Friday in Colorado

Well, we made it to Fort Collins, Colorado. We drove from Corrales, New Mexico to Colorado Springs, Colorado on Wednesday to spend the night with Virgialee and Larry Tucker who are the parents of our daughter-in-law Tracy who lives in Ohio. We had a beautiful drive up and a great dinner and evening with the Tuckers.

Thursday morning we woke up to howling wind and blowing snow. They were forecasting 3 to 8 inches in the Denver area with more to come on Thursday night. Naturally they were wrong, thank God. We made the drive from Colorado Springs to Fort Collins with not much trouble.

We stopped at a great saddle and tack shop in Brighton, Colorado. I could have stayed there for hours, but Betty reminded me of the purpose for our trip - not shopping, but going to see our granddaughter, Juliet, our son, Wade Daniel and our daughter-in-law, Marie.

Betty's sister, Margie, and stepmother, Nita, flew from Nashville, Tennessee to Denver on Thursday. We were concerned that they would be late because of the snow and fog, but they actually arrived 30 minutes early.

Today, Friday, Marie's parents, Gary and Nancy Jo Davis, drove up from South of Denver to have lunch with us. Here are some pictures from today. First, Juliet getting her daily exercise.

Juliet getting some sugar from her Papa, Dan.

Juliet playing tug-of-war with her Nana's (Betty's) hair.

Juliet on the baby quilt that Betty made and the stuffed horse we gave her on this trip. (Hey, the blog title is Our Life With Horses so there had to be something about a horse.)

Juliet with her great-grandmother Nita.

Marie, Juliet and great-aunt Margie (Betty's sister).

Marie and Juliet with Marie's parents Gary and Nancy Jo.


Tomorrow, Saturday, we're driving to Estes Park for the day. It should be a lot of fun. If we have time we'll post some pictures from that trip. God's blessings to everyone.

Rocky Mountain High, Colorado

We head off tomorrow morning for Colorado. We're going to visit our son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter for about a week and a half. It will be the first time that we have seen them since Juliet was born last Fall. During that time we will be able to post only sporadically, but we'll do our best.

Betty's sister, Margie, and stepmother, Nita, are flying out to join us for the first few days. It will be the first time that they have seen Juliet in person. On Saturday we hope to drive up to spend the day at Estes Park. It should be a lot of fun and the weather forecast is good.

Here's our son, Wade Daniel, his lovely bride, Marie, and our gorgeous granddaughter Juliet Elizabeth.


We sent our son and granddaughter matching t-shirts with a fish on it. Wade Daniel is a first-class fly fisherman.


Finally, here's a picture of the little gem herself in all her glory.


Is that not a great face and a great smile!

Have a great day and we'll be back on our blog just as soon as we can.

Non-Horse Fun

This has nothing to do with our life with horses, but it's fun for us.

Late this last week we received a hammock that we had ordered off the Internet. We put it up over the weekend and tried it out several times!


It's a two-person size so we can get into it together and watch the mountain top, the clouds and, soon, we'll lay out at night and watch the stars (it needs to get a little warmer at night before we do that).


We're looking forward to a lot of long hours together (or separately) in our new, non-horse toy!

It's the Weekend

Today is a non-horse day (other than the usual feeding, watering and cleaning up after) with us doing various chores.

And, Sunday is a Sabbath day.

So this is it for this weekend's posting.

We'll see you on Monday.

A Nice Day for a Walk

This morning was sunny, a little breezy and cool. It was a good morning for a walk. We decided to take Morgunn and Gletta for a walk up to the end of our road.

First, Betty asked Gletta to do some neck flexion exercises. This helps keep her neck muscles loose and flexible.


Dan and Morgunn on our walk.


Looking at Betty and Gletta over Morgunn's mane.


At the end of our road we walked a ways into the sage so we could let the horses chow down on the greening-up sage. They love that!

It was good exercise for all of us and a good bonding time as well.

Clip, Clip, Clip, Clip

One of the things that we have to do on a regular basis throughout the year is to clip our Icelandic Horses. Genetically, they have a coat that is designed for the longer, bitter cold winters of Iceland. Even though we have cold nights and days in the winter in New Mexico, our winters are not nearly as long, nor as cold as Iceland.

To keep Morgunn and Gletta comfortable and healthy, we clip their coats throughout the year. During the late Fall, Winter and early Spring we do a trace clip where we cut the hair along their necks and stomachs. These are the main areas that horses sweat. So this allows them to sweat while still keeping their thick coats over their muscle mass during the colder times.

During the late Spring, Summer and early Fall we'll do a whole body clip so they can easily handle the longer, hotter, sunny days.

Gletta's coat in particular is really thick. During the coldest parts of the winter it is easily 1 1/2 to 2 inches thick. She looks like a big, wooly bear.

Clipping them is always a chore. The breeze usually blows the hair into our clothes, hair and mouth. Fortunately, they both are calm and quiet during the process so that's not a problem.

Here's a picture of the two of them with their trace clips (we'll post pictures during the summer showing their whole body clips):

One Reason We Love Having Horses

There are many things to love about having your own horses - riding, grooming, cleaning up, spending tons of money, vet trips - just kidding about some of those. However, one of the things I (Dan) love most is the structure it brings to my life. Horses love routine. They love to eat about the same time each day. For me this is a good thing.

For 31 years I had my job - four years in the Navy and 27 years with Procter & Gamble - to give me the incentive to get up each morning at a certain time. When I retired in 2000, I found it hard to get up at certain times in the morning. It was often easier to just sleep in (some times that still sounds nice).

Now with the horses I get up every morning between 6:00 and 6:30 AM to feed, water and clean up after them. Besides giving me the structure I need, I also love that time of day.

I love sunrises and sometimes our sunrises in New Mexico are wonderful. The colors over the Sandia Mountains can take your breath away. It reminds me what an artist God really is.

The world is quiet this time of day. Where we live we can't hear any traffic noise and the neighborhood dogs are still inside their respective homes so we don't have to hear them barking. The air is still as the inevitable winds haven't started. There's a peace that seems to envelop the whole world.

The horses always seem glad to see me, but of course I know they're just glad to be fed again.

It's not uncommon to see rabbits - both bunnies and jack-rabbits - running through the yard. We've been here long enough that some of these bunnies have been born here and seem comfortable with our presence. It's not uncommon for a young bunny to come toward me and sit and clean himself within about five feet of where I'm standing. The jack-rabbits are much more skittish. They always run as soon as they see you.

One morning I encountered a coyote at the end of our driveway. We looked at each other for a few moments and then he sauntered off into the sage. Sometimes an early morning hawk will fly over beginning to look for his or her breakfast.

After feeding the horses, I walk through our back paddock looking for the little piles our horses thoughtfully leave for us through the night. I often stop to watch the colors as they begin to scatter across the sky. Sometimes I just have to take a minute to thank God for all his blessings - especially the one I'm watching at the moment.

The colors change as I watch. They start out as a dark pink against the dark blue of the still present night sky. Very soon the pinks darken to deep reds. Within few minutes the yellows and golds begin to appear and the reds and blues combine to make purples in parts of the sky.

Within a minute or two more, the reds, pinks and purples are gone and the yellows and golds fill the sky.

Another minute or two and it's all gone. The daytime sky blues are taking over. At most the colors last only about 5 - 6 minutes at most. Their brevity is a reminder of how brief things in our lives can be and how important it is to take the time to stop and enjoy them when they are with us.

I'm grateful that I have our horses to give me a reason to watch this show each morning.