Another bitter cold day

After enjoying an almost warm week (highs in the 20's), we're back to single digits and less. It's currently bright, sunny, and 2 degrees with a wind chill of -12. Needless to day, Sparky stayed in with Gem for company. I hope to find a turnout sheet/lightweight blanket for her so she can go outside without getting too chilled and thus lose more weight. I wish I could afford a chiropractor for her, to align her hips, but all I can really do at this point is to keep her comfortable until Spring.

I've been doing some training this week, mostly with standing quietly and picking up feet. Alex was so good that Ken was actually able to trim his front hooves! We're still working on the hind feet, but he's getting better. He's a bit of a 'cookie monster' at the moment, but I'm going to cut back as he does better.

Ken was able to trim Willow's front hooves today. Her near front hoof has a long toe crack that fortunately is starting to grow out. She stood pretty well while Ken trimmed and rasped it, but she got antsy with the far front hoof and barely let him finish trimming.

Never is going to take more work. He picks up his near front hoof pretty well, but he won't relax and let Ken hold it for trimming. He's worse with his far front, he keeps pulling it out of Ken's hands. As for his hinds, right now we're just getting him used to being touched on his hips, legs and hooves. He's very sensitive and nervous about anyone doing anything back there, but with time I think he'll get better. I'm really hoping to get some more ground work done with him this Spring so I can take him in some halter/in hand classes this summer. I'm also hoping to introduce him to a saddle before Autumn.

Since it's so cold out, and there's nothing on TV this evening, I think I'm going to update my website for (shameless plug) Duchess Hill Photography, work on a blog to go with it (I know, yet another photo blog...), and maybe I'll finally get at least the home page for the farm site up and running. I should also get some more stuff on my Cafe Press site (another shameless plug!), but I'm going to need to find some more pics suitable for cards and such. Snow shots would be nice, but it's so freaking cold out and I don't have a back up camera if something goes wrong. I've also been thinking about possible quotes, phrases and logos for more marketable t-shirts and such, but I've been having the darnedest case of 'writers block'. If anyone has ideas or suggestions... *S*

Heather has a visitor, and other news

Anna, Heather's previous owner, came by this morning to visit with Heather, and we had a nice time chatting and feeding treats and petting fuzzy muzzles and freezing our butts off. Before she left she handed me some pics of Heather from the past couple of years. Heather's such a cutie, and so photogenic! I like Anna, I really think I need to hang out with her more this year, go out riding and stuff. When it's warmer, of course. Much warmer.

Billie called after Anna left. We chatted for a bit and she asked if I wanted to go to a concert tonight. I don't hang out with Billie nearly as much as I want to, as she lives about an hour north of here and I feel guilty leaving chores to Kya (pretty much the only person I trust to get everything right) when I know she wants to come too. I'm seriously thinking of taking her up on the offer, though, as I haven't done anything fun in a while and I need to just relax.

It's the season for wedding shows, and this weekend has a double feature for Marshfield: today from 11-7 at the mall, and tomorrow from 10-4 at the Holiday Inn. I love wedding shows, even though I'm never, ever, getting married again. I love the samples, and the people, and checking out the photographers and their portfolios. I like to know who's in the area and what their quality of work is. I'm not sure if I'll ever photograph a wedding, or if I even want to, but I'm fascinated with people who can handle the pressure well and can turn out a great album.

So I'm trying to figure out how to do it all, and take my sister with, and still get chores done properly. Right now the tenative plan is to go to the wedding show, then right up to Billie's for supper and the concert, then back home to get some sleep before morning chores, and back to town for the other bridal show. This hinges on Ken being able to do chores for me this evening. We'll see...

Driving myself batty

While I was visiting my parents over New Years (and got sick so had to stay longer), Dad hit me with a proposal of a sort. He said that if I wanted or needed a place to move to with the horses, I could use the Waldo farm.

The Waldo farm is a dump. The 'house' is trashed, there are barns that need to be torn down, there's no pasture fence, and it needs serious cleaning. Truly, Jay has been trying to sell it for 3 years now, and no one wants it.

Except maybe me. I guess that makes me certifiably insane.

I saw potential in it when I was there feeding calves for Jay, and even with the cleaning and the demolition necessary I still think I can renovate the place and increase the value (shouldn't be that hard, considering...) I would have to gut the house first and make it livable, and then go from there. I got an estimate 3 years ago for renovating the best kept barn, but I think a new estimate would be in order.

This is just the type of project I would love to tackle right now, but, well, it's cold outside and I can only imagine what kind of critters are hibernating in the walls and camping in the cupboards. I'm guessing that Dad wouldn't have said anything if he wasn't willing to help out physically and monetarily, so I'm not too worried about that.

I'm not saying that I'm going to run off and ditch my current farm. I'm actually planning (if I go through with this) to get the Waldo farm spic and span, run it as an equine property for a few years, then sell it when the market is (hopefully) better for at least 3 times it's current worth (which isn't much) My cut should be enough to pay off my farm and some debts, and I'll have new projects to tackle! (new house, new barns, more plantings...)

I have to say, though, the waiting and indecision and the planning is killing me!

Resolutions

Everybody seems to make resolutions this time of year, and I'm no exception. It must be the snow and ice and bitter cold that makes me dream about what I want to do this summer, or at least Spring Thaw. So while I have a list of goals at 43 Things, here's a more horse-focused goal list:

1. Get Willow and Alex registered. I want to get Willow registered first, so I can put her approved registered name on Alex's papers and thus no confusion in the long run.

2. Get Alex gelded. I'll probably do this in March and submit his papers after the surgery, so I don't have to correct his gender later.

3. Saddle train Hope, Faith, and Never, and do more ground work with Willow and Glory. Hope and Faith are fully grown and ready to get some time under saddle and Never is ready for light riding. Willow and Glory both have issues at the moment that will delay saddle work, but more in hand work won't hurt them.

4. Put more riding hours on Cora. She came to me mostly broke, but she needs more time under saddle and just being worked with in general. I'd like to get some show points on her record, so I'm hoping I can get her to a couple of rated shows and maybe a dressage schooling show or two.

5. Do more to improve the farm. I want to put in more fence, install more outlets in the barn, put up better gates, keep the barn cleaner, and put up an arena and a a better round pen.

6. Show. I've been going to a lot of shows, but I've been working as the photographer. I'd really like to get some of my horses to some local shows for points and experience (theirs and mine).

7. Ride more. I haven't been riding much the past few years, not since I retired Tiara and Tassel. Now I have younger, stronger horses, I should be riding more.

8. Lose weight/get in shape. It may not seem to be a 'horsey' goal, but by being lighter and stronger, I'll feel better about riding some of the smaller horses, and I'll be able to ride them better


That's a pretty good list for now, I think.

Back home in a new year

I'm still a little woozy, so I'm going to make this post short and do something more tomorrow.

My great aunt passed away on Christmas. The service was this past Tuesday, so I went down intending to leave for home on Thursday. Thanks to a lovely stomach flu type thing, that did not happen. I was down for the count from Thursday until Saturday, and as I mentioned I'm still a bit queezy and food doesn't sound very good.

And that's about it, I think. I'm wasted, and on the way to bed. I'll type more interesting stuff later...