State Fair proofs, bullet points

If you'd like to see them on the photographer's website, follow these steps. (Note that each step may load slowly.)

Go to forrestblissphoto.com (that's a hot link to make the first step easy).

Click on the bar in the upper left of your screen labeled "Proofs–Events/Shows."

Click on the dark purple type that says "I Agree To The Above Information - Take me to my Proofs" (the line under the paragraph in red).

Click on the year 2013.

Click on the Oregon State Fair - Aug 23 - Sep 1 - Salem OR.

Click on Entry Number/Name.

Click on Mustang.

Click on 416 = Michelle McMillen – and there we are!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Randomly:

• Our horses have not seemed to miss old Sammy at all; it's kind of strange. We do, of course.
• The farrier comes to give everyone trims tomorrow; Lance's front boots should fit after that, making road rides more attractive.
• Lately Lance has been unhappy about right lead canter departs like he was when we had obvious saddle fit issues.    :-( 
• I have a lesson scheduled with Julie this Wednesday. I may use my old Wintec saddle.
• The weather has changed abruptly to Fall.

Now there are three

4/4/86 - 9/13/13

Rest in peace, Docs Sam Peppy.

You were a good'un.

Poignant memories

Lance and I have had to work around road construction in the arena this week:

Brian used to play in the sand often while I schooled Russell, the horse in my header. But he hasn't touched these toys for years. What inspired my lanky 11-year-old to dig them out of the weeds and make tracks and hills in the sand on Sunday, I'll never know. Seeing them there Sunday evening when I took Lance out for a schooling session brought back memories and tugged at my heart.

I schooled Lance Sunday and Monday, then gave him yesterday and today off while we endured a late-summer sneaker wave of heat. He hung out in the pasture with Ollie and Breezy – but not Sam, Rick's old cutting horse. We let Sam hang out in the barn so he didn't have to move far for food and water.

Brian noticed that Sammy wasn't eating with the other horses Tuesday morning, so Rick brought him in and examined him carefully. Sam's body condition has really gone downhill over the last couple of years, in spite of the calories we are pouring to him; he can't afford to lose his appetite. Then there's his labored breathing, which has been noticeable for months. An ultrasound of his chest didn't look normal, but his bloodwork is. He could be suffering from congestive heart failure, or cancer, or – who knows. At age 27, there isn't really any more that can be done. My husband has made a lot of memories with and on that horse over the last 20 years, and the prospect of putting him down is tugging on ALL our heartstrings....

Dressage takes a detour, but is not derailed

What a whirlwind the last few weeks have been! Schooling, giving lessons, visiting Perrydale Trails, cleaning horse and tack, showing at the State Fair, horse-camping. Doesn't sound like the life of a dressage horse, but I think a well-rounded education makes a horse a better dressage mount – and  having a dressage education makes a horse a better mount for everything else!

The day we spent at the State Fair Mustang Show was long, warm, and HUMID; I don't think I've ever sweat so much! We were totally out of our element, but Lance was such a good boy and I had fun hanging out with the mustang exhibitors and Wanda, who came and supported me with her friendship and ready help for most of the day. Lance's Kiger sire Riddle Me Dino was there and Dino's owners were also incredibly supportive; I heard them say several times, while pointing in our direction, "That's a Dino baby!" I think they liked my Lance. ;-)  Some strangers in the stands really took a liking to my handsome horse, too, giving me thumbs-up and big smiles when I rode by, and clapping and cheering wildly for him in the line-ups.

So how did we do? The judge didn't favor us much; we came home with five pretty ribbons, but none of the blue or red variety. We placed third out of five in the halter class; Lance surprised me by standing pretty quietly instead of fidgeting. We also placed third out of five in the trail class, even though it had few of the elements I was expecting, other than backing through an L and then sidepassing back along the L which we didn't execute cleanly. I thought we'd do best in the three English Pleasure classes, but slipped to fourth and fifth places in those, thanks to making our only mistakes right in front of the judge. :-/  Oh well, it was good experience, and fun overall. I don't know that we'll do it again; I think I'll save my funds for dressage shows and keep the trail-riding on the trails from now on.

The show photographer got some really good shots – but charges really high prices for them which I just couldn't justify. (When he gets them on his website under exhibitor #, I'll post the link so you can see the online proofs.) Here are some photos Dino's owner took; at least they prove we were there!

Senior geldings halter class

Backing through the L in the Open Trail class

Standing out in our English tack, waiting for the trail class to be placed

Dino on the left, his son Lance on the right

A better photo of Dino, hanging out at the Fair

We had a good time horse-camping over the Labor Day weekend. We got to our destination in the Ochoco National Forest late Friday so threw up a high-line for the night; the next day we set up paddocks with electric fencing. I wasn't sure how well either would work for my "escape artist," but Lance was a model camper with both set-ups.

My friend Laura was there with her mare Tang, and our ride together Sunday was "the cherry on top" of the whole weekend. First we herded a range bull out of camp with our dressage mounts, who surprised us with their bravery. Then we rode through the meadow and up the hill, then down past the site of a small forest fire and back to camp.

As we returned, my husband snapped some photos on the sly with his long lens:

(A full report of the weekend is on my farm blog here.)

Since our return Lance and I have resumed our regular dressage schooling. I'm looking forward to taking some more lessons with Julie in the near future –and going to the beach with my boy!

Fitting quote

“I’m so busy, I can’t remember if I found a rope or lost my horse!”

Since my last post, Lance and I have been to the State Fair and the Ochoco National Forest. I'll report on both as soon as I can!