We leave today!

Well, the day has finally arrived! We leave at the end of the work day today. We aren't going far tonight, just down to Julia's house south of Janesville. We figured it would be easiest to rendezvous down there, and then leave early Friday morning. I have mostly everything packed. Just a few more things to throw in the truck as I walk out the door. I sure hope I can find room for Kari and her stuff. I may have to strap her on top of the truck with the hay bags!!!!

Sunny Day

I had a very happy horse today. When I got out to the barn today, my bathing beauty was sunning herself, which she has been doing every day that I've been out this week! She was so eager to come over and see me, I barely got a picture of her still laying down. (Unlike two days ago, when I got some very incriminating photos of her totally sacked out on her side with her big belly hanging all over the place, droopy lips...) We had an arena full of people today, so we just went for a short ride. We got a fairly willing canter in the end, which was a good place to stop. All in all, it was a good day! Kari and I managed to get our hay bags packed and our tack a little more organized. I have been busy putting the finishing touches on my packing. It is much harder than I thought to pack for two weeks away!

Great Friends...

Tonight we had a bon voyage party at Carole's house. I have such a loving, supportive group of horse friends! Well, life friends, really. In one week we will be rolling into Florida. I hope that our savvy group can live vicariously through our posts on this blog. We will certainly have to have another gathering once we return. I'm sure we will have many stories to tell! Somehow I didn't end up with a group picture on my camera (someone else will have to email it to me!). So I will share pictures of the dogs instead.....Catahoula and Miss Annie. Thanks for a great night, Carole! (And I'm looking forward to hearing about your walks with Orion....)

Wiggle your toes!

I have been following a fellow Parelli-ite's blog, and she was raving about these shoes called Vibram Fivefingers. So I checked them out online, and then decided to get a pair for myself! I found a store in Madison that carries them (Rutabaga). I've attached a few pictures. They look pretty wild! They are incredibly comfortable, and feel really great to walk in. Today was also an afternoon of relaxation for me. I got my hair cut, then got an hour long massage (to help rehab my back after this weekend's exploits...). Then I went down to State Street and bought a cowboy hat for my trip to Florida! Fun, fun!

Sunday Blues

Josie and I had an interesting night tonight. Thankfully we had Kari to help keep things positive and progressive! We finally made some good changes towards the end of the session.

I brought most of my tack home tonight so that I could get it labeled and marked so it doesn't get confused with everybody else's identical equipment! I love my new Parellie mega bag! It fits all of my ropes, plus my bareback pad and two carrot sticks! It would also fit my bridles, but I think I'll still take my black bridle bag. I started packing my clothes today too....mostly just summer weight stuff that I am SURE I won't be needing in the next few weeks...

There are only two more weekends before we go, and I am on call or back up for both of them, so I am starting to feel the crunch of planning and packing! My trailer went in for some work this week, so it should be ready to go. That's about it for tonight. I am looking forward to it warming up this week!

Happy Birthday

Here are some pictures from our birthday celebration on Saturday.

Vaccination day

We vaccinated the horses today. Or at least part one of the vaccines. We'll do the rest later in the week so their immune systems don't have to process the whole load in one day. I also took some radiographs of Josie's feet since she is getting her feet trimmed tomorrow. I wanted to see where her angles are compared to the last time that we took films two trims ago. I am now sitting on the couch watching old footage from our taping adventures this past summer. I am so thankful that I had my friend Kari to coach me and cheer me on through many interesting sessions! Especially the cantering ones : ) Oh, and btw, I also faxed off all of my paperwork to the Savvy Center in Florida. They now own me for two weeks in Feb : )