WOW...that was fun!

Today, I had the pleasure of introducing my curly herd to a couple of professional photographers from the Seattle area. I had met Gretchen Thompson of Gretchen Thompson Photography ( see her work at www.flickr.com/gretchent) earlier this year at the Colfax Threshing Bee on Labor Day. Gretchen also brought along a friend, Bobbie Clime of www.bobbiecphotography.com Bobby is a Portrait specialist, and we asked her to do a few horse/human portraits for me.

The girls arrived at 7:30am as planned, and we began shooting and playing with the horse shortly after their arrival. The sun was just peaking the hill and the light on those early photos ought to be quite lovely. After a round of playing with the babies...our 3 weanlings and their counterpart, Princess who is a yearling...we put them up and brought out the big gun! HeartBreaker danced his way all over the pasture, showing off his love for life and open spaces. After he got the "wiggles" out, we worked on portrait shots of HB and Me......it got warm fast, and by the time we got done I was pretty sweaty.....!

We came on back inside and had some discussion, looked at a few of my photographs and Bobbie helped me with a sizing issue I have been having regarding printing 8 X 10's.....Bobbie is a Photoshop expert and her help was GREATLY appreciated ;-)

What a wonderful time we had......working on composing shots and thinking of new creative ways to pose and portray.....working with these two gals was truly an honor for me....

THANK YOU GRETCHEN AND BOBBIE !!!

A Renewal of preserving food?

Cute little jars of Blackberry syrup sit atop cute really little jars of Blackberry jelly


Recently I read an article about the renewed interest in home preservation of food ( canning ) HA ! That is something I never need renewal for, it happens here on a yearly basis and has happened here, every single year of my adult life. This year I was making a list of things I had preserved..it goes something like this....Asparagus, Cherries, Apricots, Salmon, Tuna, Tomatoes, Salsa, Soup Veggies, Peaches, Blackberry jelly, Blackberry Pancake Syrup, next in line is Pears, homemade and preserved Chili, Apples, pumpkin, squash....and we also dried a few items too, Cherries, Apricots, Tomatoes, Pears, Apples, Jerky and Pepperoni.....so, my cupboards are stuffed full, and I suddenly realize why I have been a bit strapped for time ;-) I love the knowledge I learned from "the chore of canning" when I was a kid...makes me a perfectly capable adult food preservation specialist!

It's my birthday .....more from Hattie!

Dear Diary, I am 3 months old today...My Mom says I am doing well. I enjoy my days with my brother Dark Knight, and my sister, Heartfires Spark...Mom calls her Spark. I rule the roost. DK is second in line, and poor Spark has to be in the bottom spot. Mom gives us grain everyday. I also am still getting milk, as Mom thought the recommended time frame of weaning off milk, was a bit too early for me...she did grumble something about the price though. DK likes milk too, but I make sure he only gets a slurpe after I get my belly full. Ahhhh! the life of a horse at Creekside....plenty of food ( we have our own really big bale of hay ) lots of clean water, some great attention from the humans, and my milk and grain snacks....Mom also has Darryl come over and spoil me too...she likes to read to me..is that spoiled or what ???? Life IS good!

pickin berries

Last evening I picked 3 gallons of blackberries at a spot across the road. This morning, after doing a few conformation shots of DK ( Handsome Dark Knight ) the mares came strolling by on their way to the barn....that is, all except Legacy. I walked up the draw to investigate what she was up too, and found her happily picking herself some blackberries. Normally the horses don't pick berries here...they have a good assortment of wild plums and pears from some really old pear trees, they don't waste their time on picking a hard to pick berry. When you consider that horses have a blind spot in front, and they are usually just heading for a general direction, and the fact that blackberries are a prickly thing to pick, they just leave them alone....but this year, Legacy has decided that those oh so sweet berries are worth the effort. So, I guess that spot along the road in the pasture won't be producing many berries for me now...at least not with Legacy on guard.

Lucky Horse shoe #112

When we bought our current farm and acreage we had to have some foresight. Old buildings in terrible condition, an old farm house, and lots and lots of junk covered this property. As we started clean up, I started finding horse shoes...since this place had folks on it since the early 1900's, I found we not only had horse shoes all around, but LOTS of horse shoes...so, I started collecting and counting. The first few years here with the most productive. In the areas around the barns, produced the most horse shoes. And the funny thing was, they were all shoes that had been sucked off in the mud, lost by the wearer probably unknowingly. I found various types of shoes, a good amount of draft horse shoes, many, many mule shoes, and the rest just general horse shoes. Draft horses were used here years ago, to farm the ground, from a wheat crop to a hay crop which they brought to the barn on wooden sleds. Mules were later used by the owner here , as he was an outfitter. He took folks into the back country for hunting trips...and then of course, throw in alot of misc horses all needing shoes.

It has been several years since I had found any shoes. I was stuck on the total of 111. I saved most of them, and put them in our barn in various spots, used a few to make tack hangers with and saved the rest....but, yesterday as I headed down to feed in the evening...I heard that recognizable klink...a sound that one hears when they hit a part of a horse shoe...so, I looked down and saw an edge right at ground level. I took my hands and dug around it a bit, and my work revealed horse shoe #112! I wonder how many more years until I find the next one ;-)

Welcome Marbles

We are proud to introduce to you and give a big welcome to our ranch "CVC Marvelous Story" aka..."Marbles"....Marbles is a product of Laura Kinne's program, she has been breeding quality horses for a number of years. Marbles loaded quickly at Laura's, and settle in nicely for a long ride home. She seemed content and perfectly happy on our journey and has settled in nicely here at the ranch. Marbles' pedigree traces back to *Peter J, ABC -1 (f) literally the first curly horse registered in the ABC. On the bottom of her pedigree it is a fine blend of curly lines, and TB lines. Marbles is a smooth coat and is 3/4 curly 1/4 TB. She is a lovely mover, supple, elastic, with good suspension and extension. We are quite pleased to have her in our mare herd. She will be started under saddle, and there will be a fall breeding to our stallion. Welcome to the new girl !

A great Honor

As most of you know or suspect...I have a love of "horse photography"...presenting our horses in the most accurate and incredible light as possible. I also have a great love of competition...whether it be in my horses competing or myself competing my own photos.
Well...I have my very first "BEST OF SHOW" winning...for one of my pics ;-) I enter a few great contest each year, the CSI Equine photo contest is one of them. and......this year, I took top honors for amateur photographer, a BEST OF SHOW win! Not only did I get a really great prize, but I am stunned, honored and totally jazzed about the win. Photos are the history records of life. This photo was taken 2 years ago, when Kallie was just a baby foal, and has always been one of my very favorite photos ever! Thank you CSI for hosting this contest..and thank you to God for my talent and my herd.