We rode 26 miles!

September 11th
Anybody who knows us very well and has visited us at least a couple of times, knows that you end up listening to us play and sing, and/or you find yourself riding a horse. Both music and horses are our way of life. You'll also probably end up going out to see the cows, and if you stay over night, you get the chance to milk a cow. I was just thinking about it this morning, and I wondered how many of our friends that we have gotten to milk, ride, and listen. Most of our friends have at least done one of three. These three things I end up doing every day, and it's hard for me to think of somebody not ever having done any them. Right now I'm listening to Daniel Gervias' cd, Endless Possibilities, which by the way, is a REALLY good cd. That is, if you like fiddle music. :-)
I've already milked a cow this morning, and we plan to go riding this afternoon. I still have to practice guitar, so there'll be a lot more music in my day. :-) I do all of these things with out thinking really how much of a blessing it is to be able to do them. I know most people don't/can't have milk cows or horses, and as far as music goes, music is a wonderful blessing in it's self. I can't imagine what this world would be like if there was no music. We have music for everything! Happiness, sadness, dancing, singing, just playing, and a lot more. Music is just WONDERFUL! :-)
Cows are good too, they teach you persisenst and patience, and they can be very relaxing to be around. That is, if you're not trying to milk a new heifer. :-) Actually Dora did really good this morning. :-) And yes we finally figured out a name for her. I was able to put a rope halter on her, and then lead her into the stanchion, instead of roping her and 'winching' her in. And I only had to use a metal 'kicker' on her, instead of tying her leg back. She's so small I can easily push her over to the wall and hold her there with my head and shoulder while I milk her. I only milk with one hand though, I hold the pail with the other. She still likes to dance and I don't her knocking the pail over.
Yesterday, Hannah, Ellie, I and Martha decided to ride in to Endeavour (13 miles) to get the mail. Zeke was going to go as well, but Al is still pretty sore on his right front hoof. He stepped on a peice of glass the other day, and it cut into his 'frog' pretty deep. The frog is the soft part of a horse's hoof, for any nonhorse people reading this. :-) I soaked his foot in a bucket of Iodine/water mixture the day it happened, but he'll be a little sore for a while. Jesse couldn't come as he doesn't have a saddle for Red. His Aussie saddle fits, but the girth is rubbing Red raw, and he doesn't have any other kind of girth for his Aussie, means how it attaches different than western cinch. Anyways, us girls hit it off at a high trot, with a lot of cantering mixed in. And the horses pretty much kept it up for the whole 13 miles in to Endeavour. After getting the mail and mailing two letters, we stopped in at a friend's place in town as they had some company up who wanted to see the horses. Then we headed home. When we were almost home we stopped in at a neighbour's place to see their new shop. They live about a mile and half away from us, so our horses had gone about 24 miles, and when we were going out of the driveway, I put Coyote into a gallop. Those horses had enough energy in them to go another 15 miles. They ran like we had just taken them out of their pen. :-) We made 13 miles in about 2 hours. On our long ride we would ride 20 miles a day, and that was starting out around 10:00 in the morning and ending around 6:30 in the evening. But we did a lot of walking as we had to save our horses for the next day. Yesterday we did a lot of high speed trotting, and cantering. Millie, and Coyote can trot the fastest I think, but Coyote lots of times would just break into a canter, and canter the same speed that he'd been trotting. I guess it's easier to canter than it is to trot at high speed. He sure does listen to your heels. I love his fast starts. I just touch him with my heels and he jumps into a trot, or a canter, and I know if I was to hiss to him at the same time, he'd be at a flat out gallop. I've taught him to do what we call 'jump starts'. And they are exactley what they sound like! You touch em with your heels, hiss, and 'slam the reins up the neck' all at the same time, and the horse leaps from a standstill or a walk, into a flat out gallop! It's really fun! The only problem is, we need to work on the stops too. :-) I can slow Coyote down and get him stopped when the others are galloping ahead of him. But he could get a lot softer, while we're doing it. :-)
Well I need to go and plant strawberries I guess. Fall time is endless work, until the snow comes, and then we go and harvest firewood. :-) So until it's a blizzard out..... LOL! :-) Then I'm sure we'll find some sort of work in the house. :-)
Until next time------ Lydia~