Strawberry Fields Forever/Easy Boot Gloves

Howard Kent and his terrific volunteers and vets put on a fabulous ride in the picturesque mountains near Heber City, Utah every year. I would have to say it's quite a difficult course but well worth the effort. The scenery is hard to beat! This year it rained heavily making it particularly hard going. As usual Flambeau and I encountered those challenges that always teach us invaluable lessons. As usual I met old and new friends to share special moments with and create the many stories I bring home with me. And as usual many strange things happened! Here is just one.

My Opportune Meeting with 'Mr. Easyboot' Right on the Trail at just the Right Time!!

I'm obviously passionate about Endurance Riding. Apart from meeting my husband Mernie, it's the best thing that's happened to my equine orientated existence. However, I'm happy to say that I'm even more passionate about keeping my horses barefoot and healthy right from the ground up. I trim my own horses and use Easy Boots to help protect their hooves; those precious structures that faithfully carry both of us everywhere we want to go. Flambeau is a hot- headed, easily wound up racing machine. We refer tosome of his gymnastic maneuvers as "the Flambeau Flip!" I'll have to admit I too can get pretty competitive and loopy at times. So I've had a love hate relationship with hoof boots and their tendency to be launched into orbit by my plunging and lunging Flamboyant Arab. Thankfully, trial and error has led me to the Easy Boot Glove. Flambeau is a great test pilot for hoof boots or anything else us humans try to attach to him. He can throw a boot so far off the trail you'll need an aircraft or maybe a sniffer dog to retrieve it! He takes off so fast he leaves a hole in the ground. Strawberry Fields Forever Endurance Ride in Utah this year was the real test. Mud, slush, rocks, rocks and mud, slushy, rocky water crossings, straight up, straight down, bogs left right and in between. Did they stay on? Almost! His back left popped off right when he was really wound up and racing with the hot shots. Bummer! I stopped to get off and fix it and, with riders going passed him, you can imagine just what a rodeo that was! Flambeau was spinning around with me chasing this near back hoof in a futile effort to remove the boot when a voice call out,
" Need help?"
"Yes", I replied, "this bloody boot has come off!"
Can you believe it, it was Garrett Ford, Mr Easyboot himself,
He kindly and expertly put the boot back on and advised me i needed a size smaller.He then ensured me he'd fix that problem back in camp; which he did. Off I rode through the muck .
I ended up riding one hundred miles with ones on the front and 0s on the rear through the most horrendous mud you can ever image and they DID NOT BUDGE! I was starting to think Flambeau was simply a horse impossible to keep booted. I now know that's not true.
Garrett showed me he how it requires technique rather than strength to apply the boot and how important it is to have a really snug fit in such adverse conditions.
I love the Easyboot Glove. They're light, durable, easy to apply and remove and they look great! Thank you Garrett for coming to my rescue and providing me with a product I can depend on through hell and high water!

Wyoming Pioneer 2009

Flambeau won both his rides in Basin Wyoming this week end. See him here showing off for the cameraman Ross Tolman (son of Jeanette the ride manager). I rode all three days (125 miles). Friday saw me aboard Dorothy Sue's handsome pinto, Dandy Fella coming 3rd in the 50. Flambeau did a 50 and a 25 miler. It rained and the last 8 or so miles of the 25 had us wallowing in (bentonite ) mud. Really snotty stuff. The horse were sliding around like drunken sailors!
I travelled with Bonnie Swiatek, Gary Brown and his lovely wife Mary. Gary and Bonnie rode all three days and snagged all the best condition awards. Yay!
I adore the Tolman rides! They are super friendly, well organised and a ton of fun!
Flambeau liked the grass!!!

The Kenlyn Urban Challenge, 2009

Hey, I'd love to get some comments just so i know people are reading my blog.And don't forget to click on images to enlarge them. R
Super Crewer Chris Compton took these photos. Here I am just changing the oil and doing regular maintenance after a long ride. Everything seems to be in good order. The blanky was a big hit and serves to conceal nicely what I'm really doing!!
Looking and moving out nicely at the end of 50 miles plus probably more than that the night before! Scroll down for more details about the latter!! Don't forget to comment and click on images to make them larger.
Quietly standing the evening before the ride minding his own business.

This year's Kenlyn Urban challenge Endurance Ride in Aurora Colorado was fantastic as usual but certainly not uneventful. Well not the evening before anyway. I arrived Friday about 2.30 pm with plenty of time to set up and relax. Bonnie Swiatek arrived around the same time and we hung out together before each returning to our trailers to endure the damp cold night. I finally got warm by pretending to tread water in my sleeping bag and nodded off around 10pm about the same time I heard a CRASH! I leaped up and looked out not fast enough to see what had happened.Through the darkness i thought i saw some horses racing off and know i saw........NO FLAMBEAU and a torn down electric pen. There was to be no sleep tonight! I grabbed a halter and some grain and trekked off meeting a few others and Tennessee Mahoney, the other marauding horses' owner. We headed off down the road and found her electric coral strewn along the road by the golf course. Bad sign! That horse was probably frenzied. No horses insight but more bad signs. A heavy cable fence had been practically ripped out of the ground and knocked over with horse hair all over the place. Grey horse hair!!! Someone said there was blood but it was dark and i was hoping that information was erroneous.
Ken Fisher came along on his four wheeler ( Linda was convinced this was all a horrible dream so thought it best to stay in bed and send Ken instead .Good thinking on Linda's part.) I hopped on the four wheeler then Sophie, a Kenlyn trainer hopped on and we searched the area along with Dave in his vehicle and I think a lady called Karen was kindly helping too. Remember it's dark and everyone is dressed for the cold so excuse me if i get the names and faces mixed up.
So we all wandered around walking, wheeling, whistling and wailing in the darkness. Within two hours we found one of Tenny's horses and Flambeau amazingly in one piece. I was expecting to pick up all the pieces and take him home in plastic bags. Tenny's horse was lame with road rash and her one other horse Magnum was still at large.The police were informed and apparently alerts and road blocks set up. By this time four of us had saddled up horses and were riding in the darkness. It was passed midnight. The weird think is, they had split up. Flambeau was spotted racing up and down a fence line whooping it up in true Falmbeau style while the other horse was found somewhere else. Goodness knows where the third horse was! We rode for hours with no sign of him. At around 2.30am we called it quits. (Oh and somewhere in there the lovely big horse Gus, I was riding got caught in barbed wire but was sensible enough to let me untangle him diverting another potential wreck. Lovely well behaved horse in spite of the fact he could knock your fillings out with his trot. ) I went and collected my wayward Arab and tied him to the trailer where he happily, and noisily ate for the small remaining hours before daylight. It was around 3am by this time and I dosed off thinking there's no way we are going on the 50 tomorrow.
Then as i tried hard to sleep though the bumping of Flambeau's big nose on the trailer as he savaged his hay I thought, ya know that bugger is doing that 50 miles and if he tells me he's tired i don't want ta hear it!!
The vet passed him and we went, had a fantastic ride, came in 2nd in my division and 4th over all. The best news is Tennessee's horse was found during the ride and although lame I don't think it was seriously injured. I need to find out more.
As for what started it, it's still a mystery. One person thought they saw two horse plough through, or at least come very close to ploughing through, Flambeau's coral and the rambunctious Arab went whoopee!
Someone else said they saw a grey horse plough through Tennessee's horses' coral and they all went whoopee!! Anyway, they ran amok and any one who has horses knows to expect the unexpected at any minute.Poor Tennessee, she's really had her fair share of incidents lately and I'm wishing for a big change in her luck for the better here on. (I emailed T and her horses are fine and she's off to the next ride. She actually considers herself 'lucky' under the circumstances and would like her luck to stay where it is. Good way of looking at it)
As Mernie has always said horses, from the time they are born they are bent on committing suicide. We just have to make sure they don't take us with them!

All this aside. Thanks to those people who helped us find our horses and thanks to Linda, Denise, her family, the vets and all those volunteers for putting on a great ride as always. See y'all in September.

More pics and editing to come.
Leg injury. Only took the hair off.
Shoulders . Not much more than scratches.And he has a few more little nicks and bumps.NO BLOOD!

Flamingo

Flambeau and Domingo = Flamingo. See them with their new toy.

more cartoon commissions

The same mob who had me do the award cartoons are putting together a set of four anagrammed mugs. They send me the anagram and I (with the witty assistance of hubby ) think of an image. I love this kind of work. It's quick and doesn't take me away from horse work for too long.
YEE HAH!!!

Finley the Foot Foot Fan

This is Finley Cole Younger. A most satisfied customer intensely watching the Brothers Foot for the umpteen time. He also has the CD and the Book and is driving everyone crazy with it. It the nicest way of course. To see and hear it for yourself go to www.footfootsong.com

IT'S OUT

Yay!!!! The Brothers Foot BOOK just became available yesterday!! Here's how to order. Go to any of these websites.
http://www.authorhouse.com/bookstore/ItemDetail.aspx?bookid=58833

www.stevecormeymusic.com
www.footfootsong.com
www.stevecormey.blogspot.com
Stay tuned for 'The Dance!'
I can't think of a better gift for Easter and its 'calorie free!'
And NO this is not an April Fool's Joke!!!

PNER commission

I just recently completed a really neat commission for the Pacific North Endurance Riders Association. They sent me 14 pictures of some of their more successful riders and had me do caricatures of them and their horses to give to them as awards.Here a just a few of them. The one at the top is me on Flambeau . I thought I'd throw that in while I was at it. Happy trails!

Ya bedda go to www.footfootsong.com OR ELSE!

The DVD is Done and available

I See Dead Rabbits

I nicked this from Steve's Blog.I know he wont mind. Anything to promote our project. (Call it 'artistic license' if you like!) He has finished his part of the Brother's Foot and we are waiting for Authorhouse to publish the book. It's a 'must have' for children from 0-110. Good work Steve!Go to www.footfootsong.com to find out all about it and buy a copy at a bargain price!

I see rabbits everywhere. In my dreams, in the yard, they even hop, skip and thump in front of my car on my way home from work at 2:00 in the morning! I see a sign post up ahead and I can't control the horizontal or the vertical anymore.....AAARRRGGG!!!!!! I wonder if Rod Serling or Stephen King ever saw rabbits? I believe Elmer Fudd experienced this same trauma but he had a shotgun and that great hunter hat with the ear flaps. I only have a stack of DVD cases full of six rabbit feet. I hope that's good luck!! Stay tuned for more info as the singing bunnies prepare to invade your home too. Even those of you in 'The Beave"!! An alligator has no chance against these devils(remember Monty Python and the Holy Grail?) They haunt me as they sing..one foot, and two foot and the brother they call OOOOOOHHHHH!!!

posted by Steve Cormey @ 8:36 PM 4 Comments

From wild west to island Paradise

Our very good friend Weiwen has taken a position at the Cancer Research Department at the University of Hawaii. What a change of lifestyle from the wild, wild west to an Island paradise in the balmy Pacific. People think I'm nuts but to me its Wyoming that I consider paradise. So the weather presents a few challenges but hey, as Mernie says, it keeps out the riff raff! Good Luck to Weiwen, I'll be coming to visit her sometime but my heart's here in the wild, wild west.

Casino puts his foot in it

See the hole in this feed bin. There was a mule stuck in it this morning!
Mernie returned from feeding the horses and told me to go fetch a halter, a bucket of grain, some tin snips and a camera! They're for Casino the mule he said. I thought Casino must have jumped the fence 'again' and we'd have to go get him but when I glanced over there I saw him eating contentedly.He looks OK to me i said. You'll see said Mernie, and don't forget to bring your camera!
Click on images to enlarge thm.
The mule impaled his foot right through the little plastic feeder and had probably been wearing it all night.He didn't hurt himself and seem to view the whole ordeal as an inconvenience more than anything else.
Mern made the hole bigger with the tin snips and eventually got his hoof out while I kept him busy with the bucket of grain. There's never a dull moment here on the ranch!

winter starts.....tomorrow!!!

Hey 'ang on! If winter starts tomorrow why have we been dressing like this for several weeks? I tell ya, you sure want to make sure you've 'been' before you get into all these clothes!!

Fashion statement!
An extra 15-20lbs of clothing. Here's what I'm wearing.
:one pair of mens bonds underwear (much tougher and warmerthan womens and you can easily see which way they go on because of the neat little cell phone pocket in front)
:Sports bra.
:cotton tank top
:merino wool under top
:second thin wool top
:sweat shirt with hood
:down filled vest
:wind breaker with hood
:silk balaklava
:wool balaklava
:ski googles
:thick panthose (sometimes)
:merino wool long underwear
:denim jeans
:carthart bib overalls
:smart wool socks
:heavy lacross snow boots
:woollen glove liners
:disposable hand warmers......AND ITS NOT WINTER YET!

Flambeau......one very heavy and effective winter coat!

party 08

Ok, here are some pics from this years OAS Christmas party.They're not too bad when you consider one of the photographers was Weiwen (see picture above, that's her own foot) and the other one was me!( See Brad semi decapitated) It was a great party!
The Band. They were called the Ozark Mountain Boys and are now calling themselves The Zarks. From left, Daryl, Stevo, Kelly, Guest harmonica player Scott and Brian.They're a lot of fun and have become a fixture at our once a year big Xmas bash. Pity the mic wasn't down just a little lower so you could see more of the beautiful Kelly.
We had a good turn out considering this.

Weiwen, drinking champagne punch. Weiwen doesn't drink!
Belly dancing Brad. Go Brad. Top pic with Chrissy and without most of his head. What did I tell you about the photographers!


Uri's owner Danya with boyfriend Mike quietly watching the silliness.
Mein host Mernie.Singing? Sneezing? Someone just gave him a wedgy. You decide.
Cole with his Dad Rod. Chip off the ole block!

bike

Here is the bike I'm selling. Its in good nick and comes with a bag to bag to put things in which goes on the back. There are some small tools also. The numbers on the tires say 700 x 38C ???. Click to see close ups. Call me if interested 399 9435 Ronnie

Happy Holidays

Ronnie and Mernie at On A String Ranch.

Another bloody Xmas letter!
Another year gone by
Year by year time just keeps rollin
Until the day we die
Some one’s born
Someone’s gone
There’s cause to laugh and cry
But now its time to sing and dance
And tell those blues goodbye!

G’day, and what of 2008.
January the 11th marked the first year of no alcohol for this little black duck. Probably my greatest achievement. Who would have thunk!! I guess this shows that anything is possible!
February 10th I spent $3000+ on arthroscopic surgery for my endurance horse Flambeau., (Flamboyant Beau). I had a sort of fundraiser that really helped. Thanks to all those who contributed, Flambeau is doing great coming in 6th at the Kenlyn Challege 50 mile ride this October and top tenning all but the first ride where naturally we took it easy.
On the 10th June our best and dearest friends Beth and Rod had a bouncing baby boy, Cole James Keller. He has added a little ray of sunshine to our extended family here and I’m already trying to figure out which horse would be best for him to ride.
In June Mernie’s Family visited.Chester, Corky, Marston, Maeline, Cindy, Finley and Mernie’s Mum Sue. They range in age from 2 to 83. It was so nice having them here. They just hung out have a great time always adding cheer to the household. Mernie’s youngest son Chester stayed the on and really help us out on our busy horse ranch which now houses around 60 horses. Actually 57 horses, 2 mules and a miniature donkey.
July saw me going back to Adelaide for a week to visit my ailing Dad. I am soooooooo thankful I did this as he died only a few weeks later. No money can buy the look on his face and the way he perked up, as weak as he was, when I entered his hospital room. He is at peace now and hopefully backing winners and drinking beer with Mum and his mates in greener pastures.
In June I also ran a small class on Children’s book illustration at the University of Wyoming. I met some lovely people and it has inspired me to really work at getting my work published. Around this time Cormey emailed with a ‘hare brain’ idea for a children’s book based on the Foot Foot song. If you don’t know the song you will soon as we are getting a book published through Authorhouse and Corm is working on a CD and DVD. You’ll just have to follow my blog to find out more. http://roodroppings.blogspot.com
Sometime in August or maybe September we purchased a new horse (As if we need another one) a young Tennessee walking horse called Ice. Walking horses are really smooth and comfortable to ride. He decided to buy her when he was told he could ride her at a fast pace and still drink a beer without spilling a drop. LOL.


Throughout the summer I competed in several endurance rides sometimes riding Flambeau and at other times Dorothy Sue Phillips horses. Dorothy Sue is an exceptionally accomplished endurance rider with about 15,000 miles under her belt. I think I did about 250 miles and hope to do much more than that next year. Wow I’ve got a long way to catch up with Dorothy Sue.
Mernie has worked harder than ever (I think) this summer completing a wonderful mud room( that I wonder how we ever did without ) and re siding the entire house! He had some cheap help along the way of which he was really thankful but most of the credit goes to him. Check out his blog http://wyofool.blogspot.com for pics and more details.
Rod and Mernie have been partners in crime brewing beer in our kitchen. I don’t know too much about it but they make it look like very serious stuff. I call it their ‘secret mens business.’ At the end of October Rod says that they made the best stout ever. They’d been at it for one year in November.
In October our good friends, who already have two horses here brought in two adorable little fillies 4 and 5 month old. This was around the same time Tristan the mini donkey came to stay with us. On A String has a lot of cute going on these days.
In December Mernie’s very good friend Frank died after a long battle with Cancer. Mernie went to Kansas for the funeral. Fitting the trip into his busy schedule was very much appreciated by Frank’s loved ones.

Our birthdays came and went
Peaceful, Sane and sober
Turned 62 and 52
In November and October


Have a delightful, glorious, safe, fun filled Holiday Season.
Keep on keeping on, and “don’t fret the small stuff”
Love from Ronnie and Mernie.

Winter

It's winter again!!

I've got 'em!

Here are the original Foot, Foot Bunnies.They're in safe hands. See Steve Cormey's blog (right and scroll down) to find out more.
Hey Cormey if I'd thought of it earlier I could have got them to you for Thanksgiving.

New Look Brothers Foot

Big guns.
Here are some new look illustrations for the Brother's Foot. Stay Tuned.

Ronnie's green thumb experience

And who said I didn't have a green thumb!I grew this potato didn't I ? I did! I did! But the truth is I didn't know I was growing it. Isn't that just how some of the best things in life turn out.You try and you try and just when you are about to give up something just happens.
Mernie discovered this giant spud while moving my compost pile to position the scaffolding for the final part of the siding he's been working on all Summer. My idea of composting is to chuck the scraps out the back door and throw a little horse manure on top occasionally. Of that we have plenty! I guess there must have been some old spudos in there somewhere and as a testomony to 'survival of the fittest' an extremely health fellow manifested himself. So there you have it. We haven't tried it yet and who knows, maybe it'll just sit on the counter and grow appendages like its parents and I'll just toss it out and start the whole serendipity thing all over again.

Tristan

Meet Tristan, our latest addition to the ranch. He came a couple of weeks ago from Colorado with his buddy, a beautiful Morgan mare called Bay. As you can see he's rather...small. That's a tractor tire in front of him and he's not lying down! Needless to say he has the run of the entire ranch as he can walk under all the fences.Yep we have them all here from Belgiums to miniature donkeys. Gotta love it!