I went to log into my blog this morning and was totally lost and confused. Everything had changed. So I thought the blogs just got a new interface. Ok, cool. Then I couldn't find my old posts or photos or friends. Then I was angry. I finally managed to get into my old blogs by doing a serach for one of my old topics. Anyone else having the same problems???

Check out my new photos of us riding through the Redwoods. These are a little better than last time.

So we took the horses back to where we rode 2 weeks ago, out in the redwoods. I got some better pictures, but some are still blurry. I was riding Dakota when I was trying to take them and he was NOT wanting to hold still at all. In fact, we kept leaving my poor sister and Spring behind.

Poor Spring kept having to trot to keep up. And she got another rock lodged in her frog AGAIN! I'm just gonna have to put shoes on her. Anyhow, check out my album "Riding in the Redwoods". It was absolutely beautiful the day we rode.

The past few weeks have been horrible. Everything that could go wrong....went wrong! So this weekend I decided it was time for a nice ride. So I loaded up the horses, grabbed a friend, and drove out to my old riding territory: The Avenue of the Giants - the redwoods.

I grew up in a place called Pepperwood. And while there are plenty of Pepperwood trees, most people have no idea that they exist, mainly due to the overly popular Redwood. We lived on 10 acres, literally out in the "sticks", in a "town" of a population of 50. In the summer, however, it was busy with tourists. People would actually lay in the middle of the road and take pictures looking up at the trees. The road would be crowded with parked cars and people picking blackberries, logan berries, raspberries, apples, plums, and cherries that grew in abundance along the old the highway. As kids, we always had our favorite spots. We knew which tree had the best apples, or where you could find a berry bush that hadn't been bothered by the tourists.  Our neighbors, of course, also had a near-year-round produce stand that sold organic fruit and vegetables, as well as the ever-popular blackberry popsicle.

 That's me, at 12 years old on my pony. I rode by my neighbors and bought a popsicle and she took this picture of me. Typical me - no shoes, no saddle. And if you look closely, I also have "black" teeth...

You could stand in my back yard and all would see at the end of the horse pasture was a giant wall of trees. It was breathtaking. They were so huge!

The other attraction was the foot-trails that ran through the redwoods. The most popular was the "Loop" trail. Which is where my friend and I went riding on Saturday. It wasn't too crowded this weekend. We did run into a couple groups of people, but most people out there are city folks, and love to see and pet the horses. This was Spring's first real trail ride and she did awesome! I decided to put my friend, Shelly, on her because Dakota was a little too excited. He paced along the trail like it was a timed event and poor Spring had to trot to keep up. And every so often Dakota would "see" something. Sometimes he'd spook in place, but otherwise he was alright. All in all they both did great. It was a beautiful day, warm enough for tank tops, and the horses (and us) loved the the change in scenery.

Poor Spring did get a rock wedged into her frog on the way back. Shelly noticed an occassional limp, so we pulled up and located the problem. Spring was a little sore after, but not bad. She seemed totally fine yesterday. I guess it's time for her to have her first pair of shoes.

But oh man was it good to be home. Poor Shelly had to listen to me chatter on and on about old memories and "this trail leads to this place" and "we built a fort over here" and "this was our old rope swing" stories. LOL. It was great though. I can't wait to go back...

So many people come in an out of the vet's office, it's hard to remember everyone. The only clients that stick in my head are the great people...and the bad.

We recently had to deal with a 19 year-old girl and her horse. And no, she's not one of the great people. I know I'm not very old, and still have a lot to learn myself, but sometimes I just want to shake some of these "kids" and slap them as hard as I can. I've crossed paths with this particular girl before and was never impressed with her horsemanship skills or her ability to properly care for horses. She came to look at a friend's horse that was for sale. She was in the market for a new gymkhana prospect. Thankfully, I found out before she came the reason the girl was looking for a new horse was because her other horse was recently confiscated by the Sheriff's department for neglect. Needless to say, she did not buy my friend's horse.

The girl (we'll call Lacey) brought in her newest victim to have a rather large laceration sewn up. While the large flap of torn skin hanging from his right shoulder was obvious, his protruding hips and ribs also caught my eye. When my doctor asked Lacey what happened, she informed us the horse "needed to be taught a lesson". She claimed the gelding, a 3 year-old Quarter/Arab cross, was "too full of himself" so she put him a small paddock with an aggressive, larger mare, knowing the mare would fight. And by breakfast time the next morning, the little gelding was hamburgerized (if that's a word). Lacey said the gelding tried to be first in line for breakfast so he deserved getting kicked! I wanted to kick her...

Oh it gets worse! Upon further examination, we found other cuts (probably teeth marks) on his neck, back and haunches. We also found a hard swelling, about as big as my fist, under his belly. No doubt another hard knock from a hoof. I was horrified. She also informed us we were to only take care of the laceration on the shoulder and he could deal with the rest "cause the gelding wasn't one of the horses she liked well enough to sink money into". ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!

I think people should have to apply for a license to own horses. I don't think it's fair for ANY animal to fall into the hands of people like her. I thank God for rescue groups everyday, but they can't save them all. I felt so sorry for the little gelding. I was in tears all day for the rest of the day. My boss kept telling me "I figured you'd be used to this stuff by now", but I don't think I'll ever get used to people intentionally hurting their animals. It was just so sad...I guess I should be greatful she at least had his shoulder fixed. But still...

I swear my gelding suffers from some sort of immaturity disease. I bought him as a 3 year-old and he never mentally matured past that age. 

Living on the North-West coast has it's ups and downs. Being able to ride on the beach, the beautiful scenery and environment...and the weather. Unfortunately, I don't live down in southern California where you can swim in the ocean and NOT worry about hypothermia in the middle of summer. And the last few days, it's been cold and miserable. Even though 2 weeks ago we had record-breaking heat waves. And with the cold weather, came the cold virus.

It's a good thing this is about typing, cause there's no way I could talk. My voice is coming and going, and my chest and throat hurt from coughing. But, this morning the clouds cleared and out came the sun, so Ruger (the dog) and I walked down to see what Dakota and Spring were up to.

Initially, I only meant to groom each horse, but I thought I would just lunge Spring to see how spunky she was. I don't think I've rode her in over a week. And then of course, since she was all saddled and wasbehaving herself, I decided to climb on and just take it slow around the pasture.

Oh, but apparantly someone else had other thoughts. Dakota, who was loose in the same pasture, decided it was time to play. Every time Spring and I would take off trotting, Dakota would come barreling towards us bucking, snorting and squealing.  I would yell at him, wave my arms and tell him to move, but he would come right back. Anytime I wasn't paying attention, he would sneak up on Spring and bite her tail. She would pin her ears and kick out and then I would get mad all over again. I finally decided he needed to be tied up.

I got his halter, and after playing ring-around-Springy, I caught and tied him up to a post. He knew he was in trouble and started nickering as soon as I turned back towards my little mare, who was standing a ways off with what I swear was a smug look. I mounted back up on Spring and we turned to head down towards the opposite end of the pasture when I suddenly heard "WHAP!" . I turned around to see Dakota leaning back, bracing against the halter as hard as he could in an attempt to pull loose. I ran towards him, but as I reached him he lunged forward, catching his head on the roof of the lean-to. Luckily, he wasn't hurt. I tried to untie him, but the knot had tightened (even if it was supposed to be a quick-realease knot) and had practically melted itself. Not only that, but the rope was embeded into the post.

That's what I get for buying a cheap nylon rope. A friend of mine happened to stop by and it must have taken us a good 30 minutes to work the rope loose. We busted out the hoofpicks and using a brick we found, wedged the hoofpicks into the parts of the knot that were pulled super tight and gradually worked  it loose.

The worst part was, when we realized we couldn't untie the rope we slipped the halter over his head and let him loose while we worked on the knot (it was combo rope halter and lead). I glanced over once to find him standing next to Spring (who was literally just standing there), while Dakota was chewing on my stirrup. Not just chewing on it, but would grab the stirrup and fling it! I chased him off, but pretty soon he was back, nipping at Spring and making her kick out and squeal.

I was so frusterated! I actually felt sorry for poor Spring, thinking about her having to put up with such childish behavior all the time. My friend and I must have chased him off half a dozen times before we finally gave up. What a trouble-maker!