A pain in the old man's neck...

NO, I am not referring ME! I thoroughly spoil this man to the ends of the earth....the only pain I could possibly cause him is the ache in his heart when I am not near.....hmph

I am talking about THIS kind of pain in the neck....the surgery kind....He went in Monday afternoon and came home Tuesday in great spirits tho....he had some bone spurs on his vertebrae that were on his 'last nerve' and causing him a great amount of discomfort! His Doc went in there, shaved them off, and stitched him back up like 'almost new' again.....



And just in case you still question how good he has it, just take a look for yourself! Recliner, check! Remote Controls, check! Back support pillow, check! Blankie, check! And don't forget the sympathy inducing hospital wrist bands too....how's a man to drum up a heaping serving of sympathy without the constant visible reminder of his most recent convalescence???? I tell you what....

Happy Health!

Leah

Teamwork....

....is a wondeful thing!

Happy Trails,

Leah

Times Up! The names are in...

WOW, we got some really great ideas from everyone for naming Fiddles 3 Amigos! Lots of great emails and responses to our previous post too! I hate to have to chose at all....I really wish she had about 10 more kids so we could have used every one of them! There were so many good ones to chose from, but a couple really stood out from the rest...One of you came up with a super special way to honor Papa Banjo by naming the kids using letters in his name...and a couple different people actually offered up perfect names, without knowing it, that accomplished that!

SO, announcing our bouncing baby boys....In memory of BANJO.

BANdit....

and Little JOe....

The little girl was even MORE difficult to name....We finally decided on a name along the lines of the musical influence of her parents though, and we think it's perfectly fitting....althout I must admit that "Fiddlesticks" came in a very close 2nd!

Announcing our beautiful baby girl....

Amanda-Lynn...(get it? A Mandolin? hehe)

Now everyone has a proper name! Thanks again for all your wonderful suggestions, and stay tuned for lots of updates!

Happy Trails,

Leah

The 'Olden Days'...

Seeing the Little Brat up there on that big horse has caused me to reflect on days gone by...when I was just a tyke myself, and how my own mother must have felt with each step of progress I made....


Here is a pic of my itsy, bitsy, teeny, tiny, waif of my mom in her showing days...




Here is a pic she took of me, on what could be the same horse...Probably running the same hopes for me through her head that I run through mine for Randi....funny how history repeats itself....I hope I make her as proud as Randi makes me....




Happy Trails!
Leah

Her first ride...

Meet Bo! Bo is an aged (nearing his 20's) Quarter Horse Gelding. He is owned by one of my former 4-Hers, Amanda.....Amanda and her family have graciously allowed us to lease Bo so the brats have a good, reliable horse to learn to ride on....Originally we had purchased Clementine for that purpose, but she just isn't quite consistent enough under saddle yet....she is something they are going to have to work up to, and Bo's just the guy to get them there! Talk about quiet, forgiving, and kind! Bo carried Little Brat around on her very FIRST ride ALL BY HERSELF last night.....and he helped make it a positive experience she will never forget!


I am such a proud Mama....Pinki-Dinki-Doo (tucked away in my coveralls) was even there to witness this memorable event!


I got her situated with the reins....reminded LB of her stop, go and turn cues.....and off she went! The last time she used this saddle was a little over a year ago in a leadline class, and I was taken back a bit when I had to drop her stirrups about 6 inches! She has grown so much! I wish she'd slow down a little!!! Mommy isn't ready for her to grow up so quickly...

So with a baby kick of the heels, Bo carried her off....all on her little lonesome....with no mind whatsoever to Mom's skipping heart, shaking hands and slowly oncoming anxiety attack!

I had no idea that my somewhat timid child of years past, had become such a confident little equestrian! This is the same child that would worry when we were riding together if I turned too fast....Now, she wants to know why he won't go FASTER! Good boy Bo, you are taking great care of her...don't listen to her senseless demands.....walking is all Mommy can handle right now...

Lordsy Mercy, NEXT thing I know she is asking for a jump! Doesn't she know Mommy's need TIME to adjust to having their little brats riding all independently, out of their reach, beyond their control, and completely at the will of a 1K animal??? JUMP??? Well, OK, but let's start LOW.....really, really, really, LOW...Yeah, this will do....

As they neared the end of the ride (LB could have ridden all night, but Mommy was turning into a popsicle about this time), one of our boarders arrived to load her horse up to take a lesson at a nearby stable...Bo and Randi both wanted to go with her...so they watched in envy as they loaded up and drove away....I promised them that if they practiced hard at home, they they could haul to another stable someday too....I may have just commited myself to becoming a horse show mom, but I'm cool with that.....I think.....ask me about it in 10 years....

Ole Bo got a heaping amount of love and appreciation for his part in making LB's first ride a great one....I have a feeling these two are going to be very, very, very best friends! Now, I just have to start getting LB used to the fact she has to share Bo with her big sister, who is also learning to ride....I'll break that news on a different day though...no need to spoil the moment :)

Happy Trails!

Leah

PS....A special THANK YOU to Ms. Vickie, who made the ride so much more fun by playing cat and mouse around the arena with these two! Also, for taking our Mommy-Daughter pic! You're the best!

Fancy Update: 30 days Training!

Yesterday marked 30 days that Fancy has been at the reining trainer up in Maryland. Gma Kathy and I took a road trip up to see her progress...We missed a turn along the way and had to straighten ourselves out, which was GOOD thing....when we got back on the right highway, we ran smack into a multi-car pileup! We must have missed it by the exact amount of time it took us to make that wrong turn and then get back on track...talk about SCARY! Gma Kathy is a nurse, so she got out of the car to administer aid, if necessary, to the man trapped inside the overturned vehicle....seemed like forever until a police officer arrived and took control of the scene...and the paramedics still had not shown up by the time we left.....I hope everyone was OK...



Back to the subject of Fancy....the rest of the road trip was uneventful, and we arrived at the trainers safe and sound....we met with assistant trainers Wayne, Billy, and Julian for a bit...then Julian went to go get the princess from her stall to groom and tack her up...she was sweet and quiet as ever...one of the first things I noticed was that she was not pacing her stall as she did when I left her....so it seems she has settled in nicely....she still appreciates her hair done too!




Once tacked up, Julian made his way to the indoor arena for her daily work-out....some noticeable improvements were her more immediate transition to the lope and "Whoa" when cued....great progress! One thing on the not-so-great side is her apparent disdain for other horses in her personal space...we expected to learn a little more about her personality as her training progressed, and this is just one of those things....when in close proximity to another horse in the pen, she pins her ears in a defensive manner....although ugly to look at, she did not take it any further to bite or kick at the other horses, so we all feel that this is something they will work out in training by riding her in lots of 'traffic' (around other horses) as often as possible...overall, I was very pleased with her progress....Julian is doing a great job so far!



Here is video of Fancy working to the left....



Here is video of Fancy working to the right....



After her work-out, it was back to the barn to un-tack...


And then back to her stall for some R&R....she walked right into her stall (the same stall we had to back her into when she arrived due to her protests) and started picking at some hay on the ground....



Looking forward to our next visit in another 30 days to see how much more she has learned!

Happy Trails,
Leah

All the Fiddles in the houz!

Take a look at these adorable mugshots....we are having a terrible time coming up with equally adorable names, so we need your HELP! If you think you have the perfect name for one of these little munchkins, please leave it in the comments! We'll come to a decision on which names to give them at the end of next week....Here are the three amigo's!


Keep this in mind: Mama's name is Fiddle....Daddy's name is Banjo!

Amigo#1:

Amigo#2:

Amigo#3:

Happy Trails!

The Fiddles

SHE HAD THREE!!!!!

As best we can guess, Fiddle went about a week over her due date...But our patience has paid of! We were greeted by THREE bouncing baby goats tonight when we returned from dinner....talk about CUTE! I cleaned up Fiddle best I could, I don't think they were more than an hour old when I found them....got their umbilical cords disinfected....got their bedding freshened up...gotta mama some much deserved warm bran mash and a special black licorice treat...refilled water....closed off the opening to the rear paddock (they just aren't big enough to navigate that ramp yet, and too many other dangers reside out there they are not ready to handle as well).

Of course I will be taking lots of pics tomorrow, so check back to just how cute these kiddies really are!!!

Happy Trails,

Fiddle & Family

Ice, Ice, Baby!

No, not the rapper type, the toddler type! Mommy's little snow devil, I mean ANGEL...

We got our first snowfall of the season yesterday and it was well received around the homestead! When I got home from work I bundled up the Little Brat and headed for the great white outdoors for some fun in the slush.....we got a good 3+ inches!

LB made quick work of building some snowballs to play with....

She was just a tad confused as to what to do with them though....is that YELLOW?!?!

Mommy just HAD to pipe up and offer her some totally unecessary and regretable advice... "Throw it silly girl!"....and she DID.....INCOMING!? (OUCH, that was cooooold!)

We had just enough time before it got dark to put together the most handsomest of snow men you could imagine....tall, lumpy, dirty......he must have reminded LB of Daddy (who is out of town on business this week) the way she warmed right up to him like she did.....

Hey, if its going to be this stinkin' cold out, we might as well have some snow to play in! Stay warm out there!

Happy Trails,

Leah

Inauguration Day 2009...

...although I opted to come to work today instead of joining the thousands of people up north for President Obama's historical inauguration, we did have an opportunity to watch the event live during our lunch hour from a conference room on-site...All I really have to say about the event can be summed up in 3 words.

MEMORABLE - MEANINGFUL - MOTIVATIONAL

Regardless of your political stance, I think we can all agree on what an eloquent and inspirational speaker Obama is...if you did not feel moved by his message of hope and resilience in this challenging time, I don't know what could possibly move you!

Here's to a better and brighter future! Only time will tell if his words will be mirrored by his actions, or if American's will step up to his call for personal accountability, but I look forward with anticipation to success...As I see it, if he succeeds, we all have something to gain!