Horse Camping &Trail Riding

Since getting back from Santa Fe I have gotten to do a little riding. It's that time of year where I just want to play hookie from work every day and go ride. Lately I've ridden a bunch on the good ol' riding-distance-from-the-barn trails, as well as a couple of lakes nearby. My pal Christi and I rode at lake Arcadia in Edmond and had a blast. Even though our horses both refused to walk through water (they jumped.) 

We saw tons of deer and met a nice lady who we ended up riding with. I learned from her the reason deer don't run away when they see you on a horse is that they can't smell the human scent over the horse scent. She said that is why it is illegal to hunt from horseback (I didn't know that it was.) Of course, a deer can be startled by a horse if it didn't hear you coming (yup..fallen off that way..) but all the deer we saw heard us coming and only looked up only briefly before going on about their business.

I didn't get a picture of any deer, but here's a picture of Christi taking a picture of me:

And Bryan and I went horse-camping at Bell Cow Lake in Chandler. 

I learned how to set up a proper highline and how much fun a poker ride is.

Here's Stormy modeling the awesome highline: 

Here's a great website that shows how it's done. I used ratchet straps for tree savers...but I'm going to buy heavier duty ones before the next camping trip--these were not rated for more than about 1000 lbs and Stormy could have broken them if she had really wanted to. But the worked great for tightening the rope after it stretched a little every few hours.

I LOVE horse camping. I wish I could go every weekend. There are a lot of people in the OETRA who are retired and just camp out with their horses at the trails Thursday through Sunday on a regular basis. I'm a lot jealous of them. But I'm grateful for what I have...I still find myself looking at Stormy and thinking to myself "I can't believe I actually have my own horse!" 

If I can't horse-camp as often as I'd like I can at least Pin about it:

My horse camping and trail riding board

How to Successfully Introduce your cat to your Not-a-Cat-Person Husband

1. Bring your cat over to live with you. (Mine have been staying at my parent's until recently)
2. Make it clear to your cat that you love it and want it to cuddle with YOU.

The result is a cat who wants nothing to do with you, and only wants to hang out with the person who doesn't care whether they have a cat in their lap or not.

With any luck that person will be won over by the obvious favoritism

Marraige and Honeymoon

Bryan and I are married now

And we went to Santa Fe, NM for our honeymoon. It was a blast! We already plan to go back again. We want to drive next time 1. because it would be nice to have a car while there to see things outside of walking distance. And 2. because flying was terrible. Their tiny airport apparently only allows for small planes. (Y'know...the kind where you feel the turbulence really well.)

Here's a pic on top of some hill that has a long windy path to the top where there USED to be a fort of some kind:

And after the wedding and the honeymoon I got bridal portraits taken (yes, I know that's backwards.) The photo shoot was at the farm where Stormy lives. And most pictures had Stormy in them. Here's one:

The photographer was Mandy Stansberry. Here's her website, and her facebook page. She took fantastic photos at our wedding, too!