Logo

BLOGGIN' ALONG - Welcome


New to the Varian Arabians Blog?

Create your Blog Account

Register Now

Blog Instructions:

To READ blog posts and comments, no action necessary.

To POST comments, you must be registered. Click "Register Now" above to join.

To SUBSCRIBE to specific bloggers and receive notifications on new posts, click the "mail" icon in the toolbar above the blog (registration required).

Blog Tag Cloud

Recent Blog Posts

BLOGGIN' ALONG

Lisa Thompson
Lisa Thompson

It's a Big World Out There

IMG_1902
Even though the weatherman said "zero percent chance of rain", we didn't believe him. The skies were black and threatening. We saddled up anyway, and zipped into our rain gear. Arizona Mac V, (Ames Perfection x Major Mac V) just turned three in March. He is pretty worldly for his age. We brought him to Idaho two years ago as a yearling and ponied h...
Continue reading
0
Tags:
major mac v Varian Arabians
Tweet
  3387 Hits
  0 Comments
Lisa Thompson

How Do You Do?

IMG_1816
Sometimes you meet the nicest people. Last year when I went to the Buck Brannaman clinic in Dayton, I met the Phinneys, Robert and Janet. They host Buck's clinic each year in Dayton and are fine clinicians themselves. They are a very quiet couple, good looking, and rode a pair of very nice horses. I ran into them again at the Cowboy Dressage Clinic...
Continue reading
0
Tags:
Sheila Varian major mac v Varian Arabians The Horse Fellowship
Tweet
  2963 Hits
  0 Comments
Lisa Thompson

The Big Flat

34308073_10214590830377542_2095653206737551360_n-1
The Big Flat... it didn't sound that enticing to me when I heard the name, but since the trails up high in the Blue Mountains east of us were still pretty littered with downfall, and since I completely trust my new friend Anita, who knows everything about riding in and around Walla Walla, and since flat was probably just fine with Ar...
Continue reading
0
Tags:
varian arabians Lodmell Cellars
Tweet
  2888 Hits
  0 Comments
Lisa Thompson

Plan B

IMG_1771
Walla Walla has an historical old Fairgrounds that's been standing proudly since 1866. I've used their arenas a number of times to ride Arizona and Roy but today, as I pulled in, there was a long line of enormous trailers all checking in and setting up for a big AQHA show. Time to switch to plan B. I turned the trailer around and drove out to Benni...
Continue reading
0
Tags:
varian arabians
Tweet
  2982 Hits
  0 Comments
Lisa Thompson

Cowboy Dressage

CDpiglet Arizona learned about more than dressage moves
"Oh! Is that a Varian Arabian?" Jenni noticed the "V" on Arizona's left hip. "Yes, he is." I replied, smiling wide, head down, keeping my focus on the horse as we walked past the spectators in their chairs just outside the arena. "How old is he?" "He's three." I looked up at her, still with a big smile on my face. "Very nice! Thank you for bringing...
Continue reading
0
Tweet
  3319 Hits
  0 Comments
Lisa Thompson

So Much to Learn

IMG_1495
​One thing that delighted me about Sheila was her never ending quest for knowledge. Constantly and consistently curious about all things, even the one thing she was most known for, horses. I'd watch her in that big arena, completely focused on Jubilation or whichever horse she was on, making the perfect circle, keeping the perfect frame, placing ea...
Continue reading
0
Tags:
varian arabians major mac v
Tweet
  2662 Hits
  0 Comments
Lisa Thompson

Making Memories

MuriettaV6
Walking through the green spring grass, Murietta and I silently shared our memories of Sheila. The day was warm and still. I reached down and petted his neck and he dropped his head and blew out a big sigh. We were like two old friends reminiscing over coffee about a loved one they'd lost and about the travels we'd had with her, to Texas, Montana, ...
Continue reading
1
Tags:
Sheila Varian varian arabians V6 Ranch
Tweet
  3262 Hits
  0 Comments
Lisa Thompson

Back in the Saddle Again

BiddleDay1 It's a Big World Out There
​After being in the land of ice and snow for a number of months, seeing the hills of California blanketed with bright green are a real feast for our eyes. We arrived at Varian Arabians on Easter Sunday. It was late in the day when I went out and found the horses. Roy was out in a big pasture munching away, but when he saw me, his ears perked up and...
Continue reading
0
Tags:
varian arabians sheila varian major mac v
Tweet
  4226 Hits
  0 Comments
Lisa Thompson

A Merry Christmas

IMG_0403
Christmas 2017. Arizona Mac V (Major Mac V x Ames Perfection) Rene led Arizona down from his pen and into the barn, clipping him into the cross ties. He brushed him all over as we chatted away in Spanish. I watched closely as Jaime placed the saddle pad and saddle on his back. Arizona pawed and fidgeted around, shaking his head, acting very coltish...
Continue reading
1
Tags:
Sheila Varian varian arabians
Tweet
  5490 Hits
  0 Comments
Lisa Thompson

Dance Class

b2ap3_large_FullSizeRender-_20171111-140028_1
When I was in my twenties, living in Las Vegas, my "thing" was dance. I know what you're thinking, something along the lines of very scanty clothing and big feathers on my head, but no, it was more like Ballet and Jazz, and it was what kept me sort of sane in a crazy place and time. Often, in class, at the start of a new routine, I would feel like ...
Continue reading
1
Tags:
varian arabians Audacious PS Buck Brannaman
Tweet
Recent Comments
Guest — David Phelan
Please keep posting these blogs. I don't belong to Facebook or other social sights so I have no way of posting my approval of the... Read More
Saturday, 23 September 2017 18:45
Lisa Thompson
Thank you, David, for your kind words. I will continue with the blog in the springtime, when the sun is out and the hillsides are ... Read More
Saturday, 04 November 2017 13:08
  5699 Hits
  2 Comments
Lisa Thompson

Sweet Pea

GHcreek
In the past few years, when we have headed out for what I call a "Dave Thompson Adventure Ride", it usually goes like this: We start out saying that it'll just be a short ride, something really easy for the young horse I'm riding. Then somehow we find ourselves lost in the wilderness, sometimes with scratches and scrapes across my face and hands an...
Continue reading
1
Tags:
Sheila Varian Lisa varian arabians Sun Valley Audacious PS
Tweet
  4810 Hits
  0 Comments
Lisa Thompson

God I Love Summer

CCclimb
Summer has arrived. I switched out my t-shirt for a long sleeved cotton shirt, to protect my arms from the sun. Carol picked us up a little after noon and we drove out to the Greenhorn gulch trail head. This was a new trailer for Prestigious. It's a nice big stock trailer, but there are no dividers in it and there was a new horse in there. I put Ro...
Continue reading
1
Tags:
Sheila Varian Lisa varian arabians Sun Valley Audacious PS
Tweet
  3708 Hits
  0 Comments
Lisa Thompson

Down South

WGcross
This horse is so smart. I have ridden almost every day, sometimes little shorty rides and sometimes bigger challenging rides.  This is about one ride, about a week ago. David and I loaded up the horses and drove down and picked up Martina and her "V" horse, El Tejon. We went out to a canyon that I'd never been to before. We rode out through a ...
Continue reading
1
Tags:
Sheila Varian Lisa varian arabians Audacious PS
Tweet
  6451 Hits
  0 Comments
Lisa Thompson

Dip Creek

David-sunset
It was sort of late in the afternoon, and the horses were still up at Carol's, where they stayed while we were away on business. We got there at about 5:30 at the end of a warm day. Prestigious was very aware of the hot wire as we opened the gate and led them out. We saddled up and I led him around to the other pastures, where Badger, Carol's horse...
Continue reading
0
Tags:
varian arabians Sun Valley Audacious PS
Tweet
  3921 Hits
  0 Comments
Lisa Thompson

One Step at a Time

Snow
It was late, close to evening when we decided to ride. At the snow bank, instead of going around it this time, David said "Stay here, let me see if this is okay." He and Roy stepped in and went right up the middle, stepping on the snow, not sinking in to badly. The melting snow has become so compacted that it's pretty solid. Prestigious hesitated, ...
Continue reading
0
Tags:
varian arabians Audacious PS
Tweet
  3337 Hits
  0 Comments
Lisa Thompson

Phantasma

FullSizeRender117
I just love this photo. I take a lot of photos, but often, when I'm riding, I'll get these rainbows and colors. This didn't happen until last year, after loosing Sheila. There are plenty of technical reasons why this thing happens, but lots of people that say it is a spirit. I don't know for sure, but it sure makes me feel super happy to think she'...
Continue reading
0
Tags:
varian arabians Sun Valley Audacious PS
Tweet
  3512 Hits
  0 Comments
Lisa Thompson

A Perfect Sunday Afternoon

CreekGraze
The sun is out and it's actually warmed up to above sixty degrees. We'd been working in the garden all weekend. Sunday morning three guys came to build a little garden wall by our bedroom window. Boy it feels good to get a lot done. While we were working around the garden, I left the horses tied to the trailer, just learning about patience and...
Continue reading
0
Tags:
varian arabians Audacious PS
Tweet
  3291 Hits
  0 Comments
Lisa Thompson

Winter's Over.... right?

3horsetown
​Winter is officially OVER. With Roy, Prestigious V, and little hitchhiker named Zip's Amerigold in the trailer, I drove out Varian Arabians driveway at about 10:00 AM on a Thursday morning. The drive up highway 101, 46, 41, 5 and then 80 to Grass Valley, east of Sacramento, is always crowded, no matter what day of the week it is or what the time o...
Continue reading
0
Tags:
varian arabians Sun Valley Audacious PS
Tweet
  3556 Hits
  0 Comments
Lisa Thompson

Day Dreaming

Day Dreaming
​I swear, I feel I must be dreaming. Up in Idaho there is still bits of snow hanging on here and there in my garden, but here we are in California and it is most definitely springtime. We drove in to Windmill Flats, circled the truck and unloaded the horses. Normally I back the horses out of the trailer, but today there were a plethora of good size...
Continue reading
0
Tags:
varian arabians
Tweet
  3478 Hits
  0 Comments
Lisa Thompson

Getting to Know Prestigious V

Getting to Know Prestigious V
​Prestigious V. Audacious PS x Pretty Pauline V. I'd ridden him once for about five minutes in the arena, and he seemed very nice. Bright. Flashy. Innocent. He had been out of the arena, but not much and not far. He and Roy settled into their little pens at the V6 Ranch horse camp with a pile of alfalfa. Boy it was good to be back. There is no plac...
Continue reading
0
Tags:
Sheila Varian varian arabians
Tweet
  3999 Hits
  0 Comments
       
1 2 3