Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Shoulder to Cry On

There is nothing more aggravating than having horses destroy expensive stuff. I've had a small portion of the big pasture divided. It's the part of the pasture we put them on in June and that they broke the fence and ate down in August (which worked out ok in the end). But Chaos broke the fence again either yesterday or today and was on the pasture and in doing so burned up my electric fencer. It's the second time it's been fried.

I was planning on waiting until tomorrow to let them out on the pasture but decided tonight was as good a time as any. They were pretty quick to go onto the pasture. They were starting to push on fences so we'll see how long this pasture holds before I have to re-fence the big pasture with electric. Usually some time in October I have to start throwing hay anyway so we'll see how the rest of the pasture holds out before I have to start throwing hay.

I was hoping to hold off on using any more of last year's big squares and use them when I stall horses this winter. I'm switching over to big rounds now that we have a tractor (although it's not paid for yet...sigh). But the tractor and round bales will make life so much easier. Instead of spending hours outside doing chores, it'll only take me as long as the slowest horse to eat his/her grain. But I want the big squares for this winter when I stall horses.

I have to wait until after harvest before I get my winter supply of hay. Lets hope that harvest goes quickly and with little breakdowns or rain delays. Speaking of rain, the weatherman said we aren't going to get any rain until next week instead of the inch of rain they said we'd get on Saturday.

I've sort of been at whits ends lately. I'm not sure if it's post partum still, separation anxiety (all my family was across the state over the weekend and I haven't talked with my mom in a week...we talk at least every few days), or if it's because the only people I've talked to in the past week (not counting Mike, Garrett, and Leila), was the group of people at JCPenny when we did Leila's one month photos. And that was only distracted talk to make sure that both kids weren't being naughty.

I'm sure you're trying to figure out where I'm going with this idea and what it has to do with the Sanctuary. Well, I've been so twitchy lately that I just can't handle sitting around. So tonight when I went out to check on the horses (and after I discovered that the fence was totally destroyed), I just wanted to cry. Everyone was either up at the barn or ignoring me, except Brego. He was walking up from the pasture and we both sort of met face to face. He's not the same "go to" horse like Queen was, but he's getting there. I just wanted to bawl and cry like a baby into his mane. Well, he wouldn't tolerate the total blathering crying but he did tolerate a little and let me rest my head on his shoulder and shed a couple of tears. He even looked back to try and give me a hug. What a great horse. Even though he can't be ridden, he still has a purpose. By anyone else, he'd be an unwanted horse. To me, he's going to be my "go to" horse when I need comforting. He just seems to "know" when I need a little bit of comfort. He's oddly in tune to me (especially when I'm pregnant). For being an unwanted horse, he's definitely wanted at the Sanctuary, even if it's for my on personal reasons of needing a shoulder to cry on.

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Separation Anxiety

For those that don't know, when you have a c-section, you have a weight restriction placed on you. I can't remember if it was supposed to be one week or two weeks of lifting no more than 10 pounds. I ended up self restricting myself for lifting anything over ten pounds until just the other day. I guess that's mostly because I'm still sore and even some parts are still very tender. I'm sure you're asking why does this have anything to do with the Sanctuary. Well, it involves me, so I guess that's why. :-)

I finally felt up to some physical labor and started working on getting blankets washed. Unfortunately, between the c-section itself and being in so much pain while pregnant, I am now completely and utterly out of shape. I had the chance on Sunday to wash blankets. I was only able to get three done. Very sad. Normally I'd be able to get twice that many done before my back gave out but I'll take three. Unfortunately, we are now into fall and the fall like weather is here. So I'm going to have to wash blankets in chilly weather. It won't be the first time that I wash blankets in temps not suited for being drenched. I just hope that I can get it all done before winter sets in and I can't get blankets washed, dried, water proofed, and repaired. There's so much to do and yet, no time. I know I'm home all day, but an infant in the house makes it impossible to get anything done. I'm lucky to have two hours in the morning but it's not like I can be out and about.

I think that's most of my problem lately. I'm home and the weather is GORGEOUS. But I can't be out. Well, I can but the "no seem ums" are also out and I'm not willing to take Leila out and have her eaten up by those nasty bugs.

So it's a mix of beautiful weather and being cooped up and a bit of separation anxiety. So I guess even after a month I still have some post partum going on. sigh.

I've been stalling Junior at night because I can't get out to do chores long enough and he eats so slow. But I'm not sure I want to clean stalls every day so I need to come up with a different plan on where to put him so he can eat his grain and alfalfa every night. I also need to open up the small part of the big pasture for the herd. Bo whinnied at me and let me know that he's hungry. I suppose, it is almost October 1st and I usually have to start throwing hay in October. Sigh.

So much for posting all kinds of news and thoughts in my head. Leila calls.....

Thursday, September 24, 2015

Malfunction

September and October rains are typically cold. This morning's rain is no exception. I'm worried about the horses. I wasn't even considering the rain to be cold. I'm still in summer mode because that's when my daugher was born. My mind is not in full gear yet and I wasn't expecting such a deluge of rain to soak us. As I type this, we are getting a downpour. My brain just isn't in full gear yet. After my son was born, I was in so much pain that I didn't have time to think about the horses. Luckily, this time around, I can but my mind isn't focused like it should be. I'm kicking myself for not either blanketing horses or stalling them for this weather.

My mind is slowly getting back into gear but not fast enough. Fall is such a crazy time that I need to be on my toes when it comes to weather. Any rain now is going to be cold and chill the horses to the bone. Of course they don't choose to stay in the shelters but hopefully at least Rain will go in out of the cold downpour.

I also keep forgetting that I did have major surgery. I wouldn't consider a c-section major surgery but it is. Or at least my body is telling me it is. Before my daughter was born, I bought a couple of rubber mats for one of the stalls. I am going to start buying mats whenever they are on sale (and I have the money). It'll make winter stalling easier on the hard keepers. But Mike unloaded the mats in front of the garage awhile back. I knew this rain was coming so I decided that I would drag them into the barn. Big mistake. I'm hurting from it now. I'm definitely slow on my feet and need to remember to take it slower.

I should be working on paperwork but my mind is still not 100% and I've been pretty much on auto pilot (hence the mistake of not stalling horses today during all this rain). So I can't even focus on paperwork while I have downtime during the day. Instead I just sit and try to focus my brain.

The horses dont' seem to be the horse for wear with my lapse in brain power. I'm getting back into the routine of graining Junior. He'd been at mom and dad's for the last month of my pregnancy (and a good thing because I couldn't walk more than about 10 feet without being in absolute pain). But now that he's home (and I'm not in any back pain), I am back to graining him. I need to figure out a better solution to graining him where I know he's getting what he needs to keep the weight on. He put on a bit of weight while in Madison so I hope I can keep that up. He's definitely going to stress me out this winter in keeping weight on him.

I know we need the rain but I'm wishing I would have had more foresight into today to keep the horses more comfortable. Come on brain, start working. sigh

Monday, September 21, 2015

Two Need Homes

We were asked a week or so ago (I don't remember since I can't even figure out what day it is), to take in two thin horses. We have turned away a few horses this year and now with an infant, I'm not sure if we have the capacity to take in any at this time. The last one we turned away, the owner was willing to do the Hard Keeper Program and even pay for her horse to stay with us. But I knew that at the age of 33 and with an infant, it was going to be too much physically for me to do.

However, the two that we were asked to take this past month are younger (teens) and I'm hoping that their thinness is due only to the lack of feed. History suggests just that. But I'm wondering if anyone would be willing to sponsor one or both of these two deserving gentlemen. Both are geldings and both younger. I haven't committed to anything just yet because I'm still trying to get back into the swing of things and on my feet. Three weeks in a normal life is just a flash but three weeks after a C-section, not as easy to get back into the swing of things.

So what does everyone think?

Getting Into the Swing of Things

Where do I even start? I don't even remember the last time I posted! Life has gotten to be a blur these last three plus weeks. Because Leila was supposed to be born just before Labor Day weekend and because Mike and I both had a serious case of postpartum, we ran away to the Black Hills for one final "family" vacation. We wont' be able to get another family vacation away from the place until Memorial weekend so we wanted to take the opportunity (and because we figured we were going to be in the hospital but she came a week early).

I still have a bit of postpartum going on but I'm hoping I'm getting into the swing of things now. My mind has been mostly focused on Leila so I haven't been able to think much about the horses. The horses have been on auto pilot for the past month so I haven't had to worry. But now that it'll have been a month, my mind is starting to get back into it. Which makes me start thinking about fundraiser ideas. Anyone want to brainstorm with me?

Yesterday we ran up to Madison and picked up some extra hay bales. I had to put King in timeout because he kept running through the electric. So I've been going through more hay than I'd expected. The mares' pasture is done so we put a bale into keep them occupied until we can get them moved to the other pasture.

Mike and Dad worked on refencing the drylot in mid August so now we have all of our temporary corral panels free again. We'll be putting them up where the chicken coop was. The excavator came in August and buried all the rubble so now we have a clean slate to work with. But we need to get fence up before I can run horses in that pasture. We left the concrete where the chicken coop was so we can start parking trailers on it instead of parking trailers wherever and killing off the grass.

We also ended up bringing Brego and Junior home. The pasture is pretty well done in at Mom and Dad's. It's nice to have everyone home again. Although there's more cockleburs at mom and dads so I'm going to have to spend time pulling cockleburs. Although we have cockleburs too, I'm just waiting for them...sigh.

While we were up getting hay, we talked with our hay guy and finally got our winter supply of hay contracted out. I was a little worried but in all truth, I'd slipped in thinking about the hay. Usually we have hay by now and are scrambling but I've been so preoccupied that it didn't occur to me until just this week. Luckily the stars were all aligned and we now have everything lined up but have to wait until after harvest to have them deliver it. It's not a big deal, we still have some hay left over from last year but I want to use that for when I stall horses during the winter. I'm not looking forward to stalling horses but it'll happen. I'm afraid we are going in to a hard winter and we'll need all the extra hay we can get.

And we were asked to take in two horses this past month but I haven't responded yet if we'll take them. I'm slow to take in any while I'm adjusting to caring for an infant but I worry about the fate of these horses. We've already had to turn away horses this year so I hate to turn away even more. We desperately need to get our 501c3 paperwork figured out but my brain isn't there yet. I want and need help. I try not to ask for much help but I'm asking now. Does anyone know how to put the paperwork together for a non-profit? I want to make sure that we can offer homes to senior horses and if they aren't senior horses but need to get out of their current home to at least work with another rescue to adopt them out. But for people to consider us, we really do need to be a 501c3 sanctuary. Can anyone help?

I'm sure I'll be slow to post for a little while longer. I've been out to the pasture and taking pictures but still need to download them all. It all takes time and when I think I can head to bed for the night, I realized I have an infant and will only get about two hours of sleep before the next feeding and diaper change. I won't complain though, but I may post weird blogs because my mind is sleep deprived.

Friday, September 4, 2015

New Addition

Well, we ended up getting a new addition in August rather than September. Our little peanut decided to arrive last week Thursday instead of yesterday. We had a planned C-Section for yesterday September 3rd but our little peanut decided that she wanted to arrive in August. All went well although I wasn't expecting to have  baby at 3 AM!

I would like you to meet Leila Pearl Border. Born Thursday, August 27th at 3:01AM. 7lbs 1oz at 20 3/4 inches long. The first name came from Mike's great grandma and the middle name came from my great grandma. This girl is already an old soul even without her names. I think her namesakes are pleased and watching over her. She's super easy.

And for those that are curious...to pronounce her name... it's Lee-eye-la.   as in Lee-long I-la. Didn't think it was a confusing name to pronounce but I didn't know how to spell it until we had to fill out the birth certificate! oops!

Welcome to the world Baby Girl!!!