Blogger X 2? [or] Blogger[squared]?

I mentioned in my last post that I had the chance, while I was in Vancouver, Washington (just north of Portland Oregon) to visit the first annual Washington State Horse Expo. And I had realized the week before that this was possibly an opportunity to meet a blogger friend: Kacy K. from All Horse Stuff! Was she planning on making the trip up to the Expo? You bet she was!
We had agreed to meet at the Ansur Saddle booth, as Kacy was contemplating ordering one of their treeless saddles for her and her Wa mare. When I arrived there, I didn't even recognize her, as I don't think she's ever had a photo on the blog without either a helmet or some sort of hat. Plus, she was dressed up! I, on the other hand, had dressed down from my professional self.

We had a great visit, window shopping, looking at all sorts of great horsie stuff and watching several demonstrations.
One in particular was this fellow: Mark Bolender.

Mark and his sweet gelding "Chex" are multiple world champions in Mountain Trail competition, and Kate and I will be attending a clinic with him in May.

All in all , it was a great way to spend the evening with a "new" old friend.
Thanks! Kacy!
Next time, however, we'll have to ride together on real horses!

Quick Update

I've been out of town for much of last week for a professional conference outside of Portland. I was also able to sneak out one evening to a little Horse Expo to meet up in person! with Kacy from All Horse Stuff! What a kick! She's just a fun and energetic as her blog!

Sunday, after a full day at the conference, and a four hour drive home, I just vegged.

In spite of the storm that was predicted, Pat and I were able to sneak out for a quick ride with Kate and Chief again on Monday afternoon. We were going to try to get out away from home a ways, but I got bogged down getting the barn ready for surgery Tuesday, and we didn't have much time before the black clouds moved in, so we just went down to Hank's cattle pasture again. Chief gave Pat one big jump, where she had to scramble a bit to keep her seat and regain contact, but once she did (and Kate stopped after her slight hop in reaction to Chief) he settled right back down again. He's such a good boy!One other exciting development that happened on Monday was that, in doing a thorough mucking of stalls (Al's mostly just been picking them nightly), I took the tractor out and turned the recalcitrant compost pile that hasn't been composting all winter, due to earlier than usual frigid temperatures. And, lo and behold, I got some steam rising from the poop! Now we're cookin' with [methane] gas! [old photo]Bad news is, the wind that has accompanied these last two storm fronts has pretty much done in my cheapo tarps at the end of the barn. But the system itself is good, so before next winter I'll invest in a heavier duty enclosure. I haven't yet decided on whether to get a solid tarp again, or a "wind screen" type, that would let some of the wind through (and therefore not pay such a heavy toll during heavy winds), but block snow and other precipitation.

Luckily, we didn't get all the snow that was predicted Tuesday (Aarene got it over in the swamplands, as did Jean in SW British Columbia) and, though early, the trip to the hospital in neighboring Yakima was uneventful, as was surgery (gall bladder removed). I was feeling good enough that we decided, in light of the continuing forecast of blizzard conditions, I would come home Tuesday night, instead of Wednesday morning. Took it pretty easy all day, but was up to going out to the barn Wednesday night to help Al with chores. I'm not supposed to lift much, nor drive for five days (I don't think they could have possibly meant the tractor?). I'm pretty tender, and a little bloated feeling, but otherwise feeling okay. The cold weather we're to have this weekend will probably out-weigh any urges to do anything silly like ride.

Al has been wonderful in covering horse responsibilities all last week and much of this one!
UPDATE: Thursday morning, and the storm front finally reached us! Sideways wind blowing just an inch or two of snow into nasty drifts. Because he can't see "his" mare herd in their respective stalls (or maybe because the barn is just too full of rattles), a blanketed RT chooses to stand out in it, silly guy! From the house I can see that Kate and Misty are also hanging outside, in the lee of the barn, so it must be that it's just too noisy inside for their nerves.
Again, Al insisted that I stay inside this morning, even though I feel pretty good, and was prepared to take over chores so he'd have one less thing to do before work. What a guy!

A Play-Date with Kate

So, after all the wind on Saturday, Sunday dawned clear and calm, if a little nippy. Pat and I didn't have the distraction of the tack sale, so we wanted to get going before the wind came up again, as is often the case in our environs. So by 10:00 or so, here came Chief (aka Mis-chief) down the drive. The little guy unloaded calmly and respectfully. Pat has been hauling him to a little local indoor to get him started again this month--she probably put 10 easy rides on him at home when she first got him late last fall. But only a couple of those rides were off her place, and then just around her immediate neighborhood. She did pony him out once, with a small group from the KVTR club, and he was pretty reasonable about being out and about.

A little bit of groundwork in the arena.Some follow-the-leader.
Then out we head, towards Hank's cattle pasture playground. (Look how big--in both directions-- Kate is next to Chief!)Across the draw and along the fenceline.
Turn and come back down the draw.

Loop back around the other side.And back up the hill again.South, along the fenceline with our farm. And out the back gate, to the irrigation ditch-road.
Couldn't find a "mounting block" to use. (The Tucker Saddle guy swears that the new saddle won't "spin" around Kate's rotund physique...We'll see.) Finally found a low spot that wasn't mushy.
Mama Misty watches our progress around the ditch road at the east edge of the farm. It's amazing how much she carries on these days when Kate leaves--Misty has always bullied Kate around, but now that they're next door to each other, Misty misses her!

And back down the drive. What are they looking at?

Maddie, Beth, and RT carrying on in the pasture next to them! RT seemed to think Chief was there to steal "his" mares, which I guess is a justified fear, considering he got away with Kate for awhile."Super Chief" gets a pat from Pat for his successful first outing, about an hour total in the saddle. Then some practice standing at the trailers--with a hay bag, of course. This is a skill Chief will need for future KVTR rides.All in all, it was a great "first date."
(Thanks to photo-hubby Al for the documentation of the day.)