It snowed, and not just a little bit!

In one day we have about 6 inches or more.

The unusual thing about this is that the snow is so heavy, the trees can't handle the weight!

It is the eeriest thing I've ever experienced...every minute there is a snap like a gun shot, and a tree branch falls off.

All around us in our little valley!

There is no school, no traffic, no electricity since a tree fell over the road on the power line, we are going to have quite the clean up to do when this all melts!

First weekend of the month, and off we go again to the second and last fox hunt.

This time I'm taking Dagjeir.

Same as last time, I went to the park and schooled the water and ditch on Friday afternoon. It rained everywhere except at the park!
On Sunday we again had a big turn out, but this time the weather wasn't as nice.

Very stormy...I kept my rain jacket on, but the hunters all stayed in their nice jackets!

Dagjeir got very excited...I have never seen him like this!
He caught on that when the horn sounds, you run! And he was going to run with the dogs...

It took some serious negotiating with him, until we found common ground....I let him run as fast as he wanted, and when it was time to slow down he would finally listen and stay with our group.
This time there were more jumps, and he jumped everything flawlessly, and it was slick and muddy, but he never took a wrong step.

Another great weekend, winter doesn't seem that bad when events like this happen!

I was invited to a fox hunt in Bellingham.

It's a drag hunt, no fox involved. The course has been planned, and some jumps have been set up.

This is the first hunt here!

I have never done such a thing, but always wanted to!

I decided to take Olga (Olimpic Gul) and didn't really know what to expect.

The day before the hunt I went with Carry Hopper who had invited me, to a little eventing park just outside Bellingham and we schooled our horses.

The next day we went to the meeting spot of the hunt, and at least 30 horses and riders showed up!

It even was a nice day, no rain!

The places we rode thru were beautiful, and most of the land owners who's land we rode on stood by and watched us.

There were a few jumps, mostly just some branches.

Hearing the horn, and the bark of dogs, canter to keep up, I was in heaven!

Olga did great! And what a nice bunch of people!
Afterwards we all had "breakfast" together, although at 2 in the afternoon.

Next week I hope to go again....

I went to the NW Fall Gala and Championships horse trials.

I thought I had never been to this place, but 7 years ago I trailered a friend here who took her horse schooling here.

It's a nice place, and they had lots of improvements.

I was by myself this time, no braiding help or any of the like....

I rode Dagjeir in the afternoon on Thursday. He's getting used to the routine it seems, he hardly needed any time to settle.

Friday our dressage was at noon.

I did a new way of braiding since I had all that time, and I thought he looked like a million bucks....
Our dressage went the better than at the last event, and we had better scores.
I made the mistake of thinking we already had to do a canter circle, asked him to canter and immediately realized my mistake and asked him to trot again...but too late,we got a 5 there...my fault!

Next day cross country....

Dagjeir hasn't always been the best on the first jump, and this one was well decorated with fresh flowers....but he jumped it without any hesitation.

Great improvement!

Jump 4 I had my worries about...right at the take off point the horses would see the water close to the landing.

So my strategy was to trot in to give him time to see the situation.

We got to jump 4 at a slow canter, and I opted to let him be, he jumped just fine and we came to a slow halt by the water and then went thru.

Not bad for Dagjeir!

By then the rest of the course was easy, I knew all the rest he'd jump, ditch and all.....
I was celebrating in my mind how we'd have a ribbon again...came up to a log jump that looked sooo small I thought....and at the last minute he went around!

I realized then I had completely stopped riding! I felt so stupid!!!
needless to say, there went the ribbon!!!!

We jumped the last of the course in time and had no more faults.

Stadium we went clean too.

I met some new friends and got invited fox hunting.

I can't wait for next year and do better!

On Sunday we had the schooling show. All was informal, no braiding, no show clothes.

Savannah did 2 rounds of beginner novice on Dagjeir, and I did 2 jumping beginner novice rounds on Olga and a novice jumping round on Dagjeir.

Dressage was first, and Savannah was pretty nervous.

She did good, except for being of course in both test at different spots...
That's what schooling shows are for...it was hard for her to get over the nerves!
Then her jumping round went great....up to jump 8, a stadium jump facing the water. She fell off on the landing.

By then it had been an overwhelming weekend for her and she opted to quit.

They let her jump one jump before leaving.

The people helping couldn't have been more supportive and helpful!

Olga did great, but lost her nerve when the course went along the fence where the temporary stalls are, with all the horses for the weekend watching her.

She did not pay attention to the jump, and couldn't see a way out of this busy intersection.
We had 3 refusals, so I went around and finished the course since it's a schooling show!

Then our second run she jumped the fence first go, even though we had caught up to the horse in front of us and he was refusing the same fence.

We got a lot of cheering from the ground crew!

Then the Novice run on Dagjeir went flawless. I think he's ready to move up a level next year.

What a great experience, and Chandra did a great job taking these pictures!

My student Savannah and I went to a Steuart Pittman clink at Donida.

We arrived Friday afternoon, and Chandra came with us to watch.
This was Savannah's first "event", Saturday clinic and Sunday a schooling show of dressage and cross country mixed with stadium jumps.

Friday night Savannah and Chandra rode the horses in the indoor arena, so nice to have mirrors so they could see instantly how they are sitting and affecting the horse.

Saturday morning we were in the first group. Steuart is a great horse man and very encouraging.

Savannah did great, and Olga was very bold.

I had the opportunity to buy Pan Tau, a stallion bred in Germany by Siege-Friede Karras.

I picked him up the same weekend the convention at the Kentucky horse park was going on.

Unfortunately I could not go, but to have this stallion is a dream come true.

I hope to event him in 2007.

He is very sweet, athletic and well mannered.

The foals are growing up nicely, and so are the fillies.

Fall is in the air and they are shedding their summer coat.

It always seems too soon!

I'm not quire ready for the cold dark days...

Olga is doing great and next year we hope to event her.

I took some pictures of Pascha, he's changed a lot over time...sometimes I don't notice since I see him every day.
But when I look at the pictures when I first got him, he's like a different horse!

It is fair time and Chandra 10, Savannah 13, and Shelby 14, are jumping on Saturday.

We have been practicing every day this week.

Savannah went out first and got a 3rd place in her class, then Chandra went, but in her left hand turn she graciously fell of and landed on her feet holding on to the reins, she got a leg up and the judge told her she could jump one jump on her way out.

Savannah went out again and got another 3rd ribbon.

Chandra had another turn, and this time she made her left hand turn, but a little later she ended up on his neck in the turn...she halted him and scooted back in the saddle, but no ribbons for her....quite the tough little rider she is!

Watch out for her next year!

Shelby jumped 3 flawless rounds, and got 2 5th place ribbons.
It's the only show on the island...all other shows are a ferry ride away and therefore quite expensive.

They rode well, and to me, that is what counts!

We are very sad to see Flynn and Sophie go, but there isn't much time to think about it, tomorrow I go compete at the Area VII Young Riders horse trials in Auburn Washington.

I have had little time to practice, and on Thursday upon arriving rode in their beautiful indoor arena with mirrors....Sure helps to see how we were getting along!

Dagjeir went straight to work and was a delight to ride.
Friday dressage went very well. He was steady and obedient, and we finished tied for 8th place.

Saturday afternoon we got our turn on cross country. Dagjeir just flew over the jumps! So I let him go and enjoy himself for a while, then once we got to a long stretch along the back we trotted a bit to make up for going too fast.

Then off we went again and to get him ready for novice we went thru the water right after the log jump, which he did with a slight hesitation, and we had an option for the ditch, and we jumped the ditch like it was nothing.

We finished almost right on the dot to the optimum time!
We had a clear round and no time penalties, and that put us in 4th place.

I got a braiding lesson from the lady stabled next to us, she showed me some tricks I did not know, and he looked like a million bucks on Sunday!

We jumped a clean round again, and kept our 4th place.

We got to canter the victory circle with our ribbon!

We got many compliments and inquiries about the breed!

I couldn't have done it without the faithful help of my students Savannah and Shelby!

It has been a very dry summer and the horses are in my neighbors field with plenty of grass. However the cows have knocked over the electric fence, and are exploring our farm....

The horses are bossing the cows around, and the kids have gotten their courage up....it's bull chasing time!

We've had visitors come and see the horses and taken them for rides from as far as New York and Mississippi.

And then we had my sisters daughter and son stay for 3 weeks from France. The kids are very allergic, and have no pets at home.

They tried horse back riding once, but immediately broke out with a bad rash.

Well, I have always heard that Akhal-Teke's are hypo allergic, and they were the proof it is true!

We rode just about every day! On the trails we went, and Sophie also enjoyed some jumping lessons.

Paktaly is growing up nicely...

He's running with the boys, and very well mannered.

We have a new arrival, Aktepel had a filly.

She is the prettiest thing, and not so little!

Aktepel has big foals, her foal from last year is already as tall as the 2 year olds....

Finally thought of a name too....Altyn Gush, gold bird.

We are off to eventing camp in Canada again!

This time I'll have 2 horses and 4 kids along.
The weather was perfect, not too hot and no rain like last year.

Shelby, 14 now, is still riding Dagjeir and I'm riding Olga.

This is her first time, and she is pretty new at jumping.

Shelby really got into the swing of things, they got bolder by the day and jumped and then jumped more.

I took it easy on Olga since I hadn't had the time to condition her properly, but she enjoyed herself.

Everyone was a great help, the boys build a very nice dam to cool the horse's legs in.

Chandra would always groom and ride the horses back to camp. For the first time we were early for every single lesson!

The boys had a fire ready every night, and helped grazing the horses.

We had an unforgettable time!

Kamiah has a bulge forming in her lower stomach and it doesn't look good. One more month before her foal is due.....

I took her to the large animal hospital on the main land, they ultrasounded her and she ruptured a stomach muscle.

She would probably die in child birth so they said....

I took her to Cathy Leddy who let her stay there and keep an eye on her, she's close to 24 hr doctors. She called me on the 14th, and sure enough, that night her waters broke, and Cathy and I helped the foal out.

Kamiah was fine, was able to push, and is a great mom!

And she had a filly! She was 2 weeks early, but is a healthy little girl.

If it wasn't for friends helping out.....thank you Cathy!

The horses are shedding and enjoy cooling off in the pond.

These are the coming two year old and one year old girls.