Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Birds Of Prey

There are so many birds of prey at this time of year and we finally managed to capture some on the camera.

These are Swainson Hawks and quite a size.J&E

Here Come the Cowgirls!

Well, not quite! This was Jan's very brave day out horse riding with Alison, Margaret, Jessica & Paige. All went well apart from where she very nearly came a cropper in 4ft of mud when her horse lost its footing and started to stumble!

The day began at 10am - Jan being just 5 feet 1 inch tall, the first challenge was getting on the horse! But Jan and the rest of the gals all managed with relative ease.The second challenge was to get the stirrups short enough, more of a challenge than you might think.Here is the leader of the ride and the one who kindly made holes in Jan's stirrups to make them (much!) shorter.And they're off... This is Jan's horse Scarlett, who, apart from a few stumbles, looked after her very well.They all made it over some pretty rough terrain, up and down hills, through streams and deep mud, dodging tree trunks and branches, but they all survived to tell the tale.The final challenge was getting off the horse after nearly four hours in the saddle. It was like learning to walk all over again!
J&E