Gravel up the nose makes it hard to breathe!

Warning, this is a blog about one of my kids. If you don't like to hear about other people's kids, feel free to pass on this blog.

Seat Belts are now a law in most if not all states. (I don't feel like verifying that a state does not have it as a law, and since Wyoming is generally the last to jump on any safety bandwagon, and they have it as a state law, I think that it is probably a law everywhere in the U.S.)

I prefer not to wear a lap belt if there is not a shoulder belt also because that is what screwed up my back at 15.

I understand that bike helmets are important, but when kid #1 crashed her bike and landed face first on the asphalt, a helmet did not keep her front tooth in her mouth.

This is why I have not been strict on the riding helmets on the kids while riding. When they jump, absolutley. When they are on a new horse, absolutley, but when Kid #2 is up on Foxy, or if any one is on Belle, I haven't worried about it.

That is no longer the policy. (By the way, this happened a couple of weeks ago, but since I am still at the mercy of library internet, I am only just now posting this)

Kid #2 was up on Foxy. It was clear, but chilly, and we wanted to make sure that we would be able to get in line to see "New Moon" so we stayed in the yard (Hey, Kid #1 is a teenage girl, and I am just selfish enough that I wanted to be the one to take her rather than her new stepmom)
I was up on Belle and Critter was on Sassy (appalousa for those that are not prepared for the popquiz, SD that's you!)

Foxy has been bucking at the lope, the first couple of times that she is asked, so Kid #2 worked her in the morning in the round pen. Then in the afternoon after he had warmed her up with walking and then jogging, he was supposed to lope for a couple strides, bring her back to a walk, then ask for the lope, to keep her from bucking. It has worked in the past. (Did you notice the past part of that?)
The second series of loping strides started with her leaping forward, throwing him off balance and then a hard buck which had him sailing over her head, faceplanting it into the dirt, gravel, weeds, grass, etc. I jumped off of Belle (Foxy had been right behind me before the leaping and bucking) and lost one of my spurs. Critter jumped off of Sassy, but fortunately she did not let go of the reins. (Belle and Foxy went back to the Barn) Kid #2 had landed face first. I was concerned about his neck because he planted his face into the ground, but the rest of his body kept flying up before landing again. He was moving, so I flipped him over, but with the gravel, dirt, etc. in his nose and mouth, he couldn't breathe. Once he could his breath, I went to catch the horses and he got up on Sassy to get a ride back to the house.

Sidenote -- cell phones are only helpful in these type of situations when whomever you call actually answers the phone, and if you actually take your phone with you!
(critter had her phone, I didn't because we were at the house. The two phones in the house where set on silent)

By the time that Kid #2 reached the barn and I had caught the mares and hitched them to the fence,he asked how he got up on Sassy, freaking Critter out.

Once in the house, I saw that the nosepiece to the glasses had smashed into the side of his nose, his glasses were a mangled heap of plastic and wire, one side of his face was hamburger, his nose was almost flat, his eyes were blackening and his pupils were dialated. His memory loss was really scary, so we loaded him up to the emergency room.

Many prayers and miles later,(have I mentioned that we don't live in town? We are quite a ways out of town, so he had plenty of time to panic me with worst case scenarios by the time we made it to the hospital. But at least, we got right in with no real waiting) he just had a slight concussion, and now, his face is completely healed. His glasses took a while to get back into wearable condition, but the optical tech was able to fix them.

Sunday morning ride

The weather has not been really terrible lately. Cold in the morning (2 Degrees Celsius) and then 50-60 in the afternoon. Since Utah was getting pounded with snow (we got many calls from family asking about the weather) we decided that we should take advantage of the weekend and leave the confines of the property and explore the country side. Critter (my sister) called it a trail ride, but since it was on a dirt road, it doesn't really qualify as was pointed out by a neighbor.
At the last minute we left Lady at home in Mystique's stall so that she would be adjacent to Princess and Sassy that we also left home. Critter was up on Sergeant, Kid #1 was on Barnaby, Kid #2 on Foxy (first ride off of the property without Lady!), niece on Mystique (First time off the property with 9 year old) and me up on Belle.


All went well, at first. Lady was with her friends, so she wasn't screaming. Foxy was trimmed the day before so she wasn't screaming for Lady, she was too busy trying to decide if she liked her most recent manicure. (It was really weird, she was putting each foot down like she was testing for pain. She quit after the first 50 yards) Belle and Foxy started in the back, just in case they panicked without the baby. All was going well. To get to the open area, away from the houses, we have to go past a mud hole. We haven't ever gone this way before because the last time we tried, Sergeant walked in up to his knees and hocks, while Belle and I stood, watching and agreed that we were not going to try it. They had only gone in a little way. This is how it looked.
Now, this pic does not demonstrate that there is only one way through without going through ice patches and deep mud.
Critter and Sergeant led with me bringing up the rear. The Morgans all traveled right up the drier mud path, Foxy followed along just fine. Belle SLAMMED on the brakes. I tried again. Belle thought that going up be the fence would be better. The second that the ice started breaking under her feet, she panicked. My neighbors, out for their Sunday morning stroll, were able to laugh at me. Finally, so that 1) the other horses would not get it into their heads to be a pain, 2) we only had so much time before we had to head back for church, and 3) Belle let me know that she was Way to big to fit on that little strip of drier mud and I was crazy if I thought that she was going to go on it, I hopped off and led her across. sludging through mud with spurs is not the easiest thing, especially when the neighbors, the sibling, and the kids (and probably the horses) are all laughing at me. Belle had no problem following. (I guess that she figured that although four horses couldn't convince her that it was OK, it took me to walk across to prove that it was safe, thanks for the ego boost. And to think that it was only Thursday that I confirmed that I have been losing weight, I was able to go down a size in wranglers! Thanks, Belle!)
We finally got going again, when Foxy and Belle were pushing trail etiquette.
The three Morgans can walk out fairly nicely, but when Belle and Foxy get their "Trail walk" going, they really eat up the ground. Plus, Belle kept asking if she could really move. So, we took the lead. One of the reasons that Belle retired from Carriage driving is the fact that she likes to stretch and out and trot. She is always in a hurry and needs to be first, so we did some moving. I did not want to push Foxy too much, so we did not do too much jogging, but enough to really loosen everybody up and feel good.
Kid #1 and Barnaby did some loping.

The hubby found some more Belgians, but he didn't get close enough to see if they were geldings. the Beast was moved. His herd was moved to the field across from him, so I think that they moved him to keep from tempting him to break out and cross the road. he hasn't been in with his mares for a while. I need to take some pics of the Belgian and Percheron herds. Maybe next week.



It looks like we will be heading to the big city (SLC)after Thanksgiving so that I can give Bart his Christmas carrot. Too bad we won't be able to hijack a horse and carriage for a night, but I don't even want to think about how much stuff we would have to search through to find all of our carriage driving gear! And we forgot to sign up for opening weekend, anyway, so we will just have to miss out!

Hay was NOT the best idea.

When I bought my last load of hay, the weather turned quickly. I did not even get it unloaded before it snowed. I left five bales in the bed of my truck to allow the extra weight to give me more traction. I was meaning to unload it so that I could get another load, but I was just not getting around to it. I finally did.
Can you see why?


Poor Lady is too short to get her mouth on the hay. Belle and Foxy shredded the bales, but the bad part was the other horses that do not adequately respect the white Elephant. It got a few dents from the squabbling, so the hay is no longer in the back.