Record breaking rainfall

 It rained most of the day yesterday and all night. Our roof is leaking in two places. We need a new roof but we can not afford it. ( it will be patched by  husband Doug) It must be a record breaking rainfall and should be the end of the drought. I need to check on line to see how full Lake Oroville and Lake Mendocino are in N California, as a gauge to see how we are doing with rainfall and snow. We must go out to see the horses later this morning. I will be wearing full yellow slicker rain gear and rubber boots. In past years we have had to walk the mile in from the main road because the road from there was impassable, it is not paved. The horses may be standing in a lake of water. They are kept in pens with "shaders" to shelter under, and are wearing water proof blankets.( with some padding to keep them warm) It is cold for us here about 44 degrees F right now at 9am.

A very rainy Christmas Eve

 I think that today may be a record breaker as far as rain fall. The drought here is over. I just went out to unclog a drain at the side of the house and got wet feet. I should have put my rubber boots on. I  was drinking my cup of coffee and thinking about what I was going to write in my other blog, picture pedigree research, where I am writing my memoirs in a brief format about my life with horses. Looking for pictures is challenging.  For a future post I remembered that I had a photo inside a book on Leominster of me and a horse, that I  put in there because the background had the old Priory work house in it. Now I have to a) find the book and b) remember that I remembered later in the day. I am having so much enjoyment from writing down about what my life was like, but also going through some emotional realizations. Below is the view from our car at a gas station ( in Simi Valley CA USA ) I am trying to figure out how to get captions below my pictures like I used to be able to when I first started this blog.

The Rain ( thanks John for the tip here is my caption)

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The Christmas Season

 As with last Christmas this one is lonely. I do not know if we will ever see our friends again as they are so afraid of the Covid and the Omicron and what ever other variants will come about. Never the less we do have Doug's(my husband) son and his wife who will come to our house for Christmas dinner. I have put my miniature white Chrismas tree out, and neighbors have left us plants at the door step that I can use to decorate the house such as a Poinsettia and a

red Gerbera. They too are so afraid and wont see us face to face by knocking on the door. Above is a photo of our fireplace with a fire going in it. This year, because it has rained a lot we can have a fire and not be worried about embers from the chimney starting a wildfire. ( here in Southern California, Simi Valley) I decided a few days ago to start writing my memoirs about my life with horses/ponies , starting in England and Wales and then in the USA after I moved here. I am really enjoying doing that and looking for pictures to add and realizing some home truths. Hopefully this link goes there It is on my picture pedigree blog.https://www.blogger.com/blog/posts/2368481935633369566

I started writing about my life with horses

 Here is a link to my other blog where I am writing it.

 https://www.blogger.com/blog/posts/2368481935633369566

A water feature from the recent rains

 Tandy will go through water, Coco not so much. Our two Morgan horses out on the trail today. With my husband ( the main gutsy horse trainer) and daughter in law Dasha.

Tandy and Pesky play

 These two found an old "jolly Ball" in turnout and had a lot of fun with it. Then Tandy saw Knight coming home from a trail ride.

A few months ago I had the idea to cut down on how much grass I mow in the front of our house.I put some roofing felt down on the area that I planned to make into an island flower bed, so that the grass would get killed.

 

It was a lot of hard work, but at last I have dug over, pulled out grass roots and tree roots and bits of plastic mesh from my proposed flower bed. I transplanted three roses and  some plant divisions and cuttings. Hopefully they will all live and flourish.

We had the first significant rain for the season.

 I am so grateful to have rain here. Not only does it start the growth of green grass, but it also wets things so that the possibility of wild fires is a lot less. Now is the the time when we have very high winds and usually low humidity. The four horses were turned out briefly for exercise. It started to rain quite hard. Then they were brought in to their pens and had blankets put on, and were given some hay to chew on. Husband  Doug took a photo of Tandy cosy in his blanket, for his daughter in law who owns him. There is a picture of me and also our back garden in the rain.

 

To the track

 A break from horses and some time with race cars. My husband and step son spent a day testing at Willow Springs race track . I was the main helper, which means buckling them into the cars.

 Tandy and Doug out on a trail ride with daughter in law Dasha on Coco. I thought I would video then galloping up the hill. Tandy saw me and spooked, and took Doug across the hill instead of on the trail. Coco, a seasoned trail horse was perfectly behaved. Location near the town of Moorpark, Southen California. Both horses are Morgans. Coco VJC Mystical Enchantress age 22 and Tandy TLB Panamint Warrior a "green " 7 year old.

 My step son Jonathan came out today on a trail ride, he rode Tandy. My husband and I ride several times a week. It was fun to have a new rider out with us. We also went a different way than usual and Tandy almost threw Jonathan when we were cantering and there was a dark clump of weeds on the trail. Tandy jumped sideways and Jonathan came half way out of the saddle but recovered. The rest of the ride was uneventful. All three of our rides are Morgan horses.

 Dasha the owner of Tandy and her husband have gone on vacation to Cancun for two weeks and we have been carrying on as usual going out to the horses every day and riding Tandy., and taking care of our other three. Dasha is my step daughter in law and a native of Siberia Russia. She is now manager of food production regulating for the state of California. Yay Dasha.

Tandy is a candidate for the seven games

I suggested to Dasha that the seven games may be interesting for her to do with Tandy. I did then years ago with our TB Pesky. 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NwnhG2Ayvk

 Dasha rode her horse Tandy for the first time out on a trail ride !!

I get to rake the trails

 The Quad bike is finally repaired by husband Doug, after all the wiring got chewed by pack rats. He and daughter in law Dasha rode today on Tandy and Coco. The weather is so humid here it feels as if I am back in new York.

 

I  had a great time in New York visiting with my son and family, sight seeing and gardening.

I am off to New York

 Later today I will be getting on a plane in Burbank California, and flying to New York to visit with my son, his wife and my grand daughter. I have not seen my grand daughter in person, only on Skype,so this will be interesting. She is 18 months old. I will be gone for 9 days, leaving my husband Doug in charge of the horses etc.

Tandy was tried in a hackamore

 Tandy seemed to enjoy not having a bit in his mouth and was controllable. He is very mouthy with all  the bits we have tried. He may have wolf teeth, but in the meantime Doug decided to just use a hackamore.

 

 

A harness for Knight

 We have bought a harness for Knight. We already have a cart. So soon we will be trying both out. I should say that Knight is fully trained to harness. As of January 2022 we have not !

Knight first solo ride and a rattlesnake sighting.

Our usual Saturday morning schedule got changed and it was a good opportunity to see how Knight coped out on the trail by himself. He was just the same as with company Doug said. While I was out with him on the Quad bike I wanted to check to see if there was water in a big trough out in a non used cow pasture. There sleeping where I almost stepped, was a very big rattle snake. What a beauty, it was sleeping in a hollow in the sandy soil.

 

 

 

 Tandy got to go out with Knight and Coco today he was great. We galloped and he was a bit difficult for Doug to stop, but otherwise all was good, Our friend Aubrey rode Knight, she is an experienced

rider so could cope with Knights reluctance to stop as well. Coco was perfectly behaved.

Tandy went out by himself

Tandy is now standing quietly for mounting and dismounting and went out for a half hour trail ride. He balked a few times but was OK and even cantered and galloped.

Tandy out on a trail ride

 After about 30 days of lunging and long lining, Doug decided it was time to get on Tandy and ride him. Coco went out as lead horse, but Tandy led the whole way. We are fortunate to have a open space on a private ranch to ride. Mounting and dismounting Tandy are the main trouble spots. I held Tandy and let him eat grain while Doug got on. Also the mounting block had to be up against a rail to stop him from sidling away. Then dismounting was troublesome, as Tandy wanted to jump forward as soon as Doug took his foot out of the stirrup. This horse has been"professionally" trained. But something went wrong. Tandy was very brave out on the trail and did not spook at anything. So different from the Arabians and Thoroughbreds that I have experienced in the past. 

 

Tandy is progressing

Today Tandy was taken out of the round pen and long lined around the horse pens and he  responded to Doug and the bit

well. The last time we did this he was not ready, or reacted to a previous memory that was not good, and freaked out and got wrapped up in the lines. We have discovered that he is very afraid of whips, fly spray and the horse clippers. It makes me wonder what happened when he was in professional training a year ago. Anyway we can retrain him and it is progressing well. Next up is Doug riding him.

And long lines

 Tandy seems to have remembered his training. He will be worked in long lines until he relaxes and yields lightly to the bit.

Tandy is our main focus

 Bit by bit we are reminding Tandy of his training. So far we have lunged him and added a surcingle and bit. Today we were going to add long lines but it actually rained !! So in a day or two we will see what kind of response we get to the bit.