A couple of weeks ago, Emma and I enjoyed a long trail ride on a lazy Sunday.  I know I’ve done a few virtual trail rides now, but this ride was one for the books.  We looped through the woods and rode down to the lake to let the girls (well, Abby, anyway) enjoy the water a bit.  Much to our surprise, as we approached the lake we noticed many vultures lurking around the water’s edge.  What, we wondered, could be going on?

Well, we never did discover “what was going on”  but there were hundreds of dead fish littering the beach.  I guess Tiny had the right idea wanting to stay as far as possible away from this water body!  For a brief moment, I forgot we were at the sandy shore of a lake in central Florida.  It looked like some rocky Atlantic beach from somewhere up north.  Well, at least until the smell brought me back to the present day and place…..

After we’d had our fill of eau de deadfish, we began meandering back home via the country road.  We were chatting amiably and our lazy girls were focused on putting one foot in front of the other and aiming straight toward home when we had another surprise.  This handsome fellow beckoned us over to say hi!

He and a couple of his buddies live just down the street from the barn and I’m sure we’ve passed him many, many times on our rides.  Never before has he initiated contact with us.  We wandered over to let the girls say hi and things got even more weird!

This little guy had no fear of us or the horses!  His buddies weren’t so sure and kept their distance, but this brave soul came straight over to visit.  Apparently he thought Tiny was pretty cute, and it didn’t take long for him to make his move!

Tiny received her very first bovine sMOOch!  Actually this was one of many, as the boy took quite a shine to my girl.  Not to be outdone, Abby moved in for her turn.  And the little man did not disappoint….

I bet his name is Romeo or Casanova – he has obviously done this before!

What? You want one too?

After we visited with Romeo for a bit we headed home – the girls refreshed from our break and Emma and I having a giggle over the interspecies love story!  

A while back, I was doing some reading on equine color genetics when I came across information about the silver dapple gene.  I’m always interested in learning new things and when I started to read about this dilution gene, I immediately perked up.  The silver dilution gene acts on black points of the body and lightens them to varying degrees.  This can be expressed as either “black silvers” (white mane/tail, seal brown body, often dappled) or “bay silvers” (chocolate body, silver mane/tail that is darker at the roots, mottled silver legs).  I believe that Tiny may have the bay silver gene, which would explain her unusually light-colored legs and the silver in her mane. 

As I continued learning about the intricacies of equine coat color genetics, I discovered that the silver dapple gene is sometimes associated with ASD – Anterior Segment Dysgenesis.  ASD is an abnormal development of the eye and can result in impaired vision.  ASD is not restricted to horses with the silver dapple gene, but it is thought that there is a connection between the two conditions.  Horses are born with ASD – it is a congenital condition with varying degrees of severity.  There are several signs that a horse has ASD:  a ”pop-eyed” appearance, cysts, cataracts, or abnormal dilation of the pupil.  The retina is also occasionally affected.    So what should you do if you suspect your horse might be affected?  First, have him examined by an equine opthalmologist that has the necessary diagnostic equipment.  It is important to remember that ASD is not progressive and does not result in blindness, and that most affected horses continue to have normal vision throughout their lives. 

Further Reading:

A missense mutation in PMEL17 is associated with the Silver coat color in the horse.  2006.   Brunberg, et al.

http://www.horse-genetics.com/silver-dapple.html

http://www.silverequine.com/

http://old.cvm.msu.edu/research/mregl/asd.htm

I had a great time selecting my photos for this week’s Sunday Stills challenge.  Although I only participated once in 2009, I had several photos that I absolutely loved so I chose from those!  I have to admit, I cheated a bit – I just couldn’t narrow it down further than this.  Hope you enjoy!

I chose this photo of Tiny’s eye because it signifies so much to me.  When I look into her eyes, I see her soul and it reminds me why I love her so much.  Plus, in my opinion she has the most amazingly beautiful eyes I’ve ever seen on a horse.  I guess I’m biased though!

This photo was taken on one of our many trail rides.  I love the way it captures the moment of connection between Tiny and that cow, just that silent acknowledgement of each other’s presence.

This photo was my first foray into the world of photo editing.  I took this photo of Abby one day at the barn and I loved the way the light played off her form.  With a few editing lessons from my artist buddy Luke, I was able to enhance that contrast even more.  Although this photo might not have the best composition, it entrances me every time I look at it.  It inspires me to improve my photography AND my editing skills!

Check out Sunday Stills for other entries, as well as Laughing Orca Ranch, The Skoog Farm Journal, All Horse Stuff, and Baba Yaga’s Mirror,  all of whom frequently participate in the challenge.

I had so much fun doing a virtual trail ride last month that I set out to get some more great trail shots again!  This time, Tiny and I (accompanied by a friend that served as assistant photographer) ventured through the woods down to visit Lake Harney and do some gator spotting.  Unfortunately no gators this time, but we did see a gopher tortoise hanging out next to the trail.  She was kind enough to pose for a few photos before we set out on our way.   Gopher tortoises are fairly common in wooded areas of Central Florida, but I haven’t seen many of them right along the trail like this.  It was a great start to our adventure!  

We continued on through a series of woodland trails and sand roads, heading toward our ultimate destination of Lake Harney.  Along the way we spotted many birds and lots of pretty foliage.  We had great fun snapping shots of our tracks in the sand!  

Photo courtesy of Hazem Behiry

Hoofprints in the sand

Lake Harney is a huge lake – about 6,000 acres –  that is very near Tiny’s barn.  I used to take Grady and Bella to the beach there to romp and play and we would walk the trails that pepper the woods along the shoreline.  Once, we saw an owl swoop down and grab a snake right in front of us!  The lake is always a good place for wildlife sightings and the water is teeming with alligators and fish.  It’s hard to believe that in the heavy rains we had last year, this whole area was flooded under several feet of water for almost a month.  

Tiny isn’t a fan of the water, but she does like to look around and see what is going on out here.  There is always something fun – airboats, birds, fisherman.  Not too much going on this day, just a man and his metal detector, scouring the beach. 

Although we didn’t see much wildlife on our trail ride this time, it was the perfect day to spend some time with my girl.  I hope you enjoyed the ride as much as we did! 

Photo courtesy of Hazem Behiry

For a long time now, I’ve been wanting to do a virtual trail ride post.  Until now, it’s never happened….mostly because I could never get it together enough to remember my camera, remember to charge my camera, or remember to actually take the photos.  Well, the planets aligned for me today and here are some photos of my Sunday fun and trail ride….sans Emma, but still amazing!  Enjoy…

Tiny and her girls

Keeping an eye on the cows

Me and my shadow

Ciao, Tiny! Until next time....

Once again, it’s time for Thankful Thursday! I hope this post inspires you to consider the things in your life that you are grateful for. If you have a blog, consider posting about it there and link back here. If you don’t have a blog, please feel welcome to comment here on what you are grateful for in your own life. If you don’t feel comfortable sharing, then just take a few moments to reflect on all that you have. If you’d like to tag other bloggers that participate, feel free to do that.

This week, I am thankful for all the love I am surrounded with every day:

Happy Thursday to all and please visit these other sites that frequently participate in Thankful Thursday:

Akal Ranch, Enlightened Horsemanship Through Touch, and Tired Dog Ranch.

Once again, it’s time for Thankful Thursday! I hope this post inspires you to consider the things in your life that you are grateful for. If you have a blog, consider posting about it there and link back here. If you don’t have a blog, please feel welcome to comment here on what you are grateful for in your own life. If you don’t feel comfortable sharing, then just take a few moments to reflect on all that you have. If you’d like to tag other bloggers that participate, feel free to do that.

This past Sunday I headed to the barn after a relaxing morning.  It was one of those technicolor days where life had an extra brilliant glow and the breeze hinted at fall, although the sun beat down on us relentlessly.  I saddled Tiny and we headed into the arena for a workout.  The farm was all ours for the morning.  Silence echoed around us and the only other activities were the chickens pecking around the barn and Grady keeping watch from his post in the grass.  I started off our workout with some bending and a slow warm up, just enjoying spending time with my girl.  After we warmed up, I asked Tiny to canter and something magical happened.  She cantered off as always, but I had the most overwhelming sense of wanting to run.  I could feel her muscles taut and strong beneath me, just the slightest hint of spring in her step.  I leaned forward the tiniest bit, urging her on with my seat.  She instantly responded and surged off into a gallop around the arena, her neck stretched long and low, nostrils flared.  We rode like this around and around the arena and for just an instant I was a child again, racing up the hills surrounding our old Pennsylvania farm without a care in the world.  Another lap and I was invincible and powerful, hair whipping around me and tears streaming from my eyes while I laughed joyfully.  We ran until Tiny was lathered and I was exhausted and panting.  I haven’t had so much fun on my little mare in a long, long time.   

Happy Thursday to all and please visit these other sites that frequently participate in Thankful Thursday:

Akal Ranch, Enlightened Horsemanship Through Touch, and Tired Dog Ranch.

You might be wondering why Grady hasn’t made an appearance around here lately.  G-man has been laying pretty low recently, feeling kind of grumpy and sorry for himself.  I guess the ongoing battle with the allergies is wearing on all of us.  Last Thursday, I took him to the barn with me for some fresh air.  We pulled in, and I let him out of the car as I always do, and I headed into the barn to groom and saddle Tiny.  Little did I know that it was Grady’s naughty alter ego SlobberDog that was along for the ride.  Now Grady is usually no problem at the barn – he sticks close by and spends his time sniffing around and begging for treats from the other boarders.  SlobberDog is a whole different story - you never know what he’s going to be up to!  As I finished saddling Tiny, I realized that I hadn’t heard from Grady in a little while so I went to investigate.   What do you think I found?

Caught in the act!

Umm....Are you sure you should be doing that?

You got it!  Grady, up to his armpits in Emma’s trash that he had so carefully removed and spread around the yard (so sorry Emma!!).  The worst part is this was the second time that week that he had done this.  The first time, I blamed the neighborhood dogs because my sweet Grady doesn’t do bad things like this anymore!  Yeah.  Right.  Well, I caught him red-handed.  So what did I do?  I snuck over to him on Tiny (yes, my dog was so immersed in the joys of last night’s dinner that he didn’t even notice the giant horse approaching him!), screamed at him (so sorry neighbors!!), and chased his butt back to the barn where he promptly got tied up.  And I got to clean up trash for the second time in a week. 

Fortunately for me, I haven’t seen SlobberDog since, and I’m OK with that.  I was kind of growing fond of the good Grady.  But I’m sure that naughty boy will be back….it’s just a matter of time.

THIS is my sweet dog!

Photo courtesy of Dee Q8, Flickr

As September rolls on, I have observed a great deal of excitement about the fall season.  Excitement about fall traditions, like cider and local festivals, is contagious.  Mother Nature is giving us her own signs:  lower humidity and cooler nights, just the slightest tinge of red in some of our leaves, fall produce starting to hit the market stalls.  While most of the country is rejoicing with the arrival of fall and all it brings, I have some bittersweet feelings about it.  For me, this season isn’t represented by typical fall customs.  For many years, fall was the season of horses and preparation for the Appaloosa World Championship show.  This prestigious event is held every year in late October in Fort Worth, Texas and the months of September and October were always dedicated to training and preparation for the show, which has a qualification deadline of  August 31.  As most of you know, my horse show adventures pretty much came to an end 5 years ago when I started graduate school but this year I was able to get back into the scene a bit, and even briefly entertained hopes that I might be able to attend the World Show this year.  Unfortunately, as the year evolved I realized I wouldn’t be attending the show this time either.  However, last week I received something very special in the mail:  my World Show qualification information. 

 For many people, this might not be a big deal.  In fact, it wasn’t really a big deal for me 10 years ago – it was a given.  I’d worked hard all year, attended many shows, and was generally well over the number of points required to participate.  This year was different:  my horse and I  haven’t worked with a trainer in over 5 years, we attended very few shows, and we haven’t had the opportunity to make practice runs.  We pretty much winged it, doing groundwork and suppling exercises at home and working the barrels and poles at the shows.  Qualification became even more difficult because the game classes at the Appaloosa shows have been very small, making it challenging to get points – we pretty much had to win 1st or 2nd in a class to accrue points.  Combine all that with the extremely limited number of events that we’ve done (4 shows in the past year) and you can understand my pride at qualifiying for the Appaloosa World Championships in 8 events – we actually qualified in every single event that we show in.  It’s a bittersweet pill, because it’s a reminder of how my time competing with Tiny is winding down.  She’s 15 this year and who knows how many more competitive years she’ll have?  While I’m excited and proud to have been able to achieve qualification status, it hurts that I can’t participate with her while she’s still healthy and strong.  So for this fall, at least, I will have to join the masses of “regular” people enjoying their fall season at the arts festival sipping on cider, but I’ll be doing it with a twinkle in my eye as I think of the hundreds of Apps preparing for the World Show next month.

Once again, it’s time for Thankful Thursday!  I hope this post inspires you to consider the things in your life that you are grateful for.  If you have a blog, consider posting about it there and link back here.  If you don’t have a blog, please feel welcome to comment here on what you are grateful for in your own life.  If you don’t feel comfortable sharing, then just take a few moments to reflect on all that you have.  If you’d like to tag other bloggers that participate, feel free to do that.

Courtesy of Chauncey Davis

This week I want to celebrate the wonderful people that I am so fortunate to have in my life.  As you read this, I’m more than likely on a plane bound for Pittsburgh – my old stomping grounds that I haven’t visited in over 6 years, at least not properly.  As I have planned and prepared for this trip, I have realized how lucky I am to be surrounded by such great people.  So here goes:

Courtesy of leochi, Flickr

• First I want to thank my parents for helping me make this trip happen!  Without their support and the subsequent kick in the butt, I probably would have continued procrastinating on planning this thing.  So thanks, guys!
• Thanks to my cousin John and family for giving me a place to stay and some great company!  I’ve missed you guys so much and can’t wait to see you.
• I don’t think words can express how much I appreciate Nicole, who actually rearranged her own travel schedule so she could take care of Milo and Bella for me.  She definitely gets the selfless hero award!  (And yes, I have huge feelings of guilt about this but she is one stubborn broad when she makes up her mind!)
• I am also grateful to have Emma to rely on to take the best care of Tiny, as always.  It’s such a comfort to know that I can go away for a few days and trust that she’ll receive the love and care she needs.  In my experience, it’s hard to find people that I trust my horses with, but Emma is first class.  Thanks Emma!
• And finally, I am so so sooo glad that I found Teena at the University of Doglando.  Thanks to her, I have absolutely not one ounce of guilt at leaving Grady behind while I’m gone.  He will be spending the week going to daycare during the day and will be going home with one of the staff members at night, as part of their unique boarding program.  In fact, my biggest fear is that he won’t want to come home! 

I also feel fortunate to still have one of my oldest childhood friends still in my life.  Although we haven’t seen each other in over 6 years, we still keep in touch and I’m optimistically hopeful that we can work out a visit while I’m up there.  Over the past year, and especially the past few months I have increasingly seen how important good friends are.  I am so thankful for all those people who fill that special place in my life. 

Courtesy of Daniel E. Bruce Photography

Please visit other sites that frequently participate in Thankful Thursday:

Akal Ranch, Enlightened Horsemanship Through Touch, Tired Dog Ranch, and The Pony Expression