Today was the first snow of the season.
Thursday, October 27, 2022
First snow
I didn't have to work, so I spent a leisurely morning at home, taking cute pictures of the dogs...
"cute"...
and working on future blog posts.
It was still snowing when I went to the barn.
The horses that were eating were out in the weather.
Everyone else had taken shelter.
Not for the first time, I congratulated myself on scoring Olive a spot in the White Barn. It's one of the few places on the property where the horses get to eat inside.
I entered the barn and called Olive's name. She stuck her head over the door in greeting, and I said, "Hello, dry pony."
Except she wasn't.
Since she clearly didn't mind being outside in the snow, I put her in the turnout and watched her play until I was frozen.
Okay, Olive, I get it. Wyoming mustangs don't mind a little weather. I promise you, though, someday you're going to appreciate the indoor dining.
Wednesday, October 26, 2022
Greybies
Back in the days of no Google and fewer original finish choices, grey foals were kind of a problem.
This little guy had a reasonably successful photo show career, but every now and then we ran into a judge who insisted that "foals don't come in grey."
One of the first things I did when I got online in the mid 1990's was create a reference folder full of grey foal pictures. Just in case.![]() |
| One of many, all of them unattributed. Sorry. |
It's 2022. I've long since moved past this... Or have I? About a month ago, Fabian and I attended the Irish Draught Horse Society of North America's (IDHSNA) SouthWest Inspection at White Dog Farm in Boulder, Colorado.
During lunch break, we were asked if we'd like to go see the foals.
Of course, we said yes.
Most of the mares and foals were chilling in their shed.Still, I spotted him right away.
The elusive grey foal!Even though I have an entire reference folder of better examples, I couldn't resist taking multiple pictures. Old habits die hard. You can never have too many greybies!
Labels:
hobby nostalgia,
horse event pictures,
my hobby life
Tuesday, October 25, 2022
Stalliversary
Olive and I celebrated our eleven month anniversary on the fifteenth. I didn't write a post because that was also the day of Heather Malone's Eerie Equine Live show.
![]() |
| photo by Margaret Balch |
Also, there wasn't much to report, at least not on the riding front. At this point, we're pretty settled into a routine. We ride in the ring, we go on short trail rides. Olive is consistently low standards perfect.
One thing that has changed is that one month ago, Olive moved into the White Barn.
With its narrow center aisle and decidedly weather beaten appearance, this barn doesn't look like much. However, it's actually the best stabling on the property. It's cool in the summer, warm in the winter, the horses are fed inside and each has their own attached run.
This is a full care facility in that the horses are fed twice a day and stalls are cleaned regularly. Anything beyond that, is up to individual boarders. The previous occupant of Olive's stall left it really dirty, so the first order of business was a good cleaning. Here's the before, which was actually taken midway through the cleaning process.
Here's the after. So satisfying.I don't think Olive has ever lived inside a barn before, and initially, she was very concerned about the stall.
She spent most of that first day watching me work from the run.
The first dinner was a lot of grab...
and go.Poor nervous pony!
It took a few days for her to settle down and then another couple weeks for her to really get comfortable.
Now she spends most of her time in the stall.
![]() |
| photo by Therese Gould |
She lives next to Rhino...
and across from Thunder.
I can't tell you how happy it makes me to walk down the aisle and see her there with all my other favorite horses.
Here's another thing that makes me really happy. Olive's stall comes with its own private tack room.
This tack room was not much to look at when we moved in, but Seth and I have been working hard to transform it from shed to palace. I'll share pictures in a future post.
Friday, October 21, 2022
Friday favorites, part two
Never in a million years would I have believed that someone cut the head off a model horse, tie it to a rope and make me like it. Never, ever, ever.
And yet, that is exactly what Franceyn Dare did with this Halloweenie Weirdling.
It's so weird and wonderful. I should hate it, but I love it. I love it so much. This is truly a Friday Favorite. Congratulations, Franceyn on another amazing group of models. I don't how you do it. Please don't ever stop.
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