In the Arena # 130 - Blessings in disguise...

It's been three (long, hard, hot) weeks since we lost Sweet Pea. The household is adjusting to her absence - some better than others. I've finally stopped expecting to see her when I come home.

Q is enjoying:

the entire sofa
no competition for food, real or imagined
longer, speedier dog walks and more of them...

If she could talk she would be saying, "Mine all mine!"

Then there was the renewal day for our boarding contract. The day after I put my dog to sleep. Boarder Mom took exception to abiding by the terms regarding giving notice. I offered to compromise by halving the notice period, but requiring payment up front for the remainder of the time, as well as notice in writing. BM refused to (re)read the contract or comply, and tried to argue with me about why she didn't owe me notice or money.

When I didn't give in, the situation escalated into an ear load (mine) of cursing and nasty personal insults. On my front porch. On my property. I had enough, and gave BM 24 hours to get Cowboy and their belongings out. I believe she was a little surprised completely shocked that I called her bluff. Best of all, I did not say or do anything I regret - which is an eff-ing miracle. I will miss Cowboy and his girl, but not pushy BM or having to beg for my board every month. The peace and quiet, the utter lack of drama at the farmette, has been soothing.

Losing the boarding income is daunting, but once I factored in having my second storage shed back, which is now filled with enough hay to last until February, it was easy to justify the loss of boarding income. Amount boarders owed = price of a new shed. :D

Even more than the financial implications, I was concerned about how Val would handle being a solo horse again. I'm not ready to add to the herd just yet, although that is the eventual plan. No worries about my darling Val. He has been super relaxed since being on his own.

He lays down to sleep every day. His vigilance while out of the paddock is minimal. The last time I took Val to the boarding property next door, he ran himself into a complete lather and acted ridiculous, responding to Cowboy going to crazy town, screaming from his paddock. Yesterday, we walked over there on a totally loose lead, his head down, following at my shoulder. He calmly investigated the area before rolling and having a good graze while I cleaned up after the horses that stayed over the weekend. Like night and day.

The footing in the arena is unsuitable for work again - deep and soft - so today I lunged Val out in the open, in the scary back of the property (site of future arena). It went very well. Val focused on me and gave me an energetic over-tracking walk. I'm going to set up a rectangle with cones and start riding out there this week. We've both lost some condition over this long summer break, so we're going to come back into work slowly. Shorter sessions, more often.

I have gotten a number of rides in recently. All bareback, several with no tack at all. SO lucky his back is comfy. One ride was on the spur of the moment after a lingering scratch / massage session, where I climbed the gate and hopped on barefoot (no helmet either - I promise I'm not making a habit of it). I got the urge to act like a kid on a pony, and followed through. We did some nice turns on the forehand. It was relaxing and fun for us both. The only bad thing that happened was when Val turned around while I took a picture and put most of my foot in his mouth. What a hoot he is.

Stay tuned for - our first real trim (by me), we are what we eat, and yet another snake encounter (!)

Okay - the mane is getting out of control...

About to put my foot in his mouth...

At the Barn #46 - The good, the bad and the ugly In the Arena # 84 - Making do

Guess what showed up at the farmette last week! A cowboy. A real live cowboy. A cow working, colt starting, boot, hat and spur wearing, knows how to use the rope hanging from his saddle horn yes mayam'ing cowboy from a ranch in Wyoming. *sigh*

The real cowboy's kid - a thirteen year old cowgirl - has dreamed of riding horses on the beach for her whole life... this summer they made the dream come true. After stops in South Dakota and Iowa for horse shows and to pick up grandma, they found their way here. Sounds good so far...

Stock photo - not the real cowboy ;)

Background: the woman I bought my property from still owns the land next door. She had to move inland due to health issues, temporarily abandoning her small horse boarding operation. For the past year I have helped her keep the business afloat on this end. Taking bookings, maintaining the facility, sorting the customers out when they get here, often letting them camp on my property. Here's why - although I enjoy meeting the horses (and horse people), I'm planning to put an end to helping with boarding business.

Shortly after the boarder's arrival, we spent three hours in the boiling hot afternoon sun releasing their 25,000 lb converted semi + three horse slant with live-in from a soft spot in the sand where the cowboy had attempted to turn the rig around. We ended up creating a track with lumber that I luckily had laying around. A very labor intensive and sweaty job. (strike one)

And the picnic table I sat on for a few minutes while rehydrating was apparently infested with chiggers. The back of my legs are covered with scores of maddeningly itchy bites. (strike two)

The offending devil bug

At 9:30 that same night, I was well on my way to bed when a series of confusing phone calls ensued. My neighbor down the way from the farm called to tell me that the cowboy's elderly mother was lost in the neighborhood randomly knocking on doors. I tracked her down at another neighbor's house. She wanted to call the police because she was worried about her son and granddaughter not being back from riding. She also had no idea where she was - across the street from my farm, her son's truck, her son's cell phone, (and her son and granddaughter as it turns out). I talked her down, reminding her that the ride takes over two hours which technically gave them another fifteen minutes, and directed her back across the street to her son's truck with the phone and the living quarters where she could wait comfortably. I also wondered how the police could possibly help someone who has no clue where they are.

I then left a message on the cowboy's cell asking that he please call me to let me know he and his daughter had returned safely. I never got a call, so could barely sleep worrying that one of them was injured and they had to spend the night in the woods or worse. Why would you not carry a cell with you on a trail ride in a strange new place when it was likely to be dark before you get back? (strike three)

SO as much as I love sharing our fabulous trail ride to the beach  - I'm done with feeling responsible for people who don't / won't be responsible for themselves, no matter how adorable they are or how cute of an accent they have...

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I took advantage of a beautiful cool day on Saturday to finally get a ride in. Still very very deep footing in our arena. There's a small area that is still somewhat firm, so we stuck to working in that limited space, at a walk. A delightful bareback ride. We worked on moving out, outside rein connection, halts and turns on the forehand. And me being even and balanced, keeping my weight down in my right side, not collapsing my left side. I thought from Val's responses, that I had succeeded in evenness, but the pictures tell a different story. :)

Left leg longer...

 

 

"Need more cookies - mouth empty!!"

 

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An update on improvements at the farmette...

My poor grading / tractor man is recovering from double hernia surgery. He'll be out of commission for many weeks, so the new arena is on hold (again). We'll have to work where we can, and pray for rain. On a good note - over the weekend I got the trailer properly electrified. That just leaves bringing in h2o and connecting to the septic and then we're operational. On tap for the next few days - carrying the trailer contents to the dump + the very thorough cleaning. Stay tuned for pix...

In the Arena #41 - Looking a gift horse in the mouth

It been busy around here with holiday preparations / obligations so this post will attempt to catch up on the news. I had a real lesson in barn ownership over the weekend. Turned on the hose Saturday night and no water came out. Bummer! It wasn't frozen, we're thoroughly winterized, so likely there was a problem with the well pump. It was dark and pouring freezing rain, so I had to wait until Sunday to discover that the pump was indeed history - seized up. Can't think of anything I'd rather do than handle cold metal pipes and cold metal tools out in the cold - fun! The morning was spent replacing the pump (and freezing) with my Dad, who luckily is such a handy man. Mechanics, carpentry electric and plumbing - he can do it all. Problem solved, and no toting water... yea! Dad - you're the best :)

It was more complicated than it looks

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Today was the bright spot in the weather forecast for the week... time to saddle up, or not saddle up and ride bareback as the case may be :)

As I was preparing to mount, Val wiped his muzzle up and down my leg, with his mouth open. It seemed strange, so I inspected further. He had some blood on his front upper gum line - just a tinge. I'm planning on some warm salt water rinses for a few days. I have recently contacted a new dentist, and am in the process of scheduling an appointment. He's not due until April but my gut feeling is the sooner the better. I'm still not convinced that some of our turning difficulty hasn't got to do with dental / tmj issues. Thanks to Kate at A Year With Horses for setting me on the path to finding a more enlightened horse dentist.

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Do I get extra cookies for courage?!

It was just a little distracting down at the barn today. Let's see... the neighbor was working in his yard (power tools of course) which always seems to include yelling (a lot at the top of his lungs) at his dogs. Yelling at his dogs who came crashing through the woods and spooked Val. Apparently it's easier to ride out a spook bareback because I swear, I didn't even realize it had happened until it was over. I continue to be impressed with the benefits of bareback riding.

Next came the yowling feral cat bursting out from the woods. A minor prelude to the little button buck bouncing around just outside of the arena. Why was he out in the open, so bravely, so uncharacteristically you ask? Well maybe, because my boarder's mom decided to chum him and his deer buddies up with piles of corn. I figured this out while the boarder family were at my place over the weekend for a holiday open house. (As they arrived they managed to let my Jack Russell terror run out the front door - it took half an hour to catch her!)

Over holiday punch I happened to mention that Val had been extremely distracted for a few days. Distracted to the point of dropping hot mash out of his mouth and tearing off to the far end of his paddock where he stood and stared for hours. Distracted to the point that one morning when I arrived at the barn no water and barely any hay had been touched overnight. "Oh, he's probably seeing the deer. I've been feeding them. I want to touch that little one!" Needless to say, no more corn at the barn. Special prize was awarded for self control...

But I digress... despite all of the commotion, we still managed to focus and get some nice work done. Most of the work was getting Val to pay attention to me and move forward. We did some pretty turns on the forehand, and the contact again seemed improved - another no glove ride. Afterwords we did some work in the backup arena - located smack in the middle of the bermuda triangle of horse eating monsters. I could tell Val wanted to get excited, but I firmly kept his mind on me. As I began some in hand trot work he popped up a little bit and scooted around, but all it took was a firm voice to get him back on track. Val did beautifully! I was so proud of my horse today. His reward was some grazing on the tiny patch of grass I still have, a pocketful of gingersnap and all my love. What a good boy!

Happy Holidays!!

At the barn #27 - Common sense and horse sense

100th post! 

We've survived our first deep freeze of the season. My winterizing efforts worked, so we had a functioning well point and therefore running water at the barn. I had to resort to supplemental heat at home though, as no amount of winterizing overcomes the total lack of insulation in the cute little antique house I rent. And apparently the snap is over because the temperature rose thirty degrees over the course of today, so no need for a fire tonight :)

Thankfully my boarder Cowboy's people have purchased him a new waterproof sheet / light blanket. Unfortunately we've still got some work to do in the "your horse needs clean not partly frozen water, available at all times" department. At all times means even if you'll be late for work / school. Get up earlier.

I knew we were headed for problems. I had disconnected and drained my hose in anticipation of the freeze. I called the boarders and warned them about the water / hose situation. I even disconnected and drained their hose. I guess my warnings didn't sink in because the second morning Cowboy's water bucket was frozen, what little water was in it. I emptied it and refilled with warmer well water. This happened two days in row. So I cut a piece of hose just long enough to reach Cowboy's bucket that would drain on it's own.

That evening we were at the barn at the same time. I gave them the hose section and mentioned the water situation. They told me "their hose was BROKEN" I suggested it was full of water and frozen. "No, it's BROKEN. It needs a new gasket. Water keeps shooting out the top." Now that it's sixty degrees out, guess what - the hose is not broken any longer. MA-GIC!!

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I think my horse has special senses in his feet. Val has always been a digger. Typically at first he will be reluctant to work in a particular area, and want to avoid it. Then he will begin digging it up, sometimes making quite a trench in the process. Soon after I will discover some debris he has uncovered. Lots of concrete chunks, and the occasional large tree branches, which he often tries to pull out with his teeth if he can't dig them out. There was a lot of dumping on the property before I got it.

Right now he's working on a new spot - his biggest excavation yet. I can't wait to see what he unearths...

taking the scan

hoof x-ray results

At the barn #25 - More blanketing issues / How about using some common sense...

I noticed about ten days ago that the boarders were starting to blanket Cowboy overnight. At that time, the temperatures were lows in the mid to upper forties at night. If that. Some days they were pretty late showing up in the mornings, so it was way too warm for a blanket by the time it was removed.

I watched without saying anything for a week. VERY HARD FOR ME TO DO. My horse / barn management knowledge, at least the valuable parts of it, came from a woman whose two horses I exercised regularly, and cared for during her frequent travels. Her standards of care were super high. She had fifty years of experience with horses. I was her barn backup for a number of years and the experience was invaluable. Unfortunately all good things come to an end. (It's a very sad, but interesting story - I'm working on it for a future post... How to survive a "barn breakup")

So I held my tongue for a week. The blanket didn't fit well, was much too heavy for the temps, and the waterproofing in doubt. A few days ago the topic came up. I took jumped at the opportunity to have a blanket chat. Here is a sampling of the conversation:

"Does Cowboy have a rain sheet? [No]
The great thing about a rain sheet is he'll stay dry without overheating. [Blank stare]
Getting cold and wet is mostly what we need to worry about around here. [His blanket is waterproof]
You can always layer a rain sheet over another blanket if it actually gets cold enough..."[Another blank stare]

As per usual, sharing helpful information elicited defensiveness. They said that (weird quilty) blanket is waterproof!!!! I asked how old is it? Has it been washed much? If that blanket is still waterproof I'll eat my hat I was thinking...

Right on cue, last night it rained / snowed and was actually cold. When I arrived at the barn this morning Cowboy's owner was removing his blanket. She hung it on the hitching post as they were leaving. Just before I took off, I felt the inside. Couldn't help myself. It was absolutely soaked. That poor horse had worn that cold, wet, heavy blanket all night long.

This afternoon we were at the barn together again. I mentioned the wet blanket. "Oh yeah - we know. We ordered another blanket. We're going to shut him in the run in until it comes. That way he'll stay warm and dry."

I nixed the "shutting Cowboy in" idea, as the run in is about 9 x 9... too small for a sixteen plus hand horse to lay down in safely... not to mention that their plan for locking him in was hanging a 2 x 4 across the opening. Not to mention that was a ridiculous idea...

Don't get me wrong - my boarders are really nice people... really nice people who have never taken care of their own horse until the last 8 months, as my boarders. I have refined my technique of "sharing" horse care info (which frankly is getting tiresome). I have led by example, mostly to no avail.
I have watched Cowboy go without water, be under and over fed, be very difficult with vet and farrier, get run off his feet with almost no warm-up...

Because I care about Cowboy I will continue to try to help improve his conditions as necessary. I will pick my battles. I will also try to perfect my delivery of advice. Casual hinting? And I guess I will have to just chalk the experience up to character building aka sucking it up.

Edited to add: I hope this post doesn't sound too snarky. My tolerance for foolishness goes way down when I'm hormonally challenged:)