Lots of horsie pics - Quorn Gymkana

A couple of weeks ago we went to see our Grandson ride in the Quorn gymkana. 

 Quorn is a pretty little town nestled in the Flinder's Ranges. My eldest and youngest daughters live there.  From here it is approximately a twenty minute drive through the hills.

Gymkana's bring back memories for me as I used to do this when I was younger, and it was so much fun! 

The day was hot with the temperature set to reach 42C (107.6F)! We prepared ourselves well with sunscreen, hat and some shade to sit under to enjoy the show J 

Blake and his horse...

 Getting instructions for the bending race

Ready?

Go!!

Blake is still a learner but is doing well.

 And here he is...our handsome boy J

 It was exciting to watch the older riders do their stuff...

My daughter, number 19 waiting for her first ride in nine years.

 Lining up

 She did well but will need a lot more practice J

 Blake needed some help from his Dad in the next race...

Race down and get the pole and return them to the drum...

More big people fun!

Love it!

  Blake with Dad and Mum getting ready for a medley event.

Get in the sack...

and go, go, go!

He joined up with this young cowgirl...

She had to dismount and pick up the billy of water,

Get back on, spilling as little water as possible.

Then gallop back to the start, 

dismount still being careful not to  

spill any...

Then back down to the end, dismount and pick up an apple in her mouth. 

 I remember doing this in my younger days except the apple was in a bucket of water and that was hard to bite into!

Back on with apple in mouth and gallop to finish!

They finished second!

 And Blake couldn't wait to get his prize, some money in an envelope J

A great day was enjoyed by all, and Blake had his grandparents and great grandparents watching which made it extra special J

I love horses and wish that I had one today. Do you like horses?  

I think you either love them or hate them!  

xTania

Gem of the Week

I found this in the West Coast Sentinel, the local paper for my old home town. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

A teacher collected some well known proverbs and gave each child in her class the first half of a proverb. She asked the kids to come up with the rest of the proverb - with some interesting results.

Strike while the ..... bug is close

It's always darkest before...... daylight savings time.

An idle mind is..... the best way to relax.

You can lead a horse to water but...... how?

Don't bite the hand that ....looks dirty.

A miss is as good as a..... Mr.

Where there's smoke, there's..... pollution.

Happy the bride who..... gets all the presents.

A penny saved is..... not much.

Two's company, three's..... the musketeers.

Children should be seen and not...... spanked or grounded.

When the blind lead the blind..... get out of the way.

Fortunately God's word, the Bible, is a lot more reliable.

Good Evening,

Tania

Memories - a bit of fun

I received this email today from my daughter. I have had similar ones like this before, still some of the things made me chuckle!

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE KIDS WHO WERE BORN IN THE 1920's, 30's 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's !!

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us and lived in houses made of asbestos. They took aspirin, ate blue cheese, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes or cervical cancer.

Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paints. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets or shoes, not to mention, the risks some of us took hitchhiking.

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a Ute on a warm day was always a special treat. We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.

Take away food was limited to fish and chips, no pizza shops, McDonalds, KFC, Subway or Red Rooster. Even though all the shops closed at 6.00pm and didn't open on the weekends, somehow we didn't starve to death!

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this. We could collect old drink bottles and cash them in at the corner store and buy Fruit Tingles and some fire crackers to blow up frogs and lizards with.

We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soft drinks with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because......

WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K. We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes.

We built tree houses and cubby houses and played in creek beds with matchbox cars. We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape or DVD movies, no surround sound, no mobile phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms..........

WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no Lawsuits from these accidents. Only girls had pierced ears! We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

You could only buy Easter Eggs and Hot Cross buns at Easter time.......no really!

We were given BB guns and sling shots for our 10th birthdays, We drank milk laced with Strontium 90 from cows that had eaten grass covered in nuclear fallout from the atomic testing at Maralinga in 1956.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them!

Mum didn't have to go to work to help dad make ends meet!

Footy had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!

Our teachers used to belt us with big sticks and leather straps and bully's always ruled the playground at school. The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

Our parents got married before they had children and didn't invent stupid names for their kids like 'Kiora' and 'Blade'.....

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever! The past 70 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned

HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!

And YOU are one of them!

CONGRATULATIONS!

You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives for our own good. And while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave their parents were.

Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?! PS -

The big type is because your eyes are shot at your age