Ranch Life – Page 81 – The Hermits' Rest

Suna and Apache Go Forth and Ride

I must have the best horse trainer and instructor on earth. She has helped me and my horse work through our issues and come out better than ever. She said it’s like we went through marriage counseling. So true!

Apache did well during his week with Tarrin. She got him back to paying attention to his rider and getting confident. Lots of great work gave him such a good tuneup. Obviously. We went out into the pasture like we did it every day.

We also successfully made it down the passageway he had so much trouble with last week, twice, without incident.

I am concentrating. But I’m happy inside.

Apache gets to stay another week for further refinement. It is probably not his idea of fun. It may be, though, because he has always seemed to be having fun when we did things together in the past. We always enjoyed trail rides with Sara and going to clinics. I’m looking forward to a clinic in a couple of weeks, now that we are doing better together.

I feel a lot better now that I have the tools I need to communicate well and not confuse Apache. And I can stop his inclination to test me quickly. We both have refined our skills. Of course, there is way more to do.

Coming around the round pen to test his new skills.

Wait until we get to trotting and someday cantering! That would be real progress for him. He’s never been balanced enough to canter well. Let’s hope his trainer has more education ready to roll out. I think she does.

Thanks to my photographer friends, Tarrin, Teddy, and Lee. They captured moments that will keep me going in the coming weeks whenever I feel useless and unimportant. I’m important to my horses!

I have a big day tomorrow. More on what I’ve been learning tomorrow. Today I learned that Suna and Tarrin don’t like me pushing into them.

I’ll Just Show My Knitting

After the most disturbing evening of television watching EVER last night, I hope the poor shawl I’m working on won’t forever be linked with the dismal 2022 Winter Olympics. It’s not the shawl’s fault I was holding it in disbelief as I watched the poor little girl who won the gold medal being totally ignored.

I said I’ll talk about knitting. So, this has been a pleasant break from baby blankets. It’s soft and cuddly, though I’m not sure if it’s all that attractive.

I’m done with the brown baby llama yarn, so I’m going to end with a few inches plain, then bind off with a border of the silk/wool blend. I’m not sure what the border will be.

Now I’m trying to decide what yarn and pattern to use for two more baby blankets, since Mandi is expecting boy #5 and my mentor from my previous job is also expecting. I’m no longer a fast knitter, but it helps me relax.

Wonder what pattern I should choose? Ideas?

Consider my pattern choice while viewing this morning’s sunrise.

I’m the meantime, I’m relaxing and trying to recover from a shoulder tweak from lifting and tossing hay bales. I need a farmhand.

Hit a Wall, Figuratively

Oops. I’ve been pushing myself too much. Working long hours followed by caring for 6 horses followed by evening meetings…and in between trying to be helpful to others. I’m wiped out.

I did go out for a half hour today. I saw lots of birds and heard more.

My poop-scooping arm is about to give out, which is really kind of funny. I’m taking a break for a few days and am scaling back my weekend plans. I need to listen to my body and mind, both of which are screaming about fatigue. Yuck.

I guess this is just part of my normal cycle. Too much caretaking and being patient has hit me in the head. I am just exhausted.

How prickly do I feel? Like this mesquite.

HOWEVER. I am encouraged to keep going at work by kind people today who told me how grateful they are that I’m there to help them 2-3 hours a day and make them all sorts of professional-looking handouts. One guy said, “They’re so readable and clear!” Hooray for everyone who trained me, I guess!

Yep, people have no idea how their little bits of encouragement can keep others going, even when they’re tired. Think about that when someone helps you out—letting them know you notice their efforts could be just what they need to keep moving after they run into a figurative wall.

What Ranch Couples Do for Couple Time

Today Lee and I found ourselves with a need to go into town and a free hour. Ooh! What to do?

Lee suggested we drive down a road we pass often but had never been down. I said that sounded fun.

The only hint about what was on the road was a sign saying there was a load-zoned bridge somewhere. Our Tahoe wasn’t too heavy, so off we went.

We were happy to realize that the sun was setting, which made our little drive almost magical. It was one of those sunsets when the sun went in and out behind clouds. Plus this road is a gorgeous well maintained dirt road, so it was fun to go down. We figure a county commissioner must live there, since our county is one of America’s great centers of potholes.

We had a blast looking at cool abandoned buildings and pristine cattle ranches, along with pretty pastures and wooded areas dotted with ponds and creeks. This road is a treasure.

What a pleasant break from work and chores that was! And when I got back, Drew got let out of the pen, like he should be.

I highly recommend taking a scenic ride on a country road with your beloved on a winter evening. Exploring your own area can bring scenic surprises. It had been extra windy with blowing rain today, so the late sun was a treat. Enjoy riding along with us.

Hope Springs, um, Each Spring

One of my favorite parts of living at the Hermits’ Rest is anticipating spring’s arrival. It’s darned early here! And today I noticed my beloved bluebonnets are up and ready to grow buds.

I feel hope for the future when I’m reminded that Nature keeps plugging along. There are a few flowers out, especially the beautiful dandelions. I even snagged a bee in one photo!

See the bee? Or a fly that looks like a bee?

Not many other insects are out right now, which disappoints the chickens.

Things are actually settling down a little bit over here. I may have time to review some documents or watch presentations from last year’s Master Naturalist conference that I missed due to COVID. Or I can just enjoy nature and the animals.

We still have lots of water, even though ours is off at the moment.

Who’s My Valentine?

Drew’s my Valentine! And Lee. And the relatives. And the dogs. But Drew. I didn’t know they made horses as nice as him.

Who me? I’m in love with salt. Mmm. Salt.

I built a new playground setup near the new round pen with jumps, circles, brush, and the obstacle he doesn’t like for circling.

All the horses were so sweet to me and the offspring-in-love after they dropped by for a few minutes.

Drew, Fiona, and the Buckskin Buddies just stood around saying hi and asking for pets. It’s hard not to smile with them around.

Once again, Drew followed me to the gate, then walked back with me, perfectly matching my steps. I think I can easily get him to do like Apache at liberty and more. It’s just so awesome.

Later, after feeding time, I went to let him out (I’m keeping him in to try to get him to eat more), and instead of rushing out to freedom, he hung around and sniffed me to figure out what I’d been cooking. Then he “asked” me to scratch his neck a while, gently “kissed” me, then left. Yep. He’s a good Valentine.

Did I give my humans love? Sure! The kids got hot tub time. And I made dinner for the men. I’ll share the recipe in another post.

Eye of Remington, full of love for all humans and horses.

Adult Education Time for Apache

He’s a loving guy, but he has some issues, so we decided to send Apache off to hang out at the trainer’s for some tuning up. He needs to have his issues with straightness addressed, for sure.

But there’s more that I had known in the back of my mind, but never given the prominence I should have. You see, ever since I started riding him, we always rode with a buddy. He rode some alone with Sara, but not much.

I was not confident enough to ride alone, so we always had Spice and Sarah with us. He was fine. I know he had trouble last year. That’s why we are taking lessons. But wow, his stress when he is leaving other horses is big.

He was so nerved out after trying to get down to the gate that he was covered in sweat. I did pretty well not getting nervous in dealing with him, though. It was an excellent learning experience for me. Tarrin does a great job helping me get skills and I did a great job staying focused.

I hope hope hope he can get the help he needs to gain confidence and trust us people. Sigh.

In the meantime, Drew and I are doing pretty well. We learned how to do our pattern for our show that’s coming up. We do well after a few tweaks.

I’m able to do the whole pattern with the trotting and I don’t get too tired. It is fun. I’m getting all ready for looking presentable. I shined up the black halter we got with the trailer. It’s pretty! And it will help with Drew’s pushiness a bit, I’m told.

Much brass polish was used. Isn’t the stitching beautiful?

After Drew and I got home, the whole family got into horse environment improvement. I did more poop scooping and did a number on my back. But the pens look good.

In a truly exciting move, the guys rebuilt my round pen with all the panels. It’s so much bigger!

I’m so excited and grateful. I can do so much more in this bigger space. I can even do small figure 8s. And there may be room for a dressage setup now that they also moved some equipment around.

But the real movement and what’s got me full of anticipation is that the red shipping container got moved. They turned it 90 degrees so it can be our future hay barn. I’m thrilled.

The big move scared a good number of mice and bunnies. No problem. They still have the other container. And this one is getting leveled, giving them and the other critters options.

Now we have the space to move the portable building in to the the tack room. And the horses had fun running free during all this. They all came right back for dinner. And by the way, Apache had his dinner as well. Thanks, Tarrin!

Drew Makes Friends

While MY day was full of meetings, driving, and barreling through whatever life threw at me, Drew’s was full of making new friends and going new places. Lucky little guy!

My son is learning about horses, and so he groomed Drew for me so I could get straight to horse activities after work. He said, “I like this horse,” and Drew likes him, too. Drew likes everyone.

After his beauty and bonding, I tried to show my son what Drew could do walking and trotting together but we got our feet tangled and I fell. Oops.

After work, Drew was a VERY brave boy and walked with me over to Sara’s house. He did perfect until he saw the young cattle dog. Not bad. Was great with the cattle!

There, he was very patient as we tried to do the obstacles in the test he has to do. That was not great, but good for a boy who had no idea where he was.

Another new friend. Note the size difference. Aragorn was very nice.

We had fun, nonetheless. He’s at least tried the activities once. I’m sure he will do better tomorrow at the training arena. He was real good with the mailbox but I whacked him with the pole. I’m going to need help doing that from the ground!

I don’t t get it, Aragorn. What are we doing?

I’m proud of him. He did great walking back, but since a huge truck came down the driveway, Drew was glad to be home. He saw Apache and galloped FAST as soon as he was free. He made me eat his dust!

Little does he know he has more learning Saturday!

Breathing Fresh Air

What a nice afternoon I’ve had. I finished a big project, so I spent some time baking a fruit crisp with such nasty peaches that I threw in the frozen berries I found in the freezer to rescue it.

Then I got to spend some relaxing time with the horses. Apache is still doing well, and we even made it out to the field for a bit. I need just a bit more refinement and then maybe we can move forward.

I’m not Apache, but I’m also full of love.

Other exciting stuff for today was the unexpected arrival of the solar company, who told us our panels weren’t giving any power. We had no idea. But it’s fixed now!

The above is the innards of our gate, which has also decided not to work. Maybe it, too, will get fixed. So yeah, it ain’t all bad. Nope.

You know what? It’s really good to have normal days out in the fresh air, enjoying the simple things like sunshine and animal buddies. It may not bring blog hits rolling in, but it feels good.

Droodles and Canoodles

My heart is full. I was tired from work and hurting from lifting many heavy objects yesterday, so I went for a walk. I hadn’t planned to do much with the horses, because they did a lot yesterday, but I wanted to spend time with them. I spent some comforting time with Apache, then noticed Drew was looking at me from the other side of the gate.

I walked over and spent quite a while rubbing on his face and helping with his itches. He rubbed back, which is always so nice. He had such good breath. Then, I saw that the gate at the end of the little pasture appeared closed, so I went over to open it. I called to Drew, and both he and Vlassic accompanied me (Vlassic ALWAYS accompanies anyone who appears to be walking toward the cabin).

This horse is so cute that I will allow photos of my hair looking this bad to be published.

When we got there, and I realized the gate was actually slightly open, I figured Drew would go out. No. That little horse turned and matched my steps the whole way back. If I stopped, he stopped. If I sped up he sped up. Whoa, has he been watching Apache in the round pen? I was so happy that when we got to the end of the pen, he got lots of pets and loves.

Yes, my little Droodles is GOOD at the canoodles. He must have spent ten minutes nuzzling me, checking out my ears, sniffing my head, and rubbing me gently. I just about burst into tears. I don’t think I’ve been shown so much physical affection by a horse, ever. Heck, he was more affectionate than most people are now that I’m old. I got some extra sweet selfies, and he tried to help by sticking his nose on the phone.

I do enjoy these guys. Fiona loves to cuddle while she’s eating dinner, and Apache is so good at making sure NO ONE gets into his pen at feeding time. Everyone else lines up like little soldiers, ready for dinner.