Tag: #horseridingfun

Weekend Coffee Share; July Fun In The Sun!

On By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share18 Comments

Welcome to my weekend coffee share and how would you like your coffee today? Or I have tea or juice, apple or cranberry today? I can’t believe it is more than half way through July. And we are feeling the heat and I am always thankful when there is a breeze which makes being outside a bit easier. I wanted to share my teeny tiny garden and I actually just threw some tomato seeds in my container with some fresh fertilizer and thought maybe they will grow and if they don’t that’s okay too. I’ve been so darn busy that this year it’s just going to be tomatoes, and even though I long for a fruitful garden it takes work.

I want to give a shout out to all you wonderful gardener’s out there because you all ROCK! I supposed when you garden (and you are good at it) you become efficient, and you are probably organized and so it all just falls into place for you and your schedule of watering is on point and on and on… perfect gardening techniques I am finding takes practice, and so I mulched around the sprouting tomato plants and I know the container is being watered and staying moist more evenly (I hope!) as I know this is important too.

  • Tomato plants growing big and tall! I have 4 plants in one container, I hope that’s not too many?

Haha, I already pulled out a plant early on as I knew I should thin out the container. I then thought let me see what these 4 plants do and I can always pull one or two out if needed. But now that they are getting so big, I want to see what they will provide! They have plenty of room, so I think they are okay. It is great fun watching them grow and I have other plants and flowers I water so I am always outside doing something.

My hubby is almost done with the retaining wall in our backyard, YAY! What a job, but it looks so much better which is wonderful. We will wait until fall to think about landscaping shrubs or ground cover plants. I want to plant some trees too. We have such mild weather here in Southern California I really don’t have to worry about planting in the fall. As I am talking about being outdoors you must know the next subject I want to share is my trail rides and my horses! I’ll start with a video I made today and a shout out to my weekend coffee share peeps! Haha, I hope you all know I say howdy to anyone who stops and visits here! You are all WELCOME! I hope you enjoy! 😀

We were chatting away and as we headed down this street I thought let’s make a video. My girlfriend took out her phone to take a video of me since I am never in my videos ~ how sweet! She accidentally hit slo-mo so her video was all in slow motion, oh dear, haha! Maybe next time she can make one and I can use to share! Thanks for trying pony sister, there is always next time! ❤

After I returned to the barn I hosed off Chloe as it was already pretty hot out and then I turned my attention to Murphy. So I will share some photos and I made a little video with Murph too. It was a fun morning at the barn. It was another pony sister’s birthday. There were cupcakes brought for the birthday and they were delicious. (We like to call each other pony sister’s because of our love for horses! If you have never met a horse crazy gal, well you are reading her blog right now!) 😀

He LOVES people and attention which I am sure you can tell. His nose is super soft and I love kissing his nose when I can!

Silly selfie video, but it was fun to make! I was trying to get his whole head in the view of my phone. I did pretty good, but what I am most impressed with (myself) is I was able to give him a kiss and got it on video! Haha, I have tried with Miss Chloe before and there’s just a way that you need to hold your phone. I had so much fun working with him today.

I wanted to wrap up my #weekendcoffeeshare with I connected with my oldest sister and we chatted and I think I have figured out a date to visit her in Colorado. I need to check out airline flights and figure out all the details and this will be at the end of August so I have plenty of time. In just a few weeks I will be heading to Arizona for my grand daughter’s 6th birthday! YAY! She is getting so big and I am so excited. I will say that I kind of wish she was born in the fall or winter, haha, just because it is so hot in August! It’s all good, and I’m so excited my daughter will be joining us too! I hope you all stay cool, safe and healthy!

Horse or pony crazy cowgirl!

~Diana ❤

TreeSquare Challenge; I Love Trees, Part 2

On By DianaIn square challenges, TreeSquare16 Comments
Trees provide us with so many things, most days it provides shade for Zack and my girl Chloe!

This photo is from my archive just over a year ago. Trees see so much and can be around for many, many years. Providing some shade and now memories as my boy Zack is now running free and it brings warm fuzzy feelings seeing him from time to time in my archives. This tree challenge is so much fun and I hope you enjoy my theme for this day, and I am sure you will have no trouble guessing what that is?

Miss Chloe and I out on the trail on a beautiful tree lined street!

Another from my archive and to be honest I may not be riding alone as my bestie girlfriend may be with me but I can’t remember. I go on so many rides! Which is my therapy, my Love, my horses. I will look for a photo with the two of us together. That would be fun to share too!

Here we are together with a huge giant California pepper tree in front of us on the trail! Chloe has an ear cocked back listening to me talk as we chat all the while when we ride. Love our trail rides together!

This is from last year and my girlfriend has since retired her chestnut mare, Gracie. She has bought a new horse to ride on the trails with Chloe and I, and Gracie is doing fine in retirement. 😀 Now on to my recent photos that I want to share as I got ready for this challenge there was some beautiful flowering jacaranda trees on the trails. I’ve shared some of these photo’s already, but saved a few that will be new!

Absolutely beautiful! Purple flowers and the best view ever between my horses ears!
She see’s someone across the street and with the jacaranda tree near her I had to take a photo! So pretty!

As we walked under the tree I looked up and took this photo! I thought it was cool! It may not be completely in focus as I didn’t stop, just clicked away. Can you tell my theme yet? The photo above is the only photo without one of my horses in it and so that is my tree theme today! Trees and my beautiful horses. Here are a few more photos, after all I do not want to leave anyone out!

My new horse Murphy with another shade tree at the barn!

I didn’t plan on using a photo of Murph and I like this photo except I cut off his nose. Haha, it’s eclectic and different is how I have to look at it and at least it has a decent tree shot included! Murphy is doing really well and I will share more of him in my coffee share this weekend. So if you follow me, you will see him in action as I have some video to share! (A good tease, don’t you think?) I would include a link but I haven’t written it yet. Maybe I will title it with “Murphy in Action” so it will be easy to find! 😉

One of my favorite tree photos! I saw her standing there and thought PERFECT for sharing! This just makes me SMILE!! ❤

And we have come full circle! I was sitting in a chair waiting for my farrier as Miss Chloe was standing under this shade tree. It is the same tree in the first photo with Zack and Chloe, just from a different angle. We have gone back a year, gone on some trail rides and finished up with some beautiful shade from a tree that isn’t all that big, but sure can provide some shade. There is some meaning in all of this somewhere, maybe it’s look back in your past with loving fond memories but also look forward as you never know what the future will hold. Here I am with a new horse Murphy, to be here as I Love and take care of my aging mare, Chloe. They all have my heart! I hope you all enjoyed my trees for today photos and thank you BeckyB for this wonderful challenge.

Tree Loving Cowgirl!

~Diana ❤

My First Ride On Murphy, My New Horse!

On By DianaIn Barn stories, Living life27 Comments

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

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

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

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

My first ride on Murphy! What a good boy!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Horse Crazy Mom and Grandma!

~Diana ❤

My Weekly Smile; Good News! June 17, 2021

On By DianaIn Barn stories, weekly smile16 Comments

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

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

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

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

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

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

Happy Smiling Cowgirl!

~Diana ❤

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Excited horse crazy cowgirl!

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; Family and Horse Fun!

On By DianaIn Barn stories, Living life, weekend coffee share27 Comments
  • Welcome to my weekend coffee share where we share what’s been happening in our lives with old friends and new!

Can I offer you a cup of coffee or tea? I have so much to share and I can really ramble if you get me going. Should we have some Speculoos cookies from Trader Joes that goes great with a cup of Joe? Yes, sounds yummy! I have missed a few coffee shares as I have been really busy these last few weeks. After I visited with my daughter, the following weekend I visited with my son and his family for Mother’s day. I had such a great weekend with them and it was my daughter-in-laws birthday too! What fun celebrating with them and I soaked in all the family time I could get. It was so fulfilling and I am so happy and thankful for this time with my grown children. I thought I would share a few photos from last weekend before I share some super fun horse news!

My grandkids and me. My grand daughter and her silly faces! They both melt my heart and are a handful I might add!

My grandson is walking all over the place, climbs on the couch and into everything! They just run around and wear out grandma but it’s all great FUN! Alice and I have fun coloring. When I finished up my weekend and was going about my work days this last week I came upon a video of the most beautiful horse that was being worked with a trainer I follow online. To make a long story short I thought to myself I want this horse! He is so beautiful and my sweet horse is getting older and has old injuries that she manages with but I am thinking soon I will have to retire her from trail riding. I thought to myself I think it would help if I had a project and a new horse so that I can let Chloe enjoy her retirement and I can be fulfilled by riding a new horse to train and be my next trail horse. Hmm.. I might even train him up to attend some small horse shows! Fun to dream! 😀

As I went through this process, it was fairly stressful and I thought I have to give it a try and if I am able to buy this horse then it was meant to be and if things do not work out then this horse was not meant to be owned by me and I would then have to look for another. Here he is, the stars aligned and I bought an off the track thoroughbred from a horse rescue who rehomes OTTB’s for a life after racing. He now has a new career and life with me! His registered name is Midnight Murphy and for now I will call him Murphy (but will see how that name fits him as I get to know him).

He has the sweetest face and (us) horse people LOVE their eyes! These are the only photos of him at this time. ❤

I am OVER THE MOON, EXCITED! There is a video of him that I can’t share because it isn’t my video but he is just so handsome and beautiful and all of the things we love about horses. He turned 3 years old May 1st and he never raced. He is Kentucky bred and he is very big and that could be the reason he never raced. He is 17h tall which is very tall for those non horse people. I wasn’t looking for tall or short, I was looking for temperament and he is very calm, quiet and is sensible. I told the trainer he needs a good brain to be a trail horse in my town. She said he would be perfect and that he is like an old soul in a young body. I think of these big guys as gentle giants, and so my journey begins with this beautiful registered thoroughbred!

He currently resides in Oklahoma so first thing in the morning I will be calling for horse transportation. It’s been a dream of mine to own one of these off the track thoroughbreds and as I dreamed watching video after video after video I thought it crazy that I could ever buy one then have it shipped half way across the country to California. Covid has really spurred the industry of adoptions (along with other furry friends), and with the help of this wonderful trainer who is Monty Roberts Certified, Jamie Jennings has helped retrain off the track thoroughbreds with gentle methods from her training. With the exposure with her podcast which I follow and listen too – Horses in the Morning – the rescue who normally adopts out maybe 20 – 30 horses a year, last year they adopted out more than 100! I think the number is 103 which is fantastic! I thought with all the people interested I would not have a chance to adopt, but I did! And I couldn’t be happier. 😀 😀 😀 I feel it only proper to thank Jamie from the bottom of my heart for all she does for these beautiful animals! ❤

I will keep you posted on how the next few weeks go as I get transport set up and hopefully it won’t take too long to get a hauler to ship him to his new home here. I can’t wait to meet my new boy! ❤

Enjoying the trails with my sweet Chloe!
Out on the trails with my pony sister’s! We had a wonderful ride this weekend and it was wonderful weather!

We are enjoying some really cool weather with lots of clouds and a spitter-spatter of rain here and there. I am taking in all the cool weather because the summer is around the corner and with that comes the heat. Maybe this year will be a cooler summer. We do get them sometimes. Chloe is always willing to go out on the trails and I will taper her outings a little bit to begin the process of retirement. In the meantime, my trail rides are so enjoyable and she is such a JOY!

As I share my coffee with you today I am thinking about my family and my horses. We only have this one life and I am trying to enjoy it to its fullest, the best way I know how. I hope you enjoyed your coffee and I hope you all are enjoying your life too! And if you have any dreams, don’t give up on them because you never know they just might come true!

Wolfie and Dublin aka The Brothers! My son sends me these absolutely wonderful photos and I just have to share!

As I share these two with their brotherly love it makes me think how I am sending hugs to you! Remember to stay smiling and enjoy what you can when you can and thank you for visiting with me today. 😀

Happy Excited Cowgirl!

~Diana ❤

P.S. I missed the regular coffee share linkup. It’s been a very busy weekend. 🙂

Weekend Coffee Share; April Fun

On By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share14 Comments
  • New blooms! So Pretty!

Welcome to my weekend coffee share! The weather has been so wonderful we can sit outside on my porch and admire my roses that are blooming. Oh how I love Spring! Can I get you some coffee or tea? I think for those who celebrate I need to say Happy Easter. I do not have any little ones around for all that usually goes with the festivities and this is the first Easter Sunday in maybe 15 years that I am not working. I am planning on riding at the stables in the morning and then I need to figure out dinner. I did not plan at all for Easter Sunday, but I will go to the store and put something together. What do you usually do for Easter dinner? Any traditions? I use to always have a ham or turkey dinner of some sort. I’m hoping to have something nice and delicious.

I have been wanting to stay positive as there is always life that pulls us this way and that. There is a sweet friend at the stables that has gone through surgery for cancer and is now going through Chemo therapy. She said the surgery went well and they believe she will be cancer free after the Chemo is completed. She is such a strong woman, horse woman are amazing as she is coming to the stables on the weekends through this tending to her horse and I think having her horse is therapy and is helping her get through it all. She had hired someone to care for her horse during the week, but this person wasn’t showing up and so she asked me if I could help her and so she is paying me to ride her horse twice a week. I figure since I just have Chloe now, it would be my pleasure to help her. I know there are others that have lost loved ones and so I try and share happy fun things, and hopefully can help people smile. Even if it’s just for a little bit, life is tough and rough but can be joyous and fun too! I feel like I am not explaining myself very well, but hopefully ya’ll get my meaning!

This is my friends horse I am riding. She is a retired Western pleasure show horse around 19 years old. She is so sweet!

I have to tell you the funny part of my good friend here at the stables, her name is Bonnie and that is my sister’s name! And even more interesting is guess what this horses name is? YES! it is Chloe! Hahaha, so there are 2 Chloe’s at the stables and now I ride both of them. My Chloe lives 2 barn stalls down from this Chloe pictured above! I am also taking care of another horse at the stables to help another friend and that horses name is Ava. So I am taking care of all girls, or mares! Let’s go girls! Haha, too cute!

I have to make sure I have the horses name next to the name Bonnie in my cell phone so I don’t text the wrong Bonnie. I actually have already done this as there was another Bonnie at our barn but she moved her horse, she is still my friend. So I have 3 Bonnie’s in my phone – popular name I think! I think Chloe is a popular name too. This mare named Chloe is very well trained and super sweet. Her owner wants her to get out on the trails and we have gone out and she is very good. I will ride her with a buddy for awhile because our trails can be scary since they are city trails. Our trails are not country trails so it takes time for the horses to get use to everything going on outside of the barn. She is easy to ride and fun in the arena. This last week I also rode my horse on the trails with my best friend.

Chloe ready to go, just need to put on her bridle and my friend on a horse from her stables. His name is Doc!

We are really warming up here as we hit 85F (29C) today. We will be in the 80’s all this next week and so I will relish this before the summer heat arrives. I have been enjoying riding the trails and am very thankful my horse will go out by herself. She is very brave, steady and a great mount traveling around the blocks knowing every turn. I call them Chloe trail rides because she will sometimes make a turn left or right ~ to her liking! She’s so smart!

Here is a short video I wanted to share of her munching away on some grass after I had her turned out. She absolutely loves the grass, they all do. She gets plenty of food and always has some hay to eat in her stall all day long. The fresh growing grass is such a treat and I don’t let her eat too much, but it is a delight to let her graze. I hope you enjoy! ❤

She just loves to graze and sometimes I wish she had a pasture to live in. But she is well taken care of here at this barn!

I Love the stables here where I board and keep Chloe. The horses are well taken care of and the facilities and people are amazing. There are like minded ladies and men (only one man here owning and riding his horse), he is outnumbered with all of us horse crazy ladies! He is such a gentleman and helps us ladies with moving that DG dirt into stalls and other chores if needed. We have a great group and I am truly thankful for all our pony friends. We all look out for each other! 😀

I wish everyone a great Easter weekend and (maybe) you’ll be able to enjoy the time with family. I know there are many areas that this is not possible and my heart goes out to you all. I know I have been able to get in some cherished family time which makes my heart full. I am sure everyone will be safe and I hope for smiles and good times. I enjoy sharing and I will include a link here if you would like to visit other coffee shares. I will thank Natalie for hosting, she is doing an awesome job and its so wonderful to read and meet up with others.

Caring Cowgirl,

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; Trail Ride Fun!

On By DianaIn Barn stories, weekend coffee share21 Comments
These decided to bloom about a week ago and oh the fragrance from these flowers are amazing!

Welcome to my coffee share! Can I get you a cup of coffee or tea? I made some homemade chocolate chip cookies and they are scrumptious. Lately, I make a half a batch as we just do not eat enough of them fast enough before they start to taste stale, and who likes a stale cookie? This way we eat them up within 3 days or so and they easily last and stay yummy. I had a frustrating work week this last week. There wasn’t anything difficult about work, just a bit frustrating and am happy to have this weekend off. I woke up this morning and enjoyed a wonderful chat with my daughter. She always makes me feel better and I so enjoy our chats! Thank you sweetie, she sometimes reads my blogs. She wants to write in her blog, but hasn’t really done much with it but I believe someday she may write. All in good time and only if she really wants to. I enjoy blogging so much, and to each is own and what ever makes you smile or feel good is what its all about!

I have to remind myself how nice it is to have weekends off. This is something I have always longed for and its so wonderful to look forward to the 2 days off in a row after working over 20 years with a broken weekend. (Meaning my days off were split up and I did this forever!). I really need this weekend and am feeling so much better today than I was yesterday after a long work week. YAY, FOR WEEKENDS!

My kitties, Dinah sitting on my lap and Duchess taking over my seat when I got up to head to work this last week! Silly kitties!

Before I head outside I am so happy the kitties help soothe my soul. Only Dinah will sleep on my lap or near me on the bed. She greets me every morning and enjoys lots of pets. Duchess comes around more on her time and is more aloof. She doesn’t sit in my lap but I have had her sleep next to me on soft blankets. It is so nice to come in after a busy day and relax with the kitties. Duchess isn’t so friendly with the dogs. They are big dogs so I get it, so she will go in her bedroom if they are in the family room. I don’t post many photos of my dogs, they are hard to take photos of as they are always moving around. And because of their size far less cuddly! I love them dearly. I say we need to go outside and I decided to share not one video but two today. I have fun with them and so I thought I would share. I hope you enjoy them too! 😀

Fun sharing my ride today after many days of rain! Wildflowers are beginning to bloom!

As I was riding today and enjoying my time at the stables all my problems washed away. It is great to have a place where you can lose yourself in thought and let those peaceful feelings fill your soul. I know many people run or walk or work in their garden. What do you do to relieve stress? I suppose sitting down to a good book would work too. Or maybe getting lost in a good movie! For me since I have this beautiful animal that needs my attention and care, I so look forward to being outside and at the barn with all those wonderful smells. After I took this video I thought I should take one walking into the stables so I can show you where Chloe lives and where I spend my mornings and my weekends! I hope you enjoy! ❤

Walking into the stables after walking around the block. It was a beautiful day today!

As I walked in I caught a horse rolling in the grass! It caught Chloe by surprise as she jumped because she didn’t see him rolling around at first. But she just did a little spook and then continued to walk calmly. She is a sensible horse which I am so thankful for because sometimes they can spook and just not calm down if really scared. Here in Norco and at many stables we use what we call DG dirt which stands for Decomposed granite, often shortened to DG, is literally that – granitic rock broken down into fine particles that hold together better than simple dirt and come in a variety of colors. It is amazing as it will pack down and it doesn’t turn into mud. Horses are so big and heavy that you would not believe the holes they make just by moving back and forth in one place, like where they eat each day. So as the ground gets pushed around and holes or low spots are made which can make the stalls uneven, we put in wheel barrows of DG dirt in those areas to beef it up and level it out. You can make banks if needed to help when it rains so the water will run out of the stall. I can’t say enough about it, it really makes a place that could be very muddy when it rains not muddy at all! AMAZING DG!

I hope you enjoyed my short videos today and you got to see the barn. I enjoyed sharing coffee with you as we wrap up our visit. As I sit and write this it is just after 10pm but where I live the time is changing tonight and I will lose an hour of sleep! YIKES! But I am not even tired yet so I will stay up for another hour and then hit the hay. Tomorrow my time will now be in sync with my son and family in Arizona since they do not participate in daylight savings. I just had to look it up and only Hawaii and Arizona do not participate in the time change.


My sweet girl! Her and I have been together for 15 years! ❤ ❤ ❤

Thanks for visiting and I have to thank Natalie who hosts our coffee shares and you can find many who participate here. I know there is a lot of work put into all who blog and I will try and visit as many as I can this weekend. Enjoy and cheers!

Horse crazy trail riding Grandma,

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; First Weekend in March

On By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share21 Comments
Blooms in the desert! I love the beautiful pastel purple color!

Welcome to my coffee share, can I get you a cup of coffee? or maybe some tea? I am reminiscing a little as I share this pretty photo of the botanical garden. Such pretty blooms! As I write this I am staring at a small stack of gift cards that I have received and can you believe I have no idea what to buy? One of the gift cards is from my work, a Christmas gift. I think it is for $25, thoughtful and sitting here unused. I then received from my Equine Veterinarian office rebate offers from the manufacturer who makes the pain pills I purchase and give to Chloe. I have mailed away for rebates over the years, and I have never received anything ~ until now. WOW! I have now received 4 separate rebates and I may have one more coming for every bottle I purchased last year. I mailed these to the manufacturer about a month ago as this offer expired by March 31. My Vet had sent to me photocopies of my purchases through their office. These Equoxx pills are easy on the horses stomachs and help with arthritic pain which Chloe has in an old injured back leg. I now have about $100 in Visa gift cards. What to buy? I have no idea? Something I have to sit and think about I guess…..

I have some good news. My puppy dog is fine after blood work and an aspiration was done on a lump on her belly. They said it was a fatty tumor that is benign and she needs to lose a little weight. We will look for some diet food for her, but she is a breed that can be a bit heavy. I am so VERY HAPPY she is okay. I needed that good news and thought I would share. I am also really happy that my horse Chloe is doing great too. She seems very happy in the place she is living, she is not stressed and has been fine through this last month. I took her out on the trail Saturday morning and took these photos. I just can’t help myself! 😀

I love the big eucalyptus trees lining this street. This is the main street in our town!
I snapped this because I just love our shadows! I think it’s a FUN PHOTO!!

I think Chloe really enjoys our rides together. I know she especially likes going out with other friends at the stables, but she is more than willing to go out by herself with me which makes me so very happy. I have to say that there have been times throughout the years that her back leg seemed to be more sore and she limped more and so I thought maybe our days are numbered and I should retire her from any kind of work. But I keep her moving and amazingly it has really helped her and of course I think the pain pill I give her helps her too. It would be like taking one Ibprofen a day, and lately I have been splitting the pill to half a pill a day and she is doing great! I had turned her out in the arena the other day, and she hardly limped at all. I think she is really doing extremely well for a bad injury that has healed. (She had broke her “knee” called a stifle. It was a hairline fracture that has completely healed with a lot of scar tissue. She is lucky to be alive and to be doing so good, its amazing!)

My Trail ride this weekend!

It was so quiet as I rode down this street, I thought it would be fun to share a video. Sorry for the jerkiness as I zoomed in on the mountains! Haha, I really wanted to share them as these are the mountains that are so beautiful when we get a lot of snow on them. When I shared my last video, I had friends point out how Chloe listens to me as I talk and she does so even more in this video. As you watch and hear me talk you can see her ears turning towards me as I say her name and chat away. I just love it every time I watch it back, she is so aware of EVERYTHING! ❤

The other day I was out by ourselves and I went around a shorter route and down a cul-de-sac and as we were heading back to the stables we could hear a rumble. It was deep and she stopped in her tracks. I knew exactly what it was but of course she can’t see this rumbling and it was deep and loud and I’m sure the ground even trembled a bit. It was a Harley motorcycle that was in a garage behind a house. She didn’t want to go forward opting to turn around and I thought it will take us longer to backtrack then to go the direction we were heading. She was afraid, but I have taught her that it is okay to go a bit faster past something she fears so I asked her to trot (which is like a jog) and we moved past the scary rumbling and then went back to the walk. I praised her and we continued on relaxed. She would have been fine if the motorcycle was in plain sight. Because it was hidden, she didn’t know what it was! She doesn’t get rattled easily, a seasoned trail horse, I LOVE HER SO!

In her stall eating her lunch! She is very happy living here which in turn makes me happy! (Since I described her injured leg, the leg she is resting in this photo is the injured leg. The stifle is the bend near her belly high up on that bent leg where the injury is located)

I am happy to say that I am very thankful I can enjoy the trails on my girl. One day, hopefully a long time from now she won’t be able to go out on the trails and I will be there keeping her as comfortable as I can as she ages. I can’t help but share as this is what I do every day and every weekend. I’ll spice things up a bit as you all know with my other hobbies, this weekend I am enjoying the beginning of March and my outside fun on the trails! Thanks for joining me and I hope you all are having a great weekend too!

Here is a link to many more coffee shares and thank you Natalie for hosting. I so enjoy sharing!

Crazy horse gal,

~Diana ❤

My Weekly Smile; Feb. 18, 2021

On By DianaIn weekly smile14 Comments
Welcome to my weekly smile! These roses were blooming a few weeks ago at the stables where I board my horse.

I decided that I needed to smile and this beautiful rose I saw and stopped and took a photo sure makes me smile. It’s that beautiful pink color! And I can imagine the beautiful smell as I just Love the smell of roses. How are you this week? I am doing good and as I sorts things out I am the type of person that looks to the future and remembers the past with super fond memories. I have been enjoying our mild winter and for those of you in places of wintery weather, my heart goes out to you all. Especially in those places that do not commonly have such frigid cold and are suffering with power outages and the like. I pray for warm weather soon!

I have been working and enjoying my time at the barn with my horse Chloe. She makes me smile as she is always very happy to see me and we enjoy the trails whether it be with a trail partner, or not. My best friend and I have been able to go out which is great therapy as we chat about life as we ride along! When my friend is not available, it is just Chloe and I. She has so many trail miles and knows the way, like she has GPS in her brain! Which she does right? She totally knows the blocks, the turns and knows exactly where she is going!

Usually us crazy horse gals match everything! But I randomly bought this red halter and lead rope a few months ago. So now we are very patriotic. Haha, with her white blaze, red halter and my blue reins and breast collar! 😀

We are all tacked up and ready to head out on the trails. She and I just ride along and I take in everything. From the song birds, to the clouds in the sky. To the cars that go by, which on this day there were a lot of folks that waved as they passed by. This is rather common in our town since it is a small community and everyone so friendly. Today I got more than normal waves! I felt so special. Haha, it truly was such a nice feeling. Here is a video of my trail ride on this day. 😀

This trail ride was so wonderful for us both. Enjoying this pretty day today!

I am actually riding out on the trails more often than not which is my goal. I own horses because I love to ride! I sometimes wish I could afford a couple more horses so that I could get back into competition riding, but at this point in my life it is just a dream. Maybe it will always remain a dream because competing is expensive, and I don’t have that horse at this time, but I love every minute I spend with my girl Chloe! I think we all should have dreams, its important to our psyche and so this is what I dream. I dream of living near my grandkids some day too. It may or may not happen, but for now it is something I have had to put on the back burner because I just got a new job. So we will revisit this in another year or two.

I really wanted to share a smile post this week, it makes me feel good to share! So my smile is for the mundane things I do each day (they aren’t all that mundane, haha, but it is the same routine day in and day out!) Makes me feel warm, sane and happy.

She’s a pretty girl and am thankful for Miss Chloe! I Love her and she melts my heart!

Have a great day, week and weekend!

Horse Crazy Grandma,

~Diana ❤

My Weekly Smile; Jan. 28, 2021

On By DianaIn weekend coffee share18 Comments
Our local mountains covered in snow!

Welcome to winter in my corner of the world. We get snow in our local mountains and it is a beautiful sight. I decided to drive to a street nearby my house to get this view. It’s rather pretty with the clouds I think. As I write this smile post I am listening to more rain as a big storm has arrived and we will get more snow in the mountains. The skiers and snow boarders will be in heaven. Where I live we have all these outdoor activities only an hour or so away from you in almost any direction in southern California. If you want to scuba dive, or surf, or go whale watching the pacific ocean is right here for all your fun-filled beach activities. If you love to ski or snowboard, the local mountains have plenty of ski slopes at many locations in the winter. The amazing thing is you can enjoy the snow by owning a cabin or renting one, and visit the wintery months without having to deal with commuting in snow or living in freezing cold weather. I grew up here so it is a great place to enjoy what ever is calling your name. I know you all know my outdoor activities, my horses. 😀

I am so happy with my horses as Chloe, Zack and I head down the trail!

I am REALLY SMILING BIG! I have been able to ride this last week after last weeks rain storm seven days. That just amazes me as I haven’t ridden that many days in a row in years! The shortest ride lasts about 30 minutes and I rode two rides about 45 minutes. This is the whole point of having these cute ponies is to be able to ride them out on our local trails! Not only am I enjoying this immensely, but I know the horses are enjoying our rides as well. They are eager to go out and I believe are getting some really good exercise. It’s a win, win for all of us and I have been joined by my best friends at the stables for a couple of the rides I am counting. I am a lucky gal, and am thankful that I am now at a location where I have easy access to the trails so there is no excuses not to tack up and head out for a ride! ❤

We have had many pretty days and it has been cold for our area.

I know I write a lot about my horses and I do share my rides but for this last week what was exciting was to get out there on the trails almost every single day. I mentioned that another storm is here and it will be raining all night and all day tomorrow so I won’t be able to go out again until sometime this weekend. I am so happy my horses are doing good, are in good shape and are more than happy to get out on the trails! I am smiling from ear to ear!

Thank you for visiting my smile post this week. What makes you smile? I am enjoying our weather, my horses and looking forward to working on some of my crafts with all this rain. I may pull out a gardening book I have so I can start teaching myself how to garden. I have tried a bit and posted about my teeny tiny gardens. I have been thinking I have enough room I would like to make an attempt at a bigger veggie garden this year. I want to put more effort into this and see what I can grow. I hope you have a great day in your part of the world!

Happy Trail Riding Cowgirl!

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; Rain and Smiling!

On By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share30 Comments
  • Welcome to my weekly coffee share!

Can I get you a cup of coffee? I enjoy mine with my favorite sweet Italian cream. I also have tea, hot or iced as well. I am having a nice hot cup of coffee as we have a cold storm outside and it has rained almost all day today. We are getting a ton of snow in our local mountains so when the storm blows through and the sun shines we will have beautiful snow capped mountains to admire. I am happy to see my sister and her hubby from Idaho as they are in town visiting friends and their son who lives here nearby. My sister use to own my horse Zack and I adopted him when she moved as she was unable to take him for a few reasons. One of the biggest reasons is it was in Zack’s best interest to leave him here because the stress of moving would have been hard on him because he has EPM. He is symptom free and has been after being treated five years ago. We were able to squeeze in a short trail ride this morning before the rain. It was fun to all be together again! These are my pony sister’s, two are great friends and one is my sister riding Zack. 😀

From left to right, Sally on Ava, Sharon on Zack, Jane on Irish and me on Chloe ❤ ❤ ❤
Jane on Irish took this photo of Sally, Sharon and I heading out on the trail before the rain ~ FUN Times!
A couple more photos of us on the trail 😀

We arrived to the stables with a break in the weather. We all got the horses out and ready to go (tacked up) and asked others at the stables if they could take our photos. Lucky we did this before the ride because we rode back with it drizzling. I just got my horses back in their stalls when it really started to come down. We thankfully decided to just go on our short ride as we looked up and saw many dark clouds heading our way. What a good decision. Although we wouldn’t melt in the rain, it’s just uncomfortable to get all wet. I had a big jacket on which isn’t water proof but it takes a lot of rain to soak it through, but when riding your pants can get pretty wet especially your thighs. Haha, I have been caught out on trail and have gotten pretty wet in the past!

I’m so thankful Jane took these photos as I do not have many of me riding. Thank you Jane!! I also am enjoying these photos because you can see our faces as I am the one usually taking photos and I take them from behind so often. Haha, a lot of horses butts and the backs of my friends! It’s the best I can do so many times out on the trails. These photos just make me SMILE! We will go out again tomorrow as this storm is suppose to be gone by tomorrow morning. There are more storms on the way with some pretty chilly nights. We are at 44F tonight with it dropping down to the 30F’s Monday night. With this cold front the snow levels are down near 2000ft in the local mountains so some of the high deserts are getting snow as well. With such a low snow level the mountains will just be blanketed ~ I know I’ve mentioned this already. It’s just such a beautiful sight! I can’t think of a good segue to the next couple of photos I wanted to share so I’ll just say kitties and grandkids!

  • The brothers! The one on top was my daughter’s but now lives with his brother in Arizona!
  • My daughter’s newly adopted kitty!

My son so kindly sends us these funny photos of these two brothers. They are quite the characters and as you can see love each others company. I have shared many photos of them throughout my posts and this was the latest photo. They are so beautiful and they make me smile. This beautiful black kitty my daughter adopted about a week ago which I shared last week. She finally decided on a name “Evie” which is the name of a character from the movie V for Vendetta. My son said that there is a Pokemon name Eevee (which is how you say “Evie”) and the whole family agreed it is a great name for her! When we asked my daughter how she is settling in, my daughter replied “She’s doing good, but she thinks she owns the place!” Haha, “She does own the place don’t you know?” I replied. Cats, if you’ve ever owned one I think its they own you! Dogs are the other way around and love them too!

I’ll end with saying I’m missing my grand children and thought I’d share as the last few weeks I’ve just been a bit homesick for them. That’s just the best way to explain it when you miss family. I’ll be able to visit them soon enough (I hope) but as I will never get tired of saying, I am so thankful for technology and the instant sharing and video chats. ❤

  • Teddy Loves to eat! Such a happy boy!
  • My sweet Alice, Love you baby girl!

Thank you so much for visiting my coffee share today. I enjoyed sharing my weekend and even though I have stopped and wondered if all I am doing is repeating one weekend to the next, the stories I share are often woven with different events and I sometimes get lucky to share some fun photos. I hope you all are safe and sound and enjoying your weekend. For us here, winter is truly here bringing in the much needed rain and cold weather. If you would like to read other coffee shares, the link is here. And thank you Natalie for hosting our gatherings.

Happy Cowgirl Grandma,

~Diana ❤