And Now, Shes 2.5 Years Old

Black Orchid Ambleside is 2.5 years old.

She’s 14.3hh at her withers/ 15.2 at her butt

and weighs about 1,571 lbs.

Today I did a measurement for saddle size, length anyway. Previously it was 16” but now it’s about 17” and I’m hoping my Bates saddle will be able to fit her but don’t know if it will be wide enough for her.

Joey is 27.5 years old

A friend at the Atlantic ocean did this for me, Lan + Denise with horse hoof tracks

Our new kittens, Cami and Sali

 

Looking For A Trainer

 Ambleside is 2.25 years old now and its time for her to start learning new things

So today we had Nina come out to give us a lesson

We learned how to move forward without stepping into my bubble and I learned how to make her move.

It was $45 for about a one hour lesson, which is longer than I've ever worked with her before but a good price. 

I've got a few things I will be working on:

leading without walking into me

lunging, not a lot

changing directions

standing tied

Amble wearing a surcingle and a bit

I'll be purchasing a few things for her in the next couple weeks:

5.25" copper loose ring bit

Cob bridle

The bridle I have will fit her but I'd like her to have her own. 

Joey has his own and Wifi has we own.

I've done this all before with Joey & Wifi but had assistance, this is my first horse without help.

Ambleside weighs about 1600 IF my calculations are correct but it seems a little heavy.

Others Peoples Bullshit

 I've been interested in Endurance Riding on horseback for a long time, for as long as I've had my own horses, half my life, but I've never done it. I've been on long rides, a few long poker rides that were 20=25+ miles long.

At our old farm Sarah did it with her mare and got Top 10 at her very first ride, a 50 mile ride. 

People at the ride were NOT encouraging, 

they totally told her it was beginners luck and not due to her knowledge and skill. I know she had that mare fully in condition, she trainer her up well. Went out riding 3-4 times each week to build stamina and trust.

So the point I'm getting at is that the 4,400 members of the group don't want there to be stand alone 25-35 mile races, they say its not endurance. I call bullshit on that, those are the people who are working toward the 50-100 mile races. 

those bitches need to pull their heads out of their asses.

I have Amble and I want to try it with her in about 5 years and of course I'll go shorter distances first and spend years getting her fit. 

Gypsys have great endurance but she might not personally enjoy it but no matter what, I want to do trail riding with her. I also want to train her to drive.

Camping

We loaded up the camper & sxs and headed out for the cousin reunion 

Stopped at Hyak to explore the old train tunnel

Soren thought that was pretty cool

Camped at Liberty for the night

It was about 97* so the guys had fun panning for gold in the creek

Arrived at Conconnully at 2:30pm Friday

Went out for a night ride with cousin Kyle, Brooke & their son Blake

Friday morning went up to China Wall

Then explored the old Gold mine above the wall

I picked up CUTE new PJs for the trip

 

Horses This Week

I love my horses!

Wifi is used to the fact that she will spend most of her day inside the round pen, not eating all the pasture grass. We let her out for an hour each morning and then she will walk into the pen from wherever she is in the pasture. Then she lets us put the fly mask onto her head.

Joey lets me put the fly mask on him as well.

Ambleside doesn't like the fly mask, she doesn't like fly spray & she doesn't like dewormer either.

 

Summer Fun

The greenhouse is built and there are a few plants in it.

There is 1 bell pepper plant

there are 11 sweet peppers

and there are about 10 pot plants

Outside the greenhouse there is a raised bed full of potato plants

There is a bed with a few volunteer tomatoes

and there is a bed with more volunteer tomatoes and basil, chives, a different pepper and something else

We went for a drive up to Mt Rainier yesterday and that was NICE. Took the car out to Enumclaw to pick up some tools for his work and then out Hwy 165 to Evans Creek. The road to Mowich Lake is closed and thats a bummer.

Wifi had gotten way too fat so I put her on a diet. Shes lost about 200 lbs and looks good but shes still very lame and it might be Navicular. Shes in the round pen 90% of the time they're in pasture and I'm feeding her grass hay. Joey & Amble are on the grass and get alfalfa at night in the barn.

This photo was from February.

 

Greenhouse

 The greenhouse isn't finished yet, we took that 2.5 week long Vegas Desert vacation and even though we've been home a week, I just haven't gotten back out there to finish it. Most of the metal is put together. We still need to assemble the doors and the ceiling vents.

Every time we work on it we get into an argument.

Vegas Never Disappoints

 

These photos aren't of Vegas; thats because we don't spend a lot of time in the city. These are a few of the 500+ photos I took of our trip.

Pink gun is the smallest gun I've ever seen & it honestly shoots.

Silver City, Idaho

Mining

Sunsets

We get up & stay up to see as many sunrises and sunsets as we can

Yellowstone

I got a ladder out of this mine but not THIS ladder

I wonder if it can pierce the skin?

Las Vegas, Again

We've got our week in Las Vegas reserved for May

We didn't want to go but we will be there in May just so our week doesn't go to waste. 

We'll take the RV and SXS again

I'm hoping we can go to Pioche & visit Jon.

 

New Additions

We bought a green house

I've been wanting one for a few years

This is a map of the yard & the spots where it might go and the requirements:

Can't block sight of the barn or chicken coop

Needs to be close to water

Maybe close to electricity

Must be close to garden

Must be convenient

Must NOT be under trees

NEEDS sunshine

PINK is by barn runs, close to water & electric but block view of horses

LITE PURPLE was my 1st choice but blocks view of horses

LITE BLUE is everything but too shady

PURPLE too far away

We're going to move the two raised beds on the right and move them to the bottom left 

& put the green house on the right. 

That way we can see the barn, horse runs & coop, 

its close to water, electricity & house and get plenty of sunshine.

The yellow circles are trees that need to be taken out and they still will but we're taking out the fence first and thats happening as I write this. 

I'll be taking out the first raised bed after I'm done with this blog and when I finish watching 

Catching Fire on Netflix

Heres the Green House as it arrived, its 8 feet long and about 200 lbs

Here is another view of where it will end up and the two beds we will move. I'm going to shovel the dirt into the other beds and use it to fill in holes in the ground; the ground has sunk since we have moved here and that might be from buried stumps.

The fence around the back yard was here to keep the dogs contained was here for 8 years but John Henry died and Havva is old and the fence rotted so its being removed. 

The two beds are being moved parallel to the two on the top right and the green house will be on the bottom right 

I'm planning on hanging lights like this in it so it will be cute

 

Mastiff Ocean Trip & Curt Cobain's house

Clare enjoyed her first trip to Ocean Shores

I always like seeing how this thing evolves

In my life I think I've gone over this bridge about 50 times, each direction

Curt Cobain lived here as a kid

 

Calling In

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New To Us Round Pen

THIS was an awesome score.

Went to the local farm stores to check out prices on corral panels & they were way more in stores than their advertised prices online. Online they were about $179 but same things in stores $229+.

Went to Lowes & Home Depot to check out wood to build 40', 50' or 60', this is what I REALLY wanted but once its in the ground, its there to stay. Wood would cost about $2000 for a 60' with 4x6 posts & four 2x6x10 rails.

Advertised I was looking for corral panels on FaceBook and a local gal was selling hers.

Today we went & picked up five 12' & six 10' panels, they are heavy duty galvanized, in decent condition and I only paid $560 all together.

She was selling a bunch of other items as well, all her tack, an OLD 2 horse straight load trailer that's a POS for $300, etc. I picked up two 100 gallon Rubbermaid water troughs for $50 each.

Are you wondering why I need a round pen? Well, Wifi is FAT and shes got small hooves so I'm putting it up in the front pasture & she will go in there. 

I need to get her some low sugar TEFF hay and she will get that & be on a diet and I hope I can get her down at least 200 lbs.

Amble needs a diet overhaul as well. Shes got Stringhalt, which is something that can be controlled with diet & conditioning. Backing in a straight line, walking hills straight. Her diet needs low sugar & carbs and I need to check her vitamins.

How did she get Stringhalt? I firmly believe it was because Mack ran into us last August. I'm glad he's gone, I loved him but he was mean as hell to everyone else.

Pasture bliss

Joey has been happy with just the girls but I'm sure he misses Mack

Last weekend we drove down to Oregon & picked up 4 brand new tires for the SxS, on the way we made a detour & got the pretty new halter for Amble. Brown leather with silver accents so if we show again she will have this. It has a matching leather with silver lead too.

IN OTHER NEWS:

The side by side, SxS, looks great with its new tires and we took it out today. 

What fun!

It had 28" tires, these are 32s with bead lock rims. We now glide over the rocks and roots.

Lan had invited Mary & Grant to join us and I think they had as much fun as we did.

This guy was fun to watch rock crawl.

SO many people were out there today

The parking areas were all full and they were parking along the road.

The water level is down but we still managed to get wet, in this particular puddle we were underwater.

AND in more other news:

I am now the #3 on-call dock employee at Washington State Ferries!!

I no longer LOVE my job, I don't even really like it and I've been there going on 12 years.

There is a temporary bid open right now with a shift at Vashon 2:15pm-12:15am.  If I could get that, I can feed horses in the mornings and Lan in the evenings and I'd have weekends off with him. We could both do more of the fun stuff that we like to do together, like todays ride. What I don't like about the shift is that I'd have to take the 12:15pm ferry to Vashon, a full 2 hours before my shift even starts and there is no other option. Getting off at 12:15am would be OK, I'd just have my shit all ready in my car and as soon as the Night Watch guy gets there I'd get on the boat to come home. Unless he's late. Or the boat decides to go to Fauntleroy instead. Or there's NO BOAT. 

I live 19 minutes / 10 miles from Southworth dock & that's my home dock now. Right now if I work at Vashon or Fauntleroy I get paid Time & Mileage and that adds up quick. I worked 2 days at Fauntleroy last week, 1 hour drive to west Seattle in the mornings, rode the boat back to SW after I got off. I don't like being on-call, the hours suck and with the new rule that ALL state employees get 40 hours (yay big check) I HATE not being home, I hate working at 3:30 one day then 2-midnight the next, then 2 days later 3:45am. That bullshit is killing me. I AM the #1 oncall there so I do get the best available shifts.

I could bid back to Bremerton dock but with only 1 boat there its really boring with nothing to do and no place for extra people to hang out. Traffic people don't want us in their shack, plank people don't want us in their office and we can't be with the sellers. I'd be the #3 oncall there so would get 'guaranteed work' more often than not & mostly traffic, which pays less than selling.

I might need to bid permanent but then I'd have permanent set days off & a set schedule and not ever have to work other docks again.