Been awhile

Well, its been awhile sense I posted anything on here, I actually forgot I had a blog. 2010 was a long time ago.
 We have 2 horses now, Kulitta Marie (Litta) and Sierra. Litta is an awesome Thoroughbred Mare, 15 yo now. When we bought her she had some unseen issues that we discovered 3 months in, a bad hip, ringbone, a lot of hoof issues. I found a pretty awesome farrier, and we have been correcting her feet sense then. Its been about 1 1/2 years and  she was finally cleared to ride about 4 months ago. She is going to learn how to be a Trail Horse.

 Sierra is an awesome Paint Mare that used to be a "govie". She was put up for auction along with 9 others, and those who didn't sell were going to be placed in an online auction site. I had been in love with this girl for a few years, so we bid on her and won. I couldn't really afford her, but I also couldn't live with the thought of her going to a killbuyer. She came with her own slew of health problems, she has arthritis in her spine, gets severe sunburn, has bad reactions to tick bites. She is now under a vets care and is on medication for the arthritis in her spine, and muscle relaxers to re-teach her body how to relax her back muscles. I've had her on a balancer feed sense I got her in January and so far this year she has not sunburnt (finger crossed) or had a bad reaction to ticks (she has been bitten at least twice)
 They both make me happy just to be around them, they are incredible mares. We are boarding them where I work currently, and they are in separate herds but hopefully one day they will both be in the same herd, and they are definitely going to be on the same retirement property when we are finally able to retire (probably another 10 years!!?!) Its funny to me that I ended up with 2 Mares, when originally I wanted a draft gelding....

Favorite Thanksgiving Recipes

Terry's Deep Dish Apple Pie

Crust:
2 1/2 cp flour
1/2 tsp Salt
3/4 cp Shortening
6-7 TBSP Water
Mix the flour and salt. Cut in shortening with a pastry blender or two knifes. Texture goal is very tiny peas or course meal. sprinkle the water over the flour a Tbsp at a time and mix lightly, using only enough water so that the dough holds together when pressed lightly in a ball. Use butter flavored shortening if you prefer, or real butter (Not Margarine)

set aside.

Preheat oven to 450

Filling:
2 TBSP lemon juice
6 Cups Peeled, cored, and sliced Apples
 Use a combination of 2 different apples,  whatever flavors you prefer.
sprinkle the lemon juice over the apples as you are slicing them so they do not brown.


1 1/4 Cups Sugar
1/8 tsp Salt
3/4 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp Cinnamon
3 to 6 TBSP Flour, depending on how juicy the apples are.

Combine Sugar, Salt, Nutmeg, Cinnamon, and flour. add to the apples and toss until evenly coated. depending on how many apples you are actually using you may want to double the seasonings. Not the flour though, just go for 6 TBSP of that at MOST.

4 TBSP butter

Spread the Apples evenly in a baking dish that barley holds them, remember, apples reduce as they bake. dot all over with Butter

2 TBSP sugar

Roll out the dough to fit the pan, it should be thicker than a normal pie dough. set it on top of the apples, and do what you want to the edges. Cut 2 or 3 vents on top for steam to escape. Sprinkle the sugar on top.

Bake for 10 min, then reduce heat to 350 and continue baking for 30 min., check for doneness by poking a fork through a vent, the apples should be cooked all the way through. add more time if necessary.