did VERY well I thought, backed beautifully with his head tucked and neck arched. In the line-up, the judges came by, and the man judge carefully looked at each horse head-on, then walked around both sides, inspecting the harness I assume. *gulp*. Can he tell mine came from a discount tack dealer on eBay, and that it had cryptic (Red-dot) Indian words scribbled on the inside of the tugs?? Did he have disdain for (gaaag) pipe carts??? But he never said a word.

As I expected, we got 2nd under both judges. But hey, it was fun and we got to do it, so that's what it's all about.

The chaos between harness and equitation went much smoother this time. It was easy to peel off my pants, put on the boots, put on the hunt coat, put up my hair, ready to go!

It's also easy to go into the show ring with absolutely NO expectations whatsoever. I was figuring on another last-place day like Saturday, so if you figure you'll fail, you're never disappointed.

An amusing side-note; as we were entering the arena to find a spot on the rail, one of the ladies in the announcer's booth who knew me exclaimed "YOU'RE RIDING!!!" Er, yeah...I only broke my leg in two places, that doesn't mean I can't still ride, LOL! Glad to be able to amaze!

The Equitation class went well, I thought. Quzqo spooked a little at some people along the rail, and slowed a bit at some people on the other side...maybe he didn't see them when he had the blinkers on, who knows! Again there were four of us adult novices, and I about fell out of the saddle when they called out the placings, and I had placed 2nd under "Judge A" (the lady)!!! "Judge B" (the man") placed me last, so no more about him. That made my day, and I found myself thinking "this showing isn't so bad when you PLACE!"

The Step-up was a near-repeat of the previous one, but with five entrants instead of three, and as we were cantering, I heard a quiet voice along the rail "wrong lead!". I relaxed my seat and tried to feel his stride...sure enough, the little stinker had been merrily cantering on the right lead...except we were supposed to be on the left! I hauled him up, re-cued, back on the right (wrong!) lead! Arrgh! Lather, Rinse, Repeat! Third time he got onto the left lead and after four or five strides they called for the trot. Quzqo doesn't like cantering on his left lead, and picked a fine time to make his point!

So, we placed 4th & 5th, but I enjoyed a little Schadenfreude when Bob's 7 yr old granddaughter didn't win under BOTH judges this time (only one)

Huntseat Pleasure we went back to our old ways, and even though I don't know of anything either I or the horse did wrong, again, we came away with two Last Places.

That was it for the day. I wisely scratched the Trail class when I saw it contained a "rope gate" and a "water obstacle". NO thanks. Just as well...the judges were amazing hard-noses about it, and even with the kids' classes, were disqualifying them right and left for going off-course or failing to negotiate obstacles! Just another of life's hard lessons to learn, kids.

I got the horse cleaned up and settled into his stall for the rest of the afternoon, and headed for the food stand, only to discover that they were all out of everything except coffee and half a bag of potato chips. Luckily I still had two peanut butter & honey sandwiches in the car that I'd made 36 hours earlier, and by that time, I didn't care what they tasted like!

Since my friend, Sandy, is on the board of the association that put on the show, I had to stick around until they were done cleaning up the fairgrounds of all stray poops, making sure the stalls were stripped, gates closed, lights turned off, etc, etc, etc, so poor Quzqo and Spike were pretty much the last horses to leave the fairgrounds around 8:30 p.m., just as rain showers moved in. We had NO trouble loading, as you can imagine!

So that's how it ends. There really aren't any other shows I could attend this summer, even if I wanted to, so that makes it easier to avoid the temptation. Instead I think I'll practice enjoying the trails and back roads, both in the saddle and in the cart, and not have to worry as to whether I'm posting on the correct diagonal, or if the horse is road-trotting or park-trotting.