Weekend Coffee Share; May 21, A Happy But Solemn Day

On May 21, 2023 By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share30 Comments

Welcome to my weekend coffee share, can I get you a cup of coffee or tea? My rose blooms are waning and so are my Iris blooms. I am so happy I took photos so I can still enjoy their beauty. As I write this I am wanting to celebrate my 2 year anniversary of when my sweet horse Murphy arrived and I am so happy and grateful for our journey together, and am excited for our future together, he is so much fun. However, as I titled this post I am very solemn since I had to say goodbye to my most beloved horse Miss Chloe. I’ve posted a tribute and if you missed it you can find the link here. She has left a huge hole in my life and I am going to have to take one day at a time. I knew this day was coming, and I miss her terribly. I haven’t figured out a new routine yet at the barn, everything is in flux, and I know it just takes time to grieve and so I will try and enjoy each day as it comes. Its been a tough year and am hoping and praying for a better second half to this year.

I didn’t want to be all sad, and I didn’t want this post to be a downer so I will try and share more positivity as I am hoping this will help me smile. I have finished all the crochet hats I was making for my sister. She had brought to me when she visited some alpaca wool all spun and ready to use and then she will gift the hats this coming Christmas. They were fun to make! I am more than half way through my cross stitch and so am back working on it as I really want to finish and frame it. Here are a few photos of them.

My cross-stitch looks better in person as I know the grey material makes it more muted in color. The narwhal is almost done and next to stitch is a big orca whale! There is a squid and more small fish to stitch as well. Then the intricate border. The pattern actually called for a dark blue linen but I had grey and thought it would look nice enough. The crochet hats I adore and am thinking of making more hats with my yarn as gifts to my family members. I decided to try and use almost every piece of yarn my sister gave me and made the 2 tricolor hats pictured together. I actually ran out completely and found a multi colored yarn to finish that one hat. I might keep that hat for myself, since it is unique and/or I’ll ask my sister if she would like all of them or not. Haha, I worry about the silliest things sometimes as the yarn isn’t exactly a perfect match but thought it will work so I just stitched it up anyways!

Let’s see, my emotions are all over the place. Normal right? I know life can throw you curve balls sometimes and so I am trying to keep to my routines as this helps keep you sane. At least that’s how I see things. 😀 and I know smiling helps your mood. I have been wanting to start a veggie garden in my containers and so I think I will work on that this week. Ironic or not, now I actually have time in the mornings tending to a small garden since I now only have one horse. I let the horses commandeer many hours of my mornings before I have to go to work. I have so much to think about, keeping busy for idle minds helps.

*He sees something next door! When he stands tall, he is VERY TALL!*

Murphy is so handsome and beautiful. I want to slowly get going with riding him more often. Now that he is 5 years old he is at a great age mentally to handle more, not that I couldn’t have done that sooner but I keep saying we have all the time in the world. Now that he is my only horse, it feels surreal. I think partly because an era has ended. When you have a 17 year history with someone or a beautiful animal like Chloe you realize that life will be completely different. One day at a time, my new mantra!

*Forever in my heart, miss you sweet girl!*

Memories are wonderful and I have hundreds of photos. This one is one of my favorites, me and my selfies. 😀 I’ll end with my boy and looking forward to a new adventure as we forge ahead. I needed to write as I find it cathartic. I may sprinkle my sweet Chloe girl in my future posts just because she has a piece of my heart forever. It’s nice to see her beautiful face, she had the hugest heart and loved and touched so many lives in the years she walked on this earth. Run free sweet girl! ❤ ❤ ❤

Thank you for visiting with me today. I am trying my best to smile and am very thankful I am here to enjoy all that I have in this life. We all have our ups and downs and I know I am truly blessed with all the wonderful friends and family in my life. I want to thank Natalie for hosting #weekendcoffeeshare. I hope you all have a beautiful week ahead. I need to remember to smile often and laugh more, life is too short to not enjoy it to its fullest! ❤

Horse Loving, family loving Gal,

~Diana ❤

A Tribute To My Sweet Miss Chloe

On May 17, 2023 By DianaIn Living life22 Comments

*She was the sweetest mare I have ever owned!* ❤ ❤ ❤

I am the luckiest person in the world to have this sweet beautiful horse in my life. I can’t even begin to describe the bond we had with each other and it was as strong as any bond you can have with any animal. Her and I have been together for 17 years. She has touched many lives, so many who have ridden her and everyone loved her as much as I did. I bought her when she was barely turning 2 years old. She did not know much and so we were set on a beautiful journey learning all the things together. Here are a few baby photos.

She came from a rescue in Hemet California. They had horses from a breeding program that was in a place up in Canada that breed big mares to collect their urine but the mares had to be pregnant. The urine was collected because there are huge pharmaceutical company’s that were extracting Estrogen from these mares to make a drug called Premarin for humans. When woman go through menopause it was the hormone Estrogen that keeps things in balance, but as it wanes the hot flashes start, mood swings can happen and so here is the circle of the need for pregnant mare urine to turn eventually into Premarin. The foals once the mares had them often were dumped or even euthanized as they didn’t need the babies, they just needed the pregnant mares. There was an outrage that happened and I do believe many places were shut down, and Estrogen nowadays come from plants and so the need waned as well. Rescues popped up and is how Chloe came to be and a local gal picked her out of a pasture of PMU babies. She landed at my barn that I boarded. The gal that owned her didn’t know a thing about training a horse to be ridden and she had to wait a few years as Chloe was so young. Her name when I bought her was Sapphire! I clearly think she’s a Chloe and changed her name.

She is about 6 years old in these two photos and is with her best friend Gracie. My best friend Sally owns Gracie and for many that have followed me now for years will know that Chloe and Gracie are the bestest of friends. We rode all over the Norco trails here in the town I live. There are so many WONDERFUL memories I won’t go over all of them here but it feels good to reminisce and so I am enjoying sharing. It is very bittersweet as again, if you have been reading my blog posts you will know that Chloe has been suffering from arthritis and an old injury to her stifle. Think of it as our knee, the stifle is high up on the back leg and she had a small fracture that was discovered when she was 9 years old. With help from my wonderful vet she lived another 10 years, just walking the trails and enjoying life to its fullest. I spoiled her like no other and she LOVED every minute. TONS OF TREATS, oh my she has my heart. ❤

I’ll cut to the chase, yesterday I had to say goodbye to my sweet girl. At night she always lays down for about an hours sleep. (They need about an hour of REM sleep most every night) I can see where she lays down as the shavings in her stall are always messed up as she digs in with her good back leg, she struggles to push her huge body up. The struggling on this last Monday night did significant damage to her right stifle. She could not bare weight on her leg Tuesday morning and I got a barn call from the folks that work there that she was not doing good and could barely walk. I knew on this day that it was time and have been preparing myself for many years for this day. I got to the barn and called my vet, an emergency call with a possible euthanasia. She deserves to not suffer any more as her lameness and arthritis in other legs has progressed to a point that every day she is stiff and limps. No NSaid takes all the pain away. I just make her more comfortable by giving them daily.

She is the most stoic horse I know and I have been looking for signs of her slowing down or not wanting to move. But almost every day we went for a short trail ride. She was always bright, happy, starving (not really starving, starving) but always wanted to graze on all the beautiful grass on the property. I let her do what she wished every single day which included a short trail ride most days and grazing! She never slowed, just limped on the uneven ground, never tripped just walked along without a care in the world. BLESS HER HEART! ❤

See how she rests her back leg in the photo? That’s the bad back leg and to see her practically hop around yesterday just broke my heart. When the vet arrived he said lets check for an abscess in her hoof as they are very painful. He could only numb or block her leg from the pastern down because you can’t pick up that leg or hoof. She has not had her back hoofs trimmed in years and amazingly enough the trail rides have helped (like filing) down her hoofs as she walked along. The bad hoof had grown a bit taller than the other one which flattened out over time with all the weight of her standing on it for years. The flares in the hoof on the good leg could be chipped off with clippers from the farrier. We did so much to try and keep her comfortable.

The leg blocking was negative for an abscess. We walked her out of her stall and she could not move her bad leg without lifting her hip up really high to like swing that leg forward. It was incredible, she had damaged that stifle so badly she could not move that leg forward like normal. After discussing her situation with my vet we both agreed that with her previous injury to that joint that there was no coming back from this reinjury. Euthanasia was the most kindest thing to do for her and she was so brave and didn’t show an ounce of stress with all that pain. She wasn’t panting, sweating, she just hobbled around. I think she has had enough pain and problems with that leg that even though it was so bad she just took it all in stride. She amazes me!

How she usually stands with that back leg cocked. I feel confident that with my kind and gentle ways with her I was able to give her 10 more years of life. My vet back when she was first diagnosed told me that we should think about euthanizing her, and boy was I shocked because I had no idea she had fractured her stifle until she was x-rayed. He stared at my face and looked at Chloe and said she sure is getting around good for this hairline fracture of her stifle. He said let’s treat her symptoms and so with his help we were able to be together for years to come. I am so honored and grateful to have these 17 wonderful years. My vet and assistant were so amazing and she was laid to rest so peacefully and my sweet Chloe is in no more pain. Run free my sweet girl! ❤

She gave the best kisses! I taught her to just put her nose up to my face much like this photo and she let you kiss her nose. Of course she expected a treat, but over the years you could just ask her for a kiss! So adorable, oh I am going to miss all those kisses. Thank you for reading my tribute to my sweet, loving most amazing horse. I thought it only fitting to write a tribute to my beautiful girl. I now have hundreds of old photos which I will bring back from time to time as I find reminiscing very cathartic. I am doing okay. I have been thinking about this day for the last 4 to 5 years. Yes, that long as every winter is harder for her. She struggled through this last winter but made it through. It’s so bittersweet, she is no longer in pain. LOVE YOU SWEET GIRL!

Run free my sweet girl and kiss Zack and Ranger!

~Diana ❤

Silent Sunday; Gratitude

On May 7, 2023 By DianaIn Silent Sunday, Sunday Stills4 Comments

Weekend Coffee Share; Keeping Busy In April ~ And All Things Horses!

On April 22, 2023 By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share10 Comments

*Welcome April! So many beautiful flowers!*

Welcome, can I get you a hot cup of coffee or some sweet tea? I have whipped up a batch of chocolate chip cookies, half a batch so we have the perfect amount to eat this weekend. I have had a busy month of April. I am happy to say that after the first two weeks of April we are finally warming up here which I am thoroughly enjoying. I have never seen a wetter, colder winter here in Southern California. I know, I know, I don’t know what cold really is since we never see snow here but the unseasonably cold winter made me appreciate even more where we live.

I thought I would also say that I am trying to think positively concerning my family issues I wrote about in my last blog post. I will stay patient, calm and I will keep busy as all I can do is keep looking forward to the future and pray for forgiveness and happiness. As each day comes and goes I have more good days than sad days, and I am so thankful for my horses as they give me purpose and joy. Speaking of horses, I have a lot to share as my horsey sister who lives in Idaho came and visited for two weeks.

She came at the end of March which was a rainy time and we had to let the arena dry out before we could ride, just a few days. We had so much FUN with the horses and I wanted to work on many things with young Murphy with my sister here. I will say that having her here the first few weeks of April was a wonderful distraction. I so appreciate my sister’s and all of my family’s love and support. ❤

*Murphy learning the plastic bag won’t hurt him!*

I told my sister that I wanted to work on desensitizing with Murphy. He is 5 years old this year, it’s almost his birthday May 1st. I have always believed that doing ground work which includes working in the arena with scary things to get your horse use to said scary items and teach them that these things will not hurt them. We want our horses to be less sensitive and we want them to see that they are safe with us in hopes that if we were out on the trail and a scary item blows in the wind, for example, we will be able to remain calm and work through the scary event. Murphy in general is very brave!

We started with a plastic bag we tied to the end of a lunge whip. All I had was a carrot bag on this day and I will work more with him as I later brought to the barn a white plastic grocery bag. I will work in the arena like how my sister is here. He followed the small plastic carrot bag all around the arena as my sister walked along. He is so curious, but remained calm and didn’t run around all crazy like I have seen some horses do. Remember horses are fight and flight animals ~ so if over stimulated their flight instincts can send them into overdrive. This is why we are working on desensitizing. 😀

In between the arena work with fun items we also rode Murphy and we had fun working him under saddle. He had most of the winter off with all the crummy weather as it was difficult to find ride times and he never missed a beat nor forgot anything we had been working on. He actually is very smart and we just picked up where we left off.

My husband has a handful of flags and he let me borrow two flags that we brought to the stables to work with Murphy. One as you can see is the American flag and the other is an Air Force flag. He was very curious of these flags and I have many photos and videos of everything we did but will share the best ones here. After we worked in the arena, we tacked him up and presented the flags while we rode him around the arena. My sister has lots of experience with all of these things because she use to ride in the mounted Chino Hills Posse, which is connected with the Chino Hills Police Dept. She helped the unit desensitize their mounted horses. This is how they got them use to parades and other events they attended.

I am so proud of Murphy! He could be my parade horse, haha. I highly doubt I will ever ride in a parade but he is not afraid of the flags!

May I get you a refill? I will warn you this will be a rather long post because I have so much to share! It’s all horsey stuff as there is more I introduced to Murphy. I think the next thing we did was see what he would do if we introduced a jump. This wasn’t necessary for desensitizing but more for the future if I should want to jump him. When they are young and never seen a jump, sometimes they jump exceedingly high over it, but as you can see in this next video Murphy wasn’t too impressed and just loped right over it with no effort at all. After he went over it lose, we mounted up and jumped him while riding. He barely picked up his feet, silly guy! I may work more with the jumping, nothing too serious, just for fun and to keep his interest. I love that I can ride him in my English saddle and jump, or ride him in my western saddle and work on western dressage, so versatile! ❤

As we worked with Murphy we did not forget about Miss Chloe. My sister rode a friends horse Fashion out on the trail while I rode Chloe. We had lots of fun rides and it is the best exercise for Chloe. She can’t be ridden in the arena any more as she has arthritis and so walking on the trails is the best for her. I call it motion is the lotion, and she always is walking better after our rides.

Let’s see, the next thing I thought of was using a tarp for the last desensitizing session with Murphy. Thankfully my sister’s son had a blue tarp to use in the arena. For the non horsey folks out there the odds of having to walk on a tarp is highly unlikely but a tarp is a common item horse trainers use to get horses use to unusual sounds while walking over it. I finally found something Murphy was definitely afraid of, so much so we could not get him to walk across it or on it. We used a little grain in a bucket to entice him to walk on the tarp, but all we could get was one hoof. He ate off the tarp which was good. It was a good session and I was very pleased.

After we put Murphy in his stall I told my sister that I had never tried Chloe with the tarp. So she went to get Chloe and put her in the arena lose and she walked right up to the tarp on the ground. We then went in the arena with the bucket and I was able to video my wonderful girl doing what she does best! She is a wonderful trail horse that has seen it all. At 19 years old she is a solid horse and a wonderful partner. I am so thankful for her and love her so very much! ❤ Here is the video!

What a sweet girl! This is how you do it Murphy!!

Afterwards, when we were driving home from the barn my sister said we should take Murphy out with Chloe in the arena and show him how she walked on the tarp. He may see that it isn’t going to eat him or hurt him and may have followed Chloe but we ran out of time and we never did try and I had to return the tarp to my nephew. I am not too worried that Murphy didn’t walk on it, and at least he was introduced to it and I have plenty of time to try again in the future. I’m going to end with one last video of me riding Murphy. He is maturing and filling out and looks so handsome trotting around. He is so much FUN!!

Murphy and I trotting in the arena, he’s learning and doing great!

I have had so much fun sharing all things horses! AND four video’s! I actually am running out of room here on this blog for media uploads. I need to open up a YouTube account and put my video’s there and then attach here is what I see most bloggers do but I haven’t even attempted to do this yet. I have looked up this issue and the best thing to do is resize your photos but it’s too late for that as I’m already at 91% full and to resize I would have to download an app to resize photos and then upload from there ~ oh I’m already exhausted thinking about all the work I would have to do just to save space. I was paying which I gained more space but its dwindling away. I wish I could just delete old blog posts and photos to get the numbers down or to open up space but it doesn’t seem to work that way. I’ll keep researching, but I may need to start a new blog – and I will somehow link it to this one or let everyone know when that time comes.

I am looking forward to Spring and Summer this year and may try and work in the garden. I hope you all are having a wonderful weekend. Since I am going to link up with the #weekendcoffeeshare I want to thank Natalie for hosting! Thank you for following along in my journey, ya’ll mean a lot to me and I always love to share my adventures. Have a wonderful week ahead! ❤

Crazy Horse Loving Gal,

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; February Is Here!

On February 5, 2023 By DianaIn Barn stories, weekend coffee share19 Comments

*On my trail ride this last week. Such beautiful blooms!*

As I ride by this beautiful tree on my trail rides I really wanted to have it be my opening photo. The sunlight just glistens off of the blooms. I just love it and it makes me smile. I welcome you to my weekend coffee share. I have so much to share, can I get you something to drink as I fill you in on a months worth of happenings? I will tell you that this post is all about Horse Stories. Yep, my horses can sometimes be so all consuming for me as I worry about this, that and the other with them. I know I have a lot of readers that are not horsey folks and I will try and share in a way that should make sense to everyone. I hope the horse adventures aren’t boring, haha, you know I’m going to share anyways! I’ve run across some challenges which I’ve decided to take as learning lessons instead of beating myself up for even deviating from my training methods. I’ll explain. 😀

Before I get to the training issues I wanted to share this next photo that I took after the blooms on the tree. My favorite view between her ears!! I am starting to realize that this could be bittersweet as I am not sure how much longer I will be able to ride Miss Chloe out on the trails. She is having issues with arthritis that is affecting her left front knee and is limping more because of it. There are two large lumps on the knee cap that are getting a bit bigger as the months go along and she is very stiff in the mornings. She walks better once she gets going and today I decided to up her pain medicine and hope this helps her out.

She enjoys going out and I don’t think my tack and myself are too heavy for her. If she starts tripping or limping too much I will stop riding her and she will be retired. I will try and keep her as comfortable as I can but I do believe that “motion is the lotion” and so our rides keep her muscles in shape and I know if she doesn’t use it she will lose it and decline at a greater rate. I will monitor her progress this year and hope I have many more rides to come. I didn’t like the way she was limping today, it’s been a rough winter for her this year. She has my heart and has been with me for the last 17 years. She is 19 this year. ❤

*Murphy quenching his thirst! And he spent most of December and January dirty from all the rain and muddy sand!*

WHAT A WINTER! YIKES! I know I shouldn’t complain but I feel better complaining about all the rainy weather we had this year. Okay, I know we need the rain and snow pack but it took a lot of patience (I had to tell myself be patient Diana, we will dry out eventually!) when you have to deal with large animals in outside pens and try to have a dry place for them to eat and sleep or just stand without standing in muck. I’m thankful I was able to keep my horses high and dry through the worst of it all. They do have a shelter to stand under, here are a couple of photos.

I sometimes keep a support wrap on Chloe’s back leg. I buy bedding for their stalls. They sell lots of different forms of shavings which help soak up the water and provide a dry place for them to lay down or roll if they are itchy. 😀 We haven’t seen this much rain in years.

The lesson I have learned is with Murphy who is 5 years old this year. I can’t believe that I will have owned him for 2 years now. I had decided when he arrived as a 3 year old and with his size and age I would not feed him horse treats of any kind from my hands. He is very food aggressive and I would even say that food is his currency as he would do anything for food. I love listening to podcasts and have some favorite horse podcasts and even searched for some called Positive reinforcement training (R+). I even watched some Youtube videos but I should have never given this R+ training a try a few months ago because I turned Murphy into a monster! (You may be wondering why I was even looking at this training method and what led me down this road and that is Murphy’s stubbornness, I thought the R+ would help – that’s a big NO!)

Murphy is a growing 17.2hh Thoroughbred who is very smart and aware of his size. He’s not mean at all but can be very stubborn and when I hand fed him hay pellets and/or treats he did very well in the beginning. He really wasn’t a monster mind you, he just is this giant horse who lost respect for my boundaries and for me in general. He can’t be in my pockets with his size, and I can’t think of any other way to describe it but I had to stop all hand feeding of any kind. If I want to give him anything to eat I put it in a bucket.

I really do not know much about R+ training and since I do not have a trainer to go to for that kind of thing, I’m going to do what I know best. Murphy and I are back on track with him respecting my space and I respect his. Nothing bad happened, he just was pushy and was disrespectful. (What got us back on track is I have to use a stud chain which goes over his nose on his halter. For non horsey people its like using a slip chain for dog training if you know about dogs. He respects this and I know how to use it kindly. He is very respectful now and his stubbornness has all but faded away.)

*I was finally able to wash off all the dirt on this nice warm day. He rolled in his stall after I took this photo, silly guy!* ❤

Now that Murphy and I are back on track I was able to ride him twice this last week. We have had to take this winter off of riding with all the bad weather. I did lots and lots of ground work and turn outs to keep him exercised. I rode him once at the beginning of January and then three weeks later we had nice rides. I’m looking forward to riding him much more often with the good weather we now have!

I was so angry with myself over the hand feeding debacle because I knew better and yet I went down this road and it backfired. It took me a couple of weeks to connect the dots as his behavior worsened with his disrespect. Once I figured it all out I told myself to use it as a learning curve. Not all horses can be hand fed treats, it’s just not a good idea. Just put them in a bucket and give it to them that way. I respect all trainers that use this method and I am sure there are horse personalities that do well with the R+ training. I will say that it is not anything I had ever learned in the 50 years I’ve been riding and my work with all the horse trainers I worked for in my youth. Murphy, Chloe and I are doing great – so I remind myself to keep it simple Diana! I got this! 😀

I’ll end with a photo of my sweet girl. Although I wasn’t riding Murphy this last month I was riding Chloe on the days I could. Just our half hour trail rides. The trails are not muddy and I can ride out the day after rain. I so enjoyed sharing all my horsey adventures as I ramble on and on about things. I hope you are having a wonderful weekend as I am smiling from ear to ear with happiness with my sweet horses. I LOVE to call them my ponies even though they are far from being any kind of pony!! ❤

Thank you Natalie for hosting the #weekendcoffeeshare. I enjoy sharing my world and this weekend it’s all about my ponies. I hope you all have a wonderful week ahead. I know I will!

Crazy Horse Loving Gal,

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share ~ Trail Rides And Horsey Fun!

On November 6, 2022 By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share13 Comments

*My beautiful roses are blooming, thanks to the recent rain we had a week ago!*

Welcome to my weekend coffee share, can I get you a nice hot cup of coffee or tea? I also have other beverages if you prefer. I am enjoying the cooler weather as it has really cooled down and feeling like winter here even though its late fall. This weekend the time changes for us so we get an extra hour falling back and now my son and family in Arizona will be an hour ahead of us since they do not observe the time change. I am hoping one day they stop switching back and forth from daylight saving time, that would be wonderful! I can tell you that my animals do not know about these changing hours so my kitties woke me up at 6:15am to be fed breakfast. They think it’s 7:15am, haha…. It will take a few weeks to slowly feed them a little later each morning. We are not early risers especially since I work swing shift hours (2pm – 10:30pm) Monday thru Friday.

I had time this weekend to share with you all things horses. I have been getting a lot of trail rides in on my girl Miss Chloe. She is doing great! I am so grateful her leg is all healed up and she is best going out for a walking trail ride. We walk around the block and have lots of different routes to take as there are lots of blocks in the neighborhood. I will hook up with some friends at the stables for some rides too. I think it’s about half the time I am riding out alone, with the other half I have a friend along.

I am so happy Miss Chloe is confident out alone with me as I am not at that point in Murphy’s training to be out alone with him. He is 4 this year and I would like him to be older before I attempt any alone trail rides. Murphy and I ride in the arena as there is a lot to learn in there with him. I am gaining a wonderful connection with Murphy on the ground when we work together and when I am riding him. He is such a sweetheart!

Can I get you a refill? I am so happy about the weather. It’s been a bit chilly at night but the days have been so wonderful and perfect for riding. It is not too hot, and the horses are all really happy with our weather. Speaking of weather, we are to get a lot of rain the next three days. It’s to start tomorrow or maybe a little tonight although as I type there isn’t a cloud in the sky! I’m sure it will move in and I hope it’s only two days of rain instead of three. Just because my ponies live outside and I buy the shavings that bed their stall. I will buy some by Wednesday after I see how wet they get. Thankfully we get a lot of sunshine so we should dry out within a few days and be back to riding again. Here are a few more photos from today. 😀

*A friend took this photo of us on the trail!*

*Murphy is so shiny I had to take this photo. He has a beautiful winter coat!*

I am so enjoying sharing my horses with you today. Murphy got a little cut on his front left leg and it is so superficial that I am surprised that his leg has swelled from it so I am thinking there might have been a very small puncture wound. I decided to wrap his leg which should support the leg and hopefully it will reduce the swelling. He does not limp, so thankful for that but am hoping it heals up fast and without a vet visit. I am taking it easy with him to make sure it is completely healed before putting him back to work. I would rather be on the safe side and we are facing this rain storm so I will just make sure he leaves the leg wrap alone and will check the swelling every day. I am not too worried about it, horses just get nicks and cuts pretty easily and this really shouldn’t be a big problem and will watch things closely.

I hope you all are having a good weekend. Can you believe we are in November now? Before you know it, it will be Thanksgiving here in the states. Christmas is not that far away now! I am thankful for so many things and I enjoyed sharing my horsey weekend with you all. Thank you Natalie for hosting the weekend coffee share!

*Murphy has my heart as well! Love Him!*

I hope you all have a wonderful week ahead!

Happy Horse Loving, Trail Riding Cowgirl,

~Diana ❤

July 23rd, Thankful For The Summer Breeze!

On July 23, 2022 By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share33 Comments

*My summer rose bloom! It smells heavenly too!*

Welcome to my weekend coffee or tea share where I enjoy sharing what’s been happening here in Southern Cali where I live. It is definitely summer time here as the heat is on and we are hoping for a break but there isn’t one coming any time soon. I am thankful for the summer breeze! It almost always shows up every afternoon and it feels so good and helps you cool off. I had to look it up as I was pretty sure there was a song about the “Summer Breeze” by Seals & Crofts and it’s a nice relaxing song to listen to on these summer days, I do date myself!

As I share a tall glass of ice tea with you (I have lemonade and we can make it an Arnold Palmer if you’d like!) I decided I would share my cross stitch I have been working on the last month or so, I am nearing completion and this is my winter scene. This is the last one I needed to complete for my 4 seasons pattern that I started many years ago and am determined to finish. (I’ll share the photo of the other seasons here too.) I am planning on making my first quilt with these cross stitches as the star or center pieces of the quilt which will be the size of a wall hanging or small throw blanket. If I run into trouble I’ll have to have my sister’s help me as they are the expert quilt makers in the family!

I have a confession and that is this coffee share I started late last weekend and never finished it so I thought I would just add to it and finish and post it this weekend. I took the above cross stitch photo on July 2nd and I have done a lot more since then so here is a current photo of it today. I am working on the bottom portion as you can see the cart the horse is pulling, a sideways tree and some snow texture stitching. 😀

Some of the funny colored shapes will eventually be people and things really become defined when I am done with the stitching and then I will outline everything and that will make everything pop and look completed. It is so fun working on these projects! I know it is another way that I can relax and create and keep my brain thinking as I count away. I am hoping this and other things I do in my life will help keep me healthy. What do you do for fun or for relaxation? I know many enjoy their gardens, and they are a wonderful source of healthy cardio work and relaxation too! And others enjoy being outside exercising. Here are the other seasons. (Click on photos for full view).

I am motivated to finish my winter themed cross stitch because I was gifted this last Christmas some really cool cross stitch pattern books I had on my wish list. I will be diving into these new patterns when I finish here and I won’t start working on the quilt until I feel inspired or motivated to sew. Maybe I will dive into it sooner, I just take things one day at a time and see how I feel when starting new projects. I know my “in the house” projects I call them are not cardio, but it’s important to have the relaxation to help lower blood pressure when relaxing. I get all my cardio from the stables and I like to call the barn my outside gym! I love my segue as I want to share my horses this weekend. My last share about the barn was how busy I have been and thankfully it has calmed down now and I am not having to take care of so many horses!

I am having so much fun with Murphy! Him and I are really bonding and he is always excited to see me which to me indicates he enjoys our time together. He is vocal about this nickering as I arrive! 😀 Today I started some liberty training with him which basically means working in the arena with him lose and following my lead as I ask him to work with me free or at liberty. I also have thought long and hard about his training and I decided to introduce R+ training which is Positive reinforcement (+R) is a form of learning that occurs when a desired behavior is rewarded. It’s based on the idea that reinforced or rewarded behavior will be repeated out of want for a reward. I have found that Murphy would rather not do much of anything and although his defiance is not bad (he does not bite, rear, kick or do anything nasty) on the contrary he is very sweet but can be a bit stubborn. He is also very food driven! I have already started to introduce treats in a meaningful way and he has not started biting and/or is not aggressive at all. He has remained very respectful and sweet which is perfect for this kind of training! I’m very excited!!

He loves to splash and play in the water bucket and every time I see him and want to video he stops and comes to visit me instead. I LOVE you Murphy, but I just want to get some water fun action!

You can see how wet he got and all the water he splashed all around the bucket as he practically emptied half of hit splashing away! Haha, he’s so funny and has so much fun in this summer heat! With horses when you are with them whether it is every day (yep, I go every single day to see them and usually work with them) or every other day or once a week you are always learning and working together as a team. You should be growing your bond with them and mine grows each day. I have this wonderful bond with my other horse Chloe. Her and I are a team that just gets stronger every day. The trust the two of us have in each other is hard to describe. It would be like the trust you have with your best favorite dog or cat, it’s strong and we enjoy each others company. I am so grateful and thankful Murphy and I are bonding like Chloe but as I learn and grow reading/attending/watching other trainers I am growing and am doing more with him than I did when Chloe was his age. IT’S SO MUCH FUN!

*I am enjoying riding him and working with him in Western Dressage!*

I have a video I made all by myself by propping up my camera but since I don’t have a Pivo I ride out of frame a lot and so I decided not to share here. I will ask someone to video one of my rides soon. It is fun to see his progress. He is learning so much, a little each ride. I don’t ride him every day as he is young and growing and I don’t want to bore him to death. PLUS as I have recently shared I can be busy and so I usually ride one horse one day and then the next I ride the other. This is working out great! Happy horses means a happy Mom. Now that I want to incorporate R+ training, it is all started and performed while I am on the ground, we call this ground work with horses. So on the days I do not ride Murphy we will be working on things together which will be stimulating for him and I. Anyways, I enjoy learning new things as well and there is plenty of YouTube videos out there to visit for ideas. Can I get you a refill? I know I can ramble on and on sometimes! Haha!

*He almost always rolls after a rinse or bath in his dry shavings! You can see them all over his back!*

*This was from a few weeks ago! All that I am sharing is from this month of July!*

I am so thankful we have a huge pepper tree that has grown so tall now that it provides a lot of morning shade where we tack up our horses. This is why this photo is in the shade. I like it’s soft tones and you can see part of the tree in the upper right corner. Near noon the shade is almost gone except for closest to the tree. As July seems to be flying by we are getting closer to my granddaughter’s birthday August 3rd. She will be turning 7 years old this year and I can’t believe it! I am so excited to be heading to Arizona to help her and family celebrate my sweet girls birthday. YAY! This time I will be flying there!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and I thank you kindly for visiting with me today. I am always grateful for all the support I get from fellow friends, family and the blogging community. I enjoy sharing when I can and so I will get this wrapped up and get back to stitching. I am getting super close to completing my project. I’ll have to pass the ice tea and say how is your (week) or weekend going?

Loving Our Summer Breeze Cowgirl,

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; 4th of July Weekend!

On July 3, 2022 By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share22 Comments

*My pretty honeysuckle blooms which are so tiny but so fragrant!*

Welcome to my coffee share, can I get you a cup of coffee or tea? I am having a nice cup of joe with my favorite creamer, sweet Italian cream. I can’t believe it is July! Where did June go? it just zipped on by seemingly so fast. I had a busy month last month and I am hoping to slow down a little and enjoy this month. For those of us here in the states, this weekend is July 4th weekend ~ Happy 4th of July! ❤ I am so thankful for the long weekend and an extra day off this next week. We always barbeque which millions of American’s do, and since it is summer here it’s always a great way to celebrate!

Did I mention already how busy I have been? Ah, yes, I think I bring it up all the time. I am not sure how I fit in all that I do and my life just seems to get busier. My “busier” has been at the barn where I board my two horses. It seems that when there is other boarders that need help with their horses, my name comes up. I am honored and deeply grateful that so many trust me to take care of their horses, but it is getting to the point where I am getting super busy with many to care for especially this month. (I will say that it is difficult for me to say No! Haha, so I do this to myself to a certain degree!) I have 6 horses for the first week of July (2 of them are my own) and after next week that care will go down to 5 horses. I can thankfully take turns getting them out and exercised which means I do not have to handle all of them all on the same day. It will put a kink into my riding on some days, I may be getting less sleep so I can get up earlier to fit in all that I want to do each day. We will see how this goes. 😀

*Miss Chloe after a nice ride this weekend!*

Since I am on the subject of horses I thought I would share some photos. I have been able to ride a lot out on the trails with Chloe. I am riding my other horse Murphy but mostly in the arena as I want him to learn in there more basic riding commands so we are safe together. I am hoping to get him out on the trails some this summer. I want to partner up with a friend as it can be scary on the trails for a young horse in our town all by himself. He is very brave and the trail riding I have done this past year with him was always with other horses. I knew he needed more arena training but wanted to see what kind of “brain” he had which just means that the trails I have ridden him on were short, not far from home and he had a good “brain” and was very sensible and kind.

Now that Murphy has turned 4 years old I am upping the demands slowly and asking him to do things that will make our partnership together more cohesive and safe. He should know how to walk, trot and canter when I cue him to do this and just as important to “whoa” or stop when I ask. His whoa he is getting better at especially at the walk and trot but he still needs work at the canter. I am in no rush and have done more with him at the walk and trot, so that is why he is getting that down better. I wish I had more time to spend riding him and hence why I am a tiny bit frustrated with my time at the barn. Part of the issue is a friend fell off this last Friday. She owns 2 horses and has asked me to care for them as she recovers from the fall. She broke 2 ribs and hurt her back and so how can I say no? She doesn’t know another lady is going out of town for one week so I have already said yes to her for her horse. And I have another that I care for 2 days a week, the lady has paid me through to August for that horse care. It’s all good, it just is what it is at this time!

*Hi Murphy, we will do some fun riding this week I promise!*

He is such a handsome guy! He is so laid back, so calm and pleasing. I think he gets a little bored. Since my other horse Chloe is 18yrs old, I can just hop on and head out on the trail. My shortest trail ride is about 25 minutes, so it’s a total of almost an hour from getting her out and tacked up, out on trail and then I need to clean her up (which may be hosing her off if it’s hot) and get her put away. I then do Murphy. Or I do Murphy first and spend about an hour and a half with him and then I ride or turn out Chloe. I then have to fit in another turn out with some care to other horses that others have paid me for. My riding time gets cut into if say I eat breakfast out with hubby one or two mornings each week. Haha, I guess I have a full-time job and now a part-time job. My family can’t understand why I am at the barn every single day. (They kind of understand my obsession, but they have asked me why do I go every day?) Seriously, I NEVER miss a day unless I am out of town!! I am seriously that horse CRAZY! 😀 😀 😀

*Seriously though, how can you not love her sweet face and I want to give them the best care!*

*Heading down the trails on my sweet girl! The best exercise for her and joyful for me!*

As I am writing this I am realizing my horsey obsession has turned into a somewhat part-time job especially since I concede and help so many others. I am realizing I need to take back some control since it is eating into my horse riding time and if I am feeling frustrated because of this then it takes the fun out of my time at the barn. Talk about a juggling act! Sheesh! I am not old enough to retire because if I could retire then I could have this part-time horse care job. Something I will look forward to when that year comes to fruition. I am the type of person that tends to put the needs of others before my own, hence why I haven’t learned to say no very often (if ever) so the learning goes….. I need to be stronger, and put my needs first but for now I will just be very busy! Do you over extend yourself? or do for others to the point where it takes time away from your needs? I am curious as I can’t be alone! 😀

I’ll end with this sweet kitty. This is Evie, my daughter’s cat and she is so incredibly friendly. You know how I am with my crazy selfie photos, she was so fun to be with when I was visiting with my daughter in June. I had so much fun at the horse clinic and spending time with my daughter. She invited some friends over when I was there and we had an indoor barbeque on Sunday after I was done with the clinic. We had so much fun breaking bread and playing a card game. I have so enjoyed having coffee (or tea) with you this weekend and for filling you in on my busy schedule! Haha, it’s been crazy days and will stay that way for awhile!

Thank you Natalie for hosting the #weekendcoffeeshare and if you would like to visit and read other shares you can click here! I hope you all have a wonderful week ahead.

Super Busy Crazy Horsey obsessed Gal,

~Diana ❤

A Horsey Fun-Filled Weekend at Monty Robert’s Flag Is Up Farm!

On June 19, 2022 By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share21 Comments

Welcome to my weekend coffee share where we share what’s been happening in our life with old friends and new. I am up north visiting my daughter and her girlfriend gifted us with these beautiful flower bouquet’s. What a great way to start my post with these flowers, as I just love them. Flowers of any kind always make me smile! 😀

I drove up to Orcutt, CA where my daughter lives and I am staying with her while I attended Monty Robert’s The Movement, 2022 ~ Happiness, Health & Horses! His Flag Is Up Farm is located in Santa Ynez Valley which is just minutes away from Solvang, CA. My daughter is about 30 miles north and so the drive was not bad to get to the clinic. It was an all day event for both Friday and Saturday and I am spending Sunday with my daughter and friends and will head home Monday. I have some time here and thought I would share the photo’s I took of this weekend and the training seminars.

*Monty Roberts showing us his famous training technique “Join Up” which he was teaching to us in his round pen.*

We started out with this 3 year old Arabian filly who has had very little to no training, just growing up in a pasture. Within 2 days he had a rider on her back using his gentling methods. He is on a mission to change the training techniques across the globe for non-violent training for all horses. It doesn’t matter if they are wild mustangs, young horses needing to be “broke” he hates the term breaking horses, we should be gentling them as we speak Equus to them and get them to want to be with us and learn from us. It is all so amazing what he shares and his methods are tried and true and he wants to rid the world of violence, if only he could. He helps groups of people with PTSD and holds training seminars for corporations and anyone needing to see how horses can heal and help teach us patience and confidence.

We had a seminar on hoof care and the woman in the photo is Ada Gates-Patton the first and only woman journeyman farrier of thoroughbred horses in the nation. She also inspects the shoes of every horse taking part in the Rose Parade. I also have a photo of Monty talking to us here as we were waiting for the farrier to trim the horse. Her background and knowledge was so amazing to hear about and she was Monty’s farrier for many years. I won’t go into her whole background but she gleaned so much information to us about horses hooves, it was so educational and something I am so grateful to learn about. Ada explained to us what she was looking for after the trim on the horse for a balanced hoof.

We broke for lunch which was provided each day and we enjoyed the beautiful grounds of Monty’s farm. It is so tranquil there and a huge farm! There are horses everywhere, in pastures or paddocks. He has transition horses from gentling mustang’s to off the track thoroughbreds that will be retrained for a new career. He also has young thoroughbreds there for training for the racetrack. He will get them started and use to the starting gates and they will be sent back to their racing trainer. Such a busy place but you would not know it with how peaceful it is there. ❤

*This is Jamie Jennings who is a Certified Monty Robert’s trainer. She has gone thru all his courses and tests.*

We are back in the round pen where Jamie did a “join up” with this thoroughbred who was recently retired from racing and will be retrained for a new career. She is a beautiful young mare and started out a bit nervous but settled right down while being worked with in the round pen. This is what Jamie does at her farm in Oklahoma getting retired racehorses from Horse and Hound Rescue and that is how I got my horse Midnight Murphy, a retired racehorse but he never made it to the track because he was too slow!

It was so wonderful to finally meet Jamie in person and as we exchanged hugs it was such a pleasure to see her training in action and all she has learned from the great Monty Roberts. She will be continuing his legacy as they train more and more people in his methods. There are Certified Monty Roberts Trainers all over the world. Monty is 87 years old and he has accomplished getting all of this training online with I believe hundreds of video’s and with my participation at this clinic I get 3 months free for Monty’s online university training.

The above photos are of Mark Bolender a famous trainer in his own right being an expert on extreme trail and mountain trail competitions. He has designed mountain trail courses all over the world and he has designed and put in a mountain trail course at Flag Is Up Farm in the infield of Monty’s racetrack. This is Mark’s famous horse Checkers. A National Grand Champion I think more than once and he is now a Breyer horse (You can buy a plastic Breyer horse of Checkers!) Mark is riding him bridle-less with just a rope around his neck. Very impressive as he navigates the bridge. He even turned around on the bridge! There are many components on the trail course and I did not take photos of everything there. I’m finding that there is so much to share, maybe I’ll just share more photos and less words!

Friday was a long day as we had wine and cheese and a concert in the evening. Templeton Thompson and Sam Gay sang to us as we enjoyed the evening. It got a bit chilly with a strong breeze but it was beautiful music and a fun time!

The next day was gentling mustangs in a special pen Monty had built so that the wild mustang’s could be gentled and all could stay safe. In the stalls that you can see they are standing in they can be touched all over with a long stick and a glove at the end which mimics a hand. These wild mustang’s have been there for about 6 weeks now and believe me, you could tell they were still pretty wild. But they were trusting too, and you can see Jamie rubbing on one’s shoulder as he enjoys the scratches!

Day 2 and Monty uses a dummy rider to get the young Arabian filly to accept a rider. She did buck a lot at first with the dummy on it’s back. It is secured and has weighted boots to mimic a rider. It does not fall off but she was very good when a rider did get on which was so wonderful to see. His gentling methods are truly amazing!

Here I am standing next to Monty Roberts. I didn’t want to interrupt him as he is always deep in conversation explaining away as there are always so many questions. Haha, this photo works as I am kinda shy anyways! And a photo looking out to the pastures. So pretty! I’ll end here as there is just so much to share and I did not upload all my photos of the weekend. I think you get a pretty good taste of my horsey adventures and I am enjoying spending time with my daughter too! We are off to a seafood restaurant in Pismo Beach. YAY! I just love Sanddabs and that’s what I will have for dinner! YUMMY!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and thank you so much for stopping by!

Horse Crazy and Happy Cowgirl,

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; It’s May 15th Already!

On May 15, 2022 By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share21 Comments

*Welcome to my weekend coffee share! How are you today?*

I decided to feature these beautiful cactus blooms as they so deserve another look. I’ve never seen such pretty cactus flowers and although they aren’t mine they are local in my town at a horse feed store I was at buying horsey stuff. Can I get you a cup of coffee or tea as we sit and chat? I also have some yummy Trader Joe’s sweet offerings. Yummy chocolate chip dippers, they are delicious and I think we still have some milk chocolate covered pretzels, oh they are to die for ~ salty sweet scrumptiousness. Now I am drooling and may need to stop writing to get something sweet! 😀

As these weeks fly by it has me thinking about this past year. It seems to have flown by like a blink of an eye. So much has happened and as I look back I am also looking forward as to what does the future hold? Last year at this time I was in the process of adopting my horse Murphy from Oklahoma. It was a fairly stressful couple of weeks but so worth the stress and it all went really smoothly in hindsight. Interestingly, there was a young lady at the stables the night Murphy arrived that stayed with me while I waited for his trailer to arrive. She has an OTTB (Off The Track Thoroughbred) that she got through a rescue here in CA. As we chatted we had a lot in common, adopting a thoroughbred to name a few things. She could be my daughter at half my age and we got to know each other that evening as I bought her dinner as we waited.

She shared that she wanted to move to Spokane, Washington to have her horse at her cousin’s ranch. She grew up riding with her cousin and you know what? She made that happen! She moved with her horse last month almost a year after she told me about her dreams! She saved and saved and worked two jobs until she made her dream come true. That’s pretty cool and inspiring and makes me think I need to think more about our future and where I want to be and where I want to live as we approach retirement. It’s a lot to think about and I have some ideas as to what I want to see happen in the next few years.

*Murphy after my ride and he is ignoring me but standing quietly*.

*I called his name so he would look at me but instead he walked towards me! Sweet Murphy!* ❤

He is so smart and as I wanted him to turn his head and look at me when I called his name, he decided to walk to me so I clicked quickly and got this photo which I really like as he started his walk. I then took a really close up photo as he sniffed the camera! Haha! I just have to share! Warning, it’s very close up!!!

Haha, I know I am crazy to share such a silly photo but he melts my heart and our bond together grows stronger every day. It is hard to describe how special a horses bond can be, just as strong as with our sweet cats and dogs but different too. Especially since they let us do so much with them, riding around on their backs. It is almost indescribable. These horses in my life help keep me young at heart and the joy they bring to my life I wish I could share with everyone and what I mean by that is I wish you could come and ride my horses. I wish you could brush them and feel how soft their coats are and let them see you and feed them a treat. And so here I am trying my best to share with you all!

As I ride down the trail on my other horse Chloe the Jacaranda’s are blooming. I stopped near the blooms to take a close up photo! They are so beautiful and we have lined streets with these trees. I have shared them many times before and as each year comes around and they bloom, I share yet again!

*Miss Chloe out in our small pasture! My pretty girl! ❤*

As I wrap up my weekend I am looking forward to an Arizona trip at the end of this month. My son’s birthday is May 30th and so my daughter and other son will be heading there to help celebrate. We are so excited to spend a long weekend together, I can’t wait! The other thing on the horizon is an event I am going to attend in a month at Flag Is Up Farm, Monty Robert’s training facility and they have a weekend of clinic’s and the event is called “The Movement, 2022”. This event is only 30 minutes from where my daughter lives so I will be able to visit her after I attend the clinic every day. The horse trainer that trained Murphy will be there as she is a Certified Monty Roberts Instructor, I can’t wait to meet her! I’m excited to see my grandchildren and excited to attend this wonderful horse event!! 😀

*He has the sweetest eyes, and a heart of gold!*

I end with Murphy as May will always be a special month for me and Murph. Not only was it his birthday May 1st, he also arrived in the month of May. I haven’t forgotten my sweet Chloe girl as she’s had my heart for many, many years now. I spoil her just as much and have shared plenty of wonderful photos of her as well. I will continue to share and I may re-share as I continue this blogging journey. As I look to the future I have been discussing maybe moving north to be near my daughter. That’s an idea that needs to be looked into but we are in no hurry. I so enjoyed having you visit with me this weekend. I am always having FUN IN THE SUN with my ponies!! I’m also going to thank Natalie for hosting, the #weekendcoffeeshare.

Crazy Horse Loving Grandma,

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; May 1st Birthday Fun!

On May 1, 2022 By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share24 Comments

*Thank you Natalie for hosting the Weekend Coffee Share!*

Welcome, can I get you a cup of coffee or tea? I think a nice big glass of ice tea is in order as it is the afternoon here as I get to this special day written out and shared. Today is my sweet horses birthday and although it is not a particularly special year, it is his first birthday with me. I adopted Murphy from a Thoroughbred horse rescue who takes in Off The Track Thoroughbreds and finds them a new career. Murphy’s Jockey Club name is Midnight Murphy, I had to call him Murphy as the name fits so well. He came from Oklahoma from Horse and Hound Rescue Foundation and he arrived last year on May 22, 2021. I can’t believe it has been a year in a few weeks that he arrived. Today I celebrated his birthday by making a few video’s of my weekend and I bought him a few horsey made treats to spoil him. Haha, he was probably wondering why he got an easy free fun weekend and extra carrots, apples and these yummy sweet treats! We are just crazy horse people!!

I do not know Chloe’s birthday as she is not a registered breed. She was from a rescue though so I know the year she was born. She turns 18 years old this year and I shared with her the treats I brought to Murphy and I bought enough treats so I could share with other horse owners (and their horses) at the barn. I am so proud of Murphy as he is a fine looking 4 year old thoroughbred. 😀

I hung a Happy Birthday on his stall. I will share a video I made of him eating a few treats. Yummy, he kept looking for more. I do not normally hand feed him and will put all carrots and treats in his bucket, but today is a special day and he will be fine if I go back to putting the treats in his bucket. Feeding treats by hand can encourage them to possibly nip your fingers. I do feed Chloe by hand and she is gentle and has never bitten me or gotten aggressive in any way. Murphy is so young, he already tries to put the lead rope in his mouth, he is like a toddler wanting to put everything near him in his mouth. I have had to pull my sweatshirt out of his mouth and sometimes my shirt. He is getting better as this year has passed, keeping the treats out of my hand has been extremely helpful in him learning to let things go and it doesn’t belong in the mouth! Haha, he’s such a baby but this year has grown tons in respect and in size!

Murphy enjoying his birthday treats! He is so very sweet and looks forward to our time together each day!

*On the left are donut hole horse treats with sweet toppings! and the squeezy buns I shared with the barn!*

At our local feed store I heard they make horsey birthday cakes and when I got there they had packaged up horse donuts and donut holes (made with grains and horse food with sprinkle icing. They can eat sugar, think sugar cubes and peppermints. Murphy does not like peppermints yet, Chloe loves them!) The icing we were curious and tasted and it is just sweet icing like on cookies. The horses loved these treats. I asked about a horse cake and they said the lady that makes them will be in on Tuesday. Oh shoot, I didn’t realize you had to place an order for a cake. So donut holes it is as to me they looked like small cupcakes. I decided for next year he will turn 5 and so I will plan and order a cake then. I continued shopping and found the Uncle Jimmy’s Squeezy Buns. I put one on top of the container so you can see they are all individually wrapped grain filled molasses scrumptious horse treats! YUMMY! I shared with others at the barn handing out the Squeezy Buns! Hahaha!! 😀

Murphy’s second time with the big ball. Wait for it, I did get a reaction from him! Silly boy!

I can’t believe how laid back this horse is to be honest with you. He really doesn’t want to exert a ton of energy. There are horses at our barn that run around and kick at this ball and there is one horse who will bend down with his knees and try and squeeze the ball between his front legs. He is very energetic and runs all around. Murphy? just meanders around, runs a little because it was coming after him there for a second. Haha, but he meandered back to it sniffing it. I just loved how he pushed it with his nose towards me, which makes me wonder did he want to play? Haha, horses do not think like people do but they are very smart. They can learn words and he responds to “Good boy” and he knows these words, “walk”, “trot” and “canter” and “whoa” for stop. Horses LOVE routine, because they know what to expect and they learn much easier if you keep their routine as close to the same as possible. It’s okay to deviate some days for enrichment and for learning new things, they learn that much faster when their routine and safety is A-Okay!

*He has been such a joy! So fun to watch him interact with this toy!*

As I enjoy Murphy I also enjoy my other horse Chloe and she is very spoiled and loved too. I take her out on the trails and I took a few photos with a girlfriend who joined us today. The Jacaranda trees are starting to bloom. We rode by one before I realized I should have taken a photo so in front of us was a baby tree and the tree behind it is a huge Jacaranda that is just beginning to bloom. I’ll share the photos and ask you do you need a refill? I think I will get one as I finish up this post.

*Chloe on the left and my girlfriend’s horse Fashion. Yes, a funny name for a horse but it fits her well!*

*Miss Chloe after my ride. They all enjoy the grass that grows on the property!*

I can’t believe it is May 1st! This day now has new meaning to me and my life since it is Murphy’s birthday. April was a great month and went by way too fast. My husbands birthday was April 13 and my daughter’s was April 14 and she was at training for work in Colorado and for my hubby that day was a Wednesday. I made the day as special as I could and I think I forgot to share in my last blog post. Forgive me family! Haha, if they ever read my blog. I do not think any of them do. I have a couple of sister’s that read my blog from time to time. As I share my all about horses blog, you can see I do sprinkle in the family happenings.

As I write this my son in Arizona has been applying for jobs outside the state. He has a job interview at the University of Maryland Teaching Hospital in Baltimore this coming Thursday. It would be better pay and advancement opportunities but oh my, it’s across the country. I am thankful I have a job that I can take many vacations so I can visit my only grandchildren if he should be offered and if he takes this new job. I am so excited for him but a bit sad they will be so far away. We will see what happens!

I’ll end with this selfie. I took several with Murphy and I like them all for different reasons but I will only share one, hard decide which one to choose! 😉 I hope you all have a wonderful week ahead and thank you so much for stopping by my coffee share and If you care to share, what’s been happening in your week?

Happy Horse Loving Grandma,

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; March Is Here!

On March 6, 2022March 6, 2022 By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share19 Comments

Welcome to my coffee share! Can I get you a cup of coffee or tea? I also have apple juice or cranrasberry juice if you prefer. I have so much to share as its been a few weeks and so much is happening in our lives. We made it to Arizona last weekend for my grandson’s birthday and we celebrated and made it special for him. I am also thankful that my family wasn’t planning a very big party (so very thankful) because my grandson ended up with a fever on his birthday so we had to cancel the event. We were to drive to my daughter-in-laws aunt’s house about an hour away to celebrate. It turns out my little grandson had a mild case of hand, foot and mouth virus which we found out he was exposed this last week when he was brought back to day care. That was why he had a fever, and we made his birthday a fun day none the less and celebrated at his home. ❤

*We baked him a smash cake and the cupcakes with a Mickey Mouse Funhouse theme!*

*Me and my selfies that I so enjoy taking! He doesn’t know “smile” yet, and my granddaughter likes to make silly faces which makes me giggle! She has a beanie baby octopus in her hand!*

My hubby and I enjoyed visiting and we did not catch any sickness which I told my family I don’t care, I would have come anyways. Unfortunately, my son caught the hand, foot and mouth virus as he came down with a fever at the end of this last week and he has nasty rashes on his hands and feet! Hence the name, and he says these rashes burn and are very painful. I feel so badly for him as he is the only adult that caught it from my grandson. My granddaughter and my daughter-in-law are fine. I am praying for my son to recover quickly. He is out of time off at work, so he can be out sick but can’t get paid since this has been a rough couple of months for illness for my little family. They all had Covid at the beginning of January and it has been one virus after another the last 2 months. Please say a prayer or send good thoughts their way, they sure could use a break right about now. This is SO HARD being so far from them so that I could help. But it is what it is, and all I can do is be supportive from afar. I Love them so much!

Ugh, there are lots of sad things happening in the world today and everyone has their own set of problems and/or issues to deal with. I certainly do not want to add to any of that and as you know I am usually full of optimism and positivity, but I will say even I can struggle with that from time to time. I am thinking if I share what makes me smile and brings me to a special place where I can forget all the scary sad stuff then maybe if I share it will bring a smile and a bit of positivity your way as well. I decided that is one reason why I like to share here on this blog. I have been questioning why I blog lately, and so I am only blogging when I have a collection of fun and enjoyable shareable things that not only make me smile and feel good, I hope you can enjoy and smile too! It’s my contribution to keeping my mental health happy, and in turn I hope it can do that for someone else too! I don’t even know if I am making any sense, but these are my thoughts today. 😀

*These blooms in my garden sure make me smile! Spring is in the air!*

My Iris plants have multiplied since last year. They are in a container and I am thinking I should thin them out this year. I am not sure what to do with the extra plants? I guess I can start another container and have more Iris plants! Haha, I do much better growing flowering plants then vegetables. Since I am not sharing daily or weekly posts I have accumulated lots of pony photos and fun videos that I wanted to share. 😀 As you all know this is my happy place, the stables or barn where I board my horses and the horses are what fill my heart and help me with my mental health. They bring me so much joy, so let’s get started with what I have to share.

Miss Chloe with a big bouncy ball to play with only she isn’t very interested!

My girlfriend at the stables (we call each other pony sister’s) brought the bouncy ball and let us all take turns using it in the arena with our horses. It is fun for them to see something different, it helps desensitize them and get use to different objects. We have horses that love playing with the ball. It is very bouncy and soft. They can bite it and throw it around with their teeth. It is so fun to watch them play! Chloe just stares at it but didn’t move as it headed towards her and then walked away, haha, and she did go up to it and push it once but I didn’t make a video of that. She just isn’t interested in playing like the geldings, especially the younger horses!

Murphy with the bouncy ball. He licked it and tried to bite it and will need time to learn to play with it!

Murphy was really afraid of the ball at first. I carried it into the arena and walked up to him holding it and he stood still and I let him reach out to touch it with his nose. I will say that for Chloe I knew it was not her first time with the bouncy ball as I have had it in the arena with her and my other horse Zack some years ago before he passed away. So that is why I was not worried about her reaction when I kicked it towards her. I knew Murphy has never seen the ball, so I introduced it carefully. I decided to let him check it out by himself and left the arena at which time I could take the video above. 😀 I know he isn’t doing much with it but he is very brave and is a good boy!

*I had time this weekend to shorten their manes. It is good for them to learn to stand still as it takes a good half an hour or so to get this completed.*

As I am sharing my horsey photos I am realizing that this could be a very long post. I am thinking I will save some of them and write another post soon. Either a Smile post or horsey post of some sort. I’ve been wanting to shorten their manes. I like to keep them tidy and they were getting pretty long especially Murphy’s mane. He got tired of me messing with him and when he gets antsy he starts to paw at the ground. He does not really enjoy being pampered and groomed. Unfortunately for him, I’m the type of owner that loves to brush and groom them. I do not overdue it and ask for his patience kindly and I don’t groom him every day because when it’s his day off of riding he just gets turned out and then I put him back in his stall. I am being gentle with him and give him days off from grooming since he doesn’t enjoy it that much. I’m hoping when he gets older he will enjoy being groomed, hopefully. 😀

*Murphy is the second horse on the left. I just love this photo of the paddock row with the beautiful clouds!*

We have been getting some weather which is always something exciting for us here in sunny CA. I just love the clouds and we got a little bit of rain. It has been chilly and cold a few days this last week. The sun was out today and that’s when I trimmed up their manes. I also had a nice trail ride. Saturday was fun with the bouncy ball day and I am hoping to ride Murphy tomorrow. I usually take turns riding one horse one day ~ the other the next day. It works out good for all of us! I’m going to end with this pretty photo which was taken by my pony sister who brought the bouncy ball! Thank you Jane! ❤

Murphy standing tall near the back of arena! Such a pretty photo! I hope you all are doing good and thank you for visiting and having coffee with me this weekend. I am so happy I shared and I will try and write and share again soon. Have a wonderful week!

Loving Grandma, Loving Horses!

~Diana ❤

	Diana on Wordless Wednesday
	Grammy Writes on Wordless Wednesday
	Diana on Weekend Coffee Share; May 21,…
	Anthonia on Weekend Coffee Share; May 21,…
	Diana on Wordless Wednesday

Mylife-and-Horsestories

Tag: #horseloverforever

A Tribute To My Sweet Miss Chloe

Silent Sunday; Gratitude