Tag: #weekendlove

Weekend Coffee Share; September Wrap Up!

On By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share20 Comments

Welcome to my weekend coffee share, can I get you a cup of coffee or tea? I can’t believe its the last day of September and we have moved into Fall! I do think this is my favorite time of year. Oh wait, I do love Spring too ~ no, no, I think FALL WINS! There is just something special about the turning of this season as we cool down as the weather changes and we head into the winter months. Here where I live the winter is extremely mild and there is so many fun things to do as well. As you know I love being outside and I am very fortunate to be able to ride my horses all year round. This month started out hot which is typical and we are now seeing some much cooler weather as we head into October which makes me smile! 😀

Earlier this month my daughter, hubby and I visited President Reagan’s Library in Simi Valley. It is almost exactly half way to my daughter’s house up north. So she drove down and we drove up and met there on a beautiful Sunday morning. They had a WWII Exhibit there which was leaving in early October and we have been wanting to visit this library for a long time. We spent most of the time seeing and reading all about Ronald Reagan’s life as we toured the museum which left not as much time for the WWII event. We did walk through it and it was put together well. I only took photos to share of the Library on this beautiful day (no photos of WWII exhibit).

My most favorite thing is the horse lover of not only Ronald Reagan but of her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth and so I just have to share these iconic photos that they had on display, so beautiful. May they both rest in peace. ❤

Great quote!
I Love this artwork of the Reagan’s on horseback!
My daughter as President! I Love this! Haha!

They had mock ups of so many things including the oval office. It was so educational learning all about his young life and into his political career. I remember him well as President of course, and I knew he had a ranch in Simi Valley. But I didn’t know how much of a ranch and horse lover he was until I visited the library. He had a whole bunch of saddles and belt buckles which were gifted to him by famous political leaders and others that gave him the belt buckles. Some buckles were so huge, just for display I am sure. Here is a few photos.

The belt buckles are all along the bottom of this four sided display. There were plaques explaining where the saddles came from and I had to take a photo of the jumping saddle plaque. Not only is that my discipline of riding (I use to show Hunter/Jumpers) but I noticed he had a horse named Sergeant Murphy! That is so cool, since I have a Murphy too! I know I am silly, but fun to have little connections none the less. 😀

This was definitely a highlight Air Force One and Marine one overlooking Simi Valley all enclosed in a giant hanger type area all built around the airplane and helicopter. It was seamlessly added to the library and they show photos of how the plane was disassembled and towed up the hill to its resting sight. Boeing put it all back together and it is opened to tour the inside of both. It is really amazing and VERY COOL to walk through where President’s and many important people sat and did their work for our country. They had a kind of musty smell inside as they are both well over 30 years old. Air Force One served all US presidents until George W. Bush and was retired in 2001.

My daughter taking a photo of the amazing view!

I couldn’t resist taking a photo of my daughter taking a panoramic photo of Simi Valley. The library sits on top of a hill with a breathtaking view. I love taking candid photos when I can and thought this was a good way to end my share of this beautiful tribute and wonderful library. We have another library very close to where I live. It is President Nixon’s Library which is located in Yorba Linda. I actually drive by it every day I go to work. I have visited his library many years ago and it is not as large as President Reagan’s. At President Nixon’s Library it is located at the house where he was born. The house is still there and has been turned into the museum. I remember well the day President Nixon was brought in to be buried at this library as they had a big presence on the freeway as they drove him through and oddly enough we had a hail storm blow through on this day. So strange, I’ll never forget that day. We lived across town about 10 miles from Yorba Linda at that time.

How is your coffee? do you need a refill, or are you drinking tea? I decided to get a refill with my favorite sweet Italian creamer and I have some small donuts for a snack. Lets go outside as it is a beautiful weekend. I can’t believe we are heading into October, and as we say goodbye to September I will look back at some important things with my horses. I made a dental appointment with my vet with my young horse Murphy. He needed a tooth pulled, called a wolf tooth it sits right in front of his first molars and in his case it was at least an inch or so more forward than normal. (He should have had 2 one on each side of his mouth, but the right side no tooth descended which is considered normal. There are horses that do not have wolf teeth, my mare Chloe was born with no wolf teeth.)

This tooth was interfering with the bit he has in his mouth when I ride him and I will say he is much happier when I ride him now. He was drugged up so he stood good for the vet and they gave pain meds afterwards so he stays comfortable. He also got his teeth floated, which means they use a tool to smooth out the sharp edges that can occur from chewing on his molars. This will keep his teeth healthy.

The vet and his assistant working on Murphy’s sharp points on his molars. He was a good boy!

I wanted to ride Murphy more often than I ended up riding him through the month of September, but we had some unbearable heat. It also can get really busy at the barn and so there were many days so many people came early to beat the heat that I just couldn’t fit in a ride. I have to remember I am in no hurry with Murphy and we have plenty of time together and since he is so young I am just going to take one day at a time. I am happy that I rode him yesterday and then again this morning. 2 days in a row! YAY! I have to remember to stay positive and on the days I do not ride I try and do some meaningful ground work with him. I also have my other horse Chloe to take care of and her and I head out on the trails when it is crowded at the barn. So in the end I ride just about every day, it just might be Chloe instead of Murphy!

My pretty girl, Miss Chloe! ❤
And Murphy looking like he is going to say something!
My current cross-stitch project!
This is what it will look like completed!

I am having a ton of fun with this cross-stitch project I started in September! I love the colors and the quote. I have this really cool cross-stitch book full of patterns called Cross Stitch For The Earth, 20 patterns. They have some small designs that I can stitch up for gifts too! This fulfills my creative mind as I am addicted to creating something with my hands. Whether its cross-stitch or crochet, its so fun to create!

I better wrap this up as it is getting pretty long. I really wanted to do a wrap up post of September and am looking forward to October. I so enjoyed having coffee with you today and I hope you have a fabulous week (and month ahead). I have to thank Natalie for hosting our #weekendcoffee share hook up and let me know what’s been happening in your world!

Staying Busy Cowgirl,

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; Jan. 22, 2022

On By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share31 Comments
Welcome, can I get you a hot cup of coffee or tea?

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

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

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

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

This is Murphy with a bridle like my show bridle. The arrow is pointing to the browband! Sharing for the non horsey folks out there! ❤
This is Norwegian Wood wearing his show bridle with me at a Santa Barbara Horse Show back in 1979 ❤

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Crazy spell checking horse Gal! 😀

~Diana ❤

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 ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; September ~ Fun In The Sun

On By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share23 Comments
These blooms are going crazy this time of year in my front yard!

Welcome to my coffee share and yes, I usually share a cup of coffee as my first photo but I got to thinking the last few posts I’ve featured some pretty flowers. This bush in our yard is just going crazy and so full of blossoms I just had to share. Fall is in the air here even though we are still getting pretty hot each day, we can feel and see the days slowly getting shorter as we head into fall. I have been busy the last few weeks which include visiting my sister in Colorado for a long weekend and riding and taking care of my ponies and working. Of course, being busy includes family time here at home and if you know or have known any horse crazy people you will realize the horses take up much of my free time! 😀 😀 😀

Can I get you a cup of coffee or tea? I will have some ice tea since we are having a hot weekend. I have so much to share. I had a grand time with my oldest sister and her beautiful family in Colorado. She lives south of Denver and the day I arrived there were scattered thunderstorms and rain. We had to drive home in the rain and at her house it even hailed! The hail stuck and looked like snow, and I asked if they get big hail and yes, they can get such big hail storms the hail can dent cars and cause damage. We never get hail that big and it never lasts long in our area on the ground.

Some beautiful trees and my sister’s backyard. It was so pretty in Colorado! Perfect weather!

The first photo is a beautiful tree in my nephews front yard. The second photo is my sister’s front yard with the pretty aspen and her back yard with her deck and greenery. My nephew and his wife live a couple streets away from his mom. I am so happy my sister has family so very close to her since she lives alone, family isn’t far away. Her grandkids would come over weekly or more often when they were younger. She always has a Sunday dinner so her son and his wife always get together with her to break bread. I just LOVE that tradition and it helps bring everyone together. I think family that eat together, stay together. I enjoyed being there for my long weekend to enjoy all the things they do together and their wonderful company.

My sister treated me to sushi! Thank you Sis for the wonderful dinner! YUMMY!

Here is to more visits with not only my sister in Colorado, but I am hoping to visit other family members as we wrap up this year and if I can’t fit it in these last few months then I will be traveling next year for sure! I have Portland, Reno, Idaho and Northern Calif to visit. Who knows? Maybe I will head back to Colorado next year too!

Some pretty photos of Murphy I took this last week. I am actually standing pretty far away, but zoomed in to create these photos! He just melts my heart and makes me smile! ❤
I am riding him both English and Western. I am actually riding him the same way, just with different saddles. My go to training is hunt seat. In the Western saddle I ride more forward because that is my go to training. I like the western saddle for the trails.
I am riding with my friend Jane, on her horse Irish! Murphy was a good boy and I thank you sweet Jane for the ride today!

I had such a great weekend with my horses. I like to call my horses my ponies, even though they aren’t ponies at all. I have mentioned it has been hot getting into the high 90’s (37C) and so I actually gave my ponies Saturday off but was able to ride both of them Sunday. Even on their day off I turn them out and let them be horses, meaning I am not doing any particular training with them. They can mosey around or run around and enjoy the time out and about in the arena. Can I get you a refill on your coffee or tea? I can tell you that the trail ride with Murphy went really well and I am so proud of him.

He remains calm through out the ride as we head down the trail. He will spook on occasion which is totally normal. I am always praising him and reassuring him which helps him learn that the little bit of scary stuff isn’t that scary. He is a very brave horse especially at his age of 3 and so I know that every ride he will just get better and braver. He has a lot to see out on the trails, so in time he will be just as seasoned as my girl Miss Chloe! ❤

Miss Chloe is the sweetest horse I have ever owned! She melts my heart just as Murphy does and I am a lucky cowgirl!

I had a super fun ride on Miss Chloe after I rode Murphy with another friend at the barn. We rode around the block and it was a bit hotter and later in the morning but it was a lovely ride. She is such a good pony, walking along as not much phases her on most rides. She is a horse of course, so there will be times when she will be frightened or scared but we have been together for so many years it doesn’t take much to reassure her that we are fine and she calms right down if she spooks.

Thank you for visiting my #weekendcoffeeshare and I want to thank Natalie who hosts as she is doing a wonderful job. I am just going to make it for this weekend share, but wanted to join in since it has been a couple of weeks. I want to thank my best friend for a wonderful lunch we had together this last weekend. We don’t see each other like we once did and so we are going to meet for lunches more often to stay in touch! YAY! I just love that and I will try and stop by her barn more often as well. I hope you all have a wonderful week ahead! 😀

Happy Trail Riding and Traveling Cowgirl,

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; Last Week of July!

On By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share16 Comments
  • Welcome to my weekend coffee share!

I can’t believe July is almost over and oh my, did it fly by fast. I have been having fun in the sun, in sunny Southern California! Can I get you a cup of coffee or tea? I am going to get iced coffee today as I share my weekend and accomplishments of the month. It was a crazy week but as this weekend comes to an end I am home relaxing and enjoying the Olympics that are on in the background as I type away!

  • My daughter’s guinea pigs are here visiting. I am cleaning their cage and this is their turn out cage while I clean!

The happy guinea pigs are here as I am babysitting them as my daughter was to be away for training for three weeks. Unfortunately, it all got canceled for her but I had already picked up the piggies and she will be taking them home in two weeks. They are so adorable and I enjoy them immensely. I think they are so cute out and about in this temporary cage while I clean their home cage. I just had to share!

My hubby was able to complete the retaining wall and I thought I would share a couple of photos. What a job. The bricks weigh 55lbs each and he moved them all into place mostly by himself. He had a few hiccups, lining things up and had to tear down and rebuild at least twice in different sections. Oh dear, he definitely was outside working out as I call it in his make shift gym (as it were) lifting and moving all the bricks. He then filled in the back of the wall with back fill dirt, and he did get some help from a friend with that part. I told him to hire help, but he can be pretty stubborn wanting to save that money for something else. It was just all physical labor which he completed. I am very proud of him actually!

Its a very long wall turning in the corner of the backyard. The photo on the left is from the corner of the right photo.

In and done. The wall is done which is FANTASTIC, but we have a lot more work needing to be done to complete the whole yard. It’s all a work in progress in actuality, but the wall was the biggest project for sure! He actually worked fairly quickly and completed it before the end of July. I know he is so done moving bricks! Haha, I would be too!

On to other things to reflect upon for this month. I have now had my new horse Murphy for two months. He has been doing well. He was laid up for one month when I got him because he had a splint bone fracture which is completely healed. He then had his shoes replaced which we do every six weeks or so and after this was done he lost one shoe and after that was replaced he then lost the other front shoe. He only had shoes on his front hoofs. I made a decision with my farriers help and advice to try letting him be barefoot with no shoes. He has great hoofs, and he is very healthy and at three years old we can always go back to putting on shoes if needed in the future. I also may just buy trail boots for him as I think he will be fine in the arena, but the trails may be too hard for his hoofs.

Playing with the hose as I filled up the bucket of water! Silly boy!
These were taken this weekend. He is happy, shiny and doing great. I can’t wait to ride this week and working with him is such a joy.

Murphy is very smart and loveable. He is very lazy but tries and is so fun to work with and what a personality! With his size came some apprehension from me but thankfully as I’ve been working with him his size disappears. I now look at him as my loveable boy and I am so use to his size I don’t blink an eye. Of course, I know to be safe and kind. I think about my actions before I do them to keep him safe and keep myself safe. You can get lax around horses, especially the ones you know well. It is always smart to be smart, alert, very calm and very clear with your actions. This brings peace and calmness, everything they are looking for so they know they are safe. I just love interacting with these giant beasts. They are truly magical in so many ways! ❤

Murphy has a friend! This young chicken has been roosting on his back and a friend was able to take these photos! 😀

Haha, this isn’t the first time I’ve seen photos of chickens on a horses back, but my horse? I’ve never seen this before. Chloe would not put up with a chicken on her back, no way! But he doesn’t care at all! What a chill dude, exactly what I was looking for in my next horse! Murphy, you are just ADORABLE!!

Thank you for visiting my coffee share and having a cup with me today. I am late in posting but really wanted to join this weekend. I hope you all have a wonderful week and thank you Natalie for hosting #weekendcoffeeshare!

Happy, busy, but a good busy cowgirl!

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; Family Fun and Murphy in Action!

On By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share26 Comments
  • Welcome to my coffee share for this second weekend in July!

I think I have made up for last year where we couldn’t visit family as we are getting in lots of family weekends recently. My hubby hadn’t seen my daughter’s house she moved to that she is leasing so for the 4th of July weekend we drove up to her place to spend time with her. It was a great visit however my son in Arizona called me Saturday night and he and his family decided to drive to California for an impromptu visit. They drove through the night while the grandkids slept and then they stayed in our room since we weren’t home. We drove home the next morning to spend the 4th with my son and family which included fireworks!

Oh where are my manners, can I get you a cup of coffee or tea? Hot or cold? I have some cookies to go with, store bought but I think good to go with either beverage. I wanted to share some photos from last weekend because you know, I am always so happy to see my grandkids and share. I always try and get a couple of selfies too! SO FUN!

She ALWAYS wants to do a goofy photo! She is so adorable and fun!
I asked her for a nice smiling photo and she is now old enough to comply. She use to ignore my wishes, she will be 6 soon and is growing up fast!
My sweet grandson! I got him to smile by my huge smile as he can see himself as I took the photo! He is so adorable too!

I do miss my grandkids immensely but it has helped to be able to visit them this year. I think you can see how excited I was to see them and I don’t think I have taken or shared selfies in awhile. I have one more photo I wanted to share as after I took it I realized it has three generations in the photo. A happy accident, and it’s a cute photo of the guys in my family!

My grandson doesn’t look too happy but I think he was getting tired. It was a long day for him at the 4th of July party.

Family is so important to me and I have extended family I wish I could see more often as well. I have all my sister’s and brother, it is hard to figure out who I want to visit next and as I try and figure out my traveling plans the time just keeps passing by. I have sister’s that read this blog and I do want to come visit and am hoping I can figure out when I can come out and spend a weekend. It will all work itself out eventually, and they all know our immediate family’s have priority. I at least can share on social media all that’s happening which includes here as well! 😀

Can I get you a refill? Top off the tea or coffee? I wanted to share some fun horse photos and a video of Murphy in action! I also took an action shot of Chloe in the arena trotting around that turned out pretty good. Both my horses are doing really good. I keep them separated and they are not turned out together at all. I want them to have autonomy and I can tell you that Chloe is much happier not having Zack by her side on the trails. He use to nip at her and was a pesky fellow, and she put up with his antics but is much more relaxed walking by herself or with my girlfriend or any other horses that are ridden out with us on the trails.

I zoomed in on my lucky shot of Chloe trotting, and all but her right back leg are off the ground which I think is a cool action shot. And Chloe up close, silly girl!
It’s nice to let them graze and I can tell you he is enjoying this time on the grass as they all do!

I had him turned out in the arena and he is learning to trot and canter when I ask him and he is so big that his strides cover the ground pretty quickly. Our arena is really not that big, which is a good thing as he can’t get going too fast. He is definitely on the lazy side as horses go and that is exactly the way I like him as he needs to be relaxed and sensible once we get out on the trails.

He is so beautiful and fun to watch him in the arena. At the end of the video I like how he just stops and stands there as that is a really calm and lazy horse. I hope he stays this mellow, I think he will! I also had a set back over a week ago where I did not have the bell boots on his front hoofs. At the end of the video you can see them, they are rubber with velcro that go around his pastern and hang down around the hoof. This will help him not step on the back of his shoes with his back hoof! He did this and pulled off a shoe, so I am hoping the bell boots will be the fix and we won’t have any more shoes come off.

Thank you so much for having coffee with me today. I am sharing last weekend this weekend, but that’s all good. This weekend I am home and just riding the horses and so not much to report. I missed last weeks coffee share and thought this way I can catch you up on all the happenings! Thank you Natalie for hosting the #weekendcoffeeshare link and I hope you all stay safe, healthy and happy!

Busy Grandma Cowgirl,

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; Last Week Of June Fun!

On By DianaIn Barn stories, weekend coffee share33 Comments
  • Welcome to my coffee share!

My goodness this year is flying by and here we are just about half way through 2021. Can I get you a cup of coffee or tea? I do have some juice as well but let’s get to the happenings around here as my daughter came home this weekend to visit with her friends and see the new floors in our house. She will be heading home tomorrow, a short visit but it is always wonderful to visit and see family.

Today after I enjoyed riding my Chloe girl with my girlfriend on Roscoe, I finished up with Murphy who had a turn out today. I then joined my daughter at her friends house and we went to downtown Riverside to eat lunch and visit some shops. The lunch place was a really nice food court and we had some wonderful vegan burgers and fries. We were close to an open market and also found a really cool old bookstore! We had a lot of fun walking around and I took some photos today. We then went to Trader Joe’s and after that bought mini Bundt cakes at a specialty store called Nothing Bundt Cakes. They are the perfect size and they have a lot of flavors and so we will have that for dessert later!

Super good lunch! YUMMY! and mini Bundt cakes for dessert!

I love the sayings 😀 I should have bought them but I didn’t. I Love all the trees that line the streets so I had to take a photo!

It was hot today but we weren’t outside walking around too long before we were in a shop or bookstore. There was a wonderful breeze which made the afternoon really pleasant. It is always great fun to be out with the girls. My daughter’s girlfriend has two children who stayed home with dad, so I am thankful they let me tag along! They are the sweetest girls, so thankful for them. They make me smile and laugh. I try hard to keep up, sometimes feeling so much older (which I am of course) I am not one of those Mom’s who try’s to stay hip or anything….. I am just grateful they enjoy my company too. My daughter is spending the evening at her friends as well. We have plans to visit my daughter next weekend for July 4th. My hubby and I will drive up north the 3 hours to see her new house and spend time with her there. We all need to fit in all the family time we can, so here’s to FUN family weekends!!

Back to the horses, I have not only photo’s but a video to share. I had ridden yesterday by myself on Chloe and had passed a lot of other riders on my ride. There are so many days that I ride and don’t see anyone, but maybe they were out early like I was to beat the heat! I also have a few photo’s of Murphy I wanted to share as well. It is so fun to share!

There’s horses coming down the trail towards me and my camera focused more on Chloe’s head then the horse ahead!

She’s such a good girl as each horse or horses rides by, but then we are out on the trails all the time. She is very seasoned and not much bothers her as we stride along enjoying our day. Sometimes we come across bigger groups and so we will stop and move off the trail a little bit if needed. Mostly, we all just walk by each other and wish each other a good day and a good trail ride! Here is my video, I hope you enjoy!

I’m enjoying my time working with young Murphy! He has really settled in and is learning our routine. I think routines are so important as it not only helps solidify a bond between horse and owner, the horses learn by doing and they will relax and learn. They will realize what is asked of them is not hard, or scary and when you communicate what you want while doing this routine you can layer their training and they will then feel safe in your presence and with everything you ask them to do.

He is finally standing really well to be groomed. He was more antsy, moving around and he didn’t really enjoy the whole grooming process when he first arrived. With routine he is learning that if he stands, I can get done with what I need to do and his reward is getting back to his stall where lunch is waiting for him. Win, win! He is doing great!

Murphy out in the arena! Too funny, I caught him licking with his tongue slightly out on the photo to the right! Haha!
I took these photos of him standing next to another horse and he was respectful and quiet and stood like a champ!

My girlfriend with her horse Irish was next to Murphy. I went behind them so that you can see how tall Murphy is and Irish is pretty tall himself. Irish is a Morgan, so we have a Thoroughbred next to a beautiful Morgan! ❤ Okay, I think they are both so beautiful! And I have to say, I am so proud of Murphy! He has been such a joy and I am going to start riding him more regularly going forward.

Murphy and I getting along famously! Thank you pony sister for taking these photo’s for me! ❤

Thank you for visiting my #weekendcoffeeshare! It is always so much fun to share my days whether its family fun or horsey fun! I am keeping busy as you can see and I haven’t even written about my crochet projects and/or my coloring fun. Its just some fun things to do when I get home from work to unwind after a long day. Thank you Natalie for hosting the weekend coffee share, and if you would like to read more coffee shares click here!

Grateful Mom and Cowgirl,

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; June Fun!

On By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share27 Comments
  • Welcome to my weekend coffee share where we share what’s been happening in our lives! How are you today?

Hello and come on in and I have coffee or tea handy. I also have it hot or cold. Today I’m drinking a cold brew as it is a hot weekend. We are heading into a heat wave this next coming week which will get up over 100F degrees (38C) for most of the week into next weekend. It isn’t even officially summer yet, and I know it is cold and winter on the other side of the world. It is so interesting how in my little world I am going to sweat it out in the heat while others are heading into winter.

I can’t believe its June and the weeks just seem to fly by even though I am trying to take in every day and enjoy it to it’s fullest. I have been thinking a lot about the future and when I do I realize we can’t see the future, and even though we can plan for the future what ever will be will be ~ are you humming yet? 😀 Que Sera, Sera ~ I’m just thinking philosophically today about life and all that we can enjoy and even though our plans to move near my grandchildren have been put on the back burner, I will still dream to live near them one day. I can at least visit as often as I can and in the mean time enjoy what I do each day and that’s what I’ll be sharing here today. Here’s a couple of cute photos of my grandkids!

My son said he went into the closet and put the hat on his head! And he got into his mom’s paints sort of, water colors! And my sweet granddaughter with the gift she got with some money I sent to her in the mail!

They are so adorable and my granddaughter is getting so big. She will turn six in August! My grandson turned one in February so he is almost sixteen months now, toddling all over the place and into everything. As it should be with little ones, he is a handful but such a joy. I can’t wait to visit them and am so thankful we are able to travel now and visit as often as we would like. My entire family is vaccinated and thankfully we are all doing well. ❤

As I share I realized that I have not shared what’s been happening here at the house. We removed all the carpeting in the living areas and replaced the flooring with a wood-base laminate that is really durable. We just love how it turned out and I thought I would share some photo’s. This was done last month. My hubby is also working in our backyard putting in a retaining wall. A ton of work, what a busy year so far!

The only rooms with carpet is our bedrooms. We will be replacing them with new carpet in the near future. Our kitchen and the entry way has really nice travertine tile so we did not need to replace that and thought the flooring went well throughout the house. What a difference it has made in the openness and feel in our home!

I also can’t wait for the work in our backyard as the retaining wall (stackable bricks) will add support for the slope and eventual vegetation we want to plant. The previous owners never finished the back yard, and we never did either and we have been here 15 years now. I think its about time! These improvements will make our home enjoyable and add to its value.

Murphy and I are enjoying each other, he even enjoyed the water from the hose! Chloe and I out on trail, look at the tree bloom! So BEAUTIFUL!

I am enjoying the horses, trail riding with my best friend and sometimes by myself with Chloe. My vet will be out this coming week to check out Murphy’s leg and I am hoping I get a green light to start doing more with him. I am enjoying working with him and I took a video of him and thought I would share.

He is so funny because he knew I could not pay full attention to him while I was holding the phone to video! He is very smart and it has been fun seeing his personality! I am in no hurry with Murphy and I really want to take my time with him, especially since he is just 3 years old. I am enjoying the process of getting to know him and I am thinking we will have many years ahead of us of fun trail riding together! ❤

Surprise! Two videos today! He is such a character enjoying the water from the hose! My girlfriend at the stables did not know I was doing a video and was telling me about a sick friend and so I was responding which sounds kind of strange in the video but Murphy is so cute with those flapping lips I just had to share. We hope the friend will be all better soon.

Thank you for visiting and having coffee with me today. I always enjoy sharing the happenings around here and boy has it been a busy year so far, I can’t believe it! I have to thank Natalie for hosting the coffee shares providing us a link and you can visit other coffee shares here. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! I know I am enjoying mine! 😀

Happy Grandma 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; My New Horse Arrives!

On By DianaIn Barn stories, weekend coffee share13 Comments
  • Welcome, can I get you a cup of coffee or tea? Sit back, relax and enjoy my adventures this weekend!

I hope you have more than a few minutes to sit and chat as I have a lot to share! I know it takes me longer to write this than for ya’ll to read it so I am hoping this will be a FUN read. I am over the moon excited as my new horse arrived! I am getting chills as I write this as I cannot believe a Kentucky bred Thoroughbred is residing in Miss Chloe’s old barn stall. Please check out my last two posts (My Weekly Smile and my Weekend Coffee Share for more back story!). I received a call that Midnight Murphy was leaving Oklahoma Friday May 21st early morning 2am to be exact and he stayed true to his name as he arrived in my town just before Midnight Saturday night May 22nd! Here he is in the van, and honestly I am almost speechless how smoothly this whole entire process has been. I have to believe this was truly meant to be and for him to be my horse, without a shadow of a doubt! 😀

He was so calm. He never quivered or whinnied. He just calmly looked around and there was a lot of darkness as where I live there are no street lights. It’s a horse town remember? Its a rural setting in a city and there are only a couple of street lights near my house because there is a Junior High School across the street. Other than that we rely on our headlights, or barn lights if you must be at the barn at night.

I had a stable friend who I didn’t know extremely well stay with me as we waited and waited. We got to know each other sharing horse stories for the 5 hours we waited for the van. She owns an OTTB (Off the track thoroughbred) too, and her horse lives in the barn as well. She is 13 yrs old and raced until she was 10. She wants to use her as a hunter and jump. She is more “hot” with lots of nervous energy, which I believe comes with the territory of a long racing career. She loves her dearly though as she has the sweetest disposition. Midnight Murphy has never raced and is only 3 years old. This is what I want because he will be calm and gentle because he was not introduced to the rigors of racing. In my heart and head I felt I was looking at a very sensible, calm horse so far he is all those things!

These photos are not the greatest, all taken at night but I think totally worth sharing! This photo of him eating was after 30 minutes or so of him checking out his surrounding in his new barn stall. It does have a light, but he stayed out back with the light on in the barn. So I turned the light off, and he came inside and calmly started eating! I took this photo with my flash, and he didn’t skip a beat, spook or snort, just kept on eating like nothing happened. What a good boy!
What I did before the sun went down while I was waiting! I cleaned my saddles! I will start riding Murphy in the English one on the right. And eventually get him use to the Western saddle for trail rides. It is incredibly uncomfortable to sit in the English saddle on the trails. It isn’t made for that kind of riding, and you can see how worn in my comfy Western saddle is by the darkness where my legs reside. You can almost make out like a ghost leg! I have ridden over 100 miles in this saddle over the years!

As tired as I was feeling I was also very excited! I thought he looked comfortable and was not stressing out when I left him for the evening. He never once nickered or whinnied. They often call out when they are moved from place to place or have left herd mates behind. He was so relaxed (or stoic) and calm. He checked out his neighbors and those horses were more upset than him which is very typical. I thought I could sleep soundly knowing he would be okay in the morning. I woke up with this photo sent to me on my phone! A Happy surprise!

My boy taking a morning nap in the sun! I bet he is tired after his long travels. The caregiver at the barn was there early and when she walked into his stall he did not get up. She took the photo and then she said she slowly walked over to him and petted his head! AWW, what a sweet horse! He’s the calmest, sweetest 3 year old horse I have ever owned. Okay, Chloe is the first so he is the second! I can’t forget about Miss Chloe!

Today was get to know Midnight Murphy day! When you enter the stall he just looks at you like, hey, whatcha doing? He is so casual, just hanging out. He loves attention, loves the pets and pats and hugs. Not all horses like to be hugged, they are flight animals so with us being prey they look to see is she going to attack? Well, that’s the idea and what horses can think about but he just put his big ol’ head in the crook of my arms as I scratched his neck and I hugged his head with my left arm. He is the talk of the stables of course, so many of my horsey (pony sister’s) friends were coming and going and enjoying spending time with him as we stood in awe of his height! He is HUGE! But what FUN!! I can’t let something like height frighten me or there will be problems. I don’t let much ruffle my feathers and I have a huge amount of horse experience so I know we will be fine together. (I would never suggest I know everything, because no one knows everything about well, everything or anything they think they are an expert in so I am and always will be open to learn, learn, learn. I try to be a sponge!)

Here are some photos of today with the Murph!

Me and my selfies! I just have to try and this one turned out pretty good! He is such a joy! And isn’t he just Beautiful!!

I have just five more minutes to complete this coffee share before the link closes! So I am rushing to finish this and so I hope you enjoyed having coffee with me for this weekend. I have to thank Natalie for hosting and I will try and visit with everyone too. I hope you all have a wonderful week ahead! ❤

Welcome to the family Murphy! ❤ ❤ ❤

Super Happy 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; End Of April

On By DianaIn Barn stories, weekend coffee share24 Comments
  • Welcome to my weekend coffee share where we share what’s been happening in our lives with old friends and new!

Welcome, welcome, can I get you a cup of coffee or tea? I have had a fairly uneventful week this last week mostly working and doing all the things I do at the stables each morning. I have been enjoying our cool weather this April and it really has been unusually cool. There was a memory that popped up and the photo’s that came up were from last year when I planted my container’s with some plants and tomatoes and it was 100F (38C) ~ Wow, this same time last year was really HOT! We have been in the 60’s (15C) almost this whole last week and have only seen a few days in the 80’s (27C) the whole month of April. I am super duper happy with the coolness and the only thing that would be really nice is if we had some rain!

I thought I would look ahead at the weather and it will be really nice until the end of the week. April 29th and 30th will be a high of 95F (35C) and then it will cool a bit next weekend. I will enjoy each and every day and I should really go buy those tomato plants I wanted to grow. I have problems watering them consistently but maybe with my new hours which are more regular than my old hours at my old job I can be more consistent. It certainly can’t hurt to try!

Sorry, I seem to be only talking about the weather as it seems to be on my mind. As I think about the weather, I am thinking about how nice it is to ride and speaking of riding I wanted to share that after many months my bestie girlfriend has found and purchased a new trail horse. (Pretty good segue, don’t you think?) 😀 Haha, I hate to just change the subject but I really wanted to share this news. He is a Palomino registered quarter horse gelding and is super sweet. He has been great on our trail rides and I will be taking more photos I am sure as we trail ride together often.

He is so handsome and I am so happy for my girlfriend who searched high and low for the perfect trail pony! ❤

We have only gone out this last week and he is very relaxed and doesn’t worry about a thing. He was bred and born in North Dakota, I thought that was interesting and my girlfriend and I don’t know a lot about breeding but have had others who have said he has good bloodlines. The vet said he is super nice and I am so happy for my girlfriend so we can continue to enjoy trail riding together. She still has her horse Gracie who turns 29 years old this year. She is completely retired and is just enjoying life at the barn.

The trails looking between Chloe’s ears, and giving Chloe a treat by letting her graze, she loves this treat! ❤
Since I am so obsessed with the weather I thought I would share this photo of the stables with the cool clouds!

I am so incredibly happy my bestie girlfriend found her beautiful trail horse, Roscoe. This is not his registered name but the name he was given by his previous owners. The serendipity of his name is when my girlfriend and I were young and riding together (yes, we are grade school friends and were riding buddies then too!) she owned a horse named Roscoe! How fitting of a name for her as it brings back such wonderful memories and it feels like we are young again. As we age and grow old together it is so wonderful we can share our horses and our love for riding. We are truly blessed!

Thank you for visiting my coffee share this weekend. I have so much fun sharing and I have to thank Natalie for hosting and if you want to read her blog click here! She has a wonderful blog and it is so fun to catch up with her each weekend! Here is the link to even more weekend coffee shares which I encourage you to check out. I hope you all have a fabulous week ahead!

Weather Obsessed Cowgirl,

~Diana ❤