It ain’t no Oscar, but it’ll do!

Karen over at The Stablehand blog has presented me with my first blog award! I’m just so proud! *sniff* I’m shedding tears of joy as I type.

I’m really glad I got the award from Karen because due to some computer issues, I lost her blog address and couldn’t remember the name of it. She’s the only blogger from New Zealand that I read AND… she has horses and is an endurance rider! Ah, a woman after my own heart! So now I get to catch up on the posts that I’ve missed about Motu, the greatest horse in NZ.

This is one of those awards that I actually have to work for… it’s the Honest Scrap award and I have to tell you 10 things about me that are true.

Ten more things?? I had enough trouble thinking of the first six.

So here goes.

1. I’m 37, going on 60 (most mornings).

2. I sort of have a gardening addiction. There’s no cure.

3. I have no urge whatsoever to learn how to knit.

4. I cried when Buffy and Dinner were killed by a raccoon several weeks ago.

5. I once watched the Young and the Restless every day for a month. Fortunately, I was cured of that little addiction.

6. I abhor lima beans. Seriously. Won’t touch ‘em with a 10’ pole. Except that I’m growing them in the garden for Glenn. Love sucks.

7. I used to be a biker babe. Complete with leather outfit and my own motorcycle. I still have the bike, but can’t fit into the outfit anymore.

8. I’ve been drunk only twice in my life. I don’t feel as if I’ve missed out on anything and doubt there will be a third time.

9. I think Demi Moore is an alien. An evil alien who should go home and never come back.

10. I’ve always wanted to be in one of those dunking booths at fairs. I just think it’d be cool. Cause I’m weird like that.

Whew. Now I need to pass this lovely award on to 10 other bloggers. Too bad I only know six.

YD’s a Little bit of Everything

Sleeping Dog Bakery

Ponies in Med School

Moon Ponies

Juanuchis' Way

Veldt's Ridgebacks

So ladies, there you have it. The rules are to link back to this post and share 10 things about yourself for all the world to read.

Have fun. :)

Edited to add someone I forgot! Sorry Sylvia! You get to join in the fun too!

The Telephone Game

Do you guys remember that game we all played as kids where you’d stand in a long line and the first person in the line would whisper something in the ear of the next person in line until the last person has heard the whisper?  Then the last person says they heard something totally different than what the first person said.  It was a fun game when we were five, but it’s not so much fun now.

Originally I was told that the three horses I was picking up on Sunday were three geldings, all between 8 and 10 years old.  One was a halter broke mustang, the other two were well-broke riding geldings.

Um… I think I was the last person in the telephone game line and there was a deaf monkey somewhere in the middle. 

Let’s meet the first of our contestants, a grey grade mare with appaloosa spots who is “at least 18 years old”.  Regardless of her status as a mare, she sure is a sweetheart. 

 

This is the mustang that hasn’t seen a halter since he was a colt and is terrified of human contact.  I’m in love.

 

This is T Man, 18 years old, but at least he really is a gelding.  He seems pretty friendly and is also broke to ride, though I don’t know how good he behaves under saddle.

 

They haven’t had their feet trimmed in two years and they haven’t been wormed for eight months.  I guess I know what I’m doing tonight.

Excuse the smear in the pictures, Thor had been checking out my camera with his nose and I forgot to clean the lens in my hurry to get pictures before the little red battery light on my camera stopped blinking and the screen went dark. 

Totally useful

When I bought Glenn his grill a couple months ago, I was worried that it might be a waste of time and money since he’s hardly ever home to use it.  I like grilling, but how often do I really have the time to do more than throw a pizza in the oven??   As it turned out, I was right.  I think I’ve grilled a grand total of three times.  Glenn grilled a couple of times while he was home last time, but that was it. 

Was it really worth it?

Jacob and Marbles go home

Ok, so here’s the deal on Jacob… he was adopted by this family.   They wanted a “family” horse to ride, that wasn’t part of the breeding business and fell in love with Jacob immediately.  He took one look at the humongous stock trailer and jumped on faster than you can say “one lucky boy”!  Maverick is still pining away at the gate waiting for his gigantic buddy (they’re all gigantic to Mav) to return, but he’s getting three new buddies to play with tomorrow.

After Jacob left, it was time to get Marbles in the trailer and drive him four hours South to his new home.  Last weekend someone had filled out the pre-adoption application on the website and I gave her a call that night.  She was looking for a very young paint gelding that she could train for her toddler son.  With much trepidation, I sent her pictures of Maverick and Marbles, just knowing she’d pick Maverick since everyone loves him.

Nope!  She fell in love with Marbles and his white face, which meant I got to keep my Maverick for awhile longer!  Yippee!   Stephanie is a barrel racer who currently owns three quarter horses and has quite a bit of training experience.  It sounded like a good match, and her vet had nothing but positive things to say about the way she takes care of her animals.  Ok, twist my arm!

note:  I really should have made her twist my arm. That was one hell of a long drive.  And why is it, that every danged time I’m driving down I-77 with a horse trailer I hit a severe thunderstorm that makes the truck and trailer hydroplane???

Marbles, ever the gentleman, got on the trailer with very little fuss today, and a little help from Anne.  He was a PRO on the ride and never even broke a sweat.  When we got to Stephanie’s there was one little thing that bothered him…

Scooby. 

 

Scooby the dog REALLY wanted to be friends with Marbles.  To the point where he’d jump up on Marbles’ chest, or shove his head between Marbles’ back legs to get a sniff.  Pony was NOT amused, and gave Scooby a couple kicks to the head.  This didn’t dull Scooby’s adoration for the new pony, and he planted himself in front of Marbles to stare adoringly up at his new buddy.

 

 

Marbles may be used to dogs, but none that get quite that friendly!

I’m up early tomorrow to go pick up the three new horses.  Fortunately, I don’t have to go nearly as far this time and should be done with both trips and ready to meet Anastasia for meat bird butchering at my place by noon.  Now that I’ve put that in writing, I’m sure the unhandled mustang tomorrow will take three hours to load and I’ll limp home around 4, battered, bruised, and bloody.   Oh well, should be fun anyway! :)

OOPS

Please ignore me while I try to figure out what the HECK I did to screw up my blog. Hopefully, I'll have it back to normal... some day.

A taste of the wild west

Yup, two more horses.  I know… just shoot me now.  But there are some people that I just can’t say NO to.  These are the people that genuinely care for their horses and have tried to find a way to keep them, but things just haven’t worked out for them.  Like Chessy and Duchess, Holly and her band of hoodlums, and Misfire’s little herd.

And I’m probably feeling a little pleased with myself these days.  In looking back at the last year, I’ve taken in 24 horses and adopted out 15, with another 6 horses already adopted that just haven’t gone to their new homes yet (Abbi, Genesis, Marbles, Jacob, Holly, & Synergy).  There are three more geldings coming next week and I already have homes lined up for two of them.   Luck?  Probably. :)

Everyone gets their feet trimmed on a regular basis and gets wormed every other month.  Teeth have been floated when necessary, everyone has been vaccinated this year, and when a vet is needed Doc is here to take care of things.  I’d like to think these horses are better off here than where they came from, or where they were headed to, in Sadie’s case.  So, I continue to say YES to horses in need, even though there never seems to be enough time in the day to get everything done.

There are things that I wish I had more time for, like grooming, training, and riding.   Especially with these two cuties coming in yesterday!

Everyone, let me introduce Apache (left) and Cheyenne (right). 

 

Apache is a 5yo Mustang, adopted from the BLM a couple of years ago.  He was originally captured in Kansas as a weanling and has been living in WV ever since.   He’s a friendly fellow and has had ground work done with him, but isn’t broke to ride.   Cheyenne is a 3yo grade filly that isn’t broke to saddle yet either, but she’s really sweet and friendly.  They’re both very short, topping out around 14.1 hands, so they’ll make great kid’s ponies eventually.  They came from someone who had lost his place to board and he couldn’t find any place else to keep them.   He drove them all the way down from Glendale, WV to bring them here yesterday.  He had Cheyenne’s mother that was coming here as well, but she ended up being bought by the trainer that had been working with her.  Whew!

 

 

They’ve been hanging out together and staying away from the rest of the herd, even though Gentry and Willow made them feel welcome when they got off the trailer.  I’m sure they’ll settle in shortly and make some new friends.  Maverick has already been eyeing Cheyenne and calling to her.  “Hey, baby!  What’s a good lookin’ filly like you doin’ in a place like this?”

Jacob has been trying to help Maverick with his pickup lines, but it’s not going well.

Update on Kisses and Synergy

First let me tell you that Jacob is leaving for his new home tomorrow morning! And just wait until you see where he’s going!! I’ll post a link to the farm as soon as I get permission from his new adopters. He’s one lucky guy!

Remember what Kisses looked like when she got here? This is what she looked like last night, her two week anniversary here on the farm.

Once Synergy and Holly leave for Maggie’s house, I’ll put Kisses out with the main herd so she can make friends with the other youngsters. I’d like to start breaking her to saddle in a couple of months, but you all know how that goes. When I say I’m going to get something done, there’s always 50 other things that crop up and keep me from doing it. Like, now that the spring-fed water tank is an air-fed dirt tank because of the drought, I’m having to haul water for everyone DAILY. Ugh.

This is what Synergy looked like when she got here. Here’s what she looks like now:

Both girls still have a ways to go, but they’ll get there eventually. I did a Holly update over on Rescue Recoveries, so be sure to check her out. Also, did you guys see the Ellie update I did on July 5th??? Didya didya, huh huh??? No one commented, so I figured you guys missed out on seeing her in all her dainty plumpness. Go! What are you waiting for?

Oh, shiny!

I love this time of year because everyone just glistens in the sun.  Sadie’s picture from yesterday made me want to go out and get  pictures of those that you last saw as furry fuzzy wuzzies.

My all time favorite – Maverick. Doing his all time favorite thing – eating.

 

Kenzie, posing for the camera and wondering if I might have possibly brought carrots with me.

 

Remember the shag carpet with legs that you named Marbles?  Not so shaggy anymore!

 

 

Marbles may also have a home soon!  Keep your fingers crossed for the little guy!

Diamond in the rough

When Sadie got here from the Sugarcreek Livestock Auction back in October, we had no idea what kind of training she’d had, or what kind of health issues we might end up with in the end.  I shoved grain down her throat all Winter, but she still wouldn’t fill out the way I wanted.  She was a terrible cribber, and was on again, off again lame on the left hind where the vet had said there was some arthritis.   This Spring she dropped a bunch of weight and increased the cribbing to the point where she was as bad as Indy.  I kept increasing her feed, but the weight just kept coming off.  Doc came out and diagnosed Bronchitis and gastric ulcers, and had me change her over to a low sugar diet consisting of rice bran, rolled oats, and corn oil.  No more sweet feed for Sadie!

And you know what?   The cribbing stopped IMMEDIATELY.  The lameness went away completely a couple of weeks later, her coat started to shine, and the weight is still piling on.  She became more active and less lethargic, running and playing in the pasture with Jewel and the youngsters.

Indy had done the same thing.  I knew he had ulcers when he came here, but having little experience with ulcers, I didn’t put two and two together with the increased cribbing and weight loss in the Spring when the grass started to grow.

Lesson learned? 

Cribbing + unexplained weight loss most likely = gastric ulcers. 

Low sugar diet = happier horse.

 

 

Sadie could still use a little more weight, but she’s so much better that Anne and I decided on Friday that it was time to put her on the lunge line and under saddle to see what she knows.  It was obvious right away that she knew quite a bit!  She wasn’t herd bound at all and as soon as we walked her away from the herd and out to the back pasture it was like she knew it was time to work.  She was a pro on the lunge line, so I tacked her up with my synthetic all purpose English saddle and hopped on.   This mare has been well trained!   She knew exactly what I wanted when using leg aids and had a wonderful head carriage that screams either hunter or low level dressage training.  I didn’t ask for collection since she’s so out of shape and only rode her for about 10 minutes.   Then Anne got on for just a couple of minutes of walking around on her mare.   It would have been great if either of us had remembered to bring a camera up to the barn, but… well, you know how that goes by now.

It’s going to be a lot of fun polishing her up and getting her into shape.  I hope Anne decides to keep her, but if not I’m sure she’ll be easy to place in a new home.

Frisky Goes Home

Sometimes things happen  for a reason and it seems I only ever notice it when it’s a good thing.   So break out your reading glasses and let me tell you a story with a happy ever after ending.

I had bought a large chest freezer about a month or so ago, but hadn’t taken it out of the box yet because it was simply too big for me to get into the house on my own.  I had my fence guys put it on the porch for me, then Glenn took off the box and was going to put it in the house when he got home last time.   He took the box off and WHOA.  The poor thing looked like it had done battle with a forklift and lost!  The top and bottom were terribly banged up, and the top was so bent that it wouldn’t even seal when shut.  So I called Lowes and they said they’d have another one delivered and set up for me, then haul the old one away.  Sure, sounds like a plan to me.

The first time they came out to deliver the new freezer I was supposed to be home working, but at the last minute I had to drive Glenn down to Charleston so he could get a rental car and drive to NY to pick up his new truck.  I didn’t make it back in time for the delivery, but I did pass them on the way home.  Figures. 

Thor had been out loose in the yard when they got there and they made a note on the ticket that said there was a ferocious Rottweiler in the yard and they dare not get out of the truck.    Good thing they didn’t get out of the truck, he may have licked them to death.  But I do understand the reasoning behind it.  I don’t think I’d get out of the car either if I didn’t know the big headed lethal licker.

Two different guys came out for the next delivery appointment and I was home this time.  They both thought Thor was the coolest and one of them was very interested in the horses.   He asked if I bred and raised them myself, then was even more excited when I told him that they were rescues.  He and his wife have been looking for a couple of well-broke horses for their kids to learn on, and for them to ride together to escape the kids once in awhile – do I have anything like that?   Yup, I could fill half that bill.  He said he’d come back with his wife the next day to look at whatever I had. 

Sure enough, they showed up the next day.  They followed me up to the barn in their van and I was shocked when all eight of their kids came flowing out of the van like clowns at a circus.   It was love at first sight for them and Frisky, who stood in the pasture sans halter, surrounded by munchkins and closed her eyes as everyone brushed, combed, and petted her.  They spent and hour with her, took enough pictures to drain their camera battery, and promised to come back  Friday to see her again.  Meanwhile, I checked their references and got her contract ready. 

When they came back out yesterday, everyone got to ride her at least once.  Let me tell you… that mare was made to be a kid’s horse!  She just loved all the attention that the little ones showered her with and she was also great for mom and dad when they got on and took her for a spin around the pasture.  Two hours later they gave me directions to their place and I agreed to deliver her today.

I thought our place was off the beaten path.  Over the river and through the woods doesn’t begin to describe the route to Frisky’s new home.  Bessie truck is going to be pissed at me for days. 

When we finally arrived, I was pleasantly surprised to see Frisky’s woven wire pasture and the new pasture that they have started fencing in with electric for her.   She’ll have plenty of grass, shelter, and two milking goats for company (that is if the kids ever leave her alone).   They’d also like to adopt a well-broke gelding when one comes along.

 

This happy ending is brought to you by some dude in a warehouse that beat up my freezer with a forklift.  And Thor.