What we've been up to this year

The need to update this blog has been niggling. First, I looked back over my lists of posts. Hmm; last year I was absent from here until May 22. It's a bit later than that now, but I haven't been absent for as many months as before. Now that I'm back in the saddle again, I can look forward to enjoying some more adventures this year!

"Back in the saddle" you ask? For those who don't follow me on IG/FB or my sheep/farm blog, you're likely unaware that I had bilateral knee replacements on April 9.

my no-longer-bowed legs one month after surgery

Six weeks and a day after surgery I had a post-op appointment with my surgeon, who surprised me by saying it was okay to ride again. So of course I went home, tacked up Stella, and rode! I had been preparing for that day by resuming the groundwork I did with her before backing her almost five years ago, and I did some of that groundwork before mounting. I also told my son, who was home from work, to keep his phone on in case something happened, and then asked if he'd come down to provide proof. Stella was as good as gold; it certainly helps that I've trained all my horses to stand where I put them so I can use a fence, rock, stump or hump to mount to save their backs from the torque of the saddle tree. I now use that process in reverse to dismount, as sliding off and hitting the ground on my still-recovering legs doesn't sound like a good idea.

preparatory groundwork

'groundwork' done from the arena fence

first time astride post-op

I've ridden nearly every day since, progressing from short walks, to adding a little trotting (sitting is more comfortable than posting), to cantering on the one-week anniversary of getting back in the saddle. And what an anniversary that was, because my husband rode that evening, too! He hadn't been on a horse in years, and Lance hadn't been ridden in years, but Rick really wanted to try out a saddle he had taken in trade on a client's account. Lance reinforced why he's retired, stumbling to his knees once while walking. My tall husband sure looked better on him than he did on his former little cutting/reining-bred QHs, though!

two riders generated a LOT of dust (it's been a very dry spring)

Between my last post in November 2024 and my surgery, Stella and I continued as usual, schooling at home, getting in my usual New Year's Day ride, and poking through the woods in hopes of spotting an early wild iris just days before my surgery.

 

no wild iris, but lots of other flowers, including this feral cherry

There; now I'm all caught up, and so are you!

Home, home on the hill (catch-up, part 1)

Since my last post I've been taking photos as usual – of what we do around and riding out from home, and of the two excursions away. All told the photos add up to a lot, so I've decided to create three posts from them. You can tell from the title what the subject is for this post. 😉

I think this was after Stella got rinsed off; SO shiny!

Continuing to enjoy someone's mowing efforts

I was pretty sure bow season had started, and prepared accordingly.

Poison oak along the lane; pretty  but....

Fall is litter-al. The Bigleaf maples on the south side of the arena start dropping their leaves, which must be blown off so the organic matter doesn't eventually clog the drain tiles. We used to have to rake, until Rick bought a big, powerful, gas-powered backpack blower. I think I wo-manned the blower six times to keep the leaves from getting too thick and so I could occasionally turn the horses out to burn off steam and school Stella before 'fall' was done.

The final clean-up was this week; such a relief when the trees are finally bare!

With no pasture access, much-reduced turn-out, and fewer riding opportunities, Stella becomes more challenging again. You can see from the foam on her face how much she flips her head. She is still better in this bit; I no longer ride with a running martingale to keep from head-banging with her. 

Riding up and down our gravel lane is sometimes our only outlet.

Our shadow on the winery wall concerned her at first.

I do enjoy the views!

Compared to Stella, Lance is lazy and food-focused, not tense and combustible. But that's not to say that the lack of turn-out doesn't affect him. He eats until every stalk of hay is consumed, and then goes to work on his surroundings – trying to unlatch his door, dumping the stock tank, pulling off the tongue-and-groove boards from the inner wall of his stall, etc. I went down to the barn the other night to find he'd dismantled them ALL. Only the chainlink divider I'd put in the middle stall for sheep kept him contained and our hay supply safe.

Last night he pulled the top board off (even though Rick had NAILED it into place after the 'pick-up-and-drop-sticks' episode), then went to work on the stall door. I could hear banging from the house; by the time I arrived he had done a lot of damage and almost released himself. I put him in the arena and was prepared to leave him out there all night in the rain and wind, but when Rick got home late from a meeting he graciously went down with me to fix the door, replace a board, and run a hot wire along the top of the stall wall. But not before I had texted with the lady who gave Russell a retirement home and offered her another horse. She's considering it. Lance would have daily pasture turn-out there and would probably enjoy an occasional easy trail ride. It would leave Stella an only horse here, but since she doesn't ever act herd-bound, I think she'd handle it better than most. I could be assured that we have hay enough until next season's harvest, and the empty stall might prove useful in a variety of ways. Another horse? Taking in a training project for someone else? A hospital stall for a client's horse? (Rick's clinic lease ends on February 28, so he might be practicing from home soon.) Stay tuned.

A run of summer fun

Stella and I DID return to Bob & Crystal Rilee Park after my last post – and to the coast! Again we joined a herd of mustangs, enjoyed perfect weather, and had even better rides. I'm thinking part of that was due to switching bits, from the bradoon I purchased specifically for Stella to the bit I used with Lance and Russell (in the header photo) before him. The two bits are the same basic design from Herm Sprenger, but the new/old one is wider, thicker, and made from a different alloy. I thought it was too big for Stella but it's not, and she seems happier with it – she definitely tosses her head less in this one:

Bob & Crystal Rilee Park has trails down either side of the road on top of a ridge. My first time there we stayed on one side of the ridge; the second tine we started out on the opposite side, took a lunch break at the trailers, then repeated some of the trails from our first ride along with some new ones.

The trails on this side of the ridge tend to be nicer.

Stella hasn't always stood reliably while tied, but she was great during lunch!

The only other mare was hobbled, so could got to wander around.

This young lady is one of Rick's veterinary assistants, on her day off.

Several of the mustangs took post-ride rolls in the dirt,

but Stella chose to graze.

Besides a great ride, Rilee Park offered something else of interest. This trailer was parked there when we came back for lunch. After looking it over as carefully as I could, I went home and did some more investigating online, and am very impressed. As much as I've enjoyed our aluminum Sooner three-horse trailer, the Equi-Trek makes much more sense, especially now that I'm the only one in the family who rides; it's smaller, lighter-weight, and costs much less than what we could get for our Sooner. There is a dealer in Oregon and I may just go take another look in hopes that I can get Rick on board with switching trailers.

It even had a bunk and wee kitchenette!

That was on August 13. Two weeks later, we hauled to the beach. This time Stella was the token Morgan in a herd of six mustangs, one of them a yearling that was ponied along wearing a bareback pad for the experience.

I'm itching for another outing, but right now we are homebound. Rick's vet truck blew its radiator last week so Rick had to drive my pulling truck, which in turn blew a water pump! He and Brian got his vet truck fixed; crossing fingers they can get 'my' truck fixed, too. In the meantime we can school in the arena, and yesterday I took Stella through the neighboring woods for the first time since late spring. I was happy to discover that someone had mowed the old path so we could do more than ride on the gravel road; I was not happy to see a deer baiting station with corn and a salt block. Seems deceitful and unsportsmanlike to me, but I suppose it's not any different than fishing with a baited hook. (And yeah, I feel sorry for the fish, too.) Guess I'd better look up the dates for hunting season.... It was not a particularly warm day and all we did was walk, but Stella still worked up a sweat that ran down her legs because she was hot to go.