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.

First Manicure

Lady got her first manicure. These aren't the best pics, they are from my phone.Critter was taking the pics since I was holding onto Lady.
We are in the barn since it was a miserable day outside and the footing was terrible.






She was pretty good, but since she is not used to holding her feet up for that long, she was bored fairly quickly. At one point she buried her head in my coat, like she was trying to hide. She got tons of loves, eye rubs, ear scratches, etc. to make it through. At another point I had give back scratches to keep her from leaning. She about fell over a few times. But she was better than Belle. Belle tried leaning a few times, too. NOT GOOD!

The BEAST

A few weeks ago, I mentioned that I had found the perfect stud for Belle. We even named him The Beast (Beauty and the Beast reference). When I finally went over to the pasture with the camera, the herd of belgians and percherons was gone. They are used for hunting and packing trips, so they went elsewhere. Yesterday, they moved The Beast to a new pasture near my house. So, out I went with the camera BEFORE they moved him again.

Since the offspring are used for packing and hunting, they are bred for endurance and strength, so my foal would not be whimpy!

Isn't he pretty?!?!!
I love his grey mane. When I got too close to the fence he wandered off.

This picture is for Cowboy. Shooter doesn't sink to the nose and eyeballs, but he does love to lay in the water trough. It was 35 degrees this morning, and his water bucket was frozen, but he had to climb in the trough anyway!


I tried out my niece's mare yesterday. She is really timid. She doesn't like to lope under saddle. I figured with lots of room, I would give it a try. Instead she slammed it into reverse. I will leave the training to the professionals.

Lady is starting to wander on her own. Here she is with Sassy, the roan appy, Sarge, the bay, and the two blacks, Princess and Mystique.
Shooter loves his ponies
Foxy and Belle were doing their best Giraffe imitations.

Today, Belle and I were working on her back feet. She has never been great with her back hooves. Since her beloved farrier is too far away, I am trying to convince her that she must pick up her feet better. Its a struggle. I have not been the best about those back feet and as long as there was nothing in them, I did not try and make her hold the hoof up. For our first serious session, it went really well. The right rear she held up for total and complete picking. I rubbed and scratched her for her excellent behavior. The left rear, it took about 5 tries to get it completely clean and for her to hold it for 20 seconds. 20 seconds may not seem like a lot, but for that leg, it is. Expecially since I did not get kicked. It was that leg that got me one memorable driving day so badly that I could barely get on the box to drive because my knee was so swollen. (Not a fun day, I did not send happy thoughts down the lines that day!!!)

Mud bath

Tigris
Rascals
This is my first serious attempt at uploading pictures at the library. It takes a while.

Here are the barn cats.


Lady was in desperate need of a bath. The weather is supposed to be great his weekend, so I took at chance. Here she is before.
(isn't she getting so big?)

After her bath, I was going to put her on the walker to keep her from rolling until she was dry. She decided that she was hungry, so I let her nurse. I took that opportunity to take pictures. . .




She took that opportunity to roll...




then she did not want to be caught.



She got another bath.

Update

I finally got called in to sub at the high school. It felt so good to be back in the classroom, but I missed the control of my own classroom. This high school is fantastic. I really would love to get a teaching job here.

Since I am not working full time, I am having tons of fun with the animals. We currently have 3 cats. Tigris and Rascal are the barn cats. They are kittens. Probably about 3-4 months old and sisters. When they caught their first mouse, they were so proud. They had to show it off to me. Puma is supposed to be the house cat since she had ten teeth pulled at her last vet check up. However, she can still catch and kill birds, just not with the decapitating finesse that she used to demonstrate. (but she refuses to kill mice, thus two barn kittens)

Shooter is apparently more brain dead and defunct then we thought. His shepherd heritage is coming through. When the horses are all out to pasture, I occasionally have had to yell at Sergeant to leave Barnaby alone, or for Foxy to leave Sergeant, Princess, and Barnaby alone. Shooter got it in his head to herd them into the corner of the fence, barn, etc. They did not apreciate it and he is now limping... sometimes. I checked out his leg, nothing appeared wrong. I checked out the other front leg, he has two broken toes. His brain cells are so messed up that he limps on the wrong leg. He doesn't limp after he soaks in his swimming pool. He spends most of the day in his swimming pool.

Lady has been very frustrated with the new horses. She wants to play with Princess (2 year old Morgan filly), but Foxy and Sergeant are against it. Foxy will now allow Lady to follow Barnaby around,(26, 27, 28, I don't remember, just freaking old!!! Morgan Gelding) but Belle doesn't like it and occasionally chases him off, which sends Shooter into protect mode and then he chases Barnaby away.(and gets kicked in the head)

Princess is a loveable pain in the butt. I am way too used to my horses. Princess kicked kid #2 in the knee. She is terrified of water, and she is a bit skittish. But she loves to play tag with Shooter.

Sergeant is arrogant, thinks he owns the place (until Foxy has words and then he backs down quick). He might be 18, but he is fiesty. He is a screamer. He can't handle Princess out of his sight. Foxy was impressed until he refused to breed her last week (it was really funny because she is 16 hh and he might be 14-14.1 hh and she was backing into him, the whole nine yards and being way too agressive. he backed away so fast, I thought that he would fall over. Then she chased him off. Too bad I did not have the camera!!!)

Belle is pretty funny. Even though we don't have all of the fence fixed, I let all of the horses out for grazing time and play time, but it is supervised. If she would rather be ridden, she will follow me around until I hop on her back. If I ignore her, she whacks me with her head. I feel loved.

Barnaby is recovering from the move, still. He is on the same diet as Belle, just not as much hay. At older than dirt and missing front teeth, he is in really great shape. He no longer paces in his stall and seems to like Wyoming.

Foxy is a hussy. She was so bad last week, teasing every horse, calling out to the stud. It was bad.

We have found the perfect stud for Belle (or maybe Foxy, we are still thinking about that option, too) We have nicknamed him the beast. For those of you that know and loved Red, the true love of Belle's life, the Beast is better looking. He is a gorgeous red belgian stud that lives with a herd of belgian and percheron mares. There also appears to be a jack in the herd, too, since some of the foals are mules. He has a long grey mane and tail like Vea had. We were driving by to show Critter and her husband the herd when we realized that he was a working stud. Belle will be impressed!!! She has always had a thing for Sorrels. Next spring, after shots and vet checks, Belle will be introduced. Vea was a great looking, awesome Belgian/Clyde cross.

There's the update. Still no pics. Still using the library. My first paycheck will probably be used to get internet at the house YEAHHHHHHH!!!!!