My 2 Rushcreek Arabians

Bonita and Allie joined my Quarter Horse herd on Sunday!

6 year old Allie

5 year old Bonita

I'm excited to start my open CTR and endurance rides!

Tyler's 1st Birthday Party

Tyler's 1st Birthday Party!

He has a train cake!

with his own engine cake!

Tyler is standing when holding on to something, but not quite walking.

Big Brother Caden gets to help open presents.

Tyler likes his ball!

All the younger cousins enjoy playing with the toys!

 The cousins are watching  Tyler with his presents.

"What do you think, Uncle Micah?"



I like the balls the best!

Time for family photo.

Time to blow out the candle!

" Do you mean I can eat this?"

This looks yummy!



"Are you sure I can eat this?"

"I'm having so much fun!"

Peek a Boo or ham-ing it up!

"I'm getting full!"

"ok, I'm done."

"I only got a little cake on my face!"

Happy Birthday, Tyler!

Love you, bunches and bunches!

Grandma and Pop

Grandkids Riding Chick

Sara and Makenzie wanted to get Chick out to ride.  Caden spent the night, so he wanted to ride, too!  This would be the first time that Caden would actually ride, not just sit on the horse!  He was excited to help groom and saddle!  (Thank you, Traci, for having him brush Bob!)

 They are waiting at the railing with Pop!

Sara warmed up Chick. (Oops, we forgot to bring her helmet out!)

Caden has his first long ride!  He even trotted and loped a little!

Makenzie wasn't happy waiting, but I told her that it was Caden's very first ride and she gets to ride all the time.

Caden was all smiles!  He ia already a naturally relaxed rider!

Makenzie is riding too!

It wasn't long before she was giggling!

Makenzie even rode Chick by herself and rode in circles. Quite a horse woman at 3 years old!

Grandma just had to get on Chick with Makenzie for 1 picture!  (Sorry I didn't have my helmet!)

The Cousins are Playing

Our family gathering for Easter is happening a week late.  The 3 cousins are having a great time playing!!!

Caden picked out Easter Bunny ears for himself and Makenzie.  The grown ups laughed but the kids thought they were fun!

Tyler gets to try on both of them!

The kids love playing in the yard!

and "baby Tyler" just smiles and keeps on crawling to the next toy!

Centered Riding Book 1 Exercises

I am starting to review and practice the Centered Riding Book 1 Exercises, one exercise
or group of exercises a week.
 

Chapter 1: Introducing Centered Riding, where Sally Swift talked about herself.

Chapter 2 Exercises:  Pretend you are a horse.  The rider gets down on all fours and has someone
rub, squeeze or massage your back as you stand and walk.  How do you think the horse feels?

Chapter 3 was a review of the Four Basics, Eyes, Breathing, Centering and
Building Blocks and a few exercises of each basic. More on that tomorrow!

Chapter 4 Exercises: Learning and the Brain.  Use your hard eyes and left brain to think through the exercise/pattern/what to do and use Soft Eyes and right brain to feel the ride.  Learn to ride with one brain then the other brain. Don't dwell on one problem... Your body will respond will less effort.
Chapter 5 Anatomy Exercises.

1. Find the hip joint by lifting your knee up and down while searching for the
bend with your fingers.

*** You can rotate the thigh using a lot of muscle and tension OR you can use
soft eyes, play the internal videotape and see the greater trochanter move
"forward" through the muscles. Use SOFT EYES and see the motion inwardly.

I find that anytime I ride, I exercise the hip joint! This helps me to be more
flexible in my riding. This keeps my hip joint from "catching" or "cramping".
I start out by doing simple leg exercises, just rotate the ankle and lift it up
an down. Swing my lower leg up and down at the knee. March in place starts to
relax the hip joint. Then I swing the leg, back and forth, from the hip, and
not bending the knee. I can't swing the whole let too far, but even a couple of
inches will start to get the hip joint released and working.

As always, do a little at a time, and only what you can do so you don't get sore
muscle.

The review of this part of the chapter is on my chat, Horses Are Our Lives. Click on the link below to join. Read along and/or discuss this and other books with me. I'll soon be back to talking about riding and training tips, health issues, grooming, feed and nutrition, etc.

Join the Horses Are Our Lives Chat Group to learn more of the exercises at:
http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/horsesareourlives/

"Embrace the Journey!"
Brenda

Happy Easter

Blog 357:  Easter Reflections

         Easter, like all Holidays, make you think of not only what God has done for us, but about family and friends, about what you are blessed with, about being grateful.  God gave his only son for us.  He died alone, then rose again, into salvation.  We are truly blessed, for all who believe.

            Holidays are a joyous time.  Church has a special meaning.  This is a time to be at peace, to pray, to think, to relax, and to enjoy the fellowship.  The scriptures tell us the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection.  Sometimes, different scriptures tell us a subtly different version.  But the meaning is the same.  He died so we could be saved.  Hallelujah!

            He is gone.  He has risen.  He is with us always.  Alleluia!

            It was a good feeling to be in church today.  It was a good feeling to be greeted by people who we haven’t seen for a while.  It is a good feeling to have people tell us that they were glad to see us.  The greetings were heart-felt ad sincere.  We have been missing this in our lives and now I feel that it’s time to have it again.  It’s time to be part of our church family.

            Today we enjoyed Easter with Micah, Jacob, Amber, Caden and Tyler.  Next weekend, we continue our family celebration when Sara, Jake and Makenzie come home. 

            We had a fantastic ham dinner, with Amber’s potato casserole and Micah’s green bean casserole.  Yesterday was hubby’s birthday and today was Jacob’s birthday, and Amber made a birthday dessert, apple crisp.   Hubby did have a Dairy Queen Ice Cream birthday cake last night!

            The boys did some target shooting.  The girls joined in.  Pistol shooting is different than 22 rifle shooting, and I have to figure out why I am shooting high, low, and to the left!  Geez!

We had an Easter egg hunt.  Pop, where did you hide all of them?

            It is going to be great to have the whole family together next weekend! I can’t wait!

Sara, Jake and Makenzie, we miss you!