Tag: #horseridingfun

Weekend Coffee Share; Nov. 20 ~Horsey Fun!

On By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share35 Comments

Welcome, can I get you a cup of coffee? I also have tea or cranrasberry juice if you prefer. I am enjoying this weekend and the nice cool weather that November brings. We live near the Santa Ana River and in our town we can get socked in with fog. This last week we have been having foggy nights as we wake to very cool mornings as the fog slowly burns off for the day. It’s been really nice Fall weather and I am enjoying it immensely!

I have been keeping busy and we are getting ready for Thanksgiving. Can you believe it’s next week? I can’t believe this year is just flying by and as I prepare for next week, we will be decorating for Christmas most likely next weekend. Oh my goodness, then it will be figuring out Christmas presents. We usually pick names in our family which works good, and there is only the 2 grandkids and of course we all get them gifts without them being in the name drawing. I can’t believe how high prices have gotten this year, and it’s getting worse. I’ll just stop on this subject but am hoping inflation doesn’t get any worse! It’s just insane!

On to another topic. Hmm, I wonder what that could be? Haha, it’s horses of course. I have been wanting to share a video I made this last August of a trail ride on my horse Chloe. I was riding alone around the block on a beautiful summer day. I get a little bit tongue tied not remembering what the cross-walk button is called. Haha, I almost wasn’t going to share as it is a bit long (just over 2 minutes) but you can see a good bit of our town and the trails. I love chatting on my video’s so I hope it’s enjoyable. Miss Chloe is such a good girl!

I will say that Miss Chloe and I have really good rides most of the time. But she is a horse that isn’t perfect always. We were out on a short ride recently by ourselves and she saw a horse way in front of her and then it disappeared around a corner! Wait what? Where did it go? Oh DEAR! That was it! She stopped in her tracks and I let her stand for a second and squeezed her forward with my legs and she turned to the left and wanted to turn around. I decided it wasn’t worth it to try and force her somewhere she wasn’t comfortable even though she has been down this trail thousands of times. We turned around and she was a little anxious but calmed down when she realized we were heading home. These kind of rides don’t happen often, but we as a pair need to be smart and take the not so good rides and do our best to make it home safely. We do just fine and almost every ride is just about perfect! ❤

I like to explain my approach to horses just so those of you out there that may have horses know that I don’t have the perfect horses, but I do use training techniques that promotes trust and a good bond between horse and rider. I listen to my horses and I try and make sure we both understand each other. When I work with them each day we are always working on this bond and it is a great joy and very rewarding working with these beautiful animals.

I wanted to share a video of Murphy who on this day felt really good. He usually takes a little bit to warm up and get his energy up enough to run, buck and play! This day last month, he was “feeling his oats” as we like to say! Haha, I hope you enjoy!

He is such a silly boy! Murphy doesn’t always run like this which I am thankful for as I want him to be calm and relaxed. He is definitely on the lazy side, which is what I like and I think will make for a nice trail horse when he gets older. I am mostly riding in the arena as there are many things for him to learn and for him and I to grow that bond together as we work together under saddle. He is so much FUN! ❤

Today I rode in the arena on Murphy (stinker grabbed my rein you can see in the photo, but I wanted to take a photo of his head. He tries to put everything in his mouth!) and another friend on her horse Fashion!

Murphy and I had fun riding this weekend in the arena with my girlfriend on her horse Fashion. She is so beautiful and I recently clipped Fashion with a trace clip to help keep her cool. She grows a very thick winter coat because she has Cushing’s which is a disease that affects their pituitary gland. They often have long or thick coats and they don’t shed as readily. There are many other symptoms but she is on medication which helps her symptoms and she is doing great. She is 25 years old. My friend also rides her out on trail with me and Chloe. She isn’t very good at being a leader so I won’t ride out with her on Murphy. He needs much more arena riding anyways before I ride more out on trail. I am in no hurry with him, and if for some reason the trails are not a good fit for him we will just do arena riding. I am okay either way!

Murphy after my ride today! I just Love him so much!
I had FUN making this video! He is so soft!!

I haven’t been sharing as often as I was and so I have all these video’s saved up. So it’s your lucky day and I have 3 video’s in one blog post. (I just can’t help myself making these video’s and sharing.) 😀 I am trying to find my groove with my blogging. I so enjoy my blog, and I also love to interact and read other’s blogs but that takes time. I do not always make it to everyone’s posts, I try my best and I am hoping to get into a better blogging rhythm. That might sound strange, but to me there is kind of an art to blogging and everyone needs to have their blog represent who and what they are passionate about. My favorite blog’s are the ones that their passion shines! ❤

I’ve been reflecting deeply about my blogging as I’ve been away and not sharing like I once did and some of my feelings are not really worth sharing here but for some personal reasons I have been in a really reflecting, deep feeling, maybe even searching my soul type of mood. Haha, call me crazy but I sometimes overthink things and I have finally decided to be me and not worry about “the deep meaning of life” which is part of what I was reflecting on. Oh gosh, I want to be carefree and HAPPY! So enough of all of that stuff, but it was part of the reason I had slowed down on my blogging. I sometimes think it helps to share even though I’m just touching on this subject. I will say I have questioned very deeply my decision to purchase Murphy, but in the end I realized I did the right thing as he brings me GREAT JOY! He will be here when my sweet Chloe won’t be, even though it could be some years from now before we say our goodbyes. I will end with this, as this is what makes me SMILE!

I sometimes pinch myself, did I just buy a racehorse? CRAZY! ❤ ❤ ❤

Thank you so much for visiting and sharing coffee with me today!

Loving My Horse Crazy Life,

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; October 24, 2021

On By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share47 Comments
Welcome! My sister and my best friend went in together to buy me this cool mug for my birthday! I LOVE IT!

Howdy! How are you doing, can I get you a cup of coffee or tea? It’s very gloomy outside but it’s a good gloomy because we have lots of clouds and are expecting some much needed rain! Tomorrow it is to rain almost all day and we really need the rain in our dry climate here in California. I have some small cupcakes for a snack to go with the coffee, can I get you one? I didn’t make them but they are really good. It was my birthday this last week and my hubby picked up the cupcakes so I didn’t have to bake for myself. I’m the only baker at home. 😀

I can’t believe there is only one more week left of October, but it’s been a very fun month. A couple weeks ago I went to Arizona to see my son and his family and I was there with my daughter who bought tickets to a comedy show. I went to babysit for that evening and it was so fun watching movies with my grand daughter and grand son. Well, my grand son went to bed and was super easy to put down which I was thankful for since he’s 19 months old and I know at that age they can be a handful. But they have a wonderful routine and that helps so much with young children. I had a blast and I’ll share a few photos.

My daughter enjoying Wolfie kitty who use to be her kitty, but now lives with my son. And a blurry selfie! Kids just don’t sit still!

Wolfie remembers my daughter!! He slept with her while we stayed the two nights for our weekend visit. For those of you who follow me will remember Wolfie’s brother Dublin is my son and daughter-in-laws kitty. My daughter tried to have Wolfie live with her but he was a handful and actually was eating her guinea pig hay and there were other problems and so we did some kitty swapping. I took 2 cat’s my son had (two sisters) and Wolfie was brought to live with his brother in AZ. Now my daughter adopted a beautiful black kitty she named Evie. We are all happy and the cats are all happy too! Thought I’d fill ya’ll in again and for any new followers. Haha, it was a bit of kitty drama at the time when we went through the exchanges!!

These brothers still lay together all the time! This is my photo of them sleeping on my bed when I visited AZ! Adorable!

I had such a nice weekend and when I returned home my sister from Idaho came back to town with her husband because it was her husbands 40th High School reunion. It was so fun because this is my sister who also rides horses and who is the sister I adopted my horse Zack. She couldn’t take him to Idaho, so I kept him and had him until earlier this year when he passed. Now, her and I are having fun with my new horse Murphy! Together she is reminding me about bringing along a young horse. Since he is almost 3 1/2 years old now, he is learning so much every time I ride. He is like a sponge, soaking up all that he is learning. I was able to take some photos when Sharon rode and I will share a video I took as well. We had so much fun as we also took him out on some trail rides too!

My sister riding Murphy! She and I ride alike and he was such a good boy for her. He is so relaxed and calm. He is a joy to ride!

Can I get you a refill on your coffee or tea? We have some Halloween candy too. We do not have Trick or Treaters in our neighborhood because it is considered a rural area. We do not have any street lights and the houses are a bit far apart so we do not have any kids that walk any of the neighborhoods in this area. They all usually drive to local residential areas to Trick or Treat. So we usually buy ourselves a couple of small bags of candy and we buy our favorites! Usually they are chocolates of some kind. YUMMY!

Back to the horses, sorry I got off on a tangent but you know, candy is always worth talking about and more importantly consuming! Haha! I was so happy I took my phone with me into the arena when I asked my sister if she wanted to ride Murphy. That’s when I was able to take these photos and the video I will share. After the arena we went out on a short trail ride and I was able to take a couple of photos out there as well. I am so proud of him and I thanked my sister so much for all her help and encouragement as he is coming along nicely.

My sister riding Murphy and he is so relaxed and now I have him on video cantering to the right. He is doing great!

I am so enjoying my time here with you and I am also enjoying celebrating my birthday this last week. My family in Arizona sent me a bouquet of flowers, they are so beautiful and smell wonderful! They arrived Saturday and my daughter sent me some fun Star Wars things as I Love all things Star Wars! Including a coloring book, The Princess Diaries by Carrie Fisher to read and these cool light saber earrings! Yes, I am a geek when it comes to Star Wars!! My hubby got me a cool Disney cookbook. I have a small collection of specialty cookbooks so this is a nice addition. I will finish up with these last photos.

I am a happy Grandma, Mom, wife and horse crazy gal! Thank you Natalie for hosting the #weekendcoffeeshare! I hope you all have a wonderful week ahead and thank you for visiting with me today. 😀

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; A New Video With Murph, and Crochet Fun!

On By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share26 Comments
  • Welcome to my weekend coffee share where we share what’s been happening in our lives!

Howdy! can I get you a cup of coffee or tea? I don’t have any fancy pumpkin spice coffee but I have a nice breakfast blend I really like that tastes nice with my sweet Italian cream. I am enjoying my weekends and with that I mean I really enjoy weekends! I have not had every weekend off in about 20 years. I have been at my new job now for 10 months and I honestly am still feeling like I am on a super duper really long vacation being able to sleep every single night. I recently had one of those nights where my thoughts were running strong and I had trouble falling asleep, darn it all! But the sleep I finally got was good enough to get me through the next day. I use to struggle with sleep often, and just made it work when I was working night/graveyard shift hours. I do not know how I did it for so many years! So I am truly grateful for my new job and the swing shift hours I work! YAY! 😀

I am super happy I am almost done with this baby blanket I am making for a really good friend. She is actually my daughter’s best friend who had a baby girl some months ago and I am finally getting this completed. I think it is beautiful and am finishing up tieing off all the lose ends before I will send it to her and I thought I would share a couple of photos! I love to crochet as it’s relaxing and I so enjoy creating things with all this beautiful yarn!

It’s hard to get good lighting for the photos of the blanket. There really is a light pink in with the grey/tan variegated yarn!

I know the colors I chose are not the most “baby” but in person it is a pretty blanket. I added the soft rose pink around the edges to help bring out the subtle pink woven with the grey/tan/pink variegated yarn. It looks antique like to me and came together beautifully. I like to try different colors and my daughter said her colors in her nursery are pink and grey. I might have brought a little too much grey into the picture with this blanket, but I know she will appreciate it being hand made with Love! It is definitely my favorite baby blanket pattern as this is my fourth one I’ve made and no two are alike! ❤

Miss Chloe is enjoying some grass as she grazes after our trail ride!

I am enjoying trail riding on my girl Chloe. She is such a trooper and is definitely one of those horses that enjoys the trails. I am in no hurry riding Murphy out on the trails. He is too young at this time to travel out there by himself and I am having a ton of fun working on things with him in the arena. I will go out if there is a friend available at the barn to ride with me, but it is not something I am doing a lot of since he needs a lot of time in the arena learning important aides which help us both communicate. It really helps to have a good working relationship with your horse so that the trust and bonds are strong. I do have a video I want to share of Murphy and I in the arena!

He is getting better and better learning a little something every ride!

My hubby came to the stables to help with a few things and when he arrived I was riding in the arena. I asked him to take a video and he doesn’t take many videos and tried to zoom in and didn’t realize there is an easy button on the camera to just tap for a quick zoom. I tried a few times to edit the video and got frustrated and decided to just leave it so there is a little jumble in it where it zooms too close and then he moves it out a bit. I Love it anyways, and I can see the difference in just a month or so of him being at a steady speed and him and I looking relaxed and together each stride. Murphy is so FUN!!

Can I get you a refill? I have a few more photo’s to share as I just love taking photos of these ponies and I also enjoy sharing them with you all. I decided to ride one horse one day and the other the next which is working out great. There are some days where they both just get the day off which is good for them too. I can ride both every day but I only have so many hours available before I have to go to work at 2pm. It is working out well, with every other day. I turn out on the days they aren’t ridden. They are very spoiled horses, and I have to tell you they are fun to spoil! ❤

I just want to kiss his nose! He has the prettiest eyes, such big ears and beautiful head! And I tried a selfie! Haha, he was really curious about the phone when I snapped the selfie!

He makes me giggle, Mr. Murphy has such a personality. He is learning our routine’s which is so great as then we have a good working relationship. He is so very smart and it is fun to watch him grow. Today when I took him out he had a scraped up hip. He took off all the hair and it had a little bit of blood but not much. After examining it we noticed some red paint near the wound and after searching his stall as to what happened I found the hair on the barn stall opening heading out to his paddock. He had cut the corner too tight heading out back and scraped his hip on the side of the barn! YIKES! and OUCH! I put some silver spray on the wound which is like a liquid band aide that dries silver. It is superficial and I hope he is more careful going in and out of his barn stall! He is so big and tall, I am not too surprised and if he was in a hurry or spooked when heading out, that could be why he caught his hip. I hope he will be more careful, but he’s a horse and probably needs to be bubble wrapped! Joking, we all joke about that! 😀

Thank you for stopping by for the chat! I hope you had a wonderful weekend and I can’t believe this is the last week of September! WAIT WHAT? How did this month fly by! Thank you to Natalie who hosts our #weekendcoffeeshare link up.

Crochet Loving English Riding Cowgirl!

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; Tomato-less Plants and Murphy!

On By DianaIn Barn stories, Living life, weekend coffee share28 Comments
  • Welcome to my coffee share, can I get you a cup of coffee or tea?

I am brewing up some coffee thinking to myself what the heck am I going to share this weekend. It seems I share the same thing and sometimes it seems I am a broken record. But am I? Haha, I sure hope not but it seems my hopes and dreams are one thing but the mundane day to day stuff is the same. I have felt a bit stuck lately, maybe its because I am not planning much towards future goals and/or long term plans. I feel like I am in what I will call a steady state time of my life or like a holding pattern ~ holding to wait and see what the future of my grown children is going to be and waiting to see “what’s next”. I didn’t know the things that have happened throughout this year so far was going to happen, and so here I am. I said good-bye to my handsome horse Zack and have welcomed into my life my new horse Murphy. My steady mare with me all along as I enjoy this ride called life!

  • My tomato plants, but sadly there has not been one tomato come to fruition. There has been many small flowers that dry up and fall off. Strange!

I can get my self all twisted up with frustration if I try and make plans that are huge. Meaning, I had set my mind a couple of years ago to move to be close to my family in Arizona. It was a journey my family was behind until door after door was shut and I decided this was not a good idea. I am super happy in my home town here where I live and maybe this is where we will stay, but will we? I am not sure, and I do not know what the future holds. I am not in a position to make a decision for myself and only myself as I have a husband and need to be compliant to all who surround me. It’s only fair. But for those of you who are single and free to do as you choose, you are lucky as I find life more complicated when you throw in a bunch of people and animals! 😀

I am surrounded by such wonderful friends. I had a wonderful lunch this weekend with my best friend and it is so wonderful to catch up with her and we are planning to do this more often as we share and update our horsey stuff. We will also share our family goings on as well. I thought I would share some of my thoughts and feelings as I am hoping it makes my post a little more interesting. I know I am not alone in this world with these same thoughts about life. I do count my blessings and am so thankful for all that I have and for my wonderful family. ❤

  • Murphy standing pretty but his ears are not forward.
  • Murphy’s looking forward with his ears, but his tail is swishing!
  • I like him standing next to these pomegranate trees! I zoomed in and enlarged this photo from the photo above with the tail swish! ❤

Can I get you a refill? I have some cookies too…. I had decided to throw some tomato seeds into my container with some new fertilizer and grow some tomatoes. Last year I had grown tomato and green peppers in this same container which fruited fine but I bought little starters from the store. Once these tomato seeds started growing I thinned them out and left 4 to grow. When my plants were half this tall with no fruit, I thought maybe its too crowded and I pulled out 2 plants and left 2 to flourish. They are growing taller and taller with some small flowers but no tomatoes. The flowers just dry up and fall off. I have never seen this happen before! CRAZY! Maybe there are no bees or other insects to pollinate them? that’s probably part of the problem, I am not sure. I have always gotten tomatoes, sometimes I over water and they split but this is bizarre. I’ll give them more time, maybe buy some miracle grow but I am just growing tall tomato plants with nothing! Haha!

He is the sweetest boy! He is tied at the tie rail or hitching post. He is learning and is so smart! He stood perfectly today!

I always turn Murphy out before I ride him. Since he is only 3 years old I like him to have this free time to be a horse and be silly if he chooses. (I will say, he mostly walks around and doesn’t do much unless I encourage him, lazy guy!) This way he can be silly and trot around or canter, buck if he chooses without me on his back. He is very smart and now knows that when he is free to do these things he does, and when he is under saddle he minds his manners and is very calm and respects what I ask him to do. He is very smart and is learning fast! The above photos are when he was lose and I loved how he was standing in the shade of the trees!

What a handsome guy! I LOVE this photo and you can see he is starting to muscle out a bit and gaining some weight! He also is standing perfectly square which he did on his own. (This means if you look at his legs and body it is shaped like a square box if you were to draw a box around his body. I think he has super nice conformation.)

I took these photos today because I bought a new girth for my saddle. My old girth is all black and a bit too short but I made it work but found as he is filling out it is not long enough. This girth has fuzzy white sheepskin which is so nice as it snugs all around and under his belly. (The girth is what keeps the saddle on the horse. Western riding it is called a cinch.) My old girth for this English saddle is a size 52″ which is fairly long but not long enough! So I bought a size 58″ which is the biggest size I could buy. I must say it is almost too big, but he will grow and fill out and so it is the perfect size! I measured Murphy today and he measures 17.2hh and he is still growing! He is a BIG BOY! Gentle Giant!! ❤

His other side and he is not standing square. Just to point out the difference. The new girth looks great! He stood so well today before our ride! 😀
Last photo I promise! His kind eyes say it all. He loves people and enjoys the time we are together. Love you Murph! ❤

I feel like the luckiest person, falling in love with this horse on a video I saw with a trainer I follow who trains off the track thoroughbreds up for adoption in Oklahoma! He is truly such a mellow fellow, a kind horse wanting to please. I have thanked the horse trainer for her honesty and great work with these beautiful horses! ❤

Thank you for stopping by and joining me for my coffee share. I enjoyed sharing some of my thoughts and feelings as we are heading into Fall here. I think I am thinking about these stuck feelings because we are heading into the holidays and oh, how I wish I was closer to my grandkids. But I know we will see each other and am thankful for that. I am so grateful for my beautiful family, and I am also very thankful for all my wonderful friends. Thank you to Natalie who hosts our #weekendcoffeeshare she does a wonderful job!

Horse Crazy Grandma,

~Diana ❤

My Weekly Smile; End of Summer ~Aug 30th

On By DianaIn Living life, weekly smile28 Comments
  • I had to use this flower again, so unusual and it makes me smile! 😀

Welcome to my weekly smile! I have been taking a bit of a blogging break. This summer has been very busy, so different than last year right? Lot’s of family visits, which I LOVE SO MUCH! There is more visiting coming up for me as I will be heading to Colorado at the end of this week to visit my sister. I have seen her as she has come to California a few times in the last 5 years but I haven’t been to CO in about 8 years. As I am writing this I am thinking I will continue with this blogging break until I return from vacation for another week or so. Since I have some fun video’s I made to share I decided to write this post and explain my break.

When I return to blogging more regularly I’m going to give myself permission to not feel pressured to write a blog post. I feel like I can get a little OCD about writing my blog thinking I have to write and share on this link or another and then I pressure myself into thinking I am letting everyone down if I can’t keep up. Isn’t that a little crazy? Do you feel like that too, or is it just my crazy brain as I so enjoy being involved and join in. I guess I need to just take a chill pill and blog when it feels right and not worry! I’ll take my advice! Haha, I’m smiling!! 😀

It really has been nice to work on some of my crafts, and relax and not make myself crazy with pressure about my blog. This should be fun and so I am not leaving but I may post less often so that I can balance my busy life. 😀

I Love this baby blanket pattern! I decided to try a different background color which is variegated grey, white and pink!

I am smiling as I am finally making progress on another baby blanket I am making for a good friend and her baby girl. When I find something I love to make, I will make it in different colors and then gift it to my relatives or good friends. I have done this with fingerless mittens and scarfs, haha, I guess I get a little OCD about crochet patterns!

My daughter said that her friends colors in the nursery are pink and grey. I am thinking probably more pink than grey, and I didn’t ask for photos but as I looked through the yarn to buy I found this variegated yarn that is really pretty in person. The photo doesn’t do it justice but it is grey/white/pink. Very light pink, so light in pink that it mostly looks grey. Darn it all, it’s not really a very good baby color but I am going to finish it and I found a nice pink yarn you can see in the photo for the border. It will help bring out the pink in the grey, I hope! It’s kind of antique looking and really super cool I think. I can always keep it if I don’t think it’s worthy of gifting! Sorry about this long description, it’s just been a challenging blanket to put together with the colors I chose! 😀 Now, on to my horsey adventures!

  • My sister riding Murphy for the first time! What a good boy, they look great!!
  • Murphy on the right meeting Ava!
  • My sister’s son on Murphy!
Riding with my sister and her son. They were here visiting from Idaho! I’m smiling at all the FUN! 😀

We had so much fun riding when my sister visited this month. She drove from Idaho with her oldest son who is on Murphy. We rode out on trail with my best friend and Roscoe. My sister came for her youngest sons birthday who lives here in California not far from us and so it was so great to also have her meet Murphy! I am so proud of Murphy as he was so good with everyone and I also had some fun trail rides. (I am one of 6 kids, so it can get confusing. This sister here on Murphy is now visiting my sister in Colorado. I have a sister in Oregon and another in Northern CA. I have a brother in Reno, NV. It will take a lot of weekends away to catch up and see everyone, eventually!)

Trail riding with my best friend on Roscoe and my sister on Fashion and her son on Chloe! 😀 😀 😀

I’m smiling from ear to ear! What fun trail rides while my sister visited. My sister brought cool weather with her the week she was here! She is riding a good friend’s horse and her name is Fashion. She is a black and white paint and she is in her 20’s and knows the Norco trails well. It is really good for Murphy to go out with other horses. He wasn’t bothered by the group and with 4 of us we all had a blast!

I am in no hurry with Murphy and his training, taking one day at a time and he gets days of rest or turn out to just be a horse. I am riding him in the arena with him learning what I want him to do for me and we are working on the walk, trot and canter. He is extremely lazy, so I ask a little bit and reward him when he does what I ask of him. He is very smart and learning so fast. He is learning to move off of my leg, which means I use my leg to have him move over to pressure from either side and I use my reins as well. I won’t go into all the detail, I am just so happy he is understanding my cues and I reward with a release and a nice free walk. It is all so much FUN!! 😀

He is really happy and has such personality! Murphy and I are bonding well. I Love this boy so much! ❤

I can’t believe this month is ending. Where did this year go? It is really going fast so I am trying to slow down and enjoy each day. I think the last few weeks I am accomplishing this and I am finding my stride. I know one thing and that is I am looking forward to Fall and hopefully cooler weather. We have been hitting 100F(38C) too often this summer and we are expecting cooler weather this coming week. This weekend was really hot and I took a video of Murphy after I hosed him off and he likes to play with the hose and loves the water. I will end with this short video and I want to thank you so much for visiting my smile post! What makes you smile? I do love hearing from you and I thank you for reading and following my blog!!

I want to thank Trent for hosting My Weekly Smile! With the world craziness, it is great to smile at the simple things whenever possible. Have a great week!

Smiling Happy Cowgirl,

~Diana ❤

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 ❤