Of Spring, Kittens, and Horse Shows

Spring is in the air, and along with a new season comes new life.  Our long-haired cat (named"kitty soft paws" after the cat in Puss in Boots) finally had her babies on Monday afternoon.  She had six, but one of them died soon after birth.  So, we now have five beautiful baby kittens (they have not opened their eyes yet; they probably won't until early next week).  Well, enough talk, on to the pictures:

(This picture was taken by the Vivacious Shutterbug)

Our garden

 These little weeds are everywhere!  Our friends, however, told us that they made Dandelion jelly and that it tasted like honey and was extremely good!  Another fun project....

Yay!  Our pasture is looking very nice...lucky horses :)

The raspberry bushes that we planted last year.

And the kittens!  4 dark ones, 1 orange one :)

----*---

Also, last Saturday, I went to my first horse show on Hope (I've done shows before, however, this was my first one on Hope).  It went terribly well :)  Hope was quiet and well mannered and loved her job.  In the end, we got five 1st place ribbons, one 3rd place ribbon, and 2 division championship ribbons.  It was a fun day!

Various jumps

Some of my favorite pastimes or things I love to do when I can (as listed under my profile) are swimming, reading, biking, skiing, riding, and just being outside.  But the one I enjoy most is riding my horse.  I ride a quarter horse mare named Hope who loves to jump, just like her owner.  :)  Hope is a wonderful horse and I am blessed to have her!  One of the main reasons we purchased Hope is that she knows her job (primarily jumping), loves to do it, and gives me confidence because of her capability to smoothly jump many fences.  Even though butterflies often occupy my stomach before taking a fence, I love the thrill of leaping over the rails, great or small.  So, I thought I would show you some of the most common jumps in the Hunter world:

A simple coop jump is similar to an oxer in that it is slightly wide as well as tall

The classic and simple crossrail is jumped in the center (where the poles meet) and are usually not very tall

Oxers are jumps that are wide as well as tall.  Oxers force a horse to round his/her back over the jump.  An ascending oxer is a oxer that is taller in the back than in the front; hence, the rider and horse 'ascend' over the oxer.

Well, there you have it!  Now you can add 3 more jumps to your vocab list!  :)  What are your favorite past-times?  Do you enjoy riding horses?  Have you ever jumped a horse before?  If so, how did you like it?  What kind of jump was it?  Have you ever seen or heard of these types of jumps before?  Enter a comment in the box below:  I love to hear from you!

Hope you had a productive and blessed Saturday!