Snowshoe Time is Here!

One of the BEST ways to enjoy the out-of-doors in the winter is just that - get outdoors!  We took our own advice and in the company of a couple friends, hit one of the trails in the Wild Basin area of Rocky Mt. National Park, just two miles from us.

As you can see, the day was sunny and very bright, with lots of snow!  A bit windy, but hey, you have to have some sort of challenge.  Quite a few people were enjoying the great day, so we ended up parking a good ways out from any of the known trailheads, so we just hoofed it  snowplowed our way across the unbroken snow to the horse trail that runs next to the Middle St. Vrain River.  A few people had used it, making it perfect:  you knew where the trail was but it wasn't packed down snow.  This trail has a good bit of up-and-down to it without a great elevation rise; perfect for four people who have not been doing much strenuous exercise since the advent of winter. 

We arrived at the trailhead for Finch Lake (maybe 3/4 of a mile) and had worked up an appetite, so when we spotted a dry spot under some trees by the road, we made camp of sorts, removing snowshoes and plunking our backsides down on the ground or handy rocks, to devour our bag lunches.

We finished up by hiking back to the car, using the road.  At one point we crossed over the river on the bridge and had to have a Kodak moment waving at the fish in the open spot of ice.  OK, we pretended we saw fish there.  In all honesty, we all had such a great time, we forgot to take many pictures.  In fact, Bill and I were so excited, we forgot to even take a camera or phone, so fortunately our friend had his phone.
Bionic Cowgirl

May 2017 Snow Storm

I hear Bill muttering in the office; when I ask what's wrong he says, "We are under a winter storm warning for the next two days. 1 - 3 feet expected."  This time they were right.  Raining when we went to bed Wed. night; 14" on the ground in the morning - and not stopping.

Finally (Friday) this morning the sun comes out and we have a count of 36".  Wonderful spring storms.  Gotta love 'em!
The horses keep the corral stomped into baths, so all we have to do is shovel our way TO the corral, because you don't walk too far in thigh-deep snow.

We shoveled last night to get extra hay to the horses, and had an additional 6" in the track this morning.  The biggest problem we have found using our slow feed feeders is that they get packed with snow when it comes down this heavy and the horses can't paw the snow off to get to the hay, so when we went to feed this morning, the feeders themselves were still full after the snow melted off.

This is the horse's shed, which a couple of them actually used part of the night.  The horses themselves.....

....were happy to have their feed boxes back - except for Al, who has become quite the camera mooch.
Bionic Cowgirl

Raising the Limit

J - Really Alloy?  Another walk-about?  Must keep you from getting bored!

The snow across this back yard is 3 feet deep, but it did not stop his dinner time journey.

B - I have an idea.  We'll make the fence look higher.  It is only about 18" tall right here.

So adding boards to the top of the buck fence and adding two rows of rope ... well, we can only hope.  But for good measure, Alloy has lost his rights to freedom at night.  We spent lots of energy and a good deal of time literally carving him a slot in his pen.

His feeder next to a 5 foot stack of hay.

His heated water tank in the corner, with a path carved around his very own 5 foot pile of snow.

Yep, the water tank is on the other side of the snow pile.  He has to walk in one side and out the other.  Maybe he should learn to appreciate the time he gets to spend in the larger pen with company!

This is where he gets to spend the night time for now.  He gets put in at dusk; out at dawn.  It's working for now.

While we are working?  He's napping in the sunshine.  He seems to have put on a touch of weight and hair.  Not a sign of cold or shivering from him since we brought him home.  We could not have hoped for as much.  Ranger and Jesse have taken to him; Washoe ... not so much, which is part of the reason he goes walk-about.

Bionic Cowgirl

New Halters

Last week we had 17 inches of snow and below zero temps.  This week we have a false spring with sunshine and temps in the low 60's.  Gotta love Colorado.

We needed to meet with a neighbor whose horse is with ours; vet check and brand inspector kind of stuff getting ready for an upcoming trip.  It seemed like a great day to try on new halters we got as Christmas presents.

Yes, she has her eyes closed, enjoying the sun while getting her tail brushed.  The halter is almost too small, which is really odd since every halter we have bought her is too large.  These are American Mustang halters; they must think these horses have smaller heads.  I can barely get it behind her cheekbone.  It is let out as far as possible.  Losing some of the winter hair will help.

I have no idea why Washoe is sticking his tongue out, although grooming is not his favorite idea of a way to spend time.  His halter fits better but is none too big.  I think the halters are really pretty on them.  Thank you GunDiva for the great gifts.

Ummm...

Ranger, however, did not get his picture with his as he declined putting it on.

No

Bionic Cowgirl

Story of a Sad Pad

Yesterday Bill and I took a break from spring cleanup chores and caught the 'boys' to head out for a ride.  I had spent some time with Jesse earlier in the day - we are working on some ground work to correct a few holes I had left in her training - so I thought leaving her behind would not be such a big deal.  Besides, I had used her for my last ride, so ... off we went.

Good horse, good pad.

Today's story is really about my bareback pad, so pay close attention to its location on Washoe's back.

About 20 minutes into the ride we spot the Clarabelle mine.  All that is left of this 1890's gold mine is this bit of a log structure on top of a dirt pile.

After passing the mine, we cross a beautiful grassy area, and ....

... as soon as I turn my head to say something to Bill, Washoe's head comes up, his back hollows out and I KNOW what is coming.  I have taken my attention off him and he just can't ignore all that luscious grass!

Bad horse!!!

He can go from a lovely trot to THIS in under a fraction of a second!  Do I know he is going to do this?  Yes.  Can I stop him?  No.  He is mucho fast; I am not.  If I tighten my rein hold, I get pulled right off over his neck. The human has learned how to stay on top of the horse; the horse has learned that if he grabs fast enough he can get a mouthful before I get him stopped.  He's worse this time of year because that spring grass is soooo good - and it had been a long time since breakfast.

So ... horse gets head yanked around on one rein (usually the right rein as I generally ride with both reins in my left hand) and trots off like nothing happened.  Hmmmm.

Remains of 1930's cabin.

After about three bouts (at least) of this, we come to 'the roof'.  Rumor has it that this was a cabin built in 1933; the same year as our lodge.  Sure glad the lodge looks in better condition!  We had to make a short stop here for a tack adjustment.  Apparently my pad cinch had come undone on the off side and was dangling down by my leg.  I probably snagged the buckle with my calf trying not to fall off the horse.  Bill was gracious enough to climb down and rebuckle it for me.  Of course, Ranger took advantage of the close grass at that time.

Mt. Meeker framed by Ranger's ears.

The views were so great and the weather perfect;  I just couldn't keep my attention on naughty horse.  This time last week Mt. Meeker was completely white with lots of snow.   There are a lot of concerns about flooding this year from all the snow melt.  You can see water in the trail to the left of Ranger's ear.  All the local lakes are over-filled and so are the ones in the valleys below us.

Speaking of lakes, this is our local one.  It currently extends about twice as far back as usual.  We do enjoy seeing it look like this!

We have now traveled around the lake, to discover this trail under water - which NEVER gets this far.  We took a different trail to avoid doing damage and ended up on a bit of a challenge trail - one that had not had much work done on it yet after last year's big flood.  After much grabbing onto the mane and dodging of trees on a very steep downhill trail, we managed to get back to a tamer area.  You notice no pictures taken on this portion!  Bill made the comment, "It wasn't that long ago we couldn't ride something like that in a saddle.  Now we are doing it bareback!"  OK, so now I feel much better about staying aboard, because he had obviously been feeling a little gut-tightening too.

My camera ran out of battery power after just five pictures (my battery is so good it lasts a long time, so I forget to check if it needs charging often enough) so Bill took this picture for me of my favorite springtime flowers up here:  the wild iris.  This means it is truly SPRING, on the first day of June.

OK, we are headed back home.  Check out my saddle pad; shifted more than just a little to the left.  After some deliberation, I decided that all my twisting down to the right, then sitting back up causes it to shift just a little each time, so on rides like this one it gets shifted a LOT.  Also, I carry a first aid kit in the back pocket of the pad, on the left side.  So maybe by relocating that to the opposite pocket, its weight won't help the shifting effect.  I've been meaning to add a breast collar to this pad, like Bill has on Ranger's, but there are no connectors which means I need to sew some D-rings on.  Time to quit procrastinating and just do it.

See, he can be a good horse when I pay attention - but look at that scenery!

The horses know I usually have treats in my pocket, which they get at the end of a ride - even the horse left behind.  Notice Jesse in the background.  Ever felt snubbed by your horse?  She is intentionally ignoring me right now.  As soon as we entered the corral she walked off and turned her back to us, standing by the fence.

Even the boys noticed, looking at Bill as I walk toward 'That Mare'.

Finally, after I hold the treat out in my hand, she looks over her shoulder at me with a 'maybe' on her face.  Sheesh, she hasn't been that irritated at me in a long, long time.  I do love that mare.

Enjoy a ride today - or at least hug your horse.


Bionic Cowgirl

Snow & Moose

So after a couple of days of a May snow storm, we got more than three feet of new snow; about 18" on the ground now because it is melting and going away almost as fast as it came down.  The sun is sparkling and the sky BLUE!  I went out to feed, calling to the grays who are sun-bathing in the middle of their corral.  They come running up and then I get this:

 

"Hey, guys.  What do you see?"  I stare for awhile and don't see anything but snow falling from the trees.  Jesse figures there's nothing to hurt them and looks at me for food.  I go in the hay shed, cut the strings on a bale of hay, and look over my shoulder.

"Washoe, what is so interesting?"  

I put their hay in the feeder and they ignore me, so I stand and watch with them.  Soon there is a movement and out walks a very young moose.

I hurry home for a camera and Bill comes back with me.  I cropped this picture hoping it would really look like a moose.

Don't you just love it when your horses share information with you?  What a great start to the day.
Bionic Cowgirl

Corral Inspection

The horses are still down on winter pasture at the base of the mountains.  Eating grass.  Sleeping in the sun.  Being lazy.

It's driving us nuts.

We looked over their corral a bit to see how long we will need to wait for enough snow to melt off so we can bring them back up here.

The hay we bought and stacked last season seems to still be tarped and dry.

Hay Okay

The corral itself has some clear ground.

And some drifts.

But the most interesting find was this.

Those are moose droppings next to my size 11's.


Man, is Ranger going to be pissed.


Bill

Weather Anomoly

I have to say - I really, really feel for the people getting hit with the cold and snow in the east and south.  I can't whine, because you all have it worse than us, even though we are getting hit worse than we have in a few years.  Don't throw things at your computer but today it is 46*, sunny, and - SNOWING - and last night we made the news because we had 81 mph winds!  It broke my favorite icicle.

This is what winds like that do for us; this is a 3 ft. drift at the front door.  We have a 6 ft. drift at the side door but I am not going there for pictures.  So Bill and I dug out the shovels and started in.  We also called the neighbor who plows for us because it is hard for guests to park when there is 2 ft. of snow in the parking lot.

This is the pile he left us; must be time to call the grandkids for sledding.  Actually, that's only one of the piles he left us.

This was the pile Bill and I made.  See my icicle hanging in front.  It had a good start on growing into the snow pile.  It's not there any more; the wind blew it down but at least we have a walkway of sorts, into the lodge - which the wind keeps blowing shut on us.

Since this was Valentine's Day weekend, we advertised a special offer of wine, chocolate covered strawberries, fresh flowers and chocolates in the rooms.





Thought I'd show you a couple of the room pictures.  We had fun with it.  I hope our guests did, too.

Happy Valentine's Day weekend to everyone.

Our guests are all out snow shoeing.



Bionic Cowgirl

We Got a Call

We got a call From "Compass", the gal that runs the livery across the street from us.

"You need to go the post office.  Take your camera."

Now, it's snowing.  It's been snowing for the last 2 weeks, and I'm getting kinda tired of it.

I didn't want to go. At all.  But I went.

Snow.

From a ways off I saw something stuck out of an 8 foot snow drift...

Yup.  I'm not alone in being tired of the snow.

Sometimes you just need to get plowed.

Bill

    (And no, it weren't really someone.)