Month: June 2021

Weekend Coffee Share; Last Week Of June Fun!

On By DianaIn Barn stories, weekend coffee share33 Comments
  • Welcome to my coffee share!

My goodness this year is flying by and here we are just about half way through 2021. Can I get you a cup of coffee or tea? I do have some juice as well but let’s get to the happenings around here as my daughter came home this weekend to visit with her friends and see the new floors in our house. She will be heading home tomorrow, a short visit but it is always wonderful to visit and see family.

Today after I enjoyed riding my Chloe girl with my girlfriend on Roscoe, I finished up with Murphy who had a turn out today. I then joined my daughter at her friends house and we went to downtown Riverside to eat lunch and visit some shops. The lunch place was a really nice food court and we had some wonderful vegan burgers and fries. We were close to an open market and also found a really cool old bookstore! We had a lot of fun walking around and I took some photos today. We then went to Trader Joe’s and after that bought mini Bundt cakes at a specialty store called Nothing Bundt Cakes. They are the perfect size and they have a lot of flavors and so we will have that for dessert later!

Super good lunch! YUMMY! and mini Bundt cakes for dessert!

I love the sayings 😀 I should have bought them but I didn’t. I Love all the trees that line the streets so I had to take a photo!

It was hot today but we weren’t outside walking around too long before we were in a shop or bookstore. There was a wonderful breeze which made the afternoon really pleasant. It is always great fun to be out with the girls. My daughter’s girlfriend has two children who stayed home with dad, so I am thankful they let me tag along! They are the sweetest girls, so thankful for them. They make me smile and laugh. I try hard to keep up, sometimes feeling so much older (which I am of course) I am not one of those Mom’s who try’s to stay hip or anything….. I am just grateful they enjoy my company too. My daughter is spending the evening at her friends as well. We have plans to visit my daughter next weekend for July 4th. My hubby and I will drive up north the 3 hours to see her new house and spend time with her there. We all need to fit in all the family time we can, so here’s to FUN family weekends!!

Back to the horses, I have not only photo’s but a video to share. I had ridden yesterday by myself on Chloe and had passed a lot of other riders on my ride. There are so many days that I ride and don’t see anyone, but maybe they were out early like I was to beat the heat! I also have a few photo’s of Murphy I wanted to share as well. It is so fun to share!

There’s horses coming down the trail towards me and my camera focused more on Chloe’s head then the horse ahead!

She’s such a good girl as each horse or horses rides by, but then we are out on the trails all the time. She is very seasoned and not much bothers her as we stride along enjoying our day. Sometimes we come across bigger groups and so we will stop and move off the trail a little bit if needed. Mostly, we all just walk by each other and wish each other a good day and a good trail ride! Here is my video, I hope you enjoy!

I’m enjoying my time working with young Murphy! He has really settled in and is learning our routine. I think routines are so important as it not only helps solidify a bond between horse and owner, the horses learn by doing and they will relax and learn. They will realize what is asked of them is not hard, or scary and when you communicate what you want while doing this routine you can layer their training and they will then feel safe in your presence and with everything you ask them to do.

He is finally standing really well to be groomed. He was more antsy, moving around and he didn’t really enjoy the whole grooming process when he first arrived. With routine he is learning that if he stands, I can get done with what I need to do and his reward is getting back to his stall where lunch is waiting for him. Win, win! He is doing great!

Murphy out in the arena! Too funny, I caught him licking with his tongue slightly out on the photo to the right! Haha!
I took these photos of him standing next to another horse and he was respectful and quiet and stood like a champ!

My girlfriend with her horse Irish was next to Murphy. I went behind them so that you can see how tall Murphy is and Irish is pretty tall himself. Irish is a Morgan, so we have a Thoroughbred next to a beautiful Morgan! ❤ Okay, I think they are both so beautiful! And I have to say, I am so proud of Murphy! He has been such a joy and I am going to start riding him more regularly going forward.

Murphy and I getting along famously! Thank you pony sister for taking these photo’s for me! ❤

Thank you for visiting my #weekendcoffeeshare! It is always so much fun to share my days whether its family fun or horsey fun! I am keeping busy as you can see and I haven’t even written about my crochet projects and/or my coloring fun. Its just some fun things to do when I get home from work to unwind after a long day. Thank you Natalie for hosting the weekend coffee share, and if you would like to read more coffee shares click here!

Grateful Mom and Cowgirl,

~Diana ❤

My First Ride On Murphy, My New Horse!

On By DianaIn Barn stories, Living life27 Comments

I have some flowers blooming and so I just had to start this post with this beautiful flower. I have had a super busy weekend as this last week I was asked if I could help take care of horses at the barn. There is a horse owner recovering at home after being in the hospital with a staph infection and I am so thankful she is recovering. She has a good friend who is helping with her horses but she had a planned vacation which is where I come into the picture. I also have had other’s who were away this weekend for one reason or another and in total I have been taking care of 8 horses including my own. Some just needed meds and water buckets filled and others needed meds and some turn outs. Amongst all of this I rode Chloe out with my girlfriend on the trails early morning and then I exercised Murphy Saturday and Sunday I made time after my trail ride to get on and ride Murphy for the first time! YAY! I’m so HAPPY!

As I write this I still have 2 more days of extra horse care. One of the horses will drop off my list as their owners return Monday. I will just turn out my horses the next 2 days since I have to get everything done before I have to go to work in the afternoons. I am thankful it is cooling off a little bit and there has been nice breezes each day so the weather has been good being outside for most of the day. I can’t wait to share my ride so let’s get to it, here he is Murphy doing all grown up horsey things with his new Mom, ME! 😀

I should not admit this but I look so frumpy! It has been so hot, so I am wearing clothes that help keep me cool. But for me it’s all about Murphy, and he looks so handsome!

Aren’t we always so critical of ourselves! And I am rarely in my photos since I’m taking them. I asked to be in this so I need to stop being so critical. However, I do not like the way I look in this photo as I wish I was wearing riding apparel, like English riding breeches. But this is super comfortable for me and eventually I will be riding him in my western saddle as I get him use to it as I want to eventually get him ready to ride out on trail. Baby steps, it will all happen and it is SUPER FUN to ride him English as well. Maybe one of these days I’ll buy a pair of riding breeches, it would be worth the investment and I can ride in my western saddle in English breeches too. I have to say, I am really enjoying this whole adventure!

My first ride on Murphy! What a good boy!

I am so proud of Murphy! For those horse people out there, I lunged him before I rode him and he trotted around like a champ with the saddle and bridle on and remember he hasn’t done anything like this in just over a month. He relaxed on the lunge line, as he trotted around each direction which is what I was looking for before I mounted up on him. We have a mounting block in the arena and he stood perfectly still as I positioned it to mount and he didn’t move a foot. After I sat on his back he just stood there as I patted him and then I asked him to walk! YAY! What a solid horse, not scared or frightened and took everything in stride like he’s done this a hundred times before and I could not be happier. It will be fun to look back at this video as our adventure grows and he gets more and more rides under his belt!

I know they are almost identical photos except Murphy is licking in one of them so I think it is really cute. I like the other one because he has his ears forward! Haha, my girlfriend who took these photos said I’m just clicking and clicking and so I have 8 or 9 to choose from and these I zoomed in and these are I thought good enough to share.

I decided to share more photos of this weekend as I took some of my girlfriend on her horse Roscoe and a couple of photos out on the trail as I rode Chloe with Roscoe! It’s just so fun to share, I hope you enjoy too!

I tried to get both Chloe and Roscoe in the photo as we rode down the trail!

As I share with you my weekend I am thinking of how fortunate my girlfriend and I are to share this love of horses and being able to ride together each week. We are truly blessed and as I mentioned in my previous post my girlfriend and I have known each other for 50 years. We grew up together and rode ponies when we were young so in many ways we are doing what we grew up doing! Haha, that may not make much sense, but it is amazing that for the last 10 years or so we were able to connect and board our horses together or near each other so that we can keep riding together just like we did so many years ago. Who is able to do that? I don’t think a high percentage of friends stay this close.

I did split off in my late teens when I went to a horse trainer and showed in the Hunter/Jumper division. My girlfriend also went off to college so there were some years of separation. We both got married and during our early years of marriage having babies of our own and once they got a bit bigger that horse LOVE never died and only grew stronger. And here we are with grown children and now grandchildren and horses that we love and can ride together. So much to share, I could write a novel. ❤

Thanks for visiting my horsey loving post! I am so excited I can ride Murphy now and will keep ya’ll posted on our progress. I love to share video’s and will continue to make them when I can and with help from my friends. I am thinking of investing in a Pivo as then I can video with no help and I have seen on other posts they follow the horse really well as you ride around the arena. One step at a time I always say… something to think about!

Horse Crazy Mom and Grandma!

~Diana ❤

My Weekly Smile; Good News! June 17, 2021

On By DianaIn Barn stories, weekly smile16 Comments

Welcome to my weekly smile and I wanted to share my huge smile again as I have gotten the green light to start doing more with Murphy! I had my Vet out this week and he took x-rays of his hind leg which had a splint bone fracture. It is healing nicely and he is ready to get to work. I am in no hurry and will start riding him soon. We are currently in a bit of a heat wave right now and so I will go to the barn earlier in the morning to try and beat the heat. This week I have been doing this and getting Chloe out on the trails. We just go for short rides and its just enough to get some nice walking in before it gets too hot. We only walk on our trails and I have been able to ride with my bestie girlfriend on her new horse Roscoe. I have some recent photos to share and a video! I’m just feeling so grateful and am smiling from ear to ear! 😀

Miss Chloe this morning and I liked this photo of Roscoe getting new shoes about a week ago!

It’s a short video but still fun to share! We still have some blooming jacaranda’s on the trails and I am enjoying all the purple blooms on our rides. This video is actually from the weekend but our rides are just like this as we ride around the blocks talking away and catching up on our lives. My girlfriend and I have known each other since we were 10 years old and so we have 50 years of history together and so we are always keeping each other up on all our families happenings as well. We never run out of topics, and we cherish all our time together. I feel so blessed to have such a good friend who is like another sister. Thanks for being here and for all your love and support Sally! ❤ She makes me smile too! 😀

I edited this photo to be up close and personal, he’s such a handsome guy with a very dirty nose! Haha, just so sweet!

I am so thankful Murph is healing up and the Vet gave me some anti-inflammatory cream called Surpass (for those horsey people out there) and he said this will help with any residual inflammation and so I am to apply daily. He said I can also apply it to his front leg where he has an old injury above his knee. He has some soft tissue that may reduce in size if I apply there also.

This is one of my shorter posts, I’ll say short and sweet! I really wanted to share my good news as I am so EXCITED! I know I keep saying I am going to take my time, and that’s because rushing gets you no where and everything has been going so smoothly with the purchase of Murphy to now the good news with the x-rays, I want to take the next step in stride with no rushing. I know I will be in a good place and he will come along nicely as we get to know each other with me riding him and us getting on together in the arena and eventually on the trails! I hope you enjoyed, and I hope you all have lots to smile about this week and always!

Happy Smiling Cowgirl!

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; June Fun!

On By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share27 Comments
  • Welcome to my weekend coffee share where we share what’s been happening in our lives! How are you today?

Hello and come on in and I have coffee or tea handy. I also have it hot or cold. Today I’m drinking a cold brew as it is a hot weekend. We are heading into a heat wave this next coming week which will get up over 100F degrees (38C) for most of the week into next weekend. It isn’t even officially summer yet, and I know it is cold and winter on the other side of the world. It is so interesting how in my little world I am going to sweat it out in the heat while others are heading into winter.

I can’t believe its June and the weeks just seem to fly by even though I am trying to take in every day and enjoy it to it’s fullest. I have been thinking a lot about the future and when I do I realize we can’t see the future, and even though we can plan for the future what ever will be will be ~ are you humming yet? 😀 Que Sera, Sera ~ I’m just thinking philosophically today about life and all that we can enjoy and even though our plans to move near my grandchildren have been put on the back burner, I will still dream to live near them one day. I can at least visit as often as I can and in the mean time enjoy what I do each day and that’s what I’ll be sharing here today. Here’s a couple of cute photos of my grandkids!

My son said he went into the closet and put the hat on his head! And he got into his mom’s paints sort of, water colors! And my sweet granddaughter with the gift she got with some money I sent to her in the mail!

They are so adorable and my granddaughter is getting so big. She will turn six in August! My grandson turned one in February so he is almost sixteen months now, toddling all over the place and into everything. As it should be with little ones, he is a handful but such a joy. I can’t wait to visit them and am so thankful we are able to travel now and visit as often as we would like. My entire family is vaccinated and thankfully we are all doing well. ❤

As I share I realized that I have not shared what’s been happening here at the house. We removed all the carpeting in the living areas and replaced the flooring with a wood-base laminate that is really durable. We just love how it turned out and I thought I would share some photo’s. This was done last month. My hubby is also working in our backyard putting in a retaining wall. A ton of work, what a busy year so far!

The only rooms with carpet is our bedrooms. We will be replacing them with new carpet in the near future. Our kitchen and the entry way has really nice travertine tile so we did not need to replace that and thought the flooring went well throughout the house. What a difference it has made in the openness and feel in our home!

I also can’t wait for the work in our backyard as the retaining wall (stackable bricks) will add support for the slope and eventual vegetation we want to plant. The previous owners never finished the back yard, and we never did either and we have been here 15 years now. I think its about time! These improvements will make our home enjoyable and add to its value.

Murphy and I are enjoying each other, he even enjoyed the water from the hose! Chloe and I out on trail, look at the tree bloom! So BEAUTIFUL!

I am enjoying the horses, trail riding with my best friend and sometimes by myself with Chloe. My vet will be out this coming week to check out Murphy’s leg and I am hoping I get a green light to start doing more with him. I am enjoying working with him and I took a video of him and thought I would share.

He is so funny because he knew I could not pay full attention to him while I was holding the phone to video! He is very smart and it has been fun seeing his personality! I am in no hurry with Murphy and I really want to take my time with him, especially since he is just 3 years old. I am enjoying the process of getting to know him and I am thinking we will have many years ahead of us of fun trail riding together! ❤

Surprise! Two videos today! He is such a character enjoying the water from the hose! My girlfriend at the stables did not know I was doing a video and was telling me about a sick friend and so I was responding which sounds kind of strange in the video but Murphy is so cute with those flapping lips I just had to share. We hope the friend will be all better soon.

Thank you for visiting and having coffee with me today. I always enjoy sharing the happenings around here and boy has it been a busy year so far, I can’t believe it! I have to thank Natalie for hosting the coffee shares providing us a link and you can visit other coffee shares here. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! I know I am enjoying mine! 😀

Happy Grandma Cowgirl,

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; All About Murphy, My New Horse!

On By DianaIn Barn stories, weekend coffee share23 Comments
  • Welcome to my weekend coffee share where we share what’s been happening in our lives! How are you today?

Welcome and come on in so we can share a cup of Joe. I also have tea are juice? I have so much to share as I am spending more time with my new horse Murphy, I like to call him Murph. He is such a character, as he has figured out that his Mom that gets him out will give him lunch and he just LOVES food. Of course, all horses love to eat and they are meant to graze all day long so being domesticated has its challenges for grazing animals. I have a hay net which is exactly what it sounds like, a big net with with big enough holes that the horses can pull hay through. It is a good way to slow down their eating as it takes longer for them to pull out the hay stems. Hmmm…. I think I will get my hay net out this week and put it up so it will slow down his eating and that should last him longer until dinner. I like it when I give myself good ideas! 😀

He also loves people and he really enjoys the attention we give him and you can tell because he enjoys his head being rubbed and in general he is very pleasant to handle. He doesn’t show any stress and he is so funny when you go to handle him. Most horses put their head up, and may move away from you when you go to put the halter on to lead them out of their stall. Murphy puts his head down and as you put the halter on which he knows goes up around his head, he puts his head lower and lower! Haha, it’s so low I have to bend over to get the halter on! I even pull his head up and even with my shoulders. Dude, you are being kind but almost too kind making me work to put this halter on!

Here is head is up as he almost is posing for my photo! I had to use this halter with the chain over his nose until my new halter arrived.

He is so big and tall that when you lead him without some sort of pressure on his nose, he will bump into you or try and rub his head on you and so he needs to learn his space with ground manners. He is not bad at all, just young and not knowing exactly where his space is and stops and anyone handling him starts! I ordered and just received my dually halter from Monty Roberts. His training halter is awesome and has two nylon ropes that are attached to a ring on each side which acts like the chain in this photo I just shared. What’s great is it applies pressure on the sensitive parts on their nose but with the dually it is kinder and will release when the horse gives to the pressure applied. So it is a great training halter, but until it arrived I felt safer and had more control with the chain over his nose. Now I don’t need it and I will save this blue halter for use at a later date.

  • My new halter!! Thank you Monty Roberts for all you do for horses and people all over the world!

I have been hand walking Murph all around the property as he can’t be worked (or more exercise than a walk) until I have my veterinarian examine his left back leg. He had an injury to his splint bone and the vets in Oklahoma said he will heal up just fine but needed 30 days lay up. I decided this weekend to let him lose in what we call a round pen. He has been so calm that I thought he would be fine walking around on his own and if he started to show too much energy (like trotting around or bucking or anything of this sort) I would go in and take him out as I don’t want him to re-injure himself. He was as relaxed as could be and just moseyed around. What a calm, sensible easy going guy!

He is lose walking around and doing just fine. He is what I call “chillaxin” as he doesn’t seem to have a care in the world!

How’s your coffee, do you need a refill? I have more to share as earlier today (and is why I am late writing this post) I had another fun day at the barn. After my girlfriend and I rode out on the trail with Roscoe and Chloe I took out Murph to walk him in the round pen. He walked around nicely lose while I was in there asking him to walk. I can’t say enough how sweet his personality is as he almost wants to be in your pocket. He wants to put his head in your lap, and he will follow me around and when I went out of the round pen he wanted to come with me! Haha, I wanted him to hang out on his own and then I went back to take him out. He nickers when he sees me coming, so darn sweet!

After I groomed him and did all those things I told my girlfriends there I wanted to try on my saddle, just to get a fit and see if my cinch would fit him. I asked them for help because this is something new I haven’t done with him yet and I wanted him to have the best experience possible. I also did not think he has ever had a western saddle on him and they are bigger and heavier so lets see how you do Murphy! I knew he’s had an English saddle as he was ridden and I saw him on video trotting around with the trainer.

He was AWESOME and did great! What a handsome fellow!

I borrowed a thicker pad from my friend and I can see it’s a bit short for my saddle so I will be buying a wither relief pad to go with my western saddle for him when I start riding him. Miss Chloe has a very flat back with her wither just blending into her back. She is great for bareback riding because she has a back kinda like a couch! HAHA! But Murph is a very tall thoroughbred and they are known for having a tall wither, and so I knew I would need a thicker pad with wither relief which means it is formed higher in the middle to go over their withers or backbone. I was worried my cinch would not fit, but it is perfect and fits just fine. Yay!

My western saddle is called a Circle Y flex tree. The tree is made with plastic and is flexible and so I am hoping with the thicker pad my saddle will be okay and not pinch him along his shoulders where it will sit on his back. I will check again about this as I may need to invest in a saddle that fits him but for now I was just happy he was accepting of the saddle and as my girlfriends and I talked and they were helping me they asked if I was going to sit on him. Wait what? ENABLERS! AND YES! I was so wanting to get on and sit in the saddle! SO…

I was going to just sit on him but why not take a short walk! Lucky there were 3 of us as we walked around a couple times and were done, and my other pony friend took the photos.

There are a couple of video’s but after I loaded them they are very pixelated and not to clean to look at and its from transferring from one phone to another through apps. There will be plenty of time for videos to share of Murph! He was a champ, took everything all in stride as he took each stride around with me on his back! First time! It was such a fun day and I am so EXCITED AND A SUPER HAPPY Cowgirl!! He is just amazing. I Love you Murph! ❤

This is really long but I just had to share. I hope you all had as much fun as I have had this weekend. I will end with this photo my pony sister girlfriend took of me and she edited it to get closer up and as she says, she loves my smile! I’m in horsey heaven! Thank you so much girlfriends! ❤ ❤ ❤

I just LOVE this photo and I have one of my favorite t-shirts on and is from my daughter where she works and is in the Space Force! ❤

Thank you for having coffee with me and for visiting today. I have to thank Natalie for the weekend coffee shares she hosts and if you want to visit more click here and maybe one weekend I will hopefully write and share a little earlier! I get so darn busy it gets very late in the evening when I finally get to finish up my posts so I should call this a coffee share after the weekend has ended! 😀

Excited horse crazy cowgirl!

~Diana ❤

My Weekly Smile; June 3, 2021 – Very Busy days!

On By DianaIn Barn stories, weekly smile26 Comments
  • Having fun with my adult coloring book! It’s all HORSES! 😀

Welcome to my weekly smile and I don’t know about you but I can’t believe it is June! The weeks are just flying by and I have been incredibly busy. I am in between crochet craft projects and to help me destress I enjoy coloring. I now have 3 coloring books and the newest one is this horsey one, and it is so much fun to color. I just had to take a photo to share! I want to start another baby blanket which I think I will go purchase the yarn I need this coming weekend. Then I will put the coloring to the side but in the meantime, I need something to do to relax and for some reason creating things whether it’s coloring or crocheting gets my mind off of any stress even if that’s just being busy. It’s just the way I am wired I guess. I think many people do projects to focus on things to help their brain, right? Right!

I will start out my smiles this week with coming home Monday from last weekend after spending time with my daughter and helping her pack up her apartment. She found the cutest house to lease and it is just the perfect size! I am SO EXCITED for her and this move. It will be more room, with a garage and 2 big bedrooms with them each having their own full bathrooms. I can’t wait to visit in about a month to stay in her house instead of her apartment! YAY! Here are a few photos of the weekend. 😀

My daughter at her new house and her kitty Evie, enjoying the boxes as we pack away! We got the whole kitchen packed!

Oh the darn sun was glaring in but I had to share the photo anyways of Evie. She is one of the friendliest cats I’ve met which is so fun when I get there to visit. She is not afraid at all and will sleep on my lap too. Such a joy for us and especially my daughter. I am so happy she has Evie and she has her guinea pigs too! We got so much done and I was so happy to be there to help. She scheduled the movers this coming weekend and we had a lot to pack up and so she is in a great place for the move. YAY! I’m Smiling! 😀

I wanted to share that the horses are settling in as I had to move Miss Chloe out into the paddocks but she has lived in these paddocks for many years. She doesn’t care what stall she is in as they are all similar and she actually likes how big these stalls are and does well in them. I am happy this all went smoothly and Murphy is settling in to his new barn stall with the run (Chloe’s old stall) and he is doing well there. He will remain in this stall, this is his new home. My bestie girlfriend took care of the horses when I was up helping my daughter pack and I’ll share a photo she took of Murph. I am blessed to have the best horsey friends and we help each other out and exchange this help when we travel. 😀

Chloe out in the paddocks and she has plenty of room! She is one stall over from where she use to be, it’s perfect!
Murphy being a good boy for my friend. I am so happy he is really calm and is so relaxed! I’m so very thankful!

I will end my smile post with a trail ride I went on today. It is definitely warming up as we get closer to summer here and as I was riding along the jacaranda trees are blooming! Oh my, they are so beautiful and the purple flowers are along the trails which I realize can be a bit messy, but oh so beautiful non the less. Here is my trail ride;

A short video of my trail ride today!
She is looking at something across the street, I can hear people in the backyard with dogs barking!

What a perfect picture with her looking up and across the street right near the beautiful jacaranda tree! I took this opportunity to snap this photo and then after I made the video. She just kept on walking after she looked and listened! She is very smart and realized there was no threat. I let her look from time to time, and of course I had to take this photo so she got to stand there a little longer than normal. What a good girl, such a great trail ride today! It was short but PERFECT! 😀

Thank you for visiting my smile post this week. I am hoping things settle down a bit for me as I feel like I am always on the run. My new horse Murphy is doing good but is on lay up as he has a splint bone injury on his back leg. I think I mentioned this before but can’t remember and I have made an appointment for June 14th for my vet to come and x-ray if needed. He does not limp, it’s on the outside hind leg but I want it to heal completely before I start working him. In Oklahoma x-rays were taken and even sent to a surgeon there who said it will heal but he needs 30 day lay up. I have been doing hand walks only and getting him use to the stables and the grooming area. He has been a champ and been really good walking all around the property. I am hoping to take more photos of Murph, as I get so caught up in walking and grooming him I forget about the photos!

Busy Smiling Cowgirl,

~Diana ❤