The Weekend In Review

We spent last week fighting the cold weather and even colder wind chills. I’ll be glad to see that type of weather disappears. I wasn’t sure what the weather was going to bring us Friday morning as the weatherman had been talking snow and slick roads.

We didn’t have time or energy to unload the stock trailer and decided that the enclosed gooseneck would be the better bet to keep the horses warm while hauling. I hate hauling in the winter but the gooseneck really has been a blessing. I managed to oversleep but still wake up in time to load the horses and hit the road for our 9:30am appointment. Unfortunately Mother Nature and people were against us. We got behind the snow plow going 25mph. Luckily we’d already called the vet to say we were going to be late. Apparently I need to start planning better so I’m not late any more. We lucked out that the vet wasn’t busy due to the weather.

I am cautious when pulling the big gooseneck. I’m still getting used to it, although I’m pulling it every week for drill team practice. But it’s going to take me a while to feel comfortable knowing where everything is at (it was the same when I started pulling the bumper pull stock trailer). After five miles of going 25mph, we finally had a break and I was able to pass. Talk about white knuckles for me. Snowy, slippery roads, pulling a six horse trailer loaded with my kids trying to pass a snow plow with his blade down.

Luckily we made it to the vets’ in one piece and unloaded. We decided to start on Jim first so that we would have plenty of time to work on Thor. We put Thor in a stall because I was worried the noise would upset Thor. Thor was pretty pleased with himself eating hay while Jim got his teeth floated.

Unfortunately, I didn’t think before the vet tranquillized Jim that Jim is actually much smaller than he looks. After the tranq, we all realized that Jim is a light weight. Luckily the vet worked fast and kept a close eye on Jim to make sure he wouldn’t go down. It took until after Thor’s float and hoof trim to wake up. Glad we did Jim first. It didn’t sound like Jim had too many sharp points but I wanted to make sure that he was good to go know that we are using him for drill team practice (and we can show off what a rescue horse can do).

After we pulled Jim out, he took a few wobbly steps and I went back to get Thor. Thor was happily eating away. After the last episode with a different vet, we warned our vet that Thor is a lightweight and it doesn’t take much to knock him out. Because Thor is blind, I wanted to do a hand float instead of a power float. I think the noise would have upset Thor too much and my goal is to keep Thor as calm as possible. It didn’t take long for the vet to float Thor’s teeth. He only had one sharp point and the rest were ok. While Thor was still out of it from the tranq, Mike and I went after Thor’s hooves. When Thor went blind in March, Thor wasn’t adjusting well. He was adjusting better than others and could handle some situations but I knew he couldn’t handle having his feet trimmed in stocks like we’ve done in the past. So I took advantage of the tranquillizers and the stocks and worked at Thor’s feet. He stood without moving (thank you drugs!) and were able to get his feet back to some semblance of normal. I’ll continue to work on his feet while he’s eating his grain but I wanted to spend some time really going after his hooves. Hopefully now we can manage his hooves a little bit better. We’ll see how it goes.

Luckily Jim woke up about the time we were finishing up Thor’s hooves. Thor was pretty much awake by the time we finished. Thank you half dose of tranquillizer. They loaded into the trailer like champs and then we headed home.

I ended up leaving Jim in the barn to have his morning hay. When I went to let Thor back into his pen, Queen decided she wanted to escape and started wandering around. I had the barn door open so she wandered in there to see if there was any leftover grain in her stall. I decided I’d leave Queen in with Jim for the afternoon to munch on the leftover hay from a previous night.

When I did let Jim out, we went straight over to Maverick and started playing. It was rather cute to watch those two. Who would have thought that those two would best of friends. It’s an odd combination. But were playing and rearing up. I so wish I would have had a camera. I rarely see the horses play like that. I guess Maverick missed Jim and Jim missed Maverick. Such an odd friendship.

I ended up doing chores early Friday afternoon so that I could make it to the Mitchell Horse Sale. But by the time 5:30pm rolled around, I was exhausted. I hadn’t hardened my heart to what I would see and couldn’t face it. I feel guilty that I didn’t go. Even watching them to remember them is better than not being remembered or forgotten. But I couldn’t bring anyone home and I couldn’t bring myself to deal with knowing that my hands are tied. Maybe next month I’ll attend but we’ll see. I need a few days to harden my heart against the cruelties people dole out.

What I can’t understand is how cruel people can be. Thor, who is completely blind, trusted me to load him into trailer, lead him into a new area, and protect him during all of it. He trusted me to keep him safe. And yet, there are so many people who don’t even think twice about beating a horse, starving a horse, etc. I can’t fathom it. It’s beyond my comprehension. The trust the horses put into us and the deception people deliver to the horse is beyond what I can handle these days.

Saturday was a terribly nasty day. Blowing snow and terrible winds kept me inside for the majority of the day. We rushed through the evening chores so that we could attend the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation Banquet. It was nice to get away for a little while and be surrounded by good people fighting for a good cause (even if it wasn’t horses). I had debated on putting the horses in Friday night as the temps were supposed to plummet and the winds were still fierce but I didn’t think standing in a barn for that long a period would do anyone good.

Sunday was warm and quiet when we woke. I can’t believe what a difference no wind makes. Of course, the temps were warmer too! I’d left my phone in the truck on Friday and didn’t think to grab it until Sunday morning. Sure enough, lots of messages. We hooked the trailer up and headed to drill team practice at 2pm. As always, I was running late so we didn’t start practice on time. I need to start telling myself to be at places an hour earlier so that I am not late any more! We practiced for a little while and then headed home to do chores.

We pushed a round bale in to the blind pen. The bale only lasted two weeks. I think the previous bale wasn’t as good (too stemmy). We pushed the remaining portion of the old bale over the fence line for the big herd to rummage through to see what was good. Those old horses in the blind pen are sweethearts. I threw some alfalfa for them and they happily munched on that while we had the gate wide opened pushing snow, the old bale, and then the new bale around. I don’t even think any of the three picked up their heads to see what was going on. They do love their food.

I know it doesn’t sound like we did that much this weekend but after fighting the cold temps all last week, having a quiet weekend was necessary. I don’t think the weather is supposed to be too bad this week, except for tonight’s below zero temps . But it’s only for tonight and the weather looks good the rest of the week. I’m anxious for spring now that we have a few inches of snow. But on the bright side, maybe now the horses won’t roll in the pen and pick up cockleburs!