Dressage Quebec

I have been off the grid more often than not this summer, so my blogging has been pretty sporadic. This just means more riding and more travels, so it is a good thing. My latest fun has been with my mom. After spending some time together in the San Juan Islands watching Orcas, she came down to Portland. We went to the barn on Sunday and she hit the trails with me. The last time we rode together was about 5 years ago, so to get on the trail with her is pretty special. I forgot my camera, so I got

The three amigos set out for a day of riding at Timothy Lake up near Mt. Hood. We created a list of places we wanted to ride earlier this summer, and we have managed to check off quite a few this year. Joni, Tammy, and I wanted to hit the water and do some swimming with our horses. I have heard wonderful things about the trails up there. I had no idea the water would be so blue and clear. We parked in the Joe Graham Horse Camp and saddled up. Maddy was already up to her water antics, tipping buckets

Amy Platt of Bend says it's an image she won't soon forget.On Saturday, she came home to find her four horses covered in blood. Two had been shot."There were four of them in the field, and they were all covered in blood, but she was the worst," she said Wednesday."This isn't okay," Platt said through the tears. "You can't go out there and shoot an innocent animal. Police arrested Inga Kemnitz, the woman they say shot Platt's horses. Deschutes County sheriff's deputies say Kemnitz told officers

Today was another road trip. Joni and I headed over to my friend Nicole's house. Her property borders BLM land and lots of amazing trails. Can you say "water crossings!". But first, her neighbor had this amazing trail course. We had to check that out. This woman does competitive trail mountain courses, so she built one in her back yard. Lucky us! Unfortunately I was having so much fun trying all the obstacles, I didn't get many picures, but imagine a bunch of "stations" with different tasks. I loved

After our Parelli lesson on Sunday, I took Joni over to one of my old haunts, Whipple Creek Equestrian Park. When I first got back into riding seven years ago after a long hiatus, I leased a horse next to the park. I would ride every Thursday and I found myself falling in love with horses all over again. The park has a lot of good memories and I've been wanting to ride Maddy there. Sunday I had the chance to fulfill a little dream of mine. Little did I know, Clark County Vector Control has been

On Sunday, my barnmate and I drove up to Battleground, WA for a Parelli lesson with Michael Sparling. We met Michael at the Redmond Parelli tour stop. He is a young, enthusiastic trainer so we thought "why not?" I was a little anxious about things...I haven't had a Parelli lesson since Ann Kiser left over two years ago. I still worry about trailering new places and how Maddy will respond. I need to get over my fears. Maddy walked off that trailer, took a casual look around and started eating grass.

A last minute garage sale find before I head out of town for 6 days. Check out these cool vintage Kentucky Derby glasses...one is 1962. Yeah! Anyway, I am off to visit a friend in New York. Forget the Statue of Liberty or Times Square, I made her promise to take me to Manhattan Saddlery and Belmont Park. Hope you all enjoy your weekend. Happy 4th!

I was driving down I-5 south, passing many a truck and trailer as it was the weekend of Inavale Horse Trials, when a large truck and trailer caught my eye. On the back was www.teamtryon.com . An infamous equestrian celebrity sighting, Amy Tryon. Many of you remember her from the Rolex investigation in 2007. She jumped the last fence on her horse ,Le Samurai, who was running on three legs. She dismounted at the finish line and left others to care for him. He was later put down. She was investigated

I wish everyday would start this way. I woke up to sunshine and a text asking "are you going riding today?" I met Joni early out at the barn and she promised to show me a new trail she found. We both packed our clippers because we knew we would have to trim some branches. It was a great trail that a poker ride group recently broke for us. We vowed to keep this well traveled so we don't lose it. Great morning ride and we made it back in time to get me to work on time.

Kacy from All Horse Stuff invinted me and my barnmates for a beach trip to the lovely town of Tillamook, Oregon. Kacy boards with the woman who owns "The Bay Ocean House," so that is where we get stay. I think this is my fourth trip...every time I go, I love it more. Maddy has gotten accustomed to the sights and sounds of the ocean and this trip she behaved so well. I am really proud of all the horses...they were all rockstars. Enjoy some of my photos from the trip. We had so much fun, cooking,

Maddy got her teeth done today. I know how much I hate the dentist, so I can't imagine how much horses dislike this medieval torture. She did pretty well, a little skittish when Dr. Klugh approached. He wrote the book "Principles of Equine Dentistry," so I felt she was in pretty good hands. As she was rigged up, she kept giving me this look like "Why are you doing this to me?" Oh the guilt. The barn was full of groggy horses. We had 5 done today. As I was driving home, I realized that I just paid

People like Lorie Wigle make me sick. I mentioned I had a lot of problems with horse racing in the previous post, sadly people like Lorie Wigle are a dime a dozen within the racing industry. I have to give credit to Fugly Horse of the Day for bringing the story to light. I pass it along because she is a PR rep for Intel which is based in Beaverton, Oregon.Allegedly, Lorie had a horse named "Feebie Fritz" which ran on Monday at Portland Meadows and on Tuesday he was sitting in a kill pen up in Zillah,

I can't stay away. I have so many issues with horse racing, but that first Saturday in May rolls around and I have to head to the track. For me it is nostalgia. My family always went down to Minneapolis to an old German neighborhood called "Bryn Mawr." We would visit with friends and family, go to the neighborhood garage sales, bbq, and watch the derby. To this day, my family does the same thing, minus me. So the best I can do is head to the local track, Portland Meadows, and take it in. Kentucky

Joni, Tammy, and I took the "kids" to Hopkins Demonstration Forest. It is about 15 minutes away, so we thought it would be a good training trip to gear up for summer. I was working on trailering, Tammy worked on keeping her mare responsive, and Joni wanted to hit some water. We did all that and even managed to climb some stairs. Hopkins is a privately owned forest that is open to the public. In years past, lots of the trails were open to equestrians. This trip, we noticed more trails that are off

My friend Joni and I hit the trails for a quick ride on Wednesday. It was nice and sunny. In Oregon you have to take advantage of those types of days. Joni, or as I like to call her "Trailboss," is a human GPS. I am so envious of people that don't get lost out on that BLM land. I lose my bearings quickly, and can only explore on days I don't have to get to work just in case I get lost. Joni took me to a new area that I am trying to map out mentally. It helps to have her connect the dots. As a bonus,

I had a weekend away with the girls down in Redmond, Oregon enjoying the Clinton Anderson tour. This is my third time going to see the Aussie. I headed down Saturday morning, the girls were a day ahead of me, so they enjoyed a day of shopping in the lovely city of Bend followed by a night of wine and hot tubing. As I rolled in Saturday, I met my crew headed out for their lunch break....Joni was grinning ear to ear. She just won the grand prize ($800 value) "Fundamentals" program. High five! Guess

Nine horses in Portland may be out of a job. The Portland Police Bureau is looking at $3 million dollars in budget cuts and the Mounted Patrol is on the chopping block. The unit costs a mere $570,000 a year. Not bad in the realm of public safety. They are responsible for crowd control, public relations, and downtown patrols. They average about 150 arrests a month and they have a huge presence at downtown protests. In Portland, you know we have lots of those! The Mounted Patrol is solely responsible

It took a week to recover, but it was a lot of fun...the 2010 NW Horse Fair and Expo. Friday, three of us headed down and hit Steve Rother talking about body control. Next we went to Al Dunning talking about Western Dressage. Then it was off to shop. I bought a few things, a Courbette dressage bridle, a dressage pad, and a cool bag.Sunday..we hit Steve Rother again, trail obstacles. Then it was the "Mustang Challenge." We did a little more shopping and decided to head back into Portland.Things I

What a great horse weekend in Oregon! We had the "NW Horse Expo" along with the "Mustang Challenge" down in Albany. On Saturday, we had the famous "Canby Tack Sale," the biggest tack swap meet in the country. We also managed to squeeze in one heck of a ride.The only bad news in all this...they are cutting our trees! Well, not our trees, BLM trees, but they felt like "our" trees. We headed towards a trail with a decent water crossing and found our route was no longer. All the trees were down. If

Maddy is looking over at Freebie thinking "I wonder is this old red roan can keep up?" My step-dad Cliff is out visiting from Minnesota and I was hoping there would be a clear day so we could hit the trails together. "Freebie" is the barn husband horse, the pack master, otherwise know as "the couch." She is the kind of horse that takes care of her rider. After brushing about two pounds of hair from her, we hit the trails. I promised a short ride so Cliff wouldn't be too sore tomorrow. We had a great

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