I went for a little ride and lunged Baasha on the Pony Party's sand ring, and he was feeling so good, I was thrilled. The doctor prescribed exercise, and Baasha seems happy with it. Did I mention he bucked in his field the other day? Twice, in his exuberant cantering, and I thought, what is up with him!After lunging I got on and we went through the woods together. We really need to work on just walking calmly, and not acting like we are racing invisible competitors. Hm.
But we came to this gorgeous up-sloping newly mown field, and I asked him to trot. He obliged, and then I said, "OK, canter" cuz he wanted to so bad, and he politely cantered up that slope and then on further, when it turned into a wide trail. I remember ducking branches and saying (outloud), "You have been here before? You know this place? Is the footing OK?" and thinking he wouldn't do this if he wasn't familiar with it. Sure enough, we ended up back at our common trail. Baasha was tractable so he received many carrots back at home.
I love how the sand exfoliated his feet. I love that myself, walking the beach in Oregon. His soles look pristine and hard, and it is easy to see a heel first landing on a nice compacted wet sand arena. It can't be the Devilsclaw herbal therapy, he only started that on Tuesday, so I think that it is the sand that feels good to him.
This photo was taken from the junction of our trout ponds and our pasture. You can see how hilly it is here, Baasha is grazing on a horizon. That lytha-made gate stays open lately, so he can pick where he wants to graze.
When I take off his blanket I get a chance to evaluate his condition, and lately I am thrilled to see that this Winter is not taking the weight off of him. Hm, what is different about this Winter? Hehehe, maybe he gets to eat all his food? Notice that he has mud on his feet. We have a few muddy spots here.
I am laying those geotiles as I see them appear, but right now they are ahead of me. I have about 40 tiles left, and I think that is enough to cover our mud track.
It rained so much I got a shot of this rain barrel overflowing. I love these rainy days, I often sit on the floor of Baasha's stall and enjoy the coziness with him.
Rocks and geotiles outside the stall seem to work.
A care package from home was a nice surprise this month, my parents must have remembered how we went through their Taffy cookies last July. They also sent Ranch dressing (cannot live without it) and recipes. We are enjoying those cookies!! I need to start buying German Christmas goodies for them now. It is that time. 
And since I saw Christmas goodies in the shops, I went ahead and put up lights.They really, really help lift the spirits on these early nights. I know, it's too early, but I couldn't help myself. Just the windows for now. The yard comes later...
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10 comments:
Oh Lytha, you live in an absolutely beautiful and amazing place! I would love to visit you, your man, and Baasah someday....Oh, and I will have to bring Eric so he can fish in your pond...lol!!!
Glad to hear that Baasha is doing so well this winter. It was those piggy, little ponies, wasn't it??? Teeheehee....
Those geotiles are sooo cool, I wish I could afford a whole passle of them!
I have to get a care package together to send our daughter in Iraq, she wants chocolate!!!
Baasha looks awesome!! how nice to sit in his barn in the gentle rain...
I'm so glad to see (and hear) that he's feeling so good again!
I've never seen him look so fat and sleek in winter, either. Was he an easy keeper as a young'un?
Your Christmas lights are lovely, Lytha!
I think I may take your cue and put ours up early this year as well just to lift our own spirits with hubby away most of every month. And I always love to see the lights up when we get snow. It just makes everything sparkly and festive.
Those geotiles are neat, but we'd never have any use for them here with our lack of rains. Seriously, we got less than 3 good rains this year and it fells so hard and fast that it just ran right off the ground and within a couple days everything was dry as a bone once again.
And our snows are dry and powdery, so the same thing happens when it melts.
I think I would like to put crushed granite in our dirt runs, though, just to keep them from getting mucky from the pee and rain when it does come.
It's wonderful to read that Baasha is feeling well enough to buck playfully in his pasture and to canter up hills carrying you on his back. Hooray!
~Lisa
So lovely and Baasha is looking very well.
I love early Christmas lights. There are several up around here and it makes my long commute home in the dark so much nicer...
My favorite treat: Kinder Überaschung eggs. YUM!
I like your festive lights. And Baasha looks great.
YAY look at those beautiful lights!!! Oooh I had forgotten about the Taffy cookies..darn it..lol I swap goodie boxes with people now. I send dutch stuff for american stuff I cant get here. Im loving it..lol
Baasha looks so happy
Remember how u mentioned wanting cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving? here is a homemade version u can try.
1 bag of fresh cranberries
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of orange juice
1 tsp of orange zest
1. Put all ingredients into a sauce an and mix well.
2. Cook over medium heat and bring to a boil.
3. Boil for about 10 minutes until the cranberries pop. There may be a few light colored ones that don’t pop, but don’t worry. They soften as the sauce cools. I like to serve my sauce at room temp or slightly warm. The sauce can also be made up to 2 days before and kept in the fridge
I cant stand that stuff but thought of you when I saw it:)
Melanie, bring the kids when they are old enough to appreciate old places like germany - are they old enough yet? yes, ponies are bad. i will need to get a crippled blind one if we ever do get one.
Reddunappy, the geotiles are a bit slippery, so i have been laying them upside down lately, so there is less surface area and more grass can grow through next spring.
Flying Lily, can't wait for snow!
Aarene, ya baasha was an easy keeper. and he has lived alone before, in america, so it must be a combination of what we feed and perhaps the new dentist. we used dr. vetter last year and he has a reputation of being "too aggressive" in his dental work, but maybe that is what baasha needed.
Lisa, my man is against the early christmas lights. too wasteful, he says, in this energy-sipping land. hehehehe. adding rock to your paddock will toughen your mare's feet (but she may need to have her feet mustang rolled to keep the edges from cracking). if i could, i would have a lot, a lot more rock here!
Breathe, so soon, christmas lights are up already in america? i thought that was not allowed!
Leah, my man has a collection of kinder ueberraschung toys in a box. due to their swallow-ability, not allowed in america!
Sonya, i had ranch dressing for breakfast, the way god intended us to have it, on everything.
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