These horses and this community are such a gift!

So I type this blog post from 10,000 feet I'm on my way to NYC for three days of wine tastings and fancy wine dinners and literally scraped the last bit of dirt out from under my nails when I took my seat in 31a.

these beautiful photos were taken by my new friend michelle Blumenthal who is also a horsewoman and came out and not only took beautiful photos but volunteered her rig and multiple days of her time to scrape, clean, water, load you name it she was amazing!! thank you Michelle!!

Friday and Saturday where full days of getting ready for and participating in the ODHBA annual Plowing competition this is the biggest plowing competition in the state and honestly I think in the pacific northwest - we had 20 teams out yesterday all plowing together in one place. But what's great about this competition is it's really not .... it's about sharing, comradeship, learning and teaching... it's just an amazing group of horseman and women that I now call friends!

Friday was a long day of loading horses and equipment and after weeks of prepping gear and lots of work the big day had arrived! We had a plot to plow Friday night to 'warm up the horses' and give one of the teamsters something to disc the next day in the demo. So I got my team ready and 'hit the dirt' sadly things didn't start out of the box too well but jerry jr.. who's dad I just adore and is always giving me the most quiet gentle help .. I just love that guy this shot is me plowing with his brother don's team 4 or so years ago at a competition in WA. I think this photo below was 2008 or 2009 and was only my 3rd or 4th time plowing!

... so I digress .. jerry jr. (being part of the awesome lee family) saw I was having trouble and jumped right in as these guys just do .. helped me get the harness adjusted to stop huston from clowning around so much and good old hummer from eating.. and then walked with me doing some 'training' on huston and we adjusted his attitude... it was a HUGE help... then laura and sarah helped me get huston off the ground Saturday so after a rocky start we finished really well - huston settled in and hummer was a rock star!!

This leads me to a big thank you to laura - who walked every furrow with me all day long being there if I needed any assistance with the horses water you name it.. you are a gem Laura I love you and am so grateful for your friendship and dedication and sharing in this horse journey!

Some beautiful shots of just a few of the amazing teamsters!

Wayne

Jerry

Jeb

Duane

Johnathan

Lise

yours truly

So this last photo michelle took gets me a little mushy as I was picking out feet it was the last step before getting our game faces on... hummer and I were at that moment having a conversation ... one of me moving around him and him carefully picking up each foot for me and letting me know he was completely aware of where I was and totally willing to work with me that day it was in intimate moment and michelle being a horse woman her self saw it for what it was and caught it! I'm so grateful to my horses for teaching me so much and being such wonderful partners in this journey of life we are in together.

Special thanks goes to Duane for his longstanding mentorship, friendship, loaning of rigs, equipment, and knowledge! Duane you are treasure to me as well as the club thank you for all the work you put in to make this a tremendous event!

Duane on the six up riding plow!

with gratitude! I did win my amateur division which does mean I am no longer an amateur... I still feel like one trust me... : )