Yellows and browns and greens and pinks

So my lichen fermentation is going well, I definitely collected the right lichen, it's turning into an absolutely beautiful magenta red.

Today I'm dyeing a t-shirt yellow with goldenrod. :) It's hang drying as I type.

I'm so excited, I can't wait to see how beautiful it is when it's all dry. <3 br="br">

Sorry

I'm incredibly sorry I haven't been posting lately, but really nothing has been happening. I've got Siaga back on his timothy pellets to pack weight on for winter instead of being his fit summer self. We've done a bit of bareback riding but nothing major, since the weather has coincided with my work schedule to be rainy and dreary and cold on every day off and warm and beautiful and sunny every day I have to work. :/

In the mean time, I have taken to my crafting again, with a new vengeance, combining my love of nature and my artistic qualities to form a new passion for herbal dye. I even thought "I'd really like to have a sheep or two" just for the wool to dye! Maybe someday. And maybe someday, I'll have an outdoor fire pit just for sticking big vats of herbal dye and fabric over. :)

Currently I have a jar of British Soldiers Lichen soaking in a solution of ammonia and water to steep for 12 weeks (will be ready December 30th or so) for a beautiful magenta dye. I've got turmeric for yellow and rosemary for a soft sagey green.

This is bliss.

Edit: Also, I just realized this is my 200th blog post here in Hoof Prints, go me!

I've been told I'm fearless.

I have a friend who believes, apparently, that I am fearless, because every evening, and whenever I can, I go up to the barn to visit Siaga, climb in his stall, and sit on his back. No saddle, no bridle, no halter or rope or anything. Just horse... and me. It's my equine therapy.

I told this friend, no, it's not that I'm fearless, just that I love it so much that I'm willing to risk everything for the chance to ride. And it's true.

Yesterday Siaga and I had our second lesson with my instructor, and he was so much better. He's really starting to listen to my seat, requiring less and less input from the reins, we even walked one of the starting patterns of a first level dressage test!

And then came the part that really scared me. Kathryn put Siaga on a long line and we lunged at a trot, with me riding. We were working on my rising trot.

I. Was. Terrified.

But I pushed through it, lift ribs, ride the trot to ask him to pick up the pace, click click, and we were trotting, no spanking or leg signals involved, he picked it up when I asked. Granted, I can't hold a trot on him like I can on Spirit or Arwen (Rose, the horse I started my lessons on, her name has been changed) where I can go and go and go on them, but fear just really squeezes my innards all to heck and back on Siaga. But, I was brave, and I asked for it anyway. I didn't fall off, though I almost did a few times. Each time my balance started to slip, he would stop, wait for me to right myself.

Didn't I say he'd shape up into a nice riding horse some day? We're getting there. :)

Lesson

It went like this.

So we get Siaga in the trailer after a little bit of cajoling and drive to the barn, wait around for half an hour for someone to get there (aka the instructor) and then put him in cross ties in the wash stall away from the other horses and groom and tack up there. Surprise: Siaga has no problems in cross ties unless other horses are around or he feels like you're gonna leave him all alone.

We lunged and got some bucks out. And then I got on.

We had a few sticky spots and Kathryn helped me guide him through those. He threw one little buck at the one pony outside of the arena and squealed, but didn't unseat me at all. By the end of the two hour lesson, we were working on trotting.

Kathryn rode him some as well and it was weird to see someone else riding Siaga.

Anyway, I did get lots of video but Brenda accidentally took my camera with her so it will have to wait. D:

Big day

Yup, today Siaga gets his butt kicked by my riding instructor. :D

I'm really nervous, but that's to be expected, I guess. I'm taking my camera so that Brenda can snap lots of photos and maybe even a video or two. :D

Improvements

So last night I took Siaga for a ride and worked on nothing but his being barn (yard) sour for an hour or so. We worked at it by resting as close as we could get to where he didn't want to go and if he moved then we trotted back the way we came so that he really had to work if he wanted to go back.

In all that heat, he was not pleased. So we were both dripping sweat when he finally decided... ok, maybe resting here in the shade by the mail box isn't a bad thing.

Yeah... the mail box. That's as far as we got. Gah.

On the plus, farrier is coming out to tidy up his hooves in a couple of days and next Friday Siaga is going with me to his first ever riding lesson. :D I can't wait.

Siaga, truely blessed

I've said before how I'm pretty sure Siaga is a gift from above, a being meant to move through life with me. He's been in many near-death situations, including apparent starvation, several bouts of colic, and a near run-in with long wood splinters from a tree struck by lightning.

Last night was different. Last night I wasn't there.

I had to work 12:30 to 9pm at Walmart. About 4:30 or so I had my lunch break and went to sit in my jeep and watch the storm roll in. I went inside before it started pouring.

When I got home dad was waiting outside, and informed me of all of the following: First, we have no power, so if Siaga needs water, you'll have to haul it from the neighbors pond. Second, we hope you have hay in the jeep because there's none in the barn (I had hay.) Third, two trees fell in your paddock. Siaga was outside.

These two trees fell in such a way that Siaga was trapped in a little tiny area, unable to get out of the rain and into the barn. One of the branches went through the roof over the stall (which is sheet metal, basically) and looking at that long spear of a branch, I can't help but think how easily that could have been Siaga. Thanks to my brother and my dad, they got most of the trees trunks out of the paddock and temporarily fixed up the fence.

Siaga is completely, totally, one hundred percent whole, entire, and ok. Not even a scratch.

My dog... on the other hand... got a fish hook stuck in his bottom lip last night and without electricity to see it well, we couldn't remove it, so he got to go to the vet this morning. He's still recovering from the tranq. But he's ok. :)