Still on my bucket list to watch the show someday in the future!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FpKBy-OT5w

A little bit better today!

https://connect.garmin.com/activity/703995142

Multi-Task

Every akhal teke owner in the world should read this!  Just replace the word Arabian with Teke, and it will be perfect.   I've always believed that our breed should have a greater percentage of evaluation during grading that is geared more towards accomplishments instead of beauty contests - especially when it comes to breeding.

My own horses do both show and endurance.  There is no harm in having multiple careers with your horses, in fact, it's somewhat of a "fail safe" plan.  If one path doesn't work out, you can always go with the other path.  Patti is a great ambassador for this kind of multi-tasking.  If the rider keeps an open mind, they can be both proficient and successful doing different careers with their horses.  

http://pattibailey.org/articles/when-the-going-gets-tough/   

Slowly getting there. Slowly..... 

The knee wasn't too horribly achy after today's ride, which is an improvement.  I rode Octopelle and ponied Tommy.  He needs some work with rebuilding his topline, so jogging alongside the black bomber was good for him today.

https://connect.garmin.com/activity/697575913

Lambs 2015

Our first arrivals of the 2015 lamb crop are starting to make an appearance.  We have 5 lambies on the ground so far, with plenty more to come!

Ebby was the first to lamb this year.  She had a beautiful set of twin red and white lambies.  The darker one is a ewe and the lighter one is a ram.  Ebby wasn't particularly thrilled with me milling around with the camera...

The young red and white ewe was next to lamb, and she had a lovely dark red and white spotted ram.

This one is my favorite!  Nanna II had a little red and white ewe lamb this year.  Nanna II is a young gentle Barbados ewe that came from one of my original old ewes that I purchased many years ago.  Her mother Nanna I was very gentle as well, and you could walk up and pet her anywhere in the pasture - a very rare trait for a hair sheep!  Her daughter Nanna II is just as gentle and she will follow Craig and I around everywhere.  This year Nanna II had her first lamb and I love the little buggar!  Because her mother is so gentle - I can get a little bit of cuddling time with this lamb.  Neither one of them want to run away from me, which is a nice change.   

Isn't she adorable?

The little stinker is cute as a bugs ear!

Our big painted desert ewe had a very nice spotted ram lamb this year.  He's a keeper for sure.  This guy is going to be a future flock sire for us.  He was a really big lamb when he was born, and has plenty of color for sure!  I took these photos of him when he was 20 minutes old and there's still a little bit of birthing goo on him. 

Mr. fancy pants!

Oregon Field Guide - TV

OPB did a great short segment on TV for endurance.  The feature on veteran rider Lois Fox was really good, she deserves a lot of recognition.  And there's a quick glimpse of Octopelle and I in the heat of the day at 5:50 - blue shirt, black horse.

http://www.opb.org/television/programs/ofg/segment/en/

Even though my knee is mending, and it still hurts like holy blue blazes - I'm not going to let it slow me down!  The way that I look at it, I'm still breathing and above the ground and am able to hobble around - so I guess that I'm doing alright.  Much better than dead.  So there will be no whining allowed.  Today I wrapped the crap out of the knee and very carefully shimmied aboard Octopelle.  I have a main goal for endurance this year, and come hell or high water - we're gonna do it!

Today's pace was blisteringly slow.  Mostly a lot of walking......but that's better than nothing.  The knee wasn't too bad afterwards.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/692127710