...and Merry Christmas from the gang, too!

(Nellie 8.5 years, Tobi 4 yrs 11 months, Peanut 10 months)

Frohe Weihnachten! Merry Christmas!

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas! Alles Liebe zum Weihnachtsfest von uns aus Colorado!

Arapahoe Hunt Pair Pace

The Arapahoe Hunt Pair Pace took place on September 22nd in Larkspur, that's about 20 minutes south of Parker. Kate rode this event already a couple of times and after ensuring me that the horses are really safe on this hunt and this is all fun, I was in!

We only trained the horses a little over little jumps so that we were sure that the horses can do the jumps but all obstacles had an option to be passed in just riding, no jumping required!

The Friday before the event we could walk the course. We took a map out of a bin that showed us where to ride but it is always better to walk all the fences just to know how they look like. In total there were about 19 fences, varying from 0 to 3.5 feet tall.

The above and below picture gives you an idea of 'what' to jump. The high jump on the right, the low jump on the left or just pass it on the outer left.

This is the water crossing. No horse had any problem with this. The creek was about 4 feet wide and an inch deep..lol

This is the map with the way we had to ride. All in all about 14 minutes of fun!

Kate washing Tempo.

And then it was Thunder's turn while I loaded the trailer with all our gear.

Shelly walking the horses to the trailer, that is parked on top of the hill.

Thunder and Tempo are such good troopers, they just walk right into the trailer! Most of the trailers here allow the horses to stand in an diagonal. This trailer is big enough for 3 horses.

After our ride a picture from Thunder and my 'participation' ribbon.

The trailer from the side. Does not look that big, does it?

Me on Thunder. Photo taken by a professional photographer. Of course that lady was sitting at the side of the two obstacles I did not jump :-(

Kate and Tempo jumping.

Tempo was pretty hot so Kate needed to force him to slow down at times. But this shot is however still beautiful!

Just needed to share a picture of Jonah that the teacher took....aww, that's my boy!

Castlewood Canyon

I am pretty late in posting pictures of our beautiful Castlewood Canyon! The drive from our house is approximately 30 minutes and it is so beautiful that my Mom was constantly saying that this is the most beautiful thing she ever saw in Colorado so far! And she's visiting me here now for about 8 years :-)

To get over the stream you need to go over the big rocks

One way leads to the broken dam, the other along the stream.

You can get from two sides to the broken dam or dam ruins, from the 'water' side and from the 'dry' side. With Chris we got them from the 'water side' (where the lake would have been), with my Mom we drove down there again to find the entrance from the 'dry' side.

Little crabs in the shallow water, where the kids loved to play in. Actually, we caught one crab in   Olivia's drinking bottle!

The dam ruins. It dam broke in 1932 and all the water got into Denver and there were just 2 deaths reported.

Jonah and Peanut

After getting our Frenchie I saw pyjamas in Jonah's size with a French Bulldog on them...isn't that hilarious, that even the colors match the real dog?

Night shots of the horses

Wanted to try some sunset shots of the horses for a while now and finally got around to it. Unfortunately I did not catch the glow of the setting sun since I was too late at the barn but still, some pictures turned out pretty nice!

These are pictures of Tempo, the 16 year old Arab gelding from Kate:

Kate and her Tempo

And here some shots of Thunder, 22 year old Percheron Cross (I think there is more Percheron in him than Friesian!)

'The Brothers'