Rest In Peace A.T. Young....

Oh Lord, I've never lived where churches grow. 

I love creation better as it stood, 

That day You finished it so long ago 

And looked upon Your work and called it good.

I know that others find you in the light.

That's sifted down through tinted window panes, 

And yet I seem to feel You near tonight 

In this dim, quiet starlight on the plains.

I thank You, Lord, that I am placed so well, 

That You have made my freedom so complete; 

That I'm no slave of whistle, clock, or bell 

Nor weak-eyed prisoner of wall and street.

Just let me live my life as I've begun

And give me work that's open to the sky; 

Make me a pardner of the wind and sun, 

And I won't ask a life that's soft or high.

Let me be easy on the man that's down; 

Let me be square and generous with all. 

I'm careless sometimes, Lord, when I'm in town, 

But never let 'em say I'm mean or small!

Make me as big and open as the plains, 

As honest as the hoss between my knees, 

Clean as the wind that blows behind the rains, 

Free as the hawk that circles down the breeze!

Forgive me, Lord, if sometimes I forget.

You know about the reasons that are hid. 

You understand the things that gall and fret; 

You know me better than my mother did.

Just keep an eye on all that's done and said
And right me, sometimes when I turn aside,

And guide me on the long, dim trail ahead

That stretches upward toward The Great Divide.

- Badger Clark

Quoooooote!!!

“An army of asses led by a lion is better than an army of lions led by an ass.”

-George Washington

As Sad As It May Sound...

It's barely the beginning of February and I have a really bad case of Spring Fever!!

Ugh!

It's making me crazy!

Mindy is calling me and saying riding this, riding that, loping here, loping there...all the while I am falling on my butt while walking across the ice patches 'round these parts.  Oh, and starting my pickup 20 minutes before I have to leave for work...just to thaw the windshield so I can see to drive!

All of her "happy" talk about being able to get some riding done so early in the year, well has made me jealous!  (0:  So I decided to get the girls out and do a little bit of cleaning and see if anyone has started shedding yet.

If someone is shedding, then I have a glimmer of hope that maybe my riding days are just around the corner!!

I got Tari out first.  She was less than impressed when she realized this was going to be a "snack" free activity.  She does have cravings you know!

I assured her after I was done, I'd give her a little something for her troubles!

Baby Momma Tari really doesn't love being brushed.  Which works out well for me, because I am not the brush 'em 'til the shine type of owner.  I usually get the chunks off and go.  Then I brush 'em down when I'm back.  I take no offence to them wallowing like hogs after I turn them loose.  It's what the do to work the kinks out, IMHO.

It may have come from the whole allure of wild horse and their dreadlocked manes, but I have never liked a bridle path.  Don't get me wrong, I like a shined up show horse complete with all the correct trimmings.  But on my horses, no spank you.  They need their whiskers, eye guards, ear hairs, mane, and feathers for bugs.  I don't necessarily think Mother Nature is a kind woman, but I think that some of her ideas are good ones and should be left alone.  So my horses are hairy beasts and I like it.  They do too!!  (0;

I did get the witches knot out of Tari's mane, got her tail mostly untangled, and got most of the hangers on off of the rest of her.  I picked her feet, took a few pictures, gave her a handful of treats and turned her back out.  All of that brushing made her itchy.  She walked around for a minute, nose to the ground and then rolled.  (0: 

I grabbed Horse Girl next, just because.  Horse Girl is bred to be a show horse.  Her parents and grandparents were show horses.  They all have pretty good records and were groomed to a high shine regularly.  So some part of me belives she may be genetically predisposed to like being groomed.

  Horse Girl was a 4-H horse and had little girls spit shining her before she broke her ankle.  So she eats any kind of attention up as fast as she can.  I could groom Horse Girl all day long.  She would think she died and went to heaven.

She doesn't like to be away from the other horses however.  The longer I let her stand untouched, the more agitated she got.  I ended her suffering and gave her a good brushing.  This mare likes grooming so much, you can brush her tail and her head drops and she sighs.  Tari clamps hers down hard after about 5 brush strokes.  Not Horse Girl, any brushing is good brushing!!  (0:

As I brushed the first two big girls, I did realize that they are in need of a bath.  I considered the "sponge bath" approach for about 5 seconds, then I snapped back to reality and carried on with what I had begun!  (0:

She decided to dig a hole while I got her reward for being such a good girl.  Patience is nothing this mare possess, I guess that's why I like her.  I have no patience either...But look how good her tail looks all brushed out!

Fiona was last, but definitely not least.  She nearly bolted out the gate once I caught her.  She is really into attention.  Well, more like entertainment... 

I brought her out of the gate, turned to close it and she was already grabbing my boot laces.  It didn't stop from there, either.  She doesn't like the puppy so she tried to nip her, then decided grabbing Abbi may be better.  The assault on the smaller quadrupeds lasted only a short time, then she decided to try and gnaw on the trailer and tires.  Pawing to China crossed her mind as a good idea and was attempted, as did laying down.

Once I stopped trying to take her picture and actually started brushing her, she stood pretty well.  Fiona's time locked in the stall with no real contact physically except from me made her appreciate grooming.  But even she has her limits...  (0:  I don't know, she may have some sort of equine ADD, who knows?  I would have loved to leave her tied  up for a few hours, but don't really have the place to do it.  I know I can leave her tied to the trailer, but it's not in the best place for that right now.  It's too close to the runs in front of the barn as well as too close to the barn.  The biggest  problem of all, I can't see it from anywhere I would have moved off to, so I couldn't tell if she were in any sort of trouble without walking almost directly to her....

So she got to go back to the pasture without any kind of schooling...I guess you'd call it.  Isn't she cute though?  (0:  And doesn't she just look like a barrel horse? 

Of course only time will tell if she IS a barrel horse, but hey a girl can dream!

So what were the dogs doing while I was brushing the girls?  Well Kage was in the tack room by the heater.  Why was Kage in the tack room by the heater?  Well because it was only 34 degrees outside in the sun, and he doesn't really have any kind of coat for standing around while I groom the horses.  And he's not too proud to stay warm in the tack room and watch me work.  Poor Old Man!

Abbi was right beside, behind, and in front of me the whole time.  Doing what any good Border Collie would do, try and make me go faster so we could do the stuff she wanted to do!  (0:

And Seven?  Well Seven was busy cleaning up after the horses...  Chad says its gross, I say it's funny.  She is a dog after all, and there is nothing about a horse that is gross....  

Sooo, was anybody shedding?  A shedding horse is a sure sign that Springs around the corner...  right??

2 hours, 3 horses, and this is all I cleaned out of my brushes.  That tiny little clump that not even a mouse would take to fill its bed.  I then thought, hey!  Go get the Hee-Haws!  Surely they will be loosing some hair!

Just as my desperation got the best of me and I grabbed the Hee-Haws halters it started to snow.

Lovely.  

Thank you God.  I get it.  Its still Winter and only the beginning of February...

I'll try again in a couple of weeks, but for now...my Spring Fever is a wee bit frozen!  

She Is Coming Along Pretty Well!

This is my first attempt at posting a video, I think...

Sorry Mindy, I stole this off of you You-Tube account....

This is the kill pen horse that Mindy got from her friends that rescued her.  I did not post this for critiquing on a vicious level.  I don't care if you don't like how long/short Mindy's stirrups are, I don't care if you think she holds her hands too high/low, and I don't care if you think she should be wearing a helmet.  What I DO care about is how well this horse seems to be doing!  She is obviously high headed, but we know from Mindy's investigative work that she was a rope horse and wore a tie down.  So to me she looks like a horse that is used to setting it's head against a tie down while working. 

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong on this.

Mindy had her seen by the Chiropractor late in January and she was only out at the pole/axis.  That makes me really believe that her high headedness is from a tie down or actually lack there of.  The Chiropractor said that she was in great over all shape and had excellent range of motion.  More good news.

So far things that the mare doesn't like aren't that numerous.  She doesn't like the barn.  At all.  Takes a load of work to get her in.  We will of course work on that when she gets here.  But right now, it is not all that important.  Give her a wind break and she is fine.  She likes to eat, but is polite when being fed.  She needs grain to be caught right now.  Although Mindy says its getting easier without it.  She still worries about being caught.  Once you have her though, she is on task and ready to work. 

There has only been one real "wreck" with her so far.  

 Mindy had her at this little race this last weekend and had her tied to the trailer next her mare Chix.  Chix decided to rub her head on the black mares flank.  The black mare decided she would kick Chix for intruding on her personal space.  Mindy was watching from the front of the truck.  As the black mare got ready to fire both barrels at Chix, she reacted like most of us would.  She hollered and smacker her hands together and the black mare 'bout lost it.  She tucked her butt in and started pulling as if her life depended on it.  Mindy got behind her and made enough noise she finally took a step forward.  She untied Chix and tied her to the opposite side of the trailer and went back to check on the black mare.  The mare was standing in the same place she had jumped to when Mindy finally got her mind off of pulling the side off of the trailer.  She was standing like her feet were glued to the ground and she was sweating and shaking.  Mindy said not a single muscle on that horse wasn't tense and bouncing.  She said she sweet talked her and rubbed and petted on her until the mare finally showed signs of relaxing.  She then offered her some water and left her to soak on the "good" feeling.

Mindy said the next morning the black mare was happy to see her and probably would have loaded up and went to work again.  Good news!  She seems to be adjusting to her new life.  We are all pretty happy about it too!!  She is going to haul my butt around the local shows this year and also pony Fiona the Monster Pony! 

Fiona is still really having a hard time with space when being ponied at anything slower than a long trot.  The faster you go the better she stays focused on what she is doing.  As soon as we start walking she is touching, bumping, pulling, and trying to rub.  This has been quite taxing on Tari and after just one day of ponying Fi, it takes me two weeks to get Tari traveling straight again.  Horse girl can handle the baby antics, but she is so hot, I have to ride her down before I take on Fiona...  

And Horse Girl is having off and on soundness issues.  The frustrating part is that they aren't all from her broken rear ankle (which has long since healed and fused.)  They are in the front shoulder.  I have her on Legend Shots, and have considered Adiquin (sp).  But don't really know what the right way to go with her is.  She is such a dork and I just love her to death, so whatever I do with her this year, I suppose it doesn't really matter in the long.  Maybe she will just work as a nanny for Tari this year...

I am hoping that once we get Fiona working correctly on the end of the lead at all gates and the baby's weaned Tari can pony without messing up her whole way of going.  Fingers crossed!!

The black mare will be coming home with Chad and I this weekend.  We are heading over to Mindy's for Wyatt's first birthday.  On our way home we will be hauling a load of horses back with us.  The black mare, Sally, and Chix.  Why are Sally and Chix coming over you ask...well that's a whole different post!  (0:

Amen...

I base my fashion taste on what doesn't itch.


- Gilda Radner

'Nuther One...

If you have knowledge, let others light their candles with it."


Winston Churchill

Quote..

In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is stoned to death.


- Joan D. Vinge