As is the tradition, the girls had to do some bareback riding in the snow. Vicki loves to ride bareback in the winter because it keeps her warmer. Vicki decided to try out Dakota, Alex’s new pony, while Amanda rode Huey. This was Vicki’s first bareback ride on Dakota and it went well. Both girls had a good time and no one fell off.
Alex and I will be doing a trail ride in the snow after lunch.
Last year, Alex and Vicki expressed some interest in shooting as part of Tetrathlon. Tetrathlon is a Pony Club competition that includes swimming, running, jumping (the only portion that involves a horse), and pellet pistol shooting. I introduced them to shooting, but we didn’t make much progress.
This year, I decided to build a target range in our basement since we had enough room.
I started by using some old dividers to create a lane down one area. Then I used some plywood to create a backer so the pellets and bb’s are not hitting the cement walls. Finally, I added a new light to illuminate the targets.
Alex and I finished this evening and have it a test run. The plywood is bouncing the bb’s back towards the shooter. However, the pellets have enough force to embed in the wood. I am going to look for some high density foam to stop the bb’s from bouncing.
The table is adjustable in height which works well for the kids right now. We are currently spring at 20 feet, but have enough room to make it an actual 10m range, which is the competitive distance for tetrathlon.
Now, each evening after dinner, we can go downstairs for a few minutes of target practice!
Turbo and Mack after spending the morning outside working on chores.
On Friday, we took a trip to check out a couple of ponies. We have been looking for a new pony for Alex to replace Precious. We decided to bring home Dakota on a 2 week trial. He is a 6yo grade pony of uncertain breeding, but suspected Welsh/Arab cross. He is a little greener than we hoped, but we are going to try him out for a couple of weeks and then decide.
On your next family vacation, pay to send 1 large dog crate in the cargo space of the airplane. It is cheaper than buy all those seats.
Vicki loves to bake. I fact, in the past 8 days, she has baked and decorated 2 batches of cupcakes and 2 birthday cakes. Today, she worked with Grandma to bake a cake for Grandma’s birthday, and then she got to do the decorations.
Grandma and Grandpa made the drive from AL to CT to join us for Thanksgiving. The kids have been counting down the days until they arrived (Tuesday). Last night the enjoyed a game of go fish.
Every time Turbo gets pulled up into a lap, Mack decides to climb up into mine.
This evening, we decided to have a little family time. The kids have reached the age when they needed to watch The Goonies. So, after dinner, we had movie time. The brownies just came out of the oven and will be served with some ice cream during the intermission.
This morning we processed 8 roosters being raised for meat. And tonight we will eat the one Vicki named Butter. She was very excited to finally eat a leg that she had been watching grow since May.
