Ride 'em cowgirls!

What better fun can a group of girls have than riding horses together on a hot summer day! Josey, her cousin and a friend are just doing what comes naturally to the cowgirl...riding! Even if they don't have their jeans and boots on, these girls are tough enough to handle it! With three great horses, these girls could ride all day long if they wanted too. What a great memory to share with others.

A Look Back

Here are some photos from 3 1/2 years ago when Spur was just a couple days old. Star was such a great mom! She took great care of Spur and when we needed to work with him, she was very trusting and didn't worry. Spur was Star's first baby and she delivered him without or help and without any problems. We could not have asked for a better mare or a prettier baby.

More Horse Show 1 photos

Our First Horse Show

Last year, we heard about a horse show for all horses, registered or not, to be held in Waddy, KY. We decided to check it out one month and participate the next month.

Josey rode Boomerang, Brian rode Zip and I rode Moon Man in the very first class we all qualified for. Josey and Boomerang came in 1st! She got a trophy, a ribbon and a 50lb. bag of feed. Moon Man got a 4th place ribbon in that class.

Josey went on to participate in 3 other classes and got 3 more ribbons. Moon Man was in two more classes and got one more ribbon.

We enjoyed showing our trail horses and meeting other who had trail horses, too. It was something different to do with the horses and Boom especially enjoyed showing off. Even Brian got bitten by the show bug and enjoyed watching from atop Zip.

There were a lot of really nice, smooth-gaited horses there as well as some very nice quarter horses and ponies. The show was still going when we pulled out around 11pm. It was fun!

Up We Go!

Moon Man is the second horse I trained all by myself. His fiery personality matches my own as does his sense of adventure. Being such, I decided to train him to rear up....just like Heigh-Ho Silver, the Lone Ranger's horse. And I did as you can see!

Heigh-Ho Moon Man and Away!

Riding at Shakertown 1

Over the years, we have done some trail riding at Shakertown. The trails there are suitable for conditioning and have a variety of terrain from wooded areas, to rolling pastures, to creek crossings. Since we have gaited horses, we can cover the entire area in a day's worth of riding. We don't live very far away, so it is convenient, too.

We have taken green-broke horses there for training and have taken our main trail horses there in the early Spring for conditioning. We have also taken novice riders with us since it is very well-suited for people who want to try their hand at riding, but aren't experienced enough to handle extreme trails.

Enjoy the photos!

Introducing Max!

Let me tell you the story of how Max came to live with us. My husband and his dad attended the Tattersall's sale a couple of years ago when the horse industry first began to crumble. Horses (and I mean really nice ones) were selling for no more than $2500 (we used to sell this quality for $5000). One horse in particular caught the eyes of every living soul in the place...a big, smooth-gaited walking mule. This mule just strolled down the aisle as the bidding kept going ever higher. When it reached its peak ($8500), the seller passed him out and said it would take more to buy his mule. He sold him outside for nearly $10,000.

Pop was hooked. he had to have a young gaited mule to train and sell for the big bucks. Enter Max. Max was just born, but his owner's knew they had to sell him. Pop bought him and brought him to us.

Flash forward 2 years and Max is the biggest horse on the farm standing at 15.2 hands (62 inches at the top of his shoulder) and growing. With ears that are over a foot long and a head that is simply gigantic, Max is impressive. He is very sweet, but is sour on Spur who has been his pasture mate since he was weaned from his mother.

The fence in the Max's picture has a top strand at about 4 feet high, so you can get a feel for just how big this mule is. Keep in mind that he is even bigger than he was in the picture.

Max is for sale, but if the Good Lord decides to leave him in our care until the spring, we will begin some intensive training with him. I'm not sure what God was thinking when he created a mule of Max's stature, but I sure wouldn't mind finding out.