First hunt

Miss Libby on her first hunt.

Chicken Foot

This is what Libby's foot looks like now.  Truly, it's kinda weird looking.  She has been back in training for 2 weeks and you would never know that it was gone watching her.  The nicknames are aplenty though...but "Lucky" still reigns.

I ran Darbi as test dog in one series of a Derby on her 11th birthday.  

She crept and almost broke.  Made me smile.  That alone was worth it.

What really got me though, was that she had no recognition of the "long" gun when I was lining her up for it.  She just couldn't see it.  It wasn't all that long, and not hard to see...but it reminded me the main reason why we retired her...she couldn't see the long guns anymore.  But I was most shocked at how much it has deteriorated since this spring.  Instead of not being able to see the long gun in the Open (looonnnnggg ones), she can't see the long gun in the derby.  Big change for the worse.

I lined her up as best I could and sent her...and her great training took her right to the bird and she pinned it.  I wonder how much she covered for me in the last months she ran trials on training alone?

Sad for me...my horse Zed has been sold and is on to a great, new home.  He could be a bit of a nut at times and he was hard to train the first couple of years...but he brought me so much enjoyment.  He was never, ever unsafe...the steering and the brakes were just not always working.

This is my NEW horse Odie!!  He was only two weeks off the racetrack when this picture was taken and he was pretty incredible on our first ride.  The anti-Zed, really.  I am so looking forward to having a less"hot" horse to ride and I could already tell that Odie will not need two laps to get stopped after a jump like Zed.

After that maiden ride, I turned out Odie in the pasture at our house for a couple of months to have a well deserved vacation after his racing career.  I can see him outside my window as I type this.  Even though he's only here for a couple more weeks before he goes in for training...it has been so much fun having him around.