Love taking this to ranch sortings. I set up my “portable office” on the bar and get to word. Especially on a cold Saturday morning that I wake up at 5 am!!!??

But all this early time to think has got me counting my blessings.

Going to get saddled up!

I am so thankful that my little lady loves horses like I do.  At her age all I wanted was a horse-didn’t get one until my early teenage years.  There is something so motivating and enchanting about a little girl on her horse.  You have all heard me rave about Bullseye, but I just can’t say enough good about him.  He somehow knows that his duty in life is to carry my little lady around.  He does dang near everything she asks!  He waited for 6 months before he loped with her-when she finally asked him, he was ready.  He LOVE to chase a cow and when I ride him he is completely different than when he had the little lady on his back.  If she wants to circle the cows that is what they do.  She kicks him to go after that cow then he goes.  Watching them in action in the sorting pen is one of my favorite things to do.  My little lady has a favorite partner-one of my friends husbands-this guy is so patient and instructs and teaches her so well.

Little Lady and her favorite ranch sorting Partner!!!!

My little lady doesn’t always have to be riding bullseye to enjoy him.  She likes to drop his lead and watch him trail behind her as she walks forward.  She LOVE to hug and kiss him-he drops his head into her arms to get a moochie!

It took us three horses to find the one that was my little lady’s match.  We would do it all again to find Bullseye!

Little lady and Bullseye decked out in PINK-her favorite color. I think he loves it too!

Thanks for reading!

Alisha

AKA Wild Woman of the West

P.S. We would love to hear about your little ones perfect horse!

P.P.S.  Please visit shop.wildwomanofthewest.com Up to 80% off the western brands you LOVE!  Newly added items just in time for some early Christmas shopping!

I just started sorting a couple times per month and Snazzy has been my sorting partner.  We have had so much fun.  Snazzy ends up SO TIRED so we have been doing some round pen work during the week.  Today I took my little lady and her cow dog Princess to play outside the round pen while I working Snaz.  Princess would run around the outside of the round pen as Snazzy ran on the inside. Every once in a while Princess would jump up the put her paws on the side of the round pen to see what was going on.  It was hilarious-took me a couple times of trying to video it to catch it.  To catch the dog jumping up on the round pen you will have to watch to the end of the video.

What a great dog PRINCESS IS!

WATCH THE VIDEO AT IMG_8290

Have a wild western life!

Alisha (aka Wild Woman of the West)

P.S.  Find us on Facebook at facebook.com/wildwomanofthewest Thanks to all of you who helped up get OVER 25,500 LIKES!

P.P.S  Go over to shop.wildwomanofthewest.com to find the BEST DEALS on your favorite Western Items!

My little lady and I will keep you posted!

(My little lady was RIGHT in the middle of the fence building and the property clean up!  So proud of her!!)

We had to finish a pen to move my Snazzy to-since she is back from the trainer!  We have two of our brood mares in a pasture that we want to  get them off of.  Holly is a nightmare to catch-so I caught Fresca and at the last second I just thought I should just lead Fresca and maybe Holly will follow.

Hubs was putting up fence and tells our oldest boyzee – “this should be interesting-this had better work or mom is going to have to saddle another horse just to get Holly back in a fence.”  I am pretty sure they were laughing and have a heck of a time thinking I was CRAZY!

I wish I could have videoed this.  It was BEAUTIFUL!  I had grabbed some hay on my way out of the other pasture.  Holly followed us down the fence line and RIGHT into the gate to the new run.  I have to admit I was shocked myself that it worked.  However I didn’t have to catch her!

Heres to…sometimes our plans working out perfectly!  Sometimes we just have to go with our GUT!

Have a wild western life!

Alisha (aka Wild Woman of the West)

P.S.  Find us on Facebook at facebook.com/wildwomanofthewest Thanks to all of you who helped up get OVER 25,000 LIKES!

P.P.S  Go over to shop.wildwomanofthewest.com to find the BEST DEALS on your favorite Western Items!

Hubs was trying to help me before his surgery by getting all the horses in the barn.  One lone pregnant mare, Holly, would not let him catch her.  He called me to complain about how naughty she was.  I thought no prob I will catch her when I get home-I am always able to catch her if I take my time! (well I have to admit that I thought it may take me five times as long as he let Holly WIN-but I didn’t tell him that)!!!

So with HUBS watching from outside the fence I try to shut the gate at the end of her run to limit her area of running from me.  The pen had a huge snow drifts throughout one side so I couldn’t close the end gate-so I am becoming less sure of myself.  Holly has never kicked at me but with a drift blocking her from running from me I didn’t know what she would do.  Hubs is still watching from outside of the pen thinking that there is no way I am going to catch her-which I love to tell you that I proved him wrong. I just took my time!  After I get a hand on her shoulder the game is over and then she becomes a different horse.  She has the most amazing ground manners when she being led, tied up, trailered, etc.  She has been ridden before but it has been over 9 years since she was ridden (we bought her strictly for a brood mare).  When she is loose-she can be a snotty little thing!

Got me thinking about it being part of their game!  Zoey, my main riding mare, likes to run around me for about  5 minutes and then just “lets” me catch her.  SERIOUSLY it is very annoying sometimes.

Every other mare is FANTASTIC to catch and can’t wait to be with me or Hubs when catching them-RIGHT in your business even if you aren’t catching them but are near them.  I love each and every one of their different personalities, there little quirks-some great and some that need to be worked on (but we all have that whether we are humans or horses)!!

Alisha (aka Wild Woman of the West)

P.S.  I wrote this mid December.  Sadly Holly lost her foal.  She is now at her “boyfriends” house for another try!  Her first baby at our place was Frosty (now named Little man at his new home).  We are excited for a full sibling to Frosty hopefully next year!!!!!

P.S.S.  We would LOVE for you to like our facebook page!  www.facebook.com/wildwomanofthewest.

Diamond, our 7 month old filly is now full time in a pasture-we never stall her because of what we thought was muscle probs.  We now think maybe she just needs to be in a large run/pasture always!  We have been hauling water by bucket fulls for a while as she is in a large run with a shelter that is no where near water or electricity.  So tonight we moved a large water trough and started hooking hoses together.  Four VERY LONG hoses later we had the hose long enough to reach from the water spigot to the water trough.  Little side note:  HUBS had to fix a hose and he thinks this past summer he had a great reason to put two female ends on one hose. So the boys and I are in moonlight only (we finally broke down and used the flashlight on the cell phone) to put the hoses together.  After a long laugh we figured it out and got the hoses organized.

I do think the horses were all wondering what the he** we were doing laughing, hollering and carrying  on.  That Go Pro would have come in handy tonight just because it was all funny to the boyzees and I!!!

We also moved had to all the pastures to make feeding (especially in the mornings) a little easier on HUBS!

Boyzees and Hubs think I am a bad driver.  EVERYTIME the snow (currently from the night before last) drifts I seem to get stuck in a snow drift in my one ton truck.  All the males in my household think it is me.  So driving back up to the house from the barn took  three tries-which gave the boyzees a good laugh when they told hubs!

Tonight I am thankful for the laughs and memories I made tonight night with my boyzees.  It was the absolute highlight of my day!  It just doesn’t get any better!

So horses are watered and fed and we all are sleepy…Have a GREAT evening!

Alisha (aka Wild Woman of the West)

P.S.  We just exceeded 22,500 likes on facebook.  What a journey we have had in the last year!  I have really enjoyed getting to know you and just having fun!  Visit our facebook page at facebook.com/wildwomanofthewest.com

P.P.S.  Save up to 80% at our outlet western store.  Your favorite western brands for less!!

P.P.S.S. Does anyone own a Go Pro?  How do you like it?  What do you use it for?  I was thinking I should get one.  Lots of uses-spying on the horses when I am gone at work; wearing on my head while I feed with the boys to capture laughs and memories with them; and I am pretty sure the boyzees could think of ways to use it too!

I am a planner. I have a plan for everything: My day, my business, a vacation, dinner, my horses, time with the kids, etc. (Which has given me three children who simply MUST know the plan at all times – kind-of makes me want to break my planning habit.)

A soon as I got pregnant, (with each of my kids), I planned what their room would be like and what their name would be depending on sex.  I start planning what they would wear home, how I would situate the other kiddos to make room for the new baby.  I can’t help it – I could never wait to “get past the iffy time”  -12 weeks/1^st trimester. My mind just started planning all of the baby things!  This time I thought there is no way a miscarriage could happen (again) when I had 3 beautiful, healthy angels. (Okay maybe they aren’t always angels – but they are my little whatevers when they’re naughty.  I love them good or naughty!)

For the second time in a row, my dreams were shattered today.

As I laid in the doctor’s office and heard, “There is no heartbeat,” I was in shock.  “Did she really just say that?” I wondered.  She continued, “The baby didn’t grow at all from last time.”  On my last visit, the doc was worried the fetus was smaller than she should have been, but I was sure it would be okay. I took it easy, took prenatals and ate really good.  I was just sure today would be okay.

Of course I did do my share of fretting the last couple days.  I thought I hadn’t felt as sick as I had before.  Hubs said I was worrying and it was the busy weekend that had me distracted.  I prayed silently that he was right, but fretted anyway. This morning my blood pressure was even higher than my normal when it was taken at the doctor’s office.

I was debating whether or not to share this with you, but I know many other women have gone through this and they are sad, too. My personality is to be strong, keep it together – but today I simply can’t.  I am heartbroken this happened to me and my family.  We were so excited to have another little one running around.  This makes me all the more thankful for the ones I have.  But I can help but wonder about my two “what could have beens.” I know it is God’s plan for us…but it is a hard one to swallow today.

Many of my friends have had the same thing happen and they’ve been right there cheering me on, understanding the pain, telling me once again it will get better.  I sure hope it does…

And today, I am saying prayers for any of YOU who are waiting for your first trimester to pass…and I pray that you have a healthy baby!

A very sad Wild Woman of the West.

P.S.  I ordered this bracelet as it is was a message to me this week:  http://lifestyle.margaritavilleretail.com/breathe-in-sentiment-plate-antique-brass-or-silver.html

Those were the words the family yelled often from behind the boat on skis, boogie board (the family favorite) or tubes in the summers at Shaver Lake in California.  Gramps would not accelerate the boat until he heard those words!

The smell of the gas and water on our current boat instantly takes me back to Gramp’s boat and the fun we had.  He pulled my cousins and I all over that lake.  It was such a treat for my brother and I to get to go to Shaver Lake with Grandma and Grandpa as we lived in Wyoming.  We would get to go every summer to Bakersfield, CA and hang out with our grandparents for and other family for a couple weeks.  And besides the skiing and boogie boarding we had a blast camping!  Grandma would pack “cokes” and tons of snacks and we spent the day on the boat.  I learned to ski behind that 1970 something boat.  I am not sure how many times my aunt helped me in the water to learn how to ski, but I am pretty sure it was a ton of times!

Today out on the lake I was thinking of the first time Hubs and I took our boat out-I remember skiing that weekend-getting up on the first try on my new skis purchase right after the boat!  When I got back in the boat the first person I called was Gramps to tell him about it-it had been well over 15 years since I had skied behind his boat or any boat for that matter!  He was proud that we were carrying on the boating tradition and told me it was a great way to spend time with family.

I wished I could call him today after the boys rode on the tub together (it was so funny you had to be there to see their faces and hear their loud laughter above the sound of the boat motor) and were going in and out of the wake, but I know he was watching from above and laughing along with us.

As I looked at Hubs driving our boat I can’t help but think of my Gramps.  Gramps rarely let anyone else drive the boat (like Hubs), Gramps would drive around the lake pulling kids on tubes at nauseum (like Hubs), Gramps was one of the most patient men I have ever met (almost like Hubs-LOL-he lack of patience most likely due to his high strung wife-LOL!), Gramps only got all the way in the water when the heat was beyond squelching (again like my Hubs!).

The boyzees and my little lady had a blast at the lady.  Until next time at the lake….

Nice seeing you all today!

Alisha (aka Wild Woman of the West)

P.S.  The three Chihuahuas had a blast at the lake too.  We park on “Sandy Beach” which is my little lady’s favorite place to play in the water (while hubs waxes the boat ).  Little Angus was swimming around.  It was funny to see my little 3 lb Chihuahua swim in a lake.  The 3 chis ran along the water and through the sand (of course getting  covered) until the were to tired to run anymore!

P.S.S The boyzees and my little lady are already asking if we can go back to the lake tomorrow – which is not slightly possible-but cute.  Hubs and I are super glad they had a good time!

P.P.S. Stay tuned as in the next couple of days we will have a free offer that we know you will LOVE!!!!

P.P.S.S.  We would love to hear some of your favorite memories of your grandparents.  Comment below or on our facebook page at www.facebook.com/wildwomanofthewest

Before the little filly was born I couldn’t for the life of me think of a name. I got out the AQHA papers of the mare and stud and still couldn’t figure out.  Hubs and I brainstormed name ideas the night she was born.

When I walked into the stall at 2:30 am and saw the lopsided diamond on her forehead I instantly knew her name had to be Diamond.  And you know what they say, Diamonds are a girls best friend!  My little lady already says they are best friends!!!

My little lady and little Diamond have the most adorable relationship with the panel fence between them!  There is sniffing and petting and talking to each other!  All of that stops when they are face to face!  It is hilarious!  They are both terrified of the other when the panel is not between them.

I love getting close to Diamond.  She follows me around the field and their round pen.  She loves her neck petted but NOT HER EARS!  It is relaxing to watch her run and buck around!

Thanks for reading!

Wild Woman of the West!

P.S. Stop by our Facebook Fan Page and give us a like at https://www.facebook.com/WildWomanoftheWest

P.P.S. We have something really fun planned so stay tuned!

All this snow has been GREAT as we really needed it.  It adds lots of animals related work!  I actually LOVE when the horses are in the barn in their stalls-it seems like I get more one on one time with each of them as they aren’t all in a group.  I have gotten to pet them more, brush them more, talk to them more and just be around them more (yes the snow day helped)!  One other thing I do more is clean the stalls.  This morning I spent well over and hour-which I really enjoyed-cleaning stalls-AND subsequently getting a work out.  Mucking out stalls, hauling hay and wood shavings gets my heart pumping!  I joke with my friends that doing all that is FREE (well maybe not since I am paying for the horses, hay, etc!) cross fit as it is life and it is EXERCISE-EVEN IF IT IS NOT AT THE GYM!

I cleaned my main mares stall and had to share a pic as she is “stall trained” and a very “clean” horse.  She poops and pees in one area and it is super easy to clean her stall.  Not so much for other four of them!

The cats were soaking up the hot sun as I cleaned the stalls and fed everyone.

This morning the boys stayed home from school (I thought it was going to be worse than yesterday – WHICH IT WASN’T) so they helped me with the horsies after they fed their 4-H piggies and goats.

After chores (and I went to the office) the boys sledded and sledded and built jumps and sledded some more!  HUBS said they had a FREAKING blast outside-which made me feel slightly better that they didn’t play video games all day,  but did some sort of exercise!  LOL!

The sun is HOT so now we can bring on the MUD!!!!!!!