Stable Days

THANK YOU, FIREFIGHTERS!

Hi Horse Pals ~

As many of you may know, there have been a lot of big fires in Southern California and one of them was very close to our barn.  You may have noticed in some of our recent photos the burnt mountains in the background.  

We wanted to send out a huge THANK YOU to all of the firefighters who kept our barn standing!  It was literally surrounded by fire and it is a miracle it is still there.  The firefighters used our barn as one of their main stations to fight the fires in our surrounding mountains and they did an incredible job!  We also thank all of the surrounding barns who so generously took in all of our horses when we were evacuated.  Thank you for taking good care of our horses!

Although the fires have been put out now, there is still a lot of work that goes into getting everything back in order.  Every day, helicopters take off and land in the fields near our barn where they are helping restore power to those who lost it in the mountains.  They are also dropping water to keep the dust and ash down and we definitely appreciate that!  

We have had so much fun watching them after we ride and we met this really cool helicopter pilot named Glenn who actually let us in the helicopter he pilots!!  It was so awesome!!  We were with our cousin Isabella and our Horse Pals, Buddy, Amanda and Eric.  It was really cool - we got to wear his helmet, sit in his pilot's seat and push the controls.  It was an incredible experience that we will never forget!  Thanks so much, Glenn!

Here are some photos from our cell phone ...

Once again, a big thank you to everyone who helped out during this difficult time.  We are so happy to be back in our barn riding again and our horses thank you, too!

Your Horse Pals, @raya and Avery

THE ADVENTURES OF LEWIS & CLARK!

Hi Horse Pals,

The other day at the barn our friend, Eric gave us a big pile of books and one of them was about William Clark and Meriwether Lewis titled The Incredible Journey of Lewis and Clark by Rhoda Blumberg.  A few days later our cousin Isabella came over and I told her about the book and how much I loved it and we all decided it would be fun to do a diorama about them.

We went to our local craft store and got the characters, Sacagawea and her tribe, Lewis & Clark and of course some animals!  We also got some colored sand for the river and grass and dirt.  We used a recycled water bottle box for the diorama.  We used paint for glue, brown sand for the dirt and dark and light green for the grass.  We picked some plants from our yard for the bushes and sprayed them with hair spray to make them last longer. To make the background mountains, we watercolored them on watercolor paper and then glued them to the back and attached crafts sticks to keep them upright.

We think it turned out great and we had so much fun making it!  Last year, we made a dinosaur diorama with our cousin Dalyla.  Let us know if you have any ideas for our next diorama ... I am sure it will include animals! 

Here's some interesting info about our explorers ...

Lewis

Clark

Clark Meriwether Lewis and William Clark are a good example of complementary opposites. Lewis and Clark were hired by

President Thomas Jefferson to find a waterway from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean.  Although they didn't find one, Lewis and Clark did make it to the Pacific and contributed volumes to scientific discovery, documenting 276 new species of plants and animals.  They also created 140 maps of previously uncharted territory and paved the way for U.S. expansion beyond the Missouri River.  The pair had a shared love for the outdoors, but they had markedly different personalities.  Lewis was moody and quiet, an intellectual type with a deep knowledge of map making and natural science. Clark was outgoing with a natural flair for leadership.  Lewis needed Clark to keep up good spirits and morale through 3 difficult years while he focused on scientific discovery.

Sacagawea, a Shoshone Native American girl is best known in American history for playing a key role in Lewis and Clark's discoveries. 

Sacagawea

Horse Pals, if you have made a diorama and have photos of it, please send them off to us and we will share them on the blog.  

Your Horse Pals, @raya and Avery

JUMPING FUN WITH HORSE PALS!

Hi Horse Pals ~

Avery and I have been having a ton of fun jumping with our barn friends, Amanda and Buddy.  We have had some great jumping lessons.  Amanda rode Jimmy, Buddy rode Boots and Avery rode OB.  We did fun courses with many jumps!

Dandy has been jumping fabulous ... we have been doing some tricky courses with bending lines and a single stride gymnastics with 4 jumps in a row. 

She is also jumping higher and higher which is fun for both her and I.  It is really cool to watch and feel Dandy becoming a great jumper!

The other day we played follow the leader and Avery and OB followed Dandy and I through a series of jumping courses.  We had a great ride and it was fun to see Avery jumping long courses.  Avery has been doing great with OB and they are jumping higher and higher! 

We would love to hear from you and hear more about your riding adventures with your friends!  Also, let us know if there is something in particular you would like us to write about on our blog and we'll do our best to make it happen!

Your Horse Pals, @raya and Avery

AROUND THE BARN

Hi Horse Pals ~

Hope you have all enjoyed your last days of summer!  We've been having fun riding and taking photos around the barn.  We'll post some new photos soon.

Avery and I love bathing the horses at the barn.  Here are some shots we took the other day of us bathing Jimmy.  We had a cleaning party at the barn last week and we all cleaned tack and washed all of the horses in our barn.  It was so much fun!

A kiss for my clean girl, Dandy ...

I got a new fly mask for Dandy for my birthday ... she likes it!

We would love to hear about all of your horse adventures around the barn. 

Your Horse Pals, @raya and Avery