Wonderful Weekend

There is no better way to spend a weekend than surrounded by horses and horse stuff. This weekend was absolutely fantastic. I always enjoy the Horse Fair and look forward to a new season of horses and riding. The Horse Fair is usually my official start to the riding season.

Since Sunday was so nice, I decided to forgo the Horse Fair and play with the horses instead. Oh what fun that was! The weather progressively got better as the day went by making it even more fun.

When I went out to do chores in the morning I decided that the mares needed a good grooming. I also did a bit of grooming on Sam and Tommy.

Later in the day I caught Rain and saddled him up English. I figure if I start Rain out english than I won't want to rush either of us. I want to work him back into shape nice and slow. I hadn't been on Rain in almost six months so a little riding around on english for about 10 minutes is all we did.

After a short breather (because I'm so out of shape), I caught King and rode him around. This is the first time in more than six months that I'd ridden King. He seemed a bit soar so I'm back to graining him with his medicine. I need to discuss King's prognosis again with the vet to see what other options we have. I don't think the medicine is really working to fix his soar muscles. I'm also going to have the farrier look at his feet and tell me what size to buy for boots. I've decided to not shoe him this year but to buy those shoe boots instead. I know they are pricey but if I can ride him a couple of times, it'll cover the cost of shoeing. And if he goes lame again this year, I won't have wasted my time with shoes. But I do need to discuss it with the farrier to see what he thinks too. Maybe we do need to leave shoes on but leaving shoes on makes his feet get long. Pulling shoes lets his feet stay short but since he's so flat footed he gets sore. It's so hard to know what to do.

After King, I pulled Maverick out. I wasn't brave enough to ride him but I did saddle him up and do some ground work (round pen) work. Of course within about 10 minutes Maverick had my number and we didn't get anything more done. He's too smart for me. I know I should have gotten on him and ridden but I didn't. Maybe later this week I'll get my nerves back.

Then it was Chaos's turn. I saddled him up and we plugged along around the yard. Again, Chaos hasn't been ridden in about six months and he did extremely well. I wouldn't put him on a trail ride just yet but he did better than I expected. In fact, out of the three that I rode, Chaos did the best. Go figure!

I finally caught Jim, which is a feat all in itself. I decided that I wouldn't ride him but I wanted to see how he would handle a saddle. The previous owner suggested that you always lounge him before getting on. He'd never bucked for them but had bucked for her sister/previous owner. I wasnt' really in the mood to get bucked off and it was starting to get late. I still havent' figured out a bridle set up yet for Jim either. So instead, I saddled Jim up and we walked around the yard. I wanted to see how he would react to everything. He did pretty well and took everything in without spooking at all. I think he'll be a good horse under saddle once we get a few rides under our belt.

I'd wanted to ride Zeke but it was either ride Zeke and do chores in the dark or just mess with Zeke for a few minutes and do chores in the light. Since I'd been doing chores in the dark all week I opted to simply mess with Zeke and start in on the chores. That and I had left the new swayback saddle pad in the house and was too lazy to go find it. So instead, I just groomed Zeke down and let him enjoy some down time away from the rest of the herd.

I did leave Sam's blanket off last night. I think I might leave it off again tonight too. It's so nice out that I don't want him to get too hot. I might put it back on for the nights the rest of the week though. We're going back down into the 40s for highs and 20s for lows.

I'm hoping the weather will warm up soon. I need to move the mares out of their winter pasture into the pen. I will end up losing my small riding pen but I dont' want the mares out on pasture when the new fresh grass starts popping through.

I also need to do some serious fencing in the winter pasture. Luckily I feed the horses twice a day so I can check on them. I know some people said I should just feed them once so I can enjoy the horse fair a little bit more but I'm not willing to risk it. It's a good thing I listened to my own concious. Babe had some how managed to get under my temporary fence into a section of the pasture I need her to stay out of. I need to do a better fencing job to ensure she doesn't go back in there again. I'm hoping later this week to get that fencing done.

Quick Update

Just setting down after being at the SD Horse Fair all day and doing quick evening chores. We had a really good time although I was a bit disappointed about the "horse processing" presentation. On the bright side, I have the Professor's email so I'm planning on getting in contact with her, perhaps not to discuss horse processing but to at least keep my nose in other people's business. I'm really seeing a need for a retirement farm with a few additional programs. I guess we'll see how things go. But for now I'm too tired and want to put my butt on a nice soft spot instead of sitting on bleachers.

Tomorrow looks like it's going to be a nice day so I'll be out playing with the horses. Hopefully I'll get a chance to report a little bit about the Horse Fair. But until then, I'm gonna go put my feet up.

Blast from the Past

Thought you might like some pics. These are from last year when Dad and I went down to Newton Hills State Park. It was Chaos's second ride with other horses. I think Dad is going to steal Chaos again for this riding season.

Dad and Rain. Dad rode Rain a few times last year but Rain is too spooky. I've been riding Rain now for a few years so I, for the most part, know what to expect before he reacts to it. Of course it's all been by trial and error. :-)

Chaos. Isn't he a hunk! I know that I kept him as a stud until he turned two but I can't imagine that's why he's as bulky as he is. I met his momma once before she died and I think Chaos got his body build from his mother. I never got to meet Chaos's dad. I do still consider Chaos a rescue. He was headed to a scary auction (Kramers) as an unhandled yearling stud colt. Boy has he come around since then. I can wait to start riding him this riding season. I swear riding him felt like riding Dictator, my first horse (who also happened to be my dream horse).

Enoy your Friday. Looking at those pics of green grass really makes me want to get out and ride even if I'd be riding in dreary weather and brown grass. Can't wait for trail riding season!

Gettin' Giddy

For some odd reason I'm practically giddy.

Maybe it was the fact I got to play outside in the beautiful warm weather yesterday.

Maybe it is the fact I have today off.

Maybe it is the fact this weekend is the South Dakota Horse Fair (which is only marred by a discussion about horse slaughter and keeping horses identified as livestock). The Horse Fair is my spring horse fix.

Maybe it is the fact that Mike was able to get the tractor out last night and push some of the big piles of manure into one gigantic pile so I now have more room to feed and less to deal with one shovel at a time.

Maybe it's just a combination of all of the above. In any case I'll take it!

The Horse Fair starts today at 1pm so I'll be heading on over in a few hours to scope everything out. I don't think there's as many speakers or activities that I want to look at this year. But I do like going on Fridays to get some of the deals at the used tack vendor. I think it's the Youth Appaloosa Club booth that always has used tack. I love that booth. I always seem to buy something from that booth.

The Horse Fair is the first time in the new year where I can be inundated with horses and horse stuff. I love it! Of course I don't always like the people that walk through but for the most part I can weave through the crowds and enjoy everything.

Now if the weather would only clear up and let the sun shine. But I guess I might as well enjoy the next two cloudy days since I'll be inside. I was thinking of going on Sunday too but they are talking sun on Sunday so I might as well enjoy the nice weather and stay home. I really want to get some things done at home. And with the warmer weather I'm finally itching to get on the back of a horse and ride. I really need to start working with the boys again to get them in shape. All in due time! But for now, I'm going to go and get my horse fix. I'll try to blog about it later!

Warmer Weather and the Horse Fair

Yesterday was such a gorgeous evening that I decided I would spend my time puttering with the horses. I'm itching to get my shedding tools out and tackle those that are starting to shed. I'm a bit hesitant to really go at it because starting tomorrow we're to have yet another storm and cold front blow though.

I did do a little bit of quick grooming on King, Dude, and Zeke. And what do you think those buggers did?!? They walked out into the mud and rolled right afterwards. Ungrateful boys! :-) I'd thought about riding but never did manage to get up enough energy to saddle anyone up.

While I was checking out everyone, I noticed that Rain is a little thin. He looks ok but I'm wondering if he's not wormy. Everyone is off their normal worming schedule so that may possibly be it. I don't want thin horses and I don't want to keep feeding those worms. So I guess tonight will be worming night instead of grooming night.

With the warmer weather I pulled Sam's blanket. I forgot to pull it yesterday so the poor guy was probably roasting. I need to be a bit better about watching the weather to know when to pull blankets.

I'm excited for this weekend. It's the annual SD Horse Fair. I always look forward to getting a horse fix. Although the joy of it is alittle dampened what with knowing that the Horse Fair is presenting pro-slaughter information and not doing enough in presenting both sides. But last year I sat through what was supposed to be a neutral conversation about the "unwanted" horses and I was rather disappointed in that presentation too. It's a shame that the Midwest is such backwaters. Don't get me wrong, I'm no activist in the ways of PETA but I do believe that there are no "unwanted" horses, just those that have bad luck.

So we'll see how things go. I'm disappointed in the lack of activities but I guess I was so excited about seeing Stacey Westfall last year that nothing can compare now. But I'll go at least two of the three days even with the increase in admission. I guess that's the price I pay for needing my horse fix.

Signs of Spring

The signs of spring are really starting to show. Last week I heard and then saw the first robin of the year. I've only seen the one but I'll take it. I've also seen a lot of geese flying.

Daylight savings time is also here to stay. I'm excited to get that extra hour in the evening but it sure is hard doing chores in the pitch black mornings. I was enjoying the morning pre-dawn show. And that reminds me. Last year I started blogging the first day after daylight savings time. It's been one heck of a year.

The snow is also melting quickly, causing major problems. The CRP is flooding. Luckily the pasture has enough of a hill that the lower part can flood and I still have pasture enough for the horses. The flooding is bad enough that our CRP is taking over the gravel road! I'll have to post more with pics later.

The horses are also starting to shed out, some more than others. Babe is really shedding. Others like Rain aren't anywhere near shedding out. Although Rain never really sheds out too much.

The horse pens are a mess. Luckily I have enough concrete, except that it's all under manure and ice still. I'm slowly working at getting the manure into piles. With 14 horses to care for all winter, working, and the terrible weather, there was simply no way for me to get out to the pens to clean them before the manure froze to the ground. I'd hoped to get a tractor in the pen to do most of the work but it doesn't look like that will be the case. Everything is so soft I don't want to tear up the yard. So instead, I'll put the shovel to work.

I did get the chance to clean out a little bit of the barn and that seemed to help. There's still standing water but it doesn't seem to be as bad. The water table is just as bad, if not worse but maybe it's just that it's flowing into the CRP instead.

The CRP is full and taking over the road. It's also backed up and wrapped around us. Who needs a mote! I'm a little worried that the bottom part of the mare pasture is going to flood out. I'll be rather disappointed. We just put that fence in and now the water will take hold of it. I'm sure nothing will happen to the fence it's just surprising is all. I need to walk down and check the fences in the mare pasture anyway so I'll investigate the flooding. The water was never this bad in the years we've been at Borderlands. Even when we had that major water break out to the horse water trough the water table was never this bad. At that time I thought it was bad we sort of flooded out the neighbor but in reality, this is 100 times worse!

Hopefully tonight I can post some of the flooding pictures. I was hoping to go out with the waders to see how deep the flooding really is in the pasture. I walked out just a ways into the water and it was already up to the tops of my rubbers. And that was on Saturday afternoon, before the CRP started taking over the road. Maybe tonight, now that it's daylight savings time (yet another sign of spring), Mike and I can set the live trapped to get the skunk living in the pasture, and I can go play out in the water.

Now if I could only figure out how to manage my time a little bit better to take advantage of that extra hour of daylight!

Coming out of my Skin

For some odd reason, I feel like I'm coming out of my skin. I'm not sure if it's the weather or the number of cheap horses I'm seeing online. Or it could be the first auction of the year for the Sioux Falls Regional Livestock sale is already scheduled. So many lives set to an unknown fate. It always upsets me because there's not enough money to bring them all home.

I need to spend the entire weekend cleaning out the flooded barn and making it as clean as possible for the water to flow in and out of. . I'm guessing it's just spring fever. I'm past the cabin fever and now progressed to spring fever.

The horses are doing well and are enjoying the warmer weather although I think they too are getting tired of the rain. I'm afraid I've been rather lax in pushing the issue with Jim. He's so hard to catch and I've been so swamped with work, I haven't forced the issue in making him come into the barn to eat grain. I'm afraid he's losing weight again. I really need to get him into the vets to get his teeth floated. Unfortunately the trailer is in the shed and I don't want to tear up the yard now that it's a river.

I think my antsyness is coming from reading another blog. Joe from Thoroughbred Friends sounds really stressed. I've never met him, only read his blog and you can read the worry and stress in his writings. He tries to stay upbeat but he's dealing with 170+ horses on his rescue and tons of phone calls every day. It just makes me antsy. I desperately need to get the paperwork signed and going on the rescue but I'm always running out of time. If I sit for even a minute I'm asleep. I'm afraid at some point I'm going to start falling asleep standing up!

I'm sure it's just this crazy weather that has me on edge. I know the minute I go out to do chores, the antsyness will go away. Whoever said "The outside of a horse is good for the inside of a man" was totally right. I think even if I hope on the back of one of my trusty steeds will make all my worries go away. I may just have to try it, wet butt or no wet butt.