Reunion: Owyhee Hallowed Weenies

Monday October 29 2012

It's been 5 months (5!) since I got to ride Jose in an endurance ride. He was loaned out in July at the City of Rocks Pioneer Endurance ride, where he took good care of Anya. I was going to ride him in the 5-day Owyhee Canyonlands in September, when he came down with a bad case of allergies right before the ride.

This weekend everything worked out and I was back together with Jose for our 2-day Owyhee Hallowed Weenies ride. As usual, it was an awesome 2-days of 50-mile rides on a great trail with fun company in the Owyhee desert on a phenomenal horse.

I don't know what it is about this horse: his remarkable athletic ability, his huge heart, his utter intelligence, his delighting in going down the trail, his relishing the scenery… Jose is the BEST!

Photo by Amanda Washington, above the Snake River!

Top photo by Steve Bradley!

Thinking of You

Wednesday October 24 2012

Stormy the Horse has the perfect card you need when you want to tell that certain SomeHorse (or Someone) that you're thinking of him or her.

He'll put the name/s of your choice on your cards.

And don't forget, you can get your own horse in place of Stormy!

http://www.theequestrianvagabond.com/ArtForSale.html

Music to My Eyes

Monday October 22 2012 

I have been waiting for this day for a loooong time. Many times during the long hot dry summer, the song of winter played in my head, and I dreamed at nights and imagined during the days: rain, cold, snow.

Today, I got them all at once!

The herd lined up butts to the weather as the cold wind pushed the clouds down from the Owyhee mountains and the cold rain started its glorious descent from the heavens.

Luna still does not know what to do with herself in the rain. She kind of likes it… but she kind of doesn't. (She's the same with water from the hose - when Jose comes up to get a bath, she watches and kind of wants to get sprayed a little bit… but then she doesn't.) She ran around in circles, tried to crawl under the hay feeder, backed up into horses and kicked at them, and pestered Tex for a while.

[slide show here]

Luna was later worn out from her pro/anti-rain demonstrations, and rested in view of the snow-kissed Owyhees, as another storm headed this way.

Jose and Tex celebrated the fine turn of weather events with a bit of Owyhee Gladiator wrestling.

[slide show here]

It was a great day in Owyhee, and the forecast for the week looks delicious!

The Embodiment of Equine Perfection

photo from Wikipedia by Froggerlaura

Saturday October 20 2012

When all the superlatives are finally used up: Horse of the Year, Wonder Horse, Brilliant, Invincible, Champion, Equine Perfection, Horse of the Year, Horse of the World, Greatest Racehorse in the World, and when you get wicked goosebumps watching the Champion win, even when you've already watched the race a dozen times, you know you're watching a truly great horse.

With all the hysteria over Zenyatta (i.e. okay, *my* hysteria), you'd think, after I announced I was done with racing, I wouldn't get excited over any racehorses anymore.

But it's hard to ignore other greats like Australia's Black Caviar, and Europe's Frankel. As of today, at Royal Ascot, Frankel retired undefeated in 14 races over 3 seasons (at 2, 3, and 4)

Even more exciting concerning these extraordinary racehorses than the "undefeated" (and in Queen Z's 'undefeated except in one race by a head'), is the "retired sound" (or in Black Caviar's case, 'still sound', as she has not retired yet).

First of all, just to have a top class racehorse who can run for more than two seasons is nothing short of a miracle these days, and then to get a horse through 3 seasons (Frankel) or 4 seasons (Zenyatta and Black Caviar), running at the top of their game and taking on all challenges, is just phenomenal.

Kudos to the owners and trainers and riders and grooms who accomplish this successfully in a racing world desperate for heroes (I get so tired of hearing that phrase) and a racing world where most good horses win a couple of races over one season and either get injured or retire to the breeding shed for a bazillion dollars.

This was Frankel's final race today in the Royal Ascot Champion Stakes. (and search YouTube for more of his spine-tingling, goose-bumping performances!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6Sid0fqd_4

(and look for Black Caviar to return in early 2013 for a 'farewell tour' in possibly Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane)

A Stormy Halloween

Thursday October 18 2012

Stormy, and his friend The Raven, love the fall holidays. As you can see, Stormy's got a great imagination. He's created some new cards for Halloween and Thanksgiving this year. 

You can buy Stormy's fall holiday cards here (US and Canada only!):

http://www.theequestrianvagabond.com/ArtForSale.html

And for those of you who'd like to see your own horse in place of Stormy (though Stormy can't believe you would not prefer him!) you can order custom cards too! Same page, bottom of the card list. For custom cards email me: TheEquestrianVagabond at gmail dot com, and we'll get it done.

Happy Stormy Halloween and Happy Stormy Thanksgiving - Say it With Stormy!

Into The Light

Tuesday October 16 2012

For soooooooo many reasons, this is my favorite time of the year - it's COOL, Winter Is Coming, and you have that golden light that just makes you gasp when you have a horse to frame it with.

Dirt: It Does a Body Good

Saturday October 13 2012

All it takes is one

 - then the whole herd has to add their two cents worth.