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TJMason
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Name: Tricia
Country: United States
State: Minnesota
Metro: St. Cloud
Gender: Female
Interests: Horses - most specifically, my horse - Tres aka the Wonder horse. Niyr is a close second with Zach and Jack as distant 3rd and 4th loves of my life. Oh yeah - and Sid my cat. I guess he doesn't really compare to my horses since since he lives in my house with me. He makes an excellent lap-warmer. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't want any of my horses to attempt taking his place. Squished Trish...Ewww. The most recent addition to my family is Emma. She's a border collie/terrier mix that was originally aquired by roommate, Beth. When Beth went off and got married, she left me Emma as a wedding present. ;-)
Other interests: BSF, Camp Shamineau, Mounted Posse, trail riding, gaming (as in barrel racing and pole bending, etc.), and a newly found interest in dressage.
Expertise: Breathing, sleeping, eating, drinking caffeinated beverages, procrastination, and sticking my foot in my mouth. Someday, I hope for one of my expertises to be thinking before I speak, thus eliminating the "foot-in-mouth" expertise.
Occupation: Other
Industry: Nonprofit
Message: message me
MSN: tresprize@hotmail.com
Member Since:
3/3/2005
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| Famous people!I am proud to say that I know 2 famous people. Ok, so they're only famous to the people who belong to the MTRA (Minnesota Trail Rider's Association), who receive their newsletter and actually take the time to read/look at the pictures. If you are one of the few - look on page 7 under Minnesota Horse Expo Update. In the picture on the left is Deb P. - Anna P.'s mom, and in the picture on the right you will see Anna P. (Just her head, but she's in there!) Hey, you know what this means? I have a famous person working for me this summer. Sheer excitement. (Yes, getting your picture in the MTRA newsletter DOES qualify you for famousness.) As I was walking up to the office this morning, I realized how very blessed I am. How often do I take it for granted that I get to walk to work? Especially with gas prices the way they are. Icky. Yes, God rules my life (when I'm not trying to take over... which would be... all the time...), and right under Him, I am ruled by the price of gas. Have a good day! | | |
| I'm certifiable!Ha ha ha ha ha, I crack myself up.
Friday was a fairly easy day compared to all the rest of this week. I actually got to sleep in past 8:00am - the first time since Saturday morning. Fed the oldies, caught up on some office work, and then taught a horse "class" to the Pillager junior highers that were at Camp. I thought I had an hour and a half, but I really only had them for an hour and fifteen minutes. Thankfully, I found this out at the beginning of class, and not at the end!
The plan was to teach the kids to lead and tie their horses, then how to groom and saddle, then take the kids for a short trail ride. Instead, we ("we" being Jess, Jenae and I - how much do I appreciate those girls?!) just taught them grooming and saddling, followed by the ride. As we were doing this, a truck and trailer pulled up into the barnyard. One of the posse folk had arrived nearly an hour early for set-up. Whoops! Slight miscommunication.
Mark tried to help Conner, but Mark hasn't worked at the ranch when there have been trailers parked up there, so he didn't know where to have the rig park. Just as I got there, Jesse also arrived. I let Jesse handle the situation while I went back to help Jess and Jenae.
The kids saddled their horses, Jess, Jenae and I did the bridling, helped the kids mount and away we went. For a VERY short ride. 15 minutes maybe? As we were coming back, I noticed a truck and trailer waiting in the ranch driveway. Assuming Mark and Jesse weren't there to direct traffic, I immediately pulled Niyr out of line (we were the middle horse, I think Jenae was leading and Jessica was drag) and trotted up to find Dave waiting for the rig in front of him to move. I directed Dave to park next to the early guy, trotted ahead to the next trailer in line and had them just move off the road (I figured we could park them correctly later - I needed to get the ride in!), trotted up to find the captain holding up traffic by parking right by the lower barn and talking to Mark. Got him to move out of the way too.
I turned back to watch the horses all eyeing the new arrivals, but the kids did very well at keeping their mounts in line - with only minor jam-ups. So that was the 2 o'clock excitement. It was kind of fun having all those posse people watching me do my job. The interest generated in Camp and the ranch was great! I mean, the posse all knows I work there, but for them to actually be forced (certification - something we have to do every year was held at Camp this time. The fairgrounds arena - which is the one we usually use because it is centrally located - was booked all the way through June) to come to see the place was wonderful.
After turning all the horses out and cleaning the barn, Jess and Jenae headed for home with promises to return Tuesday afternoon. Meanwhile, the army of posse folk descended on the indoor and set up all the fun things certification entails. The box we have to mount our horses in, the "bridge" we have to walk over, the "L" we have to back through, the wagon we have to pull, the "RR tracks" we have to walk over, the mailbox we have to open and close, the bag of pop cans we need to shake, the jug full of rocks we need to shake, the fun noodles we have to walk through (to simulate brush), the barrels we have to ride our horses into to make them push (to simulate pushing into a crowd), the "manhole covers", the tarp, the scary noises coming from a CD player, carry the flag, walk past the baby stroller, and ride through a puddle (that Jesse dug for us in the East arena). Phew!
We decided to set up in the indoor because rain was forecast for Saturday - the day we were actually certifying our mounts. Everything was set up on Friday so we could practice Friday afternoon/evening. I had three horses I had to get through the course, Zach, Niyr and Tres. I practiced with all of them. When Mary came, she practiced with Tres and Apollo (a horse owned by Rachel's daughter). Mary also tried Zach on a few of the elements, and then she took the big guy while I took Tres, and we cantered around the outdoor. She enjoyed the beast's canter quite a bit.
Kandy arrived Friday evening; she had worked all day and couldn't get there any sooner. Thankfully, her horse is AMAZING at all the stuff, so she didn't need a whole lot of practice time. Kandy spent the night at my house and her horse spent the night in the arena shelter area.
7:30am rolled around, and up to the ranch I went. When I pulled the oldies, I pulled my three posse horses as well. It made for very easy catching.  The plan was to have people be able to practice from 8:00am-9:00am with certification starting at 9:00am. Practice actually went a bit longer, so certification started at 9:30? 45?
Mary and I had our horses ready to go and saddled, but we let all the other members go ahead of us. We didn't have anywhere else we needed to be (I had to stay there as I was "hosting" the group) and had pretty short drives (well, mine is actually more of a walk...) I played with an umbrella that I found - trying to spook the horses in the pasture that had come up to the fence to see what all the excitement was about. For the most part, the horses would just spook in place. Though there was one time (after I had opened and closed the thing like 20 times) that EVERYONE went running. Including Niyr (who I was riding at the time) and Tres (who Mary was riding). Whoops! This event also happened while Rachel was in the indoor trying to certify Zeus. Granted, we were in the far corner of the outdoor, but when one horse runs (much less 5-10) it definitely causes a reaction among other horses. I put the umbrella away. Zeus certified with no trouble, despite my goofing around.
Mary certified Tres, I certified Niyr (She wouldn't go through the water for me. Putz. But she did everything else well.) Once everyone else had gone, I certified Zach. He was SO GOOD. Last year when I took him through the test, he would do these little half rears in protest. But last year, he was at the Little Falls arena. On his home turf, he slept walked through everything. Many sarcastic jokes were made about how poorly he had done and how we barely passed.
It was a good thing the course was set up in the indoor (minus the water puddle that we had outside) because it did rain. It started out very slowly, but did manage to pick up as the day wore on. Yay! I love rain. And we needed it. Things are already looking greener today than they did yesterday. (Uh-oh... Forestview trail rides are going to become more difficult... That's okay. We'll survive.  )
As we waited for the last 2 horses to appear and certify (our newest member couldn't get there until close to 2:00pm), I brought out the velcro, duct tape, whiffle balls, and fun noodles. Whoo-hoo! Mary and Tres faced off against Niyr and I. I am pleased to report that Niyr and I vanquished our opponents. (The first time anyway... let's not talk about the second time... when a certain someone failed to hold onto their 'weapon' and therefore lost the contest). Slight explanation for those who haven't seen camp jousting - you duct tape a piece of velcro to your upper arms, place a velcro-clad whiffle ball on the duct tape and then take your fun noodle and attempt to wipe off your opponent's whiffle balls - all while on horseback. Super fun and supremely entertaining!
After everyone had certified (and I believe all the horses that went through the course did indeed pass) we tore down the equipment, cleaned out the arena and went our separate ways. Mine being back home to relax. After taking a shower, I fell asleep on the couch at 8pm! I woke up at 7:30am. Wowza. Guess I was tired.
Today, Mother's day, I am watching the store so that Rachel can celebrate with her family (my own mother is out of town). This is why I can write to you on Sunday - a computer with internet access resides at her store. Now you're all caught up. Until the next time I have this long to sit down anyway...
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| Breathe4 days of Forestview are done. 3 next week and 2 the week after that. However, the days that Forestview isn't here are booked with other groups. This is SO GOOD for Camp. So good. And what's really great is that we have a couple of public schools coming out. The kids get a taste for Camp and want to come for a longer period of time. Hello unchurched summer campers!!! The horses are doing great. Yesterday, I could tell that they were getting back into the trail ride groove. As we were tying them in the indoor, over half of them stretched. A few of them waited until their riders were on before stretching. It kind of reminded me of a kid going back to school in the fall - the first few days' excitement carries them through, and then it's back to the old grindstone and stretching every morning to try and wake yourself up. | | |
| 2 Days down, 7 more to goThis past weekend was Mother/Daughter. From the ranch point of view, it went well. It was brisk and windy, but it didn't rain. All the trail rides were uneventful. Sometimes we get kids who say they want to ride, but as soon as they get on the horse, fear overtakes them and they want OFF! We didn't have any of those that I know of. I felt more comfortable with our "line" of horses than I did last year. Our herd is always improving. It also helped that we got to do our rides out of the ranch instead of the ballfield. I had an army of staff (always required during parent/child retreats) that were supremely helpful and everything ran very smoothly - not always the case with 28 horses coming and going 6 times during the day. Jess and Jenae took pity on me for this week and next. The ranch is giving trail rides to the entire 5th grade class of Forestview. 9 days of 5th graders. So the girls are sticking around to help me run the rides. Thankfully, our max so far has been 10 kids per ride. I'm hoping the number doesn't increase too much. (In previous years, they had us mount as many as 16 kids at once. This is fine if a few of them have ridden before - but guess what? The majority of them have only been on "pony" rides.) The rides get progressively more difficult as the day and month progresses. The day because by the time the last ride goes out, the horses are hungry, and the month because by the time the last day comes - it's green and leafy on the trails. Right now, the trees have started budding, but there aren't any leaves. It'll be interesting once everything greens up... | | |
| Pictures of a handsome guy!That got your attention, didn't it? I almost had my title read "Studly pictures", but for those who don't know me personally, that could be taken wrong. Poor Niyr hasn't had a day off in 2 weeks. I picked her up Wednesday night, and right away Thursday morning had her loaded in the trailer for BSF and riding lesson. (My trailer. Loaded in my cute little 2 horse with a dressing room and rear tack trailer. Yes. I love it!) She did very well at lesson - considering that she had spent 14 days in a box stall (basically) - I was super impressed that she hadn't turned into a stiff little board! Today, she was human and box stall free. Tomorrow, it's back to work. 5 trail rides with another one on Sunday.  Anyway, as promised, here are some pictures of her man:  Actually, this one isn't of her man - it's of the stall that she was kept in. You can see the sliding door behind it (her butt is facing the door). This allowed she and Stryder to sniff noses and such without worrying if one would do damage to the other.
 This is a very bad picture of her boy, but you can see the paddock/pen he was kept in while doing his manly duty. This shot is from me standing in the barn, looking out. Niyr is to my left as I snapped this photo.
 Since the hay was too much of a distraction, his owner (Alicia) led him out for me to take some better shots. No - Dad, he isn't gray. He is a blue roan. With a supremely thick mane and tail. He has really nice hard big feet, a kind eye, and a pretty head. I think he's around 15 hands, which is a good height. Hopefully, the foal will take after his size, because I could use a slightly taller horse than Niyr to match my leg.
 I like this one because you can see a bit of the shape of his head and you can see the kindness of his eye. Of course, this angle makes his hindquarters look really small...
His owner is super excited to see what the baby looks like. It's Stryder's first cross with an Arabian. He's bred other Nokotas (that's his breed) and a Paint, I think. 3 out of the 4 foals were fillies. Here's hoping. | | |
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