some things stay the same

Imagine my surprise, when my oldest daughter handed me one of my childhood paintings.

It was given to her from my mothers belongings, to give to me.
 

My mom treasured all my art.

Even the not so great stuff. Like this ^ painting. I gifted most of my creations to her throughout the years. I love art! It has and continues to be a big part of my life. She always made a big deal about my handmade gifts, and made me feel good about them.

I can't believe my mom saved this old painting, but then again I can.

I think my jaw was hanging open when my daughter handed it to me. I searched for memories of how this painting came to be. I had completely forgotten about it.

How old was I when I painted it?

Not sure. I wish I had dated my art work. Guessing late Elementary or possibly early Middle School (around age 10-11ish).

This painting tells me many of the things I treasured as a child, are the same things I treasure now.

Horses, water, reflections, tree's, mountains ('er hills) along with the moon and sky.

The things I treasure are part of the fabric of who I am. Regardless of age. 

The little grey horse I painted is just ridiculous. Makes me laugh. With a jockey type rider? Hmm, interesting choice. However, I do love how I painted the water. Even if the perspective is off. It is Monet-ish.

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I gifted the above paint by number to my grandmother Aurora (the 1st) when I spent half of my 12 year old Summer living with her in Spain.

My abuelita framed it and hung it in her fancy living room, reserved for guests only. For many many years. The painting made it's way back to me and has traveled internationally twice.


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Another art surprise happened, when my younger daughter (Harmony's girl) brought home another one of my childhood paintings. Also given from my mom's belongings, to give to me.

my Dali

You may recall my commenting about this unique project, somewhere in blog land. I think on one of Lindas art posts. Wishing I had not gotten rid of my Dali, and here it is.

I have seen some Dali originals in person. He is most famous for his warped clocks, and yet I chose to paint a horse. I found the related print online. Talk about weird art!! No clue why I chose this piece, other than it has a horse in it.

I distinctly remember this final art project in eighth grade (13yrs old). We were to choose a famous artist to learn about. Our teacher cut a bust of each chosen artist, out of wood for us to paint. We had to study the artist, write a one page summary and paint them and their style.

There was an art show held at school, with the many artists displayed all around the room. I remember the excitement, and the many eyes looking at us!

I don't know what I am going to do with my Dali. He is 2.5 ft tall, large & imposing. I screwed his right eye up and it still bothers me to this day lol. I want to fix it, but I won't. I think I will prop him up on top of the storage shelves, where he can keep a watchful eye.

Everything changes, but some things stay the same.

  

sneaky guy

We continue to enjoy arena riding our horses. Sometimes in the outdoor, sometimes in the indoor and some days we ride in both. It is really refreshing to ride inside under the fans, after baking in the sun. Without pesky flies and dusty wind.

Koda

I can't say enough good things about Koda.

He is really trying hard to do everything he is being asked. I just hop on these days and we warm up together. He is still a bit off when trotting at first. It seems to improve with riding. Koda is almost at the two month mark with his Cosequin supplement. I don't think it is doing much. To give the supplement a fair chance, we will keep giving it to him for a while. 

Koda is a little less fluffy, so that helps. His girth is fitting better. We are still mostly walking or doing obstacles. Trying out all the stuff we used to do on a regular basis.

He is being such a good riding partner and tries to help, even when not asked.

At the end of our ride, I opened the arena gate to ride out. I didn't get it swung open enough. Koda reached his nose out and nudged it open the rest of the way for us to ride through. Off we went, on our first field/trail ride this year. Brad & Cierra followed us out. We rode the field perimeter. Cierra really moves out, so we ended up following them back to the barn at a distance. We took the wooded path across from our house. They continued further down the path, while Koda & I rode back to the arena to retrieve my phone.

My phone doesn't stay in my back pocket. We have saddle/cantle bags, but I like to keep it on me. I need to find a new phone belt carrier. They keep changing the durn phone sizes.

We had a really nice outside ride yesterday!

I untacked first and was putting Koda back in the pasture when this happened:

Something is wrong with this picture

Nemo doesn't like Koda being gone and definitely doesn't like Brad riding Cierra. Nemo can be a pain when the herd regroups. He often rubs his face and sometimes tries to playfully get up on Koda. I shooed Nemo away and turned my attention to getting Koda's halter off. My arm is only half way back to “normal”. The struggle is still real. I was standing by the gate, but it was open enough that the sneaky guy pranced out.

Nemo was FREEE!!!

Our girls are better behaved, but Nemo is Nemo. I felt terrible!! I've never accidentally let a horse out. Guess there is a first time for everything. I handed Brad Koda's halter and quickly put Cierra away.

Nemo was having a ball running and exploring the field behind of the barn.

Our daughter came out to help. We had the main escape routes blocked. Eventually Nemo went inside the indoor, and we closed the gate.

Three horses got worked yesterday, although one was unplanned.

one benchmark at a time

Today was another important benchmark with Cierra's pregnancy. She was re-confirmed in foal this morning! If you missed it, here is the first pregnancy confirmation post.

The ultrasound shows the umbilical cord (lower left of dark circle) attached
6-14-22

With this positive benchmark, Brad can take the bubble wrap off his sweet princess and start riding her again. It is best for Cierra to stay in shape. Just like humans. There is a reason they call it labor.

We wonder if Cierra knows she is going to be a mama?

She must already feel different to some degree. We have a lot of time to read up, make plans to adjust our homestead and of course dream. In late March, the watch will begin.

Adding to our herd is exciting and scary all at the same time.

The vet just had a maiden mare at the clinic who delivered at 13.5 months. Obviously not the norm, but wow ~ that is a long time to bake.

Our vet shared a story about his Thoroughbred mare who was recently bred back with a foal by it's side. In the racing world, they send mares to a breeding facility. He said the mares are stalled for two weeks after breeding, then turned out in a group of mares. Apparently another Thoroughbred mare switched babies with his, and the mares won't switch back. Because they all look so similar, the foals are chipped right away. It was a confirmed switch. Our vet came home with his foal and someone else's mare. The other people have his mare and their foal.

We won't have to worry about a switcheroo, but I am very interested to see how the dynamics in our herd evolve. Especially with Harmony, who has never been bred. She has great bloodlines, but longtime readers may remember we were unable to get her papers and chose not to breed her as originally planned. I hope the girls stay buddies.

Speaking of papers, here is the studs pedigree & Cierra's pedigree. Like all "parents" we don't care what mix is brewing. We just want Cierra to have a healthy foal.

another benchmark

Sunday Sights ~ hay-n-butterfly season

It is hay sneezing season. We have been waiting for a dry stretch of weather for Brad to cut first crop hay. I've never seen our hay get this tall!

You could lose a dog in the field.

Jameson trying to run/leap above the hay

We have a few days of scorching hot stormy weather to get through (yuck!!) and then a sunny dry stretch is predicted. You know the saying, gotta make hay while the sun shines! We have a regular buyer eagerly waiting for our first crop. We are still feeding out last years hay, and will stock back up with second crop.

Leo helping Brad prep the hay bailer

It is also butterfly season. At least they don't make me sneeze! I've been enjoying various flutterby's, moths and dragonflies on my daily walks. Usually camera-less. 

Purple-spotted red butterflies are common. I spotted one at my front door on Saturday. As I approached, it flew up to the rooftop and decided to enjoy a light sprinkling rain.

Enlarge to notice the droplets.

The butterfly kept turning and turning around, while opening and closing it's wings. 

I began to wonder, what the butterfly was doing up there for so long. I found out when I looked at my photos. It gave me another thing to wonder about.

What is a butterflies long tongue called?

"Butterflies drink through a tube-like tongue called a proboscis. It uncoils to sip liquid food, and then coils up again into a spiral when the butterfly is not feeding."

I can never remember detailed names. I swear the Blue-spotted orange Purple-spotted red butterfly was looking right at me.