Florida

The latter is the obviously what we are currently dealing with. And the former is what is keeping us going.

Countdown: 16 days!

Wynton

what a love muffin

Tim's birthday bash!

Sounds like cake, and then we all need nap! Thanks for turning 50 Tim!

Rainy day

Today tubby discovered rain hats... And i discovered how to blog from my phone. Whoo!

late summer.

Phew. So much has happened at Blue Elephant since my last post and I am not sure I can do it all justice. So I apologize in advance.But moving forward, or backwards as the case my be:

this is our most recent addition to the herd. (granted he came this summer, but this is the first i've gotten to write about him!) Bandit. a cheeky, prank playing, very tiny pony with quite a jump. (this photo is for size)

bandit making friends with our other most recent addition, dylan. (and of course, i can not remember for the life of me, why dylan was pretending to be a cow pony that day)

Duke was with us for a while. One of the sweetest horses I have ever met.

some company around the farm

lots of luck.

dylan and i are excited for hunting. runrunrun!

best buddies. Wynton and Dylan. I guess Wynton didn't get the "be a ham" memo

three musketeers.

radnor hounds and staff

karen came to blue elephant to check in and to give us a hand with the horses. here she and missy are walking up the the arena.

chatting away

jump position.

and gavin got on a pony, and ENJOYED it!

we finally got to hunt in virginia. and it was the most fun i've had in years!

springer was done with the photo shoot.

 the hounds in virginia, really are incredible like everyone says.

there was just something about the halters in the tree

And here i leave you. the sun setting. earlier and ealier every day. Today being particularly special, as it's Halloween. Outside I can here the tots yelling and screaming for candy. spooky music, every now and again, a kid crying... maybe a little too scary. Quite the contrast from the photos above. Anyway, I wish the grandest, tastiest, cider filled Halloween to all, and to all a good night.

day 3 OConner Camp con't

Our first lesson of the day, was showjumping with Kathy. Jen and I were have been put in group 1 and C and Devon are in group 4 and every time we ride, our instructor changes. Which is quite nice. We switch between David, Karen, Kathy, and Lauren, which is definitely pushing us in different places, strengths weaknesses and playing to everyone's educational needs.

my computer is slow and then i left the camera at the barn for pictures from thursday... and oh! it's after 11 and tomorrow is looking to be a good 16/17 hour day, so to bed i go!

FINALLY! x-country and final stadium day

.... it certainly has taken me a while, but here they are! a photo-documentation of our last few days at camp! (they certainly were exciting)

drop

jump

big drop

devon and duke. awaiting david's x-country line work

duke about to be a super star

karen watching david work with duke

..... and over to the bank

where he rocked it

duke = such a willing boy

"see everybody, he may be big, but he's nimble, and quite sensitive, (and sooo good)"

1/2 of the line up for our camp photo

jen and ranger warming up for a super intense cross-country lesson

me and dylan

jen and tubby jumping out the gully.... this was at the top of a super steep hill, proceeded by another jump down into the gully.

dylan being a rock star, as always

ditches!

jump, ditch, jump! yay tubby!

jen and my group arriving at the "big" water complex

up the bank! (which was followed by a one stride to a verticle)

badge of honor- this is alex. she and her horse wiped out up the bank @ the water jump, and, well. this is what she gets to take home! (once they both got up, she climbed right back on, and did an awesome job the rest of the lesson.)

our final day showjumping.

getting some air time

a tsk tsk from david.... i sat in my saddle too much. eep!

and then a re-do, which was much better

looking to our last fence

jen and tubby round 1 showjumping

directions for improvement from David

and then the improvement!

Devon and Duke,  jump #1 in their showjumping course

duke's not paying attention.

look at Duke's face, he's so excited!

whew! done!