End of July Already?!

It's been 6 weeks now and everyone has settled in nicely.  I can't believe how quickly July flew by!  The weather has been very hot and the flies are ruthless outside.  Even with fly masks and fly spray on, Nox and Diesel can only stand to be in the pasture in the early morning and early evening.  During the heat of the day, they prefer to stand in their shady, fly-free stalls and enjoy the breeze that blows through the barn.  When they are out, their majesties let us know they are ready to come in by standing by their paddock gates and looking annoyed.  If we don't get out there fast enough (in their opinion), they start shaking the chains on the gate to make some noise.  I've told them that at many farms, horses have to stay outside all day no matter how bad the flies are biting, but they just ignore me.

I still love doing chores, especially in the morning.  Even after a late work night, I love walking into the barn just as daylight is starting to break and hearing the soft nickers of Nox and Diesel welcoming me.  It is the perfect start to my day.  Best Husband Ever takes care of afternoon chores, and one or both of us do evening chores.  Basically, the horses are never without hay or water and any poop or pee is cleaned up very quickly.  This is ideal, especially right now in the summer, since a clean barn in a fly-free barn.  I love the warm weather but I will admit that I'm looking forward to cooler temperatures, if only because it means the flies will die.  I grew up in California and Hawaii, where it is summer all year and the bugs enjoy it as much as the people.  But here, between September and June, there are virtually no flies.  It's a wonderful thing if you love horses and I know Nox and Diesel will spend a lot more time outside in the fall.

Diesel is still in charge and Nox has accepted it.  They are buddies now, but sometimes Nox annoys Diesel.  Diesel will shoot Nox a mean look or threaten to kick him, but they haven't has a fight in a few weeks now.  I'm so glad - those first two weeks were a little rough and I had some anxiety.  I don't like to see them get hurt, but I knew I had to let them sort it out.  And of course, they did.

Our niece has been coming out to learn about horses and ride Diesel.  He is so gentle and careful with her and dutifully walks, turns, and whoas when she tells him to.  Coming from the Amish, Diesel is very used to small children and had to learn to be easy and gentle with them.  Amish boys start driving horse wagons really young - I've seen 8 or 9 year old kids handling those big draft horses!  We're just so pleased with Diesel.  He is great with adults, kids, and energetic Thoroughbreds!

So there's my update!  Come and visit anytime, we have lots of apples to feed the horses, Moose would love to play with you, and there is plenty of opportunity for healthy, outdoor exercise/stall cleaning!  =)  Here are a few pics.  Enjoy the rest of summer, it's going by so fast!

5:30 am selfie.  Nox has his grain, I have my pitchfork, and everyone is happy!

Ribbons and Faith

When I was a kid, I rode in a few horse shows.  I borrowed lesson horses or other people's horses and just showed for fun.  Competition is interesting and a good test of riding skills.  It's a way to measure your progress and how well you can remain calm under pressure, because if the rider is nervous, the horse will reflect that.  I rode a great lesson horse named Phantom in my first show when I was 13.  He was so calm and such a professional - he made me look good and we earned a blue ribbon! 

Phantom and I, and the adorable little white pony was named Clover.

First blue ribbon!

I remember another show I was in when I was 14 years old.  I was riding a sweet chestnut mare named "Copper Who".  Copper's owner had 12 horses and she let me help exercise a few of them.  When I started riding Copper, she had arthritis and moved stiffly.  I worked with her and used her for my riding lessons for about 6 months, and by the time the show came around, Cooper was moving beautifully and we made a nice pair.

I was nervous the day of the show and I couldn't calm myself down.  Copper was excited by all the activity that comes with a horse show - horses running everywhere, loud speakers blaring, people cheering and waving, ribbons and banners flapping... there is a lot of commotion for a horse to take in.  When I guided Copper into the show ring for our first class, I was shaking like a leaf and Copper's stride was bouncy and energetic.  We did alright at the walk and the trot.  I was trying to get a handle on my emotions and keep Copper under control.  But then the judge called for everyone to canter.  Copper and I ended up racing around the show ring so fast that I just remember the other horses and riders flashing past in blurs.  I tried to turn Copper in a circle to slow her down and nearly ran over the judge.  Twice.  We placed last in that class and all the rest of our classes.  When a judge has to dive into the dirt sideways to avoid being trampled, they tend to remember you and hold a grudge.  It was a crazy day and I was a little embarrassed, but Copper's owner was thrilled.  She was pleased because the horse she thought would be arthritic and lame for the rest of her life was feeling so good that she pranced and raced around like a filly.  That made me feel better, because no matter what color ribbons we won at the end of the day, Copper was healthy and I had helped make that happen.

Copper and I getting ready for show warm-up.

Soon after that show, I had to make the tough decision to give up horses for a few years to concentrate on swimming.  I wanted to earn a scholarship to college and thought I had a better chance at earning one for swimming than for equestrian sports (turned out I was correct).  I saved my show ribbons in a ziplock bag.  I saved them because I hoped that one day I would have a barn to hang them in.  Over the last 20 years I've kept that bag of ribbons, bringing them with me every time I moved, hop-scotching across the country, hoping some day I would have a barn wall to display them.

Last weekend I hung up those ribbons and I got a little emotional about it.  Half of these ribbons are 23 years old!  I've kept them for so many years; I've kept faith that one day I would have a place to hang them.  Faith that I could make this dream a reality.  It may have taken a while, but oh... it was so worth the wait.  I'm pretty sure that my show days are over, but I'm so glad that I have these colorful mementos to remind me of the little girl who knew that she'd have her own horse barn one day.

If you really want something, work hard, have faith, and make it happen.

       

One Week Later...

It has been a whole week since we brought the horses home.  I was nervous about leaving them in the pasture together while we were at work, so in the early part of the week I kept Nox and Diesel in their paddocks during the day, and let them out into the pasture after we returned home from work.  They enjoyed their time in the pasture in the evenings and were getting along very well. No fights, but every once in a while Diesel would pin his ears at Nox and make him move away.  Most of the time Nox complied, but I saw a few times where he would hesitate and resist a little, before reluctantly moving. 

I wake up early so I can finish barn chores before getting ready for work.  I love walking into the barn and seeing Nox and Diesel waiting in their stalls for me to show up.  They respond to my "Good Morning, Boys" with a nicker and nod their heads when they see me filling their feed buckets.  By Wednesday we had all settled into a good routine and Nox and Diesel were acting like great buddies.

I decided I would let them stay in the pasture together all day Wednesday, but I closed off their paddocks so they couldn't corner each other and possibly get hurt.  It was a cool day with clouds and breezes.  I raced home after work, half expecting to find a disaster when I got home, but they were both grazing happily.  I was elated!  So I left them out again on Thursday and once again, everything was fine.  Can you tell that I'm building up to the story twist? 

Friday morning, yesterday, I finished barn chores and let the horses out into the pasture.  I watched them for a few minutes, happy that they had been home a whole week and things were going so well.  I went inside to take a shower.  Best Husband Ever was up, drinking coffee and watching the morning news. While in the shower, I heard a few horse squeals.  Soon after, BHE knocked on the bathroom door and said Nox had a good sized cut on his neck.  I quickly dried off, put my barn clothes back on, and went out the pasture where Nox and Diesel were grazing as if nothing was wrong.  As I got closer to Nox, he turned to face me and my heart sank.  He had a gash as long and nearly as wide as my hand on his neck, and a big bite mark on his flank.  It looked like Diesel came after him and Nox turned into the fence as he tried to get away, catching himself on the fence post or the rail and ripping his skin open.  I haltered him and led him into the barn, and started applying gauze and betadine to the wound.  It was large and scary looking, but it wasn't terribly deep.  It was bleeding, but not gushing or spurting.  It was 6:30 am.  Well, I thought, it was about time our veterinarian knew where we lived now anyway.

The gash.

I called Dr. Anderson, our local large animal veterinarian who is fantastic, and she answered on the second ring.  A horse vet never sleeps in.  I explained the injury and sent her a photo.  She said she'd be right out to stitch the wound shut.  I emailed work to let them know I'd be late and waited for the vet to arrive.  Diesel was in his stall, neighing for Nox like he missed his buddy.  I couldn't be mad at Diesel, but I was mad at myself.  Maybe I had rushed things too quickly.  Maybe I should have kept them apart longer.  Maybe I'm a terrible horse owner and I have no idea what I'm doing.  I sent the bloody picture to Penny along with a text about what happened, and she reassured me that this was normal, unfortunately, and gashes and bites were going to happen.  Nox will have to learn to move quicker and avoid the fence.  Most of her horses that are in herd paddocks have all kinds of scars from fights and accidents.  I felt a little better.

Dr. Anderson arrived and set to work stitching the would closed.  She applied a local anesthetic so he wouldn't feel the stitch needle, and Nox stood very still, half dozing while I stroked his face.  She sprayed the area with a silver antiseptic, gave me a week's worth of antibiotics to feed him twice a day, and advised me to leave him in the paddock for the rest of the day, and then to let him back out with Diesel the next day.  She also told me that this was part of being in the herd, and agreed that Nox may be a little socially clueless but that he hopefully learned a good lesson this time.

All better!

This morning I let Nox and Diesel out into the pasture, and they behaved nicely.  They are still out there, grazing calmly and even standing near each other, although I do notice that Nox keeps a respectful distance from Diesel and he moves as soon as Diesel moves near him.  Hopefully they have worked things out and we won't have any more accidents!

Beautiful Saturday morning.