NOTA mtg...

Meeting went well....a bit long but not too bad. Mostly discussed fair decorations and how and when to do them. The club will be donating money to the Relay For Life. Turned in declaration forms......That's about it for this month.

NOTA club meeting ...

Nothing too overly exciting went on, but we did make a decision on what theme were going with for the fair decorations...I would say what it is, but as you know we won for soooo many years that everyone wants to try to copy us or outdo us, so it's top secret. This decision is a big deal though because we normally don't get this far this soon in the year.

Let's see what else....paid decoration dues,..signed up for hours at the next show....discussed the upcoming shows and open rides.....that's about it.

Oh yeah...we turned in our Commitment Letters too. <--this is important to be able to show at fair!

Ready for another year of 4-H...

Well the girls are all signed up for another exciting year of 4H. They aren't doing as much this year (which is a good thing for me I think....hehe) ... C is not going to show a horse at all this year, she has decided that she would rather just fool around in the arenas and trail ride than be in a show ring (says it's boring)... She did very well with her photography this last year and is really enjoying it...she received all blue ribbons for her photos (about 15) and one received a Merit Award and was Selected for State! She did also get the Medal for showing Haley (the mini she showed). She had a wonderful fair! A lot of fun!

... L is no longer going to show Double Time (the mini)...she wants to ride this year so she is going to be showing Danny.....she's very excited about it! She did get a blue ribbon and 2 red ribbons showing DT this last fair. She did very well with her photos and other exploring items she took to fair....all first and second place ribbons......one third place for Model Horse but we will be working harder on that this coming year. She too, had a wonderful fair! And a ton of fun!

2007 County Fair...

Wow, it's been forever since I posted, but we have been busy, busy ever since fair. First it was fair and after that it's been preparing for school to start. Anyway, here are some pictures from fair. C and Danny did very well at the shows. They did Showmanship (won 3rd place) and Western Pleasure Horsemanship walk/trot (also won a 3rd place). She was very excited. In total including her projects she won 2 first place ribbons, 4 second place ribbons and 3 third place ribbons.

L had a blast at fair too. She can't wait until her Cloverbud Graduation next month so she can get all the cool ribbons next year too.

They both (we all) had soooooooooo much fun.

Chelsea's 1st Horse Show 2007 Part 2

Chelsea's 1st Show Part 1

Working Hard on 4H Projects

We have been working hard all day on some of the girls projects for fair. (Only 4 weeks away) This is one of the sewing projects C made today.


Front of Shorts

Back of Shorts

C Modeling Shorts

Dressage & Hunter/Jumper Clinic

The clinic was fun, at least it was entertaining anyway. The horses were a bit clumsy in the beginning but improved as they went along. We learned a few things too. Mostly ways of having some fun while working with your horse. We don't ride English so there isn't too much we can or would do with the information we got tonight. Like I said though it was fun to watch and no one got hurt.

Paperwork, Paperwork, Paperwork........

Chelsea and Lindsay are all signed up for Fair now. They seem to be doing soooooo much this year. It's all fun though. We had our monthly 4H meeting last night and tied up a lot of loose ends. We decided on our Fair decorations for the barn (they are going to be soooo cool) of course I can't tell what it's going to be (you never know who reads this.....lol) it's TOP SECRET!!!!!!!

Everyone turned in all the paperwork needed to show at fair so the girls are now all set to go. It seemed like quite a bit of confusion but after almost two hours everyone had all their paperwork in and are set to go. We will be starting next week on making the decorations for the barn. We decided on a logo for our clubs fair t-shirts and signed up to get them. They are going to be very cool too. Chelsea (being the treasurer) reminded everyone that hadn't paid for their club dues or project fees to pay them as soon as they could. Well that pretty much sums up the meeting last night. We will be going to a Hunter/Jumper and Dressage education clinic this Wed. evening, should be very fun to watch. I will update on the clinic later in the week.

I forgot to add that I rode Danny the other night after our trainer rode him for a little while. It was awesome. He did great only one small issue, he is a bit barn sour and was wanting to go back to the barn every time we would get close to the gate out. He was very easy to control though even when he was wanting to go back by his buddies. Both the girls and I will be starting our regular lessons with Danny this week.

Spring is here

The kids and I are getting started on spring time. We had our garden tilled yesterday and are planning on putting in the carrots in the next few days. Our garden will have tomatoes, green peppers, jalapino peppers, green beans and carrots. (It's not a very big garden) We also sprayed our apple and pear trees the other day. We all love to take care of the fruit trees and garden as they grow. The girls and I do a lot of canning during the end of summer and early fall. Last year we canned salsa, tomato juice, stewed tomatoes and pears. This year we plan to can salsa, tomato juice, stewed tomatoes, green beans, carrots, apple sauce, apple pie in a jar and pears. The girls plan on taking some of the grown garden vegetables to show at the county fair this year. I will share the growth by putting pictures up as everything grows.

4H Fun Day / Riding Lessons / Danny Update

4H Fun Day:

Saturday after Chelsea's soccer practice we went to the 4H Fun Day. It was fun, but would have been much more fun if we would have signed up to do some of the hands on things.......We did get to watch the Saddle Up class which was interesting. They explained all the parts of the horse and both English and Western saddles and bridles, what their functions are and showed how to put them on properly on an actual horse. We also popped into the Model Horse area so that Chelsea could see some of the different ways to set things up. This is Chelsea's first year in the Model Horse project.

Riding Lessons:

The girls and I had our riding lessons today. Brandon came along to watch. All went very well. Lindsay trotted on the lunge line for the first time today. She had tons of fun and is still talking about it. Chelsea did very well as usual, she did have a bit of excitement though, the lesson horse shied and spooked a little bit, just a little jump and a fast turn, she rode right through it awesome, didn't fall off and didn't get too scared about it. All and all it was a very good experience for her, because things like that will happen and they are always unexpected. I then had my lesson and trotted for almost a solid hour and believe me my butt is gonna pay for it tomorrow. :o)

Danny Update:
I called to see how Danny was doing and he is doing good. The other mare still hasn't had her foal yet but we are all patiently waiting....very patiently! I can't wait to get him to start working on ground work and start riding our own horse for lessons and practicing.

Horse & Pony Meeting / New videos posted

Tonight we have are regular monthly 4H Horse & Pony meeting. (The one the kids say is sooooo boring) LOL ...... Well I guess I can see how they would be boreing for the kids, but it's something we have to do........and they learn things whether they think so or not.

I added a couple videos of Lindsay riding "Danny". I would have pictures and videos of Chelsea and myself but by the time I remembered that I had even brought the cameras we were done riding. Hopefully we will be buying him and then we will have lots of pictures and videos of all of us. Enjoy the videos!