Walking

5-15-13 (Wednesday)

Contemplating the trees

Wild life

Feeties

A treasure

More wild life

5-16-13 (Thursday)

A dog Emma has named Murphy. Any guesses on why?

Neighborhood softball practice in the background. 

5-17-13 (Friday)

Chilly and sprinkling 

This is why

5-18-13 (Saturday)

This walk had a purpose, sort of. I wanted junk food, Emma wanted a foal. So, we walked to Big R, which is .7 miles. 

On our way there, we walked along 10th, which is pretty busy. 

Emma trying oh so hard to decide which horse she wanted. 

Emma got skittles, and named her new foal Skittles. 

We meandered through the neighborhoods on our way home. 

Stopped to photograph the wild life.

Yes, I had a snickers and a dew.

Acquiring lilacs from the overhanging bush in the ally.

I decided to check to see if it's legal to do this. The answer is pretty hard to find and depends on each state. For now, we'll quick picking them, but it's gonna be tough. They smell so awesome!

5-19-13 (Sunday)
I should never have made that walk yesterday, because now I know how easy it is to feed that junk food addiction. Despite the rain, the fact that I was tired, and that I know better, off we went.

Well, maybe it was because of the rain (Emma really wanted to jump in puddles) and that I was tired that we went.

Of course, I'm tired because 20oz of Mountain Dew at 5pm will tend to keep me up all night.

Oh well, enough blah blah blahing.

We discovered this umbrella in the back of our closet.

Her pants are SOAKED, and she's cold, but she had a good time.

Whats your favorite time and place to walk?

Horse Lessons 5-17-13

With her back still a bit sore, and her mind in la la land, this weeks lesson was a bit slow and laid back.

Meggie brushed and tacked

Emma getting ready to longe* Meggie off a lead line for the first time.

*From Wikipedia "Longeing (US English, classical spelling) or lungeing (UK English, informal USA) is a technique for training horses, where a horse is asked to work at the end of a long line and respond to commands from a handler on the ground who holds the line. It is also a critical component of the sport of equestrian vaulting. Longeing is performed on a large circle with the horse traveling around the outside edge of a real or imaginary ring with the trainer in the middle." 

Meggie loping- Emma had to work REALLY hard to get Meggie to lope!

Trying to get Meggie to take the bit.

You see, Emma would have this down by now if the ever pesky mama hadn't been so helpful in all her past lessons. My bad. 

Working on steering

Jill explaining to Emma the need to hold her muscles firm but not tense. 

Oreo, the new pony in town.

Emma about to give Oreo some love and snuggles. 

Oreo belongs to Jill's niece. Emma was sad to find out that Oreo was not going to be a lesson pony. Oh  how I wish I could get Emma her own pony. 

-sigh- 

Some day. 

Meatballs

Emma making her secret recipe meatballs

"Don't take a picture!"

Emma's meatballs with my homemade sauce. Was it any good?

Yes, yes it was. 

6 Inches Shorter

No, we didn't get a pet. 

As I was combing Emma's hair tonight before her bath, I realized her hair was getting more tangles than usual. Once tangles start happening, it means a trim is in order. 

After Emma's bath, I sat her on the bathroom counter and we chatted away while I cut about an inch of hair off. 

I was about 5 minutes from being done (with all that hair it takes a while), when Emma got all excited.

E- "We should cut my hair to here!"

Here happened to be somewhere between her jaw and her shoulder. 

M- "Um, really? You want your hair that short?"

E- "Yes!!!" 

M- "Um, how about I finish cutting at this length, then in a few days if you still want your hair that short, we will cut it again."

Big huge pout and sad puppy dog eyes. 

E- "But I really want you to cut it now."

M- "Emma, I really don't have a problem if you want to cut your hair that short, but I would really rather you think about it. If we cut your hair that short, I don't think we would be able to braid it, and I think it would get in your face during (horse) lessons."

More pouting and sad eyes. 

E- "But I know I want it that lengthy!"

M- "How about a compromise. You want it cut to here, this is how long it is, how about we go half-way?"

E- "OK!"

So, this is how much we cut off, after already cutting about an inch off. 

Checking it out in the mirror

She really likes it so far

Her braids are so itty bitty, I can't even pull them to the front!

And here are a few photos for comparison. 

Photo from yesterdays walk

Photo from a walk last week.

Not the best photo of her hair down, but this is from March 2013

And one more from Feb. 

And just so  no one freaks out and thinks I went crazy, here's a flash back of how short we use to keep her hair. 

From a hair cut on April 12, 2010

Oh, and she wants to color it too. 

Lots of Walking

Emma and I have been doing lots of walking. Lots of walking. Not for any particular reason, other than the weather has been nice, and we might as well.

Here are some photos.

There was also last nights walk where we just randomly walked through the neighborhoods near our apartments for 45 minutes. 

It's been really awesome one-on-one time, which I don't feel like I have been giving Emma enough of lately. 

Oh, and the exercise doesn't hurt either. 

Back in the Saddle

While we had a great time hanging out with Jared in Texas, it was so nice to get back home so that we could get horse lessons going again.

Grooming Meggie

Longing Meggie

Getting into the saddle

Passive Passenger 

Mama's Perch

Working on steering

Jill directing traffic

Loping at passive passenger 

Around the barrels 

The cool down brushing

Emma really had a great lesson, though the lopping made her back hurt. We are doing what we can to make her all better before next Friday.