Gotta get back to some horse pictures

We had about 7 inches of snow and it was just perfect for riding horses!  The horses are having so much fun playing in it and well....I am too!  :)

Kitty was feeling quite exuberant, but that's pretty normal!!  This picture just describes her to a T!

Monica caught this action shot of her rear!  I really can't take any credit for her perfect rears!  She just does them like this!  Kitty is so very talented! 

Missy and me posing for a pic! 

Why, even Missy had energy enough to look good jumping!! 

I just want to be an Angel!

I've been thinking lots lately, and I just wanted to share a poem I made up of some of my thoughts.  Plus, I haven't shared anything recently!  :) It's called, "I just want to be an Angel."

I was sitting on my upstairs bed, 
Reading what the Bible said 
About how to live my life in a different way, 
Like living, loving and serving Jesus everyday.
All the sudden my hope ran thin
As I remember all my sin
And I thought what can I do for Him?

So I bowed my head in prayer, 
And I asked the only one who cares
If He could grant me just one wish to come true, 
I asked, "Lord, could I be an angel for you?"
Because I'm tired of my broken life,
All my pain and all my strife,
Oh, Lord, just grant me this one wish!

If I could just be an Angel for you,
There is nothing I wouldn't want to do!
I'd sing praises out loud just for you
Because my love for you is sincerely true
And I'd go where you'd want me to go,
I'd never tell you no, 
And I'd be who you'd want me to be.

But here I am all alone right here
Wishing I could be up there
I don't know what you plan for me
But Lord, I'm just asking that I could see
Your works through little old me, 
So I can go on being who you want me to be, 
And from this weary world be set free.  

Things I've noticed about country people....er maybe it's just me...

1.  If you don't have one, maybe the neighbor does and you can borrow it
2.  It's okay to wear your pj's out to do morning chores, get the trash, mail, etc.
3.  If you see a tractor, truck and/or trailer driving down the road-wave and smile at that person who's driving it
4.  If someone's horse/cow/goat/dog etc. gets loose-anyone and everyone who hears about it is ready to help ya catch 'em.
5.  Word gets around pretty quick so if you are talented at any type of farm work/animal training you'll probably be asked to help more often
6.  You can set your own styles
7.  Feel free to play in the dark
8.  Neighbor's are friends and sometimes act like family even if that neighbor lives more than 5 miles away
9.  Yes.  We work hard on our own improvements and projects.  But we can take time out to help you on yours.
10.  Ya.  We own guns, but we don't use them on each other.
11.  If ya have a question-just ask! We aren't uneducated out here-we actually know some things and we are always happy to share.
12.  We don't mind if you have a different opinion than us, just be sure that it ain't all ya talk about!
13.  If you smell like dirt, sweat, horses, or hay, you can still show up at parties and blend in
14.  Our doors are always open to company
15.  We feel more secure in a heard of cows or horses than a group of people
16.  We are concerned with how much rain we get, how our animals are doing, how fast the grass is growing instead of what store has the most selection, what traffic lane moves the fastest, or what clothes to wear to work.
17.  We tend to be loyal and we honestly care about each other.
18.  Young to Older adults who still own and ride horses are an encouragement to others (I've actually been told that a few times)
19.  Everyone has or had a dog.
20.  We have a good amount of pride in where we live and what we do even if it's really hard to make ends meet.  

Now tell me....if'n you've ever lived in the country before...you understand what I'm talking about don't ya?!  :)

Missy's injury

Here we go again.....Missy is trying to become exactly how Kitty is!  While I do appreciate that in some ways, I also do NOT!  Injury prone horses are no fun and I'm finding out that I love having 2 horses to ride and train!  And I'm super happy/blessed to be able have 2 horses so that I can ride one when something like this happens!  Missy did the same as Kitty--just not as severe--I hope.  She somehow caught her back legs in the fence and tangled herself up.  So of course, I'm praying her swelling goes down and nothing is seriously injured and you can pray too if you don't mind saying prayers for animals.

Here are a few pics:

Both of her legs are pretty swollen now, but she is not lame so lots of hosing going on around here and she is VERY good for it!  

Kitty update on her injury:  (about a year ago-she did this kinda thing)  She is doing GREAT!  She is on a joint supplement, because she would act stiff on that leg sometimes and slide it a bit her first few steps of a ride, but she has not PRAISE THE LORD!!!! done this for a good while and she's been ridden HARD! She still has a bubble bump on her back leg, but I don't mind the blemishes and deformities if she can still be herself!!!!

The tale of the rat killer

Once in a far away land worked an innocent young, beautiful horse gal!   ;)  haha ya...me!  Does that look look innocent or what?

Everything was going smoothy for the young gal.  Little did she know there was danger lurking in the adjacent stall.  The infamous Rugged Rat of Ruhold was readying a ridiculous plan of ruthless revenge!

BEHOLD:  Rugged Rat of Ruhold is about to surprise the unsuspecting, lovely gal!  Behold, the VILLAIN!!

Indeed, it could have been fatal for the lady of rare beauty if it had not been for her secret admirer....THE HERO...her lifesaver...her knight in German Shepherd coat was nearby!

Sir Dirk of Duty heard a horrible scream of terror!  

Sir Dirk eyes his prey knowing he must risk his life to save his lady!

Sir Dirk pounced on his prey and snapped the neck of Rugged Rat of Ruhold!

Sir Dirk was the VICTOR!

And as they say to the victor goes the spoils and the very pretty lady!

They lived happily ever after!  

And I thought cleaning stalls could be boring? lol!

Silver and Gold have I none;but Buckskin and Grulla, I have one!

If you were to tell me that I would one day be riding one of my horses bridleless while the other stood quietly on a pedestal-I would have said you were crazy!  And mention something like-"I'd never be able to teach a horse to do that! That's for the top trainers!"  I was content with just teaching my horse how to bow which was very difficult for me because I really had no clue how to do it!  I would just look at ways to teach it and then when I found one that I thought I could handle, we'd try it!  I've learned alot through mistakes.....but I feel that God has blessed me and helped me every step of the way.  The horses He had picked for me were not easy!  Not at all compliant, submissive, and they sure weren't gonna be willing to trust me---I had to earn their trust first.  By doing simple things such as singing softly to them or brushing every inch of their coat, I slowly started to gain their trust.  However, years pass and now I have been able to get my horses to do incredible things-not because they fear me, but they TRUST me.  They have crushed my spirits and lifted them.  I know that I am not a good trainer sometimes and it is hard for them to understand what I want.  This is when I have to rely on my trainer.  When I ask Him to help me and guide my hands and mind so that I can be clear and understanding just as my trainer is with me when I mess up!  I'm happy that God is my trainer!  I'm also thankful for all the blessings He provides including the 2 horses that I thought would never do_____<-- fill in the blank.  Through their complete turn-around-they inspire me to be able to go on living for Jesus!  Because I know that I'm not compliant, submissive, and I especially don't trust Him in every aspect of my life as I should.  Long story short, God's taught me a ton through my horses and I hope He continues to teach and bless us because I NEED His love and instruction every day!

Here are a few pics of our liberty act:

Pedestal Pose top and bottom is pic of Kitty trotting bridle-less 

and Missy free on pedestal

Kitty bowing to Missy! (top)

Friends Forever!  (bottom)

Kitty and I even did tight circles around Missy and figure 8's and she just stood there!  I'll never forget this day when we all connected so beautifully!  

  

College wonders!

Sometimes, I really wonder what I got out of college!  But I did enjoy this creative writing class!  Our teacher asked us to pick someone famous to eat lunch with and write about what happened at our fake lunch.  Usually, the students picked really, I mean REALLY gross, inappropriate things to read and write about....I felt very different.....however, out of my group, they all voted it as the best and let me read it to the rest of the class!  That was the ONLY time mine got picked, but seriously silly, clean humor is just not in anymore! How sad!

Sandy Fritzenmeier

Creative Writing 113

Invite a guest to lunch/Steal-a-Face

Lunch with Dick Van Dyke

        After winning the grand prize offered by a pancake mix company, I found myself on the verge of being able to sit down and eat lunch with a real live comedian!  The comedian was none other than Dick Van Dyke.  I was to wait for him at his studio named Harhar in Hollywood.  As I walked into his studio, I noticed the beautiful May flowers lining his brick sidewalk.  I found my way to the dining room where I met Mr. Van Dyke, although he insisted on being called Dick.  “You know, as in Moby Dick without the Moby!” he cracked up laughing.  “I’ve got a whale of a name don’t you think, Miss!”  His bright brown eyes seemed to sparkle every time he smiled.  “So, what brings you to Harhar Studio besides the shoes on your feet?” he said playfully.  I showed him my winning ticket and he assured me, with one of the most serious facial expressions I have ever seen, that I was the luckiest college student in the world.  He escorted me to the table on which I immediately fell due to his pulling out the chair from under me.  “Something wrong, old sport?” as he started turning purple from holding back his laughter.  I blushed with embarrassment as I said, “No, Dick, guess I’ll never be a stand up comedian if I can’t even sit down!”  I received an unexpected blow as he slapped me on the back and giggled his way to his chair all the while exclaiming that I was a good old sport.  We began with dessert first because Dick claimed that it was the most important part of the meal.  As I began to eat my brownie and ice cream, I noticed how Mr. Van Dyke was dressed.  He had on blue jeans with an unmatched top that was decorated with a clip-on tie, and when I glanced under the table I noticed Winnie-the-Pooh and Piglet Too flip flops.   Dick seemed to crack endless jokes as I ate my lunch, once I almost choked from laughing so hard at one of his jokes.  He asked me if I wanted to listen to any music while we finished up lunch and I replied, “Sure that would be nice!”  He scrambled through some music albums and began to play the soundtrack from “Mary Poppins,” a show in which, he sang.  “I really dig the singer in this song!” he matter-of-factly stated.  I gave him a sarcastic grin and said, “Yes, he’s not that bad!”  After all the songs in which he had sung had finished, he invited me into his mini living room where he decided we would watch the Dick Van Dyke show.  He leaped onto the couch and jumped back up with a startled look.  “Why, I forgot the popcorn!” he said, slapping his hand on the couch in disgust.  “We can’t watch one of my movies without popcorn!”   He asked me how I liked my popcorn, but I only managed to get out “I like mine with”…. then he cut me off as though my mind was already made up, “Eh, everyone likes buttery popcorn!”  He sprinted to the other room, knocking over a stool of newspapers.  All I could hear was “Whoops! I’ll be back in a minute!” as papers went flying across the room.  I shook my head, smiled, and thought to myself, “So, this is what it is like to eat lunch with comedian Dick Van Dyke!”

The Judge vs the judges

As most of you know, I like to hit a few horse shows per year.  I do this mostly because I have a fun time, but it is also good training for the horse and for me.  In doing so, I meet a lot of nice people and alot of not so nice people.....which is typical wherever you go-not just at horse shows.   Anyway, I'm the competitive type and don't like to lose if I don't deserve it!  I hate my competitive side and I love it at the same time.  It's handy to have on those days where RA tries to get in your way, but it's a pain to have it on those days where you get a judge who hates your horse and decides to not place your horse no matter how good they do!  This seems to happen a lot....judges and shows are so liberal......it can be depressing especially since I know how hard I've worked and how hard my horses try for me and how they should have placed comparing how others made mistakes and we actually didn't. Well....I was thinking the other day about all this and was thankful to be reminded of the one and only Judge that matters or should matter to me.  Yup, you guessed it--JESUS!  Jesus is the one I should be worried about.  And thankfully, he doesn't mind if I'm not the prettiest horse out there, or if I'm on the correct leads, or if I'm doing the pattern without making any mistakes. He just cares about if I'm doing my best for Him.  I can rejoice that Jesus is my Judge because he only judges my heart and I don't need any registration papers, halter points, or championship saddles to impress Him.   I can just rest in knowing that my Judge knows best and if I place last, He doesn't care as long as we did our best.  So the next time those judges make your blood boil, just remember to be thankful that they really don't have the last say in the matter.  Their opinion just doesn't/SHOULDN'T matter!  So next time you're misjudged, remember to RELAX and smile because the True Judge is watching and what He sees is more important than what they see!  So please...smack me, remind me, and settle me down the next time I get too competitive because we're only down here for awhile so let's let everyone see His light on our faces even when we are misjudged!

  

Thanking God for a perfect opportunity.....

While driving home from Iowa on Wednesday I noticed I had a new message and when I finally arrived home I checked it again to find out that Lindsay Kieser wanted to bring a group of city kids out here to watch us do some of our tricks!  I guess, they had tried His Ranch, but they were busy and then they tried Alamar Acres (where I work) and they suggested me! Aww...so it's pretty interesting that I got the job of entertainment when 2 others were in line for the job!  (God thing)  So..I immediately got into my "alamar acre action mode" (um...that means I cleaned the place up on Thursday really good since we were gonna have company...)  But I wasn't able to work my horses tricks for a while now, so a bit of self-doubt crept in--thankfully I was on such a high from the Iowa trip and on such an adrenaline high for the cleaning that I never really had time to think!  So when the kids arrived...screaming I should say--I guess they all don't like dogs, but for some reason aren't scarred of a 1000 plus pound horse!  It was all we could do to keep them away from the hind end and pulling on lead ropes, climbing fence posts and well, you get the idea.....

Turns out that I had most of their attention for the first 10 minutes then they were whirling around from one place to another...My horses did extremely well!!!  I was VERY proud of them and I also performed for my family (grandma and Aunt Jana (she lives in Japan now)) so Aunt Jana was able to get a few pictures in the chaoticness and we all really did have fun just thankful the horses behaved so good!  Praising God for another opportunity to share my talent! Take a look at this action:

This is a new act they all seemed to enjoy!  :)  

 Loads of happy kids!!!

My girls just don't know when to quit acting!  :)

Hay, Hay, HAY!!

So happy to have hay in our barn!!!!  Beautiful horse hay too!  Hay prices went up around a dollar this year, but I'm just happy to have the barn full especially with all this dry weather and little grass.

Psst....And don't tell anyone, but Karl was tired after helping us unload hay.  Now I thank him for helping us, but he was so wiped out that I'm pretty sure he's gonna pull "I'm sick." next year!  ;)

After hay it was time for a week of vacation!!!  I went to Iowa to ride at River Valley Campground with Ted and some friends plus Mom and Dad and the air conditioned camper--which was sooooo needed!!  We ate drumsticks or root bear floats each day to help cool us off and the horses were hosed off after the rides--it was just so hot and dry (no to little water in creeks and corn is looking poorly).  We had a blast though.  I brought Missy and Ted rode his Chica.

The group minus Ted

Of course, we had to try the obstacle course! 

Sorry, Mom!  Ted learns fast by watching his older sister--they always seem to pick up on the dangerous things rather than the smart way of doing things--why is that?

Haley and I standing on our girls!

This is what happens when you have a pedestal trained horse...you get off to step on the rock and they follow you right to the top!  I'm flattered!  :)

A Big Road Ride

Some pictures of a long road route we like to do occasionally..just never taken the camera along! 

 Here we are under the railroad!

 I just love this BARN HOUSE!!!  Too much house for me though!  :)