Going up in Flames

Not sure if anyone has heard about the fires up here in Idaho but last night they burned around 40,000 acres in one day. In total the Beaver Creek fire has burned more than 145 square miles. We live in the area affected by the fire so last night we had quite an adventure.

Yesterday my family and I were out of town having a very mini vacation. My mom had a presentation the night before and we just thought that we would stay an extra night for some fun; and to get out of the smoke. We had a nice day and got everything done. On our way back we didn't even get but maybe ten minutes away until we got a phone call from my aunt saying that we got a pre evacuation notice for our neighborhood. The rest of the drive home was kind of a blur. When we were about half an hour away from home we got then got another call saying we need to evacuate. We bombed home as fast as possible.

When we finally got home we started packing stuff and getting all the animals in crates as fast as possible. We got everything done within twenty minutes, good timing. We then headed over to my aunt's. Only a few hours later we found out that we could return home... So, we did.

When we went home we decided to go see if we could see any flames. And boy could we!

We went to bed (at like one in the morning, so late!) but had things ready to go, just in case.

Only two hours later we heard our neighbor pounding on our door and telling us it is time to evacuate, now! I hurriedly got out of bed and looked out my window. The whole mountain side was on fire and quickly heading our way. I was freaking scared out of my mind, the wind was pushing it our way too. Quickly we packed everything and left.

My view after being woken up at 3am

Made it's way to the bottom of the mountain

Burning the mountains face

After we were settled we went back to watch the flames. It was burning up fast. What an amazing site to see.

It wasn't till 5 in the morning till I actually got back in bed and didn't fall asleep for a long time. Anyways later we went out to look at the now burned mountain, still had some flames and of course tons of smoke.

We are now back on pre evacuation but are going to stay in our "safe zone" for another night, just in case.

Firefighters are true heroes and I am lucky to know that we have such people to risk their lives for everyone else. What amazing people!

Summer 2012 Achievements

Okie dokey here is a list of our accomplishments during the summer, lets see what we have done!

•99% of the time I rode her every time I went out there. Big step!

•Overcame her bucking debacle, no more sore butts for me! She used to buck with me on her, basically her saying "get the frick off me," she hasn't tried anything for a long time now.

•Stands in the cross ties.

•Rides in a snaffle bit (no longer bitless!) and very soon we are moving to a mild curb.

•I actually found out how talented and athletic she is throughout the summer.

•Cows are becoming less and less of a problem.

•Cantering is absolutely no problem anymore. I used to be scared to death of her cantering her.

•Leads are almost no problem.

•Accomplished flying lead changes but still need to work on them.

•We worked the cutting flag for the first time.

•Other horses can ride around her (closely too) with almost no problem.

•We went out in the fields for the first time, such a great ride!

Hmm, what else?...

For now that is all I can think of, still a great list! I am so proud of her. The only thing that needs to see some major improvement on is catching, she will completely walk away from me from I go to bring her in. So, we will work on that some more. But otherwise her training went sky rocketing from the first time we got here at The Ranch. Great way to end the summer.

Summer's Almost Over?!

I just realized that in a week and six days I will be starting school... My wonderful school free summer will be over. It is really bumming me out, sometimes it is hard to put a smile on my face knowing that I will be busy with schoolwork for the next four months. Not only that but almost everyone I know will be going back to school too, which means I won't be seeing them anymore. I hate it, I wish summer could be forever.

My girl has been doing good with her training for the past few days. She can almost get the correct lead every time and her pace for trotting and cantering is getting quite a bit better. She isn't as out of control as in the beginning. She also stands nicely in the cross ties. I had to go and untack a horse that had the saddle I was going to use and Ava stood there like a champ, no pawing, nothin'! Even with a ton of stuff going on, I was really happy. When I start school back up I plan to make a post of our achievements so I can see how far we've come and be able to look back on it.

After we were done with our session I took her out for a bath. My BO's older son came out there with one of the lady's grandson and was talking to me basically the whole time/teasing me the whole time. It was quite entertaining. Even though he can tease the crap out of me sometimes, I'm actually going to really miss it. We have fun "torturing" each other. He and his brother start school, I think, on the same day I do and I don't think they will get down to The Ranch much or at all. I still have to ask but I can't see it happening. The barn will be so different without them, who is going to tease me for the whole winter! Maybe they can do it on the weekends...

We'll Ride Through Smoke

So smokey here in the mountains! Especially down at the barn, you could see the haze while looking outside the barn door. It didn't smell smokey but definitely looked it... There is a fire that started far away but is getting closer and has burned over 90,000 acres of land! Kind of scary, I hope they can get control of it soon. It was also broiling hot out in the sun, so glad we have an indoor!

Ava got a good workout today, a tiring but good workout. Of course we started in the round pen and by the time I was tacking up she was dripping with sweat. If she isn't sweating then I'm not doing something right. I tried her new bridle and it looked gorgeous on her! Such a good investment. When we started to ride she was a little nervous because my BO was training that same horse that kept freaking out and making a lot of noise. Today wasn't much different for that horse, still crazy and making noise. But Ava actually got over it a lot better today. After my BO was done with the horse, I started cantering. A couple circles around the arena each way and then worked on simple lead changes, she is getting really good at them!! I hope one day she can do flying lead changes, that would literally be a dream come true.

I rode her until she was listening and just too tired to fight, she's really progressing, or so I think. I told my BO that I thought she was improving and he agreed, which was unbelievable for him to say. He rarely says stuff like that and he also said thank you! Haha! I don't know what has gotten into him, he must be having a good week or something. Anyways, when I was finished riding and untacked I was off to give Ava her well deserved bath, she was so sweaty! But as I tried to turn on the hose no water would come out, the pump had been turned off for some reason. I felt SO bad for Babe, she really needed a bath. She was hot, sweaty, and tired. But there was nothing I could do, so hopefully I can get out there tomorrow and just give her a quick rinse (Friday is one of her two days off.) We'll see.

Poor girl, she looks beat...

Our New Home

Yes! We're now at our new barn and from now on I'll be labeling it as The Ranch.

I was really nervous driving down to RS (our old barn). I was praying that Ava would do well, getting in the trailer, not spooking at things too much, or not act like a fire-breathing dragon. So, to help that I worked her in the round pen for about an hour and then went around the barn desensitizing her to more things. She did very well and she really seemed to be trying.

Then after waiting for the trailer to arrive we loaded her up. She got on great but tried turning around after being tied but couldn't succeed (really it was my fault she tried turning at all, I didn't tie her rope short enough.) Then we shut the divider, locked the door, and we were off. The drive over was very smooth and it didn't seem like she tried anything dangerous.

Finally we arrived. I was thinking to myself the whole drive over to The Ranch "please let her behave, PLEASE!" So, when we got there I just hoped for the best. We opened the trailer door, unlatched the divider, then my new BO went in, untied her, and backed her out (this being a stepping up/off trailer) then handed me the rope. When she stepped off that trailer backwards I couldn't believe it, what a good girl! Afterwards I let her look around for a second and it seemed like by her expression she was thinking "cool, I like it." I walked her around the whole barn and she only spooked once, once! At the old place she was still spooking at things. Anyways, we took her to her new paddock pasture! let her loose then went inside to sign the papers. It still doesn't feel like I am boarding down there, I thought that place would only be a dream but now that dream actually became a reality. Ava and I are really happy and hopefully we'll be staying there for a long time.

Last few hours at RS

 Ava's new pasture, gorgeous right?!

Indoor arena, I still need pictures of the inside!

 Poco!

The white arch is the outdoor arena and it is gigantic

I gave Ava her first bath of the year (she did amazingly) and of course she had to roll