Red Hills 50 mile, Otto Wyoming Aug 28th

Haven't been able to get to this ride as it's usually held in the Spring and i get snowed in this end. Well this year mother nature did a number on them at their end (up North West of the state )and it got canceled.However it was rescheduled for this week end so i got to go. I just drove up in my little car as Dorothy Sue lives close by in Powell and i rode her Pinto Dandy Fella again. Love that horse! It was hot but the footing was great! No rain until after the ride so no bentonite mud to slip and slide in. Yay! Sort of warm so i ended up with a weird heat rash on my leg. Saw a rattler REAL close (almost ran right over it) and a funny little thorny toad reptile. Rode through the spectacular bad land country in constant awe! Sort of a stark beauty. Not many riders but a lovely laid back, enjoyable time had by those who were there.Recommended ride!

Happy Jack 2010

My Turtle award for Sunday.

Happy Jack is our local ride and it's a good one. This year the weather was perfect. We often get four seasons in one weekend including hail and snow. In August! There were lots of riders. I'm thinking over 60 on Saturday and at least 30 on Sunday. I am in 'easy mode' right now, broken foot and all, so i got to take lots of pictures and goof around a bit. I rode with Mernie on the Sat LD. Flambeau was wound up at the beginning but chilled out pretty quickly when he realized how much grass was to be had for the back runners. I took it even easier on Sunday riding Tim's youngster Trouble (Got A Copy) He did really well with all A's and we even received the coveted Turtle award which this year was...... a big zucchini! See above. BIG thanks to Bob and all his volunteers for putting on an excellent ride yet again.
Sara on Flirt. Great pair. First ride for both them. Actually second. Saturday with Tim and Junior was the first. Now look at them go!
Mernie riding high on Ice. See her ear in the left corner.
Mernie on Ice. Yes i got to ride and complete with my hubby buddy!

Horse and Rider 2010

Goofin' around on the trail!
Joe looking his early morning best!
Bonnie on Baracha (Rocket) only her 4th/ 5th ride done totally barefoot and BC ed 2nd day. What a little ripper!!!!



Gosh i need to catch up on two rides. I thought i'd have plenty of time to do indoor things when i broke my foot but alas i found devious ways to get outside and keep going with what i love best. Riding and horsin' around.
Horse and Rider, Carbondale Co 14th and 15th of August. Went with Bonnie and Joe, my team we call the Borojoes. We had a lovely time though the course was difficult, rocky and at 10,000 + feet. It took most of the allotted time to do it. Bonnie and Joe brought home BC and first prizes and me and my broken foot were thoroughly happy with completions both days on Flambeau and Junior. Thank yous go to Carol with a name i can never pronoun for a great week end.

New work, Horsin' around and cavorting

As I have a broken my foot and have been grounded from riding for a few weeks .......... what's there to do? Have some fun in the studio of course. Cards and prints available. Click on to enlarge.

ouch

Broke me foot!
"There's........ One Foot and Foot Foot and stupid one called Broken Foot.......

I tend to get lots of knocks and bumps given the work i do with equines and they are obviously warnings ignored. Well this time i didn't get away with it......stupid, stupid, stupid!
Thought I'd help out one of our borders with her unbroken three year old. A lovely lady who warned me repeatedly she'd probably blow up when saddled. I don't know where my brain was last Thursday. Probably hiding in my butt! It does that sometimes.I ignored all the golden rules for working with an unknown horse. Normally i would put the critter in the round pen and run it thought my personal check list to see where it was at. Find a safe starting point and work from there. Or at least see whether it has enough respect to back briskly down the isle of the portastall in a "yes ma'am" kid of manner. Something i did after the bugger broke my foot.Derr! (Adrenaline is an amazing thing!) But nooooo, my brain finds it hard to work properly while squashed up between the cheeks of my butt.
Well she blew, not away from me as i expected (stupid,stupid,stupid) but toward me knocking me down and stomping on my foot. This might explain why my brain was hiding in the most padded refuge. You all probably know the rest.......emergency room, exrays, narcotics, R.I.C.E and six to eight weeks driving everyone crazy trying to do things i can't! Oh well there's a 100 mile ER in Missouri on September 18 so if you see me galloping around on my crutches tell be to get that brain out of my butt or i may not be doing that 100.
Luv ya all xxx

Hop-a-long Roo

Big Horn Adventure! 2010

It was quite the drama.Many were lost, wet, cold and bedraggled on weary horses. Miraculously, no once was hurt and all ended well.I had to spend the night between my saddle and saddle rug in a sage bush while most of the other lost riders somehow fumbled their way through the darkness on an unmarked section of trail. We all suffered but experienced nothing like what Cindy Collins went through. As a result of vertigo she started vomiting as soon as darkness fell. This went on for hours until she became so weak she could no longer stay on her horse. Walt and I got her down and stayed with her while the others continued on in hope of somehow finding their way down. It would have been senseless for everyone to stay. Cindy was lying on the trail shivering uncontrollably. We covered her with my driz-a -bone coat and set our brains to work juggling the options. Walt tried to make a fire to mark where she was so we might be able to leave her and go for help but everything we could find to burn was wet. Cindy was far too sick to get back on a horse so eventually Walt, a diabetic and at risk of getting ill himself prompt her up and walk her out while I tried to find my way down ponying Jack, Cindy's horse. I got off trail more than once until finally deciding to follow a fence line quietly sneaking around giant sleeping bulls back to a gate where there was one flashing light. This is where I made myself into a saddle and saddle blanket sandwich and waited it out until enough light would help me to find my way out. A few miles down i did find some Big Horn flags and managed to follow them out with only one hitch. There were three flags which turned me up to someone's campsite!?? I didn't wake them up. I find it hard to explain why I would choose maybe being lost in the vast wilderness over simple embarrassment. I knew I'd find my way out now it was light and I'd spotted at least a few flags. Wow! Up and over the mountain way up in the sky looking over that vast panorama took my breathe away. The road felt to me like just a ledge but off course it was much wider. I dismounted and walked both horses down to carefully negotiate the next danger:Slick rock! Yep this is what they were talking about. Nasty stuff! The horses were slipping and sliding on the big slabs of it while i was rollerskating on the loose rocks around them.I was on my bum a few times too many. Just as well it was numb from so many hours in the saddle. Naturally, my crew Chris Compton was relieved to see me ( an understatement of course) as were Dr Haeberle and Callie Bermann. Chris wouldn't let me ride the rest of the way in.She didn't want to let me out of her site.Tim French was there also helping everyone as usual.These people are THE BEST! They were there for us, lots of tired people and muddy vehicles as testament to a long and anxious night. Jeanette had her own set of terrible mishaps to report and coupled with the difficult weather and terrain conditions found it impossible to get the trail marked out there. There are a lot of angry people as a result of this ordeal. I know those who were on the rescue end, the friends and families left not knowing what condition we and our horses were in would have been sick with worry and very upset. There may even be a protest I suspect. For myself I do not want to spend the energy in that direction. I do know that we all need to think seriously about all this and offer help to the Tolman's to ensure we have better emergency operations in place to ensure this doesn't happen again. (Yes i know it's happened before) My plea is to Jeanette to graciously accept the help I know is going to be offered. Its an incredibly spectacular ride but this debacle surely will hurt its future attendance.We all need to put our heads together and figure something else.
I'm so relieved to know Cindy is home safe and we can thank Walt for that. People like him those angels at the bottom of the mountain is what it's all about.

Ft Howes, Montana 2010

Lots of mud but a lovely ride.An FEI ride so all the big wigs were there and the vetting was strict. Completed in top 10 on Montana Skylark (Larka) with Joe H on Saturday but was pulled for Lameness on Sunday with a bunch of other people. Very hard going in the mud. Should have known better and taken Dandy Fella on the second day. Darn it! Will learn one day. More to come

Basin May 2010

Really nice ride in Basin, WY put on by Jeanette Tolman and family of Big Horn 100 fame.
See here Mernie on Ice. She did GREAT!Her first LD completion. Yours truly on Montana Skylark (Larka) and also on Dandy Fella(Pinto Bean) for a Best Condition Award. YEE HAH!
We had gumbo mud at the end so he really earned his stripes! This is a perfect ride to go barefoot. Next ride Ashland Montana.

Beautiful horse for sale

This is Dandy Fella's Half brother Desi. Dorothy Sue will be sending him down here to OAS for me to ride and sell. She has way too many horses right now! Apparently he is a really quiet and reliable horse. He has a lot going for him so I don't think he will be hard to sell. If you are at all interested please email me at ronnie@onastring.com .I'd love to tell you more.
See here his papers. He is also registered with the American Pinto Association.
Click on images to make larger.
Oh and wasn't he a beautiful baby!!

Tristan's back

Tristan is back causing havoc. About 8 months ago he broke one of he back legs. Hard to believe now. See him here moving so fast i almost didn't catch him in the frame. Its nice to have the little guy back again. His big girlfriends think so too!

Kenlyn Urban Challenge, Spring 2010

No, this is not at the Kenlyn as I don't have a picture yet. Hey Chris send me a pic will ya. Then i wil lpost some sort of commentary about how it i escaped being snowed in in Laramie and rained out on Saturday in Denver. There's a happy ending though as the ride finally took place under blue skies on Sunday. More to come.

Color Country Hurricane Utah

After being snowed in in Laramie for a week Dorothy Sue, Timbo and I finally got away to this gorgeous ride in the Utahian Desert. I rode DS's mare 'Larka' ( Montana Skylark) on the Friday 55miles, Dandy Fella on Saturday 50 miles and Larka again on Sunday 50miles . Where did we come? Don't know don't care. This is going to be my motto for this season. I just want completions and SOUND horses. I think i might be growing up Mum!


Click the pic with the horse trailer to get an idea of why they call this color country. Thanks for the picture Tracy!






Check out the Pinto Beans foot wear. Renegades. I was impressed!





Dorothy Sue on Montana Flyer and Karl on Bubba. I can't tell you how honored i feel to ride with such wonderful Veteran riders. Good stories too!


























Good endurance horses don't care what they have to climb up on to get a well deserved drink!

We've come a long way

Here is the horse trailer (horse float) we had in Australia.It was quite a popular model over there at the time, ah due to the heat and all. Great flow through ventilation system and what's more the equines can climb in from which ever side they please. See them making their choices here. Looks much better with the horses inside as that's what actually holds the thing together as it's going down the road. This is actually the deluxe model. It is super light to save enormously on high Australia gas prices and see it's special feature ..........it has a built in window! It's hard to believe we could actually up grade from here but scroll down to see our latest purchase. ............

New Trailer with Living Quarters

This is great! We weren't planning on getting one for a while but a great deal came up and we grabbed it. Not as big and luxurious as some I've seen but to me it's an absolute palace!! Especially after years of camping in the back of a stock trailer. Thanks Mernie!!!
















Yes and LOO too!!

lyin' around

Lying around soakin' up the sun. Just another quiet day at the ranch. Photo taken from our bedroom balcony! Life is good!

....and today's forecast

http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?CityName=Laramie&state=WY&site=CYS&textField1=41.3109&textField2=-105.583&e=0


go to this site to see our lovely weather after the blizzard http://s302.photobucket.com/albums/nn96/oneicepony/December%202009%20at%20OAS/?albumview=slideshow

Oh and take a look at this slide show compliments of our cheap and much appreciated help, the lovely Chris Compton

The weather outside is fright ful!

A cold winter blizzard for Christmas here at OAS. Actually i think a good part of the United States was cover in snow. The temperature was in single digits ( well below O in Celsius) and the wind was blowing at over 40miles per hour! Providing the horses get plenty of hay and have fresh water they do fine. See Mernie starting one of three daily deliveries to the 62 equines on the property. See Domingo here say "bloody hurry up will ya!" And Flambeau saying " this is not happening!"
For those of you in Australia i hear it is going to be over 100 F in Adelaide on Thursday. Somewhere between the two places would be just right! We were planning on a Christmas dinner with our good friends Rod and Beth but we couldn't get there due to white out visibility and drifts of snow. They live....ACROSS THE ROAD!!!!! Happy New Year. Ronnie! ((Scroll down for an account of 2009)

New Years Roodroppings

(Click on images to make larger)



It's been a great year among the 60 horses, one mule and one mini donkey. I don't think I've ever been happier or in such good health. What ever I'm doing I'd better keep it up. Mernie is also doing just dandy. I think it has something to do with all the earth moving equipment we have here now. The little boy in him keeps youth alive. For me i think its horses, endurance riding, a little dressage and the yoga classes we have been having right here at the house under the gentle guidance of our good friend Jeanette Flaig. Good energy abounds. Also our best buddies Rod and Beth live across the road and i get to spend a few days a month with their precious little bundle of joy, Cole James Kelly. Oh and there's another little Keller on the way!
Mernie's Mom was here for the beginning of the Summer. Her memory is slipping but she still gets around well and has a delightful array of stories to share with everyone she meets. The altitude bothers her a bit however!
It was nice to have Chester, Mernie's youngest, visit again this Summer. He is becoming quite the ranch hand and is growing like a bean sprout.Oh and he can sure play a mean guitar!
Whoa ......A..C...D...C!!!
The Endurance season was a full one. I rode over 1000 miles of mainly 50 mile rides. Thanks to my super crew and much appreciated cheap help Chris Compton I lived through it. Chris has been a real help to us here on the ranch this year too. Help like hers is as scarce as rocking horse poop I'd say!
On a sad note, our lovely veterinarian, Kelly Palm lost her battle to Cancer this year and we all miss her terribly. We also lost one of our old Arabs Embassy, also to cancer. He survived with it to 26. A good innings for a horse. Kelly was only 38. Cut down in her prime.There were over 1000 people at her service!At least we know that where ever Embassy is he will be getting excellent veterinary care!
We now have Dr Ruthie Sorensen taking care of our horses. And thanks to a wonderful equine first aid course she ran here some of us are now certified in Equine First Aid. Ginny's little donkey Tristan broke his leg and we have had a few cases of pigeon fever here so we need all the knowledge we can get. Tristan is well on the way to recovery and cuter than ever in his dinosaur print cast!
In July Steve Cormey and I launched our children's book/DVD/CD The Brothers Foot in Grand County Colorado. Mernie and I turned this into a mini Vacation and I re visited my past a little. The book is getting rave reviews from all those little sprogs. Check it out at www.footfootsong.com
Speaking of Vacations Mernie actually took one. He went bird hunting with Rod and bird dog Ginger. He was like a little boy going off to camp with his best buddy, which is actually what he was doing. He had a great time and we have a lots of birds in the freezer keeping the goat, sheep and Llama company!
As for 2010, bring on more of the same please. For resolutions I'm going to try to live by the words of a song sung (don't know whether she wrote it) by Jana Stanfield called STOP LOOK AND LISTEN..........

I'm gonna stop reading other people's minds
I'm gonna look at the good that surrounds me
I'm gonna listen to my heart when it tells me what to do
I'm gonna notice every time a little dream comes true
I'll do all the livin' I've been missing
When.... I STOP LOOK AND LISTEN
STOP LOOK AND LISTEN

May you all have a happy, peaceful and safe 2010.
Cheers from Ronnie. Stay tuned to my blog!