Winter Update

Horsey life has been quiet here this winter. While it's not been so cold this year, it's been rainy leaving things too muddy to do much with the horses. Late fall we made some improvements to the foundation of our riding arena & had sand placed. When things dry up enough this spring, the sand will be graded to about 2 inches deep, then will start looking into placing some fencing around the area for a real place to ride & play finally! The horses have lost access to our front pasture & pond for the next few years. We're unfortunately losing some land & lots of trees due to road construction. In anticipation of this, we've planted a little over 100 Pines, a hand full of Oaks & have some flowering trees coming to add to the mix. Will be re-routing our driveway & moving some plumbing soon then just wait till it's over & allow our new little forest to grow. Kisia (our 5 year old PRE) & Foxy (Randy's Tennessee Walker) have both slimmed down nicely this winter despite giving me the big starving horsey eyes every possible opportunity! I've ridden Fox a few times just walking out for a trail ride. Kisia has learned to put her head down for me to jump on then pop up so I can get on her bareback....not graceful but gets me up there! Zorra (our Andalusian cross filly), who is now our tallest mare, seems to have slowed down growing somewhat. I've taught her the Spanish Walk & spent some time in the barn getting her used to saddles & tack. She'll be two in April so we'll start some prep for riding. Miles, at almost 21, remains a challenge to keep weight on. Although, he's held what he had this winter so far. Always the quintessential Thoroughbred, he just can't be still for long....you'd never know he has arthritis & growing melanomas. At this point my goal is to keep him happy & comfortable in retirement. I've chosen the PRE stallion Klickitat AK to breed Kisia to this spring. I've literally taken years to choose him & believe he's quite complimentary to Kisia. Hoping all is easy with her first attempts at breeding. To learn more about him, check out http://vrdressage.com/. Picture above of our beautiful Kisia.