Stable Days

"ODE TO HORSES" BY HORSE PAL CAYCE

Here's a poem that Cayce wrote and wanted to share with you all ...

"Ode to Horses"

Horses are beautiful.
Horses muzzels are soft.
Horses are a girl's best friend.

Thanks, Cayce, keep them coming!  

I BUILT A HORSE TRAILER OUT OF RECYCLED MATERIALS

Hi Horse Pals ~

I love to build and I thought it would be fun to build my own horse trailer for my Breyer horse collection.  It was a lot of fun to make and all of my horses love it!  It's a fun project to do and if you use power tools like I did, make sure you have an adult helping you.

Here are my how-to steps:

1.  First, there was a lot to plan ... how many horses did I want to fit, would there be room for hay and accessories and if so, how much room.  We decided to make our trailer 15" long and 8" tall as we wanted to be able to fit a few big horses or lots of little ones at once.

2.  Next, we found some recycled wood in our garage and measured the wood and cut it.  We cut the side panels the same size and the front and back we made with an arch to fit a roof.

3.  I then painted the wood with paint I had in my garage - you can paint it any color - I made mine white.

4.  We drilled holes where we used screws because it makes it much easier when you hold the drill and screw in the screws.  We then attached the 3 sides and the bottom.

5.  We decided we wanted the back to come down like a real trailer so we took a latch off one of our old toy boxes and attached it to the bottom of the trailer and the back panel so it opens and closes like a real trailer.  (The hard part was figuring out how to keep the back door up after the horses were loaded.)  We took a string from an old pool toy and a bead from Avery's bead collection and we attached the string without the bead to one side with a screw and pulled it across the back door and latched it with the bead on the other.  It worked out better than we expected and now we can easily load and unload the horses.

 

6.  We went to our local hardware store and bought 4 little wheels and screwed them to the bottom so the trailer can roll.

7.  We took fabric from an old curtain and cut it to fit the top and sewed around it for smooth edges.  We then put velcro at both ends so the roof can come off or to one side whenever we want to get to the horses.

8. Final touches:   With some of the scrap wood, I made a little ledge inside the trailer for supplies.  I used an old show hair net to hold hay that we made out of wool and I attached it to the front of the inside part of the trailer with little nails.  I then decorated the trailer with some fun horse stickers and I was ready to play!

My next project is to build a truck.  I would love to hear about any homemade projects you've done and we'll post them to the blog.  Happy building!

Your horse pal,

@raya

BACK IN THE SADDLE AGAIN!

Hi Horse Pals ~

We had a fantastic trip but we were so happy to get back to the barn and in the saddle again! We missed our horses and barn friends and of course, our trainer Lisa. 

Avy and I had a great jumping week! Avy jumped OB and Remington (AKA Remy).  Remy is our friend Chris' chestnut Thoroughbred and he is really sweet.  Avery is really loving jumping - she can't wait to get to the barn!!

   

Dandy and I had an excellent jumping week!  We jumped long courses with 3 verticals, 1 oxer, a 1 stride line and a flower box.  Dandy jumped the highest she's ever jumped!!!  She seems to be getting better every time we jump.  I think she's a fast learner!!  

   

I also had great time riding Jimmy this week.  We worked on slowing down in the canter and circling.  He had a good workout and so did I.

  

As always, we had a great time riding with our friends this week.  We rode in the arena and did some trail riding.  It is so cute to see Samuel and his miniature Zero next to our horses!!

  

Our friend, Gretchen has brought her vaulting horse Snoopy to our barn now and he's really cute.  We're having fun riding with her, too!

Glad to be back at the barn!  Have a great riding week!!

Your Horse Pal,

@raya

THE PA NATIONAL HORSE SHOW - GRAND PRIX!

Avery and I were SO excited to go to our first Grand Prix!  And so, after a long day of shooting, we were ready to go!!  I took some photos of the stadium outside before we went in for our first ever indoor horse show! 

It was so awesome because we arrived early and were able to watch the entire set up for the show - there were a ton of people working in the arena, all with their own special job and it was really cool to see them set up the jumps. 

 

 

The highest jump was 5'3" and it was SO fun to watch the riders jump - we had seen it on TV but it was SO amazing to see up close and live! 

A ton of our favorite riders were there - tons of Olympians and Grand Prix winners.  It was SO cool!!

Beezie Madden (2 shots below)

I had fun taking photos and cheering all of the riders on!  It was a really incredible experience and one I will never forget!

History repeated itself when Kent Farrington and 11 year old Belgium Warm blood Upchiqui won the Grand Prix for a second year in a row. 

PHOTO SHOOT AT HARMONY HILL FARM IN YORK SPRINGS, PA

Our next shoot location was another gorgeous East Coast farm, Harmony Hill Farm in York Springs, PA.  We took a beautiful winding road that went up and down like a roller coaster to get to the farm and saw lots of cows and horses along the way.  It is so beautiful here! 

When you drive up to this farm, you see a cross country course before reaching the barn and show arena. They have hunt/jump shows here and a creek flows along the property.  

We had a lot of fun here, too!  We met an adorable horse named Ozzy who was used in part of our shoot.  He's 6 years old and super handsome!  He liked being the star of the show and got to show off bridles.

The house on the property was built in the 1800's and is so cool.  I love how they have screened porch rooms back East.  The barn itself looked like a house and there was a lounge that looked into a large indoor arena.  The pastures and turnouts were beautiful fields of green here, too.  Very lucky horses!!

TuffRider/JPC is coming out with a line of Western gear so this was our first time wearing and modeling Western clothes!  It was so funny because when we put those outfits on the cowgirl came out in us and we were so silly.

We had another really fun shoot and look forward to seeing all of our friends at JPC again next year!

JPC PHOTO SHOOT AT HERON HILLS IN GRANTVILLE, PA

Our first shoot location for JPC was in Grantville, PA at Heron Hills.  It was such a beautiful facility - you can see more gorgeous pictures of it on their website www.heron-hills.com.

We had so much fun wandering around the over 100 acres of gorgeous land! They have 3 ponds and the most amazing cross country jumping courses in HUGE fields.  The pastures and fields were so green - the horses could turn out and graze and enjoy the sunshine all day.   When we first arrived, we were greeted by an adorable boxer puppy named Parker.  He was 5 months old and so playful - he would bring us sticks of wood to throw and tug.  

What's so great about modeling in these locations is we get to explore the entire facility - we take pictures in arenas, fields, next to cross country jumps and here we took them near the ponds, too.  We really get a chance to see every part of the barns we visit!

There was a pony that was wandering all over the land wherever he wanted to go.  It was so cool to see him pop up in all different places.  One time when he was near some miniatures, I was able to pet him - his coat was so furry and soft; he was like a bear!  And he was so sweet!

It definitely felt like fall weather - it was in the low 50's and Avery and I ran around a lot to keep warm!

 

Here's the wandering pony again behind Avy!  We had fun seeing where he would end up next!

We always have a lot of fun modeling for JPC!  We love wearing all of the new outfits each season - it's fun to see what's new.  We really love riding in their clothes, too - they are so comfy!   And of course, we love to hear from all of you when you see us in horse magazines like Young Rider!  hehe!  

We can't wait to see where our next location will be!  Stay tuned!

A VISIT TO AMISH COUNTRY - LANCASTER, PA

We had an incredible time on our trip back East and we will be making a photo album of all of our adventures. My sister and I had fun taking lots of the photos and hope you enjoy them. Check back as there will be more posts to follow from our trip!

We began our trip back East visiting Lancaster, Pennsylvania as my sister and I really wanted to visit and experience the Amish country.  We have had so much fun reading the entire Little House in the Prairie series (the Laura, Rose and Caroline years) that we really wanted to see what life was like in this country a long time ago.  Visiting the Amish country, we really felt like we were going back in time.  It was a really cool experience. 

 

It was so incredible to see how big a part animals play in their daily lives.  As we first entered the town, we were welcomed by a huge herd of beautiful black and white cows who were literally grazing freely near the road in a green, green pasture.  As we ventured further along, we found cows in lots and lots of fields and yards. 

When we continued down the road, we turned and saw an Amish man shucking corn with four horses pulling an old fashioned shucking machine.  We watched them for the longest time, amazed at how the corn was popping out into a bin so quickly.  If you look at the photo carefully, you can see corn coming out the shute!  On our entire trip throughout Pennsylvania, we saw fields and fields and fields of corn!  And lots of pumpkin patches!

Everywhere we turned, we saw horses pulling buggies on the road which was so cool!  The Amish literally use them as their mode of transportation - they even have signals on the buggies!  We also saw lots of kids on bike-like scooters zipping around town doing errands. 

Everyone seemed busy from the men working in the fields to an old woman sitting quilting a quilt.  We even saw a girl mowing her huge lawn with a hand held manual lawn mower!  And as we continued along the winding roads, we stumbled upon a little boy sitting in a wagon full of corn who was putting corn up into a barn. 

We stopped at a family run stand that sold vegetables and baked goods where a young girl helped us.  Avy and I tried our first whoopie pie, a favorite of the Amish and us too, now!  A whoopie pie is a cake form of a cookie sandwich ... the middle is vanilla frosting sandwiched between chocolate cakes.  Avy thought it tasted like a Ding Dong.  

Avy and I loved looking in all of the Amish shops ... Avy bought a little porcelain Amish boy and 2 beautiful stone eggs.  I bought a brass horse and wagon, a brass barn and a black horse statue.  

We went on an Amish garden walking trail and enjoyed all of the beautiful scenery ... it was so green and we hit perfect Fall weather.  On the trail, we found the most beautiful, unique caterpillar we had ever seen!  

It was really a fun day visiting Amish country - we felt like we spent a day back in time and we loved every minute of it, especially all of the animals and beautiful farms, and of course, the Amish people!

FUN IN PENNSYLVANIA!

We just got back from our trip back East and we had an incredible time!  We visited the Amish country, went to the Grand Prix and visited 2 beautiful barns for our TuffRider/JPC photo shoot!

In this post, we thought we'd show you some behind the scenes photos of our trip!!  And there's lots more to come, so stay tuned!!

We had a lot of fun flying across the country - Avery and I both love to fly - we especially like the take offs and landings because they're fast!!  And Avery loves when we have bumpy moments; she says she feels like she's on a roller coaster!  We got up before the sun and here we are getting ready for take off VERY early in the morning!

We were lucky on the flight home to see the movie "Kit Kittridge: An American Girl" which we had wanted to see!  We really enjoyed the movie and the trip home flew by!

When we arrived in Newark, NJ, we went to a popular family restaurant there called Perkins and it was so cool because it was Kids Night.  A magician came to our table and did an incredible magic show - he did a really cool ball trick where he put one ball in our hand and then 2 appeared!  We've never had a magic show table side and it was so fun!  We also decorated cookies and if you're ever in the Newark, NJ Perkins, you'll see our photo hanging in the restaurant.

We then drove 3 hours to Carlisle, PA which is where we stayed for the photo shoot.  It is near Harrisburg, the capitol of Pennsylvania.  We arrived at our hotel around midnight so it was pitch dark!  In the morning, we looked out our windows and saw this beautiful sight ... we ran down and explored the area - Avery picked wild berries that she's going to use to make her homemade inks.  We also saw insects we've never seen in California.

When we weren't sightseeing or shooting, we had a blast swimming in the indoor pool and jacuzzi and playing tennis and basketball.  Avery and I LOVE to swim and swim all of the time but we had never swam indoors before!  It was pretty cool!

On one of our sightseeing trips, we visited Harrisburg, Pennsylvania's capitol ... it was named the capitol in 1812 and there were so many beautiful old buildings.  This is right in front of the state capitol building - Avery and I loved the pink fountain! 

Harrisburg has a beautiful waterfront and the water looked like glass; it was really beautiful, especially with all of the trees in their fall colors!!  We were really happy to visit such a beautiful city!

OFF TO THE GRAND PRIX!

Hi Everyone ~

I'm excited to tell you all that Avery and I have been invited back East again to do a photo shoot for JPC/Tuff Rider!  We are going to shoot at the National Horse Show in Harrisburg, PA and another farm in the area.  We were thrilled to find out that we have tickets to the Grand Prix finale show!  We are SO excited!  It will be our first Grand Prix show and we can't wait!  We'll take lots of pictures and tell you all about our adventures when we get home.

Happy riding!

Love,

@raya

FABULOUS JUMPING FUN!

Hi Horse Pals ~

I had a fabulous jumping day today!  We did a triple no stride line and Dandy did great. 

Dandy was listening really well and we had fun also jumping a flower box and single diagonals.

The weather was perfect for riding and jumping, it was beautiful out with a nice cool breeze.  It definitely felt like fall at the barn today.

And other exciting news ... Avery had her very first jumping lesson today on OB and she LOVED it!  She was cantering around and around the arena at a great rhythm and then Lisa gave her a few jumping tips and she was off!  Her tips were go straight to the middle of the jump, keep a good rhythm and hold the horse's mane over the jump.   She jumped a flower cross rail over and over and did excellent for her first time! She can't wait to jump again!

I ended the day with a trail ride with my friend, Gretchen and her horse, Snoopy.  Snoopy and Dandy looked so cute together because they both have great colors.

  

Happy trails, 

@raya

FIRST HORSE PALS' FUN POEM

Thank you to Stevie and Rebecca for our first Horse Pals' submission.  It's a great one!!  I hope you like it as much as we did!

Hi Araya and Avery,

The blog just keeps getting better every day. Stevie wanted to send a poem so here we go,
 
Horses are friends,
as people are too.
My love for animals
will always shine through.
 
In good times and bad,
especially when I am sad,
I think of all my friends
and know our friendships will never end.

Love Stevie and Rebecca 

Stevie's ready to give Marshall a yummy apple!

CREATE YOUR OWN ANIMAL TALES

Hi Horse Pals ~

As you know, I love to read and I thought it would be fun to create my own horse story.  I've been writing for the past few months and I add to it whenever I feel inspired.  I'll give you a little taste ... the girl's name is Victoria and her horse is Speed Racer and it takes place in a beautiful setting.

Let's make a place on the blog called Horse Pals' Animal Stories and share stories here!  You can send in any animal stories or poems you've written or anything else you'd like to share with our Horse Pals Club.  How fun!!  I can't wait to hear all the fabulous stories!

You can e-mail them to me at araya@stabledays.net and I'll post them to the blog.

Happy trails and happy writing,

@raya