Most of the time I write about Moon in this blog, but for those of you who don't know, we also have the "ranch horses."

One of the cutest is Keiki. Keiki is a paint, and this summer she started doing dressage and a little jumping. She was amazing. She really seems to like it all, and tries so hard.

Keiki, like the rest of the ranch horses, usually eats her grain from a plastic bucket. Sometimes, when it gets really cold, a crack will appear in the bottom of the bucket. Usually, when a bucket starts to crack we replace it as soon as we can, but sometimes it takes a few days to find time to get another bucket.

So, Keiki evidently pulled the short straw, or the long straw, or whichever straw made her be the horse who got the bucket with the crack in it. She didn't mind, because the crack was covered with yummy grain. She and the rest of the horses started eating their grain, some of them faster than others, when we noticed something not right.

Keiki was standing very still, with her foot through the bottom of the plastic bucket. We realized that not only had she put her foot through the bottom of the bucket, but that it ws wedged in pretty tight. Keiki remained calm the entire time, as we took turns trying to gently remove the bucket from her foot. The plastic bucket suddenly felt like it was made from steel, and her foot suddenly seemed like it was much larger than we remembered.

Finally, with a little bending, the plastic loosened and her foot came out. She stood still, completely unfazed, looking for what little grain she might have missed.

So now, we buy really thick, but soft buckets, that have never cracked, and they're worth every penny. And Keiki? Well, she's priceless.

Do you ever have on of those random days where you see odd things happening at every turn?

Today was one of those days.

We were on the way to the barn when we passed this guy, happily hula-hooping away. I guess he's a local politician looking for votes. By the time we took this photo he had slowed down and was taking a break. And yes, since you asked, he was hula-hooping as we passed him on the way to the barn, and still hula-hooping as we passed him on our way home!

Next, we got behind this truck, which had a figure drawn into the dusty back window. The figure is labled, "Face Pickle," and made us laugh. It's kind of cute, actually.

Right after seeing the Face Pickle a plane flew overhead with a banner attached. You don't see those everyday.

So it was a random, good day. Nothing too eventful to report. All of the horses were good and we had a great ride. Keiki had a jumping lesson and did so well. We're all proud of her. We'll post pictures of her lesson soon.

Yesterday I took Keiki (our sweet quarter horse/paint) out for a ride.

It was a perfect riding day. 75 degrees, with just a hint of a breeze. Keiki and I had a wonderful ride, that is, until we encountered the peacock.

One of our neighbors is acquiring all sorts of new animals. We never know what we might see over there next. They have a few lamas, an emu, and a couple of mountain goats. Yesterday, it was a peacock.

Keiki and I rode along the outside of their fence, and the peackock mirrored our movement on the inside. He kept our pace for about a quarter of a mile. We walked, he walked. We stopped, he stopped. We trotted. He did his best to keep up.

I though about cantering ahead, but then decided it was good for Keiki to have to put up with him as the peacock was clearly making her nervous. I wanted Keiki to learn that he was harmles, (or so I thought.)

The, suddenly and without warning, (that I could discern) the peacock opened his plume and displayed all his feathers, quickly becoming at least twice his original size.

That did it. Keiki flew straight up in the air about 3 feet, and scittered across the road in bit of a frenzy. I got her calmed down and looked back at the peacock, who seemed quite proud of himself. And to top it off, as we rode off, I swear I heard that peacock laugh.

Growing up on my grandpa's ranch, the kids were expected to help out.

During the hay season we (the girls)drove the scatter rake while the boys stacked. We (the kids) also rode around moving the cows back and forth between the ranch and the range or from one pasture to another. There were quite a few cows and, cows being as smart and accommodating as they are, multiple riders were needed.

Those days were long, and hard, and fantastically fun.

One day my grandpa told my cousin Kristin and I to ride up to "number three" and bring the bulls home. "Number three" was a large pasture a couple of miles away from the ranch.

On this day, there were only 2 bulls there. It was our job to bring them home.

Now mind you, my cousin Kristin and I were both 9 or 10 years old. We each had our own horse, but they were relatively young horses, probably about 4. They hadn't yet become wise old quarter horses who knew just how to handle bulls. (My grandpa must have been seriously short-handed that day to send us on such a mission.)

Have any of you ever driven bulls?

It's not like driving cows in any way. Bulls can have a lot of attitude and really do just what they want. They're stubborn and not afraid of anything. They walk right through fences. They're tough, herculean-like and sometimes even a little mean, which means that they're usually left alone which is exactly how they like it.

Why my grandpa thought us two kids would be able to bring the bulls home by ourselves I'll never know. I guess he thought that they were more amiable than they actually were. But, we were determined to bring them home on our own and felt very grown up for being given such a task.

We rode up, managed the gates, moved them out of number three and headed home.

We'd only gone a short ways before we had a problem. One of the bulls decided to walk through another ranchers fence and graze in his pasture. (This is the kind of stuff that bulls like to do.) With the two of us kids working together, it took about an hour to get the bull out of the pasture and back on the route home. (We left the fence.)

We went a little farther down the road with the bulls, feeling proud that it only took us an hour to get the bull straightened out, when it happened again. This time both bulls walked right through another fence and into someone's pasture. Only this time, the pasture was filled with cows. Now the bulls were worked up and causing all sorts of havoc in the pasture. (If there's one thing that bull's like, it's cows.)

Feeling a little overwhelmed, we began the task of cutting the bulls out from the rest of the herd, but as soon as we'd get one out and try to get the next one out the first bull would charge right back in. The bulls were mad that we weren't just leaving them alone to sweet talk all that lovely female cow-flesh.

Somehow, (and I'm still not sure how,) we managed it. Kristin and I got the bulls away from the herd and back on the road. And, since you asked, yes, we made it all the way home with those bulls... four hours late.

My grandpa never did ask us if we had any trouble or what had taken so long, he just gave us a nod when we got home and sent us out on a different task. He wasn't one for high praise, we'd just done what he told us to do. But, in thinking back on that day after all these years, I think that just may be the day that I became a real cowgirl!

I've yet to become a great fencer. 

Well, Maddy's left for the show, and I'm on the way out the door, but I just got this today and wanted to show it off. It's an english saddle stirrup belt bickle one of my friends made for me. It's about 3 inches long and 2.5 inches tall, and it's pretty hefty. I love it! He's happy to make more if any of you out there would like one!

I also have a sparkly palomino horse belt buckle I'll have to post as well. (Jeff thinks I have a coat thing, which I kind-of do,) but I also have a belt buckle thing. I love interesting belt buckles!

When I spot a truck loaded up with hay, I just can't help but want to hold up a sign that reads, "Driver, please follow me to my house."

I'm thinking I should keep that sign in my car for the next time we pass such a truck.

In the meantime, we have a hay shortage where we live. So, the horses are happy to be in the pasture, grazing and soaking up the sun.

This post is dedicated to the not very nice (okay, mean) grandpa type guy in the green car, who drove past us while we were riding recently.

We were on the side of a dirt road, near our house, headed for a trail, when he drove by us fast. Really fast. It seemed like he was about the break the sound barrier fast. One of the riders in the group made a "please slow down gesture," (like you see the people in orange vests do at construction sites,) just as he passed us, which evidently made him really mad. He squealed to a stop after he had passed us and got out of his car. He was really mad. He said that he could drive as fast as he "@#$%!" wanted to and that all the "@*%$!" horses just better stay off the road.

Note, the legal speed limit on this road is 25. Sometimes my parents let me drive on the road to get practice driving, and I don't even like going as fast as 25! Anyway, we were all pretty shocked, then the mean old grandpa got back in his car and sped away.

So I have to ask, can't we all just get along? Is it really so much to ask a person to slightly slow down as they're passing a horse and rider? They don't need to stop completely, heaven forbid, I know that mean grandpa and places to go and people to see and all, but can't we just share the road?

We just had the perfect Mother's Day. It was a beautiful day and we took advantage of the weather and spent three hours grooming the horses. Then, we had a great dinner and went outside to play softball. We had some little kids in the game so we used soft wiffle balls.

The horses were interested in the game...I guess we must have been entertaining to watch. They watched us from the corral--all lined up by the gate.

Then, someone hit a ball into the corral and Maverick was quick to act. The ball landed near him and he picked it up and clamped down on it. He squished the ball and we had to pry it out of his mouth. One ball destroyed.

We continued the game and eventually another ball went into the corral. This time both Pharaoh and Tigger chased it down. Not wanting to lose another ball, someone ran into the corral and managed to get it before the horses did. Phew. One ball saved.

Who knew the horses liked softball? What's next? Horses catching frisbees? Horse rugby?

Is there anything cuter than this little guy? YaYa sent us this photo and I had to share it. Don't you just want to kiss him? And yes, I have no clue what is on his feet.

Our very nice neighbors, who have seven horses and a beautiful arena just told us we can ride in their arena anytime. Did I mention that it's a BEAUTIFUL arena? It's huge and is always perfectly grated and filled with the most perfect sand. Our neighbors do very little riding these days, so they are happy someone will use it. (They also have jumps and dressge letters, can life get any better?)

Here's a picture of me and Maverick in the new arena at the end of our ride. I hated to ride in it because it had just been grated and looked so pretty. Maverick and I made tracks all over the place. I love the sound his feet make cantering through the soft sand.

If you look closely at Maverick you'll see how much hair he has. He's shedding his winter coat like crazy. My dad says he looks blurry.

Right next to the arena is a pen with sheep. You can imagine how happy Maverick was to see those sheep. He didn't know what to think of them, but the longer we rode the less scared he was. The sheep are really cute, they have a couple of lambs.

Since the arena is so nice, I was hoping Maverick wouldn't poop while we were riding in there. He didn't. Thank goodness he's a horse with nice manners!

I can't help but smile when I look at these two. Maverick and Keiki are starting to be buddies. (Maverick is on the left and Keiki is on the right.) During the summer, when Lady is at our house, Maverick only wants to hang out with her. He'll even let Lady eat out of his grain bucket, so it's obviously true love. But, when Lady is gone Keiki fills in.

We've decided that Maverick's great at math. When the horses are all getting treats he's ok with sharing, as long as he gets two treats to everybody elses one. If he senses that for some reason somebody is getting as much as he is, he puts back his ears and everybody scatters, (even Lady.) (Sometimes us!)

How he manages to keep exact track of how many treats everybody is getting we don't know, but he's good at it. One time he felt he was being cheated and took a kick at another horse and ended up knicking my mom. He kicked her right in her front pocket, where she had her cell phone. The cell phone didn't survive the incident. How the smallest horse on the ranch got to be the boss we don't know. But it's fun to watch him think he's making all the decisions.

Maverick's not the speediest either. But if you canter him next to any other horse, he just can't stand to let the other horse get ahead. He'll increase his speed just enough to make sure he's in front. It's actually the best way to see any real speed out of him! When you ask him to canter he let's you know that he'd really rather not. It takes just the right convincing to get him to canter, and we've been working on his transitions, which have gotten much, much better.

On the plus side he's not afraid of shots. In fact, last year, we don't think he even realized he was getting his shots. He had no reaction. The rest of the horses kicked, reared and tried to bolt away. Not Maverick. He just stood there. What bravery!

He's a great horse and we love him. He never fails to let us know exaclty what he's thinking!

Some of you may have read Dad doesn't get it. It's dad's attempt to convince everyone that he doesn't like horses. Yet, here he is, practically kissing Pharaoh. Pictures speak louder than words.