In Memoriam

Heather's first horse was released from this world today.  He was quite a character. He always wanted to be first in the race around the show ring. He hated horse trailers with ramps but leaped onto stock trailers.  He pushed every button, invented a few but loved Heather very much. He eventually did what she asked and then some.  Silver had a most amazing floating trot that just came out after years of riding him.  Heather found the right leg pressure and away he went.

Heather's words: R.I.P. Silver you were an amazing horse. Taught me a lot of lessons, not just in dealing with horses but life in general. You taught me to pick my battles, find patients even when you think you have none left, look for the little wins in your day, how to loose gracefully, and to love even when your mad. 33 years is a long time and I know you will be remembered by more then just me. You were always the entertaining "crazy white horse" but I will miss you my friend…

Heather and Silver rode at Neden Arabians with Michele Currie. A great group of girls also rode there with their horses. They had the nickname of the "Currie Girls" at the Arabian horse shows.  An amazing group really, probably unique in any situation. They were very supportive of each other even as they completed against each other.  As these girls, women now, learned of Silver's passing all sent their condolences and I discovered they had all lost their first loves … so heres to all of you and your beautiful mounts

Heather and Silver Star

Caroline and Romero

Marissa and Scat

 Erin and Cody

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions....

It's the daily decisions that are so stressful.  Since I know little to nothing about horses, having to make decisions for their care leaves me in a daily dither. Do I blanket today?  Is it going to be cold, windy, raining?  So, then which blanket?  Is it worth a fight with Sierra, the horse, to put a blanket on her?  That argument right there helps me a lot ! Noooo it is not worth a fight ...go out,  be cold or wet, whatever.

"can I come it?

The question of whether to turn out or not led me to watch the neighbours' horses.  Those horses have shelters so they can decide to be out or in.  Inevitably, I got it wrong.  If I turned out the horses, the neighbour horses were in and visa versa.  If I panicked because a weather report said severe weather was coming and I brought them all in, the weather would be fine.  Conversely, if I turned them all out and headed home, I would see the neighbours horses would be in and it would pour rain by the time I got to my door.  I always have a vivid picture in my head of Onelite, in a streaming thunderstorm out in the paddock trying to bring the horses in.  I helped by standing in the barn door lamely calling the horses names. Horses, by the way, don't care that much if people get wet.

Wow squinting, lovely bright sun this morning along with a cutting breeze.  Everything went well this morning.  Frodo, the halflinger pony, gave me a bit of exercise, chasing him round and round the sand ring, branishing a whip over my head, yelling and running to cut him off before he made a third loop around the ring. Whew, thank you Frodo. 

Hahaha Here is Frodo.  

Inquisitive pony 

wanted to check out the camera

Jonathan

I wasted an hour yesterday, ductaping a ripped rainsheet and turning Jon out in it.  I was soooo proud of my mad repair skills.  Hours later when I returned to check on everyone, the blanket was in shreds... and now dirty.  Apparently ductape doesn't survive rolling vigorously  in the dirt.  So as my luck is consistent, I made it worse. Blanket now needs to be cleaned before being repaired properly.

My day started out pretty good... all the horses went out as they should.  I decided not to blanket the whole bunch.  It was 10 degrees c and overcast.  The fun bit this morning was watching the turkeys in the paddock and watching the mares watch the turkeys.  Clearly these were not the White Gulls of Death.  Turkeys are just a curiosity... to mares.  I suspect the "boys" would been very frightened thinking they would be eaten by turkeys.

Turkeys, I discovered today, eat horse shit.  What a happy coincidence! They also eat cabbage, tomatoes and pumpkins, who knew.

 

Older picture of a flock of homegrown turkey

The warm weather and all the snow having melted, I decided to clean up the sand ring.   First I got a couple of flakes of hay to feed poor Penny down at the back, since the other three bitches, er, mares, won't let her near the haybale. All was good, Penny was happily munching away and I was scooping horseshit. Lily rushed down on Penny, ears back, chasing her away from the new hay.  I rushed down on Lily, trying to chase her away. She stood her ground but looked at me sadly and surprised that I was being mean. I like Lily and always have a happy cuddle with her but today I wasn't going to let her keep Penny from the haybale and now these couple of flakes of hay.  A staring contest ensued and I won!  Sierra then decides to push Penny away.  Obviously the hay that Penny was eating is better than the hay Sierra was just eating.  I bear down on her too.  Sierra gives me the same look, "why are you waving your arms wildly and yelling at me. You're crazier than normal, lady !" She wanders away.  Wow, I'm two for two now. I'm on fire,  I'm a horse whisperer

Hey, you've worn one of these before, you were a dam racehorse!

The first time I had anything to do with a horse blankets I was alone and had to remove them, starting with the crazy long legged thoroughbred.  First of all, I had no idea how these things were put on, so absolutely no idea what I was doing.  I spied the buckets in front, okay lets start there.  Nothing is easy, nylon straps were damp, swollen, and hiding inside, I don't know what, pockets or loops or something. Struggle, struggle, sweat, curse, horse is jumping around cuz the crazy lady is radiating a frantic vibe … They, crazy horses, can sense these things. Ok, now those two buckles undone, what the hell else is holding this thing on?

Hmm, straps underneath, where do they go?  Under a wee flap, another buckle. A slip hinge thing, does it slip? Noooo, it binds ! Struggle, struggle, curse, curse, ha, done!  Now what? Little straps, between the legs,,, really?  Why are they wet and sticky?  Ewwwww gross!

Willy and the offending blanket

Need I add that the horse wasn't helping in any way.

NEXT! What? ... different horse, different blanket style, different buckle configuration!  Struggle, struggle, curse, curse, undo all the buckles. Working up a sweat here!

In the end, there were four horses and I think four different kinds of, buckles and hidden flaps and velco, well maybe two or three.  Now I can see how irritated Heather must have been the next day, because I had ALL the straps undone.  All in the wrong places too.  She says to me the next day, "you know these blankets just go on over their heads"  "WHAT?"  "yeah, you don't undo the front buckles, you just slide the whole thing over their heads"  "WHAT?  They just stand still for that??" "Yeah sure"

Post Script- I have since mastered blankets. I even discovered why one poor horse had buckles come undone and got caught up in loose straps.  I've fixed the problem with a little bit of binder twine.

Post Script -  Ever seen horses shake their whole body?  Kinda looks neat... Not when your head is under it's belly !

It takes a village...

view from the barn door

I am going to leave the rest of my blanket rant for another day and instead acknowledge all the people it takes to run this operation.

Maggie, cooks for Heather.  She makes my mouth water when she tells me she made some fresh basil, guacamole, pesto cheesecake or some such a thing.  She is a fabulous cook and very much a horsewoman.  The other day she wandered into the barn to say goodbye to her horse while I was putting blankets on. Ha I thought, Help, Good!  When I asked if she was dressed for work she said yes.  Ohhh I thought, no help there.  Why, she asked.  Oh I thought maybe you could put Jacey's blanket on for me. Oh sure, she said.  And she did and Jon's too!  Hahaha Horse people are funny!

Sierra, tiny little thing, and an amazing rider.  Not to be confused with Heather's horse, also named Sierra,  well... sometimes.  Sierra, the girl, is prettier and tougher, tougher than her pony.  She is such a hard worker.

Sarah Onelite, my mentor, twenty years old and not afraid of anything.  She helped me get though more than a few mornings. She used to clean stalls here but moved her horse for more training.  She and Jenn still show up some friday nights and clean all the stalls.  Did I say horse people are funny?

Shawna, also works hard to keep the barn clean and sweet smelling.  She and I are sympatico, we love the same books.  She has a fabulous husband who comes to help.

Heather has a full time job in construction and has to be at work for 6am.  Before she leaves, she feeds all 10 horses assorted breakfasts and gives them hay and water. Sometimes she has a spare moment to blanket a few or all the horses before she leaves.  When she gets home she looks after her house, her dog, her cats and everybody's horse.  Good job Girl,  I'm proud of you

My husband, Vern, also works in construction and works hard at the barn, renovating, moving hay,  moving manure, kinda before and after, hahaha.

Heather has many amazing neighbours who help out, particularly with the farming part of the operation … a big heartfelt thank you.  Oh, and a fantastic Plumber who has saved the whole operation on many an occasion.

 and me, the general filler in jobber.  I am always learning from these people and the neighbours but I am getting the hang of it.  I think I can keep a horse alive now.

If I have forgotten anyone, please don't be offended, my brain only works part time.  Next time you do something funny,  you will fresh in my mind.

Smirky ponies

Yesterday Heather had enough time to blanket half the horses before she left for work at 5:30 am.  The weather was a brisk -10c with a bitter wind.  I thought Willy, the little welsh pony with the big attitude, should have a warmer blanket on. I brought the thicker blanket in the stall with me. He smelled it, snorted at it, then swung his head around to see what I was doing.  That worried me, I like to see where his teeth are at all times. When I am bent right down trying to find the buckles, I can't see when he is going to grab my plaid jacket... with me in it.  He loves plaid coats. I see his eyes light up when he can get near one.  Its a game Willy, the pony and my husband play. He lets  Willy chew on his coat until he bites through and then my husband gets mad and squeals. Its a game they play, fine, but I don't wanna play bite the lady when she is bent over.

So off comes one blanket, throw it on the floor by the door, grab the heavy blanket, toss it on the pony. Willy heads right for the blanket on the floor, he bites it, drags in under his feet, stomps on, I grab it and throw it back toward the door, he beats me there and paws at the coat until its all balled up under his feet, all the while I am bent under his belly trying to grab the straps to do up the winter coat!  This is not easy since I am sure he is wider than he is tall! I have to almost get down on hands and knees to reach all the way under and across to the other side of his belly.  In a fit of frustration, I throw the offending blanket out the door, slam the door, tell him what an asshole pony he is.  Willy rolls his eyes at me, tosses his head and smirks.  Yes, he smirks.  He is the smirkiest pony, although Frodo the halflinger pony is pretty smirky too. Must be a pony thing…

Willy… dontcha just wanna kiss that?  I do every morning !