Look at our crazy mimosa plant just growing away... and our pea plants are getting flowers... can't wait to have some fresh garden peas... though they are going to be a definite treat 'cause the birds got into the seeds before they could get growing and ate almost all of them, so luckily I had a few back-ups... but there's not going to be too many.
Look, we have strawberries!! And there's green life when you look out our window :)
The little plant you see in the front (not doing well) is our new mimosa... the one behind it, that is a couple months old, is SO much bigger now! The root bound plant you see is the large mimosa... it grew faster than we expected, and so this is it's second transplant... And in the blue barrel are our lillies, which will hopefully bloom for Kat's wedding so she can decorate with specially grown lillies :)
Chocolate mint (can't wait to make cookies) and a look at most of the garden, and then it's our strawberry plants!
Our beautiful clematis. It is SO cool.
Our anniversary weekend... Couldn't get away (money and availability of places were an issue) but we had a great time. We went for a nice walk and had coffee and dessert at Ogden Point Cafe, and then went and looked at the cruise ships that were in, and chatted about going on a cruise... heard bagpipes coming from one of the boats. It was cool. The sky in this one picture reminded us of the sky in Moorea one evening when we were out taking pictures...
Some pictures of the cruise ships... and us leaning on the light-house thing at the end of the breakwater.... it was really dark so we had to take a long exposure and stay really still :)
We went and explored the nearest beach to us, which we'd never been to. It was fun. Very nice day.
Before the show we got to see a few of the stallions out by the trailer getting ready because we were so early. They had an awesome trailer. And we had awesome seats, right on the floor, where we could feel them as they passed... I moved my chair up into the first row for most of these pictures, 'cause we were on the edge.
Some of the millions of pictures I snapped off of them getting ready and so on. They were so well behaved and so well trained. Very laid-back as they were led around, and in and out of the trailer and so on.
Here they led an untacked stallion around to show us the brands, as Lipizzaners, especially the Austrian Lipizzaners, are typically the most branded horses there are. Each have an L on their left cheek, and on their left side, usually covered by the saddle pad, is their lineage. There are only 6 founding stud bloodlines, each with a letter associated, for that founding studs first name. This stallion was a M. Then just below is his dams bloodline mark, in this case an arrow type mark. Then, the most prestigious, being the Piber Stud Farm brand, if they are from their, on their left flank. A crown with a P under it. Piber Stud Farm is the stud farm for the Riding School Of Vienna. A lot of the stallions we saw at the show were from there. On the right side, the only one we can see in the picture, is a number, from the place he was born, to identify that specific horse. Again, so well behaved, and gorgeous!
Here is the Steps of Two (they have a fancy foreign way of saying it but I can't spell it of the top of my head). The head rider is riding my favorite of the show, who is actually an andulsion stallion, the main for-founding breed of the lippizaner. He's the one with the darker mane and tail.
The Steps of Four. A military drill of old. In the first picture they are making an X and moving down the arena. Very cool. They are so precise, and you can't even really see the riders telling them what to do, which is the point, but it's still amazing.
This was a definite favorite. Upbeat music from the '60's (jazz), a beautiful stallion with glitter in it's mane and tail, the rider in a top hat and a coat with tails, dancing to music. Very fun. Very well done. The horse bowed after. He was a very beautiful mover. Did the march step and the one where they stretch out their front legs, plus some rears and leaps, nice turns and side-passes, etc.
So hard to capture... wish I had an SLR... this is the landing after a mounted capriole. The capriole is a spring into the air with all four feet, then a kick outwards with the hind legs. A very hard to learn and master old battlefield trick. And a very sweet looking one at that.
More of that beautiful andalusion stallion.
Take a bow. *CHEER* This was after he did a beautiful classical dressage solo demonstration.
This is all from the finale, with 8 riders out there doing beautiful patterns and forms. Some very cool, tricky stuff... if you've ever tried to ride in synch with even one other person you know it's tough, and here they are doing circles with the center horse(s) hardly moving and the outer horses having to step up the pace. It was so cool. They were beautiful. Amazing.
Some of the most popluar stuff... The Airs Above the Ground.
Basically showing the very difficult old battle maneuvers that required the best courage, agility strength, and balance from a stallion. Only the best can learn these, and it usually takes 6-9 years to complete all their training. Now, they have their youngest stallion ever in the show, nicknamed "Baby", doing the capriole, and some other under saddle stuff... "Baby" is the one right above the text with his tail all done up so it won't interfere with his capriole.
And some mounted Airs Above the Ground.
So yeah, it was an awesome show, and I can't wait to get home and ride my mare... though we won't look a thing like those stallions... we'll be all over the place and sloppy and she'll misbehave, and I'm sure I'll blow my riding posture a bunch of times... but it'll be fun all the same. The stallions are so amazing and graceful and have the loveliest movement. Very responsive. I loved it.
This is a video I took of the second mounted capriole, seeing as pictures were impossible to capture the thing... it's not as big and flashy as the first one he did, but you'll get the point. It's cool.
This is that awesome 'Jazz Ride' that I have pictures of... It is so fun and very well-done.
Here is someone else's video of a mounted capriole
And an AWESOME display of dressage! Man that mare can 'dance'... beautiful movement!!
A World Record Scoring ride of Grand Prix Dressage... beautiful ride. Wow.
