Time out Tuesday

Sully is coming home.........we will pick him up on Thursday evening. A very full farm......but we will squeeze him in for the time being and try to find a foster home for another. Sully has developed issues with cantering. ...probably some sort of pain......lengthy explanation but he is willing to hurt himself in order to avoid cantering and I don't believe it is due to being "bad".

Anyway the foster home and barn has been very generous to us and we appreciate it...but time to bring him home and have him checked out.......chiropractic.....and soundness evaluation.

We love Sully........one of our favorites for sure.

Rain again today, lots of wind, loss of power for a while.......and cold.........but now, outside my window, frogs croaking up a storm and patches of moon in the sky. Maybe tomorrow it will be nice?

Ryan came and worked on the electrical today........and a fine job he did. The electric fence is now on a switch.....we upgraded the breaker box and the wiring.......added another receptacle. So nice to have things more useable and safe! He also moved the manure pile in the back........it was monstrous and hot.

We say goodbye to Carerra, who has finished her project with us.......and we wish her luck in her future....thanks for helping the horses and sharing your ideas with us. We like being involved with the Running Start program, we meet such great students!

We are hearing great things about Vinnie.......and how happy his new owner is with him! YAY!! All of our stories should have such happy endings..... The picture on the blog today is Vinnie...one of my favorite pictures of him. I told his new owner Tanna that this is really why I do what I do..........this is what rescue is all about. You take a horse like Vinnie from a dead end situation and you get him into a home that is perfect for him. Love at first sight. Makes me want to cry.......really...it does. You go Vinnie........we miss you already.

The crabby old bat was not so crabby today........and Promise did not stall walk as much as she has........somethings improve and it makes the day seem better. Somedays I get overwhelmed with work, finances, time........whew......I don't know how it all gets done....but it does.

The cement for the shoeing stand will have to wait for good weather.......the frame is all up.....just need some sunshine for just a little while.

Did I mention that we have hay stashed everywhere? Three ton.........in every nook and cranny. Great buy.....it goes fast..........they eat like threshing machines these inmates. Two hots and a cot, as my husband says....life is good.

Pony Up fortune for tomorrow:

Do not forget to show your humility.

Still around Sunday

Short weekend.....lots of work.........hmm......you know the list never gets shorter.........we don't see daylight yet but we still get a lot done.
Saturday it's just me, Ryan and Carrera for a while........then just me and Ryan. We get stalls cleaned, waters filled and then we groom a few horses. We start with the worst.....Mercy and Promise..........the sun is out for a little while and we take advantage of being able to hose/soap/rinse Madam Mercy's legs, back end and give her a good brushing. I will give her this...........she was SLIGHTLY better........she kicked at us a couple of times, screamed but the biting was at a minimum.......she is very hairy and shedding like crazy. It looked like we had a snow storm in her paddock, we had that much hair! We also groomed Promise.......and she was much better than last week....she is still stall walking, tooth grinding, generally neurotic.....it is a concern.........she stall walks like she is in a trance. The stall walking is bad because she burns too many calories........and does not eat enough to keep up. For those of you thinking it........she is not locked in a stall,,,,,,,,,, she is living in a loafing shed and has free access to her paddock. I also gave her a toy to play with.......and she has the wonderful Beaver sharing her fenceline for company.........but she is still neurotic about the walking and grinding of her teeth. She is not much for grooming either but so much better than Mercy. I am giving her Mare Magic along with Madam Mercy.......I hope it will kick in. It cannot be much of a life to be so worried. I feel badly for this little mare.......she is homely.......she is sickle hocked, she has a broken sesmoid, MULE ears, little eyes.......badly set on neck....bad fur........skinny...............so many strikes against her at such a young age. We, of course, never hold looks to be of importance, but you know as well as I do, that many people do. We want to give her a chance because she has had so many humans fail her. She is not yet four.......very tragic, isn't it? You know, Breeze is the same age, and was at the track the same amount of time......it is simply the difference in how a horse is treated by the trainer, grooms..........the owner. Breeze has no bad habits....great manners......while poor Promise shows the evidence of how she was treated.
The rest of Saturday afternoon, we load manure, work on electrical items in the barn. (two new light fixtures, a new receptacle, a new switch).......go get coffee at Starbucks, marvel at the tool section of Lowes buy some electrical items..........come back, work a little more, feed every one, talk about next week............and then go home. Ryan.........again...you are such a help with the projects............Thank you. This week Ryan has spring break and has offered to work on some barn projects..........siding, electrical........manure.......plumbing......as I said, we have a million things to do.
Sunday I go to the barn by myself, we have a little sunshine in the morning..........I feed and clean paddocks........drink coffee..........gather eggs, clean stalls........go see my mom.........and then I put up a bird feeder, move the bird bath........hang up a bird house........and it is noon.......already? I head home..........drink coffee.....then go outside to tend my gardens.........weed and prune, then rake.........wash the sidewalk off........play with the dog.......take a shower, feel ready for a nap,,,,,,,,,,,but I need to go to the store..........Fred Meyer.........dog food, cat food, prescriptions, bath mat...........and a few other things that I don't really need. Socks.......why was I lured into buying socks?????? and of course, some more Starbuck's coffee.....sushi for lunch..........
then back to the barn to meet the hay man...........three tons of orchard grass.........I helped unload it............VERY heavy bales....which gave away my age.........and then I raked up loose stuff and fed it to the inmates and they LOVED it.........much better than the last stuff which was rather stemmy.......I fed dinner like I was a gourmet chef.......rice bran, sunflower seeds, oats, senior grain, beet pulp........hot water.......everyone is happy.

Pony UP fortune for tomorrow:

Can you afford not to?

aaaahhhh Friday

So last night I go to clean stalls and feed horses......it has been raining and stalls are shall we say "full of it".........I want to clean in the daylight I have left so I go to Max and Ollie's first. I have two jackets on because it is cold. I start raking and picking and soon I am too warm.......so I take a jacket off and lay it on a top rail and then I get back to work. I am not paying much attention to the horses.......they are sort of milling around complaining to each other that there has been no food distributed as of yet. They bite at each other and push each other.......I tell them to knock it off and keep cleaning. It gets kind of quiet. Then I hear it.... a noise. Water splashing. I am on the back side of the loafing shed and I am like.......hmm.........what are they doing....step around to the front......to see that they have my jacket........both of them and they are playing with it in the water trough..........dunking it up and down while it makes a noise that delights them to no end. I take it from them. The zipper is crushed. My jacket no longer zips. It is soaking wet and so are the dollar bills that are in the pocket. Okay, okay..........I go and get hay for them. Idle hooves are the work of the devil, that is for sure.
You would think that that would be enough juvenile antics but when I pull up to the barn this morning.......late because I actually did sleep in..........and immediately my eye is drawn to the fact that there is a horse at the front paddock of the barn that doesn't belong there......why? because no horses at the front of the barn are wearing green turn out blankets and there definitely is a GREEN turnout blanketed horse at the front of the barn. OH boy. And who praytell is wearing a green turnout blanket? Max. Max is .........Max is a very big boy........17H, black, stocky.......and he is now in with mister old man TarBaby........and oh,,,,,,,,,if Max is out, then so is Ollie........another bruiser.........and he must also be in with TarBaby....but I don't see him yet.......or TarBaby either. My blood pressure is rising. I JUMP out of the truck, open the barn, run in .........and I see Ollie.........in TarBaby's stall.......eating....shortly joined by Max. Where is TarBaby? Out to the back loafing shed.......and there is TarBaby. Now I have three horses together and only one of me.......hmmm........what to do....what to do. No one is bleeding.......they all look okay......no one is fighting. I grab Tarbaby and lock him in the arena......then take Max and give him food.....grab Ollie......take him and give him hay too........okay everyone is back where they belong......now how did they get out? ......I examine the gate.......snap is broken.......gate pushed.......not enough to do and idle hooves are the work of the devil as I said.
Phew.......deep sigh. It could have been so much worse.......but I have a feeling that TarBaby held his own..........Max and Ollie are pushovers to alpha type horses. I am sure they were sorry about busting into TarBaby's paddock. ...I wish I could have seen it to begin with.

So it was Friday and I went to the feed store, to Starbucks, made phone calls and then went to see Winston........he is doing so well! Then back to the farm, feeding time again, check waters........tuck chickens in.......home to eat dinner.

Tomorrow we will do it all over again........

Pony UP fortune for tomorrow:

It's not all about YOU>

There goes Tuesday

So the weather went "south"..........so to speak. Sunday promised to be a sunny day but turned ugly like a stepmother gone bad. Monday was no better and voila, we got snow on top of it. COLD...I was cold like it was winter again.......I mean it is almost spring. I have tulips sprouting, trees budding, grass growing and oh, did I mention that every mare on the place is in heat?
Yes, I guess I did.

The cement guy came and layed forms today and soon we will have our washrack/shoeing stand. It will be a much needed addition and so valuable to us in the winter. Here I am already thinking about winter. Sick, isn't it? It never stops, honestly.

I got hay Sunday afternoon and the horses are not thrilled. Well......let's say the horses who have not been starved are not thrilled........the two newest inmates are eating it like it was carrot cheesecake. ...it will be a while before they turn their noses up at any food that is offered to them. Beaver, of course he wants it......he wants anything he cannot readily have.

Madam Mercy ..........well, we are trying hard to be friends. Sometimes I think I am making headway and then I think that she will always hate everyone. She likes carrots and handfuls of oats.........she likes the boys on both sides of her paddocks. She stands with her tail to one side and lifted, she walks with heavy hooves and her head down. She has no spark....no joy. We hope to change that. I am giving her Mare Magic and hoping it will help. She is uninterested in seeing her large paddock and spends her spare time standing by the fenceline of the other filly. I will see how she feels about sharing a pasture space on Saturday......maybe company will cheer her up....maybe not. I will deworm her again in a week and start her on some vitamins.

We had a new volunteer tonight.........welcome to Shelly. Shelly has a donkey who is a coming yearling and she lives near us. .........we hope she visits with the donkey when the weather is nicer. We love donkeys. I learned to ride on a donkey when I was a little girl.....his name was Pedro.
Iam still cold and I turned the fireplace on, put my flannel sweatpants on and a sweatshirt. I ate dinner while I fed the dogs, and then put them out/put them in for the night.

Oh, the week just goes by so quickly........never enough time. Friday is already booked and Saturday too... horses to go to the vet, horses to get hoof trims..........electrical work on the barn, cement to be poured..........fencing to put up, horses to groom.........more hay to get........stall pellets, rice bran and black oil sunflower seeds...........I need to get to the mall..........to the cemetary..........I need to work on my taxes.... oh boy....and who is going to bake cookies?
LOL..........NOT me. If I want or need cookies, you can be sure I am going to buy them.

I drove to work this morning, resisted the temptation to go to Starbucks.........and I must have changed the radio station a hundred times. One of those days when I can't stand to listen to the conversation craziness of some disc jockeys........one of those days you just want to listen to something good, something that gives you a smile from fond memories.........I finally end up listening to Don Henley.........singing "The Heart of the Matter". I love that song....it has good memories for me in a special way......

Well, I am off to remove my contact lenses........my eyes are tired.......a few more things to do and then I will DIVE into bed.

Pony Up fortune for tomorrow:

Figure it out.........don't depend on others to do it for you.