photo splash memorable adventures

Photo splash to the past and the present,

just events to cherish, here they are....

A ride at our acreage - Swift Current,

with none other than BEN.  Only, if you ride this

horse, will you know how special he is to be on.

I always needed a stool mind you,  to get up onto his back, and hope

when I am out riding that we don't stop  and have to get off

and then get back on; out where there is no stool. I have looked for  many

  boulders and bumps when this happens so I can leg up  and get back on

(LOL) 

Motherwell Homestead in-between Yorkton

and Regina.

This was an experience and scary to see these men

get this thresher running.  How dangerous it was for

those farmers to operate this.  They did get it running too!

My cowboy boots (Ariats) I bought in Bozeman, MT
in 2007 got an overhaul and I bronzed them with bronze spray paint
  and painted
a bit of the design.  I will keep these forever, and hopefully someone will
throw them in my coffin (morbid but thats what I want)

this Christmas season I realized that
Tom is a genius with puzzles he did this 1000
piece puzzle in 5 days - it is glued together now and we will
frame it!  this was such a gift I had no idea it would
be put together that fast and it is a beautiful picture.
Thanks son!

We live 5 miles from a world renowned Strawberry
farm called Prairie Dome Strawberry Farm (look it up it is worth a trip)  and they take you for a ride on the big
open ended wagons to your area of picking.  Was enjoyable!

My dad gave me this letter that he found in one
of his photo albums as I wrote this to my
Grandma when I was 10 years old while at a summer camp.
(I think I was homesick a bit.  I was only away for 7 days)

My husband (Brian) made a new bed frame for our
master bedroom bed.  It was a new challenge and he
worked at it diligently.  I am staining it here in this picture.
I was impressed!

One of my most dearest moments; Tom and I and Brian went for
a ride through the back hills at our Swift Current acreage during the holidays season in (guessing maybe 2009)
Tom can ride but his interest is not really that developed but he has gone
on a few rides with us.  He rode Rocky and I must of been on Ben and Brian on
the colt at the time maybe Leroy.

Good Spirit Lake in April 2016
beautiful white sands and a lovely
clean lake for swimming and it has barely
changed since we used to go as a family
with my mom and dad.  We always treasure
this spot and attend it several times in the summer!

Oh my this was so thrilling to see a sea turtle while
we were walking around the rocks at the Big Island in Hawaii
Special moment for me.   They are so big!

Riding with the Top Line Trail Riding Club
at Sask. Landing and we were on the very highest ridge
I'm the second in line and Brian is the 2nd last rider.
One of our riders walked quite a ways up the other coulee
hill to get this photo.! (I was a bit nervous but I had Rocky and he
is the best trail riding horse, he is steady and sure)

Parkland Therapeutic Riding Club in Yorkton year end
party;  the clients/kids got to paint this white horse
I have never seen that done before and this horse was amazing!
He was tied on each side of his bridle in the middle of the
horse barn so the kids could paint away.

This was exciting ! Tom was getting his puppets spruced up
and perfected for his first Art Gallery Exhibit at the South West Open
He had 5 life size paper mâché video game characters on display at the local art gallery in the
exhibition grounds..... this was
July 2016.  His puppets are in this exhibit every year now.

 My folks came up to see his exhibit
and that was pretty special for me and Tom having my parents come see his success in the
art genre.!

This was a blast and having our acreage to have a fireworks
celebration was so exciting.  We bought the fireworks at Canadian
Tire and set them up down our lane.  What a Hoot!

Myan Riveiria in Mexico!
This was the most wonderful
ocean I have ever swam in.
Loved this swim, this ocean....I truly
felt I was in heaven for about 30 minutes.....
will never forget!  The universe was aligning up with
me at that time, I know it.  I said an amazing prayer to God.  It was January
last year and it can be a hard month.... (sigh)

Okay this was so cute, I helped Brian do the chores for our

neighbour back in November and she (our neighbour) had at this time 30 goats or so.  We watered and

gave them some feed and I took this video.  They are crazy busy and cute and

a bit noisy when excited.  Our neighbour loves goats and makes homemade soap bars using

goat milk.  This was a unique experience.

Horse back riding in Hawaii on the Big Island!
So loved this it was so beautiful and serene and different
landscape.

That's all for now folks!
Happy New Year!

those moments

These are horse videos and horse experiences from several years ago

bareback on Rocky first time
back at SC acreage

GNP (grasslands national park trail ride)
Brian riding Leroy!

GNP

FORT WORTH, TEXAS 2015

our paint horse Ben came back to our new acreage after being

away for 8 months.  This is my favourite video of all time.

Rocky and Ziggy remember who he is that is for sure.

Schutler is a colt that is co-owned with Brian and his  friend and
it was our turn to train.  But....he developed a couple of sarcoids
that we had to get a vet check on treatment plan for it.

I will add more once I can get them transferred from all the different cell phone

cameras and my digital cameras that I used over the years. 

Open Book - look him in the eye

let me take a look at an open friendly horse

and you can tell that by his eye it is soft

and not panicked

The Open Book
From reined cow horse competitors to weekend pleasure riders, most horse owners want a partner that is easy to work with. The perfect horse for an inexperienced rider has an “Elsie the Cow” type of eye: round, open and kind.

Buckley says that the non-complicated horse advertises its willing attitude.

Ben

here is our Ben
He is an open friendly horse

he get's concerned a bit but is really ready to please the
rider; he is a delight to ride and has never bucked in all our years
of riding him.  He is 22 years old now and still an honor to ride.

Schutler

Here is one of the young colts on our acreage who is almost 4 years old.  He is being placed in the

open book category.  He is super friendly, however he is yet to be completely figured out.

 What do you think?

from the article in

Western Horseman - Look Him In The Eye

KIRKVILLE horse interactions

celebrating February 1, 2018

3 old boys

just some quick vids of today's outdoor horse

fun!

Rocky is the Dunn horse and Ben is the brown

paint.  They are both geldings and our first

solid experience and training in our equine ventures

Both horses are 22 years old now

and in good health.  

I used to ride Rocky all the time but

I needed a fresh start with a different horse and

am happy to have the buckskin mare Bruschetta, who I have now named Grace!

Rocky was Graham's horse and

when he passed on I learned about

horses, honesty and grief and most of all

I learned about myself in so many ways.

here they are 15 years ago at 4-H day at the

exhibition grounds in Swift Current
(Rocky and my son Graham)

I never know what's coming up in these posts

but this is Graham's month to remember

and these horses were A GOOD THING!

videos on horse

I always like to get a shot or two when

horses are around.

I thought the trees turning colour

would turn out on this video

Nada.

Ben, our so so favourite horse has been

improving since his accupuncture

treatment a couple of weeks ago!

Bridge fun

evening on the acreage

It was such a beautiful calm August evening.

We have been out riding several evenings thus far

and it is a relaxing nighttime exercise sessions for

the horses and riders.

Brian is  out walking our arthritic horse Ben to keep his joints moving better.  This
is something hubby has been doing for 2 weeks and Ben is looking stronger.
I think this horse enjoys the low stamina walking jaunts as much as we do.

I am doing the same for myself!  riding and trotting to keep horse and 

me tuned up

I am so grateful I can do this.  It's wonderful to 

work with a strong gentle partner. Just like my husband!
{ooh he will like this post now}

this is how it is

Do not shrink

Do not puff up

 Stand my sacred ground!

{authenticity mantra}

good one!

other colts over the years

Dixie 

Whisper

 Leroy on the left and below

Brooks

 Cody

Walker

Walker

Fancy

Bruschetta (Coyote Flats)

Grace (previously named Bruschetta

Thunder

stuff +

the weave that I had no idea where it was going ended up like this

I used some left over orange and brown wide ribbon to weave through

as it gets tedious weaving all the way up to the top

I like it;

now to take it off this loom,

tricky part

I much prefer it if my weaves stay attached to a frame

or a border  (not like below)

"Artistry rarely compromises, it just looks for a new place to express itself." (Danielle Laporte)

I am bored with the loom weaving and attempting a wreath weave

if it turns out, I will post the result.

{fun}

here are my

flowers on the deck

 and deck steps

 changing feeding pastures is always exciting for these guys

Ben, he can't really lope or canter much, so he does fast short trotting steps {sigh}

so that is my stuff for today!

horse rescue

My hubby called me from outside saying..."Come hurry  I need your help".  I knew it was a horse situation.  I hurriedly put on my boots, jackets and good work gloves and raced to the hay feeding corral.  I instantly saw our tall 20 year old horse Ben lying on his side and his feet and legs were under the base of the feeder.  Hubby said he caught his foot in the bars between the hay.  He had moved Ben's foot out from the feeder bars before I got to him.   Now the horse just lay there very still.  All 4 of his legs were under the feeder still resting on the ground.  I looked at Ben and could see his one eye looking up at me.  I reassured Ben that we are going to help him and to stay calm.  He was already calm and it seemed Ben knew he just had to lie quietly until we figured it out.  Hubby said quickly to me to  "take this rope and wrap it around Ben's back legs and then use hook to secure it and then tighten the rope like a secure lasso". We have to get Ben up as fast as we can.

Sometimes a horse will just lie there and die. "

 I could hardly follow those instructions, as I was shaking.  "Time is of the essence" says hubby and I could not figure out the rope hook as it would not stay attached to the other side in order to secure this around Ben's legs.  "Twist it! Twist it!  and keep twisting the metal ring at the base of the latch. Time is of the essence here"!.

 I worked hard to calm down and focus.   At last I did see what I needed to do to lock it in place and the loop was secured around his legs.

"Now I am going to get Ben's front legs up but we have to do this together".  I ground my feet firmly and pulled the rope and the legs came up but I only had the 600 lb half of this horse and I was panting and getting weak from the pulling.  Hubby's right arm is in a sling and is unusable so he was relying on me to play a major role in shifting Ben out from under this metal feeder.   Finally hubby said "let's wrap this rope around my waist and you go and get his front legs out from under the feeder. We do this together and I will pull his back legs and you keep his front legs out from under the feeder."!

 I was nervous that he would kick me if I touched his hooves and lifted them but hubby said that "Ben is not going to kick he just needs to know he is free from it."

I got his 2 front legs up above his head and once Ben saw his feet up in the air he rolled and got up on all fours and kicked the rope tied onto his back feet and gave himself  a big earthquaking shake of the body and walked away.  No limp just a little stiff and after an hour or two he was perfect.  What an adrenalin rush!.  I felt like I had lost 20 pounds and felt very weak.  I recovered though as did Ben and my hubby.  (as a note:  I unfortunately did not actually lose 20 pounds baha!)

Horses like to roll and we are sure that Ben decided to get on the ground and roll onto his back as they get itchy and when he brought his legs back down his foot hit the feeder and got caught.  We have had that happen with another horse rolling to close to the fence and getting his feet caught.  It happens.

Relieved to have a successful rescue!

unedited

taking pictures when people are unexpecting it or in my case

I take them before they can get ready for the shot

is not very fair

but it is common with so many of my unedited

and soon to be deleted photos from my memory card

Hey Brian let's take a picture of us walking on the

highway this morning?  click ..too late to answer!

this is the inside of Tom's sunroom he renovated

this summer and they were cutting the boardwalk

and making sections of it inside while it rained

Tom just got out of his PJ's about 10 minutes

ago and was figuring out the game plan that Dad started?

click!

now me, I said to Brian and I got a few seconds

to turn around and pose

you can see the shadow of him taking my picture!

(click shadow photography)

does this blog post even make sense?

okay so here is the rest of the family..

unedited and taken today

this is how horses normally look most of the time, grazing,  heads down

this was fun

hardly any thought was put into this post

but it's a no brainer for you readers!