this morning i woke up to a winter wonderland.
snow everywhere, the sun shining.
and narnia in my front yard!
the lion, the witch and the wardrobe….
and a little angus.
the "lamp post"
i went out and was certain i would find a faun
walking home through the snow. and he would offer
to take me to his home for tea…
instead of a faun i found an angus.
he invited me in for cookies 
randomness. randomness.
is that even a word!?
you know how when you repeat and repeat a word and it starts to sound weird?
well randomness sounded weird the first time i said it!
some randomness from the last few days…
the other day i took some wheat grass out to billy blaze as a special treat.
i figured it’s green grass right!? and it’s winter so green grass would taste really great.
as you can see…. it did. he gobbled that right up! i’ve put it in my kitchen window
to see if i can grow it again.
one of my horsey friends and i went out on saturday, during all that great sunshine and blue sky
to take some pictures…
billy blaze with my friend and her horse in the background.
this is her arab gelding, azad….
they are doing hill therapy to strengthen his back. it’s going very well! not only is it working on his back…
it’s also strengthening their relationship.
and she took some of billy blaze and i.
i love these! and just for the record i have on two pairs of pants and 6 shirts, plus my vest.
and here is a picture of an umbrella after two LBE (left brain extroverts) are done with it.
we used it for the pictures, then billy got a hold of it and it was all over!
time for a new umbrella 
i’m so thankful for the year 2011. it was full of beautiful things.
wonderful life changes.
and we bought LAND!!!
i can’t wait to see what the year 2012 has in store for me and my family.
here is the past year….
in photos!
a buffalo in mammoth...
my little leprechauns!
crazy boys!!
easter candy... yum!
easter girl!
i first meet billy blaze!
cheese!!
curly ears!
our drive home from bozeman...
my little helper
billy learning about BIG orange balls!
sweet angus
little L and big B at target practice.
the mustangs...
mustang butts....
yellow belts!
the flower shed
weddings!
walking with billy blaze... leaving the stable yard.
deputy schroder
beautiful summer in montana.
undemanding time with billy blaze
billy totally LOVING his parelli ball.
whiskey visited us in september!
she brought teresa!! yay!!
we went to yellowstone national park...
the boys LOVED it
hiking with billy blaze and angus.
angus looking up at billy...
totally LOVING my iphone!
totally AWESOME photo shoots
LOVE
my handsome boys...
little D...
big K!
peek a boo
billy LOVES his ball....
little L rock climbing.
christmas time!
sun shiny day!
our land!!! (picture by Mom aka Loree West)
today was so beautiful. the sky was blue. the sun was shining.
billy and i went for a walk! we needed a little time outside of the arena…
then i remembered how much i LOVE black and white…
so. much. fun.
and yes. billy does NOT have a tail.
and yes. that is normal
we had our first big snow today! i was so excited when i woke up to a white world i’m weird. i love it when it snows!
i took our little angus outside and practiced some dog torture…
mmmmm hmmmm. i totally did this to him. in front of the real life deer.
thank goodness no dogs walked by. i think he would have torn their legs off in his embarrassment and rage.
then i went up to play with billy. i had every intention of taking wonderful winterland pictures
of him racing around in the snow, bucking and kicking up all that beautiful whiteness….
this is what i got instead…
he did run around a little bit…
i took a few of his frosty eye lashes…
and one of his snowy curls…
he tried to eat a tumble weed…
but the whole time he looked so cute!
and a fun parting shot…
i took a picture of billy blaze the day after i got him, so i would have a before and after picture. i’m so glad i did that!
as you know i got billy because of some rude comments made by buyers to his breeder. “he’s too ugly to have in my barn” may have been what they said… the breeder was totally honest with me before i got him. she shared that she felt he had a “hammer head”, a ewe neck, and a straight shoulder. i asked for some pictures of his legs (to see how straight and well boned they were) some pictures of him interacting with her, and some pictures of him moving a little bit. she graciously sent me lots and lots of snap shots that she and her husband had taken over the year of his life. i felt like he had tons of potential and brought him home. she GAVE him to me. how could i pass up a gift horse!?
linda parelli teaches a course called “Fluidity” and in that course the people learn how to properly saddle and ride their horses. they learn to help their horses use their hind ends. in the course of the learning the horses make some really big changes in their bodies. some grew upwards of 2 inches taller, most ended up with longer necks than when they started. some even changed their croup from flat to rounded (which is very important when you want your horse to use it’s hind end properly). linda talks about how a horse’s shoulders, withers and scapula are not connected to anything, which means they can move forward (which is what happens when your saddle doesn’t fit correctly and/or when it’s placed too far forward and pinches the shoulders.) or backwards. having the shoulders move backwards makes the neck longer, the back shorter, the horse is more able to rock back and use it’s hind end properly.
it’s amazing to me how much billy’s body has changed since i got him and started playing games with him. we play lots of games that encourage him to lower his head and look where he’s going which in turn has helped his top line. in person he has a very balanced body. sometime when i have someone out there with me i’ll take a better picture that shows that! but for now this is what i have.
TOP may 2011, MIDDLE june 2011, BOTTOM sept. 2011
the top picture was the one i took right after i got him. the middle one was taken one month later. then the last one was taken in september. in the last picture you can see how he has lost that dip in front of his withers and his neck is one long slope up to his ears. his neck is longer from the withers to his ears, than his back is from the withers to the top of his tail. his withers are taller than his back (and i want to add that he hasn’t grown withers, butt, withers, butt since i got him. it must be what i feed him…) making him “uphill”.
he needs to start using his hind end more, making his hind legs a spring. once he does that WOW!!
amazing isn’t it?
so. it’s october. which means it’s time to think about christmas. and christmas presents.
which leads me to portrait time! i drug the boys out and we had ourselves a time
i also talked my little brother and his girlfriend into doing a little shoot too. so. much. fun.
my little bro and his girlfriend:
this next one is my favorite!
and onto the boys!
they weren’t exactly thrilled to be doing this…
the next one is so fun!
brotherly love!
now to figure out what to do with these…..
yes. they do!
my BFF teresa best upgraded her iphone from an iphone 3 to an iphone 4…
and GAVE me her iphone 3!!! and off i went!
i am now the proud owner of an iphone.
sometimes i can’t believe it.
it takes awesome pictures. i am so totally part of the COOL crowd now.
sorry to all those i leave behind…..
straight out of the phone camera... a shot from our hike last night!
straight out of the phone camera... angus looking up at billy blaze.
this one i played around with in my ap, Instagram...
angus was sleeping. apparently the sound of the creek and billy chewing is relaxing to him as well!
billy "grazing" and me playing around with instagram!
up close and personal...
more of our hike.
and fields of gold!
yep. pretty much the coolest phone E.V.E.R.
thank you flamers!!! tons of XOXOXOX coming your way
finally…. there was a mustang sale in bozeman montana.
we went, just to see the mustangs. and to dream a little. my wonderful cousin and awesome auntie d went. we took the kids too of course.
the horses were beautiful. they had Dave Weeding there doing demonstrations. he has entered the mustang extreme makeover twice and both times got second place. he was amazing. we saw him gentling one mare. to watch how quickly she came around, allowing him to pet her, touch her all over and then jump up on her back was beautiful. the mare was a dominant mare, but with the right communication he had her acting very trusting of him.
there were 30 mustangs and 10 wild burros.
the burros were hilarious. holy cow the ears on them!! and a few of them were very friendly.
same with the horses. one little yearling mare in particular was amazing. she was drawn to the kids. my niece is 4 and really wanted to pet one of the horses. she was standing against the gate with her hand stretched into the pen. we weren’t too worried about it because these were wild mustangs so it wasn’t likely that they would be coming over to chew on her fingers while i was standing there snapping away with my camera i got to watch this little palomino filly walk slowly over to check out little D’s hand. she gently put her head down to Little D’s level and allowed her to pet her whole face, down to her nose. Little D jumped up and down squealing with happiness and that filly just stood there, head down. the other 3 kids saw what was happening and made a mad dash over to the pen, reaching their hands through to pet her too. the filly just stood there. Little D stuck her finger in the filly’s ear. still she stood there, relaxed, with the kindest expression in her eyes. when we had to go, Little D put a kiss on her hand and plunked it down between the filly’s ears. the filly didn’t flinch or pull away.
it was at that moment that i wished i had brought $125 and a horse trailer with me.
only 8 of the horses sold that we know of and none brought more than the original asking price of $125.
it made me sad, in a way, because it was so obvious that people just don’t know what they are missing.
mustangs are so wonderful and make the best riding horses, when started in a kind and understanding manner. they can go for miles and miles. they make very trustworthy trail riding partners. they can also be quick and handy rodeo mounts. they make awesome jumping horses, and have the gorgeous movement for dressage. really this is an all around horse.
and they are so beautiful!
all my boys are doing well. we finally got over our flu bug. handsome hubby didn’t get it, but the rest of us did!
i love spring and the rain. what i don’t like is the wind. that gets really old. but the rain and all the green grass and trees budding… i love that!
this picture is from a couple of weeks ago when the skies were blue.
i love this picture.
