Yeah, We're Still Here

I realize it's been over a month since our last post. December was crazy with rain and the business has kept me fairly busy (thankfully) since Christmas. So here is a quick recap:

Bakersfield total rainfall averages just under 6 inches a year. With the season a little more than half over we've had over 7 inches so far. Most of that fell the 10 days before Christmas. Our pens, which are 40' x 45' each, where completely covered in water. The horses pack down the ground all year long so it's lower than the surrounding area, then when the rain comes it's like a big bowl catching the water.

A few days before Christmas I decided I would try to pump the water out. I got a submersible pump and hooked it up to 150' of garden hose to go to the street and had extension cords and such all ready to go. It was about 9 o'clock at night by the time I got everything hooked up. Just to insure the horses safety fro electrical shock We took them out of their pens before we plugged the pump in.

Jessie had been none too pleased with her accommodations for the last four days and she let me know about it. I didn't blame her. It was a crappy situation and we should have better stables in place to protect them from the elements. I let her bounce around the end of the lead rope for awhile and get it out of her system. The ground was still very slippery though and I didn't want her to hurt herself so I regained control by doing some yielding and backing.

Over the next couple of days (and a couple of pumps) we got most of the standing water out of there and we were just left with mud. The weekend weather has been too ugly to do much riding but we have been able to do groundwork at every opportunity. The sun is out today and it hasn't rained for a couple of weeks now and the ground is finally drying up. I moved some dirt around our property to try and give her a high dry spot to at least lay down on. We're hopeful we can get back in the saddle this weekend...both of us really need it.

We have a new video. It's a bit of a recap of some of our past experiences set to music. I wrote the music publisher trying to get "official" permission to use the music, but never heard back. I'm not sure if youtube will remove it or not. Even though I have music right to some generic music, it's so much nicer to put together a montage to music that means something to you.