Tag: #horsetherapy

Weekend Coffee Share ~ Trail Rides And Horsey Fun!

On By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share13 Comments
My beautiful roses are blooming, thanks to the recent rain we had a week ago!

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

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

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

Heading out of the stables.
This is the driveway out to the trails!
This is our trails, heading down 6th St.
Me and my shadow! I LOVE these shadow photos!
This is our cross walk button in Norco for horses!

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

A friend took this photo of us on the trail!
Me and my selfies!
Miss Chloe has my heart!
Murphy is so shiny I had to take this photo. He has a beautiful winter coat!

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

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

Murphy has my heart as well! Love Him!
My happy place so peaceful and calm. ❤

I hope you all have a wonderful week ahead!

Happy Horse Loving, Trail Riding Cowgirl,

~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 ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; Horse Clipping Fun!

On By DianaIn Barn stories, Horse stories, Living life, weekend coffee share16 Comments
Weekend Coffee share is a time for us to take a break out of our busy lives and enjoy some time catching up with friends (old and new)! Please grab a cup of coffee or tea and share with us! What’s been going on in your life? any weekend plans?

Welcome to my coffee share! How are you today? do you have any weekend plans? or are you going to take it easy and relax? I am going to take it easy and maybe do a little housework (that never ends) and enjoy spending time at the stables. My girlfriend who owns Gracie is out of town this weekend celebrating her granddaughters first birthday! Here’s HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Andrea, aka Andy. She is so adorable, but then all grand daughters are… I digress, as I have to say I have been so incredibly busy at work that I have had trouble getting to my writing and sharing. My schedule is now back to normal and will hopefully stay that way for awhile and through the holidays! How can it be November? and Thanksgiving and Christmas are coming fast!! CRAZY!

Zack body clipped. We call this clip a trace clip as it just traces along the sides of his body starting at his chin all the way to his rump, and includes his entire belly. I actually went up higher on his body than is normal for this clip but that is because we live in a very warm climate so he can handle a little bit more hair off of his body. He will be much cooler on our hot days as yesterday it was just over 90 degrees. It’s been in the high 80’s, this is SOCAL!

I decided to share my barn stories and since I did not take a new photo of Miss Chloe I decided to have her with Zack as my first Weekend Coffee share photo. It’s all I’ll mention of her, even though she is my most favorite mare I have ever owned in my life ~ this last week is about body clipping and I only clipped Zack as Chloe does not grow a long winter coat. I also clipped my girlfriends horses Sadie and Juan. They both grow long winter hair and I have been telling her that these trace clips are so wonderful at keeping the horses cool AND you do not have to blanket them at night because we leave a large amount of hair all along their top-line. With the warm climate where we live, the horses do just fine and they will be easier to cool off when worked and easier to keep clean from sweat and dirt. I will share photos of my other clip jobs of Judy’s horses!

I wanted to share this photo as you can really see Zack is a flea-bitten grey. That is what they call his color. If you look close, he has black flecks all throughout his coat and you will see a big difference with Sadie who is just grey, and as grey’s age they turn white!
This is Sadie and her mane and tail are still very dark as she was born almost black. As she ages she has turned white. She is 15 years old and is pure white except her mane and tail. She has no little spots like Zack. Thought you would enjoy seeing the difference. She is now trace clipped!
This is Juan, Judy’s other horse. She actually owns 3 horses but we did not clip her other horse. All of Judy’s horses are Tennessee Walking horses. He is black and a big boy, and is very beautiful! ❤

I truly enjoy helping others wherever I can and I have been doing this trace clip on Zack every year for the last 4 years. The first year I actually did his whole body called a hunter clip which leaves their legs hairy. Their legs are the hardest to clip and since he is not showing I don’t bother and they don’t sweat like their body. This trace clip is absolutely perfect and works great in our area. My girlfriend paid me for my service which I appreciate and of course we agreed upon a fair price. Its a messy job as hair goes everywhere and gets blown in your face from the clipper fan as I have a huge pair of shears that they use for sheep, but can be used on horses and it makes the job easy and fast!

I have been body clipping horses going back to the 70’s when I use to show Hunter/Jumpers. I clipped for trainers for 30 years into the 90’s and my sister Sharon and I would clip for several barns and it was a great way of earning Christmas money for the holidays!! That’s why I own a nice pair of body clippers and other smaller clippers to finish the job in any ticklish areas on the horse! How is your coffee? or did you decide on tea? or Orange juice?

I am so enjoying my coffee with you this morning. I will be taking care of my girlfriends horse this weekend along with caring for Chloe and Zack. I am hoping to take mine on a trail ride or two and then relaxing at home. I’m thinking of skipping the house work! Haha, okay maybe I’ll throw in a load of laundry, that’s easy peasy. I really wanted to get this coffee share out as I so enjoy sharing with ya’ll. I hope you have a wonderful weekend, and let me know what your doing. If you have a coffee share I’ll stop by and say hello! Thank you to Eclectic Alli for hosting the coffee share!

Horse Crazy clipping girl!

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; Great Trail Ride Today!

On By DianaIn Barn stories, Horse stories, Living life, weekend coffee share6 Comments
Weekend Coffee share is a time to share with friends and family. What are you up to this weekend? Are you staying home and relaxing or enjoying the great outdoors?

I decided to share what I am doing this weekend which is enjoying my time with my horses. I sometimes get so darn busy I have to slow down and savor my days off and really stop and smell the roses, or smell the horse stables and the horses!! What made this day so incredibly enjoyable was a beautiful cool summer morning. It was a cool 65 degrees this morning at 9am and it warmed up to the low 80’s a definite improvement from 100 degrees which it topped earlier this last week. The week coming up will climb up again to 102 but am thankful it cools off in the evenings. I feel very thankful it does cool off here in Southern California. It has been a hot summer but not as bad as some summers we have experienced so I can’t complain. It is going to be beautiful tomorrow as well. So LOVING this weekend weather! I forgot, since I am talking about all this weather I think a nice iced Latte with almond milk would hit the spot for me, what are you drinking today? 😀

Hi Chloe and Zack! looking for their treat after our ride today. I now take Zack every time I ride out by having him follow me with a lead rope on his halter. It is called ponying, it is what they do when they take pack horses on long trail rides. He is in heaven walking along side of Chloe!
Please can I have a treat? I only spoil them after my ride, they were GREAT today!
Silly photo, they LOVE their treats!!

I went on the trail with my girlfriend Sally and her horse Gracie which I have shared many photos of them here on my blog. The 3 horses are like their own little herd and so enjoy being together. I am learning to pony Zack and we did not know how Gracie would be with both Chloe and Zack walking along side and she was perfect. We turn them all out together so it makes sense that they were just fine walking along the trails here in my home town of Norco. Today as we rode, I was just feeling so relaxed and was so very happy that I had both my horses with me getting some good exercise and we got to chat and catch up riding with my girlfriend. I am so lucky and thankful for such a great day. I hope to have many more! How is your coffee or tea? or maybe you are drinking some juice? How is your weekend going for you, I hope it has been as nice as mine. ❤

Zack after a nice grooming after the trail ride. He is a happy boy!
Chloe after our ride today. So funny I manage to catch her as she is taking a bite of her hay!

I was going to talk about some of my other projects that I do at home. I so enjoy my crochet projects but I think I will write a separate blog about that and I can take a few more photos of my project before I share. So I will just stick with my coffee share this weekend and keep focused on these pretty ponies. 😀 😀 😀

I am feeling so accomplished by getting more and more confident in taking them both on the trails. I am getting better at figuring out what to do if things go awry (for instance; one of the horses could spook at something, or they both could spook, I am thankful they are not really spooky horses.) You never really know what you may come across while riding throughout the neighborhood. But I do feel like both horses give each other comfort and I also feel like Chloe’s experience with me holding the reins gives them confidence as well. They are VERY responsive and aren’t the type to panic and the few little things that have come up so far we have managed with perfection. I am so excited to be riding and training them together on the trails because some day if I am able to move to Arizona, they will be good to go together and will already have the trail miles on them to start right out trail riding together anywhere where move.

I hope you are having a great weekend. I am so happy that I take the time to slow down and enjoy what I can when I can on my days off. I’ve enjoyed sharing as always, these ponies bring me so much joy and I am so happy, grateful and blessed to be able to ride and care for these beautiful animals!!

Horse crazy Grandma, Mom and Wife!

~Diana