July 19, 2010 – Howdy everyone… how’s your summer going so far? We are having a pretty good summer here at Shady Ridge. The weather was pretty darn hot again this past week and only a little bit of rain. Some places in Southern Ontario got lots of rain and some pretty wild storms but they all seem to be detouring around us. The clouds are producing some beautiful sunsets(and you know how much I love a good sunset)  but we could really use some rain! We are having the type of summer that we haven’t seen in a number of years with a lot of heat and fairly dry. A lot of people have been wishing for this type of weather but me… not so much

And we confirmed that Charlie hates the heat too or at least hates to work in the heat. I mentioned in last week’s blog that it seemed that he was not happy working in the heat so we tested it this past week and when he was ridden in the middle of the afternoon when the temperatures were around 30 degrees with a humidex of 35-40, he was not a happy camper.  However, on the days that he was ridden in the morning before the day got too hot, he was awesome. So, this week’s lessons will be in the morning. Thank heavens it is summer holidays for Megan and hopefully these heat waves will become fewer and further between.

We have more plans for the farm. It seems like the ideas and updates never stop when it comes to be home & property owners but when you also have horses and a barn to go along with it, things that are necessary to keep everything in working order seem to be doubled (if not more).

First, we plan to build another paddock. The grass is not growing nearly enough in our existing paddock so we are building a new one so we can move the horses there and let the grass grow in the first one. Not to mention one day we hope to get a “husband” horse for Randy and may need to split the herd up a little so that we don’t run into any issues.

Another project on the go is trying to make a path out to the back forest of our property. We have 15 acres with many more behind us that the neighbours have said we are welcome to go riding through. However, across the middle of our property is a tributary of the Humber River. There is one location where there is an actual flowing river and there is a small bridge over it but the horses won’t go across and the bridge is actually on the neighbours property and we don’t want to overstep our bounds by asking if we can “change” the bridge. Other parts of the river are actually swampy areas so we can’t walk through that without the chance that Charlie’s shoes will get sucked right off his feet. 

So, as we speak, Randy is out doing what he loves best… playing with the Kubota . He is trying to make a path up to the swampy area and then we will build our own wide bridge for the horses to go over. He loves playing on that thing and we have been wanting to get to the back of the property with the horses so it’s a win-win situation. (Update… he just informed me that there is a LOT to do and it may not be this year that we have our access to the back part of the property on horseback. Bummer)

Third project that Randy has started is a lean-too off the side of our garage to park that precious Kubota. (I don’t know about your husbands but my husband is the king of starting projects… finishing them in a timely fashion is another story…LOL) I think this time there is a reason for these three projects to all be started at the same time. We will need to borrow a post hole digger from a friend of ours so if we have everything ready to go he can just whip through the holes all at the same time. (Hey… he might actually be doing something logically this time..LOL…  sorry hun… love ya)

In other news… (LOL … couldn’t resist)

This past weekend Megan was going to show Charlie at the Teen Ranch Hunter/Jumper Schooling Show but with Charlie being such a ding-dong in the hot weather, we were concerned about how he would react. So, instead we decided just to go to the show as spectators (wow… it is so much more stress free when she isn’t participating…LOL) and cheer on some of her friends.

I took a number of pictures of Harley’s little brother, Kaleb, in his very first horse show and he looked so handsome. However, I can’t post them on my blog as the horse in the pictures is not ours and the owner is not willing to let me post any pictures of her horses. Sorry about that but it just isn’t worth the hassle to post them. Just picture a cure little blond fella dressed all in his hunter show clothes on a little speckled grey pony He was so cute and he did such a great job taking 2 – 6th places in the flat classes and a 2nd over fences. It was funny to see his mom and I jumping up and down when they called him for the second place…LOL So proud of you Kaleb!

Congrats to the rest of Megan’s friends that we watched there as well. Korina honey… Wally is not a hunter pony…LOL  He is a gorgeous animal and very talented but he is just not hunter…LOL However, the ribbons you got with him in the jumper ring were awesome. We weren’t there when you did your courses but can imagine how well you both rocked it! You look awesome on him and jumper is definitely his thing. Congrats. Harley, Alyssa and other friends of Megan’s also rode on Sunday and everyone had a great time.

Still shopping for a horse trailer. What a tedious job to find a two horse ramp load with a tack room in our budget (and sellers who actually call you back when you show an interest in their trailer… very frustrating). But, we will persevere

And just for fun… check out my insane dog going nuts playing with her ball.

Have a great week everyone!