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| Hi everyone. Sort of lost track over the end of the summer and the wrecker of figures Christmas. I put 12 pounds back on. Need to get back started back on plan on Sunday and already craving candy!!! I hope everyone is doing alright with their animals and their waist lines. Talk soon.
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Hi Smiling,
I guess being limber helps getting up on my horse. I took awhile for me to do it, but it felt so good when I did. I work out alot and lift weights so they say if you can lift your own body weight that is good.
I live only 26miles from Casa Grande. I go in to Casa Grande a lot. That is where we go to the Home Depot at. Maricopa is on hwy. 346 of of I-10. It is the same route as if you were going to Tucson.
Gold Canyon is in the far east valley. It is east of Mesa and Apache Junction. I used to live in Queen Creek and that is just south of Apache
Junction. Well Iv'e got to to talk to you later. Darla
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BARNGODDESS
8/28/06 11:26 A
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Darla - couldn't find Maricopa on my AZ map - is it straight south or...? My folks used to live in Gold Canyon and my former neighbor lives around Apache Junction. One of my former husbands was from Casa Grande.
I'm amazed you can pull yourself up on that big horse! I'm trying to figure out how at your height you can even get your leg up stirrup level and still have enough oomph to get yourself up!!!! lol
One of my neighbors brought her horse over Sat. and we played Parelli games with our horses in the round pen. My mare was fine until it got time to ride then she was a complete goober! So we rode around in the pen for a bit and gave up on the idea of going for a ride - my mare was obviously telling me she was not in the mood for her first trail ride that day!
That is an interesting mix of cow you raise... When we first got our longhorns & longhorn crosses alot of the old time cattle people were telling us that the meat would be tough and it wouldn't taste good... they were SO wrong. Now when we give people some to try they can't believe how delicious it is.
Guess I'd better get outside and get busy - need to move some hay around so I have room for some more.
Smiling!
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Hi Smiling,
I live in Maricopa it is south of Phoenix. We have Brahma/Hefer mix. They make a good tasting beef. We have been raising beef for about 15 yrs. I used to have to stand on a fence to get up on my horse, but since I have been working out I just lower the stirups and get on that way. I pull up myself. My husband was surprised the first time I did it. Not bad for a woman who will be 50 soon. lol
Where in Arizona do your former neighbors come too?
Well got to go now I will talk later. Darla
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BARNGODDESS
8/25/06 10:47 A
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Darla - welcome! I'm not sure where the others from this thread have gone - it is a busy time of year!
I had a gelding that was 16 1/2 hands and 1300# - he was such a good boy though he really liked to go! - I sold him last year. You must stand on something to tack up?! Now I ride mostly my 2 Arabs both are under 15 hands - I figure if (or when) I fall off I'll be closer to the ground! lol
Where do you live in AZ? My folks just moved from there to WA last year. And my former neighbor winters there. She used to haul her horse back and forth but she sold him this past winter.
What type of beef do you raise? We used to have cows - longhorns, and longhorn crosses. They produced awesome lean tender beef.
Thanks for sharing!
Smiling!
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Hi ladies,
I have two beautiful horses. They are paints. My horse Roise is about 16 hands tall. She used to be a trail horse. My other horse is my husbands her name is Cherokee. She is a fisty one. We haven't been riding in a while lot of work to do to get our patures in. We just moved to our house a little over a year ago, but the place was a mess when we bought it. We have 3.3 acres in Arizona. Right now it is to hot and humid to ride them so we will wait until it cools off. We just trail ride. I am not a very good rider so that is why my husband bought me a trail horse. It is really hard to get her to run and I like that. I know when ever I do go riding I get a good work out. I am a small person (4'11") so Roise sure does gives me a good work out when I do get her to run. Our horses are both Mares. We also raise beef. To eat and sell. Well I got to go. Darla
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BARNGODDESS
8/17/06 10:28 A
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JLyn - starve huh? Gee, something to look forward to! I'm sure you'll get those last pounds off - even if they don't come off quite as fast as you would like!
You didn't say whether you board or have Candi at home. I'm thinking board due to the arena or are you one of the lucky ones that have an arena at home?!
NO - I don't event (yikes) - I am a novice rider and she is pretty green. She is super athletic when she is not immensely overweight like right now, but she is quite a handful as far as her personality goes.
I've only had horses for about 4 1/2 years and experienced quite a learning curve! My horsekeeping skills are terrific, my riding not so much yet. Once I get this divorce thing done I hope to get back to taking riding lessons if I can find someone in this area that is good - where is Linda Parelli when you need her!!?? lol
My first horse was my Arab mare who was VERY green when I bought her - (( know what you are thinking!). She has been a real learning experience for me - we've been through alot together including a horrible barn fire and I can't imagine ever not having her. We've both grown so much together and even though she can be a bit "blonde" at times (no offense to blondes) I totally trust her because we have such a close bond.
The others were "rescues" of one sort or another... mostly unwanted due to lack of time, money, or interest....
Well guess I'd better get busy - seems like summer is flying by way too fast.
Do you have trails nearby or do you have to trailer?
What type of showing did you do? Western pleasure?
Smiling!
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I ride trail mostly, and of course we work in the arena a lot to keep toned and keep her head on straight. Candi is very "pleasure" bred. She gets the occasional wild hair but is really pretty much there to please me. I had a cowboy break her a year and a half ago. He said if she were a gelding he would give me three horses for her (he apparently won't own a mare).
I asked him why and he said she is just completely honest and wants to do whatever he asks and gives her heart to it. That is really what I like about her. I used to show, had very trained pleasure horse, but I got so sick of that and then I wanted to hee haw and do cows. My trainer insisted I sell Sabrina as it would be a joke to have her go out on trails and work cows (proly true).
I got a ranch gelding and he nearly killed me, then another and finally I decided I could not do a low brow pony with no finer points and calm brain, but I could not use a show trained pleasure horse cause they can't do anything but what they are trained for, so I bought Candi's breeding, unbroke, and took her to a cowboy. It worked out well.
The Andalusian cross sounds so interesting. Do you event with that one? Let's keep talking. I love to talk horses and I will gladly take cheering on with Spark. The thing that is hard is to loose that last fifteen pounds. Once you get that close you almost have to starve to get it off. I am disheartened.
Lyn
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BARNGODDESS
8/14/06 10:49 A
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JustLyn - your mare is a beauty! Well we're practically neighbors - CA & WA! I have more to lose than I would like - big sigh and at 54 and never having had to worry much about weight before I was pretty clueless when starting spark! I'm learning how to deal with my emotional/stress eating and am working on getting out of a crap marriage where I gained due to stress and more stress - I'm losing but oh soooo slowly! I also love my wine & beer and of course must have a snack with them lol! My goal is to lose 270# within a year. 40 of my own and 230 my not so dear H!
I have 4 horses. 2 Arabs (one mare - 10, one gelding - 16), an andalusian/thoro x mare - 9, and a 27 yo Foxtrotter mare. What type of riding do you do? Board or have them at home?
Well welcome to this thread. I enjoyed your pictures! Stay in touch.
Smiling!
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Hey there barn girl. You can see by my image that I am in your camp. That girl is Candi. She is 4, nearly finished, my absolute heart's delight. I am 53, nearly finished :-) and I am not nearly as cute as my best girl, but I try.
I live in CA, near Sacramento. Don't have too very much to loose, but it is a struggle. Under 1,200 calories daily will do it but I have a hard time sticking to that (and I love beer).
Went riding today so I logged it into Cardio. See my page for more pics of us all, my kiddos and puppies and ponies and the DH.
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BARNGODDESS
8/12/06 9:07 P
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Moore - I hear ya. After replanting the garden 2x it is finally producing but nothing like past years. In fact our apple tree which is usually loaded with apples has only 3-4 apples this year - weird! I finally cleared a path through the weeds to the beans so I could pick.... lol and found an unexpected zuch plant which had a couple small ones on it - yey! Looks like I might have some cucumbers soon and the potatoes and spahetti squash are really growing. I wish the deer would focus on some of the weeds for awhile instead of the chard and roses!! lol
Moore - a question re your donkey friends... are they always so loud? We have a donkey behind us and one to the side (quite a ways away) and it always sounds like they are braying through a bull horn!! lol Usually 2-3 times a day we hear them and I am always surprised at how loud they are. Do they have other vocalizations? Like a horse has a nicker, whicker, neigh, etc...
Well guess I'd better get outside and finish washing out all the water buckets.
Smiling!
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| I am fighting weeds this year and I have Tomatoes worms this year the squash bugs ate my zucchini. The broccoli bolted. This has been a bad year for gardens. I love cabbage. I did not plant any this year.
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BARNGODDESS
8/7/06 11:39 A
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Moore - yes, lots of cabbage! Can't keep up with it at this point so am donating to food bank - same with green beans.
Have had company of various sorts for the past couple of weeks so things have been hectic. Just sent the last of the grandkids home. Had 3 of them here at once (big mistake) and they spent alot of their time teasing and fighting and basically driving me nuts. Ages 8, 7, and 3 1/2. The 3 1/2 year old was the best behaved of the group!
Garden is so overgrown that veggies can hardly be seen through the weeds - OH MY!
I'm making a renewed commitment for a healthier lifestyle - to date I have been sporadic at best. Vowed to ride more this summer (and have) but not nearly as much as I wanted. Time flies by so quickly.
Hope all is well with you guys - Big how is the new puppy doing?
Smiling!
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ELLIE-MAE
7/24/06 12:46 A
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| ALICAT1 is the person you need to talk to about horses. She used to own a race horse. She is my sister and live in Abbotsford.
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| I can not believe that you have cabbage already.
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BARNGODDESS
7/23/06 11:02 A
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mmm cucumbers!
I don't know that I'll even get any this year - and most years I have way more than I can use and send all the extra stuff to the food bank.
I do have green beans to pick today. Yumm blueberries! I had blueberries at my old place - here I have raspberries and grapes.
Yes, the deer can be a pain but I still love them. We feed them alfalfa, deer blocks, and oats/barley out in the garden all winter so duh of course they will come in the summer to see what we have!
I need to get outside and pick beans, chard & cabbage before it gets too hot....
I love hearing about your garden! Thank you.
Smiling!
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| I Picked my first cucumbers yesterday the were so good. I share with the deer also. They Do a lot of damage. I also picked a few quarts of blueberries. I have not been out driving here either it is to hot here And we are finale able to get some hay in.
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BARNGODDESS
7/20/06 10:59 P
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Just stopping in to say hello!
Yey, a new puppy - how fun!
And yes this has been a difficult garden year. Had to plant 2x because of rain ... latest obstacle are my little "deer" friends! I don't mind them coming into the garden to share but when they eat my roses - the whole thing - then we may have issues!!! lol Oh well, I just cover part of each thing they bother with row cover and they leave that part alone and the other part is theirs... it all works out! They especially love the chard and beet tops.
We have had mostly sunny days - the next few days are supposed to be in the 100's - too hot to ride unless one gets out extra early.
Hope this finds everyone well!
Smiling!
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| Thank you for Message. I thought that was cool. It takes a lot to get any equine to reach that amount of trust.
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| The rain really got me down, we had about 10 days of sun in 2 months but now we have had about 6 days in a row of sun things are really dry out now. Puppies are so much fun.
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| Thanks!! I think she is a sweety. She has been so good follows me everywhere and only one mistake in the house. I have a better picture and will post it on the site. Have a great day and hope the rain stops. It is to be sunny here for the next 3 days. Ruth
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| It would not have been so bad if I had not had to plant it twice because of all the rain. I added a great new photo yesterday off my donkey laying down. He let me go sit beside of him while he was laying down. That is so big to have that much trust.
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Hi Ladies,
We've been having rain here in NS as well. It's terrible we are water logged. It suppose to be sunny tomorrow and I am looking forward to that.
Ruth your puppy looks adorable bassets are so cute.
Moorefarm your poor garden. I remember years ago hearing hoofs outside of my bedroom window below it I had flowers and shrubs when I looked out there were three horses enjoying themselves,lol, the lead horse chewed on the gate got it unlatched and let the two mares out with him. One of the mares was very pregnant and she went down into the brook, the banks were very unstable so it took a little while to get her out and the worry of her having the foal there, it did upset her and she foaled two days later without incident. What would we do without animals I can't imagine myself not having one.
Have a great weekend,
Chouchi†
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Here is a picture of Gerty. She is a 8 week old Basset Hound. She is too cute.
Have a great day. Ruth
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| Make sure to post a photo of your new Puppy.
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| I know what you mean, my goats use to get out and distroy my garden, flowerbeds and all my shrubs. I find the cattle and horses much easier to control, but you got to love them. I just heard a weather report and we are suppost to get sun for the next five days. Things should dry and the grass will grow again. I must be off to pick up my new puppy. Take care Ruth
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| I feed some hay in the summer. All square bales. I have never seen such a wet spring and summer. We are on our 5th day of sun things are starting to dry. Oh ya yesterday I feed the donkeys my garden, They go out. What a mess they made the up rooted a ton off stuff.
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| Do you feed hay all year round? I feed the cattle hay for 8 months and they graze for the rest. The horses only get 2 flaps aday in the summer. I have found now that I only have the two horse I go through a lot less square bails. The cattle make up for it with the rounds. We had another storm yesterday and again it rained like crazy. We have very sandy soil and it takes alot of water to make puddles, but this year I have lakes in my fields. There is always an upside, the soft ground is good for the horses feet. With it being soft and them pounding because of the bugs they do not bust up their feet as badly. Well enough for now. Have a dry one and keep at the weight loss. Ruth
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| It has been so wet here we still can not get out on the fields to hay Hope next week is good. I am running out of hay.
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| We have had rain everyday for the last week. The storm last night was a noisy one. Lots of lightening and thunder. The rain came down in sheets. It is great for the grazing, but hard to get the hay off the fields. The nice part is when it is not raining the sun is out and it is in the high 90's. I love the heat. You hang in there and there is always work to be done on the farm so I am sure you (like me) get lots of exercise. Ruth
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| Glad to hear she is up and moving. I am at a stand still I hope I drop some weight soon. The weather has been good for 3 days in a row so I am out side as much as I can catching up on the weeds in my garden.
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