2011 ACTHA Ride for the Mustangs

Wow!  It has been a long time since I have blogged, and after loading all these pictures I remember why.  It takes forever, and it takes several times to get the pictures to load.  I am sure there are updates out there and I just have not made the time to go look for them.  But....here I am!

The ACTHA Ride for the Mustangs was held on September 10th of this year.  The original date had to be changed to 'protect the innocent' when a small outbreak of a horsey disease hit the airways.  Better safe than sorry I always say...and it did work out.

The Midwest Mustang and Burro Saddle Club hosted a ride in Kansas, and April, who has ridden and judged several of these rides was the main person who got the ball rolling on this.  She is a modest person, but I am going to say it anyways...it is my blog (hee hee!)... if it was not for her, our ride would not have happened.  She knew who to talk to, what to do,  who to delegate things to, and she rounded up a few volunteers to camp out and work the day.  Unfortunately some people who could make it for the first date  could not make it for this date.  Maybe another time...

The pictures start out in order, then are somewhat random.  I will say we had a great time and Brian and I wished we had someone to watch the critters so we could camp out with the small group who stayed the 2nd night.  We arrived on Friday and got camp set up.  That evening it stormed like a big dog!  Wow!  Then later that night the moon poked thru the clouds and the stars started to sparkle.  The next day was absolutely beautiful!  Awesome clouds and sky, sun, perfect riding temps....couldn't have asked for better than that!

Here is one of the signs to direct everyone into Eisenhower State Park just south of Topeka, KS. 

 

Some of us shared a couple of camp sites.

Here are our tents pre-storm...

Look how oblong my little blue tent is in the middle...that is during the storm.  Brian and I were surprised it stayed pinned down.

 Pretty sky pre-storm...

 Our ride photographer decided to make good use of the storm time...

  

Jessi helping to put up their tent.

How do ya like our camping chairs?  They are AWESOME!!!!  Quite comfy too...you can lay across the seat and prop your feet up.

Brian in his big chair...

 

Bryan, April's husband, is checking out the comfort level of the big chair...it passed his inspection.

Randy, Kristi's husband had to get a taste of the big chair too.  They all think they need one.  :-)

Here is where we all hid out during the storm...April and Bryans trailer.

 

After the storms we built a camp fire...it turned out to be a beautiful night.

Here is where pictures start to get out of order, but that is okay.  Bryan's mustang Zip peeking under the hitching rail.

 

Amy and her mustang Cinco getting ready to head to their obstacle that they are judging.

 Here is the Assistant photographer.  Her Dad was the Trail Boss for the ride, and they let Beth the photographer use one of their horses.  Beth got some tie-dye material and made up bandanas for the volunteers AND the horses!  :-)

 This was a barn we saw on the way to our obstacle...we judged obstacle #2.

Beth the photographer on Hootie.  Hootie is awesome!  He is older, been there done that, but still has the spunk of a youngster.  

 Group of riders getting ready to head out...

 Kristy and Randy were two of the founders of the Midwest Mustang and Burro Saddle Club.  Here is their mustang Isabella, a.k.a. Izzy.  She is a beautiful chocolate mustang with light mane, tail and forelock.  This is one special mare to a lot of people.  She almost made that trip over the Rainbow Bridge...they were to the point of making the decision we all dread making, and on the way home from KU to lay her to rest, Izzy had a change of plans!  And here she is today...

 

Riders at rider meeting.

DEMAND THE BRAND!!!

Diana and her 2007 Extreme Mustang Makeover mustang, Nikko.  Diana trained Nikko for the very first EMM!  We were there as spectators...almost 80 mustangs showed up to that one and it was awesome!

You tell 'em baby!

Everyone getting ready for the ride...

This gal and her big mustang were safety/escort riders.  This is one of the mustangs that is used for therapeutic riding.  I wish I would have gotten more information on what all they do.  What I do remember them saying is how much the horses love getting out on the trails for a change of pace.

Riders ready to go.

Bryan and Zip.  Bryan gets the award for Best Support Husband of the year!  He did some obstacle building and whatever April needed, he was there.  Not only for this ride, but others too.

Cindy Branham and her Supreme Extreme Mustang for 2010, Tucker.  She said he was tough in the beginning because he didn't want to trust anyone, but you sure wouldn't know it now.  He had his nose over everyone's shoulders at the picnic tables and the kids were loving all over him.  He is quite a doll.  And here is another little fact about Tucker...he was a 3 striker, which means he made it thru 3 adoptions without being adopted, so he has the hip brand and was headed for long term holding.   Cindy and Tucker were also on America's Favorite Trail Horse.  They made the cut of 100 out of thousands!

 April's Bryan made a couple of saddle racks for prizes. 

Diana brought her buddy along.  This is a Boiviere.  

Dona, the other founder of the Midwest Mustang and Burro Saddle Club just couldn't keep her hands off John Wayne!  That is what her husband gets for going to a class reunion instead.  :-)

Dona did say good-bye to John a little bit later so she could meet up with her husband.  :-)

Ed and Ranger...Ranger also has a US brand on his shoulder.  Ed McCarty is a horse dentist and did a demonstration on floating teeth.  He does not power float...he does a manual float and has a way with horses.  It was one of the most interesting horse dentist presentations I have seen.

Beth had t-shirts made up for herself and her helper, Cheyenne.  Darn it, I know that her name isn't spelled like that, but I don't know how it is supposed to be spelled.  Cheyanne?  Hmmmm....she was a fun kid.  Her Dad is the trail boss and their horse is Hootie, the gray that Beth is riding.

 Here is our rescue nurse on her young Arab who has never been out to anything like this before.  They are riding in a treeless saddle and bitless.  Yay!  They did great as a team, but she also helped out when there was an accident before Obstacle 1.  A fellow got bucked off his horse and got knocked out.  He was life flighted out and did show up later to get his horses.  Had a few stitches in his ear, we were thankful to be able to throw a few jokes his direction, and his daughter who was riding with him is a trooper.  She told someone that his ear was just 'hanging there'.  Eww!!!  Thanks to everyone who helped out Jay, his daughter and their horses!  By the way, his horse has been there done that, so it goes to show that anything can happen at any time to anybody. 

Look closely and you can see the helicopter coming over the hill.  That is the view from our Obstacle 2. 

It was such a pretty day!  This was the view up the hill from our Obstacle...yes, we had to walk up that!

While Beth was at our obstacle waiting for riders, she was checking out her camera.  Check out Hootie's rhythm beads.  Jessi and I made those for Beth.  :-)  By the way, Beth just had a birthday and she now has a mustang of her very own!  She is still Godmother to all other horses out there.  Whew!  

View from the mirror...riders behind us.  

The horses were very curious about the boat that was pulling an inner tube.

This is Jazz, who has many different matching outfits!  Jazz's Mom has her own business:  http://shezablinginfool.com/  Jazz and Erika were on America's Favorite Trail Horse!  They made the cut of 100 out of thousands!  Woo hoo!  I know of at least 3 of our riders who made the cut. 

Lacey, one of the club members and volunteers.  Her mustang buddy is Beau, but he couldn't be here this time.  Those of us who showed up without horses were going crazy!  But in a good way.  :-)

Mary Lou and Nevada.  Mary Lou used to be Nevada's person, then she let April adopt her.  April and Nevada have made a great team and Mary Lou is grateful that Nevada went to such a wonderful home. 

Mary, another one of our club members, put on a rope halter tying demo, and it was awesome!  She showed us a couple of books that were totally worthless and complicated, then she showed us a book that was wonderful and easy to follow!  I ended up with one of her red halters and it looks fantabulous on Tripp.  I did get video of most of her demo...I will have to get it worked up and post it.  The girl was a talkin' and a tyin'! 

Brian and I were judging Obstacle #2, and this was at our obstacle.  In the past we have been told to clean up and bring back as much as we can, etc.  Always leave it looking better than when you got there.  Right?  Well, we thought someone from our club made the '2' because they are a very creative talented group.  I told Brian if the post comes out easy, it is probably the clubs....so we brought it with us.  Nope!  It was MILE MARKER 2 on that particular loop!  YIKES!  It belongs to the park!!!  So we took it back to the park office and asked for a post pounder so we can put it back...they said they would take care of it, which was very nice of them.  :-)  I don't know that we will ever live this one down.  

After the storms the moon came out...I could see the moon and the brightest prettiest stars from our tent flap.  Seeing as I was up most of the night (literally) I was lucky to have such a beautiful view.

 Diana take care of Nikko after the ride.

Beth taking pictures at the last Obstacle 6.  I didn't get many pictures of this one because she needed someone to hold Hootie, who was anxious to be done.

Here are our two youngest riders...and aren't they just adorable?!  They were studying their hand-out at the riders meeting.  How fun to be involved with something like this at their age..and on such cute ponies!  Look close at the black one...he has his bangs in an 'up-do'.  Ha ha!  Love them!

And they are off!

Rod the trail boss and his friend, Shannon.

Self portrait at the top of the hill...our obstacle was at the bottom at the tree line.  Right along this part of the hill is where I lost my glasses!  Never did find them...

There are couple of yurts at the park to rent.  Here is one in the background with a gorgeous sunset.  We tried and tried to get a picture with Jessi's eyes opened...but it just didn't work.  

Yurt and sunset...it was so pretty after the storms.

Here is an OTTB and this gal is riding a treeless saddle and a bitless bridle.  Yay!

Tucker is socializing.

Beth in action!

Purdy horse!

Cindy did a demo with Tucker. 

Here is another mascot.

This group is headed to Obstacle 1.  We could not go watch because we had to head out to ours.

This group of friends do many ACTHA rides together. 

The horses look like they are conspiring...

Another purdy horse.

Riders coming back from the ride.

Izzy...

What I would give to know what they are checking out...

Nevada wondering what I am doing down there...

One of the few pictures I got of Obstacle 6. 

Yep, pix are out of order.  This is the group getting ready to head out.

This ride could not happen without hard working volunteers. 

After the ACTHA ride was over, it was time to relax.  But just because the ACTHA ride was over didn't mean the fun was over!  To add a twist another small obstacle was set up for the top point mustang and the top point domestic horse.  The mustang is on the top and domestic is below.  I heard so many great stories, but I am thinking that the domestic was a rescue, and let me tell you what, they are a wonderful team!  CC and Shelby the mustang are too...that little horse really works for him.  This was a fun thing to finish off the day.  In each picture the rider is carrying a baby stuffed horse in front of them.  The domestic ended up getting the prize, but they are both winners in my book. 

Nevada is watching the final twist with the mustang and the domestic.  She isn't bragging or anything...but she says she can do all that!  :-)

It really was a fun time!  Here is a funny on me....before the first group went out, there was a lot of energy and excitement from everyone, riders and non-riders both.  I am getting all excited, all hyped up for the start, Dona and Mary Lou are getting everyone ready to start....it is time to go go go....I am ready...full of energy, waiting for the great departure....and there it was!  FIRST GROUP OUT!  At a walk! Yes, a walk.  Okay, some people might be reading this thinking "Yeah, well, that is what it is supposed to be."  But from someone who has been to an endurance ride and feels the energy before the start of the ride then feels it even more when everyone takes off...this was very different.  Ha ha!  Now I knew that this is more layed back, but for some reason my mind was someplace else.  Brian just laughed at me...he could tell I was getting myself all psyched out...and the look on my face when they all walked away was priceless.

So, if you have not ridden one of these rides, I really do recommend it.  Yes, there are some serious competitors who are very good, but that doesn't matter.  You don't have to be good, you just have to try and have fun, and being able to introduce new things to your horse does nothing but make you both better.  It is also a fun way to meet people with the same interests without that feeling of being in a 'pack'.  And honestly, even the best of them have days where their horse says "No thank you, not today" so instead of scoring high, they got an A+ for the fun factor.

Most people treat their horses with respect but like any group of riders there is always at least one (two in this case) who took their frustration out on their horse and yanked on their mouths.  Hard!  It is disappointing to see this happen at any event (okay, it pissed me off!), and I just hope they are able to stand back and look at the wonderful horse that they are LUCKY enough to have in their life, and either put more training into themselves and their horse both, or just learn to go with the flow and enjoy the ride...

That is it for now...it has only taken me all week to get this done.  :-)

Until later, Karen and Tripp who says the real reason he didn't go to Kansas was because he didn't think they were ready to see him looking so good being black and wearing his gold!  MIZ-ZOU!   ;-)

Blue the Coon Dog....

This summer we had a coon dog show up at the house....he was laying under the bush in the driveway.  I don't dislike coon hounds (or any hounds) but they are not the type of dog I gravitate towards.  Well, there was something about the way this big guy looked at me that just captured my heart.  He was gentle, loving, and he made himself right at home when I let him in the yard.  The other two female dogs took a liking to him too (which is a miracle because they can be pretty witchy)....so he was allowed to stay.....unless someone claimed him.  Of course I had to give him a name, so I called him the classic coon hound name - Blue.  :-)

Blue got an introduction to self portrait time...he got pretty good at it!

Awwww shucks.....she said I was cute!

I think I will give her the "I am a confident coon hound" look....

I told Brian that I knew good coon hounds were worth a lot of money, so someone was probably missing him and it was only right to put an ad out.  We did - and we were very vague in the ad.  We did not mention markings or color (they come in reds too)....just that he was very friendly.

I got the call at work and the girl mentioned the notch out of his ear, and a couple other things about his dogenality that made me KNOW it was him.  It was her boyfriends dog.....she came to get him and we both cried.  Her - because she is a girl (like me...hee hee!) and a huge animal lover, and she could see how comfortable he made himself here, and she was happy to get him back.  Me - I loved Blue but was happy he found his people.  I lost a puppy once and was literally sick to my stomach.  He was returned to me from some people down the road where Phantom had wandered.  We had visited the day before and they had small dogs....so they found Phantom playing with their dogs.  So it was a mixture of emotions.

She said if Blue (come to find out that was his real name...ha ha!) came back that she would not tell her boyfriend - and he could stay.  I let her know if he came back I would call her to let her know he was okay......well, I have not seen Blue so I am guessing he is doing okay.

Until later....Karen and Tripp who thought I was a little too chummy with Blue!

Bee Hive Update...

Just a quickie update on the hives....we checked them last month and even tho one of them has enough honey to give us a little bit, we are going to let the bee's keep it for a food source for the winter.  We can still take a little dab out for us...to say we have eaten our own honey.  :-)

Here is a quick honey making fact:  When the bees get back to the hive with the nectar, the worker bees help the field bees unload what they gathered.  Nectar at this point is about 80% water.  The honey is processed with enzymes...the conversion process is basically an evaporation process which works with warm temps and air movement.  The bees control the air movement by flapping their wings...they know exactly what they are doing!  The buzzing sound you hear coming from a hive, even at night, is the 'evaporation process' in action.  The end result is a thick honey with a 17% to 18% moisture content.  ONLY when the moisture content is low enough, will the bees put a waxy cap over the top.  There is now pure honey in each capped cell.
This is just the quick version of what happens....isn't it just amazing?

Now, a few pictures....Brian set up a couple new hives this Spring, and this is one of the traditional white boxes.  He tried something different and put a platform in the hive to hold the food bag.  We started feeding our bees raw honey instead of sugar water.  You know the old saying "You are what you eat?"  I can't get that out of my head, and in my opinion a bee that eats honey is going to make true blue honey.  In my opinion, feeding sugar water makes it harder for a bee to make honey, and when they do it isn't the real deal. F.Y.I. - I have talked to some people who do feed sugar water, but for only short periods of time IF there is a drought, not enough pollen and nectar sources, etc.  Like most things, I don't know that there is a right and wrong....it is what we are choosing to do.  I had another guy tell me that feeding raw honey is expensive.....um.....not if you are feeding them temporarily.  We don't want to feed them too much because then they will turn into lazy bees.  :-)

Anyways, when we checked on this new hive we saw that we should have checked it sooner.  The bees are all over some new comb that they built on their own....

And here is what it looked like after we smoked the bees (they don't like the smoke so headed back down into the hive)....isn't it just beautiful and pure?  Unfortunately we had to take it out.  Some of the cells had new honey in them, so we took the comb out and put it outside of the hive for the bees to feed on.

I am sad to say that we did lose this particular hive.  We were watching it and it just did not seem to be as strong as the other hives...not as many bees flying around, etc.  We were reading up and there are many reasons this could happen....Queen left (but usually the rest of the colony will follow her), Queen died so the other worker bees took over and some of the worker girls can even start laying unfertilized eggs.  Then there were things we could have tried to help the colony grow again, and that is to take a couple frames out of a strong hive and add it to this hive.  The only problem is finding the Queen.  If we accidentally take the Queen from the good hive, it won't stay a good hive and the new Queen and old one (if she is still in there) will fight to the death.  Another thing was to take all the frames far away from the hive, brush off all the bees, put the frames back in the hive and the worker bees who took over laying eggs would not find their way back.  Nope, too mean for me.  So we opted to let nature take its course and see what happened....when we checked a while back, the hive was done.  So we will save the boxes for next year.  We are hoping to capture a 'swarm' of bees to put in that box.

This picture shows the larvae in the cells.  One of the signs of the worker bees taking over is when more than one larvae is in a cell.  There were a lot of cells with two larvae, which means they were creating drones.  If you remember from a previous post, the drones are the boys who just sit around and do nothing except be fed by the girls.  They are the couch potatoes of the bee world.  :-)

The other hive is a different style.  All we do is put plain pieces of wood across the top of the opening and the bees build their comb from the top down.  They start out with the smaller comb like what is showing in the front, and gradually add to it.  Some of the pieces of comb are the whole size of the inside of the hive.  The bag at the bottom of the comb is raw honey...we put small slices into the bag and the bees feed off it.

 This is the same picture as the other, except this one was not done with the flash.  I could not tell which picture was better, so I decided to use both. They both show different things.

This comb has lots of babies in it, and a few capped honey cells.

So there you have it, the bee update.  It has been a long hot dry summer so we have set containers of water all over the place, and I put small sticks or pieces of wood in them just in case the bee accidentally slides into the water.  I also find I am not as anal about mowing the front driveway area as I used to be since I know the bees feed on the flowers....even the flowers of weeds.  We are hoping for a good Fall flower crop for them to feed off of, but we sure are not seeing it yet. 

That is all I know for now.....
Until later, Karen and Tripp who thinks we get a little too close to those bees for his liking! 

Cicada kinda summer....

This summer was a pretty big cicada year for us...they really are fascinating little creatures.  There were so many of them hatching that you could not walk thru a parking lot without getting 'caught' by one or more.  The males are the talkers, and when a male gets stuck in your hair and starts hollering, you know it!  They are very loud and it sounds like a high pitched screaming.  They have sticky feet like June Bugs....gives me the heebie jeebies.

There were empty 'shells' all over the trees and around our yard they were also in the grass. 

Those eyes....I wonder if they really see out of the little black speck that we can see.  And if so, what are they thinking?

Here are a few cicada fun facts that I found on the Internet...I just picked out a few.
Cicadas emerge after the soil temperature exceeds 64º F, which is usually in late May.
Only the male cicadas sing. They have sound-producing structures called tymbals on either side of the abdomen.
There are three different species of 17-year periodical cicadas that will not emerge in 2011.
There are four species of 13-year cicadas, which will emerge in 2011. 
Adult cicadas do not eat solid food, but do drink fluids to avoid dehydration.
Adult cicadas do not sting or bite humans, and they do not carry diseases. But they can harm young trees when female cicadas lay their eggs in the tree’s new growth. It is not recommended that you spray to kill the cicadas, because they fly into a tree to lay their eggs and spraying will not kill these incoming cicadas. If you have a young tree, you can loosely wrap the branches with cheesecloth to keep the female from laying her eggs.

• Pesticides are not effective at controlling periodical cicadas.

• Periodical cicada years are quite beneficial to the ecology of the region. Their egg-laying in trees is a natural pruning that results in increased numbers of fruits in the succeeding years. Their emergence from the ground turns over large amounts of soil, and after they die their decaying bodies contribute a massive amount of nitrogen and other nutrients to the soil.

AND MY FAVORITE....FUNNY STORY....THERE WAS AN ICE-CREAM STORE IN TOWN THAT MADE CICADA ICE-CREAM AND THEY SOLD OUT!  NO JOKE!  THEN THEY GOT IN TROUBLE AND HAD TO QUIT...DARN LOCAL GOVERNMENT!

•Periodical cicadas are best eaten when they are still white, and they taste like cold canned asparagus. Like all insects, cicadas have a good balance of vitamins, are low in fat, and, especially the females, are high in protein.

Periodical cicadas are often incorrectly called locusts. Locusts are grasshoppers and cicadas are more closely related to aphids than grasshoppers.

There you have it....what part of our summer consisted of.  The big hatch is over, so now there are just the normal cicada sounds and less chance of getting snagged by one.  :-)
Until later....Karen and Tripp who thinks cicadas are too loud.