Spanish Walkin'

Wednesday January 24 2018

Trick horse Dudley - The Dude - Belesemo Dude - is getting the Spanish Walk down. And we're not working that hard at it, it's just sort of falling into place!

I used to just have him stand still and strike with left-right-left. I can get him to strike out with one leg or the other while in the saddle. But only the last few days I've asked him to start moving forward and stepping, and doing more than three in a row. He's picked it up fast, and is quite pleased with himself.

Here's a video of the progress:


(or link: https://youtu.be/-nxmVKHmnWk )

Go Dudley!

That Ain't Right

Sunday January 14 2018

What a beautiful day for a spring ride!

But wait - this is the middle of winter! Last winter we were under feet of snow. We'd had temperatures that dipped to -13*F a couple of times.

Not so this winter.  We have had one single instance of 3" of snow on the ground. That's it. Hasn't made it below zero once. Now it's daytime temperatures in the 50's. Barely freezing at night. Grass starting to come up. Someone saw the first flowers coming up already. At least one of our horses is starting to shed her winter coat. I saw two flies yesterday. A friend saw herds of gnats along the Snake River already - ugh! The resident male screech owl has started hooting a month earlier than normal.

That Ain't Right!!!!! (But does make for some nice riding.)

Land of Little Snow

Monday January 1 2018

No snow and no wind makes for a nice New Year's Day ride in Owyhee.

Last year the snow bombs started dropping December 4, and didn't stop till late March, leaving us with a most astounding record snowfall. This winter was supposed to be the same, but so far we're sorely lacking in the white fluff department. We did finally get a couple of inches on Christmas Eve, but it's already gone.

In fact the Owyhee mountains that you see there in the distance have such a pitiful, miserly layer of snow, there could still be cows grazing up there (we saw fresh cow tracks today… so they aren't all down in Oreana yet).

It's too early for me to panic yet, but I want my snow! I sure got spoiled last year, when for the first time in 60 years, it was measured in feet, not inches.

But on the plus side, it makes for good winter riding, and keeping Dudley on his diet and exercise program, though I don't know that he would agree!