Rhoda Arrives to Work

Rhoda came this morning. Together we put in a full day outside. At least the sun was shining but the temperature was 38 degrees with a breeze. Rhoda started out by working with Tory.

Tory remembered everything and did very well. She is still in season so after Rhoda was done working with her we pulled out Valiant and had him cover her. She was put away and Valiant taken to the round pen.

He was taken out to the field to graze a bit before putting him back. While he was grazing I snapped some picture of his impressive feather. 

 above are his back legs and below are his front legs. 

After he was put away Rhoda pulled out Whitney. Whitney is so huge that the 16 inch saddle she is wearing looks like a pony saddle.

 Whitney was feeling good and threw in a few bucks but settled down nicely once Rhoda was mounted. 

While Rhoda was working with her, the barn cat came wandering out to terrorize poor Ruby.

 Above he is getting ready for the chase and below he is chasing her. 

 That cat is so full of himself he walked right between two dogs and laid down as if to dare them to try anything. 

 He decided he was thirsty so jumped up on the water tank and walked around the edge. Ruby was fascinated. 

 We gave them a bucket of water and Ruby decided to drink first, the cat swatted her away. 

 Ruby had to wait until the cat had finished drinking before she could satisfy her thirst. 

After Whitney was put away Rhoda pulled out Hadassah.

 Hadassah was bred to Evan and is due April 5th, the same day as Whitney who was bred to Valiant. After Rhoda got on Hadassah that cat came wandering in the round pen right up to them.

 He walked right between Hadassah's front legs and rubbed all over them. 

 Brave cat! Rhoda had a good ride on Hadassah. 

 She took her out of the round pen and rode her in the field walk, trot and canter. 

After Hadassah was put away we moved a round bale in for Eliza and the weanlings then started cleaning out the trailers from the weekend. Rhoda organized the saddles stands, saddles, pads and bridles in the big barn. The smaller trailer still has the surcingle, all the show bridles, buckets and lead ropes.

Mom made dinner for Mark, me and Karin tonight. She cooked real mashed potatoes, green beans from her garden, bbq ribs that had simmered in the slow cooker all day, a wonderful salad and french bread. For dessert she served a pineapple cake. All was delicious, we all ate just a tad too much but that was a perfert meal after spending the day outside in the cold. After supper we played Mexican train. What a great day!