It's a Good Day!

This day keeps getting better and better!

Earlier this week someone placed an ad saying they do chiropractic work on horses. So I emailed to find out the details. I'm so excited. I'm trying to figure out a weekend where I can haul Dude down to Harrisburg to get the initial evaluation and first chiropractic work done. It'll cost about $95 for the initial visit with chirporactic work. The dr. will also do some evaluations to see if it's actually chiropractic or if there's something more serious going on. All visits afterwards are $85. I was afraid they'd be more along the lines of $200 per visit which I can't afford. But I can afford $85. It could possibly mean Dude could go back to being a riding horse again instead of a dominant pasture pet. I'm going to call on Monday and see what the next few weekends look like for the dr. I'm thinking maybe I can sneak Dude in next weekend but I'm not sure.

I also got a call this evening from my trainer Jake Jass. He called to say that he's ready for Maverick whenever I am. He was ready for a horse any time this week. I warned him that I most likely couldn't get Maverick into the trailer. So we made arrangements for him to come out this Monday around 5:30 to help me load Maverick up and take him to the trainer's facilities. I'm hoping 30 days of training will really Maverick him straight.

Now I'm going to really have to figure out how to introduce Brego to the entire herd. I have an idea but it's going to require some work. I don't want Dude to beat the snot out of Brego. I'll have to ease him in, start with the less aggressive horses and work my way up.

I also called my farrier tonight too before going out to do chores. I need to get shoes on King before Sunday's first ride. I should have called earlier but I never got around to it. I'm busy all day Saturday so that sort of cut our options down. The farrier is scheduled to come out this Thursday about 4:30pm. I am going to have to hurry home on Thursday.

I need to call the vet on Monday and see if I can make an appointment to bring Tommy, Skippy, Farley, Gypsy, and Trouble in for their yearly shots. I'm hoping for this Friday but we'll see. If that's the case, I'm going to load King and Rain in so that Dad and I can get a ride in before the first trail ride. It's always a good thing to work the kinks out before going on a trail ride. I need to work King and Rain this week and make sure they don't have any bad kinks in them before Dad and I go on our preride. :-) So I'll be hauling King, Rain, Tommy, and Skippy in the trailer. I figure I can throw Farley in the big dog kennel and Trouble in the small dog kennel but that still leaves Gyspy. So I'm going to have to do some begging to see if I can't borrow a dog kennel for the day. I have a couple of ideas of who I can go beg to.

I think I'm on cloud 9 knowing that Maverick is finally going to get to go to a good trainer. I'm going to start counting the hours until he goes!

It rained most of today. Earlier I put Bob in the barn so that he could have his daily allotment of alfalfa. When I went out to do chores tonight I wasn't sure if I should leave Bob in the barn or not. When I opened the door to the big herd, Rain came right in without an invitation. I took it as insight to leave Rain and Bob in the barn. It's a fairly cold rain and I'm sure Rain would get pushed out of the lean too. I'll sleep easier knowing Bob is snug and dry in the barn. I feel a little worried that Bob didn't get a chance to walk around and stretch his legs a bit more before being stuck in his stall all night. I guess he'll be a bit more eager to come out of the barn tomorrow morning.

I think it's supposed to rain for the next couple of days. Or at least be dreary for the next few days. But starting Wednesday we are supposed to be at 70 degrees so I'm going to have to get the horses out and go for a few short rides around the place. Things are really starting to look up. This day keeps getting better and better.

To top it off, some of the house projects are starting to really take shape. I can't wait until the house remodel is done so that I can go back to focusing on the horses and the constant fencing that we totally ignored last year. The more we get done, the closer we are to working on new fencing.

It's been a good day!

Happy Birthday Rain

Happy Birthday Rain!

I can't believe it. Five years ago today we brought Rain home. Since he's grade I don't know his birthday. So instead, I consider the day we brought him home as his birthday. I can't believe it's been five years already. Seems like just yesterday that we brought him home.

Happy birthday buddy!

New Adventure

This morning I did chores like normal but noticed that predawn glow. It was so soft and subtle. It really makes me appreciate getting up so early to do chores. The sky was still a dark blue with the stars shining but there was just enough light that I saw pinks, oranges, and reds. Very gorgeous. To top it off, on the way to work I saw the sun rise. Just last week the sun was barely above the horizon as I pulled in to work. Now the sun is above the horizon before I’m even there. It’s rather refreshing to drive in the light. I get to enjoy my surroundings as I head in to work.

Yesterday was supposed to be the nicest day of the week. Today is calling for warmer temps but with more wind. Always wind! I decided that I would go for a ride. I didn’t really care who, as long as I got to ride someone. I let Bob in and Rain came in right afterwards. I figured Rain would try and stay as far away as possible. But I guess those few mouthfuls of alfalfa are enough to bribe him into a ride. I don’t even have to ask him, he goes directly into the barn. Rain and Bob are best friends so it doesn’t bother me that they sometimes share a few mouthfuls of alfalfa (as long as Rain only gets one or two, otherwise I’m afraid it’ll make him sick).

So I pulled Rain out, groomed him down, and threw the English saddle on. I’m really a weiny. My western saddle is getting heavy compared to the English saddle. I caught my shadow on the hay shed and realized I’m not yet centered and balanced, so I worked on sitting up straight. It’s actually getting easier. I slouch so much everywhere. I tried trotting a couple of times but figured I’d better stick to walking and work on my balance instead.

After a bit I decided that I would put Rain back and catch Chaos. He’s so easy to catch. I pulled Chaos out, groomed him down, and threw my western saddle on him. I decided that I would be brave and try riding him outside the horse pen. I wanted to be close to Mike in case I fell off. I’m not sure Mike would know I’d fallen off if I was in the horse pen. That and it gives Chaos more exposure to everything. He’s much less responsive out in the open. I walked him around some of the stuff that Rain was eyeballing. Chaos did the same thing although instead of wanting to flee, Chaos wanted to investigate. Go figure.

I climbed on and Chaos and I simply worked on walking around in circles and having him pay more attention to me than the grass. This was the first time ever he started throwing his head around. I think that was more because I wouldn’t let him snitch any grass while we were walking. It was a bit frustrating but I was able to expose him to a new area and he never once flipped out. We only rode around in circles and serpentines in front of the barn. I didn’t want to go too much farther around the driveway since I hadn’t walked Chaos around those areas.

I doubt that I’ll try riding Chaos tonight because of the wind. It bothers me more than it bothers him. We are pretty protected so I might give it a try. Maybe I’ll try riding him in the horse pen where it’s fairly soft.

I need to start working on King. He’s starting to get flighty and I need him pretty well bombproof before the first trail ride. The first ride is the last Sunday of the month. I’m sure Rain will do just fine but I’m not sure about King. I need to call my farrier tonight. I need to get shoes on King before the first ride. I’m hoping we can use a different method for shoes this year.

Gypsy still smells like skunk but the rest of the place doesn’t smell too bad any more. The only other place that stinks is right next to my track room. The skunk sprayed over there and I think he’s taken up residence under my tack room. Booo! Go away varmints!

Keep your fingers crossed the wind isn’t too strong so I can ride Chaos and/or King tonight.

Gyspy Girl

Poor Gypsy. She got skunk'd Sunday night. Hopefully it won't take six months for the smell to go away (like last time).

Last night she was such a good girl. We've been trying to teach her that if she wants to be petted she needs to sit at our feet. She sat at our feet multiple times but I couldn't bring myself to pet her. I'm tired of smelling like skunk. Poor Gypsy.

To top it off, she stuck by my side almost the entire time she was out playing around. When I went to go get her some treats, she flopped down by the door. She actually did her dead dog look while we were in getting treats. I felt so bad. She really IS a good dog. We simply aren't using her to her fullest potential and keeping her mind active. Poor girl. We are going to have to come up with some type of plan.

I'm sure the neighbors hate us. Last night something must have startled Gypsy. She started barking at 3:00am and wouldn't stop. Mike went to check on her and she instantly stopped barking. While Mike was out, he could hear all the neighbor dogs barking. Gypsy got everyone in the area all riled up. Poor girl.

Bob Crazy

Bob gave me a scare this morning. I'm still not convinced that he's feeling well. Last night we didn't get home until late, enjoying family quality time for easter sunday. I figured that instead of rushing Bob or not giving him any alfalfa, that I would leave him in the barn overnight with his big pile of alfalfa to munch on.

When I opened the door this morning, Bob was standing at the gate nickering to me. I love that. But then he started in on banging the door and trying to body slam through it. It's too early and too loud for that type of behavior so I hollered at him. I think that upset him. So when I came around to get him his treats (which is the only way to get him out of the barn), his head was practically to the ground. I felt bad. Here he was, all excited, and I simply yelled at him.

I wasn't sure if he was sick or simply upset because I yelled at him. I guess I should have put Rain in too so he wouldn't be by himself. I feel terrible.

But at the time, I wasn't sure if Bob was sick or not. He started acting weird. He came out of the barn and I fed him his treats. I went on to feed everyone their hay. In the mean time Bob decided to lay down. I was terrified that he was going to colic. But his bedding was super soaked and there were two piles of poo (minus much of the unprocessed oats like it used to be). So I checked on him a couple times and finished feeding the hay to everyone.

I was totally freaked out. I was afraid I would have to make a call to the vet and have an emergency vet visit. Problem is, I refuse to use the nearest vet and would have to wait a half hour for my vet to arrive. So least to say I was panicking.

I decided to sit with Bob for a little bit to see if he was sick or simply tired. He's been laying down more but I think it could be his joints. I've added weight booster to his diet and that might be causing havoc with his joints. The stall isn't really big enough for him to lay down in. He could but it would be some work to get back up.

So I left him all curled up ( he looked so cute) and went back in to finish getting ready. Of course I'm hystarical trying to justify why Bob would lay down. Of course he's tired and would want to lay down, but still, why right after he walked out of the barn.

But when I went to check on him at 6:15am, he was up and eating hay with Rain. I may need to separate Bob from the rest of the herd next year. Put Bob in with either the mares or create a second pen with the non-dominant horses (Rain and Brego).

I did pull Bob out Saturday so that he could have a little bit of grass. Problem is, I left the barn wide open. So after only about a half hour of grazing, Bob went back into the barn. He knew EXACTLY where the grain is and was headed for his oats and senior feed. Good thing I had a close eye on him (I just KNEW he'd try to pull a fast one over on me.)

I think tonight I'm going to rush home and make sure that Bob is doing ok. I'll not leave him in the barn tonight. Hopefully I'll give him enough time to get through all his grain and alfalfa tonight.

Easter Bunny's Cousin

I guess the easter bunny was too busy to come visit us at Borderlands. Instead he sent his cousin, Mr. Skunk. Gypsy, who apparently loves to great EVERY creature, decided to give Mr. Skunk a HUGE Happy Easter welcome. Mr. Skunk in return gave us the pleasure of remembering his visit for days to come. Oh how I wish Gypsy would learn to stop when I call for her. We could have saved everyone the "pleasure" of the new spring smell, "Le Skunk."

Sure hope it rains soon so that the skunk smell washes away. My only worry now is what if the skunk decides to mosey on out while I'm doing chores in the morning. I may very well have to take a second shower tomorrow morning after chores just to get the smell out of my nose. I think tomorrow I'll carry a flashlight.

What do you get when you mix skunk and polyerathan (sp?), give up? Our house. Least to say, it's pretty stinky around here at Borderlands. Hope today isn't any indication of what this week will be like. If it is, I'll hope for a head cold so I can avoid all the smells!

Nothing Says Love Like a Face Full of Poo

It's been a busy day today at Borderlands. I'd hoped to sneak a ride in yesterday and today but that didn't happen. Instead we worked around the place trying to get our many projects done.

We even got the pens cleaned out a bit more. I was naughty all winter and let them go. Now the pens are a fiasco and I'm slowly working at cleaning them up. Luckily Mike was able to get the tractor in to get the really bad spots. As I'm throwing the dry poo into the tractor bucket and getting dry poo in my face, I realized I must really love my horses to handle poo in my face and not be disgusted. I'm not sure how Mike does it. Maybe he's up higher on the tractor and doesn't get any, or he's just a sweetheart and won't say anything. Nothing says love like a face full of poo.

I'm pooped (no pun intended) so I'm going to leave with a pic of last week's blizzard. Hard to believe last Saturday it was a blizzard closing down interstate and this Saturday it was in the 60s. I guess that's why I like living here. It's always an adventure.