Musical Ride

We have an amazing rider at the barn who was a member of the RCMP's Musical Ride for a number of years. She now trains the riders and horses in the ride and helps run the RCMP stables. Pretty cool job - eh? Since October she has been teaching us at the barn how to perform the ride. So today was our day to shine and show off all our efforts. We wore matching colours - yellow, purple, red and green and another girl from the barn made us all helmet covers to match. It was so fun and we had a blast. We had our freinds and family come out to watch then we had a big potluck supper after...complete with horse shaped cookies. Mmmmm.

Christine during her time in the Musical ride.


Thanks Christine for the wonderful day!!

Skating

The Rideau Canal ~ designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site ~ becomes the world’s largest (7.8-kilometres) skating rink every winter! We went out last night it was so fun.

Sleigh rides on the canal- I will have to go!


While skating we saw that they had hung paintings inside the bridge on the canal.

Winter Hack

Today I went for a hack out in the woods with two barn buddies (Anne and Christine). We had a great time – galloping, jumping creeks and fallen trees. Anne did the whole hack bareback and in a halter!! She said her secret to staying on is her horse’s really long mane. I saw her horse fly over the creek at a gallop and I thought for sure she would be in the snow bank but she stayed on - she is a wild woman! Good on you Anne!

We always spot deer when we are out but today we found a deer carcass that some crows were going crazy over. Sometimes it feels like we are in the wild west.


Christine and her gorgeous 3yr old mare.


Anne on Sissi bareback with no bridle!


Secret being silly!


We passed the bison farm where the furry fellas were having a bit of a sleep


Secret deserved a treaty after all that – he is such a good boy!

Thou shalt not want

I have been resisting the temptation for years to pick up needlepoint and have been strong so far ~ just looking and never buying. I admit to buying books on the subject but I swear that is it!

Overflowing stashes of wool, fabric, ribbons, scrapes, buttons, quilting and rug hooking supplies is enough torment to my poor fiancé. I have so many unfinished projects that I swore I would finish before EVER picking up another needlecraft.

But a girl can dream…

Horse + Image = :)

I came across these amazing album photos of Shara Worden of My Brightest Diamond and was drawn to them for obvious reasons.

It is hard for me to have an objective opinion but I think the image of a horse is captivating. I think a horse image creates a magical component in any drawing or photo and lifts the spirit. Is it just me or does everyone feel this when they see a horse? I certainly don’t feel it when I see a cow (no offence to cow lovers) but I wonder if only horse lovers become moved by the image of a horse or if all people have a certain affinity to them.

Shara Worden
http://www.mybrightestdiamond.com/

Top Names of 2007

My name (Emma) has finally been knocked off its number one perch for the first time since it landed there in 2004!

Top 10 Girl Names

1. Sophia
2. Isabella
3. Emma
4. Madison
5. Ava
6. Addison
7. Hailey
8. Emily
9. Kaitlyn
10. Olivia

Top 10 Boy Names

1. Aiden
2. Ethan
3. Jacob
4. Jayden
5. Caden
6. Noah
7. Jackson
8. Jack
9. Logan
10. Matthew

My favorite x-mas cards this year

Here is a selection of some cards I thought were really lovely this year. That isn’t excluding the other ones I got - they are very special too! I big thank you to all the snail mailers ~ getting Christmas cards is so fun so thank you!