It’s hard for me to articulate how special the intertwined group of horse gals I find myself in has become to me. I tried to state it as local friends, but it expands over this broad state of California and into others, and there are certainly feelings of warmth sprinkled to many others across the country and beyond. Which is weird, because I don’t do sprinkly feelings of warmth and groups of girl friends. Or didn’t? I’m honestly pretty anti social, finding my clients, blog/FB, endurance events, and very few riding buddies I actually join IRL entirely enough social life without crowds, cities, strangers, or excessive indoor activities needing apply. That’s an accurate description of me even in this very moment, but I do undeniably now have a pretty cool core of people I am honored and stoked to call friends. And it’s great. So thanks, folks!
That sentimental ramble did lead somewhere, I swear..last Saturday, Mel of Boots and Saddles brought her endurance mare, Farley, up to Mare Camp. I struggle to even remember when we first met at this point (blogging/Renegades/Tevis?), but Mel has become one of those blog-to-real life friends who the above paragraph very much applies to. She inspires me and makes me laugh, and I respect her and her opinion (and stellar UC Davis DVM title) immensely; you might see where I was both happy to help a friend and a bit thrilled at the trust, to have her stashing her mare (to be swapped for her filly as needed) here. Farley was due for a bit of pasture relaxing, and we had grand notions that she might help curb long yearling Rushcreek Aurora’s rather voluminous ego.
welcome Farley!
aaaand here we have yearling Rory routing Farley. Le sigh
well hello, gorgeous
(Desire…is an aptly named loose lady of the night)
Farley is no dummy, she headed for safe quarters far away to assess
(Sheza the Breyer model…sigh, swoon)
Rory is deemed substantial. To match her ego..
Long story short, Farley did not and has not yet stepped up to squash egos in any way. In fact, I had to deploy an extra feeder and trough and close off a side gate so that she could eat her meals in peace. Rory and mini Napoleon are twin towers of terror but fortunately Desire’s amorous intentions got Farley enough under her wing that direct harassment by Rory wasn’t allowed for long. Current status? Everyone is getting enough to eat, no undue violence, except from my mini horse, who is back to literally backing at horses at high speed squealing, to hell with pinning ears. I hurt from laughing and I know, we need a video!
Spark is looking and feeling good after Wild West. I need to get a shake out ride in before Gold Country 50 next weekend!
Heh..heh…Spark and Apache, the odd couple
And now..another new roommate, found through a good friend. We lost our good old buddy JJ the Shepherd mix at the beginning of May. My husband had rescued him before we even met and he lived a grand ranch life, passing peacefully with us stroking his head.
JJ the firewood collector
It left a hole in our outdoor dog force, something we very much need living in a rural area with small animals and predators of enough types that you just want a big barking dog outside. Thanks to that vine of friendship I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I was recommended to a local with years of experience with Shepherds, and the day after boarder Farley arrived we were very excited to bring home 3 1/2 month old Shepherd pup that we named Jasmine, “Jazzy.”
no big deal, just a car ride with strangers..
our first glimpse at her awesome brain (she did vomit copiously, but that’s only fair)
I feel like I barely need to caption these..she just fits in. And gets it. And is very trainable. Thrilled with our Vista Farms girl. Thank you.
so that’s how it’s done..
Now ME try!
even old Georgia is taking to her well
Meanwhile, it’s been over 100 degrees *every day*. Our amazing firefighters stopped a 75 acre fire 3 miles from us on Wednesday. Last night, heading out in a hot breeze we were nearly first witness to another fire roaring up in a residential area, as thunder rolled and lightning forked through the sky. I’ve been recruited to the county fire scanner Facebook administrators and I am so happy to help in any way. It’s an intense and good time to be alive, and we need to watch each other’s backs.
foothill sunset
veggies beating the heat…one moon til Tevis! I’ll be crewing again
sunrise after last night’s rain(!?!)
Coming up..
Gold Country 50
Sheza’s First Endurance Camp
Apache Trail Time
Redheaded Endurance 
Couldn’t agree more with that first paragraph! I love this circle of horsey-blogging-endurance-into real life friends!
Aaaawwwwwww. I feel of course exactly the same way :3. Btw it was Nikki that first introduced us. I was riding with her and she kept mentioning your blog and how much I would like you and then I think Funder threw us into a facebook convo together?
One of the very first rides i ever went to, a veteran helped me park the trailer, and i watched a woman
wheel in, park, set up her bare-bones camp, secure her dog, and go off on a warm-up ride. She’d
trailered from Oregon to attend this ride- and i was so impressed- and envious- with her confidence
and independence.
Now, i find myself with a circle of people- mostly women- who have those attributes. And i continue to
learn from them, share concerns, admire, commiserate, dream, trust, and respect. It’s a really good place to be.