First time playing in several years

Willie's Endoscope: His last day on earth!

https://vimeo.com/121552113

Only the first half seems to be viewable. He was bleeding from the Guttural pouch on both sides. Fungal infection eats through to the arteries....not much they can do at this point, I had to make the hard decision to put Willie down. He laid down for the vets, they sedated him and he peacefully went to sleep. RIP Willie....you were my best buddy!

Best way to get on a 16 hand horse!

40 years of service award

Very tiny lapel pin....and no they are not real diamonds! I would have liked maybe a trip to Hawaii or maybe a cheque for 40 Grand....that is only $1000.00 a year....not that much to ask!

Lori's BD 2014 35 years old.

Lori on Leanne's horse "Money" and me on Lori's horse "Reba" We had a great supper at the Harvest House Restaurant with Lys, Dave, and Grandpa!

Eagle at Higher Trails: Thanks to Ron for enhancing it a bit.

Carol Snape: RIP

SNAPE, Carol Joan 
Our beloved mother, grandmother, sister, daughter and friend, Carol Joan Snape, passed away peacefully at the age of 66 years on Sunday, December 29, 2013 in Calgary, AB. Carol is greatly missed by her mother, Helen Snape; siblings, Jean Snape, Frank Snape, Bonnie (Brent) Schenher and Penny (Ron) Snape; sons, Richard, Kelly (Caroline) and Derek (Terra); grandsons, Andrew, Kale, Braydon, Spencer and Brandon, as well as her many other cherished friends and relatives. She was predeceased by her loving father, Aubrey Laurence Snape. We share in her great happiness at her reunion with her father, by the promise of our Father in Heaven. Born July 16, 1947 in Calgary, Carol was raised in a dedicated Christian family. With her father's work for CN Rail, the family lived in many small towns across Saskatchewan. In 1965, she married Ted Moorman in Melfort and together they raised three children so very fortunate to have Carol as their caring and loving mother. Carol helped support the family as she worked as an accountant until her early retirement. In recent years, Carol was always at her happiest at the Higher Trails Equine ranch. She loved being at the ranch and helped care for many rescue horses. Thanks to her friend Bob, Carol was able to spend so many days at the ranch. She especially loved her grandchildren and experienced much joy when sharing time with them. She kept Christmas in her heart and it showed in her loving, happy smile. A Celebration of Carol's Life will be held at FOSTER'S GARDEN CHAPEL, 3220 – 4 Street N.W., Calgary (across from Queen's Park Cemetery) on Monday, January 6, 2014 at 3:00 p.m. Pastor Chad Verge of Living Springs Christian Fellowship will lead the Service. If friends so desire, in lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made directly to Higher Trails Equine, Box 551, Okotoks, AB T1S 1A7. Funds received will provide medical treatment and ongoing care of the rescue horses so loved by Carol. Expressions of sympathy may be forwarded to the family via the website www.fostersgardenchapel.ca. FOSTER'S GARDEN CHAPEL FUNERAL HOME & CREMATORIUM. Telephone: 403-297-0888. Honoured Provider of Dignity Memorial. 

Horses are truly a gift from God. Nothing helps me more than sitting on a horse. Seriously - it is way better than the pain pills, physio therapy etc. If only you didn't have to get off...well - and on! This is me riding this lil guy named Charcoal at Griffin Valley Ranch when I was little. I remember this poor little guy was so sour on trail riding that he used to pretend that he was lame to get out of it (so it was said).
Lori

My sister Shirley on Prince...my first horse. Believe that is ME?

My girls at Dad's and Grandpa's gravesite in Moose Jaw.

Want a good laugh....Grad Pic from U of U 1973...just got back from the Yukon!

Paramedic Class of 1974. Looked a bit younger then I guess! eh?

This is me on Grad page 4B 1963-64 yearbook.

This is Carol When I knew her in High School.

Today my longtime friend Carol Snape passed away. She loved Higher Trails Ranch, and the horses, She can say Hi to Molly in Heaven!
RIP CaROL!

Cutter restoration

Restored by Pete Keyes of Winnipeg. Great job and a labour of love.

Cutter History;

Well it was sold to by a local fellow. He was an elderly gentleman at the time, which was about 15 years ago, I,am pretty sure he has since passed away. I can,t remember his name but he was a Shriner and was huge into driving. He had four abreast horse draw chariots that he did at shriner events. The sleigh was out behind his arena just sitting there rotting. He was referred to me by a friend that had seen the sleigh.

  At the time I had Blazer, the best horse anybody could ever own, he could do anything, ride and drive. He was literally " BOMB" proof, if somebody would loose their confidence just put them on Blazer and all was good. Unfortunately Blazer got sick, eventually passed away and never did pull the Sleigh. 

 I have some pic,s of the before and after of the cutter rebuild, the paint is sprayed automotive acrylic enamel paint. The pictures show it all and I have doubles.

 There is a very interesting story behind the snowball catcher, that is the metal ornament that sits at the front of the sleigh. The original one was pretty much toast. One summer day a couple of years after the sleigh had been rebuilt, an elderly man, 75 or 80 and I might add Jewish descent, appeared at my door. He had been directed to my house by a friend that new I was into sleighs, horses and Buggies etc. The gentleman was actually trying to sell me a buggy he had as an ornament in his back yard pool area, this guy was a real character, he invited me to his house. Well, the buggy came complete with a full size horse, plastic, and a female manikin sitting in the buggy partially dressed with one breast exposed. So the reason I went to his house was he claimed to have a snowball fence for my cutter. Sure enough we make our way to the basement storage and he pulls out a MINTY snowball fence ,$120 later, identical to the one I desperately needed and could never find.

A little more, Cutter History;

  The original purchase price was only $200 that does,nt seem much but when you see the original pictures it was pretty delapitated and actually he only wanted the 200 because he had just paid that for the brand new shafts.

  I new I needed Brass Bells. This is important when pulling down the road, as you probably no it is a warning of your approach and in the old days Sleighs were actually identified by the sounds of  there bells. I picked those up from a horse friend for $90 which was what he supposedly had paid at an auction sale.

Getting this Cutter: 1919 McLaughlin Cutter, fully restored, new shafts that come with brass bells

Willie Pulling a Stone Boat I made from a Pallett

All the horses were wondering why Willie was laying down.

Hell or Highwater!

Come Hell or Highwater, leading a rescue mare at Higher Trails ranch.

Weather modification

Weather modification...watch the video Click on this!

Haley & Willie Bowing!

Nero riding on stone boat Sadly he was found to have colic and was put down. Condolences to Kathy the owner.

For those of you that didn't "see" the stamp on my Christmas card!

Our house at Belle Plaine

New saddle

Sprinkling Willie

Tree dinosaur

Crash Cart

What happened was I had Spence...Carol's 10 yr old grandson in the cart...I decided to fill a tire with air...and the hose came apart or something and went swishhhhhhh....Willie took off with Spence in it...Dom couldn't hold him. He had no reins or no controll.....he ran around the barn and around the round pen, when somehow a wheel came off....Spence bailed at the right time and only had some scrapes to his leg.....Willle ran off like a bat outa hell......almost ran over a few people and headed straight for the pasture.....the cart came apart on the way....and when we caught him everything was demolished. My fault totally and I'm just glad no one was seriously hurt. The Equine First aid class had a great time fixing his scrapes to Willie's back leg.

Spence said: "are we still going for a cart ride" What a gutsy kid!

GMC Sierra HD 2500 & Royal T Competitor 3 horse Trailer