Crochet Me Crazy

After downloading and trying several different programs, I finally found one that works to get a video converted so I could post. This is Alison running a practice on Princess last night. Princess has never been trained on barrels and this is her 2nd time to ever do this.

I haven't had all the dishes in my sink washed up in over a week. I work on getting some washed each night but I can't get it all done. I'm so behind on laundry. We are completely covered up and I'm taking things as they come at me, the rest gets put on hold. Yesterday, we worked half a day and then Alison, Morgan and I went to town for Alison's dentist appointment. She had a tooth pulled. Not a good time for Alison. She was all messed up for a few hours and then we had horse club last night. Probably not a great idea doing the dentist appointment on a horse club night. Everything turned out okay though. So much excitement going on around here with Alison being Rodeo Queen and riding in the parade and carrying the flag in the opening of the rodeo! All "our" kids entered the barrel racing in the rodeo for at least one night except Alison entered to race both Friday and Saturday night. She has to be there anyway. Then there's all the drama with her "best" friend who is in horse club too. Alison is still amazed at her. Alison tried to talk to her but she's not talking much. I guess there's some jealousy going on...could be the boyfriend and it could be the Rodeo Queen status. Been there...done that. Oh well, Alison has said if they get past this, it won't be the same because she'll never trust her again because that's not what friends do. Alison is years above her age in maturity though.


Morgan & Silver -- Alison & Princess

I've been trying to figure out how to upload a video here on my blog so I can post a video of Alison riding. I'm still working on finding a program to convert my videos to a format I can post here.

It has been soooo hot the past few days that we have just been doing nothing but sitting up there sweating at the stables. People aren't riding because of the heat. It was 104 today and we had zero riders. We pretty much knew it would be that way so we were off by noon. By the time I did some running around and took the kids to the river....we got home around 5 pm today! A record! I took my shower and mixed up a casserole for tomorrow night's dinner.

Life is busy, but good. There is a little drama going on at the moment but nothing we won't get through. Alison is going through some tough stuff. Her best friend seems to be turning on her. She's really hurt by it but at the same time, Alison is independent and strong so I know she'll be fine. Alison also has her first serious interest in a boy...yes, I know she'll not appreciate be saying it on my blog but geez...it's certainly not a secret around here! Alison is not really boy crazy and doesn't like random boys so this is a big deal around our house! It's the stable owner's grandson that she has been friends with since we moved here. They have a growing friendship and so far we are okay with everything. They are proceeding in a responsible manner. They see quite a bit of each other since I'm practically helping to raise those kids (he and his sister). I'm very fond of both of he and his sister, actually. Alison is 15 and the day her daddy found out was the day he's been dreading her whole life! lol!

So anyway,

We had 59 riders today. It was a pretty rough day because Alison was feeling really sick to her stomach and she had to ride. We had 32 of the riders in the first 3 hours because it was a youth group. Mrs. Stables went on the third ride and I made Alison go in the house to sit in the Air Conditioning and eat. She started feeling better in the afternoon and finished the day out. It was super hot today. This year really seems hotter than normal.

My daughter said she would like to be a horse trainer....now I'm starting to believe she can. We all gasped when she came riding out of the barn today on Princess carrying a flag! Now, if you don't know about horses you might not know that they are scared of everything. I just can't believe that three days ago, Princess was terrified of that flag and was in shear panic if it got near her. Alison worked with her no more than an hour for the past two days with the flag and today she was riding her with it on her back. It was a very windy day and the flag was popping and flapping in the wind. Honestly, I can't believe that child of mine. Never having been around a horse in her life until 2 1/2 years ago...the things she is accomplishing now is amazing. Alison wants to rider "her" horse in the parade and in the rodeo but I had her a back-up horse lined up just in case Princess wasn't going to be ready to carry a flag or ride in a parade. Now, I'm thinking Princess will do just fine. Alison is on cloud nine and incredibly proud of Princess.

That pretty much describes our life. Another day at the stables today but Alison is having trouble with her saddle sores on her rump again. She's in a lot of pain and the rides kept coming. After she went on the 9:00, 10:00, 11:00 and 12:00...she couldn't take it anymore so we had Jose take the next two out. Tomorrow, I'm going to try to keep the rides small so Alison can just load the rides for him and he can take them out and she can rest her rump. I'm going to do my best to keep her off a horse tomorrow. I went online last night and ordered a ortho gel pad that goes on your saddle. Let's hope that helps. The next thing I will be trying is some tight biker shorts for her to wear under her jeans but I'll probably have to buy those online too.

Today, Alison worked with her horse, Princess, and a tarp. She's got a lot of work to do with her if she's going to be able to ride in the 4th of July parade carrying a flag.

We unsaddled a little early tonight and I took the Alison, Morgan, and Serenity to the river. We searched out a different swimming hole today because we didn't want to go to the State Park. It's too crowded in there.

Well, that's all I have time for tonight. Sorry I'm such a bad blogger these days but I'll get back to normal in a couple of months.

Tonight was horse club again. It was a lot more exciting tonight. There were a whole lot more kids participating tonight. Alison lost one stirrup on the second barrel...then she lost her other stirup...and then she fell off! The horse was pretty much stopped by the time she fell but it was her first fall from a horse. Secondly, Alison is going to be Rodeo Queen at the rodeo on July 4 weekend. Well, she's actually the only one that applied so she automatically won it. Either way, it's exciting. Next week she'll be crowned and we have lot of work to do to get her horse ready for this. She will open the rodeo carrying a flag and she will ride in the front of July 4th parade. Should be fun and interesting. Well, just wanted to take a minute to write this news. It's so late and so past my bedtime. We got home extra late because they had a goat tying demonstration after it was over tonight and it took forever. Yes, Alison attempted to tie a goat this evening but she and a lot of others had never done it before. So.... goodnight....today was busy with trail rides today at the stables and I'm expecting tomorrow to be busy too.

Have a great weekend!

Warming up...




Our girls waiting for their turn....



Alison is completely pumped and excited after her first night of horse club. She AND her horse, Princess, did great. She is SOOOOOO proud of Princess. We weren't sure how she would do because she's never been to a rodeo arena, around strange horses and she has never done any of these events before. Princess was cool as a cucumber. The relationship she has with that horse makes all the difference in the world. Serenity, couldn't ride the horse we brought for her. He was nervous and upset so there was no way we were putting her on him. Serenity was able to ride the a horse that Mrs. Grain brought so she could participate. It was a great night.

I'm headed to bed now...it's going to be a busy day tomorrow!

The owner at the stables hired a guy that walked up looking for a job yesterday. This is good but could be bad too....if you only knew what drama goes on up there! We'll see how this goes. He's supposed to be doing mostly heavy lifting and going on rides as needed. We'd rather he not mess with the horses very much. We have that part under control and we've been through way too many horse "meanies" as far as Alison and I are concerned.

Well, Jeff has been off of work for 4 days with his knee. He seems to finally be doing better...not completely okay but a lot better. Hopefully, working today won't inflame it. We're just lucky he escaped a hospital stay on this one!

Alison has been making some adorable custom cards for the stables gift shop. She puts pictures of our various horses on them. I'll try to get some time to take some pictures of them soon!

We were there by ourselves today. Mrs. Stables had to go out of town. We had 15 riders but we got to shut down a little early. Alison and I had to lift those heavy Alfalfa bails to feed the horses. My legs are scratched up and those things must weigh a ton! The grass hay bales are lighter. We managed though. Alison learned to drive this week so now she can drive the little "Putt-Putt" as we call it and feed. Since we got home early, I was able to get some laundry done and I even sat down and crocheted a couple of flowers. Crocheting is a little out of the question for the most part right now in my life.

Michael starts his new job tomorrow! He got a job at the auto parts store in town. I'll be dropping him off every day on my way into the stables. He only works until noon so picking him up may be a problem at times when we are busy at the stables. We'll have to work it out some how.

It's hard to believe Alison and I are up there running those horse rides virtually by ourselves this week. Mrs. Stables has been going on some of the larger rides but she can only do that so much. Luckily, it hasn't been really, really busy...only about 15-17 rides a day. We're very tired though. Michael has been helping some with saddling and feeding. The grandkids help a bit but they aren't much into it so sometimes it's just easier to do it yourself. My 15 year old girl is amazing....that's all I know. It's a big load of responsibility to carry and she does it well.

Jeff went back to the doctor yesterday with his knee because it wasn't doing better. The doctor changed his antibiotic and told him to stay off it for 4 days so he is home. Alison is feeling much better today though! I plan to keep a closer watch from now on to make sure this doesn't happen again.