Agriculture

How to: Clean a Mildewed Saddle

It was really funny, people around my parts of the country were complaining that it was so cold in May, then once June hit, BAM, the heat hit but so did the humidity. And it is hard for some people to imagine the midwest having humidity since we’re not surrounded by water, but there are days that you can walk out and be ringing wet because of the humidity.

So one thing we have to deal with is molding saddles in our trailer. The changing area in the trailer doesn’t get a lot of air movement so when the saddles/bridles hang out in the nose of the trailer, they sometimes mildew. Yuck! So here’s a trick to help you keep your leather tack in tip top condition!

(more…)

NCHA Day 2016 – Ozark Mountain Cutting Horse Association

I have grown up showing cutting horses. My mom showed Arabs when I was born, but at age 5, she sold her Arab and we bought Quarter Horses. We got in to showing cutting horses and while those first years I mainly sat on the fence and learned what you weren’t supposed to do, I got a lot of experience with the horses. I showed my first one when I was 10. I told a guy named Randy Butler “Can I go home now please?” as I was riding in the herd to cut out my first cow. I mention this because he quoted me and called me by name when he quoted me that year when he showed at the Futurity… and he’s a trainer. I always got a kick out of that.

So every year the NCHA has what they call NCHA Day. There are 25 areas in the country and one association in each area is designated to host NCHA Day. It is the first Saturday of June. This year was Ozark Mountain Cutting Horse Association‘s Year (OMCHA). My dad is on the board and they were looking for a photographer to come in and snap some pictures. Dad volunteered me. So hubby and I loaded up that morning and headed over to the show to take pictures.

Do you remember last year when a Vegan Activist group went after Walmart for putting out a toy cattle hauler? They said it was a slaughter truck. I can show you right here that it isn’t a “slaughter” hauler. These cows came in off of acres and acres of grass for the show and then they went right back home. Just saying. This is called a cattle hauler.

The cows are kept in pens out back until they come in for the show. Hubby wore his Muck Boots so that he could step out back and snap a few pictures of the cows.

(more…)

Trails for Kids 2016

{WARNING: Picture Overload… again…}

So what we were up to this last weekend? Well it involved friends, camping, and horses. What more could you ask for? Hubby took Thursday off and he and Jared worked on moving horses, trailers, stuff down to Underwood’s Crag O’Lea in Pineville, MO, for the weekends adventures. I met Karen after I got out of school and picked up Abug and she got off work, then we headed down.

The evenings meal consisted of Steak and potatoes. A good kind of hearty meal :).

Then our friends Tony & Stephanie couldn’t get power to their camper, so the men went to work trying to rewire the box and figure out why. And just like that (you know like 20 minutes later, not bad) they had power. Woot woot! Nothing like rewiring by flashlight. Tony had a flashlight on his head and every time he’d look away hubby would grumble at him because he took the light.

Then we wandered down to the tent. I guess I should tell you this weekend was Trails for Kids. It is to raise money for the Tri-County CP Center.

Once we got to the tent, we checked out the lighting that hubby/Grady/Jared/Jason helped wire up. There was a dance floor so I turned on baby girls favorite song, “Girl Crush” and she and daddy danced. Then Jared tried to teach her how to break dance.

Friday morning our plans were breakfast and then to hit the trails. We had Bacon and Eggs and steak left over from Thursday night. They got out tortillas and cheese and made breakfast burritos. I knew Jared came into the camper looking for cheese but it wasn’t until my second burrito that I actually found the cheese. I made the comment I thought cheese would make it better, but it really didn’t. And if you look at the plate of bacon, a few pieces are burnt to a crisp… I had them on my second burrito. I wound up not eating the whole thing. The burnt bacon was not so yummy but the other bacon was excellent! We also had hubby’s candied jalapeños. YUM!

(more…)

Little Cricket Bars

Isn’t she beautiful? This was Little Cricket Bars, or her barn name was Cricket or Ma. She is a 1984 model. If there’s one thing I can teach you about horses, their age changes on January 1st. That would make her 32. 32 is old in horse years.

A friend of our family gave her to us with the condition she had a home until she died. We agreed, and sadly Saturday night into Sunday morning she lost her battle. I’m not sure she was battling anything other than as she was getting older, it was getting harder for her to get around. Their 32 years is probably like what 70-90 in adult years? I’ve actually never heard a conversion like dog years… for every year a dog gains 7… ya know… I’ve never heard that conversion for horses. (more…)

Happy First Day of Spring

… yesterday!!…

So what did you do on your first day of spring?

This is what I woke up to…. Well technically it was a text telling us baby on the ground so hubby and I started annoying my dad for pictures 🙂

We weren’t able to go over right away. There are two weekends a year hubby has to work, and this was one of them. We decided to go to church (8:15-9:15) and then he was scheduled to work at 10.

(more…)