What is your 'pure joy'?

[Smiles Jr.]

When I was younger there were many more things that brought me happiness than nowadays. Today it's family, my dog, and spending quiet hours in the deep woods. I'm certainly not a photographer (not even close) but several years ago I decided to leave my gun or bow at home and take a camera into the woods. Nature is amazing!

The decision to leave my hunting stuff at home is a response to an overwhelming feeling I got while looking through the sights of my bow one early morning when I was about to shoot the most magnificent buck I have ever seen. My thoughts are now - "I do not have to tear a Rembrandt painting off the wall and smash on it on the floor to enjoy it".

 

[canesisters]

@secuono , that is AMAZING ! And you have every right to be giddy and proud and scared and excited and , and , and!
There is little to compare to that first moment when you realize that you REALLY have made progress with a horse you've been working with. CONGRATS!!!!!!

 

[catjac1975]

Kissing babies. And riding my horse would be my second joy.

 

[secuono]

In general, my other joys would be laying out in pasture with the horses and sheep. I can nap and they graze happily, hearing them munching along near me. Of course, I usually end up with a giant white dog laying on me....lol.
Digging up potatoes is exciting!
Finding pumpkins and cucumbers is also exciting.
Bouncy, healthy lambs frolicking, even more awesome!



Guess I should update.
Lol, seems like my old mare needs some ground lessons for respect!
She will stand very nicely and perfectly still while I tack her up, try to get on only to come back off and adjust this n that. Accidentally kicked her hip, she's so dang tall, she doesn't mind. But go where I want at the speed I want, nope!
She has a funny way of getting me to get off her, which is, to me, far safer than how others tell you to piss off. She will walk quickly to a building or a low hanging branch, to brush me off. I, of course not wanting to be decapitated or stabbed in the eye, grab onto the building or branch and off I go. She instantly stops and stands perfectly still, waiting for me to get off my lazy butt! Must say, it's a much nicer fall off/refusal than her bolting or bucking me off!
Did some long line lunging and then lead trotting w/sudden stops and turns. Will keep up with those things before getting back on and with my crop next time! Hopefully, the trees don't mind the pruning! =0

Of course, my gelding had to show off that he was the better horse after all! I'm still not telling him where to go and when to go, since he may revolt and buck/bolt. I'm keeping it to just sitting on him, wobbling, clapping, petting him all over, swinging my legs around, generally acting a fool, etc. And he calmly eats his bit of grass, occasionally flicking an ear my way or lifting his head over to me to see what the flying monkeys I'm doing. He's definitely acting more polite with the other horses while I'm up there. We walked around the yard for a good while, I'm still learning how to keep my position on such a wide steed.

Wish it was Spring so I could go take some refresher lessons!

This is her waiting after I took the branch with me onto the ground. How nice of her to not spook, step on my head after I hit my head against her rear leg and that she waited for me to stop fooling around like a worm.... =/
"What? You fell, you say? Now, how'd that happen?? Surely couldn't of been MY fault!"
Smug little prick! lol

Someone is a bit of a wide load!

Being nice and letting the mare steal from him

This is a saddle fit pic, after the ride and the mini work out, thus why the girth isn't on. Have ones with it tightened, but her deceivingly innocent face isn't in the pic. She also waits nicely for you to remove all the tack. Then she doesn't even run off, she'll wait for you to send her off.

My butt print and some hand prints from where I was patting him. Filthy, wet horses! been raining here. Hand turns grey when I pat the grey horse, fun how that works.

As you can possibly tell, I don't take things too seriously or personally. If I did, I wouldn't get anywhere and there would be no joy from it.

 

[baymule]

I have a 26 year old Tennessee Walker mare that is the only one that dumps me off. One time, we were going down the shoulder of the road (grassy area) and I swear, she jumped sideways 15 feet. I was off balance, putting my cell phone back in my pocket after my DH called. In lieu of hanging suspended in mid air, I clutched onto her. This left me hanging on her like an attacking cougar, so she started bucking and I hit the ground.

You know those stars and birdies on cartoons that fly around a characters head when they get smacked on the head? Well, I'm here to tell you, they are real. I sat up, seeing those stars and birdies. She trotted back down the road to the gate and stood there. I stood up, staggered down the road and caught her, swung back up in the saddle and off we went. Lost my glasses. Never did find them. Had to get new ones.

To be so old, she is so spooky. She looks for boogers, looking side to side and snorting.

 

[secuono]

Haha, oh man. Glad you're ok and she didn't run off completely!
I wear contacts because I can't imagine how many times I would of lost glasses or ruined them since having my farm the last 4+ years!! They would hardly last a week! =0
Those darned horses! Spook at a feather, think a leaf will eat them and nearly die from a paper cut! Good grief!!
I've heard the birds show if you get a concussion? Hopefully you didn't hit that hard and it was just a bump on the head.

I can almost hear my old mare saying "ughhh, you crazy a** human..."
She's such an expressive, yet understanding snob!

 

[baymule]

Every time I get new glasses, it's because something happened to the old ones.......

 

[ninnymary]

Every time I get new glasses, it's because something happened to the old ones.......

That's usually the case baymule. duh...

Mary

 

[baymule]

That's usually the case baymule. duh...

Mary

Twice I've been smacked by a tree branch and glasses flew off my head, never to be seen again....... Once the dogs got them and chewed them to bits. One time I broke them myself. Once, building fence...... I really should get lasik surgery....

 

[ninnymary]

I had lasik 10 years ago and now I need glasses especially for reading. It was still worth it not to have to hassle with contacts or glasses for all those years. Saved my money $600 for my fushia glasses that I loved. Six months later, I broke them at the gym. Of course I told my husband I had no idea how they broke.

Mary