WW: Photography (No Birds I Promise)

I have a LOT of pictures I haven't shared on this blog since I haven't really been around. I thought I'd share some of the non-bird photography I've taken in the past couple of years since getting my camera in this post. 

Sensorio

Went to a show to watch some friends compete and
we made it over to this amazing light... garden?

So cool how it was set up

It was so beautiful

Yosemite Firefall

I was SO lucky to get invited to the Yosemite
firefall last year with some coworkers

Maybe I'll get to go again this year! Although I
might be traveling while it's happening

Around the Ranch

When I got the camera I took some pictures at
the ranch

I really love this tree

The barn is so pretty too

Black Background Photos

He made this so easy, he is such
a ham that he loved having his
picture taken AND he is white so
editing him is way easier

This was also when he was so fat

Obviously smiling

This guy was so annoying, no
offense Rico, but he was not into
it, but I got this cute one of me
giving up and just standing with him

And this one of him looking pissed
off that I made him do a trick
(even though I didn't make him, I
think he just realized I wanted him
to do something)

Palo Alto Baylands + Shoreline Lake

Where I normally go to find birds, but early on I
also took landscapes there too

There's an airport nearby, it's where all the tech
execs keep their planes lol

And the lake, did you know that Silicon Valley had
a lake like, minutes from the Google HQ? I didn't
until I followed some birds there

Michigan - Houghton & Marquette

I loved Houghton so much, especially this bridge

It rained so I went into town and wandered around

The bridge again

I really like this one

Then some pine needles in Marquette

Marquette again, I love this place too

And the bridge over the lagoon
that leads to Lake Superior at
my dad's cousin's place in MQT

That's probably quite enough! And I really don't have much else aside from some landscapes I took at a photography workshop. I really do mostly take pictures of birds. 

WW: Panama

I went to Panama this summer for a birding trip - nothing like jumping headfirst into a new hobby by traveling internationally to look at birds. It was so much fun and I figured I'd share pictures on this blog just for kicks. 

This is a Great-Tailed Grackle, they are so absurd

First night we stayed at this hotel by the water

Explored the city a bit

Then flew across the country and headed to our
destination in the Chiriqui Highlands

Our target bird for the trip was the Three-Wattled
Bellbird and we found it! It's a crazy bird

The lodge had a TON of hummingbirds

And other birds too

One day we went down to the lowlands to see
different species, like this giant tree chicken

And this beautiful tanager

Even more hummingbirds

It was so green and beautiful there!

The place we stayed grew coffee! So we did a
coffee tasting and it was great

I think I took the best hummingbird photos of my
life there

The last day we flew out somewhat early back to
PTY, so we went to this Canopy Tower

We saw a sloth there!

And obviously more hummingbirds

It was such a fun trip! My first international trip actually. I've spent so much of my life pouring all of my resources (time, money, blood/sweat/tears) into horses that it's been really fun to be able to do more with my life in the last year or so. I'm heading to Uruguay in about a month (!!!) for another birding trip. I really hope to be able to keep my resources well distributed when TC comes back to work. I want to ride more than I have been able to in the past few years, but I also want to keep traveling too! 

WW: Old Photos of Rico and I

As you can probably tell, I'm going through a lot of old photos these days. During this time, I ran across a bunch of old, kind of candid photos of Rico and I! I figured I'd put them here. Realizing what years these were all from was bad for my mental health (hahaha). 

Braiding Rico while chatting with a friend on
my flip phone in 2005 I think?

Wrestling Rico away from grass in 2005 or 2006

Chatting with my trainer while Rico was like "so
are you going to tell her to stop pulling or what?"
I think 2006

Winning things probably 2005

Spooking at a tiny little whirlwind
thingy in 2006

In a clinic with Jeremy Steinberg in 2009

My dad and I walking at Woodside I think 2005?

WW: Rico's First Show (Video)

Way back in March 2005, Rico and I did our first ever show together and I have found video of it! This is a bit of the 2003 Training Level Test 3 test. 

It was a cool test, you came up centerline, turned left, and then the video picks up from there - you turned left at E, then at X did a figure 8. Then you picked up canter in the corner, rode a circle at A, then rode a half circle and trotted after crossing centerline at E. I assume after that there was some walk work and then cantering the other way. I don't think you did all that much more trotting. 

Anyway, enjoy! While resting assured that my riding got INFINITELY BETTER once I learned how to have any amount of stability in my body without resorting to rigidity. It'd take a while but now I have new problems. 

WW: Got My Trail Horse Back

TC takes a few trail rides at home in the first part of the year to remember that trail riding is about relaxing and taking in nature, not snatching at grass and spooking at nature. And finally we have hit our stride where I can go out on the trails bareback and be on a loose rein the entire time. 

Already, the hills are turning brown from the lack of rain this spring. Oh well, it's still beautiful! 

Looking down on the ranch

We call this the "bowl" 

TC says "I can see my house from here"

We finally got the trails mowed so that
TC can't snatch at grass so much