Christmas Day

We took the kids to the lake yesterday to ride. It was a beautiful day and the area we went to was mostly empty. We've lived in the valley for almost 4 years and this was the first time we've gone down to the lake shore.



Studly didn't care too much for the water.



Amigo loved it and spent lots of time playing in it. This is my favorite picture of the day. I love the reflection of Malachi and Amigo in the lake!

Wild Mustang Video

I don't know how many of you know about the controversial stuff going on with the BLM and the roundups of mustangs. In short, the man in charge of the BLM has been doing a huge number of roundups in the last year or so. At the rate he's going there aren't going to be any free roaming bands left. The lands that supposedly can't support the mustangs are then being given to private cattle ranchers with grazing permits. Private groups are fighting this man with letter writing campaigns and lawsuits. Even when favorable rulings are given to delay the roundups, the BLM has gone ahead with their plans. Here is an entertaining video that one person put together about what's been going on.

Hottie

We lost another horse this morning. As I was going through my pictures I realized I didn't have any recent ones of her. The last one I took was in early May and she had grown so much since then. It didn't seem important to snap pictures as Malachi rode her or as the kids ponied her with the other horses because she was young and I figured I'd have many years of picture opportunities.



I should have taken a picture of her when I went to the vet to say goodbye yesterday but I forgot my camera and was too upset. I was focused on getting those last few nuzzles and kisses that she offered. Hottie was our foster horse but I intended to pay for her early next year so that she would be officially ours. We picked her up right after Ginger, Lorna's paint horse, died earlier this year. She would have been 4 years old next month, she was way too young to die. She coliced late Thursday night but we thought we got her through it. Friday morning we saw she was distressed again so we took her to the vet. The news was a lot worse than we expected. The vet tried medicines and fluids but nothing could get through the impaction in her bowels. The vet did a necropsy this morning after putting her down and found that even if she would have made it through it probably would have happened again due to internal problems. It's been hardest for me because Hottie was supposed to be my horse. She would follow me around the pen when I went out to brush her or feed treats. She would come running as soon as she heard my voice hoping for a scratch or a carrot. She was really sweet and I'll miss her terribly.

Snow

We got about 7 inches of snow on Monday.

For those of you in the Midwest that's not such a big deal but for our area that's huge. Paul left Monday late morning for work only to turn around and come home because the snow was piling up. By the time he got back up here we had 7 inches on the ground and he got his little car stuck right around the corner from our house. We took the truck and pulled out the car, barely. The truck's tires were spinning and it was fishtailing as we tried to get the car unstuck. I refused to drive the car around the corner so Paul put the truck in the driveway and then walked back for the car. He almost didn't make it home because the car got stuck again. There was nowhere to pull the car off of the one lane road so we couldn't safely leave it. He stayed home yesterday because the roads didn't start clearing until late. He almost didn't make it out of the driveway this morning because the roads are so icy.

The temps were in the teens this morning and my washer has been frozen since Monday. We were supposed to pick up Lorna's new horse yesterday but that has been postponed until Friday. As of right now we are supposed to have a gymkhana show this Saturday but there is rain in the forecast for the next 3 days so that may not happen. The snow is beautiful though and we very desperately need the precipitation.