Since the last time I posted, my horse has recovered from her colic, we rode in a poker ride, we set fence, got hay, helped a friend load a horse for euthanasia.........all the minutiae of life.
The Challenge of the North CTR started Friday. Our group left on Thursday for the 7 hour 350 mile haul. On one hand I was disappointed that I wasn't going and on the other I was relieved because we just weren't ready. Next year CTR Alaska will be hosting the Bald Mountain Butt Buster here at home. That's what I really like to do - organize the trails for our CTR. There are over 50 miles of trails that need to be maintained. Some we ride every week because they are the ones closest to the house. An all day ride with lunch on the mountain gets us to the farthest away and most spectacular trails.
The Poker Ride went great! No accidents, no one got hurt, the food was excellent! There were about 55 riders including all the volunteers. The next one is planned for sometime in September at a yet to be determined location. There's another group of riders at Mile 107 of the Glenn Highway who would like us to help them put on a Poker Ride. As much as I love to ride our trails going some where new is always fun.
I rode Vooshka at the Poker Ride and for3 days before the ride flagging trail and riding support for cleaning a trail. You would never have known she had colicked the week before. We rode about 4 hours on Tuesday, 4 hours on Thursday, 8 hours on Friday and another 8 on Saturday. My horse does not like riding with new horses. My friend Christy and I rode mid-drag (because the ride was divided into two groups: one continued up the mountain and the others turned back at the five mile point). Our girls rode together ahead of us with another friend and that friend's mom rode with us. This new-to-Vooshka horse had her passage-ing on the trail from my chip stop to the end of the ride. Oh my goodness. Although her feet were going like crazy, she never felt like she was going to explode or run off. She did stick her nose in the air quite a bit so I know we need to work on that but she never went any faster than I allowed her to.
Hay this year is awesome! We had hot (for Alaska) sunny days and cool nights. A little rain would have helped but for the most part first cut is in the barn with no rain on it. This is such a blessing since last year what little hay was pulled from the field was horrible. I had to buy outside hay at $27/100 # bale to get me through until first cut. Second cut in September should be better since it will rain some in August.
We are preparing for the State Fair already. My daughter has a market lamb and several of my Suffolks as well as the Alpine buck will be shown. She does the baking contest, speech contest and livestock judging also.
That's about all I've been doing. There's no drama - just life. Let me see if I can find a picture for you.......
This is The Mare. She's a Beligan/QH cross of an indeterminate age who is the best husband horse I have found. At some point she was well trained and will collect, sidepass, turn on the forehand and haunches. But only if you know what you are doing. Otherwise she will amble along the trail, going where you point her with no fuss. She has even carried the little yappy terrier dogs across the river. She has been used as a "packer" horse on a dude string here in Alaska and nothing much bothers her. She is fun to ride. When we canter I feel like I should be wearing armor and carrying a jousting pole!
I came across this picture while I was cleaing crap off the computer. This is my front yard. It's an 80 acre hay field and those are the Talkeetna Mountains. That's the moon rising about 4 pm several winters ago. See the snow fencing in the front? We used to put up 12 rows of 20' long fencing in the field. The driveway runs right along that field and the wind whips out of the mountains, picks up the snow and dumps it on the driveway. The first winter I lived here there was a 21' tall snow drift at the end of my driveway. In January of 09 we had 70 mile an hour winds and we spent 6 hours with 2 plow trucks and 2 skid steers trying to keep the driveway open.
These bald eagles are lurking behind the fire station in Eagle River waiting for the garbage to be thrown in the dumpster. I used to think eagles were these great, magnificent, mystical creatures until I saw them dumpster diving. It's still pretty cool to see them but give me a murder of ravens any day.
This is the view to the east from the Alaska State Fairgrounds. When the mountains turn pink from the reflection of the sunset it's called alpenglow. It's prettier and more dramatic when there is snow on the mountains but I though this was a cool picture.
