Weekend Warriers

This weekend was Fall Break for the kids. That means they were out of school on Thursday and Friday (plus the regular Sat/Sun). The weather was not cooperating and mommy still had to work, so they basically got stuck inside watching movies, playing games, etc...This is what happens when they're cooped up too long...

This is what happens to mommy when they're cooped up to long...

I caught my kitties in the flower pot. Apparently they got cold and decided to snuggle. AWWW.

Chester got a saddle again! This time, the cinch got tightened, the saddle made noise, stirrups flopped, he got lunged, and I put a little weight in the stirrups just to push my luck. It honestly took every will power muscle I have to NOT get on.

He was obviously uncomfortable with the whole ordeal, but Chester took it all in like a true gentleman and didn't buck, kick, or flip out at all.

Dian and hubby took pics because we were all so excited!

Here he relaxed some...

This is what Chester thought of that nasty contraption.

This blanket is another one of my Chester good luck charms. The first is a huge leather halter that Buck wore, it worked wonders on Chester's halter-taming. This was Buck's blanket. It worked wonders on saddle-taming. I have a few more...

Here's Chester giving a shit about a bridle-path clip job...it takes me forever. I haven't had enough practice at it to be quick, so it's really imperative that he's patient.

A little whisker trim to top off the clean look that I've come to really, really like. Umm, you can see from the shadow just how RELAXED he really is about clipping.

HA! The man who "hates" horses caught again! I left with the saddle and blanket - hubby stayed to brush Chester. Earlier though, while I groomed Chester, hubby groomed Gracie. Shhh, don't tell him I saw cause then he won't come in the pen :)

Here he is again. He was talking to Chester telling him what a good boy he's been today....

I must tell my Friday story. I didn't get any pics, what I got will stick in my head as a lesson learned. Learned the hard way.

Friday evening, I got some alone with Chester time. Hubby has come to understand that when they're out of school AND I still have to work-I usually need a break. So, off I went. I took Chester across the street again to the pasture to try and lunge and explore a little. The lunge didn't work out-we've not done it outside the round pen and with all the other horses excitement he couldn't really focus. He tried, but the dance didn't work just then. To satisfy his obvious curiosity we started to walk. We walked around, up some little hills and back down, until we got to the creek. Just before the creek there was a steep embankment with a worn path that veered sharply to the left, across a deep washout, and back up the steep part. I thought that looked like good practice for my future mount so I coaxed him down and we went to the left. The large washout, I had to jump across-Chester was right behind me. I jumped, and as he gathered I was going up the other side and I fell. I fell flat on my face just as Chester was jumping. Chester did a little mid-air hop to the left and missed my body by about an inch. Then instead of heading up, he stopped and put his head down so that our eyes were looking right into each other. We talked. I said thank you. I grabbed a chunk of his mane and Chester pulled us both up and out. Thank you Chester. Lesson learned. Trust is a two way street, and I won't forget it again.

"In my dream I saw you.

You came not to me,

I came not to you.

In the middle

we meet.

You whisper softly

it's our secrets

you keep."

-Sally Massey