My morning at the stable, in pictures

Yesterday was a gorgeous spring day, with a clear blue sky and a soft breeze in the air. So while Caroline took her weekly riding lesson, I wandered around the stable with my camera. It's a fun place to explore -- various barns full of gorgeous horses, lots of weathered wood and strange rusty implements lying around out back, photographic subjects everywhere you look.

Caroline rides in a covered arena, where I've not yet figured out how to get a decent picture due to the shade inside the the sunny glare outside the ring. But I love watching her as she learns to jump.



After watching the lesson for a bit, I wandered off to say hi to the horses. This friendly fellow wanted to taste the camera.




The hay barn smelled so wonderful. Good thing I'm not allergic.



Someone has to do the raking...



I peeked into a tack room...



...and was charmed to see these blue ribbons on display.



Around back is where they keep the pieces of the big jumps for horse shows... great lines and colors.



I kept on going, and look what I found, just resting against a tree out back --



A PINK scooter! I think I need one of these. No idea whose it was, or why it was way, way back here. But doesn't it make you want to wear a sundress and zoom down a street in Rome?

Ah well. Back to my local roaming. Here's the walkway where the kids take the horses to pasture after the horses have finished up lessons for the day.



I did take a few shots to test my zoom lens on some birds in the distance... Don't they look like they're gossiping?



Then it was time to go back to the barn, as Caroline was untacking. You must pick the dirt out of each hoof, you know.



Here's a random buckle from the girth. (I don't know why I like taking pictures of rusty, peeling things.)



Then it's time to fill the horses' water buckets (Caroline loves that job).



Then the horses get turned out to rest.