Spring is Here

Yes, North Carolina in the spring.  This is the best time of year here, the gnats and flies are still mostly absent, even the colder mornings warm up nicely, the birds are tweeting outside the window, and the horses are shedding what is left of their winter coats.  The trees are flowering, the leaves are sprouting, and it is simply gorgeous!

Grooming Mia has been a hairy adventure in more ways than one.  Of course, gobs and gobs of hair fly off her coat and the…

Winter Comes Back to Stay

Fortunately, since I am in the South, it is not a terribly severe winter.  So far, all the precipitation has been liquid.  Even with several killing frosts, some flies appear when it gets warm, and then another killing frost hammers them.  Nights in the 20s F eventually get those nasty flies out of the picture.

Talking about flies, I have noticed something this year.  In 2014, I noticed that the population of the “buzz bomber” flies was miniscule, and…

You Would Think That Spring Was Here

Between nights in the 20s F and days and nights of rain, it has been difficult for me to ride, therefore last week I seized the chance to ride twice, on Mia, two days in a row.

Wednesday morning came in at 23 F so I did not get to ride.  Fortunately Debbie did not have a lesson already scheduled for Thursday morning so I got to ride then.  When Debbie curried Mia gobs and gobs of Mia’s sub-coat came off, and when I got after her…

I Got to Ride Christmas Day!

The last two weeks have been sort of odd.  First, my gut decided that something was not right and acted up too much to ride, and when I did ride I got exhausted after only 20 minutes in the saddle.  I got my gut issues under control enough so I could go see my oldest son finally get his PhD degree, a process that has taken many years.  Between all of this I just got to ride twice, a much needed ride on Cider so I could get back to walking steadily on my…

Cider Responded, Mia Did Not

Last Sunday I told Shannon to pick me up at my mailbox because my driveway now has major difficulties where it was dug up, now there is no place to turn a vehicle around on my land unless the driver wants to risk getting stuck.  Since I was not able to carry my dressage saddle down I told Shannon I would ride in the EZ-Fit saddle I gave her, and I was so glad that I did not have to worry about bringing a saddle!  But Shannon turns out to be much better at…

The Drought is Over—At Least for Now

And all this rain is messing up my riding.

We were in a drought this summer, getting just enough rain to keep the grass growing somewhat and keep some of the crops from dying, but the ponds, lakes, streams and rivers were down several inches. Our local river, the Rocky River, lived up to…