WESTWOOD - A Family Farm + More!

June 03, 2009

Oh dear...there are deer in the garden!!!

The storms last night were a doozy! Thunder, lightning, torrential downpours, wind, you name it!You know all is well when you wake up to find some deer frolicking in your yard tho...I caught these two punks nibbling on some lettuce when I awoke....I got out there to get a few shots just before they high tailed it for the woods...

..and there they go! Bye-Bye deeries!

Speaking of the garden....do you even recognize this jungle???

Remember it before???

Our garden runeth over!

Happy Trails,

Leah

June 01, 2009

Cross Country Schooling @ Wingreen...

I made a decision just over a month ago to change disciplines...again...at least until my reining filly comes back from the trainers, that is! I am lucky to have had the opportunity to experience many different disciplines over the years...hunters, jumpers, western pleasure, barrel racing, goat tying, reining, working cowhorse, and even some low level eventing waaaaay back in my youth....making the long hauls to the AQHA shows like I have in my recent past just doesn't mesh with my life anymore though....OUR life, I should say...so I've made the decision to go back to Eventing....are you familiar with eventing? Horse Trials, also known as "Eventing," are competitions held in three phases. The same horse and rider ride tests in dressage (a precision ride in a flat arena), show jumping (a round over eight or ten fences/jumps with rails that knock down), and finally a ride cross-country for one to two miles, while jumping over fences/jumps (that don't knock down). Originally, the sport was a contest between cavalry riders to test the horse and rider's ability, stamina, and training for combat. Now, civilians do it for fun!

I just want something fun, low key, and local to enjoy with my pony, Woodie! So, the decision was made....We started lessons with Nicky Vogel. We see her about once a week and she's giving us the guidance we need to make it happen...we are both out of shape and out of practice, so we need all the help we can get! This past weekend Nicky had us (along with a few of her other students, including boarder Abby) meet at a local farm that boasts a wonderful cross country course for us to practice on...it is called Wingreen...

We started with some warm up fences...we had a couple spooks and bobbles, but I stayed in the saddle...that's a good thing...

Then we mozied on over to the bunny hill...we found some great small fences to work on...like this log! This is the greatest part of Eventing: Cross Country jumping...you make just about anything into something to jump over!

I love my pony...

And then we crossed this ditch!

My pony ROCKS!

We had lots of time to work on entering and exiting the water obstacle too...

What a champ!

Finally, we jumped up some banks....

...and then we jumped DOWN...Yeehaw!!! This was a tummy tickler!

What a great experience...I'm heading back in a couple weeks to give it another go...can't wait! Although I am enjoying the precision of Dressage, and the challenge of jumping a course in an arena, I am ALL ABOUT this cross country experience...it really gets my adrenaline pumping...and Woodie seems to be taking to it great as well...I think we are going to have a lot of fun with this...looking forward to our first competition at the end of the summer....stay tuned!

Happy Trails,

Leah

Super-Gma....

This is what Gma Kathy endured this weekend....

Family Meeting on Friday nite to discuss the Little Brats misbehavior and subsequent parent/principle meeting at school (now you know why I call her Brat!). Restrictions imposed and carried out over the weekend and thru this week until her behavior improves. In other words, no Walmart or McDonalds! (she's so cultured!)
Babysitting on Saturday so Ma and Pa could attend a friends wedding in MD. Absolutely NO fun could be had, at risk of violation of afore mentioned Brat restriction.
Babysitting again on Sunday morning so Ma could haul herself and a friend to a local farm to play around on their ponies. This was not planned, but Pa came down ill...At least one hour of this task included managing a hysterical Brat that got in trouble for telling her Gma 'no' just before Ma left....thus exacerbating her mood to inconsolable levels.
Hubbysitting while Ma was out and Pa was attempting to manage what appeared to be a severe bout of food poisoning. Making at least one trip to the pharmacy to find ANYTHING that would curb the wailing!
Babysitting again Sunday afternoon and till the wee hours of Monday morning while Ma convinced Pa to go to the ER. Good thing too, the pain meds actually gave Pa some relief from what we learned were 3 kidney stones! Oh yeah, and only 1 has passed...the other 2 lie in waiting....

...and she lived to tell.

Thank you G-ma Kathy, for everything you do!

Happy Families,
Leah

My husband is a rolling stone....

Or rather...My husband HAS some rolling stones! The kidney type! Kidney stones hath hurt thee! ...it came about at 1am on Sunday morning....we had just returned from a friends wedding, so the immediate suspect was food poisoning when he rushed to the commode in violent bouts of vomiting.....and the abdominal pain.....OH, the PAIN!....when the pain only worsened throughout the day, we finally made the call to go to the ER....so, at 6pm, we loaded the poor guy up and hauled him in....he was seen right away, but the tests took a lot of time to run and get back...several suspects were identified, none of which was food poisoning though.....turns out he made an unfortunate introduction to his first kidney stones...He's the proud papa of his very own TRIPLETS! If' you've had the misfortune of experiencing kidney stones, you can relate....if you haven't, you are very fortunate....from what I saw and heard over the past 24 hours, it is no joke! He's a trooper! Needless to say he'll be home at least one more day drinking LOTS of water and getting LOTS of rest....when the stones finally pass, based on the agonizing whimpers and fretting I have witnessed thus far, I suspect they will look a lot like this....

OUCH!

Happy Health,
Leah

May 30, 2009

Big Booty Judy....On Trial!

Julie's new horse "Holly" came in on 1 week trial today....the girl has not missed a meal, hence my nick-name pick! Here are some pics of their first ride here....I think she's going to work out just fine...

Walking along...

A little trot too...

It was a good ride!

I think Cecilia (Julie's daughter) may have her sights set on eventing this pretty mare too! She's got a good amount of miles over fences and a flying lead change too! Congrats ladies!

Happy Trails,

Leah

May 26, 2009

Gpa Craig's Room....

The ladies of the house got a head start on our Father's Day Project this weekend....we are converting a small room in the basement into sleeping quarters for our favorite Fall guest, Gpa Craig! He picked the spot himself, and framed it out during his last visit...I guess the 3 story climb to our guest room was just a bit much for the ole' man.....lol.....this spot is nice and cool, and only a few steps below grade.....he can also have his very best good dog Sadie come in and sleep with him too down here....

We started by applying...some oil based Kilz primer to all the walls and ceiling...here's a shot of the room with one wall primed...it was at about this time I determined I better get some BEFORE shots!

And here is another shot before we got started...kinda dark and dingy, eh?

After the primer was applied, we put a good coat of paint on all the walls and trim....

Not so bad! It's starting to resemble a usable room!

We still have to apply a second coat of paint to the walls and trim, as well as first and second coats to the ceiling...oh yeah, and a good concrete sealant/paint is yet to go on the floor too....then the fun part, decorating! Stay tuned!

Happy Trails,

Leah

May 24, 2009

Horse Show Update!

The local show circuit that Randi shows at each month held a double-header this weekend...she showed both yesterday AND today! She did amazing both days.....she's made a good amount of progress since her very first show about a month ago...she is getting so confident out there and handling herself like such a big kid amongst the 'actual' big kids....lol...she started off with her pleasure and equitation classes on Saturday...she ended up placing 4th out of 6 in her Pleasure class, and 3rd out of 6 in her Equitation! Way to go brat!

I think her gumby heels has a big part in her high placing in Equitation....the girl is flexible!

She ended the day with Trail, but was a bit distracted with her best friends (the concession stand boys) waiting on her...she missed a couple key maneuvers, but handled Bo very well otherwise!

Here's a shot of her very best horse-show buddies...Cinder and Steel....sure there ARE lots of little girls there to play with, but she likes these boys...they are rough and tough and I guess that's her style! Lord help us...

We combated the above issue on day 2 by knocking out her Trail class first thing, and that did the trick! She did great and only made 1 small navigation error...makes a momma proud! Then, it was back to her Pleasure and Equitation classes in the upper ring...the class grew from the day prior, with 7 in each class....and she did amazing! She lost a stirrup in her Pleasure class, but calmly placed both reins into one hand, reached down, and placed her foot back in the stirrup without incident and all by herself...impressive, but not quite proper for the show ring, so she placed near the bottom of her class...still, they only give ribbons to 6th place, and she got one! One poor child wasn't so fortunate! I have to say she wasn't recognized as favorably in her Equitation class today as she was yesterday, and it was dissapointing....more than one child had to be helped by their parent during the class, but since it happened behind the judges back for the most part, those kids placed higher than the Little Brat....oh well, we bend with the wind....she still got a ribbon, and it will be sisplayed proudly in her room with all the others!

Overall, she had a very successful weekend and I could not be more proud of her....It makes ME happy to see HER happy up there! That smile just melts a mommy's heart....she's really growing up WAY too fast, but the journey sure is a treat!