Thanks for the rain!

While you people out west have been flooded, we’ve been painfully dry.  So thanks for sending some much needed rain on Wednesday and Thursday this week!  I had to haul water from town to fill the spring-fed tank because it couldn’t keep up with the herd.   We hadn’t had a decent rain in weeks and it’s been so danged hot!  So two hours after I bring home water, dump and scrub the tank, then refill it (with an eager audience impatiently surrounding me), we got one hellacious storm!

Now, I’m not the type that is afraid of thunderstorms.  On the contrary, my favorite past time is sitting out on the porch watching the lightening and listening to the thunder.  However, this storm had even me a little worried!  Some of the cracks of thunder were right over our heads and made us all jump.  Stormy, Cody, and Heidi were cowering under whatever furniture they could fit under in the house.  Thor, Xena, Lucky and I were out on the porch.  Xena did pretty well with the thunder and didn’t seem to mind until this one crack that sounded like the sky was falling – she took off and ran a circle around the house as fast as she could, then came bounding back onto the porch with her tail between her legs!  After that, she hid in the house with the rest of the wimps.  Thor didn’t bother to even wake up during the storm and just kept snoring.  We should have named him Rumpelstiltskin instead!

The big problem with Wednesday’s storm was the wind…

 

 

I loved that tree.  It was the lone tree on top of the ridge in front of the big barn.  That barn you see in the background is across the road at Cattle Baron’s place. There were also trees down all over the roads and Cattle Baron lost a couple that fell across the road and took out our fence.  I was waiting to see if he’d fix it, but it was still down earlier today.  Up here, you’re responsible for any trees or limbs from your property that fall down and block the road.  But we all know that ‘responsibility’ is too big of a word for Cattle Baron.   I lost electricity for almost 24 hours, and it took DSL a little longer to come back up.  The wind took down half the roof of our first attempt at a run-in shed in the back pasture.  I knew it wouldn’t last long since we did a piss-poor job at building it, and was actually hoping it would fall down so I’d have an excuse to build a better one.  All things considered, we came out of the storm in pretty good shape. 

We just had some wet and unhappy rumps afterwards.

 

These girls were standing in the shed when the sky fell, then quickly ran out and went romping around the pasture, bucking and kicking in the rain.  Silly mares!

Speaking of silly mares, go check out Jewel’s latest update over on Training the Unwanted!

So Much for Spring Fever

 

It’s group snooze day around here.

 

And I would just love to be curled up snoozing in the sun with Summer right now.  Except it’s cold, windy, and muddy.   So, nevermind.

 

 

I should be starting up with training next week, and will try to keep up with the Training the Unwanted blog.   Sassy and Miles are still my two holdouts, but both are starting to come around and see that I’m not totally evil.  Sassy follows me down to the house after every feeding, braying at me as if to say she’s still hungry and why did I not give her 10 times more food?  Miles allows me to lock him into a standing stall to eat and I’m allowed to touch his head while he’s eating.  Otherwise, he keeps one eye on me at all times, just to make sure I’m not going to turn into a lion and devour him whole.  Next week I’ll try luring him into the round pen at feeding time and see if I can convince him that halters aren’t all that bad.  What fun!

To sum up…

I’m beat.

Glenn left again Friday night to get back out on the road driving and I’m already missing his strength around the farm.  Yesterday wasn’t so bad since it was raining and I kept myself inside with a playful kitten most the day.  It was nice.  It was restful.  It was incredibly boring.

Today was sunny and beautiful and there was no way I was hanging out in the house.  Sorry Lucky! 

After feeding everyone and making sure the young chickens survived their first night in the outhouse coop, I played around with my baby boys a bit.  I worked with Quill and Buddy on picking up their feet and they’re both doing really well.  Buddy has been adopted and is getting gelded next week, so I’m trying to put as much time into his manners as I can before he goes.  Quill has finally turned a corner with his attitude towards human interaction and is becoming quite an affectionate boy.  He used to just tolerate being touched, but now he actually seeks out attention and enjoys a good head rub.  Woohoo!

Oh, and then… there’s Sky.  From bad boy to mama’s boy in just a few days:

 

Yes, he’s got his head in my lap.  I have waited five long months to be able to cuddle with this little guy and after a few days of tentatively rubbing his head while he was eating, he finally decided that humans weren’t all that bad after all.  I can rub him all over, I got a halter on him with no fuss last week, and he’s learning to lead.  He comes to the fence for attention whenever someone is standing there, and thinks a neck scratch is best thing that has ever happened to him.

After playing with the boys I rode Cheyenne for a bit, since she’s leaving next weekend.  She’s been doing great and is more than ready to head off into the sunset with Rosa!  Then it was off to get hay – why do those 1000lb hay rolls seem like they’re getting heavier every week??   Break my back unloading the hay rolls, then load up the water tanks and head back to town for water.

Somewhere in between the boys and water I unloaded and setup way too many 10’ dog kennel panels that someone graciously gave us when they moved away.  I won’t reveal what the kennel is for just yet, but it won’t be used for dogs.  It’s a surprise, and you’re just going to have to wait!

By then it was after 4pm, so time to feed again.  Then I took Kita for a trail ride, but ran out of daylight before we got too far.  It’s been way too long since I rode my favorite girl, but she was an absolute champ about it and wasn’t ready to turn for home when I asked.  I so love that mare!

During the week I dread 6:30… that’s when the light starts to fade from the sky and there’s still so much I need to do outside.  But today I was relieved when I turned Kita for home and knew the dark would beat us home – that meant I could go inside, get something to eat, and RELAX!

Look for more  interesting things happening in the next couple of weeks:  Buddy, Patches, and Cheyenne leaving, a starving TB stallion coming in on Thursday from Virginia, a 13yo kid-safe TB gelding coming in next weekend, and Horse Haven Holler’s first public event on November 7th at the Tractor Supply in Marietta, OH!  Be there or be square!  :)

Equine Photo Overkill

I have a new volunteer and her name is Amy. She’s 18 and wants to be a vet. She has long blonde hair, legs up to her neck, and if I was half as beautiful when I was that age I would have been dangerous. Glenn is not allowed to meet her.

Amy loves horses. So much so that she wants to smell like them. All the time. Except for the beautiful part, she reminds me a lot of me at that age.

Amy’s mom has an awesome camera, even better than my new toy. She even knows how to use hers, unlike someone else I know. They both came out on Thursday morning to take pictures of the horses in the rain. Not only that, she took one hundred and fifty pictures! And I thought I was crazy for taking 50 pictures of a rabbit!

Well yeah, ok. Maybe that really was crazy.

So here are the ones that I really liked. Yes, there are a lot of Kita pictures. So sue me.

Somebody help me, these mares are nothing but trouble, especially with Willow in the lead.

Beet pulp nose. Kind of like a milk mustache, but even cuter.

Oddly, out of all of those pictures I didn’t see Jewel, Duchess, Maggie, Marbles, Frisky, or Kenzie. She did get a couple of pics of Ellie, but they were very far off. It turns out Ellie was terrified of the umbrella. Did you know umbrellas can eat small ponies? I didn’t either, but it must be true!

More Spa Fun

To continue with the spa theme from yesterday, most of the horses gave themselves mud baths today. I think their complexions are already starting to improve.

Gentry and Jewel are the cleanest horses in the herd. I should also mention that Jewel has declared herself Queen of the Little People. As she's become more secure about herself she's also become more dominant. She's now the boss over Meghan, Willow, Radar, Sadie, and Indy. I just hope she's smart enough to stop there and not try to challenge the Brat Pack!

After the mud baths, there were many naps to be had. Check out the droopy bottom lip on Jewel -- much lower and she'll be tripping on it.

Hunter was in this position for almost an hour. Talk about a relaxed and secure pony. I hope Radar isn't supposed to be standing guard because he's failing miserably at alertness.

Is that drool?

Even Princess Kita got down and dirty in the mud. This is one mare that HATES getting dirty, but a girl's got to get her beauty sleep somehow.

Please forgive my ripped and way too big jeans. They were Glenn's. There was no way I was wearing my freshly laundered flannel-lined jeans to kneel in the mud. That would have just been wrong.

Breakfast at the OK Corral

It's been raining for the past two days. This morning we woke up to a winter wonderland, complete with snow, icicles, and about a gabillion tons of mud. Everywhere. But if you don't let the mud bog you down, it's kinda purdy.







Now that we have four standing stalls and two box stalls, feeding has become a lot easier -- no more tying up the whole herd! Indy and Dolly go in the box stalls to eat unmolested. Junior, Semi, Kita, and Sadie go in the standing stalls. The Brat Pack get tied up with their own buckets in the left section of the barn where they can't beat up on anyone else. Eventually, we'll have four more standing stalls over there. It's just a matter of finding the time since there's already a nice stack of wood in the barn just waiting to be used. Meghan, Jewel, Radar, Hunter, Mandy, and Willow are the easiest keepers and also the lowest on the herd totem pole. They all get the same amount of feed and eat it in just about the same amount of time, so I just spread their buckets out and let them have at it.



Once everyone is done eating their grain, they follow me down to the small barn for their morning hay. The big herd gets five square bales twice a day and I like to spread it out over a huge area and have at least 10 more piles than I have horses. This way there is plenty of small piles of hay and no one gets beat up over it.





Mandy heads back home as soon as we can free the trailer from it's mire of mud. The fence at Hunter's new home will hopefully be finished soon so that he can move on as well. But I'm going to miss the little guy! This will bring us back down to 13 horses in the big herd plus the three bachelors in the back. Woohoo!






Since Manny left Radar has buddied right up with Indy and now the two are inseparable. It's nice to finally see Indy have a friend.






Dear old Dolly. It's really not too cold out today, the troughs aren't even iced over, but I keep blankets on Indy and Dolly if it's below 45. Dolly has also developed cataracts. Doc says it could take anywhere from six months to two years for her to go totally blind. She is also acting like she's losing her hearing. Every morning I have to go searching for her because she's waaaaay in the back pasture by herself instead of with the rest of the herd hanging out close to the barn. I can call and call and call, but she typically doesn't pick up her head and react to my presence until I'm within 50 feet or so. Then she gives me a nicker and follows me back to the barn for breakfast. Poor old girl. She's really put some hooks into my heart recently and it's going to be tough to say goodbye when the time comes.








I sometimes have to remind myself that Junior is also getting up there in age. He'll be 23 or 24 in March, I can't remember exactly. I'll have to dig out his registration papers one of these days and take a look.






I do know that Semi is one year older than Junior, but she's in much better physical shape. The queen of the herd may outlast us all just for spite.






The token Maverick picture. What horse post of mine would complete without Maverick? I think he's going through a bit of a growth spurt, what do you think? Grow, Mavvy, GROW!!

A wonderful way to spend a Sunday

Yesterday was a day of beautiful views and great riding. Anne, Glenn, and myself all went over to Anastasia's for a three hour trail ride. First let me say that Kita and Classy are becoming AWESOME in the trailer loading department. Both just walked right on yesterday and pleasantly surprised us all. Usually there's a couple of minutes of "Really? You want me to get on that? Why?"



Willow and Glenn, ready to hit the trails.







Mid-way through the ride we stopped at the river to let the horses (and our butts) rest. We're all very old, you see, and us ancient people can't ride forever without getting off to stretch aching muscles and complain about the pain in our joints. It's just the way of things and you youngins out there should be prepared for it.

You're welcome.



If you want to know how Classy did on the ride, check out the Training the Unwanted blog.







One of the views from the trail...




One of the trails. Nice and wide, little rock -- this is truly trail riding heaven.

Random thoughts for the day

"What do you think they are?"
"Food"
"Well, duh, but do you think they are white meat or dark meat?"
"Who cares?"
"Good point. Do you think mom put them in the cage to keep them in or us out?"
"I dunno"
"Do you think they'll grow more? They wouldn't last us long as they are now. And it's hardly sporting to kill something so small."
"I dunno"
"What do you know?"
"I'm hungry."
"Me too."


Don't worry, no guineas were harmed in the making of this post.



This is what the terrible three look like when they are behaving. Take a quick look, it doesn't last long.




Tonight's harvest. Kohlrabi (already peeled), beets, and baby carrots for munching on with some Ranch dressing tomorrow during work. That tomato in the back is not from my garden, but from a farmer's market. One of those roadside stands where you think you'll get fresh veggies. Nope. The tomatoes I got from them did a really good impression of cardboard.



I really have no idea what to do with those beets. I sliced them up and threw them in a ziploc for now. I'll look up some recipes later, but if anyone wants to share their favorite recipe, I'm all ears.


These two luscious little beauties came off my Tristar everbearing strawberry plants tonight. Usually I snatch them off the plant and pop them in my mouth before they even have the chance to know what's happening. But the other night I made the mistake of mentioning to Glenn that the strawberries have been really good so far.

"We have strawberries?? Why haven't you been saving me any???"

Oops. That was supposed to by my little secret. My guilt made me bring these in the house tonight, clean them up, and put them on the counter for Glenn when he gets home. They're still sitting there. Just waiting to be eaten. All by themselves. I wonder if they're lonely? Maybe I should go sit with them.




My tomato theory: the plants grow a foot a week. AT LEAST. These cages are 5' tall and it's not even July yet. I also feel that if the plants are this big then they need to be putting out some ripe maters. Is there a tomato plant union that I don't know about?




I had an awesome ride on Kita tonight. I've only been riding her a few times a week lately because of everything else on my plate. Even though she's 9 years old, she's still what some would consider "green". When down in VA I had very little time for riding because of work and my 3-5 hours a day spent commuting to and from work. The barn I was at didn't have a riding ring and no outside lights, so finding time to ride was difficult at best. Kita doesn't rear or buck, but sometimes the steering is broken and the gas pedal sticks. So we've been working on circles, transitions, and a little collection. She's got a great natural head carriage for a Standardbred and she's a decent mover. But my goal in life with her is to make her a steady and trustworthy trail horse that can also be used to pony the younger horses. Tonight, she was incredible. She was flexible, responsive, relaxed, and totally into it. She stopped throwing her inside shoulder around the corners, she never stuck her nose out and made faces while trotting, she stayed on the bit and collected the whole time, and she seemed very happy. Those are the kinds of rides that I live for.

I'm hoping to have time this weekend to hit the trails across the road on the neighbor's farm. A nice relaxing trail ride on my favorite girl is just what the doctor ordered.