All My Horses

And Life Goes On

2011-05-24T09:25:00.000-05:00

So much has happened since my last post, I'll try to sum it up as best I can.

Sparky (Diadem Sparklette) passed away in December. She was 30.

I attended the Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service (MOSES) convention in February for the 9th time, and it keeps getting better every year.

On the Ides of March (March 15th) at around 3pm, my barn caught fire and burned to the ground. It was a warm, beautiful day so all the horses were outside, the cats were by the house, and the chickens were in the back yard scratching for bugs. But I lost all my saddles, most of my bridles, training equipment, grooming and farrier tools, and so much more. My insurance paid for a small portion of the personal property, but it will pay for a pretty decent new barn. I'm going to miss my old barn, though.

Spring is starting to really kick in now. The lilacs are starting to bloom, the lawn is growing like crazy, the birds are singing during the day and the peepers are peeping at night. I can't wait to get started on building the barn and renovating the house. I've been trying to get stuff sorted, packed and stored, but it's a pretty big job and taking longer than I thought. Soon though, the house will be empty and ready to gut. That will be a very fun day :)

My Crazy Summer

2010-08-31T09:42:00.007-05:00

I'm impressed I'm actually posting before the end of August. Okay, it's the last day of the month, but it's something anyway...

Since my last post:
I discovered that Jul (Diadem Golden Jul) had cancer and was going downhill quickly. I called the vet, had a final grooming session with her, gave her lots of treats, and had her humanely euthanized. She's now buried next to Rho.

Diadem Golden Jul 1973-2010

My photography business is picking up a bit. In the past month or so I've photographed a dressage schooling show, a dog show, a high school senior, a rodeo, and plus sized model troupe after dark at a county fair. I need to get some more equipment soon, especially if I'm going to be doing more after dark and indoor shoots. On my list are one or two good flashes (I'm looking at the 580 Speedlites) and the 24-70 2.8 lens. I'd like the 100 2.8 macro as well, and I may get that first as it's a bit less expensive than the 24-70.

Bahim injured his leg while I was gone one weekend. When I got back, his whole leg was swollen. I cold hosed it that night and gave him some Bute for the pain, and made an appointment for the vet to come out the next day. The vet determined it wasn't broken but probably an infection in his hoof somewhere. She prescribed antibiotics and Bute, cold hosing and stall rest. He was fine the whole day, hosed him and fed him that night and he was in good spirits. The next morning he was dead. I think the infection went to his heart and he died in his sleep. He's now buried next to Jul.

CBA Bahim Shetan 1984-2010

I've been to Bristol twice this year, and it looks like we're going to try to get to closing weekend. We're also planning to go to the Minnesota Renaissance Festival in the next couple of weeks. I'm still hoping to get to the Michigan Renaissance Faire, as I won a family 4 pack of tickets, but I'm not sure when I'm going to get out there. I have until the end of September I think, so we'll see what happens.

I've been lazy and distracted, and haven't been keeping up with my diet and exercise goals. We signed up for a free month at Curves, went for two weeks and stopped going, at first because I was out of town for a few days and SBC 1 wouldn't go on her own. We decided that it wasn't worth the cost membership, because of the trip to town and the atmosphere and such. I got off track with my diet, my weakness for throwback Mountain Dew and burgers may be my downfall. I'm trying to go for salads, but it's tough. I am working more veggies into my meals, and trying to eat more fruit too. I am drinking more water, though, and adding a little lemon juice for flavor.

Weight this morning was 184.3.

Wow, I'm actually posting!

2010-07-13T08:53:00.005-05:00

You know, I knew summer was a busy time, and yet I thought I'd be able to write a post at least once a week. I guess not. So, time to bring this up to date.

I had Rho-Dawn, my chestnut Crabbet related stallion, humanely euthanized shortly after my last post. a few days later, Willow had her foal, a handsome red colt with two socks and no other white, by CBA Bahim Shetan. We've been calling the colt Oz, and his registered name will probably be something like Oz Triumphant, to mesh with the Graces theme as well as the Whedonverse theme. Oz is doing well, frisky and healthy. He seems more delicate than Alex was at that age, but I attribute that to different breeding. Bahim is Babson/Old Egyptian and more refined, and Rho was Crabbet and built like a tank.

Oz at 1 week old

Oz at 46 Hours old

In other news, Ken has been building a new blacksmith shop at the Bristol Renaissance Faire. I've been trying to help out, but mostly I've been documenting the process. This past weekend was opening, and it was mostly done, it just needed a roof, which should be on by now. He's had so many comments and compliments on it, as well he should because it looks great.

Iron Wolf Forge building, opening day of Bristol 2010

I've been lax in my diet and exercise regime. I've been trying to eat right when I can, going for salads and such, and choosing to park farther away from the store so I can walk more, but sometimes a soda sneaks in, or I spend the whole day editing on the computer. I'm going to try harder now. I found a program in Fitness magazine that I'm thinking of trying, to prepare for a 5K walk/run. I'd be starting with the 6 week 'Your First 5K' plan, with the hopeful goal of participating in a 5K either in Chicago (the Lung Run) or Minneapolis (the Skirt Chaser 5K) We'll see how that goes...

I've been around 180-183 for the past weeks. Yesterday I weighed in at 183.

Oops, three weeks of no posts!

2010-06-08T12:32:00.003-05:00

I've been a bit lazy about posting lately. The past three weeks haven't been particularly busy or interesting, but I have been a little distracted and when I was online I just didn't feel like blogging.

Some things that happened:

SBC1 and I went to Milwaukee to Boerner Botanical Gardens, then to Southridge Mall to wander. We discovered that the old Yonkers/Marshall Fields/Gimbals building now houses an indoor glow-in-the-dark mini golf course. She pleaded, and I was curious, so we tried it. It was fun, even though halfway through our round we were invaded by a birthday party full of 7 year old girls who had no idea how to play and didn't really care.

We finished our round without incident, then had supper at the food court. We stopped at Borders, and that would have been our last stop before heading home, but I wanted SBC1 to meet a friend first. So, after a lot of texting back and forth, we finally met up. After about 5 hours of chatting and laughing, we headed for home. We pulled into the driveway at 5am exactly, I fed the stallions, and then slept for about 6 hours. :)
On Sunday we went to the Chippewa Valley Renaissance Faire and I got a lovely sunburn on my chest.

The next week I went to help Ken with building the shop at Bristol. I drove down Wednesday afternoon and bummed around Racine for a bit, waiting for them to pick up their other help from Chicago, as they got a late start. I finally decided at around 9pm that I was just going to spend the night at my moms, mostly because it was cold and I had somehow developed a rash/hives like reaction on my sunburned chest. I think it was my sesitive sunburned skin reacting to the fabric softener on my shirt. Whatever, I ITCHED!

Thursday I helped with the shop for a bit, until the itching drove me crazy. I went back to moms to shower and find something to ease the itching. Then later that evening I attended the last ACen meeting for a while, and had a great time as always.

And that's pretty much been it. We didn't go the the ren faire this past weekend, as I still itch and my chest looks awful. I've been a little lax on exercise, but my eating habits haven't been too bad.

Last weeks weight was 180.6, today's is 180.2. Holding steady, but I'm starting to exercise again, so hopefully I can drop down some before the end of summer.

Home again

2010-05-18T11:04:00.002-05:00

I had a great time at Anime Central, fondly known as ACen. I didn't get a lot of sleep, drank too much Mountain Dew, and ate very little. There was a ton of food, but I just wasn't hungry. I was nervous, but once I relaxed I had a great time meeting new people and taking pics of just about everything. Some of the guys on our press team gave me a brief tour, as did SBC3 before she had to report for duty at dispatch. Later she and one of her team mates took me to a really great photo vantage point, where I think I got some good shots of the costume contest.

I got a lot of exercise this weekend, mostly walking. I took the stairs when I could, walked the long way to the exhibition room, wandered around looking for photo ops. I also did some heavy lifting and such when we were setting up and taking down, and I also enjoyed some extra curricular activities as well, so I'm finding sore spots and bruises in the oddest places...

All in all, it was a great weekend, and I really want to do it again!

Weight this morning was 180 on the dot. Not bad for all the soda I drank.

Here and gone again

2010-05-12T09:26:00.003-05:00

I've been running all around here and creation for the past few weeks. Between doctor visits, ultrasounds, meetings, hanging out with new friends, Mothers Day, and such, I haven't been home long enough to gather my thoughts, much less spend any amount of quality time with my horses.

This week I'm home long enough to pack and bake and then leave for Anime Central, fondly known as ACen. I've been to Cons before, but it's been a while, so I'm a little nervous. Plus, I'm actually working there, taking pics for promotion and profit (mostly promotion, I'm not really getting paid). Hopefully soon after ACen I'll be able to sit down with the doc and find out what's wrong with me. At least the labs and Pap came back negative.

Weight as of Monday was 181.4. Not a major weight loss, but it's still something.

Doctor's Appointment

2010-05-04T09:28:00.004-05:00

Wednesday I went to Burlington again, because I had an appointment with my mother's OB/GYN to check out a pain I've been having off and on for the past three years (yes, I know I'm naughty for not having it checked out sooner. I've been broke with no insurance.) It went pretty okay, I gave her as much history as I could and tried to describe the pain, which was entertaining.

Then the exam. I forgot how much a pap smear hurts. Okay, not really a hurt, more a stinging pain. Not really fun. Then she palpated me, and after a minute or two of feeling around in there (which didn't really hurt at the time, but I'm still feeling it almost a week later) she decided to schedule an ultrasound, just to make sure of what's going on in there.

So, the soonest they could schedule the appointment was this Thursday. Luckily, I'm planning on being in town anyway for another meeting in Kenosha (last one -sad-) so it's so far working out. I may even go see Iron Man 2 in a midnight showing, if I'm lucky! Then the doc wants to see me within a week of the ultrasound so she can go over the results with me. That's going to be interesting, as I'm going to be at ACen from Thursday until Sunday at least. If I make the appointment for Monday or Tuesday, I might as well just stay at Mom's for a while. Yay.

Anyway, whatever I had that was making me sick seems to have passed. I'm still not interested in food, but I do have a little bit of an appetite now.

Weight the morning was 181.8 Yay me!

Blargh

2010-04-27T08:04:00.002-05:00

So, I was sick pretty much all week. Not in the vomiting, head cold sort of way, but the jumpy tummy, nothing solid through the colon sort of way. I think it may have been food poisoning, but my neighbor thinks it could have been the flu. If it was the flu, it's the weirdest I've seen. So I pretty much ate saltines and chicken broth, drank water and Pedialite (yuck!), took charcoal caps, and walked around like a zombie for most of the week. Fun. Needless to say, I didn't get in much exercise.

The charity photo sessions at CWC went well, even if I wasn't. There were a total of 6 customers Thursday and Friday, and I was asked to come in on Saturday too for a couple of sessions. I had a mini meltdown Saturday morning, but got better as the day went on (kitties and bunnies and good friends texting you does wonders).

After the open house was done, SBC1 kidnapped me for the rest of the day. We did some shopping, then picked up a friend and headed for Wausau. I had won a gift certificate to Tangos a couple of months ago, and still had some left, so we all had steak! Then we went to see The Losers, and I loved it! Lots of explosions and eye candy. We got home at 2am, and I eventually fell asleep.

Weight yesterday was 183.2.

Another busy-ish week

2010-04-20T13:15:00.003-05:00

Last week had me traveling to the Burlington area on Wednesday. I stayed in Kenosha for the night, and Thursday I helped a friend dig up some hostas, daylillies and irises, which I now have to find a place for and get them in the ground. I went to lunch with my mom, to a nice authentic Mexican place in Burlington. I attended a meeting in Kenosha that night, and it was as fun as always.

Saturday, SBC1 and I were planning to go to the Midwest Horse Fair, but decided not to go because money is tight and I haven't been feeling well. My period finally started on the 14th, and it went a little longer than normal, with a little more cramping. I'm glad the appointment is next week!

Sunday was another band photo shoot for Snakes and Sparklers. It was a little more difficult, the lighting was worse and I was trying to get more creative. I think I got a couple good shots though. I didn't eat supper, as I wasn't hungry, but I did drink 4 cans of Dew and ate some sushi. I'm thinking I shouldn't have, as it still seems to be disagreeing with me. I also didn't get home until 2:30 am, and didn't get to sleep until 4:30, so that may also be part of the problem.

My weight yesterday was 185.2. My weight today, according to the nice lady who took my vital information for health insurance, was 175. I like her scale better. I'm walking more, but I'm still not eating much.

Fun in the Dells

2010-04-13T10:23:00.004-05:00

I didn't do much traveling this week, most of it was spent updating my website and redesigning my business cards. I did take a walk to the end of the block and back, and I've been setting an alarm so I take more breaks from the computer. I've been eating a lot more veggies, though fried foods have really been calling to me. I've also been craving hot and sour soup from Shaw Lee.

SBC 1 and I went to Parsons Trading Post in Wisconsin Dells on Saturday to get a dreamcatcher for a friend in need. I got a map and directions from Mapquest, so of course we got lost. We ended up stoping at MooseJaw for food and directions. I had the cajun chicken sandwich and SBC 1 had the BLT of course. Both were excellent, but we agreed that next time we'll try the pizza.

We found Parsons after that, and spent a long time browsing and trying to decide which dreamcatcher to get. I think I got the right one, I like it at least...

After that, we drove down and parked in our usual spot and walked the strip. We stopped at the Wizards Quest gift shop where SBC 1 got a crystal ball and stand and a flattened penny, and I of course got a fortune from the 'gyspy' fortune telling machine. We walked down to the gem panning shop, but got there too late. The Big Dogs store was gone, which was another disappointment. It was a good walk though, and I was feeling it a little by the time we got back to the car.

My weight yesterday morning was 186.4.

Fun times in Libertyville

2010-04-05T17:57:00.002-05:00

I was asked by a friend if I could come down this past Saturday to Libertyville, IL. He was filming an event and was hoping I could take some promotional pics for him and some documentary type pics for the organizer of the event. I said sure, even though it was a 3+ hour trip and I probably wasn't going to get paid. I was looking for an excuse to get out again, and I was so glad I went. I had a great time, hung out with fun people, laughed a lot, and slept in a clean, peaceful room for a couple of days. Total bliss, and my idea of a great mini vacation.

On the negative side, I weighed in at 188.4 this afternoon. I still haven't had my period yet, but I'm not totally worried as I don't really cycle regularly. I am, however, scheduled for a GYN appointment at the end of the month, so maybe I can get stuff figured out.

Another week goes by...

2010-03-29T23:51:00.003-05:00

The weather this week has been beautiful, and I've been trying to spend more time outside. Misty and I have been taking more walks, and I've been stretching and doing leg lifts and such when I can. I still haven't been hungry, but when I do eat I try and go with healthy choices like baby carrots and such.

I did slide back a little on Thursday when I traveled to Kenosha for a meeting. I drank a 20 oz bottle of Mountain Dew in a 3 hour period, drank a large bottle of water, and many glasses of unsweetened iced tea for most of the night. I stayed up until 4am-ish, then gave up and stayed awake the rest of the day. I got home at about 5pm, then slept to 9am the next day. I can't seem to sleep past 9am, and that's a good thing. The horses would get pissed at me otherwise.

Weight this morning was 186.4. I think I'm bloating a little as it's coming up on that time of the month, so we'll see how things go this week and stuff...

Happy Belated Ostara!

2010-03-22T09:32:00.005-05:00

Ostara was Saturday, and to celebrate my live in sister-by choice and I went to a 'mind, body, spirit' type fair in New Lisbon. It was smallish, but had some cool vendors. I got my cards read by someone other than my live-in sister-by choice (from now on SBC1), and they weren't too far off. I guess I'm supposed to be getting going on my businesses, and focusing on the stable first and the photography second. Don't know if that's practical, but we'll see. When given their names she said that SBC2 is a hinderance but managable, but SBC1 (who was with me) is a major problem. When SBC1, who was not introduced to the reader by name, asked if she was a problem or a help, the reader said 'a big help', so I'm taking her reading with a grain of salt. She never mentioned my love life, or lack of it, so I'm going to guess it wasn't important or it's always going to be non-existant.

I haven't really been hungry this week, but I have tried to make good decisions when I do eat. For some reason I've been craving leafy greens, broccoli, oranges, and yogurt. It must be a Spring thing. I'm trying to get walking more, and the belly dancing in the morning is still touch and go. I haven't noticed much difference in my shape, but my pants do seem to fit better.

Weight this morning: 187.6 Yay!

Week 2, a little late

2010-03-19T11:22:00.002-05:00

This will be a short post, I'll update on Monday to keep on schedule.

I didn't post this past Monday because, well, I ran away. I really needed to go, leave, do something away from home. Something that didn't involve my well meaning but nosy neighbor that's a bit in love with me. Away from my two sisters by choice, who care but tend to smother and take advantage of my good nature. Away from my absent-minded, unintentionally callous soon to be ex husband and the disaster area that is his shop space. Away from the daily chores that I should be enjoying, but I end up doing the bare essentials because I'm frustrated with everything: barn, pastures, house, animals, business... everything.

So I ran in all directions trying to find peace. I found a bit, and I was happy. Then I had to come back home, and what happened next I didn't expect.

I hurt. Emotionally, like I could feel again. Not the muted 'oh I'm happy' or 'that's really sad' type of stuff, but open the flood gates, tears on the keyboard type stuff. I haven't felt like that since my heart was smashed into tiny pieces years ago. It was like I was sleeping and dreaming, and someone kissed me awake and brought me back to life. I think somehow the wall that I built around my heart cracked a little.

It's not a good feeling, but it's a start. It means I'm not totally broken, that someday maybe I'll love again. That I can let down my guard and I'll be okay. It also means that I'll hurt more when bad things happen, but I think I'm okay with that. There's a phrase from a song that says 'I'd rather hurt than feel nothing at all'. I understood it, but never really gave it much credit. I mean, who wants to hurt? I get it now. I realize now how much I was missing without emotion.

Anyway, back to the blog. I'll pick up again on Monday, with weights and stuff. And things. To whoever reads this besides me, have a great weekend.

A week later...

2010-03-08T18:51:00.005-06:00

I've decided to do a weekly update to track the changes in my habits, weight, and endurance. I'm hoping that this will help me get more motivated and figure out what works and what doesn't.

I've been eating somewhat better this past week, but I'm having trouble arranging my schedule to get more activity worked in. The first two days I got up at 7am, fed horses, came in and did a 30 minute belly dance basics workout, ate breakfast, went back out to turn out the horses and feed hay, then cleaned stalls. The rest of the time I cleaned house and worked on the computer.

It was going well until day 3 when I got cramps. I managed to do chores and clean stalls, but then curled up in a tiny ball for the rest of the day. The next day I didn't get up until 8am, and the morning routine was pretty much broken for the rest of the week. I did keep my activity up during the day, though I haven't been walking the block yet I have been walking the stairs a lot.

I've also been watching what I eat, and how much. I've been eating more fruit and yogurt and drinking more water. My energy has its ups and downs, but I think that may even out once I get into a better pattern.

It's been easy going to movies. Jac gets a large popcorn, and I get a little bag and take a couple of handfuls for myself. We started doing this a while ago because she likes to put a lot of flavored topping on it, and I'm not a fan of the flavors she chooses. The meal deal we get includes a large soda, and she only really drinks Pepsi, so that's a bit of a problem that I haven't worked out yet. This last time I just didn't drink as much of it, but I'd like to avoid the temptation in the future.

In spite of all of this, I'm down to 192 lbs. It's probably water weight, but any loss is motivating. My goals for this coming week are to plan a workable exercise schedule and make more home made meals.

Signs of Spring

2010-03-06T09:06:00.002-06:00

Mother Nature has been kind to us for the past week. Beautiful sunny days, blue skies, mild temps in the upper 30's with the promise of warmer weather next week (mid 40's yay!).

The horses are enjoying it as much, if not more, than I am. They're racing, bucking, wandering more of the pasture, stretching out to bask in the sun, and shedding like there's no tomorrow.

In fact, one of my indicators that Spring is coming is when I walk out to the pasture in a brown barn jacket, and come back to the house wearing a multi-color fur coat. It can happen just by brushing up next to them, suddenly you're covered head to toe in horse hair. It will get worse once I break out the rubber curry, as everyone will be lining up and chasing others off to get scratched. There are times I wish I had kids, or at least horse crazy neighbor kids, willing to help with all the grooming and barn cleaning, as it can be so hard to keep up some days.

Spring and Goals

2010-03-01T09:21:00.010-06:00

It's March 1st, and while there's still snow on the ground, you can feel that Spring is on its way. The sun is out, birds are singing, and the horses are starting to shed. There's a scent in the air that promises green grass and warmer days coming, and I can't wait.

With the coming of Spring, my thoughts turn to show and riding season. My list of goals in the side bar mostly deals with horses and riding, but I won't be able to accomplish most of them if I don't work on goal number 8: lose weight and get in shape. I'm currently 194 lbs, and at 5'4" that's around 60 lbs more than I should weigh. I also have no endurance and very little muscle tone in my core. This of course is a pain in the neck (and the back, knees, ankles, etc...), so I've decided to start up my work out routine again.

I'm starting out slow and easy so I don't hurt myself, especially since my back has been twitchy lately. I have a belly dance basic moves exercise DVD that is low impact with lots of stretching and isolations that I'll do every morning in the break between feeding the horses and turning them out. Once I can get through the whole routine without getting winded and overheated, I'll switch to another DVD.

After the morning workout, I'll finish horse chores and clean the barn (muck stalls, sweep cobwebs, scrub and fill water buckets and tanks, etc...), come in and clean the house, and then I get to rest and work in the office for a while

In the afternoon I'll be walking, starting with a short distance at first and working up to walking around the whole block, which is about 4 miles, give or take. I'd like to jog eventually, but I need to either lose weight in my bodice area first (I'm a 38 DD) or invest (and I do mean invest) in a high impact sport bra. It's so hard to find a really good sport bra for big chested women that actually fits well. You certainly can't find them at Wal-Mart.

I'll also be changing my eating habits, much to my roommate's dismay. I'm still researching meal plans, but I want to eat more fruits and veggies, drink more water, cut back on refined sugars, and avoid white flour pastas and breads. It means meal planning and organized grocery shopping, but it needs to be done. I'm planning my veggie garden for this summer, so that should help with the grocery costs and give me more variety.

That's the plan so far. I'll be blogging to track of my progress and to help me stay on course. And I'll try to have actual horse related news and updates as well!

Cold!

2010-01-26T11:29:00.003-06:00

It's not the coldest it's ever been, but after the lovely 'warm weather' of 34 degrees last week, 15 degrees with a windchill of 8 feels cold. The snow and ice that melted a little and created a slushy mess is now frozen solid, making the driveway an ice skating rink. We got a little snow overnight, and now the wind is drifting it into mounds and hills, masking ice and frozen horse poop and thus making walking in the pasture a hazard.

Normally I wouldn't worry about walking the fence in such weather, I'd just do a cursory glance at it while feeding hay and turning everyone out. Today, though, I had to do something about it, and of course I wasn't dressed for it at all (what a day to have my only pair of flannel lined jeans in the wash!)

I did my usual glance while feeding, and noticed that one of the wood fence posts was leaning. I didn't think a lot about it, until I saw the electric cord that runs along the top of the fenceline was broken and dangling on the ground. Crap.

I walked out and saw the post was actually broken at the base, which is pretty impressive for a pressure treated 4x4 wood post. The fence was the only thing holding it up. So I go back into the barn, get my tools and some extra fence cord, and get to work. I'm glad I got a new barn jacket for Christmas, as I was wearing sweatpants and a sweatshirt (thinking I would just be working in the barn). That jacket is so nice, it covered my rump and the hood protected me from the wind without hampering my vision.

After fixing the fence, I walked the rest of the paddock to check for breaks or grounding. There was a part that got covered with snow when the neighbor thought he'd be nice and scrape the snow off the barnyard. It was nice, but he bent a fencepost in the process. One more thing to fix in the spring.

When I was satisfied that now one would get out or hurt themselves, I finished the barn chores, brought in Gem, Jul, and Sparky to get them out of the wind, and headed back to the house for a well deserved hot shower. I'm still thawing out, but I feel a bit more human and less like an icicle.

Catching up

2010-01-24T13:57:00.004-06:00

It's been a while since I've posted anything, so I thought I'd summarize they past few months, and try to post more regularly in the future.

Never had been easier to handle since he got home from the trainer. He leads without being pushy, he picks up his feet without a fight, and I can brush him all over without him being touchy. He's pretty dominant out in the pasture, but I can't really do much until the thaw comes and I can put up new paddocks.

Alex is growing like a weed! At a few months shy of two years he's about as tall as his dam, though a little butt high at the moment. He's such a sweetheart, and leads and stands for the farrier with no problems. I've got his Pinto and Half-Arab registration papers ready to go, I've just been holding off until he's gelded (which should be soon).

Willow's Pinto registration application will be mailed this week, hopefully there won't be a problem with the two choices of name I came up with.

Hope had a pasture incident the other day that had her bleeding profusely from a cut just above her coronet band. When I first saw it her hoof was bright red and I thought she had cut her heel bulb through to the coronet band. I washed and wrapped it and gave her a little Bute and kept her on stall rest for a couple of days. After I unwrapped it, I saw it wasn't as bad as I thought, but I wrapped it again for protection and turned her out. That night, I removed the bandage and let the wound air out. She's doing well, a little sore but healing well. I'm hoping I'll be able to send her out for training this year, along with Faith and Willow.

The older horses are doing well, Sparky especially. She's doing so much better than last year, you wouldn't believe that it was the same horse! She's put weight back on, is more aligned in the hips, isn't laying down all the time, and has a zest for life that was missing last winter though to July.

Jul is 37 this year, and is bright and cheerful and has good teeth. Gem is 31, and doesn't have good teeth like his dam, but eats well anyway and acts like he's a teenager. Tassel is also 31, and seems to be feeling her years, but has a bit of spunk every once in a while. Heather is 30 and energetic, I'm hoping to lose some weight and head off to do some light trail riding with her.

Bahim is 26 this year, and has his issues, mostly with his teeth. He choked in October, and freaked me out. The vet came out and tubed him, and there was so much senior feed that came out. She then floated his teeth, and stated he has no real grinding surface anymore, they're plate smooth, so I have to really watch out for choke. He refuses to eat softened pellets, so he gets Purina Senior which seems to crumble better in his mouth. I have his feed pan close to the ground as well, and that seems to have helped.

Rho is in good weight, though he still needs to be sedated to trim his feet. I just don't know what happened, he used to be really good about it.

Fiesta the Wonder Hinny is doing well, plump and sassy. His hooves have been under control for a while not, no more long feet and rocking back on his heels. It took a while to get to this point, and I'm glad we finally did. He also stands for trims with almost no fussing!

All the others are fine, plump and fluffy and content to eat hay and play tag in the pasture. Hopefully I'll keep up with blogging this year, so my posts aren't always so long!

Never's home!

2009-09-14T08:50:00.002-05:00

After our last lesson (I got to ride Never! YAY!) The trainer said Never had covered all of the basics, so she thought that unless we had a specific goal we were working toward (ie Sport Horse Nationals), Never would do well at home. He and I could work on the basics, get his balance figured out and work on some strength training.

He came home last Friday, and has now been turned out with Willow and Faith. He was a brat with the horses at the trainers place, picking 'fights' and trying to play, and he has the scrapes and scabs to prove it. I don't think Willow and Faith are going to let him do anything like that.

So now I really need to figure out a schedule, as I don't want him to forget everything. Plus, I need to put up the new pen (for my security as well as his), get a saddle that fits his surprisingly wide back, and I need to get in better shape. I rode him for maybe 20 minutes and my legs were like jelly. Plus, I must weight at least 60 pounds more than the trainer. So it's lots of water and veggies, rationed sweets and soda, and much more exercise. It'll be easy now, but more fun when winter comes around.

Never gets silly

2009-08-20T09:43:00.004-05:00

Never shared his lesson yesterday with Indy, a 3 yr old grey Arabian, and everybody involved learned something.

Working with Indy is like flying a kite on a windy day: he goes right to the end of the rope, screaming and calling and bouncing around. You ask him to do something, and if he's paying attention he'll do it then lose focus and bounce and call. Never takes his lessons seriously. He'll get distracted by horses outside of the arena, but when you ask him do something or pay attention, for the most part he will.

Yesterday, they switched.

The trainer decided to work them both in the arena at the same time, off lead, as neither one had done anything like that before. We thought that after some running and goofing off, Never would decide to relax and learn, and Indy would keep doing laps around the arena. What actually happened was that Never started herding Indy around, and when Indy decided he had had enough and wanted to go to his handler, Never would cut him off and drive him away. He would move him around the arena, back and forth along the wall, even causing him to side pass!

Finally,after 45 minutes of this, Indy said enough and went to is handler and stood quiet. He was quiet and paid attention for the rest of his lesson. Never did laps for about 10 more minutes, and finally agreed that it was time for a lesson. Because of the incident last week, we worked on being near things that were dragging and making noise and desensitizing his hindquarters more. We didn't do any under saddle work, but the trainer has him going at a trot now.

He seems to be doing fine, his top-line looks good and his hindquarters are muscling up well. He's not really black anymore, more of a sunburned dark bay, but overall he's looking good and more mature.

Never's lesson in pictures

2009-08-18T09:55:00.010-05:00

I took some pics of Never during his lesson last week. Not with my good camera like I should have, but with my cell phone, so the picture quality is truly awful. But they clearly show (okay, maybe not clearly) that his training is coming along very nicely.

Here we go...

Never picks up his feet, especially his hind feet, without kicking or shying

I tried to capture Never's reaction to the splint boots and bell boots, but the lag time on my phone is horrible. Suffice it to say that he could compete with Saddlebred for knee action!

I know, it's a ball. But it's on his back and he doesn't care!

The saddle went on without a problem, and she tightened the girth and he didn't seem bothered.

"Hey, you're on both sides at the same time!"

And she's up!

The trainer sat there for a couple of minutes, until he relaxed a bit, then she hopped down and did some ground driving. After a few rounds she hopped on again, worked on backing up, and then got back down for some more driving. At one point he pulled the rope from her grasp and started to run around the arena like a goofball. She caught him, but he spooked at the rope and took off, hit the gate at the other end of the arena, and nearly took it off the hinges. Then he took off down the path to the other barn.

The trainer seemed a little worried that he'd take off down the road, but I was pretty sure he'd just go to the gate and talk to the other horses. And that's where we found him, blowing and sweating and talking to the other horses.

The trainer caught him and calmed him down, then took him back to the arena. I tried to fix the gate, while she worked on getting Never's mind back in the game. I gave up and shut the door, and by the time I had finished and walked around the barn to the other entrance, Never was calm and paying attention.

The trainer did a little more work with him, ended the lesson on a good note, and handed him off to me to cool off and graze a little. It was nice to hang out with my boy, and especially nice that he had better manners than before. We grazed until he was dry, and then walked down the the pasture. His goofball buddies were waiting by the gate, but he let me open the gate, walk in, and then he politely walked in when I asked him to. It was a good end to a fun filled day.

Never's Training Progress

2009-08-06T22:10:00.003-05:00

Never has gone through some big changes in the past few weeks. The first week, the trainer could hardly get near him. He would hide behind other horses or just run off. When I came for my first 'lesson' (mostly just watching her train), we corralled him in a smaller paddock so she could work with him up close and personal. By the end of the lesson, he was following her around and would allow her to touch his face.

During his stay in the corral, the trainer would spend her spare time sitting with him, or would send her working students out with a book, just so he would get used to new and different people

The second lesson was so nice. He came up to the trainer after a few minutes and let himself be haltered. He was somewhat distracted, but he eventually let her pick up his feet without too much fuss. Yay!

Just a few days before the third lesson this past Wednesday, he relaxed enough to pick on the ponies he was in with, so back out with the herd he went. When we went to get him, he played hard to get for about five minutes. He went to show his dominance to a new horse to the herd, and when the new horse pinned his ears at him, he jumped straight in the air and ran to hide by the trainer. She was laughing so hard she could hardly fasten the halter!

We walked up to the arena, where they worked on different things: yielding front and hindquarters, desensitizing to different objects (he loved the big ball!), and finally, the saddle. He had had the saddle and pad on before, but never cinched up. She tossed the saddle and pad on him a few times, and he really didn't care. She attached the girth, and he flinched a little when the girth brushed his leg, but he stood still. She led him around a little then reached under, grabbed the girth, and carefully cinched him up. He didn't seem to care. The trainer walked him around a bit, then fully tightened the girth. She kept waiting for him to blow up, and he didn't. He did plod around like a zombie plow horse, though!

After some more walking, the trainer tried a couple of steps of trot, saying that he will most probably blow up when he feels the saddle bounce. She asked for a trot, he trotted for about three strides, then did his zombie walk again. Twice more they trotted, and twice more he just plodded along.

It was getting close to the end of the lesson, but the trainer decided to try one more thing because he was being so good. She stood at his side and bounced up and down. No real reaction. She did it again, and still nothing. So she stood on the mounting block, and then jumped up and down again. He looked at her, but didn't move.

Eventually she got to the point where she draped herself over his back. He seemed a little surprised that she was on both sides of him, but still didn't move. He did try and eat her shoes, so she called him to his other side and gave him a treat. He then went back to play with her shoes again! Once again she got his attention to his other side and gave him the last treat. I'm on the other side so I couldn't see, but I guess after the last treat he was so thankful that he gave her a big kiss!

Finally...

2009-07-11T08:35:00.003-05:00

Never finally made it to the trainer's barn yesterday, but it wasn't as straightforward as I was hoping it would be.

The day started out well. I fed everyone and turned them out in the pasture and put Never in the round pen, which he was not happy about. Last Monday we had to load hay in the loft, and to do that I had to move Rho to the round pen to get him out of the way. That meant I had to turn Never out in the main pasture. I was afraid he would get dominant and pushy out there, but Cora kept chasing him away from the herd, so he spent most of his time grazing elsewhere.

Anyway, I expected the trainer to arrive at 10am, so I got some work done on the computer and did some cleaning around the house. 10 comes and goes, then 11. I went out to check on Never, give him hay, and put on a fly mask as the flies were really bothering his eyes. At noon I called the trainer, and after much discussion the problem was revealed. Apparently, my appointment had been lost and the directions to my house were accidentally deleted. We got it all worked out, and the trainer's assistant headed out with the trailer.

After a couple of calls and a wrong turn, she arrived around 2:30. We chatted for a minute, then went to catch Never and load him up. Unfortunately, he didn't want to be caught! He usually comes right to me, but he just kept avoiding me. I figured out what was wrong pretty quick: it was the first time he had ever worn a fly mask, and I don't think he really realized it was me! It took about 10 minutes to calm him down and catch him, 5 minutes to hop in the trailer (good boy!), and then I hopped in my truck and we were on our way.

I followed them back to the barn, and even with the window down I was sweating all the way (no AC in the truck, and the car is out of commission. Long story.). We get to the barn, I finish signing some papers, and then we unload Never and take him to the communal pasture where he'll be spending his training days. It seemed like he had to check out every pile of manure! The creepy thing is, it was so quiet. There was no squealing or neighing or anything! The assistant said that they put most of the squealers in the pastures near the barn, and the ones in this particular pasture were more mellow.

The first one to come up to greet Never and check him out was a Paint/Pinto named Joker, who apparently lives up to his name. Then a couple of Pasos came to see him, and then he went on a grand tour and I lost sight of him for a bit. I walked back to the barn with the assistant, and sat down with Holly the barn manager/secretary/ all around go to person to figure out when my lessons were, and to chat in general.

I finally left around 6pm. I debated stopping at the mall complex on the way, as I'm out of yellow printer ink, but I decided I was beat and just went straight home. I got back about 8, hung up Never's halter and lead (they use their own equipment for training), did chores, and watched Super Troopers before heading to bed. It was a lovely day, even if it had a few bumps in it.

Up to date

2009-06-27T09:30:00.003-05:00

The vet came out on Thursday to float Gem and Jul's teeth and to give Alex and Never their booster shots. Jul's teeth look incredible, just a little grining to get some of the points off and a rotting molar had to be pulled, but really good otherwise. Not bad for a 36 year old mare. Her son Gem wasn't as lucky, though. Dr Esser said that if I had to prioritize floatings in the future, to put him low on the list as he didn't have much to work with anymore. She did the best she could with him, though, and he seems to be dribbling less, so I call it a job well done.

Then it was on to booster shots. Alex was a little skittish, but he stood pretty well and took the shot like a trooper. I wish I could say the same for Never. *sigh* It took forever just to sedate him. Dr. Esser tried to inject directly into the vein so he would sedate quicker, but he was just not having it. CJ, the vet assistant, wrestled with him for about 10 minutes before the good doctor finally was able to inject in the muscle instead. Then we had to wait for 20 minutes. I was so embarrased, I wanted to hide.

After the wait, he was sleepy, but not so sleepy that he couldn't put up a fuss about the vaccinations. We took the opportunity to trim his feet while he was sedated, and while he was bratty and we still had to fight with him, we managed to get his front feet trimmed. His hind feet still look okay, and that's good because he kicked Ken when he checked the left hind!

Still, they're done and trainer will be picking him up on the 10th. Thank goodness. I just don't know what happened to him. He was so good before he was gelded, it's like his brains were in his balls or something. Everything he learned before seems to be gone.

I hope Jessica can help him to be an equine good citizen.

Another vet visit, and a stunning discovery

2009-05-29T19:39:00.004-05:00

Never needed his shots and Coggins test before he went to the trainer's barn, so I had the vet come out to do that and float Heather and Zora's teeth as well. The appointment was Tuesday, and when the receptionist called she said 'they' were on their way. I didn't think much of it, until the truck pulled in and both my preferred vets stepped out.

Apparently, Dr Esser, the younger of my preferred vets, who has been with the clinic for almost a year, had reservations about her ultrasound readings of Zora and Hope. Since it was a slow day she asked Dr Johnson, the senior vet, if he would double check her findings, at no charge to me. I was a little relieved, as they had passed the second possible due date with no sign of birthing in sight.

We sedated Zora first, and as Dr Esser was prepping the power float, Dr Johnson put on the glove and palpated. A minute later, he had the verdict: open. Not pregnant, but coming into heat if we wanted to breed her. HECK NO!!! I was somewhat relieved, as Zora was apparently a maiden mare and in her early twenties.

So we floated her teeth, then did Heather's. Then we did Never's shots and blood draw for the Coggins test, and tried to get him to stand still for pics (the new paperwork has the horse's pics on it. Cool!). I decided to give Alex his shots while we were at it, he and Never will have their boosters in 4 weeks.

Then it was Hope's turn for palpation. After the sedation kicked in, Dr Johnson reaches in and... OPEN!!! Neither mare was pregnant! I was somewhat relieved, and a little disappointed, as I would have loved to see what Never would have sired. It's better this way, though, even if Jac is pissed because she couldn't go to Rolex because of foal watch.

Trainer time

2009-05-19T17:20:00.004-05:00

I got back from visiting with the trainer that I'm thinking about sending Never to, and I have to say that I like her. It's an hour and a half drive to get to the barn, but I'd only need to be there once a week for the lesson, so it's not so bad.

She took me on a tour of the farm, introduced me to the horses and told me about their training, and also about her methods. She's into natural horsemanship, but also classical dressage, and she's pretty nice and easy to talk with as well. I watched part of a lesson with a beginner, and she explained everything clearly and didn't lose patience or get frustrated with the student. I was very impressed.

She charges $275 a month for training, and the barn charges $200 a month for pasture board, a total of $475 that I have to come up with for 1 to 3 months, depending on how well he does and how trained I want him right off the bat. He also needs his Coggins test and vaccinations updated, so that's another $100 up front. It'll be worth it, though, to have a nice, calm gelding that understands what I want him to do.

Spring has sprun, the grass is riz...

2009-05-10T09:08:00.004-05:00

I've been pretty negligent about posting to my blogs, or doing much of anything with the computer besides my daily morning ritual of comics, forums, networking sites, and mail, which usually takes about an hour, more or less. So since the lawn has been mown and the gardens tended, today I'm going to play a little catch-up.

The past few weeks have been busy. I've been working with Never, trying to get him used to having his feet worked with so they can be trimmed and doctored, but he's been fighting me all the way. He's developed a lovely case of thrush, and every time I try to clean and doctor his hooves he tries to jerk away, prances, and even rears a little. He's just not learning to give, and it's very frustrating. So I'm looking even harder for a good trainer. Someone close by would be nice, but I'll consider anyone within a 3 hour drive if they're good enough. Bonus points if they train dressage.

My aunt Astrid's memorial was on May 4th, and it was the first time in a while that I've seen some of my relatives. My cousin Eric, who was born the day before my 1st birthday, was back from Portland, Oregon, and his sister Laurie was in from Chicago. We had a pretty good time talking and catching up, and I have a place to stay if I'm ever in Portland.

I went to Rolex on April 22 and came back on the 27. It was a lovely working vacation, just me and my camera. I did what I wanted for the most part, met up with some old friends and made some new ones, and mostly just relaxed. I did a lot of driving, and thus a lot of thinking (I think my best thoughts while I'm driving), and made some decisions. Some were things I already knew and just needed to make them a priority, others were things that I put off and didn't want to think about.

I decided that I needed to really push my photography this year: advertise, upgrade equipment, advertise, take more classes, and advertise. I need to design a logo, make a brochure, update my website and portfolio, send said portfolio to magazines and websites, work on my business and people skills, and make new business cards. All this means I need to sit in front of the computer more, buckle down and do things. It's been so nice out lately that I've been doing more outside, but it's past time that I get to work and get something done.

I also decided that I need to put Tassel down as well as Sparky. Both of them have arthritis, Tassel's mostly in her front legs while Sparky has stiffness in her hips and hocks. Tassel is 31 this year and has had a charmed life, most of it spent with the herd she was born into. She's been a great teacher, easy going on trails, had two foals, and got along with most horses. She's in pain, and I think she's ready to go on to greener pastures. Sparky is 28, and is laying down more because of the pain and stiffness in her hind end. She has also spent most of her life with her herd, had a brief stint as a 4-H show horse, and had a foal. Like Tassel, I think she's ready to move on.

My other big decision was a back up plan or 'Plan B', if you will. Ken and I are getting a divorce, and Mom is panicked that Ken will screw me over, or that we'll have to sell the farm as part of the settlement. Ken wouldn't (that would take too much effort on his part) and we won't need to, but she did make me realize that I do need to think about 'what if...'. So I thought about what I would do if I didn't have the farm anymore. I needed to think about where the horses would go, where I would live, what I would do. I discussed it with Mom and Dad on separate occasions, and I think I've got a pretty good contingency plan. Dad would rather buy a place closer to where they are, so I told him I need to have at least 15-20 acres, and I'd be willing to share a house with John, my younger brother. Rumor has it that he's looking into a place between his house and Jay's farm that has 100 acres, a couple of barns and a very run down house. I would get the buildings and some acreage, and Jay would get to farm the balance. Plan B also includes going back to school, or at least taking some classes (probably graphic and computer arts focus), getting at least a part time job, and still working toward the goal.

Yes, even if I 'give up' on my current life and start over, I still want to rescue, rehabilitate, and retire horses. The current plan would transfer over to a new farm without too much difficulty, and SE Wisconsin may even be a better area for it. I would probably have to start by boarding a few horses, and make improvements and friends as time goes on.

So that's pretty much it, a basic synopsis of my life to date. There's other things that have happened (we got more chicks, I've caught up on bills, I'm looking to fix up the house...) but that's all stuff that I can put in later posts. Right now I have to go out and buy a staple gun so I can build custom scratching and climbing posts for the cats. Maybe tomorrow I'll write about how it goes.

Bad day

2009-04-19T10:56:00.004-05:00

While yesterday wasn't the worst day ever, it did rank pretty high on the list of days where hardly anything went right.

First, Ken's paycheck didn't come for the second week in a row, so I had to borrow money from a neighbor so I could run to Greenwood to pay my electric bill. After that I went to Marshfield, and on the way the muffler fell off the truck. *sigh* I went to Menards to pick up boards for fence, as lumber was on sale, and couldn't find any good 10 foot lengths so I decided to skip it for now.

I'm on my way to a pretty lovely headache by this point, but I had one more stop to make before I went home. The mall parking lot was crowded for a change, and when I went in I found out why. There was a home improvement 'show' going on, as well as a furniture disbursal sale. I went to Radio Shack to pick up an accessory for my new cell phone and had to wait 20 minutes for their computers to work again. The only good part of the trip to the mall was the 'petting zoo', a small gathering of cages and tubs that contained bunnies, kitties, and brightly colored chicks and ducklings.

Yep, someone decided that green, pink, blue and orange infant poultry was cool. I think they used food coloring, so it didn't hurt them, but it was sort of disturbing, kinda like Peeps come to life.

I finally get home at 4pm, and by now my head is really starting to ache. I turn Never out in the pen, make something to eat, take an Aleve, and try to get some work done. That's about when Ken shows up with his entourage in tow. Now, I like his girlfriend Mia (I think she deserves better, but it's her choice), but her 2 yr old son Cooper is a little hellion that she has trouble reining in. I take Ken to trim some hooves, and all the while Cooper is having fun shrieking at the horses and running around like a maniac with Mia yelling at him to behave.

Ken finishes up and goes to play with Cooper on the swings while Mia and I chat for a bit. They leave after a while, and I decide to take Never for a walk. He's been good, following at a touch and trusting that I won't take him someplace bad.

We walked toward the back of the property, then up to the apple tree. We did a couple of wide circles, then walked down to the pond. All was going well until we startled a pair of ducks, and then all hell broke loose. Never blew up and tried to head for home. I had a tenuous grip on the lead, as the ducks had startled me too, but I held on until I tripped and my glasses flew off my face. Never bolted for the barn, and I was on my hands and knees in a hayfield looking for my glasses. I gave up after a couple of minutes and hiked back to see where my scared gelding ended up. When I got into the yard I yelled for my sister, then saw Never hanging out by the mare pasture gate, quivering and snorting at his lead rope and trying to crawl through the gate. I caught him and quieted him down, then took him to his stall and gave him hay and treats laced with Rescue Remedy. That was when I took stock of my own injuries. No bruises or bumps, but I did lose a full layer of skin off of two fingertips due to rope burn.

My sister doctored my wounds, then we went to look for my glasses. The phrase 'needle in a haystack' come to mind, but trust me, 'glasses in a hayfield' is a much more difficult task, especially when you need them to see any sort of detail. Surprisingly, though, after about a half an hour of crawling around on my hands and knees I found them!

So today is another day, and everything seems a little better. My fingertips are sore, which makes it hard to type, but Never is leading well and doesn't seem to have any injuries from his run. I put him in the pen again, and went to make my own breakfast. While I'm filling a pot with water, I look out the window and see him trot around then stand at attention, looking at something. Then he takes off around the pen, full of snort and blow, then stands alert again. It took me a few minutes before I realized what he was looking at. I had pulled the Halloween yard 'balloons' and other stuff out of the shed so I could organize, and the breeze was moving the brim of a witches hat, which I guess is the scariest thing ever for a 4 yr old Arabian gelding. I put them away, and he calmed down a little.

So now I'm going to go change the dressing on my wounds, and then work on a couple of ideas that I've had. Later this afternoon I'm going to take Never for another walk, but I think I'll go scare the ducks off the pond first!

Never's spa day

2009-04-13T17:55:00.005-05:00

Never had re-injured himself about a week and a half ago, but after being on stall rest and bute he seems to be recovering. I have to be careful that he doesn't injure himself again, though. I turned him out in the round pen yesterday, and realized that he had way too much energy and high spirits to be turned out by himself. All of the bucking and kicking and sunfishing that he did would have put a prize bronco to shame! Needless to say I regretted turning him out, even though he didn't seem to have hurt himself again. So today I hand walked him for 15 minutes and let him graze a bit, then we had a nice grooming session.

He really loves the rubber curry with the longer teeth, especially on the really itchy spots like his shoulder and back. He was okay with the hard brush, and while he didn't mind me combing out his mane, he really didn't like me playing with his tail. I discovered that if I scratch the top of his rump with the comb, he'll calm down and let me comb his tail. He also likes having the base of the tail and the tailbone scratched as well.

He's still not comfortable having his feet picked up, but I was able to pick up his front feet and pick them out without a major fight. He danced a bit, but with some work and some consistency I think he'll get the idea. His back feet are going to be a trial, as he dances away and kicks out if you try to pick them up. I'm going to have to work with him more and do more brushing and touching of his tail and hind legs so he gets used to having someone back there.

I'm going to extend his handwalking session by 5 minutes each day, and follow it with a grooming/desensitizing session. I think the exercise and attention will be good for both of us.

Foals

2009-04-08T16:07:00.004-05:00

The vet left a while ago, and after sedating, palpating, and ultra-sounding we have the verdict: Hope and Zora are pregnant. *sigh*

I kinda thought Hope might be, as she's been acting moody and looking slightly round. I though Zora was pregnant a month ago, but then thought she wasn't because I thought I saw her in heat. I wasn't even going to have her checked, but I'm glad I did. Dr Esser thinks that Zora might have two weeks, but Hope may go a little longer. I'm going to keep a close eye on her anyway, as maiden mares can really fool you.

The total cost was about $415 for the trip out, the palpations and the Dormosedan, but it's worth it to know for sure who to watch. It looks like I may be going to Rolex by myself, as Jac doesn't trust Ken farther than she can throw him. *S*

Vet visit

2009-04-08T11:27:00.003-05:00

Last May, Never (the 3yr old colt I had gelded in December) smashed his pasture gate and got in with the mares. I didn't think he covered anyone, but recently a couple of the mares are looking a little more round than usual. Considering the possible due date would be while I'm at Rolex, and the fact that one of the mares is 25 while the others are maiden mares, I thought it best to know for sure if they are or if I'm just paranoid.

I'm not totally sure which vet will be coming out, but it should be one of the two that I requested. Dr. Johnson is great, he talks to you and explains everything, and doesn't treat you like an idiot. Dr Esser is the new vet, and she seems nice enough, so I'm willing to give her a chance. She's the one that gelded Never, and she fielded my paranoid follow up phone questions with patience and grace. She also tracked down information on spaying mares for me, so she's got bonus points right there.

I'm not sure what result I'm hoping for at this point. I'm sort of half hoping that Emmy (Diadem Fa-Emerald) is pregnant. The plus side would be that she's purebred Arab, so the baby would be purebred. Emmy and Never's pedigrees are both heavy Crabbet and CMK, so that's a plus. And Emmy is the last of her bloodlines, a Royal Diamond granddaughter on her dam's side mixed with Babson and old Egyptian on her sire's side.

The minus side, of course, would be her age (25), and the fact that this would only be her second foal. Her first was born 4 years ago, and she didn't live long. We think she may have been a 'dummy' foal, but she may have had coat color dilution lethal, or lavender foal syndrome. I'm going to send some DNA samples in for a study, I hope it helps find a test like the one for SCID.

The other possibly pregnant mares that I'm having tested are Hope and Faith. Both are acting a little different, I haven't seen either in heat lately, and while Hope is a high percentage Pinto Arabian, Faith is a graying-out brown grade Quarter horse. Both have excellent conformation and any babies would be registrable as Half-Arabs. Problem is, I don't think I have enough room at the inn, so to speak. I have two possible foaling stalls, though if I got creative I could maybe have three. I'll definitely need to make separate pastures so no one gets bullied or chased, but I was going to do that anyway.

So, I don't know how this is going to go. I guess in the end, I'm just hoping for healthy, happy mares. If they have foals, I'll love them no matter what and I'm prepared to keep them forever if need be.

A New Look

2009-03-29T17:25:00.002-05:00

I'm trying out a new look for the blog. The old one was okay, but it seemed like a lot of blogs that I read these days were using that template, so I decided to try something new. I played around a bit with the colors, and I think I like the look so far. I may design a header for it as a future project.

Rainy days of Spring

2009-03-24T11:00:00.003-05:00

It's raining for the second day in a row. It was windy and cold yesterday, as well as wet, so I kept everybody in. Today isn't was bad, the rain is intermittent and the wind isn't as strong, so I let the youngsters out and kept the old ones in. I let Never out, and I hope I don't regret it. He was inside for a little over a week and his leg seems better (he's not limping and he's putting weight on it), but you would think by his behavior that it had been years! Trotting here, trotting there, arched neck at the mares in the next pasture, he had to check everything out. He's cute, but what a goofball!

I've been working a lot on the computer lately, mostly because it's so icky outside. I've updated some stuff on my Duchess Hill Photography website, and I'm getting pictures ready for the Duchess Hill Farm website. I've made a new animated advertisement for my Cafe Press site, and I'm working on designing a new print and internet advertising campaign. I'm also going to be adding a link to my photography blog, and I'm going to try my take on the '365 days of photos' project. We'll see how that works.

I'm still planning to attend the Rolex Kentucky 3 day event. I've got the room reserved, the tickets paid for, meet-and-greets with internet friends in the works, and a farm sitter booked. Barring incident, everything is a go.

Warming weather + ice and mud = injured gelding

2009-03-18T15:28:00.003-05:00

Spring is almost here! It's been in the sixties for most of the week, and while the frost hasn't completely let go, the ice is mostly gone and has been replaced with slick greasy mud. While this transition was going on, the horses got rather spunky, and needless to say, there's a rather unhappy gelding resting his leg in the barn.

I got home on Saturday after spending the day at a hop grower's informational seminar. I fed hay and water, then went to let everyone in for supper. The first one in is Never, and he's favoring his right front leg. I check him out, looking for heat and swelling, and find that it's mostly in his upper foreleg and shoulder. He also has mud on his face, neck and a bit on his side. My best guess is that he took a tight turn while goofing off and fell, bruising his leg and shoulder. I've had him on stall rest ever since, and he's not very happy about it.

I went to the vet yesterday to pick up Dormosedan for Rho (so we can trim his feet without getting anyone getting hurt) and picked up something stronger than aspirin for Never. The vet agreed that it was probably a bone bruise and that I was treating it the best way possible. Even if it was a hairline fracture, there's not a lot to do for it but lots of stall rest and pain killers. The powdered Bute didn't cost that much, about $35 for about 50 doses, but the Dormosedan was a lot more than I remember: $67 for one 1.5 cc dose!

Never's swelling seems to be going down a little, though he's still favoring the leg somewhat. Hopefully, he'll be ready to got out again soon, so he can roll in the mud with the rest of the herd. It'll be nice when the pasture is divided, though, to make it easier to separate the rowdy ones from the ones that need more rest.

The Name Your Dream Assignment contest

2009-03-03T15:04:00.005-06:00

A fellow photographer let me know about this, and so I've entered a couple of ideas for projects I've always wanted to do. You're only allowed 3 ideas, so I chose the ones that would help others out the most. If anybody feels these are worthy ideas, please vote and pass the word!

Thanks everybody!

Making progress

2009-02-09T13:08:00.005-06:00

We've finally gotten to the point where both Willow and Alex will pick up their front feet with no problem. The issue now is keeping them up. Alex is better about it, he stands and doesn't hop around but he does like to try and pull his foot away while Ken is working. He's still iffy about relaxing and letting Ken hold his hind feet, but he did well enough the other day that we got them trimmed. Now he has four lovely trimmed feet!

Willow is another story. Like her son, she picks up her feet like a pro. She just doesn't like to keep them up and will dance and hop around until she's up against a wall. Then she demands a treat and and sniffs Ken - back and forth - until Ken puts her foot down. The good news though is that both fronts are trimmed and balanced and can now grow out properly and the toe crack is healing nicely. We're still working on getting her to pick up her hind feet, but we're getting closer.

We haven't been working much with Never because he's been really anxious about his feet, and tense and anxious in general. I think part of the reason is because he wants to get out and play after being in all night, so maybe I'll start doing some work with him in the evening. I can't wait for the snow and ice to melt so I can get him working in the round pen and work off some of his energy. He still thinks a little like a stallion, no mating urges but he still flirts, but I'm hoping that will fade with time and focused work.

We've hit a lovely heat wave, 30's and 40's with a little rain. I figure most of the snow will be gone by the end of the week. YAY!

I haven't updated my photo business site yet, but the farm site is up and running! Check out the Duchess Hill Farm website here. There are no pics yet and I'm not sure about the color scheme (the green is a little bright for my tastes) but there are lots of links on the links page and the most of the individual horse pages have links to their pedigrees. It should only take a day to get pics up and arranged. Hopefully I can kick myself in the butt and do it this weekend.

Another bitter cold day

2009-01-24T16:01:00.004-06:00

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

2009-01-10T12:04:00.004-06:00

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

2009-01-07T17:06:00.003-06:00

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

2009-01-06T10:30:00.004-06:00

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

2009-01-04T21:57:00.003-06:00

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...

Crappy birthday to me

2008-12-26T09:14:00.003-06:00

Okay, I'm going to try really hard not to sound whiny and petulant, but if I do can y'all cut me some slack? It truly was a crappy day yesterday.

It started out nice enough. I got up pretty early, fed the horses and let them out, keeping Gem and Sparky in for the day as Gem got himself wounded (long story) and I wanted him out of the bitter cold. Even the trip down was nice: clear and dry roads and very little traffic. I got to Mom's around noon, and that's when the 'fun' began.

Mom had almost nothing wrapped, and she put me to work wrapping while she sorted and micro-managed and wrapped a couple of DVDs. After three hours, I was finally done. I packed the stuff in her car, then headed over to my brother's house for the gathering. No dinner, just grazing all day, sort of an open house. The kids were high on the never ending supply of brightly wrapped presents and noisy obnoxious toys. I got a lot of 'Happy Birthday' greetings, and a couple of presents, and that's about it.

Now, to be fair, there were some other things going on that distracted everyone. My great aunt Doris died that morning, my great aunt Astrid had died a week earlier, and my grandma was distraught. Mom was distracted with funeral arrangements, talking with her cousins, and comforting grandma.So I guess I can cut her a little slack. But come on, not even a cake?

Then the fun really begins. After most of the relatives leave, and it's just me, my brothers, mom, and my sister in law, I let it slip to my younger-younger brother John that Ken was in Michigan with his girlfriend, and that I'm finally going to file for divorce. That gets my older-younger brother Jay and my mom plotting on how I can ditch all my 'dead weight' and move closer to home.

I think their favorite plan was to have me turn the farm over the the bank, find homes for as many of the animals as I can, and move into a run-down house on a farm that Jay's renting. It's on 15 acres and has a barn and shed, so I could have some of the horses there, and maybe board for extra cash. I guess the house looks better on the inside and just needs some cosmetic work (I kinda doubt it's that easy).

After 2 hours of listening to them plot and my sister-in-law exclaim about how disrespectful Ken was to me to have an affair (it baffled her that I cared more about the animals than my marriage, which really died 10 years ago), I made a hasty retreat. I stopped by to drop off the rest of the cookies for dad, then started for home.

The trip back was pretty good, clear sailing until I hit Madison. That's when the snow began to fall. It was the storm I had been trying to avoid by leaving early, but apparently I was destined to drive home at 40 mph on the expressway all the way home. The closer to home I got, the more snow was on the road. I was so not amused.

I finally got home at 11 (I had left at 6:30, so I guess I didn't do too badly). Our neighbor hadn't been able to plow us out before I got home, so he did the best he could by driving around the driveway with his dually. I had to really gun it and keep going, but I didn't get stuck and was able to make it to the shed to park. Jac and the dogs met my outside to help bring in packages. After we got in and settled, Jac surprised me with two little pecan tassies with a candle in each, as I had let it slip that I hadn't gotten a birthday cake. I felt a little better, but I was so wired on stress and caffeine that I went online to check my emails (3 automated birthday greetings, none on any of my forums or networking sites) and then stayed up until 2am watching 'Love, Actually'.

So, that's how I spent my 35th birthday. Not too exciting, and a little disappointing. Anyway, today is a new day, and hopefully I can get my life turned around the way I want and next year I can have a better birthday.

Holiday wish list

2008-12-13T10:44:00.007-06:00

I've got a wish list at Amazon.com, but there are some things that Amazon just doesn't have a listing for. Here is a list of things that I would dearly love but I don't expect to get, in no particular order:

-20 bags of shavings a month for a year (or even 6 months)
-a pallet of Nutrena Senior horse feed a month for 6 months
-more T posts and fencing materials
-a new roof for the barn
-someone I trust around horses to help around the farm (cleaning stalls, planting trees, putting up fence...)
-a $3000 gift certificate for vet care
-unlimited access to Clavamox or Zithromax, Tobramyacin drops, and Frontline Plus or Revolution
-a boyfriend for my sister/roommate (a veterinarian-architect-millionaire philanthropist would be awesome)
-a grant or loan to get my farm/rescue started (details here, here and here)
-a divorce
-my life back on track

I've not listed anything about a boyfriend or dating or anything like that for me, because I've pretty much given up. I just can't seem to find anyone that I find interesting enough to date, and anyway, once I get divorced I'm never getting married again. I really shouldn't have made it legal the first time. Oh well, live and learn I guess.

"I totally lost it when..."

2008-12-08T17:01:00.004-06:00

The topic of one of my favorite blogs Behind the Bit yesterday was "times when you totally lost it", your emotions went totally out of your control. The first story that came to mind was from when I was around 10 years old, and colored my view of trainers for years.

Shady was my first horse, born just 6 months before I was. She was true black 7/8 Arabian mare with a blaze and a mischievous personality, mostly because the other 1/8 of her genetics was Shetland pony. She was curious and smart and somewhat of an escape artist, but she was mine and I loved her dearly.

When I was old enough for the 4-H horse project, Mom sent Shady to an Arab breeder friend of hers who's son was a trainer. After he had put about a month or two of work into her (I think, I don't quite remember) he had me in for a lesson.

I knew something was off about her, as she would hug the wall of the dim indoor arena while going counter clockwise, but when she went clockwise she stayed about six feet from the wall. I mentioned my concerns, but the trainer just said she was being stubborn and I was letting her get away with being naughty. He had me get off, then hopped on and proceeded to beat the crap out of my mare with a whip RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME. I so mad and frustrated I was crying, and kept trying to convince him that something must be wrong with her eyes. Mom was horrified by the whole scene, and pulled Shady out of there soon after. I never forgot or forgave that jerk.

As a result of that lesson, I kept a close eye on Shady and her reactions to things: sticking close while I led her, rearing in a halter class when the judge came around the back, going though a fence at dusk. It was about 5 or 6 years after the trainer incident when the vet determined she had glaucoma in one eye, the one on the side she had issues with. I felt vindicated, in a way, but sad and upset too. She lived for a few more years in comfort, but we decided to have her put down when she continually broke through the fence. She was 21, and so was I.

I have another 'lost it' story about a trainer, but I think I'll save it for another day. Remembering this took more out of me than I thought it would, I'm pissed off all over again!

Success and Frustration

2008-12-08T12:59:00.005-06:00

Never is now a gelding!

I was so impressed with his behavior. He took everything in stride, hardly blinking at loading into the trailer, though the last time he was in one was when he was 4 months. He loaded and unloaded like a pro, and while he had a little sweat on his neck when we got to the clinic, he was dry and calm when we got home.

At the clinic, he was a sweetheart, curious but not volatile or jumpy. He led to the holding stall, walked right in and turned around so he watch everybody. When I came to pick him up after surgery, he saw me and whickered. I think I melted a little. *S*

I had his shots done and his wolf teeth pulled, so all we need to do is his Coggins test and booster shots in a month or so.

That was all the success part of the story. Here's the frustration part:

It's been cold here for the past few days. Not the 'oh, it's 30 degrees and I need a hat and mittens' type cold, but the 'it's 15 degrees with a wind chill of 25 below, break out the lined pants and two pair of long underwear to walk to the barn' type of cold. I had Never on stall rest on Friday, and turned him out on Saturday to get some air. I wasn't looking forward to hand walking him, but it's something that needed to be done.

So I thought, until I looked out the window and saw him doing laps in the pen! I checked up on him a couple of times that morning, and noticed he would eat, then trot around trying to catch a glimpse of the other horses (my round pen is on the other side of the barn, effectively blocking most of the view of the pastures). I had to bring him in around noon, however, because the wind was picking up and the pen has no shelter.

That's been the routine for the past few days. Today, it's a balmy 25 and no breeze, so he gets to stay in the pen all day, at least until the blizzard hits us. He's swelling a little at the mouth of his sheath, but after a couple of calls to the vet, 3 digital thermometers, and convincing Never that playing with his tail was really okay, we determined that there probably wasn't an infection and he's probably just a little puffy from all the stall rest he's gotten.

I can't wait until he's all healed so I can stop worrying about infection, and start focusing on his training. He's going to be a wonderful show horse, and maybe he'll even like trail riding!

Gelding day postponed

2008-12-02T16:25:00.004-06:00

Nevermore was scheduled to get snipped today, but the vet called this morning and said that it was way too cold to safely sedate him at the farm. So, after much thought, I rescheduled for Thursday at the clinic. Now I need to track down a trailer (I have a few leads) and hope he remembers how to load. I may also call and schedule Alex too, but he's not as urgent to get done as Never is.

By getting Never gelded I can play musical pastures: Bahim goes in his old paddock, the younger/dominant mares get the paddock that Bahim was in, and the older mares can get the big pasture. Everybody will have access to ice-free water, hay, and shelter, and a sperm-free Nevermore will have other horses to keep him company.

I moved everybody around this morning in anticipation of the vet visit (she called as I was leading Bahim to his pen), so Never is going to be staying in the round pen for the next couple of days. He will be coming in at night, though, as it's supposed to be pretty frigid for the next week or so. I picked up a heated water bucket so he has ice-free water, and I hope to tie some sort of material to the pen to help block the wind, as he's gotten used to a run-in shelter.

I can't wait until this is all done. Too bad spaying mares isn't this easy.

Being thankful

2008-11-23T11:45:00.005-06:00

Winter is pretty much here, and between the cold and the state of the economy (and the state of my economy!), it's really hard to feel positive about anything. So with Thanksgiving coming up this week, I thought it would be a good idea to list things I'm thankful for and focus on the good things for a while.

I'm thankful for my health. I'm not in the best shape, but I'm rarely sick and I'm working to improve my fitness and diet.

I'm thankful for my friends and family. Yeah, they can be annoying at times, but they're there for me whether I need them or not and that's good to know.

I'm thankful for all the animals I take care of: horses, cats, dogs, etc... there is a lot of them, and they cost money to feed and vet and such, but they make me feel good and give me purpose and drive to achieve my goals.

I'm thankful I have a roof over my head. The rest of the house may look like hell, but it's mine as long as I keep paying the mortgage, and that feels good.

I may gripe about all of this, but I truly am thankful for them. Without them, my world would be a lot different and very meaningless.

Things Not to Do Around Half Blind Horses, a Cautionary Tale

2008-11-14T09:56:00.006-06:00

You would think, after literally spending my whole life around horses, that I would know better. Here's what happened:

I was turning everyone out after breakfast yesterday, and we have a particular order that we go in. Starting with Sparky in the big stall at the west end, I let Tassel and Callie out, then shift to the east end and let Emmy, Hope, Heather and Alex out. Gem and Jul get more to eat, so they get to stay in their stalls until they're finished, and Fiesta stays in too, as he likes to try and get into their feed pans (the stall fronts that I have are easy for a determined pony-sized hinny to get his head through).

Callie had stopped to eat some hay that got pushed out of Gem's stall. I didn't think much of it, just let her eat while I turned everyone out. Tassel decided to come back in as I was walking away (I had the gate open).

This is where I did something completely stupid.

I approached Callie's hip. On her blind side. Without saying anything or patting her rump.

As I tried to walk behind her, she thought I was Tassel and kicked me three times in the thigh. I've never been kicked so hard before, and I can't even blame her as she thought I was someone else.

After sitting for a bit to get the wobbly feeling to subside, I moved to Callie's good side and got her and Tassel out, then let Gem, Jul and Fiesta out, fed hay to Never and Rho and go to the house to check out the damage. Lots of heat and swelling, of course, in a space larger than my hand. I sprayed Arnica on it throughout the day, and by evening it hurt a lot less and the swelling was down.

This morning my leg is stiff, but the swelling is way down and the heat is almost normal. Now is when the colors will come out. I'll probably post a picture to document my moment of stupidity, and to remind me never to be so distracted around horses.

Autumn weather

2008-11-06T10:14:00.009-06:00

In Wisconsin they say 'if you don't like the weather, wait a minute and it'll change'.

It's true enough, especially lately. We had the expected 40's and 50's gray days for a week or so (we even had some flurries!), then suddenly it's sunny and 74! After a couple of days of bliss, we're back to 50's and rainy, with the possibility of snow this weekend. At least I'm being given a chance to finish up with the outside work before it freezes.

Don't get me wrong, I like Winter, to a point. I like snow and ice, but I like it in small bits on my terms. It looks very pretty from my office window, and through the viewfinder of my camera. I don't spend a lot of time outside in the snow, I go out to feed and water and let everyone in and out and that's about it. If I could, I'd have my groceries and feed delivered and use the money saved on gas to get the movie channels and buy more books.

I’m planning on using the time spent inside this winter to get my photo business plan revamped and ready for next season. The big priority is advertising, I need to do more of it. I need to redesign my business cards, set up brochures or flyers, come up with newspaper and magazine ads, and keep in contact with my customers. I’m thinking of starting a blog specifically for the business.

I also want to make myself known to publishers and magazine editors, so I can get published and get my press credentials for Rolex 2009, and eventually the World Equestrian Games in 2010. I would dearly love to be able to cover the entire 16 days for a publication, maybe get my meals covered, a hotel room would be nice but I can sleep anywhere, really.

Anyway, this will be may third year officially in business, and I hope to break even for a change, or at least upgrade some of my equipment.

In other news, Alex is doing well. He seems pretty level headed for the most part, but he does have a tendency to freak out at times. He gets jumpy if you touch him anywhere that he's not used to (his belly, mostly), but he's still pretty okay about his feet. He needs to learn to stand better while you're holding them, but at least he'll pick them up without kicking. We're going to learn to tie pretty soon, that should be fun.

Musical Pastures

2008-10-29T11:20:00.004-05:00

I've had Alex in the round pen since he was weaned, with a few exceptions. There's no shelter out there, so if it's raining (or lately, snowing) I have to bring him in, or keep him in if it's morning. I also feel bad because he doesn't have a lot of room to stretch out and run, and the horses I've had out with him are either old or aren't interested in playing with him. So yesterday I decided to put him out with Never. I though they would both like the company, and Alex would like the chance to actually run.

It started out well. I put Bahim in the round pen so we could get Alex in Never's pen without hassle (someday I'm going to have better access to all the pastures!). I tossed in some hay, and watched Never sniff Alex all over while Alex made the 'don't hurt me I'm a baby' face. I watched them for about 20 minutes or so, felt everything was going well, and went to work. I popped out a couple of times during the day to see how they were doing, and they seemed fine, grazing with the occasional gallop. At feeding time, though, everything went to hell.

Oh, at first everything was fine. Jac set up the feed buckets and supplements, I doled out hay and filled water buckets, and everyone came in without too much fuss. The problem turned up when we went to feed Alex and Never. Never, apparently, wanted Alex nowhere near him while he was eating, and was very clear about it. Poor Alex, I felt so bad for him. I took his pail of feed out to him, and tried to get him to eat, but Never followed me out and chased Alex right through the space between the gate and the shed! I felt nervous that Alex was now in with Bahim, but apparently Bahim was more interested in his food than a spotted weanling.

I got to the barn as fast as I could, and coaxed Alex through the gate and into his stall. I think he looked relieved, and ate his hay and grain quietly while I looked him over for blood and scrapes. When I was satisfied, I said good night and went to relax and try to figure out what to do.

This morning I turned him out with Tassel again, as I know she's calm and he knows her pretty well. I think I'll just have to keep him out in the round pen until Never is gelded and can be turned out with the others. Then, I can put Bahim and another horse, maybe Tassel, in the shed pasture, put the old mares that come in the barn at night into the pasture that Bahim's currently in, and the bossy younger mares can have the bigger pasture. I'll put Never in with the bossy mares, and either put Alex in with the older mares and have him come in at night, or put him with the younger mares and put his mom Willow in with the older mares, as she has a toe crack that needs regular care in order to grow out properly. I don't know, I'm still working things out. *sigh* We'll see how things work out, I guess.

Weaning

2008-10-10T09:14:00.003-05:00

Yesterday I got a call from a neighbor who was driving by:

"Christel, one of your horses is in your hayfield. I think it's one of the young ones."

Well, needless to say I was out the door in a flash, with horrible thoughts of the fence down and mares running all over (I'm glad I finally got the perimeter fence finished). I walked out around Never's paddock and let out a little of the breath that I was holding. No mares running all over, just Alex, grazing and keeping an eye on his mom on the other side of the fence.

I breathed a sigh of relief and walked over to Alex while trying to figure out how he got there. I pet him for a bit, then the herd moved. He followed, then *scoot* under the fence he went! He figured out that I hadn't electrified the second strand. He was back with the herd, so I went and cut the power, spliced the second strand into the rest of the fence, turned it back on and went back to working.

I took a break later in the afternoon to mow the lawn. I finish up and go to park the mower, and who do I see? You guessed it, Alex the Great on the wrong side of the fence again! By this time, I've done the math and figured out that he turned 6 months on Tuesday and Willow hasn't shown any desire to completely wean him. So, I get his halter, a lead rope, and Jac and go get him. He didn't want to be caught at first (I think he was a little surprised that the fence 'bit' him this time), but Jac and I finally calmed him a bit and got his halter on (which finally fits!).

He tried to walk off after the halter and lead were on. He got to the end of the rope, discovered resistance, and proceeded to do his best impersonation of a giant marlin. He dragged me around for a little bit, then settled down. I caught my breath, steeled my nerves, and started walking him to the barn, away from him mom and the rest of the herd. He got 'stuck' a couple of times, but he did well for the most part. I put him in the round pen, watched him for a bit to see if he'd be okay, and then went to the house to fix supper.

After supper, I went to do horse chores. I lead Alex to his stall, and he only tried to bolt once. Of course, Willow lead the herd into the barn, checked on her baby, then went to her stall to eat. I let everyone else in, fed and distributed hay, and then let the younger mares out. Willow went right out the gate without a word, thinking her baby would be right behind her as usual. I closed the gate, turned off the outside light, and started to walk away. Suddenly, Will is at the gate calling to Alex.

*sigh*

In the end I gave her and Alex treats soaked in Rescue Remedy. When they settled a little, I turned off the barn light and went to bed.

This morning, I get to the barn and Willow is still camped out by the gate. I feed all the horses that stayed inside, then make a decision. Tassel is 30 and pretty calm and easy going. I put her in the round pen, then go get Alex. He walks through the barn like a old pro, outside and right up to the round pen gate. There he balks a little, but after I shoo Tassel away he comes in. I take the lead off and he starts trotting and calling for his mama. His mama hears and calls back. Tassel just goes back to grazing. At one point, Alex tries to go to Tassel for comfort, but she half-heartedly kicks at him and walks off. I give him a few treats, then head to the house to get some work done.

I've been checking on him every 15 minutes or so, and he seems to be relaxing a bit. The neighing has stopped for now, and he's doing a little grazing, but mostly he's walking round and watching as the herd grazes across the paddocks. Tassel still seems not to care, but she's letting him get closer now. I feel bad, but he's 6 months old now and a big boy, he's more than old enough to be weaned. I'm glad the early lessons in haltering and leading have stuck with him, or else this might not have gone so well for either of us.

Heather part 1

2008-09-21T18:41:00.004-05:00

I've been meaning to write about Heather for a while now, but with things so hectic I really hadn't spent much time with her. Since today was so lovely, and we may not have very many more days like it left this year, I decided to spend some time with her.

First, some background. I went to the feed store earlier this summer and saw an advertisement for 'an older Arabian mare' for sale, $600 or best offer. I took down the number, as there aren't many Arab people in the area and I was curious. Plus, the faded picture looked a lot like one of my mom's foundation mares: liver chestnut with a blaze and stockings. I called the owner later in the week, and after a long chat about Arabians and such we arranged a day and time to meet.

I arrived at the farm without any difficulty. It wasn't far from my farm, just tucked out of the way on a back road that I hadn't traveled before. Nice place, shiny happy horses, plenty of grass and a nice barn. The owner was friendly and talkative. She introduced me to another horse that we had talked about on the phone, an 18 yr old gray Arabian with almost the same name as my mare that passed on 2 years ago now. Tiara, the gray mare, was lovely, but she had a big problem: she ran the fence in a big way. Even when placed in a pasture with other horses, she would run back and forth along the fence. The owner (who wasn't her first) tried to get her to stop by placing her in a pen by herself and making it odd shaped, but it didn't work. She was wearing herself down, and the owner just didn't know what to do. She offered her to me for free, but I'm not equipped to handle a horse like that. So, though it broke my heart, I had to decline. Then she took me to see Heather.

Heather in person looked even more like Bahara, mom's old mare. She was wonderful, smart, steady, healthy, and apparently 30 years old! Yikes! She was fit and in good shape, so I had Jac ride her first, then I took a turn (nothing strenuous). We went back to the barn, and the owner showed us Heather's trick (nodding her head for a treat when you ask if she want's one), and then introduced us to the rest of the herd. After that, I said I would get back to her about Heather, and we took our leave. I kept meaning to call and tell her that i couldn't justify the $600 for a horse at the moment, but the weeks just went by.

Just days after Sketch died, I get a call from Heather's owner. I apologized profusely, telling her I meant to call and explaining about Sketch. We talked for a bit, and then she said 'If you still want Heather, I'll sell her to you, and only you, for $150'. Stunned, I told her I'd have to talk it over with Ken, but I'd let her know. Well, a week later I called back and said 'Sure'.

September so far

2008-09-17T15:49:00.003-05:00

It's been pretty busy around here since my last blog entry. I didn't do much for most of this summer, but the halfway through August I seemed to be doing something every weekend! I went to a Trakhener mare inspection and branding on August 23, photographed a local dressage schooling show on the 24th, attended the county fair from the 27th to September 1st, went to see a local band in Wausau on September 5 and stayed up all night, and on the 14th I traveled down to Mequon with some friends and their horses to see an Oldenburg inspection and branding. I was planning to go to the Michigan Renaissance Festival this coming weekend, but I'm not sure I can make it, I may have to push it back to the 27th and 28th.

I promised in an earlier blog that I'd write about Heather, my newest addition, and I will, but I think she needs to have her own entry with pictures and stuff. I'll try and write that up tomorrow.

Other things in the news: I was on a ladder, without a spotter, and of course fell off and screwed up my knee. It was dumb, really dumb, and I knew better, but for some reason I did it anyway. Hopefully it will continue to heal nicely, and I won't see any lasting effects.

Otherwise, there's not much going on. I should get back to working on pictures for Ken, and stuff for Cafe Press. I finally subscribed to the pro shop, and hopefully I can get it to generate enough money to cover the feed bill this winter. Maybe if I'm lucky, I can make enough to get shavings too.

Flymasks and paychecks

2008-08-30T12:23:00.003-05:00

I was going to head to the fairgrounds early today, but after checking the schedule again, I decided to head off later. The hitch classes start around 5 or 6pm, so I'm going to get some work done around here and avoid most of the heat.

Two good things came in the mail today: Ken's paycheck (woohoo I can pay bills! *S*) and the full face fly mask that I ordered for Glory. I'm not used to horses with lots of white on their faces, the ones that I did know didn't burn much, maybe the tip of their nose. A little cream, and they're fine. Glory is a medicine hat patterned 3 year old mare, cute in a fugly sort of way. She hadn't burned in the past, which is why I didn't worry much about her this year. Imagine my surprise and dismay when I did a pasture walk with the lady that sold me Heather and saw Glory's face covered in flies and scabbed pink skin! Horrified and embarrassed at the very least, guilty and sorry for her are in there too.

So, that very day I went looking for a fly mask with a nose cover. I eventually found one at my favorite online 'tack shop' Valley Vet Supply. I picked up the horse sized Crusader Pasture Long Nose Fly Mask on Tuesday, and got it in the mail today. Great service, fast delivery, and they take Paypal! I love these people.

I headed out to the pasture with the mask in hand to try it on. She didn't want to come anywhere near me as long as I was holding it. So, after playing 'ring around the Christel' for a bit, I got smarter: I brought her into the barn, gave her a bit of grain in her stall, and then tried it on her. For some reason, she's a lot better about doing things in her stall, anything from putting on her halter to picking up her feet. Anyway, the mask fit great, she seems to be taking to it well, and it doesn't look too awful either. I think I may have to pick up a couple more horse sized ones for Cora and Zora, as they wanted me to put Glory's on them while I was walking around. Valley Vet has a Buy 2 get 1 free deal going on right now, maybe I'll pick up 6. It never hurts to have extra on hand.

Daydreaming...

2008-08-29T17:38:00.004-05:00

Yeah, I know I should be working, but I needed to take a break because my mind was wandering. Since it is, I thought I should try to record the train of thought and see what comes of it. If nothing else, I can see the thought process in print, and maybe I can figure out how to make it happen. I've had this seemingly impossible to reach goal for a while. I say seemingly, as I've made baby steps toward it, but now I've hit a bit of a wall. Anyway, here it is:

I would like to purchase the rest of the farmland near mine, about 60-70 acres. I have 40 acres, 35 tillable, though 13 of that is in pasture, so my total acreage would be about 100-110. I would plant the newly acquired land with hay and maybe oats, fence and cross fence some of the current hay land for more pasture and paddocks, and plant more hops (up to 5 acres). I'd plant more trees for windbreaks, give the old apple tree some friends, and expand the ponds to help drain the muddy-marshy spots.

After that, I would build the new house and horse barn farther back on the property. I have the spot all picked out: back beyond the second hill, past the old apple tree, for a bit of privacy and safety (we're currently too close to the highway for my comfort and the safety of the animals).

The barn so far is going to be a large building, with about 30-40 12x12 box stalls, 4 larger stalls for foaling and/or very large horses, wash stalls, tack rooms, feed storage, a lounge/viewing area, and the office. The stalls will be arranged in a U around the indoor arena, with doors on every wall for easy access and cross breezes. It won't be too far from the house, with the driveway situated so I can see when someone pulls in. A smaller barn for quarantine and storage would be off to the side but convenient for the vet and grooms to get to.

The house is going to be set into the hill, earth on 3 sides, with an atrium in the center and a greenhouse on the south side adjoining my bedroom and office. The main area will be open concept, with all rooms able to enjoy the atrium view. The kitchen will have an island and tons of workspace, plenty of cabinets, a large walk-in pantry, and a 'cold storage' room for the freezers and root cellar veggies. The mudroom will have a toilet and shower, and the washer and dryer as well. The two guest rooms will have access to the atrium, which will have a breakfast nook, a fountain or two, small trees, and a nook here and there to hide and read. In general, the house will be energy efficient, water conservative, solar and wind used wherever possible, and comfortable. We fondly call our dream house 'the Bunker', because that's pretty much what it is!

After the new house it build, we'll have a house burning party! The old house is pretty much un-salvageable, with the basement crumbling, wiring from the 50's, and really old insulation that has settled quite a bit. With the old house gone, we'd pour a new foundation and build a cottage to rent to a trainer, for good reason. Here's where life gets better.

This is what I really want to do with my life: I want to rescue, rehab, and retire horses. Now, I don't want to be a 501 certified type rescue, as there's one right across the street and they're doing a great job. I would focus on rehabbing lay-ups, finding good horses that just need more training (or training in general) and upgrading them, and giving people a place to retire their old show horses that made them so much money in the past. Honestly, I don't think people will pay much for the retirement, but the rehab and retraining aspect should somewhat cover that area. I'd like to attract a good trainer or two, someone that's not breed-ist or discipline-ist (someone like Mugwump would be awesome) to not only train the horses we're upgrading, but who may like to take in other clients for extra cash, and maybe offer riding lessons.

There's all kinds of benefits of this type of operation: more jobs for the area, more money circulating locally (especially at the feed store!), horses that might have had an unhappy ending finding good homes and useful work, and a place for kids to go to learn about horses and responsibility. I'm planning to sponsor the local 4-H and FFA, as well as offer tours and classes to schools and other youth groups.

Of course, all of this is great, but it's a dream unless I can come up with the capital, somewhere between $500,000 an $750,000. I would pay off every bit, though it will take a while, but it would really be worth it to help out so many lives in so many ways. There are 'angel investors', but I'm a bit leary of that angle because they typically want a high and fast return on their investment. Government grants and loans are full of hoops to jump through and tons of qualifiers, and are usually focused on 'traditional' farmers. And I refuse to beg for money. Right now, I'm just trying to save as much as I can while taking care of my oldsters and working with the youngsters. Not easy, but I'm trying.

So, that's pretty much it. If anybody happens to read this that has a lot of money sitting around that they want to invest in an interesting horse venture, I'm working on a business plan that I can send to you!

Finally, a day of 'rest'

2008-08-29T10:30:00.003-05:00

Today is the first day in about a week that I can kick back and 'relax', meaning I can finally get some stuff done around the house. The only thing that's stopping me from mowing the lawn right now is the dew still on the grass. Laundry is washing at this very moment (I ran out of jeans), and a list has been made of other things that need doing today: clean my room, wash dishes, finish editing the photo proofs for printing, sweep the office, mop, etc....

I got behind starting last Friday, when I went to my friend Billie's to spend the night so we could leave early the next morning for the American Trakehner Association's mare inspection at KD Trakehners in Watertown, Wisconsin. We stayed up late chatting, and thus at 4 am we were a little wasted to say the least. The trip went well, though, and was a lot of fun, with gorgeous mares and cute babies everywhere. After the evaluations and scoring (one was approved as a model mare), we were treated to a jumping exhibition featuring their stallion Blitz Und Donner.
I would dearly love to breed Hope to such a handsome boy, I just have to find the money for the stud fee!

After the brandings, we said our goodbyes and went back to Billie's for supper. It was late, so I stayed the night again and went to the Marshfield Saddle Club's schooling show the next day. The weather was wonderful, not too hot or cold, and the sun and blue sky made taking pictures easier. Hopefully I can get enough orders to put towards a new (to me) camera, as having just one makes me very nervous.

Heather was delivered Monday morning (more about her in another post), and the rest of the day was spent running around town, shopping for food, and downloading cf cards. Tuesday was mostly spent in front of the computer converting RAW to jpg, sorting the good from the bad, and posting the proofs to my site. Wednesday and Thursday I spent at the Central Wisconsin State Fair taking pictures of friends and working on my gymkhana photo technique. I'm planning to make prints of the best run of each person and handing them to the county horse project superintendent to hand out to the riders. Maybe next year I'll donate my time to take ribbon pics if they're interested.

So we come to Friday and the weekend. Tomorrow starts the Pepsi All Wisconsin Draft Horse Show at the fairgrounds, with the youth classes in the morning and the first of the hitches in the evening. The biggest crowd pleaser is the ten horse pyramid hitch, though I like the four horse competitive driving class. That gets exciting! Sunday is stallion and gelding at halter, then the cart and other hitch classes, and in the evening the tandem classes and champion four horse hitch. Monday wraps up with mare and group halter and the last of the hitch classes. It's a fun time, and if anybody is in the area they should stop in and check it out. The horses are top quality, and the handlers are incredible!

Well, I should get back to work. Hopefully I'll be able to start preparing for winter next week. It seems a little early to be thinking about it, but I'm tired of cutting wood in a foot of snow and ice, and I'd really like to get my gardens laid out and fertilized for next year.

Just a quick post

2008-08-20T23:05:00.002-05:00

Thought I would do a quick update before I head for bed.

We baled second crop this afternoon, and I may have just enough of it to last Gem and Jul the winter, maybe 200 bales total if I'm lucky. It cost a lot to make it, in regards to fuel mostly, but they're worth it. I have more than enough first crop for everybody, but those two prefer the second crop for taste and texture. Who am I to argue with a 35 yr old mare and her 30 yr old son?

A friend called me the other day and invited me to go to a Trakehner inspection in Watertown on Saturday, and of course I jumped at the opportunity! Woohoo! Then on Sunday I'm photographing a schooling show in Marshfield, which is always fun. I must be one of the few photographers out there that enjoys taking pictures of dressage shows, no matter the level.

Also, I did something spontaneous and possibly foolish today, but I don't think I'll regret it much. I can't say anything at the moment, as I don't know if Ken or Jac (or anybody really) reads this blog, but next week I'll write about the what, how and why.

And that's it, I'm going to bed...

Moving on...

2008-08-09T08:58:00.004-05:00

I know life needs to go on, but I'm in a bit of a quandry. Sketch was the only horse I had that was ridable and of a good age. My other ridables are really old and retired. The others are young and of riding age, just not trained yet. I need to find a dressage trainer (or a good trainer period) that knows Arabians as well as stock horses to get my girls (and one boy) properly started.

Still, though, I would like a horse that I can just jump on and go on a trail ride, that won't need to be schooled every time I get on. I had gone to look at a horse earlier this summer, the ad said older been there, done that Arabian. There's not many Arabians around here, so I had to go see her.

She was wonderful, she reminded me of one of my mom's foundation mares, and she rode wonderfully for her age, which happened to be thirty! She's very solid and well built, you would never guess her to be that old. Her owner wanted $600 and a good home, but I just didn't have the money or the room. Well, a few days after Sketch passed on, the owner called me and asks if I still want the mare, and for me she'll drop the price to $150! I think I need to buy this mare, I just have to figure out how to get more money coming in to cover the other costs.

I will accomplish my goals, I have to keep telling myself that so I keep going.

Etched n Stone 1993-2008

2008-07-30T10:20:00.004-05:00

Last night I went to feed everybody, and noticed Sketch standing funny. I walked over to the fence, and he stood there looking at me, a sign that something is really wrong if he won't walk over to dinner. I hopped in the pen he shares with Never (corral panels in a shed with a door to their pasture), and he pivoted on his front end to look at me. I checked him out, and discovered his near front leg was swollen really bad around the knee joint (where the leg connects to the shoulder).

Crap.

I have no pain meds left, and no liniments. Double crap. So I halter him up and slowly lead him out to the round pen (we had to push him after half way), give him hay, some treats with Rescue Remedy for the stress, and some topical Arnica spray for bruising (it was all I could think of). I decided to wait until morning to call the vet, as they're 45 minutes away and I might not get the doctor I want. I spent half the night trying to search for similar injuries on the Net, and came up with nada.

The vet came early this morning, and after the exam he gave me the news. Sketch managed to break his humerus up by the top of the joint.

We decided it was for the best to put him out of his pain. It was the type of injury that, even if you had thousands of dollars to toss at it, it may never heal. What amazes me is that, even with all the pain he was in, he still ate like a pig and just favored the leg. He didn't whine or complain, just whinnied for his food and company.

So, now he's in a better place, with no pain and all-you-can-eat unfenced grassy pastures, and he'll have a burial place on the hill in the pasture next to Tiara. And a little black humor: he was always trying to get out of work, he just took it a little far this time. (morbid, I know, but it's how I deal sometimes)

Etched n Stone aka Sketch 1993-2008 RIP

Cora's Evaluation

2008-07-08T19:42:00.003-05:00

Cora's evaluation has been ongoing, more observation than anything else. The trainer that gave her to me warned that she was buddy bound to Zora, so I've let her just settle into the herd, only handling her when she needs it (worming, hoof trimming, etc...). She seems calmer now than when she first arrived, but is still nervous when taken away from Zora. Her ground manners are pretty good, she leads, stands for the farrier, takes her wormer well, and likes getting fly-sprayed. When she's with the herd she's calm and friendly and stands like a statue when you pet her all over, but take her away from Zora, her head is high and she has a slightly tense look to her.

Today, though, I though I would try something a bit more, so I when out to pasture to get her. Well, the whole herd decided to greet me, swirling around begging for scratching, Alex the baby most of all! I have to say this: I may have one or two fuglies (I didn't breed them, they needed a home) out there, but everyone is fat and shiny! I was almost blinded by all the glossy, almost metallic, coats!

I approached Cora, and she walked off. I persisted, she sort of sighed and then stopped. I haltered her and started back to the barn, Cora in tow and the others wondering what they should do. About halfway to the barn, Zora starts up with her wussy high pitched whinny, and Cora starts dragging her feet and trying to look behind her. Then the herd makes up it's collective mind to follow along too, with Alex walking alongside Cora. He is going to be something to train!

When we got to the barn, Zora stopped to flirt with Bahim again and seemed to put Cora from her mind for a bit. I got Cora into the barn and cross-tied her, which she didn't fight, just tried to turn around a few times and settled with standing a little sideways to look back at the gate to the pasture. She was quiet with very little dancing, but tense.

After grooming (and a treat for being quiet), we went to the round pen to see what she knew. She started off with cantering halfway, then trotting halfway, for a couple of rounds. Then I sent her around the other way, and she did the same. I was okay with all of this as I wanted her to get it out of her system. Then we started getting more serious. I had her trot around, and every time she called out in response to someone in the pasture, I clucked to her and asked her to move out more. After a while, she got the idea. Then she tried to test me by changing direction on her own, but I wasn't having any of that. After a few good rounds in each direction, her head came down a little and she seemed to relax, so I asked her to whoa. She stopped, then walked right past me to look over the fence. So I asked her to move out again, had her circle a round or two, then told her to whoa. When after a few repeats of this I said whoa and she stopped and looked at me, I decided to take it. I took her out for some grass, then brought her back in the barn for a quick brushing and treat, then turned her out. She was calmer, and didn't take off after the herd like I thought she might, just walked over, joined the herd and her buddy, and wandered off for more grazing.

All in all, she's not to bad a mare, she just needs more time and patience. I should probably try and work with her at least 3 times a week. I also think that I won't get on her until she's a bit calmer in the pen, though I probably could have tried her today and she would have been like Zora: wired, tense, worried, but no bucking or bolting. I just didn't feel like risking anything today. I'm just glad I ended up with these two, because while the person who gave them to me said they were broke, a beginner or someone timid could not handle them when they're separate, unless they had a trainer working with them. They need a refresher on what their job is and how to focus on it, and that's going to take time, patience, and work. I'll probably focus more on Cora, as she's younger and has better conformation than Zora. Zora will still be ridden, just not hard.

Zora's Evaluation

2008-07-04T21:29:00.003-05:00

Today was such a beautiful day that I decided, after general housework and lawn care, that I would try working with Zora. Zora is a 20 something sorrel Quarter Horse mare, supposedly a veteran show horse with lots of training, so I didn't think it would be much of an ordeal. Live and learn, I guess.

Zora and her buddy Cora came to me in December from a trainer I used to work for. She had bought them from a friend to help her out, with the intention to use them as lesson horses. She ran out of time and room at her barn, so she boarded them out at another place while she tried to sell them. When she couldn't find a buyer, she tried to donate them to a local horse rescue, but they were full so she came to me. I took them in, fed them and cleaned them up, and pretty much left them alone until now.

The trainer had warned me that Cora was really buddy bound to Zora, and I kept that in mind when I went to the pasture. Zora walked willingly up to the barn, followed closely by Cora, and then veered over to say hi to Bahim, my aged stallion in an adjacent pasture.

That's when she started acting like a brazen harlot. Great, she's in heat.

I got the halter on her, brought her into the barn and cross-tied her. She danced a little, but not to bad. Cora was at the gate calling and tap dancing around, but Zora didn't say a word, just stood like a statue and took in what was going on.

I groomed her, put a topical ointment on the worst of her sarcoids, and sprayed on the fly spray. She seemed to enjoy it all, but was still alert and a little tense. Cora was still carrying on outside. You would think I was taking her best buddy ever away to do horrible things to.

*A word about Zora's sarcoids: she's got large patches of raised bumps on both sides of her neck, a bump on her leg, and some bare skin and bumps around her ears and poll. There aren't any in a spot that tack would cover and rub, they just look bad and sometimes she rubs the bumps open and they bleed a little. Before she came to me, the people taking care of her put some sort of paste on the bumps to try and get rid of them. It sort of worked, it burned off the bumps but also ate away the hair and skin too, leaving huge raw patches for the flies to get into (yeah, they did it over the summer). I left them alone, just focused on healing the raw skin, and everything looks better for the most part. I'm looking into a couple of treatments, as I can't remove them like I had done with Sketch.

After the grooming session, we went to the round pen to see what she knew. I started her going left, and she did pretty well at the walk and trot. She came to the center when I said whoa, but that's not a big deal with me. All seemed to be going well, so I sent her to the right. She tried to go left again. I turned her back to the right and she stopped. I coaxed her into moving again, she cut across the pen, hugged the fence close to the barn, cut across the pen again, turned to the left, got to the gate and stopped. All this time Cora is fussing and calling out of sight behind the barn. So Zora starts to think there's something to worry about. She starts calling and hugging the rail and fussing. So I keep her moving, hoping to burn some of that energy and get her focused on me. Right.

After fussing and arguing with her, I decided to see if my saddle fit her. So I tied her to the rail and went to get it and the pad. She was not happy. Dance, dance, dance, call, paw, paw, dance, call. I finally got her saddled (yay, it fit!), which was an entertaining experience, and sent her around again. A few more rounds each way and I put on the bridle with a loose ring comfort snaffle. The bridle was a little big, so I'm going to have to get her her own. Again, I worked her for a couple of rounds each way, and then decided to be bold and get on, even though she was acting like a pretty big butt-head. I was betting she wouldn't do anything more than hug the rail and walk a little fast. And that is pretty much what she did. She seems to neck rein, and backs up pretty well, and has a nice walk and not too bad of a trot. We did a few rounds, and I dismounted.

Again I tied her to the rail, and started to untack her. I had just gotten the cinches unbuckled and was starting to take it off, when a grain truck went by and blew it's horn. Zora had been dancing from the minute I tied her, and the horn startled us both. I'm just glad the jerk hadn't driven by earlier or else I may have had bigger problems.

I turned her loose in the pen, put all the tack away and got the hose ready for her bath. She was a little better, but still danced and called. After she was rinsed we went for a walk to dry off. She kept wanting to walk ahead of me, but I would change direction and get ahead of her. We went to the recently baled hay field so she could graze and see Cora and her antics from afar. Cora was running and calling and bucking, and the funny part is that 3 month old Alex was following her around, racing and bucking and having a great time! Willow didn't seem to mind that her baby was 'playing' with Cora. I think Alex is going to be easy to wean (fingers crossed). When Zora was dry, we went back to the barn, used the last of the fly spray on her, dosed her sarcoids again and turned her out to pasture. Cora became glued to her side.

I think Zora will be fine, she's just been left alone for a while and needs to be reminded of her job. Under saddle she's fine, but instead of the snaffle I may try a mild curb instead, as she seems to prefer to neck rein over direct rein. Given time (and maybe when she's not in heat!), I think she'll make a pretty nice trail horse.

Time for a change...

2008-07-01T13:39:00.004-05:00

I've been looking at this blog, and it seems to have taken a turn off the original path. That tells me that I need to change something, and so I've changed the title of the blog from 'Sketch and Me' to 'All My Horses'. I have more than just Sketch that need work, and by posting their progress here as well I should be able to get more accomplished. We'll see how it goes.

I'll update this evening, right now it's time to get back to baling.

Saturday again

2008-06-28T09:18:00.002-05:00

I didn't post last night because of the storm. We got a little over a half an inch of rain, which is nice because I won't have to water the hops today! We do have to get the trellises up soon, though, as the plants are really starting to grow fast.

It's a beautiful day, and I have no idea what I want to do. I have lots of things that I should do, but I've been feeling blah lately, even though it's nice out. So things that I want to do I can't because of limitations (no real good/safe place to ride, access to a skidsteer is limited, no money, etc...), and the stuff I should do I don't feel like but I'll probably do anyway. Some may say I have a case of the lazy, but I think it's frustration. I clean and clean, and get very little help. I don't really have a space all to myself yet, no one here truly does. I can't wait to build the new house so I can have a couch and a decent kitchen and my own room and a pantry and storage space and my own office...

So, the list of things I should do:

Work with Sketch
Play with Hope and Never
Clean the kitchen
Organize the office
Clean litterboxes
Sweep and mop
Wash windows

Waiting for rain

2008-06-27T08:10:00.003-05:00

It's cool, humid and only a slight breeze... feels like rain. The weather report says that we should get about an inch to an inch and a half by Sunday morning. If everything goes well we'll be mowing on Monday and baling Wednesday.

So it looks like I'm going to be doing mostly inside stuff today. It's grocery shopping/go-to-town day, so inside stuff isn't a problem. It's just a little boring, though we are talking about catching a movie matinée (Wanted looks interesting). It's just more time out of my day that I could be doing something other than spending money on food, necessary to survival I know, but I just want the basics while Jac wants to wander and shop. I'd rather squirrel some of that money away for a new-to-me dressage saddle and some lessons with a trainer.

Anyway, I should go take a shower, but let's put up plan suggestions for the day first:

Grocery shopping (high grade cat food, Nutrena Senior horse feed, and cheap stuff for me)
Build the model of the new house and the new barn
In that vein, do a layout/model of the property and how I want it to look in 10 years
Groom Sketch and Never
Clean more of my tack
Clean my room

What a blah day

2008-06-26T23:00:00.002-05:00

Today just sort of petered out about 2pm, which is when I finally got done watering the hops (I told Ken I would if he would trim Cora and Zora's hooves this morning) It takes about 4 hours. I can't wait until we get some kind of drip irrigation (probably next year) or a small vehicle like a Gator or even a trailer to pull behind the lawnmower, to go up and down the rows. Right now we're using a large tank in the back of the pick-up, with a hose attatched. We have to drive next to the bed and walk across, watering hills as we go. It's tedious and hot and awkward and boring and very inefficent.

So needless to say, I was just beat by the time I was done. I ended up taking a nap around 3, then Jac came home around 4 with a pizza and The Spiderwick Chronicles movie (not bad, really). I cleaned one of my saddles while watching CSI, started the beef stock to cooking (should be ready Saturday evening), did chores, and now I'm heading to bed.

I did play a little with Sketch and Never today, lots of petting and scratching. I played with Alex's feet and scratched all his itchy spots. He's going to be a good gelding: level headed, smart and calm.

Goin' to be a hot one

2008-06-26T10:11:00.002-05:00

Like the title says, it promises to be warm and muggy. Hopefully the breeze will stick around for a while.

To do:

Water hops
Trim Cora and Zora's hooves
Play with Sketch and Never
Empty dishwasher and wipe counters
Do anything from previous lists
Sign up for 43 things?

Early to bed...

2008-06-25T20:12:00.002-05:00

I'm posting this early, 'cause I'm beat.

Haying went pretty well. The weather held, with sun and a nice drying wind. We're going to have to water the hops in the morning, and we need to put up the trellises.

I didn't do much with Sketch or anyone else today (they did get treats and petting), though we did trim Hope's hooves. I'd like to get Cora and Zora's hooves done tomorrow, but I'll have to see how willing and able Ken is in the morning.

The neighbor says that we'll probably mow the rest of the field and the back pasture on Friday or Saturday, and then rake and bale on Sunday or Monday, weather willing. By all the best guesses, we've got roughly 800 bales in the hay loft, and if we put all into small bales we should have around 2000 bales total. We're aiming for at least 1200-1400, and may put the rest in round bales, though having all the hay in small squares saved my butt this past winter (last year was a bad hay year. Too dry.) By my calculations, I use a little over 1000 bales a year if I don't feed round bales. If I do feed round bales I only use about 600-700 small bales, which gives me extra for emergencies, or if I want to sell, trade, or donate to a good cause.

Alright, I guess I'm done for now. I'm going to relax a bit before chores, and then go to bed!

Haying today

2008-06-25T10:18:00.002-05:00

Time to rake and bale! The weather is holding so far, crossing my fingers.

Plans:

Rake hay
Bale hay
Unload and load dishwasher
Play with Sketch and Never
Play with Hope?

Sheath cleaning and other fun

2008-06-24T22:59:00.004-05:00

Time for a quick update, and then bed.

I did dishes and some laundry, puttered around outside, swept the barn, 'sheared' Misty, and then decided to try cleaning Sketch's sheath. I think I got it a little cleaner, but I'm going to have the vet do it next time, or get some sedative, because he won't drop so I can clean it better, and he's taken to dancing around. I rinsed him as well as I could, and then did a quick wash with one of the easy wash soap sprayer type products. He dried pretty fast, so I took him in the barn for a brushing, tested a couple of saddles for fit, gave him some treats, then doused him with fly spray and turned him back out in the pen. I'm leaving them out in the round pen tonight, as their stalls need to be stripped and washed.

I ordered wormer today, so about 2 days before I open the back pasture I'll de-worm everybody. When I change pastures I'll block off the sacrifice pasture to let it rest, and maybe spread some lime and diatomaceous earth to help bring it back. I'm hoping to split that pasture into 2 sections and separate the horses by age, and one of my projects this summer is to build shelters. I'm thinking about using an Earthship technique, dirt pounded into tires and stacked like bricks, and then cover it with earth and plant grass. We'll see how ambitous I get!

A gorgeous day!

2008-06-24T10:18:00.003-05:00

The sun is shining, a nice breeze is blowing, the birds are singing... it promises to be a warm, beautiful day!

I've already had Ken trim Festy's hooves this morning, they're looking better every time. Everybody had been fed and turned out, and now it's time for a list of things to do:

Set the fence posts
Get the back pasture ready for mowing (looks like next week)
Do some cleaning in the barn
Sweep and mop in the house
Run the dishwasher
Trim the dogs claws
Clip Misty, and maybe shear the sheep too
Buy some chickens!

It's been too nice out to sit too long at the computer, so I haven't gotten a lot of photo stuff done. I really need to, though, so maybe tonight.

Better...

2008-06-23T22:41:00.002-05:00

I feel that I got something done today, even if it wasn't much.

After lunch, I unloaded and loaded the dishwasher, folded clothes, ran the washer, hung out sheets to dry, and moved the lawnmower back to where it belonged.

Ken and I went to walk the hop yard, and as we finished the neighbor pulled in with the haybine. We're taking a calculated risk, gambling that the weather will hold for the next 3 or 4 days so we can bale. I only mowed about half the field, mostly the finer stuff on the hill that will dry faster. With the best luck, we'll be able to bale late tomorrow afternoon, but I'll be happy if we can get to it on Wednesday. We'll probably mow the rest of this field next week, and mow the back pasture as well (it's a little behind as I had horses in it until April). I'm really praying for a good harvest, as I'm just about down to the dregs in the loft, and the neighbor has nothing to spare. He does have a back up field that he just rented, but I trust my fields more as I know what's growing in them.

Jac got home from work and stole the 'bine and finished the field (for a city girl, she really likes driving tractors!). I planted some more tomatoes, then sat for a bit and watched Platinum Weddings on WE. I don't know why, but I like the show. Maybe because I'd like to try being a high end wedding photographer or wedding planner. I'm a bit of a chicken though. I just hate the thought of ruining someone's big day.

We rented 'The Seeker' on pay per view, and I have to say I want my $4.00 and 2 hours of my life back. They say it was based on 'The Dark is Rising' by Susan Cooper, but it had very little in common with it. It was a travesty, and not even a really good movie on it's own.

Chores went well. The boys came in with no problem, Never is really being a good boy when he isn't trying to be a stud. I played with Alex when he and his mom came in. He's getting better about picking up his feet, and about giving to pressure. I even managed to pick up one of Willow's feet of a bit, which is good because she really needs a trim. I brought Festy in because he needs his feet trimed as well. Tomorrow should be a fun day of hoof trimming for all!

Time to get something done

2008-06-23T11:43:00.003-05:00

I'm posting a bit later than usual, as Ken was on the computer all morning catching up on his email and forums.

The morning has gone pretty well so far. I fed and turned everyone out, Sketch and Never are in the round pen (and Sketch isn't too amused), and I've even done some laundry.

Plans for the rest of the day are about the same as yesterday's:

Get the field ready for haying (open up fence, pick up trash, move large rocks...)
Check on the hop yard
Empty and load the dishwasher
Sweep and mop
Do some laundry
Groom and play with the horses
Set posts for the new paddocks
Do some photo editing
Work on my business plan

Nevermore

2008-06-22T21:58:00.002-05:00

I didn't get as much done today as I had hoped. Cramps kicked in around 10am-ish, so I was pretty useless for most of the day. I did get a little laundry done, but that was about it. Neighbor Guy stopped by to fix the tire on my lawnmower, and he was nice enough to throw down some hay for me. I was getting ready to rise from the dead to do evening horse chores, when he came in saying Never was trying to breed a mare through a metal gate, and she was trying to help him. Crap. By the time I get out there they've lifted the gate off the hinges, but luckily they swapped places: the mare in question was in his paddock with Sketch and two other mares, a foal, and Fiesta the hinny, and Never was in the main pasture with the older, apparently not in heat mares. He was a pretty good boy and allowed himself to be caught and brought in, but now I have to figure out how to rearrange pastures. I can't open up the back pasture until a week or so after we've baled it (so in probably 2-3 weeks). I've been planning to restructure the sacrifice pasture into smaller paddocks, and I guess now's the time. For tomorrow, though, I'll have to put him and Sketch in the roundpen. Sketch is not going to be happy.

I guess when I have the vet come out to float teeth and do Coggins, I'll have him check Glory the tramp to see if she's bred. If she is, I'll have to have it terminated, as I don't want her bred for a variety of reasons (really poor conformation, a very large hernia, she's only three, I don't need more half-breds...) I'd really like to get her spayed, maybe at the same time her hernia is taken care of, but my vet has never spayed a mare before. Maybe he'll cut me a deal...

A day of rest?

2008-06-22T09:07:00.002-05:00

My morning has already been a little eventful.

I led Never, the three year old colt, out to his pen then went back to the barn for Sketch. Never either got the gate open or I had left it unlatched, because when I got back, he was wandering past the barn door and down the drive! I put Sketch in the pen and went after Never. He stayed on the driveway, didn't stop for grass or to say hi to Rho, walked right up to the road and turned right. I couldn't quite get to his head, and I didn't want to run because I was afraid he would trot off. I was so afraid a semi would show up, but there wasn't a car or truck in sight (thank all the equine gods!). In a fit of desperation I got a hold of his tail and pulled, not hard but to get his attention. He turned and walked into the tall grass of the ditch. I still couldn't grab his halter, he just walked right past me, back down the driveway, broke into a trot and then galloped past the barn and almost ran over Misty. I thought he was going to run out the other side of the driveway (I have a U-shaped drive with two entries), but he turned and headed for his pen to see Sketch. I caught up, let him in, and triple checked the latch. It looked okay, but I'll check throughout the day to make sure.

Anyway, things to do:

Get the field ready for haying (open up fence, pick up trash, move large rocks...)
Empty and load the dishwasher
Sweep and mop
Clean up the office
Do some laundry
Do some photo editing
Groom and play with the horses
Check on the hops
Set posts for the new paddocks

Almost bedtime...

2008-06-21T21:31:00.003-05:00

We decided to head out to Custer for the Energy Fair, and I'm glad we did. I had a great time, got a lot of info for when we build the house, saw some friends and got a lot of exercise. My neighbor had talked about mowing the hayfield today, but when we got back he wasn't here and the field was untouched, so something must have come up. I ended up watching Music and Lyrics and eating pizza rolls.

Time for chores, and then bed. All that sun and wind really takes all the energy out of you!

edited to add: I'm glad we didn't cut hay today. Just as I was finishing chores, the skies lit up and it started to downpour. We didn't get much, but it was enough that I got soaked before I could make it to the house.

Saturday

2008-06-21T08:38:00.002-05:00

It's the weekend, but since I work for myself it doesn't seem to have much meaning anymore. It's just a time when more fun stuff is available to be done!

Today's list of possibilities:

Go to the Midwest Renewable Energy Fair (eliminates many of the choices below)
Help Greg get ready to cut hay
Do more cleaning around the house and yard
Plant stuff
Work on the fence
Wash horses
Clean out the shed
Organize the office (needs to be done, but today?)

Day is done, sun is gone...

2008-06-20T22:32:00.002-05:00

I got a lot done today, but not everything that I had planned. *sigh*

After I got off the computer, Ken asked for help watering the hops. We got about halfway done when Jac got home from grocery shopping, so I hiked back to put stuff away and make lunch. I unloaded and loaded the dishwasher and washed the counters while I waited for the food to cook.

After lunch, I hung out the sheets to dry, planted a couple of the tomato plants, and got the mail. Then, as I'm planning my next move (probably washing horses), Ken asks if I have any of the pics printed for his portfolio/brag book to take to the Ren Faire. Crap. So the next few hours are spent looking through all of my pics, trying to find pics of stuff that he doesn't have on display that people might be interested in seeing. Then it's a matter of figuring out how to get the computer and printer to communicate properly. During all this, it starts to rain, not much but enough to have me scrambling for the laundry on the line. By the time 8 pm rolls around I'm finally done, and Ken is out the door for Chippewa Falls.

I breathe a sigh of relief, then realize that it's almost time for chores and I forgot to have Ken toss down hay! Crap. So, wearing boots and shorts (I know, bad idea), I head up to the loft to wrestle with bales. I get enough for a day or two, then bring everyone in, distribute feed and hay, fill buckets (I really have to scrub them this weekend), and tuck everyone in. Sketch seemed slightly spooky, but it may have been nothing. I'll check him tomorrow.

Since Jac's at work until 11pm, I had to do dog and cat chores by myself. Not a big deal, it's mostly supplements for the cats to facilitate a head count, and the dogs are pretty easy: some meat, a little kibble and some milk and they're pretty happy.

It's getting close to bedtime, but I think before I go to sleep I'll rough-sketch out the floor plans for the house and barn. I haven't decided if I want to go to the Faire tomorrow or if I want to go to Custer for the Energy fair, or if I just want to stay home and get more done. I guess I'll find out tomorrow!

To do today, and other goals

2008-06-20T09:59:00.002-05:00

Well, the horses are fed and let out, I've had my breakfast and shower, and now I'm checking email and stuff before I get on with the day.

To do today:

Clean the kitchen
Water the hops
Wash Jul and Sketch (and clean his sheath)
Try the other saddle on him and pray it fits both of us
Bake some soda bread for Ken, and maybe cookies too
Work with Hope and Never
Make some calls
Mail Mom the papers she asked me to get
Plant my tomatoes!

While I was in the shower, I 'think'. It's more of a stream of consciousness thing, but it brings ideas and stuff to the front of my mind. A few short term goals that bubbled up:

Build the new round pen
Make hay (weather willing)
Set up the new pastures, place better corner posts, and make gates
Build the picnic table I've been wanting
Paint and put together the doctor's buggy
Paint the other buggy
Re-render the plans for the new house and barn, and make scale models
Get the barn roof replaced
Clean out the barn (strip and wash stalls, scrub buckets, sweep cobwebs, replace lights...)
Write an updated, more focused, business plan

How the day went

2008-06-19T21:15:00.002-05:00

Looking at my list of goals for today, I think I did pretty well.

After morning chores I groomed Gem and Jul: combed out the tangles, curried and brushed, and fly sprayed. I'm hoping to wash Jul tomorrow, as she's pretty grubby. I may have Ken do her feet while we're at it.

Then I washed up and had my own breakfast and checked my email, comics, and forums. Ken came in just as I finished up and asked if I want to walk out with him to check on the hops (we've planted a test crop, and after some general hesitation it seems to be growing pretty well).

When we got back I started on the lawn. I ran out of gas about halfway through, and of course it was at the farthest point of the property (I was mowing the path to the hopyard). I walked back to get the gas can, and decided to have lunch before I hiked back. I finished up, then started the fine edging, pulling weeds by hand and cutting grass around the shrubs and stuff with shears (the weedwacker would damage the plants).

I felt like baking, so I made a rhubarb crisp. Then I went out to work with Sketch.

I didn't do as much warm up with him as I probably should have, just walk-trot both ways around the pen. I did try to coax him into a canter, but while he took a few steps one way, he just extended the trot the other. I used a bareback pad instead of the saddle, just to see what he would do. He didn't seem as stiff in the trot, but he still offered a buck at the canter in one direction.

After some false starts, aggravation, and hunting for a better mounting aid, I finally got on. I am really out of shape, and it's times like this that really underscore that fast. The biggest reason I like riding Western and shy away from bareback is the ease of mounting. The second biggest reason: security! I had the pad, which kept me pretty much in place (it's the good felt and suede type). We walked for a bit, to the left first. He wanted to trot after a few laps, but I did a one rein spiral to slow him back to a walk, and then spiraled out again. Pretty good.

Not so good the other way. All he wanted to do was trot, fast or slow he didn't care. He has a nice trot, but I wasn't ready for that yet. I tried the spiral slowdown again, and discovered he doesn't bend as well to the right as he does to the left (good to know). He just kept trotting, even in a tight circle. At one point he tried to speed up, turned, I lost my balance a little and overcompensated: fell forward, grabbed mane, gripped with my knees and legs. He's sensitive, so he took this as a cue to collect and canter. Just a few steps, but enough to startle me a lot. *S*

To see if maybe it was just to roundpen that was making him antsy, we did some walking in the yard and around the driveway. He has a very smooth ground eating walk and pays attention to everything, but he wasn't that spooky. We went back to the pen and I dismounted there, then went to the barn where he got a treat and groomed again. We did some hand grazing and then I turned him back out with Never.

Things I learned today:

*Sketch bends better to the left than the right
*I need a bigger round pen, and an outdoor arena wouldn't be half bad
*While he may be pudgy and out of shape, he still has a lot of energy and extra laps won't hurt him
*He's really good on the ground, almost puppy-like, but while mounted he's got a lot more spunk
*He seems to collect really well
*I need a dressage saddle, or at least a saddle that fits us both
*I need lessons, with or without Sketch
*I need to start working out again

I think tomorrow I'm going to try cleaning his sheath to see if that helps, and I have one more saddle I can try on him. If that doesn't fit, well, I don't know what I'm going to do. Probably try and improve my seat bareback, I guess *shudder*

Okay time for chores.

Quick post, plan for the day

2008-06-19T10:07:00.002-05:00

In an effort to try and get more accomplished, I'm going to try something: twice a day posting. I'll start with a morning post of plans for the day (posted much earlier than this one!), and then an evening post with what I actually did. That way, I should be able to see how much I'm actually doing.

Today's plan:

Grooming the oldsters
Do some groundwork with Never and maybe Hope
Work Sketch, do some riding bareback/with the pad
Mow the lawn and finish weedwacking
Plant my tomatoes!

Crossing my fingers this works...

Day 1: Evaluation

2008-06-13T17:59:00.008-05:00

I decided that with such nice weather, (and no one to bother me) it would be a shame not to play with Sketch today.

Sketch and Never

He eventually came when called, and I rewarded him when he did. We went to the cross-ties and had a really good grooming session. I got most of the mud off, but the rest is going to have to wait for another day (just his socks). I'll probably have to clean his sheath as well, as it looks a bit cruddy. Joy.

Sketch after grooming

After the grooming and a liberal dose of fly spray to repel the horse-sized horseflies, we went to the round pen. Walk and trot one way, walk and trot the other way. He mostly listened to voice commands. He does have a problem with stopping when he wants to (especially by the gate), and after he warmed up he offered extended trot to canter, with the occasional buck, but all in all he wasn't to bad.

When he was warmed up, I saddled him. He took it pretty well, just a little snort while he watched me put it on. I worked him both ways with it, and I'm not totally sure that it fits him right. His walk was fine, but his trot was short and upright, if you know what I mean. I then worked him both ways with the bridle without reins, to get used to the bit.

Sketch all tacked up

After all this, he seemed to be okay, so I thought about it for a second and then went to get a bucket to stand on. We need to work on standing still while mounting, as he stepped forward a bit (but not much, I think the bucket made him nervous). We walked for a bit, testing his response to leg and rein cues. Not too bad, so we tried a couple steps of trot. I had triple checked the girth, but apparently I should have checked it yet again, as it slipped to the right as we turned. I'm proud that I didn't panic, and I'm glad to find he has a good whoa! I dismounted and walked him in hand, then un-tacked and brushed him, let him graze a bit, gave him a couple of treats, and put him out in the paddock with his buddy Never.

Not a bad first day. I know what we need to work on now, and it's really not too bad. I'm going to try to work with him a little every day, as we're both out of shape, but the next day I'll be able to do anything is Sunday, as the Wisconsin Renaissance Faire opens tomorrow and I need to help Ken set up.

Here's to a good first day!

The Beginning...

2008-06-13T14:16:00.003-05:00

Well, I've resisted this as long as I can, but I think it's something that I have to do. I'm not a huge fan of blogging, though I do enjoy reading certain ones. I just don't think people will be that interested in what I have to say. So, I'm not doing this for attention, or to inform, or anything like that. I'm just using this as a journal to log our progress and to measure the distance to my goals.

That being said, let me introduce the characters:

Me: short, pudgy, and haven't really truly ridden in quite a few years (I've hopped on now and then, but no shows, trail rides, lessons...). While I was never one of those kids that was fearless in the saddle, I could hold my own and stay on. Over the years, while I've gained knowledge of horses and riding, I haven't really put it to use. I still have a pretty good seat, but that's about it. *S*

Sketch (AHA registered name Etched n Stone): a 15 yr old out of shape chestnut Arabian gelding, about 15.1 hands or so, mostly Polish http://www.allbreedpedigree.com/etched+n+stone (I know he's the product of a father/daughter breeding, I'm not thrilled but he's a good boy anyway, and he's gelded). I bought him in 2005 from a lady who was selling him on behalf of her daughter. Said daughter had wanted a show horse specifically so she could win top honors at a particular show. After she did, she lost interest in him. *sigh* I saw a picture of him at the feed store, under saddle and moving out well. I had images in my head of dressage, so I called the lady, went to see him, and arranged a payment plan ($1500 in $100 weekly installments). I brought him home, and since winter was quick approaching and I don't have an indoor arena he got to rest and adjust to me and his new home.

The next spring I saddled in up a couple of times to find out what he knew. He seemed hesitant, but not uncomfortable. After the third session, though, I noticed that the bare patch on his girth (that the previous owner warned me about) seemed to be bubbling up. When the vet came out to check teeth and do Coggins tests, he biopsied it and it turned out to be a sarcoid. It kept getting bigger so I took him in to get it removed. It was gross and fascinating and I took pictures. The vet stitched him up and sent us home with a topical spray and instructions to take it easy. I put him in his paddock to rest, and go to work for a couple of hours. I check on him at supper time, and the doofus had ripped out every one of his stiches! I put in a call to the vet, who say he can come out and re-stitch him, or we can just let him heal the way he is. Well, I chose the latter, and it took more-or-less a year to fully heal (with a bout of proud flesh to deal with).

Spring of 2007 comes and I'm ready to try riding Sketch again. The day before my day off, a tree falls onto the fence separating Sketch from Rho-Dawn, a stallion I had gotten the year before. I can only guess that Rho went after Sketch, chased him through the fence to the mare pasture (thank goodness I have electric rope instead of smooth wire!), and then mostly left him be to court the mares. The poor boy had a huge bruise and gash along his back, either from the rope or Rho. So, more rest and healing.

Now it's a new year, 2008, and I'm ready to try again. I don't have a lot of safe places to ride, as I live near a county highway with a lot of logging traffic, but I'll find a way. I have a small round pen that I'm going to be renovating (expanding to a 60 foot diameter with wood fence instead of corral panels), so that will help. I've had the saddle and bridle on to check the fit, and I've hand walked him to get used to it all. So I guess we'll see what happens!