The Mystery Horse Unvieled.

I've been gone some time. I don't want to go to much into it, suffice it to say our renter is not paying her rent and we are scrambling. I don't know if we'll be facing an eviction and two mortgage payments, moving out of our lovely dream, or if this is just rough water that will pass.

But it's made it tough to write.

Still, I remind myself that is just one part of life that is difficult. Everything else is going very well. DH has mowed the entire place, and it's simply stunning. Every day we discover a tree, a frog, a feature of the land, something that makes us feel so fortunate to be here. I want to live here forever...




Like this guy, who decided he loves horse trailers.
He had the most amazingly yellow markings on his
legs, the color of daffodils.

And we found a family of birds built a nest in Mireya's bike helmet. we've moved it to a cat proof perch, and once flying lessons start will move it to a grassy area.

Hey. Got a worm? Bug? How about some grub, lady!

Every day there seemed to be a dozen things to get done. Fix the internet. Figure out trash collection. Get hay in here without paying an arm and a leg. Recycle 500 cardboard boxes.  But it's just the usual kind of stuff when you move, really.

Then, there are the other things. There really have been just two challenges. The first is the scorpions. My first night here I nearly packed my bags to leave after killing five scorpions.

I have a thing about scorpions, which you can read about here. 

But, I'm a rancher woman now, and I cow girled up and bought me some poison. Yeah, that greenie, love the planet thing went to heck in 24 hours. Now that the hordes have slowed down, I'm willing to consider less damaging methods. Unless I see a whole bunch more of the buggers. Suggestions are welcome.

The second challenge has been the burs. We have a small dog that is the mayor of bur town. She's a bur miester. Burs will leap fifty feet to embed themselves in her fur. It's absolutely incredible. We've shaved her down but I'm thinking we are going to have to go all the way down to keep her bur free. Or maybe that's just the impossible dream...



She does take her ranch duties quite seriously, though.
She has already figured out how to drink from the horse
trough and assist with hay distribution.

 But that's not why your here. Heck, that's not why I'm here! LOL.

It's the horses. And I'm here to tell you it is incredible to live with your horses. Yes, horses. First of all Sierra is riding Lily almost everyday, bareback throughout the property. They've bonded and you can see the confidence in both of them.

And while Lily is still a little tender, she is much improved. Still having challenges keeping her weight on, so I plan on supplementing with some alfalfa. 

Even Mireya is more comfortable doing horsey things.

I remember when getting her to lead a horse was filled with anxiety.
You go, girl!

And then, of course there is our second horse, a visitor for the Summer, a horse that belongs to my good friend Trail Rider, but who doesn't get much riding since Trail Rider is moving into reining. A good, solid trail horse, the horse I've coveted for a long, long time...

Woody.

Ah, yes. THAT Woody. If you just got here, you probably haven't read many of my Woody Stories. Here's a funny one from back in the Canyon the insane horse days.  I like this one too.

Woody is here just for the time being, he is TR's horse, and I'm enjoying him. He's not a pocket pony, and I am careful not to expect that from him, but we had an adventure the other day and I think something clicked. I'll write about it another time, but suffice it to say, I got a horse hug today from a big black horse.

Funny, isn't it? I'm back to riding a big black horse. Like the one I started with. Notice any similarities? Loose reins, flying shirt, little less speed, little less lean.

But it feels the same.




You can learn about Star, my first horse here.