Final Thoughts for 2009

Happy New Year, Everyone!

We at Northwest Horse Source are concluding the year on a fantastic note: through our promise to donate a dollar to Backcountry Horsemen of America for every completed readers' survey we received, we have raised over $430 to support this incredible group that volunteers their time to keep the trails in good condition and preserve everyone's right to ride. The survey is still open until midnight, so if you are an NWHS reader and haven't let us know what you think yet, why not finish off the year by getting your voice heard? You can enter the survey from the link on our home page.

Have a safe, wonderful New Year's Eve. We'll see you in 2009!

Reader Photo of the Week

Another Tracey Westbury photo...check out her blog at http:mustangdiaries.blogspot.com for even more photos.

Who to leave in charge?

by Karyn "K.C." Cowdrey

First, I hope everyone is having a really happy holiday season! I know many of you were getting weary of the snow this week, but I, for one, have to admit I love it!

I love the clean, white look of freshly fallen snow. I love watching the horses make snow angels and my dogs roll and dive into the white stuff. I love driving on it. I just love snow.

I do not particularly like the frozen pipes in my barn and hauling at least six buckets of water a day from my neighbor's place, but it is a small price to pay for a rare white Christmas in Northwest Washington!

Because I love the snow so much, I’m actually off on some snowmobile adventures, taking a break for the week from the busy, hectic schedule I call a life. Leaving your house for 11 days is challenge enough, but if you have three horses and three dogs you’re leaving behind, what do you do?

I am fortunate enough to have a wonderful neighbor, Kerri, who pitches in and feeds animals and cleans stalls. This year I think I’ll owe her a spa day when I get back. Who do you leave in charge of the care of your animals when you are away?  

Drop me a note and let me know; in the meantime, stay warm, stay safe and ride!

Wild Weather Riding Woes?

by Karyn "K.C." Cowdrey

We’ve certainly had a crazy week in the Northwest region as far as winter weather goes.

I normally make an hour-long drive each way to ride my young gelding four times a week, but with this cold, snowy snap it’s been a challenge due to road conditions. My rule of thumb is if the road it not a total sheet of ice, I will go. I have a 4x4 and studded snow tires and am used to driving in the snow.

The road conditions have been less than ideal road this week, and I did skip a day of riding, but for the most part I found that if I just arranged my schedule to try to ride during daylight hours, the roads were not too bad. If I bundled up, I did not even turn into a human iceberg.

What kinds of winter riding adventures have you been having? Have you found the perfect way to keep fingers and toes toasty and warm, yet still have feel on the reins?

Share your winter horse survival tips with us all. In the meantime, bundle up and ride!

Reader Photo of the Week

Thanks to Bridgette Lewis for this week's photo of her Arab gelding, Ranger!

A Tribute to Mica

Today, we're posting a story from a longtime supporter of NWHS. Barb, our thoughts are with you in this difficult time. I remember seeing Mica in action at the Mane Event last year: he was truly a kind and beautiful horse. (~Deb Taber, Editor)

From Barb Apple:

This Life is full of things to be grateful for, like all my wonderful friends, the people I love, the list could go on and on.  I have had so many blessings in my life.  But the gratitude I feel for having shared the life of my noble and beautiful friend Mica is hard to put into words.  And what's even harder is to tell you all that he is no longer with me on this physical plane.

Mica was put down this last weekend because of a broken leg.  It is uncertain as to how this happened, but he was the stoic and proud gentleman he has always been right to the last.

Mica was a teacher and an amazing soul.  Thinking of my life without him is more than I can imagine right now.  He did whatever I needed or asked of him with grace, nobility and enthusiasm.  No ride was boring to him, and every task was worth his best.  Oh, that I could live my life with such dignity.

      

Mica has touched the lives of many people over the years as he traveled with me.  I know many of you may have a special memory of him.  If you would like to share a special memory you have, a short story or an impression of meeting him, I would love to have them.  I will take what you write and make a special tribute to my dearest ever friend.  I think he would love to read them himself as he so loved his role as mentor and friend to us all.

The poem below sums up better than I ever could who my "soul mate" was. I will miss his physical presence more than I can say, but he lives every moment in my heart.

"Mica"

THE HORSE 

by Ronald Duncan

Here is nobility

without Conceit

Friendship without Envy

Beauty without Vanity

A willing servant

yet NO slave!

Please send photos, written stories or bits to share to:  horseplay1@barbapple.com  

or send to: Barb Apple, PO Box 825, McKenna, WA 98558

(if anyone has video footage I could put on a DVD I would so love that)

Thank you,

Barb and Feather

A Visitor from Back East

by Karen Pickering

A big Northwest welcome to our new webmaster! Christy West arrived Thursday to meet the NWHS team face to face after a few months of working via email and the Internet. We are truly excited to have a person with her many talents working on our website. Christy has worked with The Horse magazine for many years, and her experience as an editor, writer and webmaster makes her the perfect fit for our growing website presence. Along with the efforts our current staff has put forth, Christy's contribution is going to make nwhorsesource.com the best resource in the Northwest for all your community information and horsey news! Horse care tips, training tips, stories and news….they're all here.

Christy left on Saturday morning with a snow storm on her tail. I hope everyone is faring well in the cold, wherever you are, and enjoying the snow…we don’t get much. At least it’s dry (no mud!) and forces us to snuggle to keep warm.

Have a wonderful, beautiful week. Keep checking back for more updates and additions to our website, and if you haven't already checked it out, take a look at our new digital edition! The December issue will be up by the end of the week, and starting in January the digital editions will go live each month at the same time as the magazine is released.

Reader Photo of the Week for Monday, 12/15

I thought we could all use a bit of a reminder that summer will return, so this week's photo shows some warm and sunny times.

Thanks to Jena Strachila for the photo. Jena says:

This is my favorite horse photo. My son Jameson was sick one very warm May afternoon. He went out to take a nap with our week-old AQHA colt, "South Fork Drifter," in the sun. By the time I got the camera and out into the field they were both snoring.

Something New

by Karyn "K.C." Cowdrey

I was asked to do a friend a favor that is a wee bit out of my comfort zone, but I figured that in the end it might prove to be fun, it will definitely prove to be educational, and it will help my friend.

I am going to judge a show this Saturday in Lynden, WA. It is a fundraiser for a very good cause: to help Tracy Westbury compete at the Northwest Horse Fair & Expo in Albany, Oregon in the Extreme Mustang Makeover this coming March.

Tracy made the long drive down to Burns, Oregon and back, bringing the very handsome Steve Holt with her! She will be busy gentling and training him from now through March in preparation for the competition. After competing, Tracy and the other 35 competitors will bid their fine steeds farewell during an adoption auction.

If you are looking for a good time, come join the show this Saturday in Lynden, WA at the Northwest Washington Fairgrounds Horse Arena. If you see a very bundled-up judge in the center ring looking a bit...er...befuddled, that would be me. Stop by and say “Hi!” You’ll also be able to pick up copies of the December NWHS magazine!

My Favorite Time of Year

by Karen Pickering

As the holidays approach, I’m always amazed by how fast the time goes. This is my favorite time of year for so many reasons: first of all; the great year-end specials. All the local tack and feed stores have their annual holiday sales and events. Then there are the trees tied to the top of cars or in the back of pickups, the great light shows as the festive spirit moves upon us, horse drawn wagons in local towns encouraging local holiday shopping - it’s incredibly uplifting.

This past weekend was packed with exciting activities, from my friend Barb’s birthday to a great used tack sale at Panda Wilder’s farm in Ferndale, where Coastal Equine now resides. I also went to the Backcountry Horsemen of Whatcom County's year-end banquet, which I think was the highlight for me. They featured a “Chinese Auction” style of gift giving, which involved singing while stealing gifts and searching for the one gift bag that was making noise through the entire evening...only to find it wasn’t the contents making the noise, but the bag itself! I think Mike McGlenn and his impression of Johnny Cash was the best act of the evening.

In the midst of all this flurry, I hope that all of us can find time to extend some kindness to someone. People are hurting this time of year, and if we share with someone in need it really helps bring perspective to how small our problems are in comparison to many others.

This year I can truly say I’ve been spending time in the saddle, so I hope to see you at an event or on a trail somewhere. Happy Holidays!

More Reader Photos Wanted!

Hello everyone out there in blogland,

I just wanted to remind you to send your horse photos to us for the Photo of the Week selection. They'll be appearing here in the main body of The Cyber Saddle now, so show off your horse--or someone else's--in all of his or her equine glory!

Photos must be your own original work, and please don't include any identifiable people unless you have their written permission (soft-focused background crowds at an event are fine). Just send your horse (or pony, mule, donkey, zebra, or other equine) photos to editor@nwhorsesource.com with the subject line "Reader Photo of the Week." This will ensure that you don't get redirected to the spam folder. All rights to the photo remain with the photographer.

Thanks for being part of our Northwest horse community.

The Waiting Game

As we swing into the Holiday fervor, I am still working on Dancer’s mystery lameness issues. After a phone consult with WSU, it looks like if we can hold off until January before making the trip over, we’ll be better off as far as scheduling issues are concerned.

Per my vet’s request, Dancer was kept on anti-inflammatory drugs for 10 days and has been completely off them for 48 hours now. Good news! While still lame, she’s down to about a 1.5 on a lameness scale of 1-5. She had started out at a 5, so the drugs and rest time seem to have helped.

The challenge is that we still don’t know specifically what is going on. Until we can figure that out, I can’t risk doing anything more then hand-walking her. The waiting game continues, but I’m feeling more optimistic that we’ll have a happy ending to our story.

As always, I would love to hear from any of our readers who have experienced trying to cope with mystery lameness issues and how you managed to get through it.

Have a great weekend, and of course, get out and ride!

'Tis the Season

by Karyn "KC" Cowdrey

...To shop, that is. The Holiday Season is a time to rejoice in friends and family and let’s not forget ourselves too!

Do you have someone on your list who is hard to shop for? Are you someone others find hard to shop for? Perhaps you are the only ‘horsey’ person in your circle of friends and family, so they don’t know a riding crop from a corn crop.

I have found having a wish list in a central location that is easy to access by everyone makes my shopping tasks easier. The list also makes it easier for friends and family who are not up to date on the latest and greatest waterproof yet fully breathable horse blankets--let alone what size any of my horses would wear--to find a gift they can be confident will be appreciated.

To create a list to help the rest of the people in your life, simply click here and you can add any thing from any store on the web.

Remember to include a subscription to NWHS on your list, and don’t forget to show our advertisers how much you appreciate their support by shopping for items with them.

Have a happy Wednesday and get out and ride!

Reader Photo of the Week: Dec. 1 2008

We're repeating last week's photo here due to a glitch in programming that didn't get the photo up on time, so everyone, meet Beauty, a BLM mustang. Photo by Tracey Westbury.