Sue Ann (Suna) Kendall

A Horse Love Story with a Twist

I’m excited to have permission to share this story! Yesterday I got to head out to a horse breeding and training facility in our area to visit Sara’s new love interest, a large Andalusian gelding named Aragorn. She met him last week and instantly bonded with him.

True love. (He has marks from being ridden)

It’s a beautiful property, and we were surprised to see a beautiful colt on the road, prancing and dancing like a fairy animal. We said we bet he wasn’t supposed to be there. Sure enough, Glenn, the ranch owner, came running up to get the little guy. He was back in and coming into the barn to eat dinner by the time we got in.

All the mares and foals just walk in and line up in stalls to be fed. All so well trained, and the foals were very friendly.

Aragorn’s current owner bred him, so knows his history. He told us lots about him and was very honest about why he is relatively affordable for a very well bred European breed. He coughs when anxious, for example.

Back in the (Clean) Saddle Again

Hooray. I’ve got my horse back! It’s sure been a long road for Apache. Last night, I saddled him up for the first time since the dang abscess, and I made sure he was doing okay in the round pen by trotting him a lot. He was deemed okay, so I mounted him while Sara got on Spice, who really didn’t seem happy, though she behaved fine. I’d say the ride wasn’t a complete success, though it wasn’t a failure, either. Apache indicated what he wanted to do instead of what I wanted, fairly strongly, a couple of times. Still, I got through it and did a good job getting him on my schedule before I got off. I did give him a nice rinse-off, which delighted him.

This morning, we got out bright and early. We were delighted to see that there were clouds in the sky and a breeze. That made everything much more pleasant. I was happy to see that he was still clean, even though I KNOW he rolled in the pens.

Today, Sara decided to see if Bonnie Pumpkin, the horse who’d hanging out with us for a while, would be ridable, and she put the bareback pad on her. I decided to use the hackamore with Apache today, and apparently, that was a good decision. After a fine warmup, Sara carefully got on Bonnie, and she was fine! Hooray!

I got on Apache, and off we went. He was a different horse today, very responsive and calm. He didn’t break into a nervous trot once, nor did he start spinning around if I dared to ask him to turn right. He must be feeling better. We went through the dreaded line of trees, and neither horse did anything other than walk, and occasionally stop to look at something. None of the usual spots bothered him. We made an entire circle, walked over some obstacles, and then, in a shocking display of obedience, I got Apache to walk past the barn before turning to go back.

Sara and I both had FUN. That was so great. I felt so good (and not overly hot) that I decided to clean all my tack. I got all sorts of stuff off the saddle and got it gleaming and not all scuffed up. Apache’s girth was also really dirty and covered in hair, so I cleaned it, as well. The worst thing was the poor hackamore, which had been sitting since Apache was last ridable and had gotten all yucky and moldy, so I cleaned it all up again, too. I’m ready to go somewhere, once I have somewhere to go with him.

Everything got saddle soap except the suede parts, which just got wiped off and brushed. Horse people, this is a hybrid saddle made by Parelli back when I could afford such things. I intend to use it the rest of my life (it is SO comfy), though I’ll probably have to get a Western one at some point.

I hope that will be soon. Now that I am not spending so much time in Austin, I hope to be able to take lessons and fix some of my riding gaffes, then work on Apache’s horse gaffes. We both have a lot of work to do, but we do love each other!

Lazy Day, with Lego

Today I ended up not doing much after riding Apache in the morning. Partly that’s because I got a shingles vaccine yesterday, and I was tired (fell asleep for a while after lunch).

And then my evening activities with Kathleen and some Hearts Homes and Hands staff got canceled because one of the buildings on the ghost tour was on fire. Oops. So, I decided to break out the Lego kits I recently ordered.

I’d ordered to colorful one when someone at work shared it for Pride week. It is so cheerful! A lot of us got it and have been building them. I may put mine in my office, but I may like it too much to leave it in Austin.

The other thing I made is this cute perpetual calendar. It was on sale, but put my order high enough to get free shipping. So, it was free. I’m glad, because it was missing a red calendar face and had an extra gray one. So the color scheme is wonky, but it still works. Plus, the business dude in the middle makes me smile.

Goldie, who’s been here a week today, has not stopped swimming since she got here. Today she was in the deepest part of the little pond and completely submerged other than her head! It was great fun until a bullfrog jumped in and startled her!

One other lazy highlight of the day was feeding the chickens some leftover cucumber and apple. I sure love the smell of cucumber, even when it’s past its prime.

Since I’d tried apples with the new chickens when they first arrived, and they didn’t touch them, I hadn’t been giving them fruit and veg since. But, today I decided to give it a try again.

Hey, Babette, this cucumber is tasty! Yes, Betsy, the apple is also delicious.

I guess being in the pen with grass and bugs has taught them to try new foods. Next time I’ll give them more, and maybe some watermelon! I’m delighted at how well these new girls are adapting and thriving.

Now to relax some more. I’m out of Lego projects! I hope to be less puny tomorrow. If not, I’ll have more ibuprofen.

Death to Nightshade

What? I’m killing plants? Settle down, nature lovers. I need to safely get rid of a plant that’s dangerous for the horses in the areas that are going to be dry, and I need to remove some snake habitat near the chickens.

When there’s not much grass, horses will eat anything.

The beautiful local nightshade, the silver leaf nightshade (Solanum elaeagnifolium) is everywhere this time of year. It has pretty purple flowers and cool tomato-like but inedible fruit.

It’s hard to pull it up, because of the thorns all over the leaves and stems, but I need to make the area where Apache will be staying safe for him. In a pasture, there’s plenty of other grass, so it’s no big deal. But, in the “dry lot” or pen, where were now putting him in afternoons, he’d eat it.

Apache had a fine new hay bag to snack on. Horses need to eat pretty much all the time.

So, I was given a big sprayer with a mixture of white vinegar, salt, and Dawn dish detergent in it. This is bad for plants, but not toxic for animals. I sprayed around the chicken coop first. They thought it was treat time, because the spray made all the grasshoppers jump off the plants and into the pen.

I then sprayed under the roof where the stalls will be, and got most of the rock pile sprayed (the rocks are leftover limestone bricks from building our house).

When I walked out this morning, all the forbs looked really sad, including the nightshade. The grass looked parched, but not awful. I may have to spray it again, when we get more ingredients.

I never was so pleased at killing anything.

So, it looks like we will ditch the commercial herbicides and use this method to clean up around our property and keep all our animals safe and happy.

We still have PLENTY of grass.

He’s Got a Ticket to Ride

He, being Apache. Tonight it was finally not too hot or too busy, so Sara and I checked on how Apache’s feet were doing since his abscess.

Sara says he’s as fat as he ever was. Sigh. I really need to get him in his pen half the day, but I blew it by going to the auction today. Tomorrow will be another day.

Anyway, I took him out in the round pen, where he walked and trotted just fine. He did buck on the way to start circling, which was not so great. But otherwise, he was a gentleman.

Sara put the bareback saddle and bridle on him and rode him around. He was pretty darned good and did nice turns and back ups. Sara diagnosed him as fine for walking, so I’ll try riding 15 minutes or so tomorrow morning.

The other good thing is that Fiona has finally gotten rid of her winter coat. She’s one fine looking long-eared gal.

Snakes

To make a long day even longer, as I walked home from the horses, the hay bailer was hard at work. It scared up two rat snakes who didn’t even notice me as they slid across the driveway.

Then, after dark, when I finally came in, this fat and sassy fellow greeted me in the porch.

Not to worry, it’s a diamondback water snake. Check the head and lack of rattles.

Best I can do in the dark, but you can see the pattern.

Okay. Enough scary stuff for one day. Oh no, there was a dead scorpion next to where I keep my boots. Hint: always check inside boots for spiders, scorpions, or even toads (happened to Sara once).

Ranch life is not for wimps.

A Day at the Cattle Auction

Today has been very educational. It’s Friday, and I’m off work, so I was able to go to the local cattle auction to see how it works firsthand (their website has some really good photos, so check it out). I’ve heard a lot about cattle auctions from various sources, and it was about what I expected. They don’t just have cattle; at least once they had a donkey (Fiona!).

I had never seen the front of the building before (it’s way off the road).

There were over 1300 cattle auctioned today. Whew! That’s a lot to go through. They ranged from some pretty spectacular longhorns to tough corrientes to plain ole cows. And they ranged in age from newborn to around 8. The buyers sit in a really nice, air conditioned area, and the cattle are sent through from the pens, usually one at a time (exceptions are cow/calf pairs and a few that went together for some reason).

We were in the balcony, and this is what it looked like.

The reason the place is so nice is that there was a really bad fire there last July, which I think was arson, and the whole community came together to replace it as quickly as possible, since everyone depends on it so much. It was wonderful to see how people donated equipment, material, and their labor to rebuild in record time.

The reception area, offices, and kitchen are all new and lovely.

I enjoyed seeing all the cattle come through and listening to the auctioneers. One I could not understand at all, but I could understand Kenny, the owner, pretty well. You really have to have a good eye for cattle to buy at these things, because you get to see each one about 15 seconds, unless the preceding cow won’t leave the exit chute and it gets held up.

Cattle come in through the right doors, and leave through the left ones.

There are a lot of cowboys whose job it is to make the cattle turn so buyers can see the whole animal and to “encourage” them to go to the exit quickly. Some of it was reasonable prodding, but I (squeamish city girl that I am) was less than thrilled when they whacked them in the face and used the prod more than necessary (but how am I to know…I am not a cattle prodder).

It was mostly pretty fun, and I learned a whole lot about what makes a good cow and what makes a bad one, how they are priced, and such. Plus, I got one of the delicious locally-famous cheeseburgers from the restaurant, which I’d wanted to try for years. It was as good as advertised.

That’s the one that came to the ranch. The red sign is the weight of the calf, I think.

When they were on break, I got to see the pens where the cattle are. You get to walk on a cool metal walkway above the cattle and their dust. I saw all the working cowboys and cowgirls moving the cattle, and heard a great deal of mooing. The pens are really spacious and well ventilated. I wasn’t hot at all, and the animals didn’t seem distressed by the heat (though I can imagine the whole auction experience is not a cow picnic).

We went home and got the cattle trailer so we could pick up the small cow and her nice-looking heifer that will join the herd here. I enjoyed watching the cowgirl load them up quite efficiently after the trailer was backed into a chute area. This whole operation is quite well designed and runs like a well-oiled machine, which I guess it is! Lots of money exchanges hands here every week.

The cowgirl jumped off her horse and shoed the cow and calf into the trailer from our ranch.

Once we got the pair home, they ran out of the trailer and didn’t stop running until they got to the far end of the pasture. I did not blame them one bit. The second the other cattle saw them, they ran up and checked out the new ladies. It will not be long until they are all happy.

It was so great to get to see one of the most important businesses in our town, and hope to get to go back again sometime. I never thought I’d get a chance to learn about ranching, cattle, and all this stuff, so I’m quite grateful for the opportunity to learn how things work, rather than just looking at the cows and saying they are cute.

It will be fun to see what gets done with the Hermits’ Rest Ranch’s cattle residents as the pens get built out and cattle equipment comes in (my domain is strictly horses, donkeys, and chickens). I bet I learn a lot now that I’m even closer to the action than I was with the neighbors’ cattle or the cows the tenants raise, which I just get to adore from afar.

Oh What a Beautiful Evening

Wow. It’s been the most pleasant evening I can remember. Once the sun went behind clouds, a breeze came up, and the stifling heat dissipated.

I took lots of pictures today, and when I went back to look at them, I realized it’s been a beautiful day!

And yes, a lot of work got done on the horse pens. It’s really moving along! After work and my Friends of LLL meeting, I got to watch the process for making the tools to set the vertical bars that are next. These hooks were made from straight pieces of metal.

The hooks were shaped on this piece of pipe, which made cool smoke when the metal got hot.

This will ensure the hooks hang from the vertical pipe.

It’s fascinating to watch the tools being made. Such craftsmanship!

Meanwhile, I watered the chickens (Buttercup loves the hose spray), watched the dogs playing happily, and then saw what I thought was Vlassic chasing the cows. When I got up to yell at him, I realized it was a little too big of a fast, black animal to be him. It was our cute little calf, Baby Blue, who is just about the most playful calf I ever saw.

She ran around her mom and two others, then tore off like a racing cow, if there was such a thing, then ran all the way to the edge of the pasture. She then zoomed back up to her mama for a refreshing drink. I could NOT stop grinning.

Really, who needs television? It’s darned entertaining around here. And I couldn’t even drag myself back into the house, because clouds beckoned.

I hadn’t seen a nice sunset in a long time. It was too rainy for a long time, then it’s been so blazingly hot I didn’t go out to look, though Lee reported at least one good one. Tonight? Glorious.

You just don’t get many days this pleasant, that’s for sure. And even though I got a lot of work done, Goldie “made” me take a nap.

Treasure your good days. Let them fill your heart with joy.

Make hay while the sun shines! Tyler V. did!

AI Thinks I’m a Dude

Recently, I was talking to one of my old friends about being mistaken for a man. It happens to her fairly often, depending on how she’s dressed, since she is not shaped like the stereotypical Barbie-doll person, has short hair, often dresses androgynously, and is blessed with a deep voice (one of my favorite former singing partners). It doesn’t happen to me very often, probably because I like shiny accessories so much. Neither my friend nor I are particularly bothered by being mis-gendered, though I know it can be really difficult for some of our other friends, especially those who are trans.

I’ve talked about this before, but I tend to see my father’s face when I look in a mirror; I don’t have especially “feminine” features. And, now that my hair is quite short, it’s more noticeable, even though we all probably know enough people with different lengths, styles, and colors of hair to realize that any hair stereotype out there is pretty outdated. So, I was prepared to see interesting results when I tried that new AI software that turns your photographs into cartoons or paintings. As you can see, one setting gave me blue eyes and made me look like a 12-year-old boy.

I’d seen a few that my female-identified friends had done, and they looked cute/pretty and like women. I admit my example here is extremely lovely, but you can see they gave her eyelashes, lipstick, and such. That makes me think that the software makes a guess about whether an image is of a male or a female. I’d love to see more images from people who don’t identify one way or the other or who provide few cues to what they are trying to tell the world about themselves.

Adding glasses made me look more like a woman, but increased bye crossed-eyes.

Another thing that I notice about this software is that it’s very literal. I appear to have a “lazy eye” in most of the AI renderings, though at least in some of the photos I used I had appropriately brown eyes. The thing is, these things look nothing at all like me, whereas the ones I’ve seen of other people at least resemble them enough that you can say, “Ah, that’s so and so.” Well, it’s no big secret that AI is not perfect and that it is worse with women and people of color than men. Of note: none of my friends with darker complexions posted their little cartoon heads, unless I just didn’t see it in my feed, which is a possibility.

The bottom line for me is that the images are just plain…plain. Dare I say unattractive? I don’t imagine myself as some raving beauty, but I hope I am not as aesthetically displeasing as these images came out. The ambiguous, gender-fluid aspect is fine, even fun, but I’d like to be an attractive guy!

It did a great job on the wrinkles and blew up my eyes.

Oh, vanity, thy name turns out to be Suna, and THAT is not pretty, at all. Let’s change the topic, so you can enjoy Alfred and Goldie getting along well, and a nice photo of Goldie. I wish they hadn’t cropped her ears, but she’s still got a sweet, yet noble face. Like me!

Have you tried playing with the AI toy? Do you find it fun? I guess it appeals to fans of the selfie. Sometimes I am one of those, just because observing and recording the aging process is pretty fascinating.

Penney Succumbs to Goldie’s Charms

I must share this good news. All the other dogs are getting along with Goldie the Great Dane. But Penney has been snarly and snappy since Goldie arrived. Until tonight.

As the day went on, she was nicer and nicer when they passed each other. Alfred is the same. No mote gruff barks. This is great. But when both Carlton AND Penney joined in the puppy playtime, my heart just melted.

Goldie isn’t graceful, but she’s enthusiastic.

I guess we will get to keep her! Kathleen has been enjoying feeding the dogs and hanging out with them. I’m glad she has her dream dog. Life is good.

Fun that makes your heart swell with love.

Angles, Poles, and Alignment

Wow, the fence posts/poles are all up for the horse stalls, and I have to say I am amazed at how straight and aligned they are. There are 5 poles behind the one in this picture, but so perfectly lined up that you can’t see them.

And they are all absolutely straight in the ground, too. I’ve seen the level as proof! It is hard to believe that one person was able to dig the holes, put in the poles, and fill them in with such accuracy.

It looks like one of those zig zag courses for dogs to run through.

The project of putting up the horizontal poles is next. Then rods will drop down from those poles. Those of you as fascinated by this project as me may wonder why some of the poles are taller than others. Well, looking closer, you can see they each have a line on them. Those are all 6 feet high, I think. They’re taller than me, in any case.

I think these will hold a horse or a cow.

There would be a lot more done, but the backhoe has decided it doesn’t want to start. That makes for more doggie playtime, or did until Harvey zapped his poor nose on the electric fence.

I am able to sit in the shade pretty comfortably, which bodes well for giving horses some relief in the summer. The way we are going to arrange the other shipping container will help keep winter bearable, too.

Today I’m very grateful for my family, who are helping make the ranch so much more fun (and profitable, eventually). And I’m grateful for coworkers who help keep me going and positive, even in weird times.