Landscaping Calgary Style

Some may call us scavengers. Some may call us opportunists. Some may call us creative. Some may call us crazy canucks. We call ourselves landscapers. Visionaries. Okay that is going a little too far. Even the Mexican grooms gathered to watch us (and have a giggle).

Thank you to John Charlebois and Pancho for their inspiration in this project and making it possible (as well as their leftover sod)

More Cactus shots

Prickly, Colourful, Unique

Each Cactus has it's own unique characteristics. Some even throw their needles at you if you get too close. Not very friendly, but interesting to look at. Thanks to Ali for the great 'artsy' shots.

More party pics!!

This is before the party. Crazy Canadians I think they were called.
Jenn and Marlene
Yes you can attend the party in the Cantina underage in the U.S.

Party in the Cantina

Ali & Katherine
Kyle Timm
Lori & Amy

(What's the joke?)

Steph checking out the ring crews' jeans.
Amy & Katherine - Always working as a team!!!

The wrap party from Week 3 was a boisterous time once again in the Cantina.

Live Band and Karokee.

Who could ask for more.

Another Blue!

Congrats to Ali & Wendy (aka Tina Turner) for winning yet another blue!
Wendy has enjoyed the treats coming to the ring.
Katherine did a great job riding Wendy last week.

Thanks Katherine

Arizona Desert Museum Part 4

Here Kitty Kitty!
Endangered Species the Grey Wolf
Cute. We have lots at home.

Arizona Desert Museum Part 3

Parrot Pics for Laura
Wild Turkeys
Mountain Lion enjoying the sun.

Arizona Desert Museum Part 2

Do not get lost Amy!

Arizona Desert Museum Part 1

Our first official tourist outing. Week 4 - it is about time. All other excursions included retail therapy. We hope you enjoy our tour of the Arizona Desert Museum. The caves and minerals were amazing. No wonder they have the largest Gem show here in Tucson. The hills are filled with precious minerals and stones in Arizona.

The many faces of Ali Part 2

Always entertaining the crowd.
Look for the party pictures next.

Random Jumper Stuff

Drew - Our favourtie in-gate guy. Sorry Angelica, but Robbie didn't make the cut this year.
Boyd was a close second.

Happy Birthday!

X-Rays First foal born on Alyssa's Birthday. What a great present. Now we know why Janine had to go home early. Good job to all.

Stylin' Ring Crew

Sorry Jonsey, but the guy in the green/white was a stylin' dude today. And quite a sport to let us take his photo. Katherine was amiss in the close-up of the eyes. Maybe it will be Katherine's target for tomorrow. Stay tuned.......

Ode to Golf Cart!

You are small with wheels.

You carry our stuff.

You provide a place for us to rest our duff.

Trips to the show office,

To the trailer for feed.

And trips to the bathroom so we can pe.......

Our final week 4 approaches

And you will not be here.

Where oh where will we store the beer.

Thanks to C-Horse Gang.

Thank you to Wendy Johnson for feeding us so well. We miss Janine, Kent and Christines'cooking and will miss Lori the chef after this week. We are on our own next week. I predict many nights in the Cantina I think.

Most of the gang!

Bonnie & Lindsay

Irene & Sarah

Catherine

Katherine & Amy

The many faces of Ali Part 1

What can we say. The entertainment value of hanging with Ali Hedden kinda like the Mastercard commercial. What is the cost of showing in Tucson. Tens of thousands of dollars. What is the cost of braiding your horse. An arm and a leg (braiders make more money than trainers). What is the cost of spending time with Ali. PRICELESS!!!!

Maybe too tall?

Katherine is checking them out in all shapes and sizes. What do you think. Maybe too tall?

The blogger is back!!!!

We are back. The Tucson Flu bug has struck. So sorry for not keeping everyone up to date on but we have many stories to get you all caught up. See you soon.

We got the blues!

It was blues all around. For Stephanie Mah and Brielaida and Ali and Wendy who both got blue ribbons (first place in the U.S.) in their classes today. Wendy also got a red one (she thought she was still in Canada). We look forward to more success tomorrow.

Will you marry me? Part 2

Katherine has moved aside on our mystery man and moved on to a fine fellow named Greg (at least we know his name this time). This is taken at a wonderful restaurant called BLANCO - Tacos and Tequila.

Our tour guide Lori (with sidekick Shelby) arrived today. The first lesson was how to get to the 'fancy' mall with the 'good' stores. The second thing she talk us was the native saying of Tucson.

WHEN THE MOUNTAINS ARE PINK, IT IS TIME TO DRINK.

We like customs and traditions (just like Spruce Meadows), so we will heed the call.

We start to show again tomorrow. Good luck to all.

End of week 2

The results at the end of week 2.
Ali is tired. Trish is forced into drinking. Katherine is smiling because she just got here.












Tomorrow is schooling day and then a well deserved rest for all. Sun is shining. Let us hope it stays that way.

Will you marry me?

We do not know who this is but both Katherine and Ali think he should be their husband. (They took the photo).

Stay on.

Today was not a day to take a flyer off your horse. Many people hit the dirt - or mud in this case. Yuck. We all stayed on but it was close for Steph in the jumper ring. Not once (a great roll back turn by her horse) but twice with (I will try to jump the combination from this distance). Good job for staying on everyone.

Focus!

It takes focus and dedication to be successful. Telly and Alyssa have proved their drive to succeed. And with young talented horses while others are mounted on seasoned competitors. We are so proud.

Project Barn Alley

Katherine our ultimate stylist is prepping the girls for their day at the ring. I hope it gets better than this.

It Takes A Team Part 2

Together Everyone Achieves More. Teamwork. In the sunshine finally. The Ski hill (Mt. Lemmon) was open in Tucson today. Yes they have a ski hill (of the small variety). Everyone lends a hand. Janine (I do not want to braid I am on vacation) Olson is happy that Katherine is here to braid manes finally. Janine still does an awesome job of the tail braid. You will see it on the next post.

It Takes A Team Part 1

Together everyone achieves more. Congratulations to Stephanie Mah and Brielaida for their Reserve Championship in the jumper ring. Kudos and thank you to Marlene and Dennis Drew who are great supporters of Steph and Jenn, who I enjoyed playing in the muddy warm-up ring setting jumps today. You have all been a pleasure to work with.

Lori where are you?

As our Tucson Tour Guide does not get in until Tuesday, we have been forced to find our own dining spots. Telly's favourite of course is a place called "Chuy's". A bit bizarre with the paintings everywhere. One reads "If you want a piece of chicken, you have to be a rooster" - you can figure that one out yourself. Bill and Kent liked the bucket of beer for something like 5 bucks.
When you order food, your table marker is a stuffed animal. We were a bit freaked out about the number of germs it must be carrying. The U.S. is strange with little kids allowed in the bar/pub/restaurant. Running everywhere. A bit annoying actually.
The Margaritas are yummy! Mexican food all around and a nacho bar with as many kinds of salsa as you can think of. We had fun, but hope the dining classes up a bit. Of course, there is pizza and Karokee at the Cantina at the horse show tomorrow night.

What were we thinking???

14 degrees in Calgary; 12 degrees in Red Deer; 4 degrees in Tucson AZ

What were we thinking???

We rode in the rain, sleet, and the snow.

Just like the postman we will always deliver.

Several changes of clothes.

Smiles all around (kinda).

Many people scratching their horses from jumper classes.

Hunters were muddy but still showed.

Ribbons were won.

See Laura and Trish kinda smiling.

Ali and Alyssa making pretty faces.

Katherine and Telly always smiling.

Levi smiling 'cause he is done.

The Windy City is not Chicago.

Imagine having to have 4 people hold each standard on your jump in the warm-up ring.

Imagine having the jumps blow down as you are approaching them in the showring.

Imagine the liverpool sailing across the sky from the Grand Prix ring.

Tumbleweeds Tumbling. (I think there is a song about that)

It was free Micro Derm Abrasion day in Tucson. Who needs a spa when you have 50 mph Winds. 10 hours of showing in the wind. I love my job.

No we are not going to be Mimes.

It is just Janine & Trish relaxing having facials!

Young Hunters

Extra Credit (Eclipse)
Wodachrome (Blondie)

Only been jumping since Dec.

Her mantra "I don't know what I'm doing, but I'm sure gonna try my hardest to be good."

So cute.

First Blue riboon for Eclipse & Alyssa

with her proud Grandparents.

Enticing (Wendy)

Young jumpers

Crusz first time in Grand Prix Ring!

Change Your Stars schooling session.
Livingstone Hacking
Livingstone schooling session.

We are so proud of all of them.

Kansas Boy

They say you should laugh everyday to stay healthy and happy. Well we met a young man (5 years of age) from Kansas that had us laughing so much it will last for the rest of the trip. Here is just a little of the conversation. (Please add your own accent)

"I won these here toy cars - you know from the Pixar movie Cars - in the lead line class - 'cause I was the best one! I am from Kansas and we drove here in two days. I got to stay up all night and watch movies. I watched E.T. My daddy bought me the Transformers movie for Christmas but I am not allowed to watch it 'cause its raded PG. It has the E word, the C word, and the D word init. We asked him what the E word was but he said "I'm not allowed to tell you 'cause I can't say it."
(We later found out these letters stood for Ediot; Stupid; and Damitt).

He later accosted Laura at the concession. "Can I have some French Fries - I only want a couple. He gave many reasons as to why he was allowed fries when he was good. There clearly is a horse dealer in the making.

Friends!

Finally a Starbucks sighting and we were very popular at the horse show. If we made a dollar for everytime we gave people directions we could have paid for this trip.

Thanks to Laura Day - who saved the day (no pun intended) for helping us out taking great care of the horses and keeping us organized.
Spa day with Marlene Drew, Stephanie Mah, and Jen. How relaxing and fun. Thanks girls.

Ali and Cruz

Laura Day

Sundance Welcome Week 1

Well not bad for a bunch of horses at their first show. Congrats to Telly and Wendy for their Reserve Championship. All babies placed in their hunter divisions. Good showing as well for the jumpers. Thanks to Ali for your great riding skills in educating the horses. A challenge for all sometimes.

Alyssa and Extra Credit (Eclipse)

Telly and Enticing (Wendy)

Ali and Front Page (Avery)

El Cheapo goes to Nagalas

Alyssa has taken over the official title of "El Cheapo" from her dad Kent. How much does that poncho cost?? One dolla' 50cent. Do you know they have all the best in designer wear in purses?? As well as sunglasses. How much? One dolla' 50 cent. Much tequila was consumed by
K&J. The rest of us were showing horses and working..... working.... working....

Happy Horses!

Finally the second load of horses arrive and they look happy!! Thank you to Laura Day for being so knowledgable and hard-working. Keeping us all happy. Whoops for Troubles trampling and free-lunging around the property. Yeah for Mexican grooms. They are fast!!!

Horse Show in the Sun???

As I sat in the EC convention coaching meetings, nervous about news from the sunny south. How are all my young horses doing in their first hunter show? It was hard to not be there.

Then news!! They all behaved. They jumped great. They all got ribbons.

They looked amazing thanks to Laura, Telly, Ali, Alyssa, Tyler (brother who is groom in training) and parental support Kent, Christine. Special thank you to Janine (I don't want to braid I am on vacation) Olson.

Pictures from the Trip from h....

The trip from h..........

If your brand new truck has a warning light on the dash. Do you dash? Or don't you dash? That is the question. Kent in his wrangler jean wisdom chooses to investigate, so the departure is a day late. Who knew that mother nature would raise havoc with our trucker dude and test his driving skills. We are not sure he will ever volunteer for this job again. His sidekicks Ali and Alyssa are not sure it is in the cards for them again either.

Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow! Who ever wrote that song had a bad sense of humour. See the photos. You will not believe it. The highways were being closed behind us as we drove. Food choices were seriously lacking between the discontinued chicken chunks; giant pickles, and living potato salad. Baskin Robbins saves the day for our dining pleasure.

Two very very long days of driving and texting (hi to Telly) we made it only to find a very cold and wet Tucson. Was Trish kidding? She said it would be warm.

There were interesting items found. Just ask us about 'red' and zippers'. That is all we can disclose at this time.