Helmet, everyone?

Sally (my co-worker) had to leave her horseshoe tournament just as they were starting the tie-breaking game on Sunday to get her high school-aged daughter to the hospital. She fell off her horse onto concrete. She split her head open and had to have it 'glued' together, had a concussion and scrapes and bruises. Do you think she will listen to her mother now when she says to ALWAYS wear a helmet?

This was also the last night of Monday night golf league for the year.

All battles won

Today, I finally figured out a way to work the horses separately without the usual battles. I can halter Red with no problem in the enclosure and I can stop Sparkler from getting out into the separate grooming area as I'm getting him out, but not vice versa. So, once I got Red out and groomed and did some leading, forward and backward, I tied him back up, haltered Sparker then brought her out and tied her up in a different spot. Then I led Red straight back into the enclosure to work with Sparkler.

I saddled Sparkler-and rode her alone for the first time, in the round pen outside. Should I admit this next? In my excitement, I forgot to put her bridle on. I didn't notice until I was out in the round pen and I thought, I'll try this with just the halter, then. I swear I could hear her saying "Nah na nah na nah nah, you forgot the bridle." as she took off at a fast pace. We went a full round, me with one foot in a stirrup and draped over her back, before she came to a stop. OK, do it the hard way--the right way. I took her back inside, got the bridle and came back. I rode for maybe 10 minutes. Forward, backward, figure 8s and spins. She was perfect.

I won all battles tonight!

Plums are fallin'

The day started at an auction – here’s a partial list of what was for sale: several western saddles and tack, 1 baby llama, assorted goats, sheet and cattle, a horse trailer and a 3 year old green broke paint horse. There also were 2 rat terrier pups. The female was a beautiful black and white. It’s a good thing we hadn’t picked up a number when they were auctioned or we’d have taken one home. My only interest in coming today was curiosity—I wanted to look around and check out what the prices were.

The saddles went between $75 for the small ones and $175 for the nicest. The bridles went for around $25. The paint turned out to be a lovely black and white mini. There also was a 3 year old quarter horse. If it weren’t that there was fencing to be done, I’d have stayed to find out what price they fetched, but I might have ended up bringing one home.

After the auction, Bob’s went to Sam’s Club to buy a power washer. He cleaned out the loafing shed while I finished the fence. It takes much less water to wash the gunk away!

Next, back to work on the fence. By 4:00 it was done. I led Red out to the new space and he was like a kid in a candy shop. So much to eat! After snapping a few photos, I went back to lead Sparkler out, but Red came rushing back, getting her excited, kicking his heels. I figured, no sense trying any further, so I unsnapped the lead on Sparkles. She’ll find the new area soon enough on her own.

The plums are falling off the trees, so you know autumn is near. And they are absolutely delicious, especially the ones that lay in the sun--warm, juicy, refreshing.

Laying in the hay

Bob and I spent the evening getting the 2nd of the round hay bales, just baled last week, to the loafing shed. Then we worked on the fencing. We only got the top tape strung up to the gate.

Bob happened to be collecting the 1st bale earlier in the day and started chatting with the guy who was baling the alfalfa next to our hay field. It turns out he has some large square bales of hay for sale.

Our hay field that we planted the first summer here, produced 8 round bales the first cutting but we only keep half. Our neighbor, Art, cuts it and turns it and contracts with Larry, another neighbor, to bale it. In return, Art gets half. The second cutting only produced 2 bales so we are going to be a bit short by spring.

The hay was delivered right away this afternoon. Bob also bought the round horse hay feeder. It’s in pieces. As soon as the fencing is done, we’ll get that together. We should be just about ready for colder weather!!!

Just in case you're interested, here's the scoop on hay. Horses vary and sizes of bales vary, so it is very general.

• The average horse needs around 25 pounds of food a day
• A square bale of hay is around 50 pounds
• A round bale of hay is around 1500 pounds=30 square bales
• A large square bale is around 850 pounds=17 square bales

Give Larry a try

I talked to Sally at work today and she agreed to help me get Red to Larry, the stranger who offered to work with Red for a day or two. I think it’s important to do this soon before his habits get ingrained in him.

The pasture is down to stuff Sparkler and Red don’t really want to eat so tonight Bob and I set some T-posts and attached most of the post covers and T-post connectors for the tape we hope to run and connect to the main system tomorrow. We ran out of connectors, so Bob will make a run to Stockman’s tomorrow.

This should give them a huge new space to eat from. It’s the last area in our plans to fence in. It’s temporary and we’ll close this off this fall, once it gets colder and we start feeding hay. Next year, I think we’ll run straight wire using sturdy corner posts with T-posts in between.

I ran across this gorgeous spider in the field and was worried - bright color and all - that it was poisonous. Found it on the Web - it's the garden spider and totally harmless.

Yesterday, I set 3 plastic chairs in an obstacle course row near the round pen. When I have time I'll lead the horses around and weave through them. Today they are all turned over and scattered.

A Sparkling Day

Tuesday, again and Vicki brought a helper. It was a little later than usual because she and her 8 year-old granddaughter, McKenna, had been out riding.

Before she arrived, I thought I’d try something new—putting the halters on both horses before starting the grooming. But no, Red won’t let that happen. It’s a piece of cake getting his halter on but he crowds me out as soon as I try to get Sparkler’s on. So I went back to haltering one at a time, get him out and groomed. But there’s little luck with the indoor leading – he insists on inhaling his lead rope an inch at a time and chewing on it until it’s a nasty mess. The bar of Irish Spring I rubbed on it is no longer a deterrent. I’ve concluded I’m going to have to go to something stronger, like Cayenne pepper or other anti-chewing product.

Getting him back into the enclosure and Sparkler out into the grooming area wasn’t easy. I know if I could separate them my life would be so much better, but I can’t and I’m getting so tired of this I’m thinking maybe I need to find Red a new home.

On the bright side, with Sparkler groomed and saddled, Vicki and I, with McKenna trailing, led her out to my makeshift round pen and rode her outside for the first time!!! She is so wonderful. As though she’s done this all her life, she starts walking at first cluck, will stop just with my weight shift and leg squeeze and backs up a couple of steps with just minor difficulty. I am on cloud nine. But what to do about Red?

Always need more stuff

My order from Country Supply came in. The box came yesterday and I opened it this morning. I needed a saddle pad since I’ve been using Vicki's all this time. It's made of wool, on Sally’s recommendation. It's a 3/4" pad with a cut back area for the withers and wear leathers. It's in the middle price-range, so I don't think I can go wrong.

I also got the next 3 de-worming doses based on Dawna’s recommended schedule (See 8/4/05). Country Supply has the best prices I’ve found. I figured I needed to start a first aid kit, so I bought some bandages. They had a deal on a bridle rack that I can just hang over a fence – I still need to get organized.

Yippee! I’m a cowbow

I'll never forget the 6th grade spelling bee when I was close to winning and my word was "cowboy". I confidently spelled c-o-w-b-o-w. It just rolled off my tongue.

Mom wanted to go to an auction in Bloomer, which just happens to be near New Auburn where there’s a Saddle and Tack shop I’ve wanted to visit. Hmmm. Kill 2 birds with one stone.

The auction wasn’t bad (picked up some chicken figurines and some milk glass pieces) but it was too nice (sunny mid 70’s) to spend the day waiting for a good buy that you might not get. So at noon we left and had lunch in town at the Main Street Cafe (known for its pies), then on to find the saddle shop. I only knew it was on highway 40 so we kept heading north. Just when we thought we’d gone too far and were about to turn around in someone’s drive, that drive happened to be Lakeview Saddle and Tack Ranch. Coincidence? I don’t think so.

I’m looking for a used saddle for Red, but I didn’t see any that caught my eye. The owner was very friendly so I began explaining my problems with Red. As I find usually happens, I can get helpful ideas no matter who I talk to. She was more than helpful – she took me outside and got her 2 year old chestnut quarter horse, Sugar (See! Another horse named Sugar.), her rope halter and lunge whip. Teri demonstrated her long line techniques. Point in the direction you want the horse to go. Start tapping on the front quarters to start the circle and tap on the hind quarters to keep her going. To stop, pull the head in, take a long step inward with the outside leg. If Red should charge, she told me, step to the side, yank the head and smack the rear to allow him to go forward past you. Teri likes the Clinton Anderson techniques, which she says are clearer and faster to get results from than John Lyons. She will not be breaking her mare to ride until next year when she’s 3.

She gave me some other advice. There’s a 3 second rule. If I get bit (or some other serious injury), you have 3 seconds to inflict the punishment – and it should be severe but not so severe as to damage the horse. A hand to the head, stick to the neck. The punishment should only last 3 seconds.

Got a good deal on some boots – Oh, and I bought a lunge whip. Should get me more distance from Red and more control.

Got the shaft

Sally, a co-worker, agrees that bugs are the probable cause of the blood – maybe gnats. I’ve decided to clean it out with soapy water. But she warned me, “be careful” – they are touchy about this area. Ya think?

Bob came with me. After grooming Red him and getting him sooo relaxed, he conveniently dropped and I pounced on the opportunity--armed with rubber gloves, an ice cream bucket of warm water and some Dawn dishwashing detergent. I was able to get about 6 seconds worth of cleaning before – wham – the hind leg came up to chase me away, like a bug. I managed to clean most of the penis and some of the caked on blood. He never dropped again far enough to give it another try, so I figure it’s good enough for now and I’ll keep an eye on it.

If you want more info, here's an article on Sheath Cleaning.

Bloody concern

I’m sorry, this topic is kind of gross, but, hey, it’s nature.

It’s Tuesday today and Vicki’s stopped by. As we were grooming Red, we noticed caked on blood in the sheath at the base of his penis. Vicki checked with her horse contacts later and called me to say they think it’s probably bugs that got in there.

On a brighter note, this was the first I’ve managed to totally make it through Red’s tail!!! I bought a new comb that works great! The cheap aluminum comb I have doesn't work well unless I use Show Sheen. This comb's got rollers around the teeth that just glide through the hair. I noticed it in the dog aisle at Farm and Fleet.

Crazy ride

Vicki called this morning at 8:00 and said "I'll be there in 10 minutes. We’re going for a trail ride!" So much for working with my horses. Off we went. Vicki on an appaloosa named Echo; her daughter, Jessica on her paint, Conner; Jen on an Arab named Encore; Whitney on her buckskin, Cisco and me on an appaloosa named Dove. We were on the trail by 9:30 and finished around noon. The trail was littered with fallen trees from the last storm, so we had to go down ravines and through branches to get around. We got lost and never made it to our destination. But we found our way back to the road and on to Vicki’s and then a buffet at Sherwood Inn.

After I got back home, I pretty much just laid around on the couch, took a nap and in general limped around until evening. I did manage to get the horses in and groomed.

Round pen woes

I've seen it done at the horse expo. I've watched trainers do it on RFDTV. So I figured I could work my horses in the round pen, too. I started with Sparkler, then Red. Sparkler did pretty well, considering how clumsy I am. Red presented a challenge (what’s new). He didn’t want to move clockwise, and turned to face me with that look in his eyes, so I took off the lead rope to give me more separation. I threw the rope at his rear to get some movement. He would go forward a few paces but then turned at me. When I persisted, he charged me a few steps. I threw up my hands and he reared. Then turned his back end and bucked at me. That was it for me. Not because of him -- I’m not doing something right. All I want is some movement, he’ll have nothing of it and I don't know how to correct it. It looks so easy.

On a brighter note, my grooming space is nothing short of perfect. I've got my plastic shoe organizer with each horse's picks, combs and brushes neatly separated. Places for plastic bags, Show Sheen, bug spray, ointment, Tinactin, etc. etc. etc. Vicki would approve.

Check out my saddle rack. I found a do-it-yourself article on making this with a simple 2 X 4 and hook and eye. I took it one step further and padded it with foam and stapled on a wrapping of upholstery fabric. Works slick!

Nothing

Vicki was going to come by tonight, but it rained. Actually, that's OK with me – I'm dead tired. I'll be in bed by 8:30.

Round pen on the cheap

I mean really cheap. With 16 plastic stakes and one row of tape, I set up a makeshift round pen. I can’t recommend this for anyone else, but it seems to be working for me. Here’s what I figure. It’s inside my fenced area and not a hot wire, so if they bolt through, they can’t get hurt. If I get thrown, I’m not going to get hurt on a plastic post.

I led both horses into and around it. So far so good.

Elaine’s stable

Dawna invited me to go with her to Elaine’s stable, a facility she is using to give horse handling lessons. It's set in an amazingly beautiful rim of woods about a mile behind the Pumpkin Valley Farm. (aside: Pumpkin Valley farm can be seen from highway 12 and has it's name in letters set in a semi-circle on the barn. It was for sale at the time we were searching for our farm. A really nice farm and setting but out of our price range). I met Karen and Pam and a couple young ladies taking lessons there.

Dawna gave me a de-worming schedule (Word document) she is using (check with your vet to make sure this is appropriate for your horse) and a copy of Equus magazine to check out.

Vicki on Tuesday again

Vicki came by. She told me that using a cheap shoe organizer is a great way to keep all your grooming items organized. Is she hinting that I’m not organized? The ice cream bucket covers don’t fit on them any more - too full of ‘stuff’.