Or a healing spring. Shade's fetlock has been bothering, yesterday I noticed Ole was walking stiff when I rode Sadie, but he looked fine when we broke into a trot, then dad took the dogs for their usual run, then when I went out at midnight to feed the horses a final snack Ole ran off to chase coyotes or something. I heard him barking in the next or 2nd next pasture north of us for a while and wondered if he had a snake on the defensive, then I heard coyotes singing and Ole's barking moving around.
He has gone off chasing coyotes for 2-5 hours before and it was over 40 degrees so I knew he would not get cold and come back so I just went to bed but he was not around this morning. I was getting worried a big pack of coyotes lured him out and ganged up on him but dad went driving looking for him and he was in the neighborhood. He was so sore on his right rear leg he had just laid down in someone's yard rather than come the mile or so home.
He has a couple of little puncture wounds on that leg, they don't even look deep enough to call punctures but he was "DONT touch me there" when I poked after he licked the scabs open and he was panting so I had dad take him to the vets to get checked out. The panting is probably just from the ouchy leg, but I didn't want to have the leg swell up tonight after hours and end up with an emergency vet visit JIC he got bit by a rattlesnake.
Saturday, March 30, 2013
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Yikes the easy ride is April 21
I had been thinking it was May 2nd. Which is not even a weekend so I decided I must have been looking at an old year and checked today. Its an easy ride but I don't know if Shade and I can be ready in just 3 weeks. I'll have to ride her tomorrow and if she is not off on that fetlock see if we can get a long ride this weekend and see how she handles that. I suppose I could trailer clear up to the northern WY ride Memorial weekend if I decide we can't ride by April 21 but Shade does come sound enough to train for and do a 50. Everything always seems to become overly complicated.
Monday, March 25, 2013
No riding this past weekend
We got a nice bit of snow. I was disappointed with the storm before this one. It had been hyped as we would probably get 4-8 inches of wet snow and I think we maybe got 8 inches but it was fluffy powder and a lot of other folks regionally didn't even get much powder.
This one I think was a fairly nice wet snow. Probably 8 inches fell but the first bit melted into the ground right away. I was ready to spend a weekend doing lots of reading and only going out to feed the horses and shovel off our entry way so that Mia's bedding would stay dry once I got it dried out. She stayed outside friday night while it snowed, as usual she was quite sure she had to be out there to keep an eye and ear on the place. And as usual she was perfectly willing to come in during the day while it continued to snow some to dry off and catch up on sleep.
It was cold Saturday night but it warmed up quite a bit on Sunday. According to the TV weather we got over 10 degrees F warmer than they did in the city. They said it only got to 25 but our thermometers had 37 and it was melting a bit and felt pretty warm. Doesn't fit their AGW meme for them to decrease the temps but then they have been shifting to "Climate change and *extreme* weather" since they cannot massage the data into continuing to warm the last 12-15 years.
I did ride Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings last week so that helped with just enjoying getting some moisture and having a bookworm day. Friday it was a chilly wind ahead of the snow so I finally did my shopping that I'd been putting off all week.
This one I think was a fairly nice wet snow. Probably 8 inches fell but the first bit melted into the ground right away. I was ready to spend a weekend doing lots of reading and only going out to feed the horses and shovel off our entry way so that Mia's bedding would stay dry once I got it dried out. She stayed outside friday night while it snowed, as usual she was quite sure she had to be out there to keep an eye and ear on the place. And as usual she was perfectly willing to come in during the day while it continued to snow some to dry off and catch up on sleep.
It was cold Saturday night but it warmed up quite a bit on Sunday. According to the TV weather we got over 10 degrees F warmer than they did in the city. They said it only got to 25 but our thermometers had 37 and it was melting a bit and felt pretty warm. Doesn't fit their AGW meme for them to decrease the temps but then they have been shifting to "Climate change and *extreme* weather" since they cannot massage the data into continuing to warm the last 12-15 years.
I did ride Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings last week so that helped with just enjoying getting some moisture and having a bookworm day. Friday it was a chilly wind ahead of the snow so I finally did my shopping that I'd been putting off all week.
Monday, March 18, 2013
Sadie dumped me on Friday
L came out and we were riding together with her on Lady. We were headed for home and Sadie had mostly settled down when Ole dog startled Lady by coming around an oil tank after he had detoured into the field to explore a bit. I was riding Sadie behind Lady, probably a bit closer than ideal and her spook sent Sadie into a big spook. I was off the the right side after Sadie's spook and instead of stopping like my older horses would do she jumped again and I splatted.
I was unable to keep hold of a rein but Sadie just stood there anyway. Landed on my hip and did not knock the breath out of me, nor ring my bell so I was able to mount back up after a few minutes. I did take my time while evaluating the ouch from my hip but it was quickly obvious I just had a little bruising on the top of my hip. Sadie was not nervous and did not try to see if she could get me off again so that is a plus for her disposition.
I rode Shade and ponied Grey on Saturday late afternoon. It was overcast, humid and chilly in the morning so I just caught up on laundry. Still love the new LG dryer, I washed my thicker comforter in my bathtub, then tossed it in to dry with the bedspread and few clothes I washed in the washer. Shade has been ouchy on her arthritic fetlock, more after I had my chiro unlock it where it had been stuck, perhaps I should have let it be to just fuse, not sure if that is an option with a fetlock. So I had increased the MSM for Shade and Grey starting a week ago and started feeding them at night so I could add more MSM and glucosamine and have confidence it would be absorbed.
This seems to be helping although Shade was still a bit off on that fetlock. I am going to give her the 7 round, 1 shot every 4 days adequan starting today and enter the early endurance ride as it is far and away the easiest ride in the region, plus I'm a bit leery of taking Sadie to it as an intro ride because it draws a big group for the LD so lots of excitement and its urban so if she were to spook and go running off wildly the potential for fatal car crash is there. We are not right next to traffic but not fenced off from big busy streets if a horse dumped a rider and went off the trails.
Sunday Lynn came back out and we rode Sadie and Lady again. It was Windy with the capital W, Lady was a rock, totally redeeming herself from Friday setting Sadie off over just the dog.
I was unable to keep hold of a rein but Sadie just stood there anyway. Landed on my hip and did not knock the breath out of me, nor ring my bell so I was able to mount back up after a few minutes. I did take my time while evaluating the ouch from my hip but it was quickly obvious I just had a little bruising on the top of my hip. Sadie was not nervous and did not try to see if she could get me off again so that is a plus for her disposition.
I rode Shade and ponied Grey on Saturday late afternoon. It was overcast, humid and chilly in the morning so I just caught up on laundry. Still love the new LG dryer, I washed my thicker comforter in my bathtub, then tossed it in to dry with the bedspread and few clothes I washed in the washer. Shade has been ouchy on her arthritic fetlock, more after I had my chiro unlock it where it had been stuck, perhaps I should have let it be to just fuse, not sure if that is an option with a fetlock. So I had increased the MSM for Shade and Grey starting a week ago and started feeding them at night so I could add more MSM and glucosamine and have confidence it would be absorbed.
This seems to be helping although Shade was still a bit off on that fetlock. I am going to give her the 7 round, 1 shot every 4 days adequan starting today and enter the early endurance ride as it is far and away the easiest ride in the region, plus I'm a bit leery of taking Sadie to it as an intro ride because it draws a big group for the LD so lots of excitement and its urban so if she were to spook and go running off wildly the potential for fatal car crash is there. We are not right next to traffic but not fenced off from big busy streets if a horse dumped a rider and went off the trails.
Sunday Lynn came back out and we rode Sadie and Lady again. It was Windy with the capital W, Lady was a rock, totally redeeming herself from Friday setting Sadie off over just the dog.
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
picky AJ wont eat the chaffhaye ...
Luckily the other 5 horses that I thought would be a backup if AJ wouldn't eat it do indeed seem to be eating it. They don't eat it right away but after their grass hay is gone they are cleaning up the bit I've been giving them. Since they are easy keepers its fine and dandy to be giving them a little bit of food they don't scarf right up.
I figured that at minimum Sadie, Razz and Lady together would clean it up. Two hearty eaters and being in a group made that fairly likely. Shade and/or Grey Moun are cleaning up the bit I've been giving them too. So I'll save the alfalfa mix bales for AJ and use the chaffhaye as a hay stretcher for the other group. Whew, AJ was soooo obstinate about eating it I was afraid I was going to have to sell the rest of the pallet on CL at some level of loss per bag.
I figured that at minimum Sadie, Razz and Lady together would clean it up. Two hearty eaters and being in a group made that fairly likely. Shade and/or Grey Moun are cleaning up the bit I've been giving them too. So I'll save the alfalfa mix bales for AJ and use the chaffhaye as a hay stretcher for the other group. Whew, AJ was soooo obstinate about eating it I was afraid I was going to have to sell the rest of the pallet on CL at some level of loss per bag.
Monday, March 11, 2013
Bit of a YeeHaw ride this morning
Just a bit. I am getting more and more confident with Sadie. Today she was pulling a few antics but she never reared up and if she was crowhopping she was landing softly. There was still quite a bit of snow on the ground so with that + the antics as we started I kept the pace to a walk.
Ole was a good riding buddy. He scared me before we started. A stray, or wandering the neighborhood dog slipped under the gate while I was brushing Sadie to come snooping for either some play or possibly food and Ole was getting after it some. It was still a puppy and was yiping so I went running and hollering at Ole to let it go, I had to get up there and grab Ole's tail before he did let go and the pup could go under the gate and run home -or at least down the cross street to the east of us.
Now this happened to be a 'cattle dog' type. Looked like Blue Heeler crossed with Border collie or something similar. I've always distrusted Blue Heelers that were not under voice control of someone who uses them for actual work and has them trained to voice control. Went ahead and saddled Sadie and we headed out. She whirled around a few times and was acting like a green horse testing to see if I was going to bail out of the ride and feeling her oats. We get a couple hundred yards past the cross street, Ms Sadie using the fact that the neighbor was pulling out of his driveway as her last excuse to whirl around and I see the stray come racing around the corner like "Whee looks like fun" or possibly he just wanted to join us because I had checked for a tag on his/her collar before and not found one but perhaps stray thought I was its new human from that tiny bit of interaction.
But I was really happy when Ole went back towards the corner and gave the stray the stink-eye and stray decided not to follow. Sadie does not like dogs around her back end, and will get whirly and wanting to race home with one that is just swirling even when she is calm to begin with -- I rather think that if stray had come in and tried to herd her I might have had more rodeo than I was able to handle with her already feeling quite frisky.
So we went out, Sadie went fairly decent once we hit the corner and turned onto the two track, I went just a mile and came back. I was not going to make my standard loop, too much unsecured wire that could be hidden under snow and give the frisky young mare a startle if she suddenly felt wire across her leg. Same stray must of been bored and kind of watching as it came around the corner towards us on the way home. It was hesitating a bit, I dismounted just to make sure my ride ended with me getting off by choice and Sadie jumped a bit shortly after I was off as Ole raced past us to chase the stray around the corner. Ole slowed down, stopped and came back to us right after he turned the corner. GOOD DOG.
I have been seeing a CL ad for a couple weeks for a lost dog with that breeding from the nearby town about 2 miles east of us as the crow flies. I don't really think its the same dog as the ad dog had tan legs --was a Christmas young puppy picture and this loose dog did not have tan on it but I emailed them in case the tan in the puppy pics was mostly gone now. I have no idea if puppies can have a baby fur effect like foals do. I doubt I will be so lucky as it to be a match and loose dog to be taken home farther from me and owners keeping it better contained but you never know.
Ole was a good riding buddy. He scared me before we started. A stray, or wandering the neighborhood dog slipped under the gate while I was brushing Sadie to come snooping for either some play or possibly food and Ole was getting after it some. It was still a puppy and was yiping so I went running and hollering at Ole to let it go, I had to get up there and grab Ole's tail before he did let go and the pup could go under the gate and run home -or at least down the cross street to the east of us.
Now this happened to be a 'cattle dog' type. Looked like Blue Heeler crossed with Border collie or something similar. I've always distrusted Blue Heelers that were not under voice control of someone who uses them for actual work and has them trained to voice control. Went ahead and saddled Sadie and we headed out. She whirled around a few times and was acting like a green horse testing to see if I was going to bail out of the ride and feeling her oats. We get a couple hundred yards past the cross street, Ms Sadie using the fact that the neighbor was pulling out of his driveway as her last excuse to whirl around and I see the stray come racing around the corner like "Whee looks like fun" or possibly he just wanted to join us because I had checked for a tag on his/her collar before and not found one but perhaps stray thought I was its new human from that tiny bit of interaction.
But I was really happy when Ole went back towards the corner and gave the stray the stink-eye and stray decided not to follow. Sadie does not like dogs around her back end, and will get whirly and wanting to race home with one that is just swirling even when she is calm to begin with -- I rather think that if stray had come in and tried to herd her I might have had more rodeo than I was able to handle with her already feeling quite frisky.
So we went out, Sadie went fairly decent once we hit the corner and turned onto the two track, I went just a mile and came back. I was not going to make my standard loop, too much unsecured wire that could be hidden under snow and give the frisky young mare a startle if she suddenly felt wire across her leg. Same stray must of been bored and kind of watching as it came around the corner towards us on the way home. It was hesitating a bit, I dismounted just to make sure my ride ended with me getting off by choice and Sadie jumped a bit shortly after I was off as Ole raced past us to chase the stray around the corner. Ole slowed down, stopped and came back to us right after he turned the corner. GOOD DOG.
I have been seeing a CL ad for a couple weeks for a lost dog with that breeding from the nearby town about 2 miles east of us as the crow flies. I don't really think its the same dog as the ad dog had tan legs --was a Christmas young puppy picture and this loose dog did not have tan on it but I emailed them in case the tan in the puppy pics was mostly gone now. I have no idea if puppies can have a baby fur effect like foals do. I doubt I will be so lucky as it to be a match and loose dog to be taken home farther from me and owners keeping it better contained but you never know.
Friday, March 8, 2013
chilly ride this morning
I could have been perfectly comfortable but I did not put on my fleece riding pants and a heavy sweatshirt on under my jacket, but dressed the same as yesterday when we had nice morning sunshine warming things up early.
But it was OK. Sadie is getting back into the swing of being ridden. She is still annoyed that I don't let her just graze when we are starting out but she went pretty well today after the first quarter mile. Did some cantering today, first day since she had her teeth floated that the footing was decent and she didn't feel like she might get carried away and give me a rodeo so I was comfortable to canter instead of asking her to keep to a slow trot.
I love the new dryer, had to get dad to show me how to use it yesterday though. It was not responding to just pushing buttons. You have to push "diagnose" first and then can select the settings. I still have a feeling that that cpu board control will be a weak link but the only new brands that had plain old manual dials were cheap crap where the basics like the motor would likely fail in a few years. Its so cool to have clothes will all the lint removed after washing and drying vs. picking up extra lint + wrinkles just hanging them over a towel peg to dry.
Our little sub-group at work is in funding bonanza just now. And I don't even think NOAA has killed one of their big money eating projects. Other groups under our umbrella org may get some sequestration hits supposedly. I'm sure the reality is that some funding that was "stimulus" will go away, rather than an actual cut based on core funding before the supposedly temporary "stimulus" I could have told them that shoving money at groups trying to find evidence of CAGW that their models said should be there was not going to stimulate any real economic activity, but that was just a small slice of the stimulus pie to provide some cover while they shoveled big money to their top campaign donors.
But it was OK. Sadie is getting back into the swing of being ridden. She is still annoyed that I don't let her just graze when we are starting out but she went pretty well today after the first quarter mile. Did some cantering today, first day since she had her teeth floated that the footing was decent and she didn't feel like she might get carried away and give me a rodeo so I was comfortable to canter instead of asking her to keep to a slow trot.
I love the new dryer, had to get dad to show me how to use it yesterday though. It was not responding to just pushing buttons. You have to push "diagnose" first and then can select the settings. I still have a feeling that that cpu board control will be a weak link but the only new brands that had plain old manual dials were cheap crap where the basics like the motor would likely fail in a few years. Its so cool to have clothes will all the lint removed after washing and drying vs. picking up extra lint + wrinkles just hanging them over a towel peg to dry.
Our little sub-group at work is in funding bonanza just now. And I don't even think NOAA has killed one of their big money eating projects. Other groups under our umbrella org may get some sequestration hits supposedly. I'm sure the reality is that some funding that was "stimulus" will go away, rather than an actual cut based on core funding before the supposedly temporary "stimulus" I could have told them that shoving money at groups trying to find evidence of CAGW that their models said should be there was not going to stimulate any real economic activity, but that was just a small slice of the stimulus pie to provide some cover while they shoveled big money to their top campaign donors.
Monday, March 4, 2013
Decided that Grey is who I want to try for C to ride
I had been crossing him off the list of potential mounts because he does do an ayrab teleport. But now knowing that C just wants to do some walking trail rides, Grey should be fine. When just walking I don't think Grey has ever done more than just do a quick crouch but then decide he didn't need to leap. Plus Grey is a sweet old guy who has always been dismayed if a rider comes off. He had been acting like an anxious colt when I took him out by himself a couple times this winter; but I ponied him off of Shade on Saturday, then rode him Sunday and ponied Shade after tweaking some on the cheapo no brandname treeless saddle I bought as a spare a few years ago to improve the fit.
Grey was quite good going out with his buddy so I do think he'll be fine for C. I set the Bareback brand treeless on him and it looks like it will fit even better and it has more cantle and pommel to help the rider so I think that will all work fine and I'll just not worry about whether it will fit on Sadie as well after Grey wears it. I don't think there will be much affect with the limited hours he'll be wearing it.
Two weekends ago I rode CJ myself when L came out to ride Lady and he was bratty even just walking with Lady for company (doing 180's, and a few crowhops) He was actually easier to sit than the 180's Razz did, but I'm not putting someone who came off Razz on him if he is going to act like that and I have always felt that CJ had a personality that would take advantage of a rider, he is a good pack horse because he wants to stay with the group away from home and doesn't get flustered by anything flopping but at home he demonstrated to me again that he'll pull a "heck with this, I'm just going to head back to my pen and my other buddys" if the rider doesn't keep on top of him.
We got a shot of snow today, it was coming down pretty thick for an hour or two but now the sun is out in Boulder and already melting it off. Still with the previous snow only melting off on Sunday and even a little shot today I think my farrier will have fairly nice feet to work on instead of the having tough dried out hooves.
We still don't have new dryer or dishwasher. They said the trucks got held up by the snowstorm in the midwest last week. Our dryer is 100% kaput now. I washed just a few jeans and was going to tumble them for 20 minutes to reduce wrinkles and remove lint and it would not start at all. Dad took off the belt that turns the drum and determined the motor won't work at all now. So good thing we already ordered the replacement.
Grey was quite good going out with his buddy so I do think he'll be fine for C. I set the Bareback brand treeless on him and it looks like it will fit even better and it has more cantle and pommel to help the rider so I think that will all work fine and I'll just not worry about whether it will fit on Sadie as well after Grey wears it. I don't think there will be much affect with the limited hours he'll be wearing it.
Two weekends ago I rode CJ myself when L came out to ride Lady and he was bratty even just walking with Lady for company (doing 180's, and a few crowhops) He was actually easier to sit than the 180's Razz did, but I'm not putting someone who came off Razz on him if he is going to act like that and I have always felt that CJ had a personality that would take advantage of a rider, he is a good pack horse because he wants to stay with the group away from home and doesn't get flustered by anything flopping but at home he demonstrated to me again that he'll pull a "heck with this, I'm just going to head back to my pen and my other buddys" if the rider doesn't keep on top of him.
We got a shot of snow today, it was coming down pretty thick for an hour or two but now the sun is out in Boulder and already melting it off. Still with the previous snow only melting off on Sunday and even a little shot today I think my farrier will have fairly nice feet to work on instead of the having tough dried out hooves.
We still don't have new dryer or dishwasher. They said the trucks got held up by the snowstorm in the midwest last week. Our dryer is 100% kaput now. I washed just a few jeans and was going to tumble them for 20 minutes to reduce wrinkles and remove lint and it would not start at all. Dad took off the belt that turns the drum and determined the motor won't work at all now. So good thing we already ordered the replacement.
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