Sooo... what's your story?

I picked this up on Arlene's blog, Grey Horse Matters, a while back and have been meaning to answer this thing. I figured since my body is so tired my brain has quit working it would be a good time to use this as a crutch so I could put a post together.


1. How old were you when you first started riding? The first time I was on a horse, I think I was about 6 or 7 and visiting my grandparents. One of their neighbors had a girl a couple of years older than me and she let me ride with her on her draft, bareback. But riding, really riding 40!

2. First horse ridden: By myself, that probably be Topsy. There's a story there. The first horse at 40 would be the barn lesson horse where I worked as a groom. His name was Kelly and he was a tough old bird.
3. First horse trotted on: the same as question 2
4. First horse cantered on: again
5. First Horse fallen off of: and again.........Topsy dumped me about three times before I finally was able to ride her.
6. Most recent horse fallen off of Reflection
7. Most terrifying fall: That would definitely be Reflection
8. First horse jumped with: those rental horses when I was a kid. I never got to ride the same one more than once or twice so can't remember their names. Except there was one I rode a bunch of times, can't remember her name either but she was a palomino mare with a bad attitude and I loved her...........she loved me too!

9. First horse who ran away with you: Scandalous
10. First horse that scared the crap out of you: Reflection
11. First horse shown :!) Mark
12. First horse to win a class with: Mark
13. Do you/have you taken lessons: Yupe!

14. First horse you ever rode bareback: that crabby palomino mare
15. First horse trail ridden with: those rental horses
16. Current Barn name: who? me or a horse??

17. Do you ride English or western?: Both
18. First Horse to place at a show with: Mark
19. Ever been to horse camp?: Not a horse camp but a camp where you could ride.

20. Ever been to a riding clinic? Lots! I've done clinics with Jimmy Garvison, Bobby Hart, Tommy Garland, Bill Porcher, Jesse Saladana, Bret t Becker, Richard Shrake, John Lyons and good ole Harvey Jacobs. I think Harvey's was my favorite. Teaching those old cowboy types that Arabians really have what it takes to do "real" work is always a high point for me.

21. Ridden sidesaddle? Nope and have no inclination to do so! Just the thought makes my back ache.
22. First horse leased: Solidare, it's the only way I could buy her because he wouldn't sell her to me outright.
23. Last Horse Leased: Solidare
24. Highest ribbon in a show: Champion
25. Ever been to an 'A' rated show?: many
26. Ever competed in pony games/relay races?: nope
27. Ever fallen off at a show No, knock on wood!
28. Do you ride Hunter/Jumpers?: No
29. Have you ever barrel raced? No
30. Ever done pole bending?: No
31. Favorite gait: I like them all.
32. Ever cantered bareback?: Sure
33. Have you ever done dressage?: Yes, a little bit
34. Have you ever evented?: Nope and no inclination either

35. Have you ever mucked a stall?: many, many
36. Ever been bucked off?: You bet
37. Ever been on a horse that reared Yes, a few
38. Horses or ponies. Horses for sure
39. Do you wear a helmet?: sometimes
40. What's the highest you've jumped: probably 4 feet when I was a kid, but 3 feet as an adult...........lately I'm down to 2
41. Have you ever ridden at night?: Yes on the trail and in the arena
42. Do you watch horsey television shows?: Of course!
43. Have you ever been seriously hurt/injured from a fall?: Yes, broke my arm and dislocated my shoulder in one fall and probably had a concussion when I went off of Reflection. However, I didn't go to the doc but my thinking was not good for a few weeks. Sounds serious to me looking back.
44. Most falls in one lesson: never fallen in a lesson
45. Do you ride in an arena/ring?: yes
46. Have you ever been trampled by a horse?: Kind of........
47. Have you ever been bitten?: Yupe!
48. Ever had your foot stepped on by a horse?: Who hasn't??
49: Favorite riding moment: my nationals ride on Dandy in the hunter pleasure class. That ride was perfect except for getting run into....but Dandy was so awesome. Just thinking about it makes me smile.
50. Most fun horse you've ridden: Scandalous, no it would have to be Dandy, but then Legs is very cool, , well maybe Tag, today definitely Hope but the Legs was very awesome today and sometimes it's Vee...........get the picture???

So that's my story and I'm sticking to it! What's yours?


This picture is Legs and I think it's when he was a yearling. TI thought this picture was taken at the old Park Lane Arabians which is now defunct but looking at it closer it's one of Jeff Little's pics so it must have been a Destiny Farm.

Visit Blog Village and vote daily for this blog Here They are now measuring the rankings by votes out, so if you find my blog on the site, please click that link too to improve my rankings. TY

Picture Meme..........Arabian Horse Antics!

Jonna at BARBS, ETC tagged me on the photo meme. As I understand it the rules of this particular meme are to go your photo files, count down six folders and then post the sixth picture from it here in addition to telling the story behind the pic. Of course all of the usual rules apply like posting the link to the person who tagged you (which I've done above) and then tagging and linking six more victims.

This photo is dear sweet Andy. If you can't tell he has lascivious thoughts about that mare in front of him. That is not his mother, Heiress. It is Aana and swooping up on the side to defend her honor is Patriot. There's no way little Patriot is going to allow Andy to have anything to do with HIS mother.

You can bet the mare was well aware of the intent of this little monster colt. Aana wasn't the least concerned about Andy's antics. She was not going to let any bratty colt stop her from enjoying a great roll. The mare timed that roll just so she throughly scratched both sides effectively. Then she jumped to her feet, flattened her ear, snaked her neck and chased poor Andy clear to the fence.

By that time the colt was pretty sure he was going to die and go straight to hell. His mother did nothing to protect him. Heiress was probably glad that he wasn't trying to jump on here. I'm sure she appreciated him getting knocked down a peg or two........and not having to be the one to do it.

If you're wondering if such behavior from a young colt is normal.........well, it's certainly normal around here. All of my colts are born with their testicles dropped and very studdy behavior.

Personally, I think it makes it easier to get colts to understand the behavior needs to be controlled when they begin getting those lessons right from birth. As long as they are taught from the beginning how to behave like gentlemen, they are much more accepting that it's how life's supposed to be. Of course, that assumes that they are being kept in line along the way........as Richard has begun to learn. LOL

I am passing this along to Molly at HolaMole' Callie at Midwest Horse Mikey the Horseshoeing Howesewife, BrownEyed Cowgirls
cdncowgirl at (Not Quite) Home on the Range
last, but most certainly not least, there is Mrs Mom who recently had her once year anniversary at Oh HorseFeathers & Related Twisted "Tails"

And while I'm thinking about it, Mikey asked a question on her blog that I'm curious about as well. At what age do you buy your child a real cell phone? I'm just as curious as Mikey to hear what folks (whether you have kids or not) have to say.

Visit Blog Village and vote daily for this blog Here They are now measuring the rankings by votes out, so if you find my blog on the site, please click that link too to improve my rankings. TY

Catching Up - Awards and Updates

With all the stuff going on with my Arabian horses recently, not to mention the current situation with Dandy, I've gotten behind on some things. I've been given some awards and think I better get them posted before I totally forget.

The first one came from midlife mom over at Home on the Range The Equine Excellence in Care Award and also from Arlene over at Grey Horse Matters I truly appreciate midlife mom and Arlene for including me on the list of those who have received this award.

Since I took my sweet time in passing this award along, it's going to be tough to find horse bloggers who haven't received it yet.

I would like to pass the award on to Molly at HolaMole' who takes very special care of her buckskin mare, Bella.

Holly at Dogsnhorses who takes great care of all of her critters and I just loved the pics of the new kitties.

Then there's Beth at Around the Funny Farm It's not just that I can relate to being on a funny farm. She takes great care of her critters as well.



The Hesitant Scribe awarded me the Excellence in Blogging Award. I really appreciate this honor as well. It's nice to know that people appreciate the time at spend at this darn computer writing about my horse experiences.



I would like to pass this award on to some of my favorite non horse blogs. SusieJ who I somehow lost in my blogreader and only found again recently. I have missed you Susie. Your blog rocks.

Abraham Lincoln at Brookville Daily Photo is also another very special blog to me. His photography is amazing particularly his pictures of all kinds of critters. He seems to capture the most natural and curious shots of wildlife I've ever seen.

Arthist99 at Gorilla Wordfare is another of my must reads. She's dedicated to animal rights but not to the sense of unreason (which translates to she doesn't expect me to quit riding my horses) and isn't afraid to voice her opinion on about anything.

Frazzled Farm Wife is another must read in my blogreader. I love to her perspective about the different aspects of her life from cows, pigs, the prom and a vacation in Vegas. I also appreciate her support.

Billie over at camera-obscura is blogger I appreciate. I never know whether it'll be horses, cameras, other critters or organizing my closet ( a challenge I still need to tackle!) but I appreciate her look at life.



A while back I was given another award by midlife mom over at Home on the Range The Horse Lovers Award I'm embarrassed to say I haven't gotten around until posting this award until now. I think I must have OCD about when the appropriate time is to interrupt in a series of posts and so I keep posting and posting and posting........not always taking care of business. I really appreciate this award as well. I think every one of the horse blogs I know has received it already but maybe not some of the new ones, well newer ones to me maybe, if not newer to the blogosphere.


On the bit at A horse and a half is a blog I've found recently. There's also, all things horses written by trail riding cowgirl.

OK, that's it for me, my brain is numb trying to figure out who I haven't given awards to yet who should be getting them. If I missed anyone out there I apologize, my sixty something brain can't remember what it did twenty minutes ago let alone who has and hasn't gotten these awards. At least I'm not passing out some silly virus again.

To those receiving these awards, post them on your blog and if you'd like post where you get them. Hopefully that'll help all of us find rankings in the search engines so we can build our readership and maybe recruit some new people to begin blogging about their horses or whatever else they fancy.


For those of you wondering about Dandy's condition. He has improved some but is still not out of the woods. It's more probiotics and wheat bran mash for him. He is still somewhat bloated but showing signs of feeling better. Rachel was pulling weeds in his paddock and he was rolling a small blue barrel at her wanting to play. That makes me feel a bit better but I'll be glad when the bloating is finally done. This has been a long week.

I'd like to thank everyone for their concern about my horse. I really appreciate all the prayers and thoughtful wishes. I hope this chapter in our lives will be over soon and Dandy and I can go on making more blog post material.

Proud Arabian Mare - Awards - and Pet Peeves??

The picture above is of a Breyer horse, model Proud Arabian Mare that my thoughtful daughter, Lindsay, had custom painted for me to look like my first Arabian horse, Scandalous. Lindsay began working on this project in November because she wanted to be sure it was finished in time for my birthday today. It's a good think she started that early because lots of wierd things happened making this a difficult project to complete. But Lindsay was relentless about following through and I couldn't be more proud of here. Words cannot describe what a touching gift this has been to me.



Just in time for my birthday, I was awarded the Excellent Blog Award!
by Gecko, who had no idea it was my birthday but the timing was a perfect birthday surprise. Thanks, Gecko for thinking of me.

I am presenting this award to

Kathy Of Horses and Art

photogchic of Equine Mine

Project Jasper


It wasn't until I was given an award by Gecko today that I came across a tag from a while back. I was looking for a file to put the link and information about this award for later posting when I came across this one I haven't addressed yet from late last year no less. Yes, it's been a while since I was kinda tagged by Gorilla Wordfare to do this meme. To be quite honest, I actually forgot about the fact I had said I would participate. There have been so many viruses and other things going around I was having trouble keeping up with what I did and didn't do. But I'm sure I haven't done this one, because of it's subject matter, Top Five Causes/Pet Peeves/Things That Irritate Me

For me this speaks loudly to my five pet peeves concerning horses, not about the horses themselves, but those who train them and supposedly care for them.

1.Riders who are more interested in frame than impulsion. I've seen lots of horses ruined by such riders, even a couple that I have raised have been victim to this fate. There have been entire books written on this subject and yet there are still trainers and riders out there doing this.

2. People who treat horses like they are a disposable commodity. Horses are living, breathing, feeling creatures and should be treated with dignity and respect instead of used and abused. Riding horses who are injured is inhumane. Just because a horse can be drugged up so that it will perform doesn't make the practice humane or ethical.

3. Riders who are constantly in their horses faces. Bump, bump, bump constantly teaches a horse nothing except to be afraid of the bit. Watching a horse going around the show ring throwing its head in the air makes me so sad. I wonder how that rider would feel if she/her were the one with the bit in her/his mouth.

4. People who blame the horse's poor performance on the horse. I'm a firm believer that horses want to do what they can to please. They can be trained out of this but they start off wanting to do what it takes. I believe riders/handlers who spend their time blaming horses for poor performance are just making excuses for their own lack of knowledge.

5. Trainers who hang out their shingle who have no business training horses. Seems to me horses would be much better off if trainers had to take some kind of test to prove that they are qualified. The horse industry would probably be better off as well. I'm sure there are many who have quit with horses because of experiences with bad trainers.

OK that's it for me. Obviously I didn't beat a half dead horse and bring up the fact about some people (who shall remain nameless) not taking care of their or my horse. I'm pretty sure there are some folks out there that might be able to get into this tag as well.

Grey Horse Matters

20 meter circle of life

Campin' horseluvr

Freelance Instructor 's Diary

dogsnhorses

Like all awards, memes and viruses the rules are the same. Please link back to where you got it from and pass it on with links to the new suckers....ummm, winners! LOL


Visit Blog Village and vote daily for this blog Here They are now measuring the rankings by votes out, so if you find my blog on the site, please click that link too to improve my rankings. TY


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Scottsdale All Arabian Horse Show and Old Picture Tags

The 2008 Scottsdale All Arabian Show started on Friday. There is a live feed up to the horse show at Live from Scottsdale The feed has been free up through today but to cover the cost of the bandwith for two rings and the added expense for employees and such with that second ring, they will be charging the rest of the show. The cost will be $10 a day for $50 for the whole show. The show ends next Sunday, Feb 24.

Since one of my Legs' babies is showing at this horse show, I will probably be paying to watch. I have no idea exactly what classes the horse is in but do know he is showing in Show Hack and Costume. The first class I will be looking for him in is the Show Hack Novice Horse class.

The horse will be easy to spot, it is Scandalous Chance. He was the colt I wrote about a while back http://risingrainbow.blogspot.com/2007/12/baby-boomer-dreams-of-arabian-horses_17.html with the wild white marking on his face and the two high hind whites. He has grown into a beautiful show gelding. He has been taken to Scottsdale to sell. Cross you fingers and hope that he finds a great knew home.



I have been tagged and am supposed to put up an old picture of me. The tag came from Seatbelt for my Saddle and also from All Things Horses I think this all started at Transylvanian horseman I'm thinking this is probably another one of those virus things that's been going around will play along I guess. Not sure about tagging anyone else, I think I've about burned all the bridges I dare to burn.

I'm not exactly sure what constitutes an old picture, but this one is twenty years old. That hairdo alone should be enough to give the time frame away, not to mention the lack of wrinkles on my face.

Twenty years ago, I could still see well enough to wear make-up. Not that I had much on in this picture but sure a lot more than I wear these days.
If I tried to apply makeup these day's I'd look like a clown or maybe like a 2 year old put it on my face.

This is Scandalous in the picture. It was taken during the period of time I was still working at Feature Farm as a groom. Dave came down for a brief visit while I was still working and took this snapshot. I was in the process of rotating horses around in the turnouts. Two horses in each field, for about two hours, then they'd get brought in and another pair but out. It went like that all day until most every Arabian or half-Arabian got a chance outside to play.

Visit Blog Village and vote daily for this blog Here They are now measuring the rankings by votes out, so if you find my blog on the site, please click that link too to improve my rankings. TY


Arabian horse arabian horses horses horse horse showScottsdale horse show

Payback Time at the Arabian Horse Blog and Other Tags and Awards

OK, I have to admit that I have been mean to Tracey on Mustang Diaries With all these virus things that have been going around, I probably infected poor Tracey more times than anyone should be. The last time Nasty Virus Going Around - But This One's Got Horses Too! I justified because it was six quirks about horses. Tracey didn't get mad, she got even. She tagged me in Is There a Doctor on the Blog to do a Bucket List.

Well, as you know, I'm always making excuses for putting off these things and taking my own sweet time about doing them. But this time I thought I had a really good reason for doing so. Those men in the movie were dying and unhappy they'd never gone and one those extra special things they always dreamed of. To me a bucket list is akin to a dream and I am living my dream after all. So it's not like I need a list to tell you guys, I'm sharingmy dream all the time.

Then Paul stopped in today. He was tagged by Tracey too to do this bucket list thing and well, he's already got his posted. He was just dropping by to see the other's that Tracy had tagged so I guess I better get to it.

So aside from breeding Arabian horses what else is part of this dream. There are specific goals along the way that I imagine qualify for this bucket list thing. There not really big things just

1. A national championship in the amateur western and hunter divisions, a top ten in the open western (watch you trainers out there, I'm coming after you!) and a top ten in amateur reining.

2. My stallion. Scandalous Legacy, to be recongized at the national level for producing national champions

3.To exhibit at the famous Scotsdale Arabian Show

4. To exhibit at Sport Horse Nationals

5. To mentor a couple of youngsters interested in learning everything they can about Arabian horses.

6. To have at least a couple of books published.

7. Set-up a therapy program with Arabian horses for child victims of abuse.

8. Win a Horsewoman of the Year Award in the Amateur Western Division


OK, so much for my bucket list, I've also been tagged with another thing and given as award. The tag came from equinespirit at ...grazing in the meadow of creativity!!


You must post the rules before you give your answers.
After you've been tagged, you need to update your blog with your middle name and answers.
You must list one fact about yourself for each letter of your middle name.
Each fact must begin with that letter.
If you don't have a middle name, just use your maiden name/last name.
At the end of your post, you need to tag one person for each letter of your middle name. (Be sure to leave them a comment telling them they've been tagged and need to read your blog for details).

Just over the top about Arabian horses

Almost to a fault, but just almost.........

Neatly wrapped up in a body too big for Arabians in the first place

Entirely committed to sharing the joy of owning Arabian horses





The Spread the Love Award came by way of Victoria Cummings at Teachings of the Horse
and Callie at Midwest Horse I have to admit that first off my reaction is that I'm blogging about horses, I not spreading love, if I'm spreading anything it's the manure on my farm. But then I realize that by sharing my passion for Arabian horses I really am sharing love in this world. Sorry, I'm a bit dense sometimes. Anyway, now that I've figured that out, I want to thank Victoria and Callie for sending this award my way.

This was created by Mica at Garb-oodles Soup with an idea to "Spread The Love" in amongst those we meet through the blogoshere and find that connection.

There have been so many memes, awards and other tags going around that I'm thinking some are getting pretty sick of them since it seems that the same people keep on getting tagged over and over. Because of this, I'm going to try and bring some new or relatively new bloggers into the mix who often times get overlooked. Since this is about spreading the love around, I think finding new horse blogs to read is a perfect way to welcome new bloggers and advance appreciation of the horse.

Behind the Bit dogsnhorses A Girl and Her Horse

I didn't tag anyone on the other tags only because I have tagged so many people lately, I'd really like to have some blog friends left. If you'd like a tag, let me know and I'll gladly add a link to your blog.


Visit Blog Village and vote daily for this blog Here They are now measuring the rankings by votes out, so if you find my blog on the site, please click that link too to improve my rankings. TY

baby boomer Arabian horse Arabian horses horses horse dream horse horse meme

Nasty Virus Going Around - But This One's Got Horses Too!

Well, that virus is back only this time it is a different strain. I have been tagged four times this time, thrice here on the horse blog and once on my other blog.

This meme virus strain requires the infected party to post 6 little known or quirky things about themselves but a twist came along and one of my tags was that I post six quirky things about my Arabian horses.

The other rules are to link to the person who infected them (for me that would be Prayer Mom and lovelee from The Tombstone Chronicler for my quirks and Kahless for those quirks of my horses. The final rule is then to infect six more poor unsuspecting souls commenting on their blogs to let them know they've been infected and or course, linking to the newly infected parties.

I figure the one with the quirks about us bloggers has been around enough we should have all built up a resistance to that virus. But there is a twist to this quirky new virus, I'm only going to tag for this new version of virus, the one for quirks about their horses. (since every one doesn't have as many horses as me, it can be about horses they know as well!) LOL

OK, here goes with quirks of my Arabian horses,

1. I'm a clencher. I clench my teeth not only when I sleep but when I'm concentrating as well. It makes the denstist crazy and breaks teeth.

2. I love to blow bubbles and actually I'm pretty good at it. Have been known to get gum in my hair because the bubble was so big when it popped.

3. When I go to bed at night, it's hard for me to shut my brain off and relax. So I design a horse facility in my head. It is relaxing to me fantasize about the details of the barns, arenas and such and it sends me right off into dreamland.

4. I cannot sit still. I have so much nervous energy I have to be doing something all of the time or I make the people around me crazy. Maybe that's crazier..............

5. I can be a non stop talker with people I know but put me with two people at a time and I zip up my lip tighter than a drum. If you want to shut me up, bring a friend.

6. I hate to go anywhere I've never been before. Getting me to do something like that by myself is next to impossible. Even if it's something I really want to do, I'll usually try to get a friend to go along. If I can't, many times I'll pass and just not go at all.


Now this is the fun part for the quirks of my horses

1. Heiress when she is bored will hang her tongue out the left side of her mouth shaking her head up and down, flipping her lose floppy tongue around. It is hysterical.

For those of you, like Kahless, who don't know much about horses their tongues are huge long things - the whole length of their head. Imagine that thing hanging out and waving around in the breeze.

2. Dancer when she was a foal would go right up to the electric tape and stick her nose out and touch the wire to test if it was hot. If it was, of course, she'd jump back. If it wasn't she'd take down the hotwire and run around the paddock dragging the thing.

3. Rhythm and Aidol were know for escaping from their stalls. Either could get practically any kind of lock open. The only way to keep them in was double locks that were out of reach. Aidol, once he was lose, would go and let out all of his very best buddies to play with him. Rhythm is know for going to his closest rival to challenge him.

4. Trouble when he was a foal used to get cast in his stall almost every day. After cleaning the stall Lindsay would put down fresh shavings and Trouble would plop right in the middle of the pile rolling around until he worked himself up next to the wall. There he'd get stuck facing the wall with his feet so tightly jammed into it that he couldn't get the leverage to get himself lose. There he'd lay there and whinny for me to come and rescue him. He didn't quit that until he was almost a year old. It's a good thing the horse was getting too big for me to flip over by myself.

5. Tag plays with the jolly ball by grabbing it in his mouth and shaking his head up and down or back and forth hitting himself in the face with the ball. Brittany just told me that Rhythm is doing the same thing. Both horses only do this in front of an audience. They are doing it for the laughs that they get.

6. Reflection and Storm both had stall toys hanging from the roof. The toy is an apple with a treat to lick with a ball that hangs underneath it. The two horses would compete. The horses were stalled right across the aisle from each other.

Reflection would kick that ball with his hind feet high into the air and then run to the door to see how Storm would react. Storm would run back and kick his ball up into the air as well, the run back to look at Reflection and his bouncing ball.

I swear the two horses were competing to see which one could get highest kick and the most bounces out of those silly balls. They would play like that for what seemed like hours.

OK that's it for my sick quirky things abut my horses I am tagging to do the same thing.

Tracey of Mustang Diaries can share about the mustangs, her horse of choice.

Victoria Cummings from Teachings of the Horse might have met some quirky equines along the way.

For a european flare how about Transylvanian Horseman


Mrs Mom Oh HorseFeathers & Related Twisted "Tails" with farrier duties must have seen more than her share.

Callie from Midwest Horse representing that cold part of the country

Midlife Mom of Home on the Range has a great sense of humor so I'm sure there must be some horsey quirks there.

I know I have infected some who has already gotten a pesky virus. But this is a variation that might be fun if you have to have a virus. Whatever........share this sucker with your friends or your enemies. The cold and flu with all of it's pesky viruses is far from over.

Visit Blog Village and vote daily for this blog Here They are now measuring the rankings by votes out, so if you find my blog on the site, please click that link too to improve my rankings. TY

baby boomer Arabian horse Arabian horses horses horse dream horse meme

Nasty Virus Going Around - Or Could It Be Another Weight Program!

Tracey on Mustang Diaries said BTW...you've been...sorry to say...tagged! and with that simple statement she passed an insidious virus onto me! That's right, it's a virus that's been going around and it's not even one of those productive kind that if you get sick enough you actually drop some weight. This is the more pesky kind that requires you put your thinking cap on and, heaven forbid, share! It's called a meme and requires the infected party to post 7 little known or unknown things about themselves. To link to the person who infected them and then to infect seven more poor unsuspecting souls commenting on their blogs to let them know they've been infected.

As if that's not bad enough, I've been infected more than once.
Oh HorseFeathers & Related Twisted "Tails" in the very same post Rachel and Grandma and the Arabian Horse Crash and Burn! dropped this virus off on me again. So I guess I've gotten a double dose of this virus thingy My granddaughter, Rachel, might just think I deserve it since I decided to tell on her on this blog about Arabian horses. Now mrs mom, told me I didn't need to play along if I didn't want to, but what virus is just going to walk away and leave any unsuspecting blogger alone.

Besides mrs mom is not the last blogger to tag me with this virus thing,
Victoria Cummings from Teachings of the Horse tagged me again the very next day on the Equestrian Weight Loss Program! I'm beginning to get the picture that maybe I should deal with this virus REAL soon before someone else comes along and gets me again.


So here goes

1. I have been know to have a peculiar sense of humor at times. Take it for what's it's worth. It's all meant in good fun. But be prepared it can get even stranger and you'll never know for sure when it's going to strike.

2. I was an ugly duckling in school. Taller than everyone from the beginning and taller than the teachers by grade 4. I hung out with all the kids nobody liked but I liked them just fine. They were nice kids, they didn't tease or bully anyone and they were always nice to me.

3. I wear a size 10 shoe. When I was a kid they were impossible to find, very few styles were made in that size. My mother told me she was going to make me wear shoe boxes because we couldn't find shoes.Today they are a common size and I can have my pick of any style.

4. I broke my arm and dislocated my shoulder one year falling off a horse. It was worse than natural childbirth. The ligament and tendon were stuck between two pieces of bone. I either had to have surgery or let them pull on both ends of the bone to reset. I opted for the pulling as long as I could get more drugs.

5. When I worked as a groom. I didn't get paid. I hung around for 10 to 12 hours a day for free just to get the opportunity to learn. I didn't get to ride a horse or even get lessons. I just worked my tail off and I do mean worked my tail off. I think I lost 30 lbs working that way. It really was a great weight loss program. I hope to be resuming again soon.

6. I nearly died when I was 18. My appendix ruptured and I got peritonitis. I was in intensive care for 45 days with a temp of 107° They said I should have suffered brain damage so that's my excuse for having all these horses.

7. I can't wear dress boots. My instep is too high, I can't get them on, so I have to wear field boots for my hunter pleasure class. I'm told that's in bad form, but bootless would be worse form.

OK, I think that is 7 things I haven't revealed before. This better be enough to get rid of this pesky virus but only time will tell............

Just to be sure I send it on it's way, I am tagging

Learning Horses

Nuzzling Muzzles

Project Jasper

Halt Near X

Of Horses and Art

Freelance Instructor's
Diary

and last but not least, Lori at ProPhotobyLori if I have to have this pesky virus, I think it's only fair you take your turn.

I hope I haven't infected anyone who has already gotten this pesky virus. If I had try the variation that Tracey did and make it 7 things you'd like to see for 2008. I think that was how it went. Whatever........share this sucker with your friends. It is after all winter and time for cold and flu and all sorts of other pesky viruses.

Visit Blog Village and vote daily for this blog Here They are now measuring the rankings by votes out, so if you find my blog on the site, please click that link too to improve my rankings. TY


Arabian horse arabian horses horses horse meme

Pay It Forward - Rising Rainbow Style

Well, next time I jump into one of these things, would somebody just shoot me and get it over with. I've got enough on my plate without agreeing to add in extra things but here I go. I saw this Pay It Forward thing on Oh HorseFeathers & Related Twisted "Tails" who picked it up from on all things horses on her post, Pay It Forward


The idea is simple - be the first three to leave a comment, and earn a reward. Also, your job then is to post on your blog, and encourage others to also "Pay It Forward".

In my enthusiasm, I ended commenting on both blogs and thus committing to participate twice! What was I thinking?

Well, I love the idea. I think it's a great concept to just for the heck of it give to someone else. If more people would believe in this concept this world surely be a better place. And I think it's a great way to say "thank you" to my readers for being there.

Here in WA state close to Christmas this concept got started early on morning in line at a latte' stand. The participants kept this going for three days. That's a lot of free lattes. Hopefully we can do something just a impressive keeping this thing going.

My problem comes in deciding what kind of gifts I will give. I am not much of a shopper so find no time for picking up cute little things, besides I probably wouldn't recognize a cute little thing if it bit me in the you know what butt. So couldn't possibly trust myself with that. I'd like to not lose any readers over my choice of gifts. I don't think that was really the point.

I have some wonderful Leanin' Tree products in my ebay store, so using those comes to mind. I also feel like I should be giving something horse related. After all this is a horse blog and horses is about all I can think about. Giving something horsey just seems the thing for me to do.

Since I did get "happy" with my comment fingers and leave a trail on both blogs, I'm only going to post this once, but will give gifts to the first SIX commenters. That is double the number required to Pay It Forward

For gifts, I have a number of horsey things that I think are appropriate. I have some very cute horse computer paper/stationery with matching envelopes, an assortment of horse greeting cards, an assortment of non-horse greeting cards, box of beautiful Leanin' Tree Christmas cards and a t-shirt.

If the first six commenters will please contact me through my website (the link is here on my blog) with you full name and shipping address, as well please name which of the items would be your first preference then we'll get this Pay It Forward show on the road.

Remember all you have to do, is then Pay It Forward on your blog and give gifts to the first three commenters.

I will post the results in a future post with links to the recipients who have blogs. For those of you who stumble across this late, I am going to be doing contests in the near future with giveaways as well.



Visit Blog Village and vote daily for this blog Here They are now measuring the rankings by votes out, so if you find my blog on the site, please click that link too to improve my rankings. TY

baby boomer Arabian horse Arabian horses horses horse dream horse pay it forward

You Make My Day Award

I was Awarded the You Make My Day Award by Lori at ProPhoto by Lori who received it from Pat at Guelph Daily Photo. Thank you, Lori, I appreciate this recognition and your friendship.

I guess part of this award is I am to pass it on to ten blogs. With that in mind I'd like to pass this award onto the following of my blogging friends.

Barn Goddess from Ramblings from the Reservation

Sherry from Dressage Mom

Molly from HolaMole'

Midlife Mom from Home on the Range

arthist99 at Gorilla Wordfare

julia at Mood Swings in Med
School

L at Mira & Me (and Other Grammar Airers)

equinespirit at ...Grazing in the Meadow of Creativity

callie at Midwest Horse

and last but not least Donna at the Velvet Cage

These are only a fraction of the blogs I try to check in on each day, or at least as often as their writters post. I'd give awards to all of you but figured I'd better save a few for these people above to award. LOL That's right guys to you need to pass it on to ten blogs each!!

I really enjoy all of the blogs I visit and try to comment as much as I can to let you know that I'm there appreciating what you all do. So thanks to all of my blogging buddies!

When I Become a Famous...........

...I received an equestrian related tag from equinespirit at grazing in the meadow of creativity!! Here is the link for her demands. What fun!! So here's the deal, I'm supposed to make up a list of "demands" for when I'm a famous rider...

So this is hard because I don't really care if I become a famous rider BUT I do want to be well known as a breeder of outstanding Arabian horses. I'm going to write this list of demands as if I've reached this goal and have become a famous breeder.

I must have at least one hundred acres of prime farm land on the west side of the Cascade mountains and about a thousand on the east side with a complete crew to run both facilities.
I must have both farms fenced with that beautiful white vinyl fencing, lined on the inside with 2 x 4 horse wire with the smaller property appropriately cross fenced.
I must have a climate controlled huge arena, covered round pen, separate hay storage and other suitable outbuilding, 2 outdoor arenas, 50 stall barn with 4 wash racks, breeding room, collection lab, viewing room, office, apartments for grooms and barn help and presentation ring (oh ya, a house would be nice!). (borrowed from equinespirit but modified)
The roof and walls of previous mentioned buildings must be insulated and shingled so as to eliminate the feeling of being in a tin can when it rains, sleets, or snows. (also borrowed from equinesprit)
I must have at least four more broodmares, preferably sisters of mares I have already.
I must have a top notch breeding stallion to cross on my Leg's daughters.
Legs would his own paddock with visiting access for his mares.
Reflection and the new stallion would also require their own paddocks.
All of my tack, show clothing, anything else for all the disciplines that Arabian horses are shown in. (Right now I have for hunter and western only. so I need to add dressage, show hack, saddle seat, reining and working saddles )
A five horse slant load aluminum trailer, brand yet to be determined. and of course, a matching duel diesel truck with a 100 gallon auxiliary tank.
For big horse shows I would require my own air ride, climate controlled horse van complete with farm logos and a professional driver.
And I absolutely must have my very own private box at the US Nationals each and every year with tickets for the final big nights! I can't believe I'm missing the Nationals right now!!

Obviously this is more like my wish list!! If I ever won a big enough lottery, you can see what I'd be shopping for.

With this blog tag I choose...Julia from Mood Swings in Med School I know she has horse dreams in her future. And Halt Near X also has horse dreams. Then there's Molly from Hola' Mole and desperate housewife from Mustang Diaries cause I'm pretty sure she's thinking about that extreme mustang makeover. And I must not forget Keri from The Equus Ink

OK now I'm done with the tags and I'll get back to my stories. Next up Rachel and Grandma and Arabian Horses at Pacific Rim

Arabian horse arabian horses horses horse memes

This Times It's Eight Things You Don't Know About Me

I was tagged with another meme by smells horsey Eight things you don't know about me. If I keep getting tagged with these "things you don't know about me" I'm going to run out of things. My life is an open book and boring, I think but here goes, I guess. Sorry it's not about Arabian horses.

1. I went to Catholic school. Those habits the nuns wear scared me to death for about the first four years. I really had trouble seeing that there were human beings under all those robes. Maybe that's because few of the nuns I met really acted like humans.

2. I play the piano. I took lessons for 8 years. I used to give piano lessons until the car accident that caused by double vision. Currently my piano is bured under a mound of books and I can't even get close enough to play it. But it has a couple of sticking keys right now so I probably wouldn't play it anyway until I could get those fixed. But I do miss it.

3. I played golf once in my life. Then had an appendicitis attack later that day. I didn't go to the doctor until the following day and they didn't do surgery until twelve hours later. I ended up with peritinitis and nearly died. I was in the hospital for 45 days with my temperature averaging 107° (yes, I know how high that it!) and given experimental antibiotics. It cost me my student loans so I was unable to continue college. To this day I hate golf!

4. My favorite horse in the rental string I rode as a teenager was around a 14.2 hand former bucking horse. She had a reputation as a killer, Couldn't be ridden with a saddle or a bridle (mechanical hacamore was ok) and me mounting bareback was NOT pretty.
But we were fast friends and no one but me usually rode her. My step-father liked to take pictures of me flopping over her back to get on, of course, with the focus on my butt. Even that didn't stop me from wanting to ride.

5. I used to be a crack water skier. I've taken more than my share of falls by laying over on the slalom ski and sticking my shoulder into the water. But it never slowed me down, I wanted to be as good as the boys. Although I didn't ever think I achieved that, the neighbors used to pass the word up and down the beach that I was going to ski so that no one would miss me ski. I guess they must have been impressed. I didn't learn that until is was nearly 40.

6. One afternoon when I was working as a groom at Feature Farm, the trainers took two of us grooms water skiing with them. I don't think I'd been on a ski in 15 years and I'd hardly ridden on anything but my custom Wally Burr slalom ski let alone the new style skis.
The newer slaloms are much harder to get up on but grip the water better once you're on top. But I took the plunge anyway. I had a bunch of trouble getting up. The water was going over the top of my head like I had never experienced before and I really thought I wasn't going to get that darn ski to plane, but just about the time I thought I was going to have to let go, I popped up on top of the water. Then it felt just like old times.

I didn't really think about who was in the boat, I was just glad to have the feel of that ski underneath me. I took to cutting and spraying and was having a ball until I hooked a shoulder. The spin darn near killed me knocking the breath right out of me.

I didn't even have the strength to fight getting back up again but both trainers begged me to try because they wanted to "watch" me some more. AND the one of them that could ski on a slalom spent the rest of the afternoon asking me for pointers.

The point of this rambling is it was the best day I spent with them. When we were at the barn I was just the dumb old broad who knew nothing about horses. Do you know how darn cool it was to FINALLY know more about something than the two horse trainers?

7. I used to be 100 pounds over weight. That was when I lived in southern California. My former husband was a beer drinker and beer went straight to, well, it went about everywhere on me. I think it took me about a year to put it on and it was two to three years to take it off.

8. I took two years of Latin in highschool. During the second year, we were supposed to do a literal translation of Ceasar. So I had him putting around the harbor in a PT boat. Sister Emanuela was NOT amused. It was the only F I ever got in school. OOps. that might not be true, I may have gotten an F in my Opera class in college, or maybe an incomplete. I don't know if it was the opera or the teacher but that class was sooooooooo boring.

In keeping with the tradition on such things, I'm going to tag Journey Mama because I adore her blog and don't get to visit it as often as I would like. Tiggerish Tails so we can all get better acquainted with our friends in the United Kingdom

QQ, the Quinella Queen, from Turf Luck my favorite horse racing blog, Donna from A Velvet Cage I never know what she's going to post about for sure, the pot belly pigs pics followed by the foal pics were great. And Simply Marvelous
so maybe we can learn something about Marvel since mostly she tells other people's stories like mine with the twins. lol Oh yes, and Callie at Midwest Horse wasn't tagged officially but did the post anyway so check out her eight things.

I have one more meme to do that I am currently working on so equinespirit at grazing in the meadow of creativity!! I haven't forgotten, your's is coming next.

Arabian horse arabian+horses horses horse Arabian stallion meme

Awarded, Tagged and no place to run.....................Arabian Horses or not.

To start off with I have been awarded the
by PJ's Corner I keep forgetting to post this award and I've actually been awarded it twice! So thank you everyone over at PJ's I appreciate your support. I'm not sure but I think I'm supposed to pass this award onto another blogger who is part of the Blog Village family. for that I would pick
Mustang's n Cowboys Janee Loree blogs about her two cowboy sons and their adventures. Janee has been working on establishing an equine blog web ring if you're interested in participating go on over to her blog. You can sign up there.

Ok, as if being awarded isn't enough I was also tagged by equinesprit clear back on Sept 6. I didn't take care of the tag then because I was in the midst of the Baby Boomer series Down a Rocky Road and figured I'd have a mutiny if I stopped before I got to a "good" stopping place. Well, I think I'm finally at that good place and before I get off and running again on another series, thought I'd better tie up these loose ends.


Total number of books I own - thousands and thousands!! Why you ask do I own thousands of books? I love children's books. I was supporting my herd as bookseller on ebay for a while but ebay has gotten saturated with books so that's no longer profitable. I need to get my inventory onto the computer so I can sell on Abebooks.com before I run out of hay money. Actually I should be building my book inventory instead of blogging, but, well...........

Last book I bought - And Miles to Go The Biography of a Great Arabian Horse, WitezII by Linell Smith

Last book I read - Now and Forever Khemosabi++++//


Book you intend to read next - would probably be the genetics book, Equine Genetics & Selection Procedures. I'm always reading that thing. I seem to only be able to digest a little bit at a time, so I pick it up often trying to get the hang of this gene stuff. I have the basics down on color for Arabian horses but don't have all of the variations with dilutes etc in the other breeds. I do understand Sabino, Tobiano and Overo pretty well. But modifying on the third loci etc..........believe me, I'm nowhere near ready to build a model of any horse gene. lol


Five books that mean a lot to me - Hmmm...this one is a tough one for me too Sabrina, ...ummmm...

OK, I would have to say the Khemosabi book because he's so strongly influenced my decision making in my breeding program. I want to know everything I can about this great horse. AND then there's the fact that I have this young horse that looks and acts enough like Khemosabi he has been dubed Khemosabi Incarnate by many who have seen him. He was conceived right after the great horse died and his birthday is about 4 hours before the birthday of the great Khemosabi. If that doesn't give you chills nothing will. I don't know if I believe in reincarnation but this thing with Reflection sure makes me wonder! So I'm always searching for more info on Khemosabi.

Then the Witez II book is such an inspiring book. I can't believe Robert Redford hasn't made it into a movie. This is truly a compelling read about this great horse survived WWII and was liberated by General Paton's forces. This great horse barely escaped being eaten by the Russians. I think anyone who loves horses can't help but appreciate this horse and story.

Surprise, surprise, the next one is not a horse book. When Rabbit Howls by The Troops for Truddi Chase. This book was written by a woman with multiple personality disorder (currently renamed dissociative identity disorder). This book was on the New York Times Bestseller list and is a compelling read. This book helped open people's eyes to the true cost of child sexual abuse and I think it helped educate people to the fact that not all people with MPD are crazy like Sybil and Eve

I will always love Black Beauty by Anna Sewell. It is an amazing story. It certainly was ahead of its time in exposing the plight of the horse. I think even to this day it opens people's eyes to horse abuse and has been a contributing factor in people seeking more humane ways of handling horses.

The last one is titled Sacrificial Lamb by MiKael J Smith (that would be me!) . It's not been published yet but I sure hope it's going to be some day. The outline is done and so are a few chapters, still searching for an editor. If I can ever get this one published, then I'll get down to the serious business of writing horse books. lol


Now when it comes to this tagging thing, equinespirit tagged everybody and that's just NOT fair!! BUT if she can tag everyone, then I can say, "You're tagged if you want to be." So if you like this Meme and would like to give it a try, go for it...............and let me know so I can put your links up here.

Arabian horse arabian horses horses horse Tagged

Five Things You Don’t Know About Me

I got tagged by Woman and Horses who was in turn tagged by Halt-Near-X with this when I first started blogging.

At that time I really had no understanding about tagging or any of the other blogger "traditions" so I didn't pick up the ball, so to speak. But now, I'm a little better at this thing and feel like I really should do my part so here goes with five things you don't know about me.

1. I love children's books! Believe it or not I have thousands of them. I love the pictures, I love the stories. Maybe that's because I didn't really have a childhood. Oh ya, I love the horse books best!

2. People who don't know me think I'm a snob or are afraid of me. As recently as Friday someone told me she was afraid of me before she got to know me. Now she thinks it's funny that she ever felt that way.

3. I have very extreme double vision from a car accident. This is probably one of the reasons people think I'm a snob because I can walk by them and not even see them because I'm concentrating so hard to get around. Trying to tune out everything I don't need to see. Even when I'm showing, I tune out what's going on around me that isn't necessary to what I'm doing. It's the only way I can participate.

4. I'm self taught at most everything I do including working with horses. I learn by watching and reading, although the double vision makes the reading difficult. My club sponsors clinics with top name trainers once, sometimes twice, a year and most of what I know I learned taking horses and watching them work with the other people's horses. I stay the whole clinic from beginning to end taking notes and sucking up the information.

5. I hate to lose! However, I don't see not getting a ribbon as loosing. I see it as a step along the road to winning. Horses are a process and as long as you're always improving, you'll get where you want to be. Some day I'll earn a national championship title and hopefully it'll just be the first of many.


In keeping with blogging tradition, I now tag the following bloggers. My understanding of this five things is that I'm supposed to tag five bloggers too, so forgive me, but here goes Pro Photo by Lori Midwest Horse
equinespirit
Mustang Diaries Equine Mine http://www.equinemine.blogspot.com/

Also, the other thing I've been learning as I go along is that I should be resonding to comments. And as you all probably know I've not been very good at that but I'm going to turn over a new leaf and try very hard to respond to my comments. I really do appreciated what you have to say and I have tried to answer all questions, but probably didn't make it easy for someone to find them.

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