horses – Page 20 – The Hermits' Rest

Aw, Shucks

Today was my birthday, and I expected to spend the day working, then doing horse stuff, including taking Drew to his re-education camp. I did all that, but when I came home well after dark I found birthday balloons on the mailbox, hanging geraniums in baskets on the front porch, and a nice meal being cooked. Then my son and his partner showed up, so we had a wonderful family dinner!

I even got birthday cards and a tres leches cake from the local bakery. It has to marinate, so we got to enjoy a sampler of baked goods for dessert after our tacos and homemade guacamole. It was so kind of my family to do this. You could have blown me over with a feather!

It was just one of those very full days. I enjoy days with challenges that take work to solve, but you can cope. Work was that way today, with laughter on top of it. Wow, it’s great to have a good job and supportive team!

I have no work photos, so here’s a willow branch covered in dew.

Horses were also challenging but do-able. Apache was a mess when I got him from the pasture so I had to wash him off. I think that helped. I was also able to get Drew haltered and ready to go to Tarrin’s safely.

Once at Tarrin’s he was back in his old pen, but he was jumpy at construction going on, new horses, and mares next to him. They also got excited and ran around their pen dozens of times. We kept wondering if they’d ever stop!

Aragorn and Apache managed to do their lessons, though. I got a lesson at putting on Apache’s new saddle pad, and we changed out his straps so he’s all green now. Snappy.

I am pleased with the progress my fine gelding and I are making. Tarrin purposefully got Apache annoyed so I could practice settling him down. Maybe this will help when he’s at Sara’s again. Still, he’s doing trot transition work very well and I’m proud of him (and me—lots of butt bouncing). Bonus: Tarrin gave me chocolate ale to take home! And nail strips!

Tarrin took this picture to show how straight he was standing, just as he was going to shake his head.

The last couple of days have given me much to be grateful for! Hoping it stays this nice!

Three Necessary Things

What are three objects you couldn’t live without?

This question intrigued me. And answering it is way more fun than talking about my anxiety attack from today. Ugh. I let something get to me today. So, hmm.

1. My glasses. I rely on my eyes so much! How could I read, write, look at birds, and knit easily without them? I’m so glad eyeglasses were invented.

I want to see things like this amazing swamp privet in the back pond area near the spring (*Forestiera acuminata*). I had no idea it was there.

2. My car. Not only is it pretty (red leather!) and zippy, but it’s my only way to get to food, friends, and non-ranch fun. I don’t want to hitch Fiona to a wagon to get supplies!

3. Knitting Needles. Weird but true. I need to knit to stay even semi-sane. I’d say I need a pair of circular size 4 US needles and I’ll be set for life. I can knit with any yarn-like stuff. String, strips of cloth, wire…whatever.

This is the progress on 2023 for my friend. The dark are isn’t very pretty from a distance.

There you have it. I am sure my answers aren’t typical!

Today, other than dealing with mental challenges, Lee and I went to Temple to look for containers to put in my “new” nonfunctional freezer that will store horse food and foil those darn mice for good. Thanks to our neighbor for painting it red just before it died. It looks good. Now we just have to work out the storage method.

Latches were added to prevent creatures from breaking in.

Lee even treated me to an early birthday lunch, which was fantastic. Seared tuna with a great salad. And I got free dessert!

Other than that, I mostly hung out with the birds and plants. That brings peace.

There is good news! Apache isn’t mad at me today. He even picked up his feet so I could take his boots off. I think he should only wear them a couple days at a time. It’s rubbing off his hair.

One Step Back

Yeah, they say it goes two steps forward and one step back. Today felt like a big step back for me and Apache. But we have it our best and that’s all we could do.

We think we’ve grown, but maybe we haven’t. Regression time.

Sara and another of our horse friends had set up the obstacles for the Working Horse Central spring virtual show, so I said I’d go over and try it out. So far, that’s never worked out well for us, but I figured we’d get some together time and riding in, anyway.

What can I say? It went better than last time. We got there calmly and did a walk-through of the course with Aragorn, but Apache was not at all interested in riding, just like last time. I got lots of practice being calm and trying not to tense up as he jumped and wheeled around.

There are certain spots he just loses his mind at. I have no idea why. But I did manage to get him back to his normal mind a couple of times. It was exhausting. Sara and I kept trying to figure out what I might be doing differently that caused all our improvements to go out the window. I’m sure I tense up when he starts jumping, though I try my best to not react and breathe calmly. He seems to want me to help him though.

In the end I got the idea that he does better over there with a friend, so Sara led Aragorn and we followed them through a bunch of the obstacles. That actually worked, so we were able to end on a positive note.

I tied my horse up to rest afterwards, and he and Aragorn got all manly at each other. We surmised that Sully must be in heat, like Mabel.

Neither of these guys is known for acting studly.

Apache looked so miserable that I took his saddle off and hosed him down. By that time, the other person who was going to try to film her virtual show. Look at her horse, Cheerio!

Apache just looks like the same horse, a size larger. They are exactly the same color, but A is wet here.

They must have a common Paint pattern. They even share the black forelock and white mane!

I took him home before they did their work. As we arrived at the gate to our property, there was Fiona. She had escaped the fence and came to greet her buddy. I wonder if he’d do better if she came with us? It’s not possible, of course, since Fiona isn’t very popular over there, but maybe in other circumstances she could be his emotional support animal.

But look! Fencing is up for a third pasture! Just need a water trough. I’ll put Mabel and Dusty there, to enjoy the good grass. Apache and Fiona will go to the other pasture a couple hours a day but mostly stay in the small overgrazed paddock, so the pasture they are in now can rest.

Well, at least I got some sun. Apache is pissed off at me, but I hope this episode hasn’t messed up all our hard work becoming a team. I shouldn’t have taken him over there, in retrospect. I just keep hoping we will be able to keep things together better in unfamiliar places. Or familiar places that spook him. I guess no equestrian camping for us any time soon!

Buh.

Fated to Another Good Day

Do you believe in fate/destiny?

Nope. Not at all. Quite the opposite. I’m a big fan of the “sh** happens” school of thought, as a lifelong existentialist. I guess this sort of goes along with my agnosticism. I do feel a connection to the earth and I grant that there may be something we can’t perceive that ties things together, but chaos makes more sense to me. This allows me to enjoy each day to its fullest and not expect either good or bad times to last forever.

One day this dog showed up. Fate? Luck? Coincidence? Who cares. He’s a great dog.

If you believe everything happens for a reason or there’s a magical being watching you and causing things to happen to you, that’s fine with me. You may be right. Or I may be. But we both get to enjoy the beauty around us if we look.

It was a fine, fine day to be alive. I spent much of the afternoon grooming horses and riding. In shedding season they need the help. Tomorrow I’ll try to get Mabel to let me groom her. That should be fine, but I also want to de-bur her. Not so fine.

This boy sure lived his grooming and head rubbing.

Life Phases and Going Forward

Describe a phase in life that was difficult to say goodbye to.

The time in life that I wish could have lasted longer was when my sons were teenagers. I really enjoyed being a band mom, watching them make lifelong friends, and seeing them grow into independence. We sure laughed a lot. No doubt they remember it differently.

But, life goes on and there’s much to both enjoy and endure now. A joy was working with Anita, my mid-century modern expert, on finalizing colors and fixtures for the current remodeling project. Here’s what we picked for the exterior, after much debate. You can see the colors look different in different light.

At left are the interior colors that we already chose, Santa’s Beard and Dance of the Goddesses. Top left, Copper Canyon, is the inside of the porch, to keep it lighter. Ripe Peach in the middle is for the doors. It blends with the brick rather than contrasting. Greenwich Green is the trim color.

Note that we are removing the shutters, since they aren’t the right vibe. We checked to be sure fading hadn’t occurred on the brick, and it just needs power washing. One reason we don’t need the shutters is that we will have a new exterior element, the Hardie board where the new windows are. Here’s how it turned out.

The guy who did this is justifiably proud of how it came out. It will break up the long horizontal line of the house very well.

So, what am I enduring? The continuing saga of my boy Droodles. He seems to have made advances at Mabel and was rebuffed severely. He has bite marks on his side, along with this lovely gash. Only one horse could literally kick his butt, and the theory is that she’s in heat, but only has eyes for Apache.

Horse drama. Apparently I shouldn’t mix the sexes. I’ve spent too much effort getting Mabel into good enough shape that she can kick ass, though, so when we get the new pasture set up, she may get to stay with Apache and Fiona in the old one.

Of course, Drew also bugs Dusty, but that’s calmed down a lot. We will figure something out! In the meantime, I don’t look forward to grooming Apache tomorrow. He rolled after all that sweating yesterday.

It may rain, though, so bit might wash him or mess up my riding schedule. Today wasn’t a good day to ride anyway, since winter came back to say hi, and brought its buddy, the wind.

Spring Beauty or Fairy Spud

What the heck?

I was delighted to discover that the woodland floor next to our house was covered in charming little flowers. I’d never seen them before, even though I walk in these woods each spring.

I had to look them up as soon as I went inside after my birding break. Their name was as lovely as their appearance: Virginia Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica). I happily read the excerpt of a longer article that appears in iNaturalist as had to giggle when I saw that one of their other common names is Fairy Spud. I had to learn more.

It turns out that the plants grow from tubers that were eaten by many indigenous people in the eastern US, you know, like potatoes! They were thought to cure convulsions and/or prevent conception. I assume the latter didn’t work well, since people ate it a lot. The whole plant is edible, but the Wikipedia article noted that the leaves are “not choice eating.”

Well, I learned something today! As a bonus I managed to see and hear a black-crowned night heron this morning. That’s a rare guest at our pond! So, it’s the Daily Bird.

Apache survived a hard workout at his lesson today, but in a great triumph, he trotted more than once correctly. He was NOT hollow, that dreaded word. I’m so proud of him. He also got his feet trimmed by Reagan, the new intern at Tarrin’s. He is growing hoof like crazy.

Apache was sweating away, since he hasn’t shed much yet. He will be very happy tomorrow, when it cools off a bit. So will I! Maybe I’ll cook up a batch of fairy spuds for dinner. Or not.

I’m Not Bored Easily, But

What bores you?

It’s hard to answer this question, because I’ve cleverly chosen my hobbies and interests to ensure that I’ve always got something interesting to do. I can knit, write, identify wildlife, or imagine what’s going on with people in cities, towns and rural areas I go through. At a basic level, I’m easily amused.

Some things to tend to bore me, so I escape them. They include:

Meetings held just to have a meeting.
More than 15 minutes of any TV news network where they repeat the same headlines with tiny variations.
Being talked down to, in person, in articles, or in books. My mind travels elsewhere.
Driving through metropolitan areas with the same chain stores repeating over and over. I counted four Rooms to Go stores driving from Denton to Hillsboro on I35 last week. Zzz.
Housing developments where all houses look alike. Yes, I lived in one once.
Being repeatedly subjected to quotes from the Bible to inaccurately argue a point. I’m no longer invested in debating that.
All white kitchens in houses with only black, white or gray furnishings.

Hey, I came up with more things than I thought I would. The good news is that all the things that bore me can be easily avoided or mitigated. I can either begin taking pictures of weeds or start knitting.

Important weed note: avoid picking up wildflowers that are blooming to get a better look without checking whether they might be nettles. Ow.

What bores you?

Mrs Cardinal says she is NOT boring. She’s a good singer.

(What didn’t bore me today was a nice, normal ride on Apache. We did all our homework and had a good time. )

At Least I Have Flowers

I’m still feeling pretty bad about my Droodles. I just can’t figure it out (nor will I be able to; that’s why I’m getting help). This evening, I walked into the pasture to say hi to the horses, and Drew walked right up to me, like he usually does. But instead of standing there to be loved on, he snaked his head right at me, with ears pinned back, and snapped at me. Damn. I walked off to go pick up a food bowl and he followed me, nipping my shoulder. Whoa! That was just so weird.

Thank goodness everyone else was fine, or I’d think it’s what Avery (a blog friend) suggested, some kind of grass poisoning. But Apache’s still friendly and takes his meds like a pro, and Dusty is friendly as ever. Mabel is Mabel (I dreamed I found her walking down the street in a residential neighborhood last night, happy to see me, but not planning to follow me anywhere).

But hey, spring is coming, and I’m enjoying the tiny flowers coming up while I listen to the birds every day. I’m happy to say the barn swallows are coming back. I’ve missed them. Maybe they’ll chase off some of the house sparrows. Maybe?

I’m not sure why I am thrilled every year when the flowers start blooming and the bees and butterflies start to appear. It’s always like a miracle. I was especially pleased to find the violets at the house our family is renovating are in bloom. I hope we can transplant them somewhere.

So, I’m going to stop here, and maybe do another post about renovation progress tomorrow. I am just not myself today. My head is so fuzzy, and I’m so perplexed about my horse. I’m sure things will get better!

Off to Equine Remedial Education

Droodles is not himself. My sweet, talented, and gentle colt has turned into an unsafe young horse. I’m really sad, but he’s just not recovering well from whatever he did that hurt his head and neck so badly. Last week we had a couple of good workouts, but today when I tried to get him ready for our lesson, he was a mess.

He was okay walking from the pasture to the pens. But things went downhill fast. I couldn’t groom him, because he kept coming at me with his teeth. So he was covered in burs and had dirty feet.

I tried exercising him, since that had helped earlier. I smartly put him in the round pen. He just cantered in big circles in a wild way, only slowing down when I got his attention and exhaled. He let me pet him when he stopped, but was a bit scary when I asked him to go the other way. When he stopped after that, he kicked me (grazing my wrist) then pulled the rope from my hands and ran in uncontrollable circles. I approached him to get the rope back, and he came at me flailing his hooves.

I did stop him, then calmly as I could, I exited the round pen, shutting the gate before he could follow. He then flung himself at the pen a few times. I did get him out and back to the pasture. He then galloped like a racehorse as far away as he could. Damn he’s fast.

That ruckus got all the other horses stirred up and racing around. I used that opportunity to get Apache out, hoping to take HIM to my lesson, but Drew started pushing and Apache got out without a halter. Off he went all over the property until he found the greenest, shiniest grass we have. Just what he should not eat. Of course, not being completely bonkers, he settled down and I got him in a pen. Whew. He then happily ate his applesauce/medicine combo, let me groom him, and got some exercise. We did not go to lessons, though.

No, I drove myself over to Tarrin’s to discuss each other’s woes and figure out a plan for Drew. We discussed whether to take him to a vet, wait it out, or have him come back to her place for a while. We decided to do the latter. Remedial Education.

At Tarrin’s, he can get daily pain killers, frequent visits from Jackie for bodywork, and daily training sessions to help him build back whatever muscles are messed up. If that doesn’t work, we will re-evaluate. I don’t want to spend too many more thousands of dollars if he can’t be helped.

He looks so innocent. Just eating like nothing happened.

I am concerned that the kick in the head damaged him. Or maybe there’s something growing in the pasture that got to him (and maybe the others?). The spring grass? I don’t know but I’m worried about him. Maybe I’m just not meant to have horses for anything other than petting and feeding. Ugh.

Still a Weird Happy

If there was a biography about you, what would the title be?

Yes, if there was a biography about me (Zzz) it would be called Still a Weird Happy. That was the name of our club of misfit hippy girls in 7th grade, which we turned into imaginary alien friends. Anita and I wrote stories about the Weird Happys (spelled that way on purpose) when we were young teens.

All of us Weird Happys were odd in one way or another, both the humans and the imaginary ones. But we embraced it. And I’ve always tried to keep that attitude. (I was trying to write something nice, but I’ve been interrupted five times now.)

I interrupt this whine with a hairy buttercup. They are so shiny.

Yeah, I’ve skipped blogging for a couple of days, because I’ve felt pretty boring. It’s been fine, just nothing extraordinary. I had a good lesson on Apache yesterday, and it was great to have him rideable again. Here he is very tired after Tarrin made him do things he didn’t want to do.

Even his new brow band didn’t perk him up.

Drew seems better, too. Today I was able to exercise him and groom him normally. He just had one little expression of annoyance when cantering. I was able to remove his burs and everything. Wow, both horses doing okay! It must be time to leave town for a few days!

I’m in love with Mabel now and let her nip me.

The other mildly interesting events this week so far were bird related. On Monday, I had the chance to hang out in the back yard and listen for birds around sunset. I was entranced at the sound of two great horned owls calling to each other. Mourning doves were also cooing away, which was so soothing!

And yesterday I was out walking when two red-tailed hawks flew right over my head, calling and calling.

They began their love dance, and I watched the whole thing! Next, they flew over to the big electric pole and began making little cooing chortling sounds. I’d never heard hawks speaking their love language before. What a privilege!

Soon enough, they flew off together. I saw and heard them again today. I wonder if these are the same ones I saw a few weeks ago?

I never see these guys at the same time I see the red-shouldered hawks or harrier. That’s unlike the woodpeckers, who seem to all hang out at the same time. Today I heard a Downy, a Ladderback, and a Pileated within 5 minutes of each other.

Yes, my life is calm right now. I’m loving my work and enjoying my leisure, which is pretty great. However, if you have a spare moment, please send healing vibes to my Purple Martin-loving friend, Donna, who had back surgery, as well as to family members dealing with challenges.

Stay weird. Be happy.