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; December Fun!

On December 11, 2022 By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share24 Comments

Welcome to my weekend coffee share, can I get you a cup of hot coffee or tea? I made some homemade from scratch brownies and oh my, I can’t stop eating them they are so darn good! I am looking forward to doing some baking this next week as I plan on baking up cookies and packaging them up for friends and relatives this year. It has been a few years since I’ve done a lot of baking for Christmas since 2020 and the not sharing. I am excited to get that together as it always feels like the holidays and I am having a hard time feeling festive this year. I had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family but have felt a tinge of holiday blues this year. Seasonal depression I know is real and so I just give myself permission to have some days of thoughtfulness and tell myself it’s okay to feel a little blue. I know the holidays can be stressful, and things are falling into place so the stress is less and am looking forward to our vacation to Arizona next weekend.

Yes, I am so excited to see our grandkids! I miss them so much, my son and family are doing good and more often now they talk about moving back to California some day. That would be so incredible if that were to come to fruition, but what is important is that they are happy and healthy. They have had their struggles, but are doing good in Arizona. I miss them terribly and can’t wait to see them. My granddaughter is in a Winter Wonderland Play at her school which we can’t wait to see. I am so happy we will be able to celebrate Christmas with them. I will share my visit when I return.

Let’s see, I have a lot of rambling thoughts rolling around in my head. As I write this I am staring off at the weather report showing up on the news here and we are getting a big rain storm. It’s already here in Southern CA, it’s just not at my house yet. It’s to rain all day long tomorrow and into Monday! I just knew this was going to be a wet year which should help our drought. I have a love/hate relationship with rain, mostly because my horses have outdoor pens. They have solid roofs and a dry area that stays dry no matter how much rain, but the back of their pen can get soggy wet. Oh, speaking of horses ~ I found one of my old show helmets!

*My black velvet show helmet*, *from the 70’s*

Me and my crazy selfies, it still fits my head perfectly!

*I thought I would include an old photo from 1979. This is me and my horse Norwegian Wood (Chester) at a horse show!*

I have to say and will admit I do not get rid of sentimental things very easily. Unless it is falling apart or is broken then I trash it but some of my horsey stuff from back in my show days I have kept. I do like to display these helmets and will add the new find to my helmet display or display it somehow as it is in great condition. It can’t be used for horse shows any more because there are no chin straps which are required on show helmets today. Plus with their age, they may not be much protection to your head but they sure are beautiful! I don’t think we hoard stuff, just keepsakes and things from the past that do not take up much room. I have a ton of photos and things like that I need to go through. I did not keep any of my show clothes as I grew out of them and they would not fit me any more. Those are long gone! Haha!

*Riding Murphy, crazy hair day on this day! Haha!*

My horses are doing great! I have been getting in some nice rides on both of them. I ride Murphy in the arena as we are still learning all the things together and we have really bonded. He has learned and understand words as I ask him to walk, trot and canter. He is so darn smart, he is so much FUN! And Miss Chloe and I walk along the trails almost every day. Sometimes I am with a friend but many days I ride her alone and she does great by herself as she is so seasoned and knows the trails well. Here is a short video I took about a week ago, on a Monday. I hope you enjoy!

We have been getting a lot of rainy weather. It was blustery and lots of stormy clouds around but no rain on this day thank goodness!

Since I did not finish writing yesterday, here it is Sunday and it rained for many hours and more rain tonight and all day tomorrow! I will be buying shavings so that I can add them to their dry area under their shelter. I know I worry about them more than needed and they do just fine in our winter weather here and it really doesn’t get too cold for them here. I am thankful for that, no snow or freezing weather. Here is Murphy earlier today as I got a bit wet tending to him and Chloe. 😀

*This was yesterday! A beautiful sunny day ~ what a difference a day makes!*

Funny story about this weekend. My daughter has been wanting to treat her Dad for his 70th birthday earlier this year to driving a race car at a raceway here in Southern CA. She decided over a month ago and bought him the tickets needed to race or drive at Pomona Raceway on Dec. 11th. Here in sunny California we have had lots and lots of sunny weekends, we have more sunny days than rainy days and as you can see by the photos of how it can change in one day, if she had scheduled the drive for Saturday it would have been great. It’s all good, but the odds of it being rained out is crazy and the raceway has contacted my daughter to reschedule the drive for next year. She has picked a weekend near my grandson’s birthday at end of February and the raceway is in Chandler, Arizona ~ so it will be a fun trip to visit family there and watch my hubby drive a Lamborghini or Ferrari on a racetrack. He couldn’t decide on the car so my daughter will pick and surprise him!

Thank you for joining me for coffee and for letting me ramble on about the happenings here. I have been busy with my work (full-time job) my horses and fitting in as much family time as I can. I sometimes make Christmas gifts, as I’ve crocheted fingerless mittens one year. I started some crocheted socks, but lost interest in them and hence have not gotten motivated to make anything lately. I am actually cross-stitching right now, and next time I share I will include my work. It is almost done, and so fun and relaxing. I hope you all are doing good and enjoying the holiday season. Stay warm and I shall pass you the coffee pot and ask you to share how your week has been.

Thank you Natalie for hosting the #weekendcoffeeshare!

Your Horse Crazy Grandma,

~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 ❤

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 ❤

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; March 27 ~ Staying Busy!

On March 27, 2022 By DianaIn Horse stories, Living life, weekend coffee share23 Comments

*Welcome to my weekend coffee share where we share what’s been happening in our lives!*

Welcome, can I get you a cup of coffee or tea? I have so much to share. This month of March has been full and busy. With my busy life comes hard work with my full-time job and of course my time spent at the barn with my two horses Miss Chloe and my young guy Murphy! I try and fit in so much including some relaxing time doing my crafting. I am either doing crochet projects or my cross-stitch. I am currently working on my cross-stitch and here is my completed project! I am also going to share the first 2 projects that is from my pattern book of seasons. I have now started on the Winter scene.

*I just finished this one which is Fall*

*This is Summer! I love all the colors, so fun to stitch up!*

I have been thinking about what I will do with these seasons once completed and I decided I am going to try and make a quilt throw or hanging. (The photos make them look like they are crooked on the edges but they aren’t, its just the material is not completely flat. I will rinse them with safe soap and water, let them dry and iron them flat before I sew.) I have never sewn a quilt before but have helped my sister and have a new book on quilt making for first time beginners that I got for Christmas. Since I have helped with many quilts my sister and I did together I am hoping I can make something pretty. I know it won’t be perfect, but then I am just hoping to get it all sewn together properly, haha! And not fall apart. I know all crafts take time to get down as practice makes perfect, or at least makes you better and more confident.

I’ve been wanting to put together a small quilt like a throw or wall hanging for a long time and now that I have these cross-stitch pieces I feel inspired and the timing is perfect since I received the really helpful quilt book since my sister’s do not live nearby any more. I figured if I run into any problems I can always call them or ask my good friend who sews. My bigger challenge is to learn how to use my sewing machine, haha! It’s always something!

Speaking of sister’s ~ this same sister that I use to sew with is also my riding partner and who I grew up riding horses with and she now lives in Idaho. She has been there now 7 years, we can’t believe how fast these years fly by. She was so excited to come and visit for a week and she stayed with her son nearby and she was over every day to help me with my horse Murphy. She and I have had tons of training with young horses and with many horse trainers over the years. Together we worked on some new things with Murphy and he is so smart and easy going it made our time together a blast! Here are some photos and videos of our week here in March! 😀

*I gave Murphy a bath the weekend before my sister arrived! He’s so handsome!* ❤

*I also gave Miss Chloe a bath as it was so nice and warm! She’s so beautiful and I do Love her so much!*

*My sister on Murph (click on photo for full view)*

My sister was here this month for a full week and I am so grateful for all her help. She flew down which gave her more days to visit. I am planning on sending her videos as I go and we have already talked since she’s left as she has remembered a few more things I can work on with Murphy. Training a horse takes time and she and I are so happy that I am in no hurry and I am giving him plenty of time to grow into his body as he is 3 years old. He turns 4 beginning of May which I am excited about. He is still growing but I feel like he is pretty balanced for a 3 year old. I know with this training and riding he and I are getting stronger, he is so much FUN to ride! 😀

Murphy and I trotting in the arena. We are working on softening with his head and neck and moving forward into the bridle. We are also working on circles. The first circle he was going a bit fast but has a better steady trot for the second circle. It is all a work in progress and I am so proud of him!

I thought long and hard last year when I purchased (adopted) my young horse Murphy, can I start and work a young horse again? I knew I would have to get into shape and get my riding legs and upper body stronger and I am slowly accomplishing this. Riding up on a horse like I am in the video I shared is very aerobic, and to those who don’t ride you probably do not realize how much work it is as we make it look like we aren’t doing much. I can get so out of breath that sometimes I need to take a break before Murphy needs a break. I was riding him yesterday and I wanted him to stay steady with his head down and I was getting more out of breath with each stride. I’m getting stronger each ride. Riding the trails on my other horse Chloe is not very aerobic at all since all we are doing is walking. It feels great getting into shape! I LOVE YOU MURPHY! He is the best gym and this is my most favorite exercise!! ❤

On to my trail rides and Miss Chloe! She is a trooper and her and I go out alone often. I will partner up when there is another rider at the barn ready when we are to head out. I have to fit in Murphy and Chloe in my mornings and some days I have time to ride both of them and other days, it’s one or the other. Chloe and I have been together now for 16 years and so we have years of trail rides under our belts. She is trail savvy, its what we do and owning and riding horses is all about repetition and consistency as they are smart and willing as long as they feel safe. We are all about safety in all that we do and so we have a great time together! Here is a video I took just this last week. It was a few days after my sister left and a beautiful day. We are expecting a very rainy day tomorrow which I mention in the video. I hope you enjoy!

Such a lovely day for a trail ride in my hometown in California!

So much FUN! I love the trails but I also love the arena riding and training too! I have no doubt that Murphy will be a wonderful all around horse eventually. I am in no hurry with him and when you take the time they need, they turn out so well rounded and confident. I’m excited for our future together.

I’m so happy you visited today. I know I am not sharing as often as I once did but this is working out better for me and my busy life. I don’t want to stop blogging altogether, I will just share when I can and I do appreciate this wonderful blogging community, more than you know. I can’t say enough for all the wonderful bloggers I have met through blogging. I do try and keep up reading and commenting on other blogs but apologize because it can get overwhelming sometimes. I do what I can when I can and you all are so wonderful, forgiving and caring individuals. Thank you for being you! Have a wonderful week and stay smiling. 😀

Horse Crazy Crafty Gal,

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; My Heart Is Full

On February 20, 2022 By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share25 Comments

Welcome and how are you doing? Can I get you a cup of coffee or tea? I am doing great and am so excited because next weekend is my grandson’s second birthday. I can’t believe he will be 2 they grow so fast! My hubby and I will be traveling to Arizona so we can spend some fun family time with not only our grandson but with our granddaughter and my son and daughter-in-law! I pray that someday we won’t all be living so far apart and am thankful they are a short flight away and its not a bad drive. We will be driving there and my daughter will be joining us flying in Friday evening. 😀

*They are so adorable! My granddaughter is 6 1/2 and my grandson will be 2 at end of Feb. ❤*

Boy, just looking at this photo fills my heart with so much love for them. I could just stare at it all day as I miss them so very much. We do video chat, sometimes I wish we could more often but they are really busy and I will keep hoping that someday they will move closer to us, or vice versa. My son has been applying for a new job and has even mentioned maybe moving back to CA. Oh my, that would be so GRAND! But I should not get my hopes up too high as who knows where is next job will land them. He has been applying all over the Pacific Northwest.

As I am getting excited about my upcoming little vacation next weekend I wanted to share this last weekend and the fun I had with my ponies. I have been struggling a little bit with Murphy and getting him to participate more willingly in our rides. He has a bit of a stubborn streak in him, and I have been gently working with him in a positive way to keep his feet moving. I have to say my eyes opened up yesterday when I was reading Anne’s blog (HorseAddict) she shared a lesson with her trainer (her trainer is an Olympian!) She rides dressage and at the highest levels and I am just trying to get a nice walk, trot and canter in the arena.

Murphy is so young I am teaching him the basics but he would rather just stop and stand. So I asked Anne a question after watching her video and I asked her about riding with the dressage crop or whip that she carries while riding. I have one to use but it has been so long in using it I wanted to ask an expert and she gave me great advice about tapping Murphy with the whip near my leg when I cue him if he doesn’t respond immediately and it worked GREAT! I only had to use it on two different occasions, once to trot and once at a halt I asked him to walk. I barely touched his side, it seemed more like a tickle but he is sensitive enough it motivated him perfectly! I have to give her credit as it definitely helped him keep his feet moving which made my job riding him so much easier. I wasn’t so exhausted trying to push him forward. I am so excited! Thank you Anne!! Here are some photos from my weekend.

*Before my rides I always get him warmed up by trotting and cantering in the arena!*

*I set up some trot poles that you can see in one of the photos. He did great trotting over them today!*

He was such a good boy today as I was able to get him to move forward and into the bit with him being supple in his neck and he does this best at the walk. I am working on him to stay supple at the trot and having the dressage whip helps immensely and he is much better going to the right, I need to strengthen my left leg when we go to the left as he is a bit stiff. It is all a work in progress and I need to take one day at a time. But I was so impressed as he had a good attitude and moved forward more easily! YAY!

*I also rode Miss Chloe today out on the trail. Her and I had a great ride!*

I can’t leave out Miss Chloe. She can’t trot and canter any more with me riding her as she has a bad back leg that does fine at the walk but not so good at the faster gaits. She has an old injury in her stifle which is like our knee. She can run around free in arena with no problems but with the weight of saddle and rider it just isn’t a good idea and would put more pressure on that old injury. She does great on our trail rides! Walking is motion lotion!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. I know some are still really cold and living where they may even have snow on the ground. I know others across the world are still in Summer probably heading into Fall. It is fun to share my rides and my adventures with my horses. I am having to reach far back in my memory in riding now that I am starting out a young horse. He is very, very calm and doesn’t get rattled very easily. He is smart (sometimes too smart) and forgiving as I am getting in shape just as much as he is with our training. I will end with a pretty photo of Chloe as she is shedding out her winter coat and getting a nice shiny one as we get closer to Spring!

*Miss Chloe looking very pretty! My heart is full!*

Have a wonderful week ahead!

~Diana ❤

My Weekly Smile; Horsey Fun!

On February 1, 2022 By DianaIn Horse stories, weekly smile19 Comments

Welcome to my smile post as I am enjoying everything horses from this last weekend. It was a very cloudy day on Saturday, so gloomy that I actually did not feel like riding. I know a lot of people would love the cool weather but I woke up not feeling like doing much and so I went with my mood and didn’t ride. I took the opportunity to visit my horsey friend who I use to ride with and she has moved her new horse Roscoe to a new stables a few streets away but in the same town. I enjoyed my visit with her and was able to see Roscoe’s new stall and see him turned out in the arena.

As we head into Sunday I woke up to a beautiful day. The sun was bright and no clouds in sight which always makes me smile. I so enjoy sunny days and I was really motivated to do more today and ride my horses. I will tell you that I was a bit exhausted with all that I did on Sunday which is a good thing, right? I know I will sleep well. Here is all that I did as I took some photos of my day.

*Murphy is tied to a hitching post/rail. I have had him here before and he is learning to stand quietly.*

I usually use the cross-ties with Murphy which are ties that attach to each side of his head. This way he can’t move around as much with the sides of his head held straight. He can still turn his body but he also can’t try and bite me which I will say he doesn’t do any more. He use to try and bite me frequently because he is young and thinks it is a game to bite, like I am a herd mate which clearly I am not. He was really good tied to this rail except he was biting the lead rope and pulling on it and almost untied himself. I tied it so that it would not come off but in a safe manner (slip knot) if I needed to get it undone quickly. I’m so proud of him! ❤

*Here is Murphy in the cross-ties. I thought I would share so you can see the difference in the two places they need to learn to stand and be tied*.

There are horses that can’t stand tied in these cross-ties. We have some at our stables where if they are tied here they will freak out and pull back. Yes, they pull back all crazy and either snap the clips, fall down or break their halters trying to get free. It’s all a terrible mess and not safe for the horses and so those horse owners stay away from the cross-ties and never use them. It takes training and a sensible horse to learn to stand tied to any post including the first one I talked about. They can do the same thing at the straight bar hitching post and can freak out and pull back. Horses are flight animals so if they get spooked or feel trapped and feel like they need to bolt to get away, and boy they are so huge it is not fun when they get that scared. I’m very thankful that both my horses are very calm, sensible horses that do not get spooked easily and they both stand nicely tied to any cross-tie or hitching post/rail. 😀

If you are wondering what owners with horses that can’t be tied do? they teach them to ground tie, which means they teach them to stand in one place with the lead rope just hanging down to the ground. Some people just loop the rope loosely around the tie rail so they aren’t tied, but just sort of tethered loosely. Horses can feel the rope get taught, so they stand still in place. But if they get spooked and pull back the rope just slides around the rail and they are free. They don’t usually go far as they all like to stay near the herd which is all the other horses in their stalls nearby the tie area. Some people just brush and tack their horses in their stalls where there is no need to tie them to anything. These are some ways to get around complete restraint with sensitive horses that may not tie well.

*Murphy after my ride standing so very tall and being a good boy!*

After my ride I just had to take another photo. He can reach for the rope he is tied with and he just chews on it a little bit. (I would rather he chews the rope and not me! Haha!) He knows I need to brush him and pick out his hoofs. Then we walk to his stall so he can get his lunch. He loves food and looks forward to being done with all this nonsense of getting cleaned up! Haha, He would rather be dirty. It isn’t his favorite thing being brushed but he is getting much better and I can tell enjoys being out and hanging out with me each day. 😀 I find that routine is our best friend and he is very smart and I know that helps us bond!

*The weekend was fun with my stable friends!*

After taking care of Murphy and getting his lunch I got Miss Chloe out and got her ready for a trail ride with a couple of stable friends. We had a nice time and it was a gorgeous perfect day! Trail rides with friends are the best and make me smile! What makes you smile? 😀 I will end with a photo I took of Chloe and when I took the photo she was just about to sneeze! She is such a good girl, I have so many photos of her but not one where she is about to sneeze. Haha! Now I have this funny photo! Even though Saturday I didn’t feel like doing much, I ended up making up for that on Sunday where I almost did too much!

She’s just so cute and beautiful too! I hope you enjoyed my horsey post with some fun sort of educational things about how we handle the horses when needing to have them stand to be groomed and tacked up! I hope it isn’t too boring for both horse and non horsey folks. It’s so FUN to share!! I hope you all have a great week as we smile through to February!

Horse lover forever!

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; Jan. 22, 2022

On January 22, 2022 By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share31 Comments

*Welcome, can I get you a hot cup of coffee or tea?*

How are you today? I know for some it is summer and so maybe a cold brew is in order! I do know that there is plenty of cold out there as I have been visiting other coffee shares and brrr…. it is cold in the north! I can’t believe it is Jan. 22 and with it being 2022 that is a lot of 2’s. I am not a numerologist but I like numbers. I am more of an astrology gal, as I love all things astrology and find all the charts and signs fascinating! Okay, I am going down a rabbit hole and wonder where my mind is going. When I am here writing and sharing I usually have a bit of a plan on what I want to share and to be honest if I don’t have a plan, then I just don’t share anything. Hence why I skip some weeks, I only share when I feel inspired and everything I have written so far is literally just thoughts flying out and so let me hone in my thoughts!

I want to share that I enjoy blogging very much and I have found that my blog revolves around my life as stated but I enjoy sharing that with photos. That is my inspiration is being able to take photos of things that inspire me and so in turn I hope they somehow inspire you! And with that, what inspires you? I find as I am taking photos thoughts of a smile post, a horse trail post or a weekend coffee share starts to form and so I take my photos and plan out my post. I have so much fun thinking of how I will share and inspire! 😀

*I found my browband from my show bridle from 40+ years ago! I just finished polishing it as it was very tarnished after all these years!*

I am giggling here as guess what we didn’t have back in the 70’s! Spell check! Hahaha, I have spelled Norwegian Wood wrong! And I just discovered this as I am typing in 2022! Oh my goodness, all this time I had it wrong. What is that called, literary license? Sort of? Holy smokes, I should have looked at the Beatles album more closely as that is the song I named my horse after! This piece of leather with the silver name plate I used on my show bridle when I showed my Hunter, who’s barn name was Chester in the 70’s. I found most of the bridle today when I was rearranging my tack room area. I decided to go through some rubber tubs I have which is storing horse stuff and that’s when I found this brow band! I also found 7 bits, and I have more than that in another plastic container. I probably have over 15 bits, maybe more! I really need to go through my stuff!

*This is Murphy with a bridle like my show bridle. The arrow is pointing to the browband! Sharing for the non horsey folks out there! ❤*

*This is Norwegian Wood wearing his show bridle with me at a Santa Barbara Horse Show back in 1979 ❤*

I have no idea where I am going with this post. I am a bit all over the place especially since I found out I don’t know how to SPELL! Thankfully, since it is a name I know lots of folks who don’t spell names correctly on purpose. So now that I’ve made a huge deal out of this I know no one would have ever noticed but me as I typed it into my computer and it was auto correcting my spelling. Okay, shake it off Diana! Haha, and I have to say I will use the browband in a shadow box or something of the sort as it doesn’t take up that much space to save this browband. 😀

Onward Diana! I wanted to share my cross-stitch I’ve been working on and I have one photo of my progress from some weeks ago and a new photo today of how far I’ve gotten on this project. I thought it would be fun to share as I enjoy sharing my crafts.

*It’s really coming along nicely! This is Fall, part of a four season’s pattern book.*

Once I get closer to being done I will take a better photo. What will be fun is when I use black to outline everything and then things will really pop. The people near the little building will be better defined and I will outline the wheels to the carriage and all the rigging for the horse. The barn will be outlined and will be so pretty. There is still a lot to fill in and stitch but I am more than half way done! I will share the two other seasons I have completed when I get close to completing this one. It is such a fun hobby!

Can I get you a refill? As I segue back to the horses I have a video of Murphy lose in the arena. I took the video last weekend and wanted to share it with you all. My other Murphy news is that I took my first lesson on him with a trainer that comes to our barn for other riders. I knew I would be asking her for help as I have gotten so far and I knew I wasn’t connecting the dots as it were with his training and I needed another eye to see what I am or am not doing correctly. Remember, my original training was many years ago and so I am a bit rusty. Trail riding is not arena riding at all and so it was great fun to get this lesson!

Lisa is very kind and explains things extremely well. I need to focus more when riding, she has some helpful focusing points for example; ride to a post on the rail and look through your turn to another post and so on and so forth and when you focus on this it will help teach Murphy to focus and comply. I was so amazed on how much better he got in that lesson as we both walked with purpose from one side of the arena around the corners to the other end. I won’t get into all the details (as there is much more) but as she is reminding me of things, memories are rushing in and I can’t wait to continue on this journey. I will take a lesson every 2 weeks and work with him in between for the next few months or so and then see where we are at and if I need to continue. I am so thankful and grateful for her help! ❤

I Love watching him as he trots and canters around in the arena! He is such a character!

I know this has been kind of a crazy coffee share post. Haha, maybe I can blame it on the wind! Maybe the wind is making my thoughts all kind of crazy today. It is super duper windy here in southern California! It gets to be so darn windy we can’t ride. So I can’t practice, bummer. I was so looking forward to riding this weekend and it is suppose to be windy tomorrow too. Oh well, there will be plenty of good days to ride. I haven’t been able to ride Miss Chloe on the trails this last week because they have been working on the trails replacing all the wooden fencing with white vinyl fencing. They finally finished Friday!

*I know I take so many photos it is hard to choose which one I like better!*

Murphy is huge! He has a big head, big ears and a huge heart! He truly is so sweet, gentle and kind. I will end here and hope you all have a wonderful weekend and week ahead! If you would like to visit other coffee shares please click here ~ and I have to thank Natalie for hosting our #weekendcoffeeshares

Crazy spell checking horse Gal! 😀

~Diana ❤

My Weekly Smile; Jan. 16, 2022

On January 17, 2022 By DianaIn Barn stories, weekly smile21 Comments

Welcome to my weekly smile. I can’t believe it’s been two months since I wrote my last smile post and that surprised me as I didn’t think it had been that long when I checked. I will blame my work schedule as I try to balance work, my horsey time, my blogging time and I like to spend some free time with my crafts. I haven’t been able to fit in reading as I’ve been wanting to get back into novels I have sitting here just waiting for me! I have to set aside some time to read. I would read before I go to bed, but my hubby is in bed before me and I can’t have a light on and I don’t want to wake him. Hmm… I suppose I could read in the family room before I head to bed. I’ll figure it out! This sleeping at night thing takes awhile to figure out scheduling things. (For anyone new, I use to work grave yard shift for over 30 years!) Now I work swing shift.

I am smiling as I devour my giant ginger cookies. They are delicious and I will share! 😀 My son has been asking me to make them since Christmas and I ran out of time to bake my cookies this year so I finally made them this last weekend. The house smelled wonderful while they baked and I am very happy to bake for the family. I have a few other things that bring me smiles and I hope they may bring a smile to you!

*An accidental photo of Murphy galloping and Murphy checking out the neighbor steer!*

I thought I would share a couple of photos which the galloping one was an accident. It may not be the best photo but I liked how I caught him with almost all 4 feet off the ground! 😀 I thought I was taking a video when I snapped a photo. I like accidental photos, they are fun!! And at the back of his stall on the neighbors property they have cows and steers. You can see the steer with its horns in the next photo, Murphy is very curious. We have had horses boarded here that have been very scared of the cows that get close to the fence. I am proud of Murphy as he checks things out! Not much phases this big guy!

He is such a fun horse checking out the bags of bedding for his stall! Silly guy!

I thought this a funny video as Murphy is a curious 3 year old! He is so darn cute, and I usually take him out to add shavings to his stall. It was fun interacting with him. He has such a personality, they all do and I mean all animals do right? I have so much fun and I knew as the months go by, I can say that we are really bonding. It’s so wonderful and that truly makes me smile!

*Murphy and I riding in the arena! Me and my shadow, I just love shadows!*

I have to tell you of one last smile. After Murphy and I had a fun ride together I rode to the gate of the arena and pushed it opened and we walked down the aisle and I decided to ride out the front gate all by ourselves to the trails out front. He has gone out through the gate before but with other horses. When we walk off the property we have to walk between the house and the garage of the owners place and since there are trees and bushes around too, it can be a bit scary for the horses. Also, horses don’t really want to leave the herd (or all the other horses that board there which they would consider “their herd”) so it can be challenging to get them to be brave enough while riding them out the front gate!

I am smiling from ear to ear as he just walked right on down and through the gate and out to the trail! YAY! 😀 Once we got onto the trail out front we turned right and took a few steps and then he stopped. He just looked around and did what I had asked him and I didn’t really have a plan once I was at the trail. This was all fine because I am not ready to go down the trail by ourselves yet at his age. We will take our time, and so I let him turn and head back into the stables and back to the hitching post or cross-ties where I dismounted and tied him so I could untack him and get him ready for his stall. He is so much FUN!! ❤ ❤ ❤

One more photo of my ride with a great shadow! His mane is so thick it falls on both sides of his neck!

I hope you all have a wonderful week, what makes you smile? And I have to thank Trent who hosts the weekly smile post each week. It is so much fun to join in and linkup with his blog which is here.

Smiling, Baking, Horse Crazy Gal!

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; Winter in California And Horsey Fun!

On January 8, 2022 By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share40 Comments

Welcome to my weekend coffee share. We have had lots of weather this winter. Last winter was very dry and we had hardly any rain. We made up for it this winter and this photo is of our local mountains after days of rain and snow. I love the lingering clouds in this photo and thought I’d share. Nature provides us with such beauty, I can’t get enough of the snow capped mountains! ❤

I am okay not living in the snow. I lived in the local mountains 20 years ago and the snow and icy roads were enough to drive us off the mountain back to moderate weather. My heart goes out to all that live in cold and frigid weather, battling the elements snow, ice and wind. Here, where we live it is so mild that the lows do not quite hit freezing. We had low’s in the high 30’sF (2-3C) at night and it rarely dips lower and even if it gets to freezing in the night it will only be for a few hours and it warms right back up again. During the coldest days its in the high 50’sF and for us Cali’s we think its soooo cold outside, brrr. Haha, we don’t know what cold really is as I know this is actually nice weather.

Oh how rude of me, can I get you a cup of coffee or tea? I forgot to offer as I ramble on about the weather. Hmm… I think that’s like an old person ramble isn’t it? haha, I know I am not that old yet, but I know my posts reach others all over the world. I know it’s summer in places as we are wintering! Just filling you all in on this beautiful Southern California weather! We made some decisions this last week and contacted the piano mover and person that came and took our piano for parts. It was a very old parlor grand piano in disrepair and in such bad shape it was not worth the money to repair it. I am happy it went where its parts can be used and now we have some extra room in our garden room. Here are some photos. 😀

*In its day, this parlor grand piano had the most beautiful sound when it was opened in all its splendor!*

*You can see how the finish is flaking off, its very old and holds lots of memories. It’s time to say good-bye!*

You can see the room is now empty. I actually shared about this about a year ago and we finally decided it was time and so I am focusing my energy and any extra money to save for a keyboard as they make some really nice ones and I really miss playing. I play mostly classical music with some of my favorite pieces from Chopin, Beethoven and Rachmaninoff to name a few composers. I’ve enjoyed playing Bach and Debussy as well. I miss playing so much as I’ve held on to this piano which has been so out of tune it truly is unplayable. I’m excited and hope I can get a new electronic piano sometime this year!

Can I get you a refill? I have some Swedish pancakes I made for dinner tonight. I wanted a light dinner and these crepe like pancakes were perfect filled with a little sour cream and raspberry jam. Yummy! I enjoyed them very much and I will eat light if I have a big lunch. My son told me my granddaughter lost her first tooth this last week! She is 6 and in kindergarten and doing great. I miss my grandkids and I will see if we can Facetime tomorrow. They live in Arizona for any new readers to my post. 😀

My horse Chloe and I riding around the block in my hometown of Norco. She is such a good girl!

My horsey fun throughout this last week was fun rides and turn outs as we dry out. As you can see the ground dries out really fast and we were able to ride a couple days after all the soaking rain. It rained for at least 2 weeks maybe 3 on and off sometimes for a few days straight. For us it was a lot of rain which in turns means a lot of snow pack for the mountain ranges all up and down the west. This will help with our droughts that plague our region. I have some more photos to share with my horse back riding fun and just photos of these pretty ponies!

*My dusty boy after my ride! He rolls a lot in the muddy dirt but I cleaned him up!*

*Murphy all cleaned up and eating his lunch. He is doing really good and enjoys his new stall!*

Murphy is doing great and has so much more room in his new stall. I am so happy that he is happy and he is really fun to work with each day. He and I are getting along famously and one of these days I will get a friend to video one of my rides in the arena on him.

*Goofy photos of my sweet girl Miss Chloe! She let’s me kiss her nose for a treat! I taught her this, so she begs often and I was able to take these silly photos!*

I like how she has one ear forward to hear if I am going to say something I think! She knows when we are done riding I will give her horse treats. It wasn’t too difficult to teach her kisses as I kiss her nose and give her a treat, now she pushes her nose at me like you see in the photos hoping I have a treat in my pocket. I keep them in the tack room where I have my saddles and bridles. She can smell them in my pocket, so I can’t keep them there as she is too smart! Haha, these horses are such characters!! I just love them so much! ❤ ❤ ❤

*Me and Murphy’s eye and ear, haha! and Miss Chloe looking pretty!*

My hubby bought me a selfie stick for Christmas and I haven’t taken it out of the package yet. I actually need to find it as I am not sure where it is after we cleaned all the Christmas stuff up and put everything away. So when I take selfies as I’ve shared before, my arms are not long enough to get all of their head in the shot. And Murphy being even bigger than Chloe it’s twice as hard! Hahaha, I still like taking them!

I hope you all are having a wonderful weekend and I thank you for stopping by for coffee. It’s been fun filling you in on the happenings around here. I want to say that I am truly thankful I can ride all year round here in California as I know there are so many that can’t ride in the winter. I also am thankful for all of you blogging friends and family who take the time to stop by and read my blog. I thank you too for your wonderful comments! I have to thank Natalie who hosts the weekend coffee share and you can visit hers and others by clicking here.

Enjoying Winter Horse Gal,

~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: #horseridingfun

My Weekly Smile; Horsey Fun!

My Weekly Smile; Jan. 16, 2022