COFFEE

This is the first page of a short story I will be working on for the next couple of months.

                     Its called  Coffee, enjoy.

My SUMMER plans include;

• riding A horse four days a week
• getting in shape                          
• get ready to rate up to C-2         
• have a arena by the end of summer
• volenteer at a vetrenary hospital
• finish illistrations for the book
•  finish Coffe                          
• get Comety trained and rideable
• earn money                         

TRAILDUST

I'm going to start writing a weekly comic called TRAILDUST.

My cousin Tristan gave me the name and today's comic, which is based on a horse named Goldy that happens to be  a civil War reenactment horse who's happiness depends on the  human population in her current area.

Please give any ideas you may have for a horse related comic in a comment.

The Third Day of Wild West In All Its Mudd

The morning went well,( dear cousin"me" apologises to Melinda for being rather

brain dead at the time ). Coffee later repaired the problem.

                         Melinda took off ahead of the hustle and bustle.

I  decided to volunteer as a timer as I could not for the life of me remember how to do TPR (temperature,pulse,respiration).

And got a front seat to the endurance horse meets mud puddle show that morning.

It may be hard to see, But between those tree's is a puddle, a very scary puddle whoms murky depths hold many terrors.

Each horse and rider got through (around/over) this puddle in their own unique way.

• 
  
  horse refuses(sees a horse eating monster lurking below the surface)rider try's again and again over the next half hour.
• 
  
  rider gets off and precedes to lead their reluctant mounts across the mighty depths.
• 
  
  rider dismounts and precedes to talk to everyone who will listen that "their just must be a way to get through without going through the terror filled puddle". This rider then trys to lead their horse around the mighty obstacle, only to find that the horse dislikes mud as well and jumps onto rider...
• 
  
  horse goes through without a second glance                                                   
• 
  
  horse decides not go through puddle and get his feet dirty, instead  he lunges across only to find another puddle ...another hop and half a rider later...
• 
  
  rider gives up and decides that today just is not the day to face such a scary puddle.

That was only the first of many puddles that morning.

The watering trough  that day

Being a Timer was hectic while interestingly something...

Example: ( a horse is not pulsing down) "hold her ears" rider grips her horses ears, vet shakes head"everyone quiet" two riders approach talking , three timers,vets,me e.t.c "ssssssshhhhhhhhhhh" half a second later, motor cycle ZOOMS up...

Melinda and Farley finished all three days beautifully.

Wild West:Day #2

Wild West is Melting:

On the second ride morning of Wild West , Melinda and her not so awake darling cousin poked their Oh so reluctant heads out of their tent, and welcomed the morning and what warmth it promised.

The Day promised in-case your wondering, muddy trails,due to the melting snow and rain that melted the snow and later on a sunny sky.

The Darling cousin that was so kind to volunteer to come help Melinda on her 150 mile weekend spent the first ten minutes of that morning trying to De-frost her poor blue tinted toes(the buddy heater ran out of gas). After blowing what little warmth she could back into them and putting  on a pair BARROWED 20 below muck boots that are Melinda's and a pair of BORROWED daddy double warmth socks, she set off to walk the very awake Farley.

And so Melinda headed down the trail at 7:00 am with her trusty steed Farley.
And cousin and Aunt who is my mother Sharlene and Melinda's Mom followed on a alternative path(black top with yellow lines only taking 15minutes in steel horse) to bring supplies and sun block.

At the first vet check at twenty-miles or so, I was able to capture a few pictures of Melinda in her preferred habitat as well as Farley.

Farley terrorizing the carrots

Melinda and one of her ride partners

Melinda heading back out onto the trail.

Me and Melinda's mom pucker down to wait....

And its lunch time , the 25-35 mile mark, Melinda rides in with her fellow riders and here are some photos(hopefully none that Melinda dislikes enough to kill me).

So how did it go?

Not sure what to caption this one.

Have any ideas ?

Melinda at the Vet Check

Sorry about the endless stream of photos, that's what happens when you use a digital camera. You take one and you just cant stop.

Melinda finished that day looking like she had never gone out.

The weather was looking up. We settled around the ride camp fire and attended the awards ceremony and listened to the ride manager try to pronounce riders names(comic relief)

The food was delish and the company the best.

We also had a couple banjo's aplayen.

That night with the added blankets and warmer weather I'm glad to say my toes stayed warmER.

One day left ...

Wild West Otherwise Known as Winter Wonderland

Day #1
Melinda awoke bright and early on friday morning. The first day of the Enderance ride known as Wild West had began. A Enderance ride taking place over a span of three days, each day haveing a choice of riding a fifty mile, or an LD. But as she peered out of her luckly hardy tent, she saw white.
The formally pine needle covered ground heavly sprinkled with pine trees was newly decorated with snow. Sparkling,beautiful snow, Filling the sky and the earth below...

Of course Im not sure if Melinda was able to fully enjoy this particular batch of frozen water. With the fact that she would be riding in and on it for the fifty miles she would be riding that day ,which included mud, rocks,and knee deep slick puddles.

But she survived the frozen hillsides and chilly winds of ice and troted across the finish line in great shape other than a rather taggered Mane(the reins kept geting stuck) and so was able to sit around the camp fire enjoying a hot cup of cowboy coffee.(lots of black crunchy stuff), with her newley present Aunt(my mother)and Couisen(me) who also survived their travels( a five hour drive).

The ride manager read alound the finishers (hers happly among them) And then precended to inform riders of the next days hazards.

Couisen and Aunt went back to camp and put up their tents.
Which was only my mother's, for I wise and all knowing had barterd for a place in Melinda' tent which was already in place and weather proven and had a heater!!! But what favors did the dear cousien(me) agree to?

Just hand walking Melinda's horse Farley any time she asks(the rider not the horse mind you).

This included six in the morning,six in the afternoon, ten at night, and two in the morning.

But, so you can get an idea of just how cold it was...IT WAS WORTH IT!!!!

That night... Melinda tried to wake her deeply sulmbering couisen at an unseemly hour...and gave up after developeing a small amount of pity, decideing her horse's walk could wait till EARLY morning.