Weekend fun on holidays

Saturday was of course Derby Day. We were up at 6:30 as Louisville (they pronounce it down here Lew-vul) is an hour and a bit away from Lexington.  Was a sunny morning in Lexington.  The closer we got to Louisville, the blacker it got and by the time we parked (about a mile away), it was starting to rain.  But we walked (I had 3" heels on) instead of taking the $30 tram ride.  It's more expensive than Disney!

Got to the gates and wandered around in the rain.  It is a huge complex and never having been before, we weren't sure where to be when.  We found on the whole thT Churchill Downs is quite a dated facility and not nearly as classy as Keeneland - in fact, the bathrooms were quite gross for the derby being such a huge event.  Anyhow, our seats were perfect. 3 rows back from the track not far from the finish line.  Only, we weren't under cover, so we had to sit in the rain (are you sensing a theme?).  Anyhow, it was a great experience and I would totally love to go back someday when the sun is shining because it is an incredible spectacle.  The munchkins, oops, I mean jockeys, were so tiny, and the horses were tall and thin, but not as lanky as I expected.  There was a lot of hullabaloo everywhere you went. The pre-poncho fashion was truly amazing. Kentucky Derby is a people watchers dream!!! Unfortunately we missed breakfast at the hotel and all I really wanted was coffee and a sandwich and all we could find we're ice cold drinks and $9 roast beef sandwiches, lol.  I was glad for Pizza Hut and coffee after we left!!

Yesterday was a bummer to wake up to more pouring rain.  So, we discussed where we could go and come back, but it seems it was raining everywhere nearby. So we decided to check out Nashville and split up our ride to Memphis.  Got in about 4 ish. Checked into a downtown hotel and went out and checked out some stores and bars. Came back and got ready for dinner.  Then we went to another bar for a few hours as both bands were good and came back to hotel where I crashed hard and Josh watched TV for awhile.

Today, well, I am not sure what's on the schedule.  The rain has followed us to Nashville, so I don't know if we will head to Memphis or check something out here.  The river is swelling something fierce and there are big concerns about flooding both here and in Memphis.

Anyhow, that's it for us for now.  Love and hugs to all.

Kentucky Horse Park

So, today was super! We spent a few hours at the Kentucky Horse Park! Highly recommended for anyone who is familiar with famous thoroughbreds at all. Secretariat and Man O' War are both buried there under statues.  Saw a horse that was 19.2hh!!! He was a shire sport horse. Wow.  The horse museum was also terrific.

From there we hit downtown Lexington for lunch at the Cheapside Bar and Grill. First we went to Mccarty's Irish bar and it was full of Irish Americans.  Lol, couldn't understand anything they said but the eff word.  After that we headed out to Woodford Reserve Bourbon distillery.  We were too late for a tour, but got to try some bourbon (yuck).  Then we did a driving tour in our little ford escape through some of the horse farms. It is so pretty.

Stopped at a town called Midway that is super picturesque. Found my hat in a neat little shop there.  You should see Josh's outfit 😉. Bowtie, suspenders and all, lmao.  He is rocking the derby and all for me, which makes him a rock star! Tonight just hanging at the hotel.  Tomorrow we have to be up by 6:30 and out the door by 8 to get to Louisville for the Derby day. The actual derby race doesn't run til 6:30pm. And it's supposed to be 17 degrees and raining. Just what everyone woman in a dress wants to hear.

That's about as exciting as we are today 😊

Here's my picks for the Derby:
Verrazano
Mylute (woman jockey)
Overanalyzed

We will see how my $2 bet pays off, lol

Anniversary Trip Update 1

Thought it would be fun to do a little posting while we are away.  No pictures today as I didn't take my iPad.


 Yesterday was long.  Everything went without a hitch, just long day.  Considering we were flying United, it was a pleasant surprise :). We didn't get to our hotel in Lexington until 1:45am, so getting up at 6:30 was tough.  We had a lovely surprise of a bottle of wine and a card from our friend, Michelle who booked this lovely trip for us.  it was too late to crack it last night, but today will do just as well! The horse farm tour that we took to kick off our trip was awesome.  Lots of info to be absorbed, lots of great sites including Keeneland.  What a beautiful track and area.  Everything is so green down here.  Seems that horse farms are very much for the rich folks that are self made in business or own sport teams or are Saudi sheiks, etc.  And all these places have miles of fences and only one or two horses to be seen.  One farm we drove by had 600 acres and 60 horses. Crazy.  Once our tour wrapped up, we found some lunch and decided to crash after our 4 1/2 hour tour.  Our hour nap turned into 3, but I finally feel human again. Josh is still snoozing, but I am hoping to wake him up and go shopping for a bit.  Time to find the perfect decoration for my hat!

Tomorrow we are going to do the Kentucky Horse Park and a bourbon distillery.  Should be fun.

Tees 4-H Wranglers Clinic with Flattop Horsemanship At Vic Almond's Arena

Well, to say that this weather we have been having is annoying is likely a pretty big understatement.  However, we didn't let the weather deter us from having a great clinic with the kids this weekend.  Marty and Yvonne trekked up from Stavely with 3 horses and we rolled out the Wrangler Red Carpet for them.  The weather was absolutely awful on Saturday, so Vic generously offered to fill up his stalls with our horses so that none of us were risking life and limb or that of the horses on the way home.  So, we had 2 great days of learning about pressure and the release of pressure and how that applies to everything we do with our horse!  It was a great reminder from the clinic we had in the fall and the kids and adults alike got a lot out of it.  Marty and Yvonne are terrific to work with and a good time was had by all!

Ranch Horse Versatility Clinic - Cochrane April 2013

April 6 & 7 - Diary of our journey

In March, I made a selfish life choice and bought myself a new horse.  Lucky for me, my husband is one of those patient, supportive, good guys that believes in happy wife, happy life.  Yes, I know what you may be thinking, we do have horses, LOTS of them.  However, in my whole entire 35 and a half years, I have never owned a broke horse.  I am not talking about a horse that has had some training and needs miles and work, I am talking about a broke horse.  A horse that knows what the job is, knows how to do all kinds of things, a horse that knows more than I do and can teach me.  A horse that would allow me to learn ways to teach our young horses the finer points and to teach my kids and 4-H members easier way to do things.  So, that's the kind of horse I bought. 

Lucky for me, we have made some great connections in the past year that allowed me to have some terrific people come into our world, which in turn brought Nevada in.  So, our adventure begins.  Josh's one and only stipulation to our making the decision to purchase another horse was that I had to have some specific goals with him.  So, my goal for the year is to try to get out and try some showing with the Alberta Ranch Horse Versatility Association and maybe a few fun light horse shows as well. 

This past weekend, Nevada and I loaded up and headed down to Cochrane for a 2 day clinic that was part introduction to the sport, part skill enhancement and part fun.  I had only ridden Nevada 5 times before this clinic, so it also served as large part "get to know you"! 

 

 Mom and Rylee met us in Cochrane on Friday night and we had some pool time and a good visit.  Then Saturday morning it was time to get our game face on.  First up was Ranch Trail. 

We had no troubles with the bridge, trot poles, sidepass, etc.  We learned that Nevada is a bit oversized to go through a 5 foot wide gate, lol.  But we did it.  My ability to rope air is phenomenal! 

After that we worked through the transitions that make up the Ranch Riding pattern.  After lunch we had some more fan support show up when Josh and Jordynn got there as well as Wardley's and Morgan!  We worked on some reining pieces after lunch.  It was a great chance to work through some of the paces and really pick up on each others quirks and jerks and perks :)

After dinner, I was so happy to be enjoying the weekend that Josh, the kids and I went back to the arena and I rode bareback for another 45 minutes.  Addicted???

Sunday we got to play with the cows.  FUN!!!  We worked on Ranch Cutting and boxing, etc.  My horse may or may not have tried to eat a couple cows, lol.  If they got too close to his mouth, he thought they would make a good afternoon snack.  A person could get easily addicted to that part of it!  We had a lot of fun sorting, boxing and tracking.  Fun, Fun, Fun! 

Anyhow, it was a super fun weekend for me because I got to forget the world for a couple of days.  Just me, my pony, some like minded individuals and a lot of fun getting to know the horse and some more ins and outs of this discipline.  Took me back to my youth when all that mattered in the world was the next time I could get my butt in the saddle and ride!  And the plus is, after 2 full days of riding new horse in new saddle, I am not even sore!  God Bless Billy Cook for that!  Can't wait to see what the summer brings!

Looking forward... What's next?

We are so excited for this Spring/Summer here at the ranch!  Babies coming (not me, the horses), kids are gearing up for 4-H Showing, 4-H Rodeoing, Rodeoing, Showing and more.  We are all just ready for the snow to be gone!  Our crazy schedule begins Easter weekend with a trip to ma & pa's for some turkey bird and visiting and then on to Stavely to Flattop Horsemanship to pick up my new horse, Nevada! 

I am SOOOOOOOO excited about this new adventure I am about to embark on!  I bought an awesome coming 8 year old, Bay Roan Gelding that has spent his life with a trainer whom we have come to respect and admire, Marty Gardner.  My plan with Nevada is to participate in Alberta Ranch Horse Versatility Association shows if I can gather up my guts. We are also hoping to attend 4 or 5 light horse shows this summer with Jordynn and some of our friends.  I haven't shown competitively since 4-H, so I am scared SPITLESS, but with an amazingly supportive husband, some experienced show friends, some brave friends that are also jumping in this year and my new trusty steed, I expect that it will turn out just fine.  It's not about winning this year, it's about the experience, learning and fun, but boy oh boy would some ribbons, buckles and bux be nice! 

Here's a couple not so great pictures of Nevada...  They totally don't do his 16.2hh, stocky confirmation any justice.  Will post more once he arrives at Rydyn High!

 

 

 

Jordynn and I are so excited about Nevada that we picked up some Nevada themed accessories to take on the show trail with us!

 



Slacking... Why do I even try to blog?

Well, every time that I swear I will do better, I think I do worse on keeping this up.  I see friends of ours updating their posts all the time.  Me?  I think, oh, that's great, I should update ours and then... Well, as you can see, I haven't blogged since June last year, so I am clearly not doing it!

What to talk about today?  Well, in 9 months, Lord knows there must be lots to share?  There is, but where to start.  I think maybe with the most recent stuff.  Let's talk about 4-H Public Speaking.  This is an amazing phenomen.  In our 3 years of being the Tees 4-H Wranglers leaders, we have seen our original kids in the club grow SO much in their abilities.  I love listening to the speeches and the topics and just marveling that we are assisting this generation with such an important skill.

Now, we have no idea where our kids get their awesome speaking skills from ;), but I have to say, they have blown us away this year.  Okay, maybe I do, as Josh and I were both Regional Level Public Speakers back in our day.  We also both have to do it every day at our jobs in Management, so the kids have picked up on some of those skills.

Jordynn did her Presentation on Crystals & Energy Healing - titled "Not Just a Rock".  She did a 7 minute presentation on crystals and their ability to help with natural healing.  We were so proud of her advancing to Regional Level where she placed 2nd!!!

 

 

Rylee did his Speech on the pros and cons of being vertically challenged.  His speech was titled "Just Call Me Fun Sized".  He also went on to speak at Regional Level, where he was told by one of the judges that he had given the best 4-H Speech she had ever heard!  Wow!  High Praise :)