horses – Page 27 – The Hermits' Rest

Clouds, Breezes, and Other Small Pleasures

I’ve been reading a lot about “glimmers” these days, which are little moments of joy or comfort that occur in daily life. I love this concept, because I realized quickly that I live for these moments of fleeting happiness. Today I had a few of these, as well as some larger pleasures. And I want to share some daily glimmers I’ve noticed.

Glimmers of Surprise

One glimmer today came when I finished cleaning the tack room and was chatting with my son (a larger pleasure) and I looked in the window to see a sparkling dragonfly. It pleased me so much! (It’s outside now.)

I was also filled with joy by another dragonfly today. I was listening for birds to write about in a Master Naturalist blog, when a little fellow I’d never seen before distracted me by repeatedly landing on the barbed wire as if to say, “take my picture.” I did so, then enjoyed the interesting way these checkered setwings hold themselves. I’m still smiling at how cute this guy was. A great pair of glimmers.

Large Pleasures

My larger pleasure today came when the horses were scheduled to have their hooves trimmed. I was not looking forward to it at all, given the weather lately and the fact that it was scheduled for the hottest part of the day.

But, the weather deities smiled on me and Terry the farrier. First, the horses were already in their pens, so I didn’t have to chase them, and then, as we began to work on Dusty, a lovely breeze sparked up and some genuine clouds passed over. In the shade, it wasn’t bad at all.

Then the horse calmness deities smiled and caused all four horses to have their most pleasant moods, which meant that the trimming went very quickly with few mishaps. Even Mabel’s feet are looking better, perhaps because I’ve been feeding her good food?

The only little mishap came when it was Drew’s turn. He’d been snoozing while the other four were getting worked on, and seemed to really want to continue his nap. In fact, he started snoozing with his leg in the air getting rounded off, and slipped off, hitting his head on my arm. I was surprised to see I have a bruise and abrasion! Poor little guy didn’t mean it, of course.

Ow. You can’t tell but it’s raised and turning purple now.

The clouds continued to please me greatly after I finished feeding the horses and cleaning up a lot of mouse poop in the tack room. I got in the pool and was able to float comfortably as long as I wanted to, because there were high clouds that filtered the sun nicely. (Now don’t get more wrong; it was still 105 today.)

Daily Glimmers

It’s nice to have things in your day that you appreciate. I’ve been trying to notice times of the day that give me regular glimmers. One is thanks to the heat. I love the feeling of rolling off my pool float back into the pool. The sensation of hot skin hitting the cool water is just delightful.

The other time of the day that gives me a glimmer every single time is the moment after I put away my reading material, turn off my light, and lie down on my fluffy pillow. The soft pillow combined with the cozy blanket and the lovely darkness makes me smile a little as I close my eyes every night.

What little pleasures do you have in your life?

Summer Is Hard

Geez. It’s crispy here. And it’s unbearably hot for people, animals, and plants. The horses got new hay today, which sure made them happy.

The horses and I are trying our best to get some exercise other than running up to greet me (only Droodles and Apache do that). We have been walking around over pieces of wood, trotting a little, and getting minimally groomed. I go out early and late as possible to see them, since I’m still reacting poorly to the heat.

We had our first summer casualty, too. Some kind of predator must have gotten at the chickens when they were cooling off at the horse troughs, and it got my matriarch, Bertie Lee. She was my oldest hen. The only clue I found was a large feather that looks unlike any hawk or owl I have seen. Ugh. There were only feathers left.

I’m glad I made a point of saying bye to her before I left. I sure am glad everyone else is okay. There were some yellow feathers, but Blondie seems fine.

I will get more hens when/if it cools off. I’m getting doubtful about that. The hens look so sad every day when it’s so hot, but they have access to the coolest spots possible and lots of fresh water.

September is coming. I’d say we have three to four more weeks before the weather breaks, but it can come sooner and I won’t complain.

I tried to make things feel cooler with blue nails and stars.

More intellectual content will come soon. All my smart thoughts have drained through sweat.

Back at the Ranch: Amazing Animals

I made it home yesterday, but for some reason the travel completely wore me out. I guess travel is stressful, since my right eye wept all day, while the left eye had a tic. The plane travel was fine, other than the fact that the Charlotte airport was dirtier and dingier than I remembered. Of course, the flight from there to Austin was delayed, so I got to stay there and look at food on the floor and seats quite a while. By the time we boarded, I thought I’d fall asleep standing up.

None of this was heavy except the backpack, which was a carryon. It tried to kill me.

Lee was late exactly the amount my plane was late, which meant for an easy pickup, and I did try to converse with him though I was feeling distinctly zombie-like. By the time I got home I was dizzy and nauseated. What the heck? I’m much better today, with no eye issues and only a bit of fuzzy-headedness. Maybe I have 9-11 PTSD or something (for those of you who don’t know, I was on a plane headed to O’Hare when the events occurred, leading to some traumatic times).

I came home to a lot of love, though. Goldie glued herself to me the second I got into bed and didn’t move for a couple of hours. Today she’s been constantly checking on me, and also trying to inform me that she can’t sit on “her” couch because someone put an immense television on it.

So I got up and moved the immense and very heavy television. It’s the old one from our house in Round Rock, and apparently giant televisions were much heavier then. Glodie is much happier now and I can type (she kept nosing the keyboard away!).

Of course all the dogs were glad to see me, as were the chickens. Some horses seemed more glad than others. Apache was ecstatic, and glued himself to me much like Goldie did. He looks good, other than two sores on his shoulder. The good news is his grass allergy issues are gone, thanks to the Zyrtec, and the rest of him looks wonderful.

Drew was more interested in the water trough I refilled than in me, but after he drank he came and rubbed his wet face on me. He looked really clean, and I wondered why. Here is why:

Apparently, while I was gone, he figured out that the front pond is swimmable. The edges aren’t as quicksand-esque as they were when the water was higher, so he’s taken to swimming around and having a blast. Kathleen said the first time she heard the splashing, she thought we had a gator. Nope, just a sea serpent/horse hybrid.

It doesn’t appear that anyone else has joined Droodles in the horse swimming pool, but I sure was happy to watch him cruising around and having a great time.

There’s really no grass, so I need to get more hay out to them this afternoon. The heat is still miserable, and it hasn’t rained. The high was “only” 99 on Tuesday, but it’s still hard on everyone here. I will be getting out early to work with horses starting in the morning.

It was nice to get back to my office to work, though my house looks like hoarders have moved in. The rest of the furniture from my old house got brought in while we were gone and we’re still working out where to put everything. Much of the stuff is in our newest shipping container, and I owe a HUGE debt of gratitude to the guys who moved everything out of our old church, up and down those stairs.

Yes, we no longer own a church, which I’m not too sad about, because now Cameron gets a new church. I’m told the minister is really nice, so I’m happy for them. It looks like it’s time for our real estate business to find a new investment.

Thanks for reading, and hi to all you new readers! I do have a book report to write, which I hope to get done tomorrow. It takes thought, and I’m too tired to think right now.

You Don’t Have to Be in Texas to Overheat

Since I’ve been enjoying the solo part of my stay in Myrtle Beach, I’ve been doing my best to stay in shape, no matter how tempting lolling around in my room knitting and watching movies might be.

But if I stayed inside I’d miss all the flowers.

Since Lee left, I’ve been heading to the hotel gym and walking as fast as I can while the treadmill goes up and down. I hate when it goes to 9. But I zip along and burn those calories and log those miles. I’m not letting anyone see me to sit-ups, so I save that for in my room. This should at least keep my aerobic and core stuff in okay shape for trying to get back on the horses. I’ll miss a couple of horse events, but I don’t want to push them, either.

Anyway, today I decided to walk outside. After all, it was “only” 90 degrees outside and there was a breeze. So, I went all the way down the boardwalk, at least as far as I’ve ever been. About when I hit the one-mile mark, I realized I was sweating a lot (I’m still not used to the fact that I sweat now, but it’s better than the alternative). By the time I turned around, I was wishing I hadn’t walked so far or that I’d brought money for a beverage.

But, I had no option but to keep going, after a little rest in the shade. I did enjoy some of the improvements they’ve made to the boardwalk and the landscaping. It’s looking a LOT nicer now. They’ve even installed “photo ops” in the little places where there used to be homeless folks hanging out. I’m hoping they found housing or alternate places for those people to hang out.

It’s a lot less crowded this weekend, too, since school is starting or had already started in much of the areas around here. So, other than feeling overheated, I enjoyed the walk very much.

I did make it back to the Ocean Enclave and quickly downed two glasses of water. The pool bar was very pleasant, since it was shady and the breeze was just great. Well, it was pleasant for people sitting there. Sarah was really hot trying to serve a never-ending stream of people wanting their fruity drinks.You can make good money in the summer doing bartending, but it isn’t easy being perky while never stopping.

I enjoyed my reward beverage, which was lime juice, lemon guide, ice and lime vodka. Let me tell you, that was refreshing! By the time I’d seen enough preseason football, I was feeling fine, other t han being covered by sand that had stuck to my sweaty legs.

I had to fight through this to get to the elevator. Ugh. Lots of arrivals.

The moral to this boring story is that you need to stay hydrated if you are going for walks in the sun and it’s hot, even when it’s just normal heat.

I was happy to find sweet everlasting in the wildflower area.

Back to reading, knitting, and eating cheese. I love eating whatever the heck I want, which seems to end up being cheese.

Red Wolves, Birds, and Plant Delights

Other than taking a brisk walk for a break, I worked all day. I got some photos of the strip where the condos are.

However, we did manage to sneak back to Brookgreen Gardens to their Low Country Zoo before it closed for the day. I really enjoy that place. It’s lush and cool, plus it’s covered in native plants. Score!

I really didn’t see many of the animals, but this horse was friendly. And attractive.

Lee and I always enjoy looking at the bird exhibits, so we said hi to the hawks and owls, then wandered down to the aviaries.

The swampy area with the black-crowned night herons and ibises was beautiful. Lee thought some were statues. Then one caught a fish!

Then we enjoyed the river otters a long time, because, well, otters are incredibly fun to watch. They were in their glasses-in area, so no photos, but you can imagine all the fun. Eventually we headed to the duck pond, where much cuteness was waiting.

You know me, I spent a lot of time looking at the “free” exhibits, like insects and spiders. I saw some new ones, too.

Ok. The reason we actually drove back here was to see their newest exhibit.

The zoo has acquired a pair of red wolves that they hope will breed more little wolves that can be re-introduced into the wild. I knew that people were trying to build the population back up, but never thought I’d get to actually see some of these critically endangered canines. What luck that they just opened the exhibit! Rather than type all the info out, I’ll let you read the signs I photographed so I could refer to them.

They built a beautiful space for them “where the deer used to be” as the people giving directions said. It will eventually be large enough to roam around in, too. And yes, we were lucky enough to get to see them both, just lounging around by the fence.

They seem much smaller than gray wolves, but maybe these are still young? I hope the program works out! Oh, and there was something else in the exhibit, the part they are still working on. There were two wild turkeys just wandering around eating. They were not captive. They were just there!

I can see why turkey vultures got their name. Only the blue head helped me ID it from a distance.

We had dinner in Murrell’s Inlet, where all the restaurants are. It was fine, and I enjoyed the marsh view, but there weren’t many birds. One tree did gradually fill up with pelicans. A new one glided in every five minutes or so. I guess that tree is a favorite roost.

You can sorta see pelican heads in the most distant tree (or bush).

I’m really glad we got out. I needed it, especially the quiet. The zoo was so quiet at times that it was eerie. Here at the condo there’s always background noise of air conditioning, waves, or screeching kids. The quiet was a balm to my heart and soul.

Ooh, We Did Activities

Today Lee and I made up for yesterday and engaged in vacation-like activities, which is sort of unlike us. We even got out of the condo before noon, which may be a Lee record. I say this lovingly, of course.

We just knew if we left we’d discover something as fascinating as this plant, called pumpkin on a stick. I want one!

First we headed off to our favorite local spot, Brookgreen Gardens, which I have written about before but am too lazy to link to it. It’s an amazing old plantation that has been painstakingly turned into a wonderland of sculptures surrounded by gardens that set each sculpture off perfectly. We were disappointed to find that the main indoor exhibit area was closed, because they were switching out exhibits, but happy to learn the new exhibit opens next Saturday, so we can go then.

Luckily my childhood favorite poem is still here to see.

Instead, we walked over to the permanent sculpture exhibit, the Offner Sculpture Center, which we’d never been to before. That was wonderful! There were many studies for the larger works on display in the gardens, plus interesting bronze medals, and many other works by a variety of mostly 20th Century American artists. There were many by Anna Huntington who started the collection, and also a great many by Richard McDermott Miller, who had many fascinating self portraits and human figures. There was also a film about how bronze sculptures are made, featuring him. Quite interesting.

Anna Hyatt Huntington liked statues of horses a lot, so there are many here (and many large ones in the gardens for horse people like me to enjoy.)

After the sculptures, we ate in what was once the plantation’s old kitchen. Everything was fresh and delicious, and we had a nice conversation with the woman who was working there. This is a very out-of-the-way spot, so it was quite serene. And there were brazen birds who wanted to share our food.

We will be going back there for a night exhibit, perhaps, and also to see the zoo, which has a new red wolf exhibit. That will be interesting. Yeah, I can come up here and just go to this one place repeatedly and be adequately entertained!

After a bit of a rest and some sun gazing, we went to Topgolf, which was our reward for doing the annual tedious sales presentation. (This is a building you go in where you eat, drink, and try to hit golf balls into targets.) We lucked out and got a reasonable, fun couple to play with and ended up having a good time. Whew—I was worried my obnoxious new acquaintance, Steve, who crops up everywhere I go, would be paired with us and I’d drink too much. I was a bit concerned when I saw the couple brought their own clubs, but I ended up second, because the husbands were trying too hard. Kathy, the wife, had paid attention at her one lesson and drove straight and true. Of course, I was so busy watching that I didn’t get any photos of her.

I was glad that rain held off until this evening. We got a full day of fun in before I have to go back to work. I always feel better when I get to surround myself with art, gardens, and really cool insects..just look at this immense grasshopper!

Eastern lubber grasshopper
(*Romalea microptera*) which can be three inches long!

Hi There, Ranch Neighbors

Yesterday I wrote about farming, about which I don’t know much. Today I enjoyed residents of our greater ranch community, which I understand a bit more, and always get much peace and pleasure from.

I was delighted to see that the folks whose cattle live here had put some cows and their older calves out behind us. I recognize many of them, which is kind of cool. Some cows have been here since these folks first came here.

The cattle brought some friends with them, a little flock of cattle egrets (Bubulcus ibis). These small herons have spread across the world as farming practices have made their lives easier. They hang out near cattle and other large mammals and keep them free of insects and ticks.

Their expansion is fairly recent. I remember them being an exciting newcomer when I was a small child in north Florida’s cattle country. Mom loved to see them sitting on the Brahma and Hereford cattle.

The resident great egret is graciously sharing the pond. I’m not sure how the green herons are taking it. I haven’t heard them in a couple of days.

This afternoon, after a change in plans, I went over to Sara’s to see how her horses are getting along. Of course, this entailed much time oohing and aahing over Jhayati, who I hadn’t seen in a while.

She’s 2.5 months old and already getting gray hairs. Sara says that means she probably got two copies of the gray gene. She’ll finish graying out before Drew does!

Love the shape of her face, which is typical of an Andalusian.

Her coat is softer than velvet, and she’s very friendly. Sara’s doing a great job slowly teaching her life skills. Meanwhile, her mom, Sully, spends a lot of time pointing out that she is beautiful and needs to be petted, too.

The lead rope setup is what Tarrin recommended to Sara. And how about that tie dye! She made it.

Aragorn pretends the foal doesn’t exist, which is cute and probably right for the Head Horse, but the other horses are helpful. I really enjoyed my visit, though it sure was hot. Mornings are much better horse time, even if mine aren’t thrilled at first.

You can see gray on her face. She’s also shedding baby hair, so it’s a bit awkward.

I guess that’s it for the ranch neighbor report. It’s so hot and dry that we just can’t drum up any excitement. That’s absolutely fine with me.

It’s Horse Appreciation Day

I thought that was every day.

Maybe it should be horse butt appreciation day.

Horses can teach us all something, even if it’s simple, like powerful animals can be full of fear, just like powerful people who’ve been mistreated.

Horses may even teach patience better than children can. You can at least try to reason with fellow humans.

The joy of cooperation, though, is what working with horses truly brings to us humans. I do so appreciate their willingness to cooperate with us to feel almost like we are one intertwined being. I hope they like it, too.

Dear horses, I honestly just appreciate being with you daily. You calm me down and I help you feel safe and healthy. Ahh.

Smiling So Hard and Learning So Much

The amount of gratitude I have for everyone who’s encouraged me in my horse-loving journey is boundless. That includes my family, Sara (who gave me Apache), the Parelli instructor I learned from early on, our late friend Christi…and of course, Tarrin, who you probably hear too much about. But hey, it’s my blog, and I can talk about anyone I want to (with certain exceptions). And what’s wrong with telling the world a professional is good at their job?

Drew is plotting to have a meltdown at her in this photo (just kidding, horses do not have brains that plot)

My point here is that I’m just so happy to have reached the point in my journey where hard work has paid off and fun is creeping into our lessons more and more. That’s taken a village!

Village member Lee doesn’t mind driving to lessons because he gets to drive Seneca, the motorhome. It looks a bit fancy but darn it, at least we’re using it!

Today I just smiled and smiled during my lessons with Drew and Apache. Sure, my side passing still needs work, but Apache’s doing way better at it. And we had great fun trotting around and improving our form and speed controls. I can’t believe I’m so much better. I like going fast and don’t feel out of control. Neither does Apache. Teamwork!

I think Apache never heard the words “good boy” so many times in his life. He really tries. And he pays attention to me. Meanwhile, I’m learning to ride one handed and it’s really working great. Why knew? And my posture! It’s practically good! Wow. No wonder I smoked.

Plus! Get this! We went all the way to the trailer, past a piece of loyd heavy equipment, and down to the exit gate and back. With ZERO spooks or panics. It was completely calm. Drew, on the other hand, had a big spook when Apache walked by. Too bad Tarrin stopped filming.

Apache is an amazing steed.

Drew’s lesson was more challenging but I learned a lot. He is better but decided it was a good idea to refuse to canter going right. Then he started crowding Tarrin and acting up. Much fit pitching occurred. I learned a lot from how Tarrin calmed him down. He ended up doing exercises for his sore leg like a champ.

It made me really hot and I was dubious about my bath. I ended up liking it.

After he calmed down and did his exercises, I got to ride him around a bit. We did just fine in an unfamiliar place with interesting distractions. And he’d walked right to the trailer so I didn’t have to carry his saddle.

In the end I was proud of Droodles, too. I had to smile as I sat in the shade (so I wouldn’t barf) and watched Tarrin get him in a better frame of mind. I’m going to learn a lot from meltdowns!

By the way, Apache has lost weight and looks like a normal horse, almost.

I probably have more to say but I took something for back pain ( hurt before riding) and I’ve grown woozy. So good night!

Catching Up with Things

I didn’t get a chance to blog last night, because I had a bit of the old heat exhaustion going on. But it could have been worse, and I have no permanent damage. It was simply very hot at my lesson yesterday – as it was for Tarrin and her young helper, who had it way worse than I did. Drew helped me out a bit by still having a hurt leg issue, so there was no riding of him again. Tarrin did some exercises and said she was glad I figured out he didn’t feel good and wasn’t being “stubborn” or “naughty.” I’ll do some exercises with him after another day or two of rest.

You can see how thrilled they were to be going to lessons.

Apache and I still aren’t doing all that great going sideways, then he got a nosebleed from all his snorting in protest. On the other hand, the boy has the cantering concept down at last, and we both are improving greatly in slowing down and speeding up, even if we didn’t do much trotting due to heat and blood. What a day!

I’m still wandering around just in case there are any new birds or insects, but in midsummer, we tend to just have the usual suspects. Things will pick up once migration starts again. I did get a couple of nice photos of a ponderous spur-throat grasshopper (Melanoplus ponderosus) and a giant walking stick (Megaphasma denticrus).

I do have a little happy story to tell that I didn’t get to earlier in the week. You may recall that there was a Carolina wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus) nest in a box on our back porch. I noticed that the babies were getting pretty big and took a picture of them.

I went out to do something and wasn’t around for a while. When I got home, Lee was sitting by the pool, looking (for Lee) excited. What was going on, I wondered? He then told me he had been sitting there, just looking across the pool when he saw something seem to bounce on the water, then land in it. He quickly realized it was one of the baby wrens!

Lee rushed to rescue it, which he did by fishing it out with the pool net. He set the net down on the porch near the nest, and when I showed up, it was there resting and drying off.

You can see how they inspired Angry Birds. Look at those little bits of down!

We watched it for the next half hour or so, while I was swimming and Lee was reading (this was late afternoon before the latest heat wave). We saw it start to shake its head and fluff itself up, which we took to be a good sign that the little bird was drying off and settling down. Lee thought maybe it wanted to be closer to the nest, so he picked up the pool net to move it closer.

At the movement, the fledgling decided it was time to try to fly again, and this time chose a better direction. It went over to the disc golf set and settled down there.

We could see that it moved around a lot the rest of the evening, as we kept peeking out the window. We noted that the sibling bird was long gone, so we guessed the baby would soon head out to be with the rest of the family and learn to catch its own moths and such. Sure enough, I’ve seen the family over by the woods.

I was so proud of Lee for thinking so quickly and saving our little buddy. We are good aviary stewards, I guess. Speaking of our aviary, there’s now a pair of great egrets (Ardea alba) hanging out in the pond behind us, along with the night herons who’ve been there a while.

And I found out why there are so many red-winged blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus) by the driveway. There is a huge nest in the willow tree. They sure are active and loud!