Being thankful

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

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

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.