Looking Back - Mariah

I'm on-call for work and wouldn't you know it's a sunny and beautiful 70 degrees outside. I'll let you imagine my frustration for yourself. At least I am finally getting the house cleaned. Sort of.


While pretending to clean the house I came across my photo albums from the "good ol' days". Way back when Windows was just a gleam in Bill's eye, digital cameras weren't even used in Star Trek, and my step-brother's top of the line Commodore 128 PC had a tape drive. Yeah, I am that old.

When I was five I finally wore my mom down enough to get me a pony. It took three bratty ponies and a million bumps and bruises for my non-horsey mother to realize that maybe one of us should take lessons before getting another horse. After a year of me taking lessons I finally convinced my mom that I was ready for my own horse. I mean seriously, they had us cantering on our second lesson and jumping small cross poles the next. After a year of jumping anything they put in front of me I certainly felt ready for my own horse. They taught me how to groom, pick out hooves, proper feeding, etc. I knew it all by the time I was 12. Or at least I thought I did.

Horse shopping is the greatest thing ever, especially when you're 12 years old and searching for your first real horse. The market was a lot better than it is these days, but you could still find a good kid's horse for under $800 and there were plenty of them in our area to choose from! I'm not even going to pretend I remember everything about the day I found Mariah. All I do remember is that we went to the farm originally to look at this Palomino walking horse mare, but when the guy told me that Tennessee Walkers "couldn't" canter I didn't want her anymore. Apparently, I didn't know as much as I thought.

Mariah was at the same farm and the guy told me they had been trying to change her name to Copper, but she wouldn't hear of it. Good thing! Silly humans. We were told that Mariah was 12, but later found out from the vet that she was closer to 18. We were still too stupid at that point to think of a pre-purchase vet exam. Just trust the seller and take them at their word. Why would they lie?

This is Mariah. Ain't she just the cutest???



We found a neighbor about a mile away as the crow flies with five fenced acres and a three stall bank barn who let us board Mariah for 50 bucks a month. I had to walk through our woods, cross a neighbor's pasture with one very ornery bull who liked to chase me, then up that neighbor's incredibly long drive to get to Mariah. I loved it.

Mariah and I spent every free minute together. My mom had turned me loose on the countryside and I could go wherever Mariah's legs could take me. We rode down to the Potomac river, down to the little country store for candy and soda (Mariah loved Kit Kats), or down the road to the girl scout camp where an uncle was the caretaker. Back then all roads were gravel, everyone waved as I rode by or said hello by name, and very rarely did a car pass us by.

One day someone else got the same idea and brought her gelding to board with Mariah. Gus was a great little gelding that bucked when you asked him to canter. His owner let me ride him when I had friends over.




One of the many stupid things I tried doing as a kid. A buddy of mine, Lisa, took this picture after our ride. This was one of the thousands of days where parental guidance was a mile or more away.




Oh look, here's another stupid kid trick. Lucky for me, Mariah took everything in stride and never once took a wrong step. My grandmother actually took this picture, then proceeded to lecture me about it.





That summer I had to have knee surgery to remove a part of my knee cap that had broken off while climbing a tree. A full length plaster cast may have stopped me from swimming that summer, but didn't stop me from riding. The doctor had to replace my cast once because the stirrup on my western saddle wore it out on the bottom of my foot. I had another surgery on the same knee the next summer and by then they had come up with fiberglass casts. That cast had to be replaced twice for the same reason. But at least I could swim in it!

I had Mariah for six fabulous years. The only problem I ever had was that she would colic several times every summer, without fail. Usually just walking her around for a couple of hours would do the trick, but sometimes old Doc Howard would have to come out and pump mineral oil into her.

Once I had left home and had three other horses to take care of, I found a great home for Mariah. She had six kids who doted on her and parents that trusted her as much as mine did. I lost touch with the family for five years and thought I'd never see Mariah again. She was certainly dead by then, she had to be over 30 years old! My only hope was that she had gone peacefully and led a happy life. I regretted selling her for many years, but I just couldn't take care of so many horses when I was only 18 years old. I thought she'd be better in one place instead of moving all over the place with me. At least that's what I told myself whenever I missed her.

When I was 28 years old I was trying to find a new home for Semi. I thought she was ready to move on so I could rescue another. A mother and daughter came out to ride Semi and while the daughter was riding I was chatting with mom. She was telling me how they already had a horse, but she was too old to ride anymore and her daughter needed something bigger. She also said how much they both loved this other mare and how she took such great care of her daughter. Then she mentioned that the mare had come from a family with six foster kids that had given her up when they moved to Montana... and her name was Mariah.

I ran into the house and grabbed a picture of Mariah. I handed it to mom and asked if that was her horse. We spent the next two hours talking about Mariah and how a neighbor's stud had escaped his fence two years before and Mariah had a bouncing baby boy 11 months later. They invited me to their place the next day.

I slept about two minutes that night. Would she remember me? Would she care? Does she look ok, have they been taking care of her, is she showing her age??

I just realized how long this post has become. I should get back to my house cleaning before YD comes down here with her whip.






Just kidding! Mariah greeted me the next day with a nicker and a nudge. I spent two hours alone with her, just catching up on old times and feeding her the Kit Kats that I'd brought. It was one of the best days of my life and I will never forget it.

In the Fall of 2001 Mariah laid down in her pasture for a nap and never got back up. She was buried in that pasture, on a hill under an Elm tree.

Random Lunch 10/30/08

We've had about 10 nights of frost so far. The garden is dead.

Or is it?

Glenn's collards growing happily without protection. This weekend I'll take the same stuff I made the tomato cages out of and make a hoop frame using clear plastic for extra protection.




Glenn's spinach. Picking up on the theme here? I am ready to be done with the gardening and canning for the year, but because my man wants more canned greens this winter I'm still at it. He owes me big time for this.





Thor's life is so very hard. I'm really not sure how he copes with living here.

Quest may not like Maverick at feeding time, but I think it's safe to say the two are getting along just fine.

The Power of Massage

Is it really Thursday already? Can someone please tell me where the rest of the week went and why I missed it?

This past Saturday Anne came out to learn equine massage and be with her favorite girl, Sadie. Now that Sadie has been turned out with the herd she does not, and I repeat, DOES NOT want to be away from them. Anne and I both think this is a result of never being turned out with a herd before. Usually, your fancy shmancy show horses and race horses aren't turned out with other horses because that would increase the opportunities for injuries during turnout. This would also explain why Sadie was clueless about herd hierarchy at first and had trouble adjusting to the herd. Her trouble didn't last long! Her attitude has gotten her in with the top cliques of the herd. She and Semi have been seen together on numerous occasions and she and Classy usually eat from the same pile of hay. But even though she hangs with the bitchy cheerleaders she still has time to chat up the nerds of the herd, like Willow and Radar.

But back to my point. Sadie did not want to be in the barn with us. I had brought Tabby in as well so that I could do Tabby and Anne could repeat my moves on Sadie. Tabby was all over the idea! Sadie's idea was to dance on our toes until we let her back out with the herd that was slowly disappearing around the back of the barn. After a few minutes of Anne not getting anywhere with Sadie we switched horses. Sadie was still difficult with me, but I did manage to get in a pretty good body massage on her. The poor girl was incredibly sore on her neck, back, withers, and hips. I couldn't even use the amount of pressure that I usually use on my horses because she was so reactive.

The good news is that a couple of days after the massage Sadie started moving better than ever! On Tuesday she came cantering up to the barn when she saw me and it wasn't her typical bunny hop in the backend this time. Yesterday she trotted up the hill and I saw no sign of her dropping her hip in pain. When she walked, both hind feet tracked up to the front footprints the same. Go Sadie! There's hope yet for this mare. I'm on-call for work again this weekend, but I'll find time to massage her again even if I have to bring her down to the house within phone distance to do it. I can hear my conversation with a client now... "can you hold for a minute? My horse just got loose."

Quest is next up on the massage list. I also need to teach Anastasia how to massage so she can do her two TBs who I'm sure could use it. But Quest... well, he and I need to have a serious conversation one of these days. When Quest got here he was extremely food aggressive. Meaning he'd pin his ears back and try to bite or kick anyone that got near his food. When I talked to the trainer she said that he was a real monster at feeding time at her barn too. He's gotten a lot better in the past couple of weeks and I can walk up to him while he's eating now without fear of being eaten myself. He still pins back his ears, but if I ignore him and keep coming like nothing is wrong he will relax and perk his ears up once I've patted him on the neck. He still does that impatient TB thing where he picks up one front foot and holds it in the air while he's eating. Junior used to do that when he was younger, but he eventually grew out of it.

The trainer also told me that Quest was always very nervous under saddle, which is why I've given him so much time to just relax and be a horse before working with him. Sunday was the first day I tried lunging him and it did not go well! He was a nervous wreck and just wanted to gallop around the lunge line no matter how short I kept it. I kept having to let him out further since I couldn't slow him down and didn't want him going down in the mud. Eventually, I got a walk from him and it was all downhill from there! Once he figured out that galloping is not what I wanted from him he slowed down, dropped his head and walked around like he was on a hot walker. Good boy! Whoa came easy for him, but every time he stopped he'd turn in to me and look for approval. I usually want my horses to just stop and stand, still out on the circle, but for this one time I'd let him come in and get some lovin'. He's such a pocket pony when there's no food around! He just loves having his head held to your chest and being scratched and smooched. I didn't lunge him for long, but made sure we ended on a good note of just walking and whoaing.

With the weather changing so drastically there probably won't be much more working with the horses except for ground manners (picking up feet, haltering, grooming, massaging, etc). I'd still like to get Tabby broke to saddle before the end of the year, but I'm not sure who's been stealing all my free time.

Horsey update

I know my posts have been few and far between here lately, but thanks to those of you who keep checking back to see if I've had anything new to babble about.

Let me start by saying that I'm sick and it's all Glenn's fault. Monday he came home feeling feverish and lethargic. Tuesday he came home to tell me he'd been throwing up all day. Tuesday night he spent the night jumping out of bed every so often to vomit. Luckily, he has no hair to hold up so my assistance was not required and I was able to sleep through most of the night. Selfish of me, I know. But I'll get over it. Yesterday morning he was whining and moaning about how bad he felt and how little sleep he'd gotten so he called in sick to work and didn't make it out of bed until 10AM. I worked yesterday, but had that mild sore throat and slightly swollen glands that usually indicate a sinus infection is on the way. So I spent the day telling April there was no way I was going to get that sick because I rarely get that sick. I don't catch colds or get the flu. Ever. If it's not allergies, a sinus infection, or mild food poisoning, I don't get it.

I got it.

This morning I woke up to a fever, nausea, crusted over eyelids, and a throat that was begging for some ice cream. But I'm not stuffed up and don't have a sinus headache. ARGH. I can't afford to get sick! Not me! There's too much to do!

I did call in sick today, though. There's simply no way I was going to be on a phone call with a client and have to put them on hold to go dry heave into the toilet. Not to mention that I sound like a frog. So today was going to be a nice relaxing day spent under 10 blankets with chicken soup on my lap and a movie on the TV. About 20 minutes into relaxing I remembered that I'm one of those people that can't sleep when they're sick. I have a hard time even sitting still. I was so miserable that the last thing I wanted to do was sit here and be miserable. So I got dressed and bundled up in warm clothing, then moseyed my way up to the barn with the dogs. The plan was to play with Jewel and get all those burrs out of her hair. Groom up Tabby and maybe lunge her with a saddle on. Groom Indy and Manny and work with Radar.

By the time I made it to the barn I was hacking up a lung, my head was pounding from all the coughing, and I had about enough energy to undo the gate latch on the barn, pull down a bale of hay and sit down on it. And there I sat for about 30 minutes trying to catch my breath and stop coughing, while shedding off my layers because I was feverish and hot and even though I knew better -- I wanted to cool off NOW. Once the coughing stopped and I got chilled, I put the clothes back on, threw out a few bales of hay for all the horses that were standing at the barn gate staring at me this whole time, then remembered I had hung the camera around my neck before leaving the house. I guess if I can't groom or lunge anyone, I could certainly snap a few pictures.

Par for the course, when I turned on the camera the low battery light blinked at me. But I did manage to get a few pictures of some horses that you haven't seen in awhile. Some are still not nearly as fat as I'd like to see them, but that's mostly my fault. When they first came here I had wormed them with Zimectrin, not knowing that the other rescue never rotated off of Zimectrin. That's just what my deworming rotation was at, so that's what I used. When horses started dropping weight, I wormed with Strongid in late August. Most picked up a little weight, then started dropping again after a couple of weeks. In September I wormed with Panacur and the same thing happened. They'd pick up a little weight, then drop it again. Most coats were still coarse and dull and I was pulling my hair out trying to figure out what was going on. They were getting good quality hay and grain twice a day, some three times a day. What was going on? Why weren't they putting on weight?

At the end of September I saw an ad for Strongid C, which is a pelleted wormer that you put in the feed on a daily basis, rather than a paste wormer that you give every few months. I remembered that a barn I used to for work years ago fed Strongid C to all of their horses, and everyone of them was sleek, shiny, and a healthy weight. The next day I ran to Tractor Supply and picked up a 25lb tub. Now I'm on my fifth tub (with 16-19 horses it doesn't even last a week!) and am FINALLY starting to see some results!

Tabby's coat was sun burnt and coarse when she arrived, and her stomach was tucked up like she'd just come off the track instead of out of the broodmare barn. I'd still like another 100lbs or so on her, but I think a lot of that is going to come as muscle when she starts working several times a week.



Emilee and her mom came out last night to spend time with Meghan. Mikayla couldn't make it since she was babysitting, but I brought Tabby into the barn anyway for some grooming. Emilee's mom combed her mane and brushed her down while Tabby stood perfectly still with her bottom lip drooping and eyes closing. When mom went to comb her forelock, Tabby rested her nose on mom's arm and closed her eyes. I think this will end up being a match made in heaven for both of these mares!

This conformationally fugly little guy is Radar. We believe this is the father to Meghan's foal. Please just cross your fingers that the foal takes after Meghan!



At least he's going through a growth spurt. The rest of his body needs to catch up with that hammerhead of his!


Tabby's sister, Megalia. Meg was another one that was tucked up when she got here. In fact, the whole family was like that. And like mother like daughters, they have all proven tough to put weight on. Meg is finally coming along, but I don't think those ribs will disappear with just fat -- I think it's going to take some muscle too. The problem is the mechanical lameness in Meg's right hip. She may never be ridable. I'm giving her the winter off and we'll see how she is in the Spring.




Last but not least, Indy. Indy has taken the longest to recover from the worm load that he had. But his coat is finally starting to shine, his dry skin is getting better, and the belly is filling out. I'd like to see another 150-200 pounds on him by Spring. He still has no topline, but at least his feet are looking a lot better. His heels are under run and his toes are still a little too long, but it's been a long slow process trying to trim them back without making him bleed.




I didn't get any pictures of Dolly, the 30 year old STB and mother to Meg, Tabby, and Classy. She was in the barn eating when the camera battery died. Like the others, Dolly's coat is starting to shine and she's been acting perkier and more affectionate lately. But she still isn't putting on a lot of weight. She's got a bit of a belly to her, but there's still no topline and the rump and chest are still scrawny. I'm feeding her 4 qts of soaked senior feed with rice bran three times a day and she's cleaning up every last ounce. She's also getting as much hay as she can eat. She's not losing weight, but she's certainly not gaining any either. The other day when I was grooming her I found a lump on her neck. I thought at first it might just be a knot of muscle, but the knot is squishy and caused her discomfort when I pushed on it.

Melanoma? Cyst? Cancer??? The thought had crossed my mind earlier in the year because she wasn't putting on weight, but I dismissed the idea when I put everyone on Strongid C and they started to finally pick up weight. I figured she'd do the same. I'd really like to get a vet out here to take a look at her, I just wish I could find one! There's supposed to be a new vet setting up shop about 45 min away, but his building isn't built yet so he's a mobile vet for now. Anne is on the case for me trying to get his number since he's the son of her dentist (you gotta love small towns!).

I think I'm done. Time to go curl back up in bed and whine to the dogs about how miserable I feel.

Sadie

Glenn and I got 300 bales of hay in two different trips this weekend. It wasn't fun. I don't want to talk about it except to tell you that I couldn't lift my arms over my head yesterday. And to say that maybe, one of these days, we'll be able to pickup a load of hay and bring it home without losing any on the road, getting the trailer stuck in the barn, or having the tractor die in the middle of the barn door.

One of these days.

Anne was here Saturday morning for Sadie's big day of being let loose with the rest of the herd. Meghan wanted to become friends immediately and pursued Sadie with perky ears and earnest interest in her well-being. Everyone else wanted to eat Sadie for breakfast.

Anne was the only one bright enough to remember her camera that day, so these are her pictures. Please ignore the junk behind Sadie -- that's our neighbor's place, and that junk is part of the gauntlet we have to ride to get to the wonderful trails beyond.



Poor Sadie is still gimpy even on bute. I've got some B-L Solution (Buteless) on order, which is a herbal mixture for pain relief and arthritis that I've used on Junior with good results in the past. Hopefully, that will help her feel and move better.

Meghan is excited because she has a new friend. Semi is anxious because Sadie is yet another mare that will want Junior's attention.




This is the first time I've ever seen Meghan trot like this. What a cutie!




After all the Sadie excitement, we caught Jewel in deep thought.

"Someday soon, this will all be mine!"





"Once Semi, Junior, Kita, Classy, Megalia, Tabby, Dolly, Willow, Meghan, and Radar are gone I'll rule the roost and all that pasture will be mine Mine MINE!"



"Or not."




On another note, Emily is head over heels in love with Meghan and definitely wants to adopt her and the foal next year. Her sister, Mikayla, fell instantly in love with Tabby, who now looks black with her winter coat coming in. They understand that Tabby isn't broke to saddle yet, but are hoping I can have her kid ready by Spring next year. I think if I can find the time to start working with her more, she'll be easy enough to train considering her history and personality.


The girls also want to ride in the local Christmas parade this year and represent Horse Haven Holler by passing out flyers, wearing our logo, etc. I think this is a most excellent idea! Willow is certainly parade-worthy and one of them can ride her in the parade. Semi would be my next choice, as she used to be an Amish cart horse and is totally bomb-proof. But she hasn't been ridden in a long time as she's been enjoying her semi-retirement. Hmmm... I'll have to put some thought into this and come up with the perfect horse for them to ride. Even though both girls will be led by an adult, it would still be a good idea to have a steady mount to rely on to get them through the parade safely. Anastasia has offered up either Joe or Keisha the Couch as mounts as well, so it might end up being Keisha and Willow in the parade. What fun!

Random Lunch 10/14/08

Today I discovered the nifty little Macro feature on my camera. I've only had the camera for two years, you'd think I would have discovered this sooner. I probably would have if I had read the instructions, but I am not fluent in Korean. So during lunch I flitted from flower to flower looking for things to photograph. Be prepared for totally lame pictures of a bee on one of my Hyssop plants.

Coming in for a landing.




Diving into the nectar buffet.




Showing me his best side.




Leaving the trigger happy human with the camera.



I think my camera and I are finally starting to come to an agreement.

Oh, and check out the Training blog for an update on Meghan and her future humans!

Random Lunch 10/13/08

I found the camera. Actually, Glenn found the camera. Apparently my evil twin took the camera after downloading the auction pictures last weekend and stowed it in the truck so we'd have it for the trail ride on Sunday. And there it sat for a week while I tore apart the house looking for it, and wrongly accused Thor of stealing it. At least I didn't go so far as to clean the house. That would have been a real waste of time.

I have a large basket full of maters sitting on the kitchen table waiting to be canned. Which is a shame, because I'm really over the whole canning thing. Done. Honestly.

There are more maters waiting on the dying vines.






All but one of the vines is dying and I really want to rip them out of the ground. But I can't. Because they are still producing and I just don't swing that way.

Then there's this little rebel. This is the Kellogg's Breakfast yellow tomato and it has decided to put on a bunch of new growth and flowers. Dumb plant.



Several weeks ago I had chopped off the tops of all the Finnichio fennel that I hadn't had time to harvest before it bolted. Much to my surprise, baby fennel bulbs are sprouting from the main stalk! Perhaps I will have some fennel to freeze this season after all.




Woohoo! My garlic is coming up! Happy days!



Stay tuned next summer when I'll be wondering why the hell I planted almost three pounds of garlic for two people. My propensity for over abundance amazes even me.

All about the boys

The Thoroughbred boys, that is.

Anne came over on Saturday to be there when I got on Joma and Imperial for the first time. Anne's purpose in life was to dial 911 if necessary. It wasn't necessary. By the time I got Joma up from the pasture, Anastasia had arrived eager to try out her new mount. As I always do with a new horse, I put the synthetic western on Joma. The synthetic generally fits anyone with the right padding and a green horse can flip over and roll on it without hurting it. I lunged Joma first, but only for a minute or two. He was so pokey and relaxed about the whole thing I just knew he'd be a good boy. So up I went.

The first thing I noted was that he stood perfectly still while I mounted. The second bonus was that he moved off my leg easily without jumping out of his skin and wanting to run. I've dealt with quite a few off the track TBs that launch into a gallop at the slightest hint of leg. Not Joma! He also did not mind moving away from the herd, and was actually reluctant to turn around and head back. "Hey, why not just keep going?" My first trot on him was absolute heaven. Even though Joma is not the best mover in the world, he is definitely the smoothest TB I have ever ridden. EVER. I barely had to post. I probably could have sat his trot easily. And let's not forget that the trot was with a very light contact on the bit. There was no taking off, no let's run, we must RUN attitude from him at all. The canter was even better. I had brief thoughts of telling Anastasia she'd have to fight me for him. He was just that wonderful! Anastasia got on him and had the same thoughts. It was true love!

Imperial went much the same way. A quick couple of circles on the lunge line and I was up. He also stood perfectly still to be mounted. His trot was much different as it was a huge movement and not at all like the almost flat trot of Joma. Imperial was a lot of work to ride and was much more into going fast. It took a lot of leg, seat, and bit to keep him from taking off, and the canter was even faster. But, he was never stupid about anything. When Thor decided that the big bad horsey had better put me down OR ELSE, Imperial just ignored him and kept trotting. Anastasia also enjoyed Imperial and decided that his attitude would suit her husband Scott just fine.

Last night the two boys were delivered to Anastasia's. Ike, the incredibly stupid Percheron stallion that Anastasia is fostering, immediately thought he'd like to mount both the boys without finding out gender first. Joma wouldn't hear of such nonsense and planted several very solid kicks to Ike's chest. Ike eventually got the picture and left the two boys alone. This morning Ike and Joma were playing bite-face and scratching each other's backs. This is the first friend that Ike has made since he's been at Anastasia's. I guess the old guy just needed someone to stand up to him and earn his respect!

Because the boys were so laid back about everything, we took them out on the trails today. Anastasia rode Joma, I rode Imperial, and Glenn rode Willow. I was expecting Imperial to be a bit silly and for the two of them to be upset about following and always wanting to be in front. I couldn't have been more wrong. About 10 minutes into the ride I started to wonder if the trainer from Mountaineer had sent me a couple of big Quarterhorses instead of TBs. Let me tell you, these two boys were born to be trail horses! We rode them both on loose rein, even when trotting. Deer would jump out of the trees next to the trail and the boys would just flick an ear in that direction and keep going with heads down and legs swinging freely. Not one nervous jig, not one excited moment.

Anastasia has a creek flowing across her driveway and no bridge, so we knew the boys would have some trouble walking through the water. Water crossings just aren't something you see in stalls or on race tracks! Imperial was the first to walk up to it, but he didn't want to step into it. Rather than create a fight and bad experience on his first outing, I hopped off and led him through without a problem. Joma didn't want to walk into the water either, so I came back and led him through as well. Later on in the trail we came to a wider water crossing. Imperial walked right in and took a nice long drink. Joma wasn't interested at all, and after a brief discussion with him, Anastasia asked me to come back and lead him through. Three steps into the water he lowered his head, took a drink, then continued to the other side on his own. Good boy!

On the way back Joma walked right in, took a drink, then decided that water was actually FUN.





Scott didn't get to ride with us so it was just the three of us. Both boys were very much enamored with little Willow and she thoroughly enjoyed all the attention they were giving her. She also got to be the star a few times, when the boys thought they saw monsters in the trees ahead and wouldn't go forward. And since this ride was all about making it fun for the boys, we tried to avoid any conflicts. So when we got "stuck" we called the professional. Oh Willow! Time to take the lead! Those boys followed that cute little Willow butt anywhere.




Back on the farm, the boys ate dinner then headed off to find a place to roll.




Oh yeah, this is the life!





I had to call the TB trainer last night when we got home, just to tell her how wonderful her boys were. She thought they'd have trouble with the water and was tickled when I told her how well they both did. I just hope Quest turns out to be half as good!

Random Lunch 10/10/08

One of the things that I majorly suck at is keeping track of the camera. I haven't seen it since downloading auction pictures last Saturday. The pictures of the trail ride were taken with Anne's camera. I've torn up the house from one end to the other looking for the darned thing, and I know where I had it last but it's not there. Do they make those clapper things for cameras? Heeeere camera! CLAP CLAP!

I do have a question for those dog people out there that are way smarter than me (Lena, this means you). Recently the BDD has become aggressive when being disciplined. And I don't mean discipline like smack him around or beat him with a rubber chicken. I just mean raising my voice and pointing a finger at him. And if I'm really mad, I get up in his face about it. Cause I'm just SO trusting like that. In the past month or so he has started growling and barking at me when I'm mad at him. I haven't backed down, but maybe I should? Yesterday I was yelling at him and Thor because the two were having a growl fest out on the porch. They haven't growled at each other in a long time and even seem to be friends these days. When I heard them carrying on yesterday I thought I'd go out and break it up before it became a physical fight, as has happened before when Thor first arrived.

I sent Thor to his corner, then turned to Zeus. I pointed my arm off the porch, stomped my foot, and told him to "go lay down". That's when he started barking and growling at me. That's when I saw a big black blur fly past my right shoulder and land squarely on Zeus. Thor had him pinned to the ground with his jaw around BDD's throat. But Zeus was up quickly and the battle was on. I grabbed the closest thing I could find, which was a walking stick left here by the previous owners. A couple of quick whacks with the stick to both of them and they broke it up. Neither one was hurt, except maybe in the pride department.

What am I doing wrong with BDD? Not enough time spent teaching him things like COME, HEEL, DOWN? Granted, he's the only one of my dogs that doesn't know these things. He can't even shake. I've tried teaching him, but run out of time because it takes him forever to pick something up. I'm used to brainiac dogs, but BDD is as dense as a rock. Any ideas? Should I break out the rubber chicken?

On another note, the TB trainer that brought the boys called me yesterday "just to check on them". Imagine that... a racetrack trainer who gives a damn about where her horses end up!! And two of the boys weren't even her personal horses. But Joma's previous owner called the trainer up crying because she was so worried about him and wondered if he was in a good home and being cared for. I guess there's hope after all if there are breeders and trainers like them!

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.