Western Day!

Elle rocked Western Day at school thanks to all her horse gear.  The downside of the horse riding is all the "horse dirt" that gets into our cars.

Horses Require More Than Just Rides!

Horse Camp! Volume 2

Elle recently attended her 2nd horse camp of the summer.  They are fairly easy to social distance at, so long as you don't count animals.  Her horse, Bear, is featured in the first pic.  In the 2nd is Max the dog.  For some reason, he rally took to Elle!

Jewel!

Elle's horse camp horse was Jewel this year!  Despite a rainy week it was still probably her favorite camp.

Horse Camp

Elle scored a horse named Jewel and her team got to paint a horse!

California Chrome!

Excitement was running high out here about the prospects of a Triple Crown winner from California... Although it didn't happen we're still proud of that horse!

Here, the kids enjoy the pre-race excitement aboard their own version of California Chrome...courtesy of Granny!

A Girl and Her Horse!

Elle has taken a liking to the horse Granny made for Jack several years ago.  She keeps him in a stall in the dining room and takes him out riding on occasion.

A Cameron Park Breakfast! Wait for it..!

Jack and I intended to go to breakfast at the Purple Place but got off to a late start and the place was packed with not even parking available!   So we continued driving and ended up at McDonalds in Cameron Park!  We pick up as we wrap up breakfast...

The Making of the Horse Arms

A few months back, I saw a nifty horse head mask on the web for about 25 bucks and decided to buy it. Here it is.





The mask by itself was great, but for Halloween I wanted to add something else to the disguise. Namely, horse arms with hooves. After thinking about it for awhile, I came up with a plan.

For the structure of the arms, I found a big tree branch on the ground while walking Yuki. Here it is in the garage after I carried it home.





For the hooves, I used two Ben & Jerry's containers which I painted black.
I also bought a cheap brown fleece blanket, some craft glue, and some fuzzy brown yarn.



I sawed off stick arms from the branch. Here they are by the painted Ben & Jerry's hooves.



Next I attached the hooves to the arms.




I secured them with black with black electrical tape.




Next I cut the fleece to cover the arms.




I coated it all with a lot of glue and rolled it up like a burrito. It stuck surprisingly well.



Next, I glued a few strips of the furry yarn down one side of the arm to give it the true barnyard look .



Here are the completed arms. I let them dry overnight.



Here's the completed costume. I held the arms with my hands and pulled the sleeves down over them. It was a big hit. Many people thought the arms were store-bought, which I took as a compliment.