Ah. The sweet smell of rain. My FOOT >:(
It is the first week of my truly, entirely revised schedule. I have the barn cleaned out. I have a new saddle to try out - found it on craigslist for $100! And just when the horses are ready and so am I - it's raining. ALL WEEK. Just saw the weather forecast. The only day it's supposed to be nice is Thursday.
SO, the boys are in, so are the girls. AND we have a new Constable in town! Which means I don't have to feel guilty about not taking the job. She's a sweetie! I went out with her today on her first call.
I'm grumpy and wet and wishing that April showers were over. Flooding in the area I ride in will continue for the better part of the month. So...
I guess I will just have to clean tack, keep grooming my guys and waiting for the calendar and the weather to cooperate with my riding schedule. Oh, well. Could be much worse. I have two good riding horses this year. I have 4 saddles. I can wait for good weather. As long as it hurries up and gets here.
(Have any of you guessed yet that patience is not always my strong suit?)
SO... if you have some spare time while you are waiting to go riding or planting flowers in the garden, time to head to the library for a good book, visit your local rescue or shelter and clean cages or socalize an animal, or help out in any way you can.
I'm going down to fill the wood stove and then up to sit by the chimney and read a good book snuggled on the couch. I got a few last week that I haven't started yet.
:)
Monday, April 6, 2009
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Spring has Sprung!
Ohy, vey. Mares! Well, not all mares, but the one that is here. Sigh. Lacey is in heat - AGAIN! STILL! More so than before. Yuck. Ewwww.
My geldings - and yes, I double checked, they are ALL geldings - are enjoying themselves a bit too much. I had to separate the mares into their own pasture.
Abner, in all his , uh-hum, male glory, is trying so hard to deliver the goods. However, he isn't tall enough. Whew. It's kinda funny to see him hopping around on his back legs trying to keep up with her walking away from him.
When it looked like Elias was going to jump over the fence to protect Lacey, or maybe get in on the action himself, I didn't wait. I went into the pasture, put on her halter and lead rope and moved her in with Aspey. The boys are all running the fence lines. Lacey and Aspey are quietly munching hay, ignoring the boys. Well, that's one way to get a start on conditioning them!
The dogs are getting in on the action, also. Baxter, my pug, is humping away on whomever is closest. None of them - the dogs or the geldings, have any equipment that is in working order to do anything with. Thank GOD! We don't need any little ones running around.
To heck with looking for robins and geese headed north, just wait for the animals to start acting out when they don't have any equipment to work with.
My geldings - and yes, I double checked, they are ALL geldings - are enjoying themselves a bit too much. I had to separate the mares into their own pasture.
Abner, in all his , uh-hum, male glory, is trying so hard to deliver the goods. However, he isn't tall enough. Whew. It's kinda funny to see him hopping around on his back legs trying to keep up with her walking away from him.
When it looked like Elias was going to jump over the fence to protect Lacey, or maybe get in on the action himself, I didn't wait. I went into the pasture, put on her halter and lead rope and moved her in with Aspey. The boys are all running the fence lines. Lacey and Aspey are quietly munching hay, ignoring the boys. Well, that's one way to get a start on conditioning them!
The dogs are getting in on the action, also. Baxter, my pug, is humping away on whomever is closest. None of them - the dogs or the geldings, have any equipment that is in working order to do anything with. Thank GOD! We don't need any little ones running around.
To heck with looking for robins and geese headed north, just wait for the animals to start acting out when they don't have any equipment to work with.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
'Tis the Season...
My, oh, my. Hair is flying off in clumps, mud puddles are being utilized on an hourly basis (my flea bitten gray is mostly brown!) and the birds are singing.
It's spring. Mud up to my ankles. Nothing like adding weight to my feet and tromping around the pasture. Good for the legs to build strength for riding. Cleaning out the barn of all the bailing twine, grain bags and stuff that just gets caught up in the corners when it's too cold and dark to clean out in the winter.
I'm going to start a fire out back today in the fire place and burn, burn, burn... :) Yep, there's a bit of a pyro in me, but it's totally safe. I only burn when and where I can make sure that nothing other than the fire I'm building will catch. Guess that's why I love having two wood stoves in my house. I can burn things all winter long.
So, off to clean the barn, unearth treasures and shovel out the stalls from the horses being in all day yesterday from the rain! :)
It's spring. Mud up to my ankles. Nothing like adding weight to my feet and tromping around the pasture. Good for the legs to build strength for riding. Cleaning out the barn of all the bailing twine, grain bags and stuff that just gets caught up in the corners when it's too cold and dark to clean out in the winter.
I'm going to start a fire out back today in the fire place and burn, burn, burn... :) Yep, there's a bit of a pyro in me, but it's totally safe. I only burn when and where I can make sure that nothing other than the fire I'm building will catch. Guess that's why I love having two wood stoves in my house. I can burn things all winter long.
So, off to clean the barn, unearth treasures and shovel out the stalls from the horses being in all day yesterday from the rain! :)
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Gotta Love Spring
It's raining. Again. Sigh. Out walking through the muck and the mud and the frozen pockets of ice. I'm glad most of the snow banks are gone. I'm glad to be up to my ankles in mud. That means that good weather is right around the corner. And the boys don't have shoes on. That means that I don't have to go searching for lost shoes when I mow.
I went out this afternoon to fill stock tanks because they were running low. And it started to rain. So I went to put everyone in. Elias and Buddy, being the bone-headed males that they are, (with a mare in heat -A G A I N- still), didn't want to leave her side to go in the barn. God forbid I would put them in and leave her out! Tragedy.
So, after taking 20 minutes, in the rain, circling and circling, I convinced Elias that if he went in I could bring the others in. Then Buddy, trying out his long legs, needed to be convinced that I wasn't going to give up and stop following him, finally let me get the lead rope around his neck. Then, with my husband calling him from the barn, almost literally pulled me along to the door, like I was detaining him from getting there fast enough.
Elias, for being the biggest horse on the property, he has a wimpy little whinny. Whereas Buddy, he could peel paint off the wall. Truly, he hurts my ears when he hollers.
So, Buddy and Elias are in, finally - off to open the adjoining pasture to let Abner, Smokey and Lacey into the pasture next to the barn. (Buddy and Elias eat more and spend less time herding and pacing if she isn't in the same pasture as they are.) They dance around, swapping places, cocking back legs to let fly if the shuffle doesn't move their way. My hubby is running the door and shuffles everyone through.
I finish filling water buckets in their stalls, since I have the hose out anyways, and finish filling stock tanks on the other side of the barn. It's nice inside, hearing the horses munch on hay, quietly talking to each other and me. Hearing the rain pinging off the metal roof.
My oldest daughter, Ashley, is making supper. Ok, she's not doing it entirely for us. Her boyfriend is over for dinner. She's making steak and potatos on the grill, veggies and I don't know what else. Usually we have a nice dessert, too. It's nice to have dinner made, even if she had an ulterior motive :)
I went out this afternoon to fill stock tanks because they were running low. And it started to rain. So I went to put everyone in. Elias and Buddy, being the bone-headed males that they are, (with a mare in heat -A G A I N- still), didn't want to leave her side to go in the barn. God forbid I would put them in and leave her out! Tragedy.
So, after taking 20 minutes, in the rain, circling and circling, I convinced Elias that if he went in I could bring the others in. Then Buddy, trying out his long legs, needed to be convinced that I wasn't going to give up and stop following him, finally let me get the lead rope around his neck. Then, with my husband calling him from the barn, almost literally pulled me along to the door, like I was detaining him from getting there fast enough.
Elias, for being the biggest horse on the property, he has a wimpy little whinny. Whereas Buddy, he could peel paint off the wall. Truly, he hurts my ears when he hollers.
So, Buddy and Elias are in, finally - off to open the adjoining pasture to let Abner, Smokey and Lacey into the pasture next to the barn. (Buddy and Elias eat more and spend less time herding and pacing if she isn't in the same pasture as they are.) They dance around, swapping places, cocking back legs to let fly if the shuffle doesn't move their way. My hubby is running the door and shuffles everyone through.
I finish filling water buckets in their stalls, since I have the hose out anyways, and finish filling stock tanks on the other side of the barn. It's nice inside, hearing the horses munch on hay, quietly talking to each other and me. Hearing the rain pinging off the metal roof.
My oldest daughter, Ashley, is making supper. Ok, she's not doing it entirely for us. Her boyfriend is over for dinner. She's making steak and potatos on the grill, veggies and I don't know what else. Usually we have a nice dessert, too. It's nice to have dinner made, even if she had an ulterior motive :)
Monday, March 30, 2009
Rain, rain, go away...
Ohy, vey. I know we need the rain. We always need the rain. But I have a couple of points to make about the rain. First - it's too cold, wet and damp to even entertain the idea of riding. The horses are covered head to foot in mud, wet hair that is coming out in clumps and it's just gross. The other problem I have is - my truck refuses to start in the rain. I know, I know. Nothing like a fair-weather ride. Good thing I still have the power of Veto over my teenage daughter so I did have the ford to drive today.
So, I ran the errands I needed to run in the morning, let the horses out to swim in the mud and manure puddles and cleaned the barn. Got them all bedded in with clean shavings, some hay, a little taste of grain (a reward them from coming in!) and some fresh water. They were soaked. Not only did it rain, but the bone heads are rolling around in the muck and mud.
The mare is in heat - A G A I N! Actually, it would be easier to pinpoint when she is NOT in heat. She's squealing, running around, twitching her butt in the air around the boys, bucking and farting. Generally making a nuisance of herself. Spring is in the air - just another of the 1,001 reasons to be in heat and tease the boys.
The Boys... are all gelded. Years ago! But that doesn't stop them from trying to become the most handsome, smooth moving, loudest suitor in the field. Even Smokey, the smallest in the herd, is trying to snuggle up to the little Jezebel. It's actually very funny to watch the circus. They are mock playing. Smokey against Abner; Elias against Smokey; Abner against Elias - the whole time Buddy is herding her away from the action and she is trying to get near the action.
I'm looking forward to the days when it's just the four boys in the field. With hay at $5 a bale (I go through 2 1/2 bales a day now), shavings are now over $6 a bag and grain around $20 a bag, not to mention farrier service, spring shots, worming... it's plenty expensive to have horses. I just finished paying of the last vet bill in February. Now it's time to schedule spring shots, cleaning of sheaths (eewww. The vet does that one!), and seeing if their teeth need floating. I'm probably looking at $350 at least. Eeek.
The pleasure and the pain of owning a horse. The 365 days of having a shoulder to cry on, warm, fuzzy necks to bury my nose in, and a never ending source of amusement, it makes it all worth it.
So, back out to top off the water buckets and portion out some more hay and grain and tuck everyone in to bed for the night. Maybe they might be dried out by now and a quick brushing in the morning will help ease some of the clumping lumps of hair falling off them in handfuls!
So, I ran the errands I needed to run in the morning, let the horses out to swim in the mud and manure puddles and cleaned the barn. Got them all bedded in with clean shavings, some hay, a little taste of grain (a reward them from coming in!) and some fresh water. They were soaked. Not only did it rain, but the bone heads are rolling around in the muck and mud.
The mare is in heat - A G A I N! Actually, it would be easier to pinpoint when she is NOT in heat. She's squealing, running around, twitching her butt in the air around the boys, bucking and farting. Generally making a nuisance of herself. Spring is in the air - just another of the 1,001 reasons to be in heat and tease the boys.
The Boys... are all gelded. Years ago! But that doesn't stop them from trying to become the most handsome, smooth moving, loudest suitor in the field. Even Smokey, the smallest in the herd, is trying to snuggle up to the little Jezebel. It's actually very funny to watch the circus. They are mock playing. Smokey against Abner; Elias against Smokey; Abner against Elias - the whole time Buddy is herding her away from the action and she is trying to get near the action.
I'm looking forward to the days when it's just the four boys in the field. With hay at $5 a bale (I go through 2 1/2 bales a day now), shavings are now over $6 a bag and grain around $20 a bag, not to mention farrier service, spring shots, worming... it's plenty expensive to have horses. I just finished paying of the last vet bill in February. Now it's time to schedule spring shots, cleaning of sheaths (eewww. The vet does that one!), and seeing if their teeth need floating. I'm probably looking at $350 at least. Eeek.
The pleasure and the pain of owning a horse. The 365 days of having a shoulder to cry on, warm, fuzzy necks to bury my nose in, and a never ending source of amusement, it makes it all worth it.
So, back out to top off the water buckets and portion out some more hay and grain and tuck everyone in to bed for the night. Maybe they might be dried out by now and a quick brushing in the morning will help ease some of the clumping lumps of hair falling off them in handfuls!
Saturday, March 28, 2009
You know when the fence is working right when....
you accidentally touch it and it sits you on your butt!
I used to have an old quarter horse/morgan gelding who would walk thorough any electric fence that you could put up. Most days he was fine. Then, once or twice a month, he would decide that the grass was greener and more delicious on the other side of the fence - namely my parent's front lawn. He would walk through the electric fence, little puffs of smoke coming off his chest and leaving little bare spots. I went through three electric fencers before I found one that would make him think twice. It was a 20 acre steer fencer on 2 1/2 acres of pasture. He would still go through it - but only about once every other month. I miss that old man. He was the sweetest horse.
When I first got him, he was adopted through a VT horse adoption group. I went 2 hours north with my three girls -then ages 5, 7 and 9 - and met Shiloh and Chris, the lady who ran the adoption group. Shiloh was a horse who was being re-homed because the husband didn't want the wife to keep him any more. (I know for sure I got the best part of that argument!) He was a horse that was raised alone, without any horses. He would lap up water like a dog. He was afraid of men. AND he would eat ALL the shavings in his stall. He wasn't young, either. When I got him he was in his mid 20's.
This was the best first horse in the world. He loved the girls and was so gentle and careful around them. Nothing would faze him. Not loud horns, sirens, screaming, nothing! The girls learned to ride on him. He did best in just a regular halter with a couple of lead ropes... he was as round as a barrel... was kinda like riding on a comfy couch. When he decided that he had enough, he would drop his head to eat and no amount of convincing, pulling or encouragement would make him lift his head from the grass.
We taught each other a lot. I taught him that all men aren't scary. It took hundreds of carrots and tons of patience on my husband's part, but Shiloh came to like men. Especially men with carrots. I learned many ways to keep a stall clean and dry in the winter. I would mix peat moss and shavings - a little heavier on the peat moss. It got to the point that I could mix it half and half. I don't know that we ever got to the point that I could used just straight shavings. He would make a regular diet of them if you left the bag out where he could reach it. He taught me what true, unselfish love was. The mother of three small children, two part-time jobs and a busy husband, he was my shoulder to cry on, someone I could tell anything to and he would just nuzzle me and nicker and understand that sometimes you don't need answers. You just need a furry, warm shoulder to snuggle in to. I just got a new book. I haven't read it all, but the title captured me - "Sometimes a woman just needs a horse." I absolutely couldn't agree more!
I had Shiloh for about 7 years. He was almost 32 when we gently laid him to rest in the pasture. The vet came out because he was collecting liquid in a pouch between his front legs and she told me he was in the last stages of congestive heart failure. So, within a couple of days, all the arrangements were made. Aba shares the resting place with him - in his favorite sleeping spot in the pasture. I miss those two horses so much some days that my heart hurts.
Anyway, that's why the fence set me on my butt today. Thanks to Shiloh, I very, very (knocking on wood here) rarely ever have to worry about the horses - even the little pony - getting out of my fence. Or anyone else getting IN!
:)
I used to have an old quarter horse/morgan gelding who would walk thorough any electric fence that you could put up. Most days he was fine. Then, once or twice a month, he would decide that the grass was greener and more delicious on the other side of the fence - namely my parent's front lawn. He would walk through the electric fence, little puffs of smoke coming off his chest and leaving little bare spots. I went through three electric fencers before I found one that would make him think twice. It was a 20 acre steer fencer on 2 1/2 acres of pasture. He would still go through it - but only about once every other month. I miss that old man. He was the sweetest horse.
When I first got him, he was adopted through a VT horse adoption group. I went 2 hours north with my three girls -then ages 5, 7 and 9 - and met Shiloh and Chris, the lady who ran the adoption group. Shiloh was a horse who was being re-homed because the husband didn't want the wife to keep him any more. (I know for sure I got the best part of that argument!) He was a horse that was raised alone, without any horses. He would lap up water like a dog. He was afraid of men. AND he would eat ALL the shavings in his stall. He wasn't young, either. When I got him he was in his mid 20's.
This was the best first horse in the world. He loved the girls and was so gentle and careful around them. Nothing would faze him. Not loud horns, sirens, screaming, nothing! The girls learned to ride on him. He did best in just a regular halter with a couple of lead ropes... he was as round as a barrel... was kinda like riding on a comfy couch. When he decided that he had enough, he would drop his head to eat and no amount of convincing, pulling or encouragement would make him lift his head from the grass.
We taught each other a lot. I taught him that all men aren't scary. It took hundreds of carrots and tons of patience on my husband's part, but Shiloh came to like men. Especially men with carrots. I learned many ways to keep a stall clean and dry in the winter. I would mix peat moss and shavings - a little heavier on the peat moss. It got to the point that I could mix it half and half. I don't know that we ever got to the point that I could used just straight shavings. He would make a regular diet of them if you left the bag out where he could reach it. He taught me what true, unselfish love was. The mother of three small children, two part-time jobs and a busy husband, he was my shoulder to cry on, someone I could tell anything to and he would just nuzzle me and nicker and understand that sometimes you don't need answers. You just need a furry, warm shoulder to snuggle in to. I just got a new book. I haven't read it all, but the title captured me - "Sometimes a woman just needs a horse." I absolutely couldn't agree more!
I had Shiloh for about 7 years. He was almost 32 when we gently laid him to rest in the pasture. The vet came out because he was collecting liquid in a pouch between his front legs and she told me he was in the last stages of congestive heart failure. So, within a couple of days, all the arrangements were made. Aba shares the resting place with him - in his favorite sleeping spot in the pasture. I miss those two horses so much some days that my heart hurts.
Anyway, that's why the fence set me on my butt today. Thanks to Shiloh, I very, very (knocking on wood here) rarely ever have to worry about the horses - even the little pony - getting out of my fence. Or anyone else getting IN!
:)
Spring is HERE!
Hi, everyone! I'm back. Spring is HERE!!!!
How can I tell? The horses are great furry monsters who are shedding all over the place and the mud is everywhere - mostly on the horses! I'm fixing fence, picking up stuff that was buried under the snow all winter and cleaning out the barn. Opening doors and windows, cleaning up corners and getting ready to go riding this week.
The unfortunate part is that my father did pass away on Monday, March 23. The wake was Thursday, the funeral on Friday. Many relatives not seen for a while were all in attendance. So, it's been a whirlwind for the past 4 weeks. Thanks for being patient with me.
So, I'm up this morning, puttering around the house and now headed outside in the warm sunshine to start working on fencing. Need to get things hooked back up that I unhooked in the middle of winter.
So, I'll be back later tonight. Sunshine is wasting away and I want to be outside and warm my winter-cold bones with daylight!
:)
How can I tell? The horses are great furry monsters who are shedding all over the place and the mud is everywhere - mostly on the horses! I'm fixing fence, picking up stuff that was buried under the snow all winter and cleaning out the barn. Opening doors and windows, cleaning up corners and getting ready to go riding this week.
The unfortunate part is that my father did pass away on Monday, March 23. The wake was Thursday, the funeral on Friday. Many relatives not seen for a while were all in attendance. So, it's been a whirlwind for the past 4 weeks. Thanks for being patient with me.
So, I'm up this morning, puttering around the house and now headed outside in the warm sunshine to start working on fencing. Need to get things hooked back up that I unhooked in the middle of winter.
So, I'll be back later tonight. Sunshine is wasting away and I want to be outside and warm my winter-cold bones with daylight!
:)
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