To wonderful Friends

Sometimes you forget or just overlook how wonderful people can be in the midst of daily life.





With that said, let me start at the beginning of this week. It's been cold and muddy again, not much horse working going on, couldn't do shoes on the horses on Monday, maybe Tuesday, it's at least supposed to be sunny and in the 40's. So arrangements are made....





I have to recert ACLS Tuesday morning at work. No problem, get through quickly, then back home in time to eat a quick lunch and call the farrier. Everything is goin well at this point. Then the call......Clint, one of my stepsons calls....There's a situation, dad needs to come out, one of us is in trouble! Marlin doesn't have his phone, he's not home, off to look for him....call the farrier, cancel....AGAIN......drive around, find Marlin, make arrangements, he's on his way......Well, now what. Just take a nap......





When I wake up, things are looking up some. Contacted a friend about the puppy Sally found to see if she knew of anyone that might need a cute poodle type puppy. From there it seemed fast and furious. Anne FB me a message to send her a picture of the puppy and she would put it on FB. I sent the picture to her.....

She is really cute, after Sally spent all morning Monday cutting out the mats and burrs and giving her a bath. She is very sweet.

Less than an hour latter I get a message from Anne that she has a new home for the puppy, seriously, less than an hour! And it will be a wonderful forever home, sounds like. Talked to June, a nurse, and this little cutie is just what they have been looking for since she lost her other dog. Yea!!!! Really great news, I just wish it was always that easy! Can't tell Anne thanks enough!

Called Sally who was on her way home from work in Tulsa, she was elated. And a little bit latter, Sally tx me that her car is broke down so on to the next crisis!

The farrier called this morning just as I was getting to Sally's house to follow her to the shop to have the car looked at. It would die everytime you stopped or sometimes when you slowed down. Well, didn't think I would have time today either, cause the new puppy person was coming this afternoon, and had to make sure Sally and everyone was where they needed to be. He is very understanding, the farrier that is.

Oh, by the way, my husband finally called this morning and is getting everything straightened out in Stillwater with the boys.

So now I am home and all the wind is out of my sails and just not motivated now to do anything! Maybe a nap and then out into the sunny, maybe dry round pen to work horses. Sounds like a wonderful plan.......

By the way, I may turn my phone off.......

Not really.

Another good day...

Was another sunny day, started off cold but warmed up nicely. Worked horses in the round pen again. This time started off with Sammy, a 2 year old colt. He did well. He is going to be English but his rear end will take some work. Really nice shoulder though.

Then came Gracie, another Diva. She either wants to stand still in the round pen and get attention or run with tail up and snorting. Not much in between with her. You end up just standing there waiting for her to stop. At times she starts off well, but then she sets herself off and away she goes!

Next was Tez, he is laid back. Needed laid back after Gracie. He is going to be an awesome western horse. And he's very smart. Makes it easy.

On to Sweetie again. She did much better this time. Behaved well, lunged nicely and learning whoa! It just takes practice.

Racheal was the next through the gate. She is very well mannered. She is going to be a great performance horse. My husband was there watching so he took some pictures with my phone. Not great, and you'll have to excuse the mud. Not warm enough yet to put the hose to 'em. But you can get an idea.

He could have left me out of the picture but he was asking what button to push. I had to stop and show him twice. Probably missed the great picture but this will do for now.

I grabbed Spot next. She is a half arabian, the other half is a registered Paint mare, Missy. Missy is a tobiano mare with lots of white. My husband bought her to breed to Trucker for color, well he got lots of color, almost liver chestnut with not one white hair on her. Have teased him about that for a long time now. I told him you don't breed for color. People can end up with something really bad. In Spot's case, got excellent conformation, a good mind, quick learner and found out today, she can buck like a quarter horse. No foolen around, she gets it done. She had just a couple spirts of bucking but they were all feeling pretty good today.

I worked with Narly too. He's not ready for the round pen but he was lead around and his feet picked up. He only threw one fit, and it was a short one. When Narly was younger, he threw a fit when being led and flipped over. Hit his head just right and had a seizure. Very scary, first time I had seen that. It took a week for him to recover and he has had no residual affects but I worry about him anyway. I definitely don't want him to hit his head again. So now he has his bluff in on me.

Was a great day to be outside. And then Sally came by to work with Chester. He got a hair cut...

After Sally worked with him on the ground, she got the saddle out and worked with him a bit. Not a whole lot of time in the saddle but he is getting used to having weight on his back. Taking baby steps so no one gets hurt, but lots of progress being made!

Sooooo, on to the next day...........

Baby steps...

Had a great Valentine's Day. My husband bought me roses! First time. Must have done something right, just not sure what!?

And now for baby steps....Have been in a slump for some time. With the weather being so bad, cold, snow, ice, and then mud and slime, haven't been able to work any horses. But we have had a few days in the past week that have been decent. Today was cold and windy but I still worked with a couple of the now 2 year old's. A little round pen work to get them started. Ease in to it slowly, they seem to learn faster that way. Don't want to throw too much at them at once.

Racheal did fine, she's a quick study and seemed to remember what she learned last year. She wasn't bothered by the other horses around her when going to the round pen either. She's getting quite big at right about 15 hands, and she won't be 2 until May. She has a great engine on back, nice shoulder and really level headed for an Arabian/Saddlebred cross! She will do well at halter and then be an awesome performance horse. Hunter pleasure I think.

Then on to Sweety. Please take that name with a grain of salt. She is very sweet in a diva sort of way. She just loves attention and would also like to think she is the boss. Her mom was the Alpha mare and it shows. She is beautiful, a dark, almost black going to be grey. She is one week younger than Racheal but just as big. Going to be a big girl! But very feminine. Just loves to show off. She was a little snortier going to the round pen but didn't try to run off with me. Once in the round pen it was tail up and snort but she did listen to me. She is very athletic, loves to run. I believe she is a lesson or two behind Racheal, she needs to learn woe, (not sure how to spell that). But she did do better than expected. She'll be great in halter, if she learns to stop and plant, she wants to be close, might have something for her in your pocket.

At any rate, it was good to get them out and working. Hopefully the weather will hold out and I'll be able to work them and the rest again tomorrow and the next day! Would really like to ride Trucker tomorrow and Auti. I really need to get something done around here. Just have to take baby steps.....

Baby time!

The weather has been awful and not much going on except preparing because of the predicted storms that thankfully didn't happen. This week we were supposed to get up to 12 inches of snow. All we got was flurries! But Terry and Linda Seimers got a new baby! A colt out of their Autograph daughter Daisy. She was out of a mare, Patches, who was 1/2 Arabian, 1/4 fox trotter and 1/4 appaloosa. What a mix, but a very good horse. Terry raises fox trotters but owns a purebred Arabian gelding by Autograph named Autographs Sport, and Daisy and at one time Rosie, Daisy's full sister. His neighbor now owns Rosie so she's just across the street. This is a very nice colt. Looks like he'll be black or possibly blue roan. Don't know what the blue roan horses look like as babies but he has a dull mousy colored coat. He also appears to be very "gaited". Congratulations Terry and Linda!

Here comes another.....

Yes, here comes another storm. They are predicting up to 15 inches of snow with possibly 1 inch of ice underneath. Have spent the last two days preparing. Plenty of feed, hay for everyone. Water troughs clean and full. Hoses rolled up and put away. De icer's in and ready to go. Fire wood in the house. Laundry and dishes done. Food in the pantry. Let's see, flashlights, weight in the pickup, boots, blankets. Alcohol for the gas lines. Might have to explain that. We have an oil/gas well and our gas comes from the well. At a certain temp. the gas lines freeze and wallah no heat, hot water, stove. But if you put this alcohol in the lines it keeps it from freezing. Good thing my husband is the expert on all that stuff. Lets see, what else. Well, I think we're ready.

It has been nice weather for 2 days now, and I got to work Trucker, thank goodness. Think it will be baby steps right now, but it is progress from the funk I have been in. Getting more motivated. I am sure my family has given up on me. Haven't called to check in on anyone lately. I am sure Robert and JR are doing fine. They have their own weather problems with rain. Justin and Sara and the kids have backup near by. Chris, Clint and Casey have food, etc. They will all just have to understand that I have been busy and trying to get my mind wrapped around the horses and then wham, gotta get ready for taxes also. This weekend will be a good time to do that if we get all that snow and ice. Won't be able to do much else. I will try to call everyone too!

For now, need to go feed and check everything again, cause I have to work for the next 3 days also. Always when the weather is bad!

Funny Story

Monday evening Marlin went to see his mom at the Assisted Living. He goes quite frequently, at least 5 days a week. Mom has a little bit of dementia and can be forgetful. After he had been there a little while, mom tells him, "Oh, the pharmacy called and you medicine is ready." Marlin asks what medicine mom, she says I don't know. Well what Pharmacy. I don't know. Well who did you talk to? I don't remember.

He came home and told me his story and we thought, well we'll figure it out eventually. She could have had a dream, she does that sometimes and can't distinguish it from real.

On Tuesday, I ran back down to the feed store to check to see if the new deicers were in. Oh yes, we called you mom yesterday and left a message for you.... Mystery solved........

Entertainment???

OK, Monday was going to be a busy day from the get go. Had to get feed, the farrier was coming, needed to move things around....

Got up early, got the feeding done and moved a few things into the new temporary feed/tack room. Put up a shelf. Had to go get feed. Feed store doesn't open until 9:00AM and the farrier was coming at ten! Had to somehow pull this off.

Off to the feed store. The new de icer's weren't in yet, they'll call me. OK. So back to home base with the feed. On the way home, Mr. Burton, the farrier calls and wants to know if its OK to come at 11:00 instead. Suurreee, thats great....... Gives me a little more time.

As I pull off the highway and down the short road to our road, I look over and there is a midget horse with tail straight up, running around the west pen and look there's a dark grey --- and Spot --and Charm. Oh great. They have taken the fence apart again. Wish I had pictures of this. The one group in this pen are now in that pen and the ones from that pen are now in this pen. Get the picture? I thought, "what am I gonna do, and the farrier is coming!" Fine, you guys are gonna stay like this all day. If I try to get them all back to where they are supposed to be, they'll be so fired up when the farrier gets here we might not get anything done. Just let them calm down where they are. So I put the panels back together. By the way, they can undo the panels somehow and have several times. Usually when it is most inconvenient!

Got the fence fixed, the feed unloaded and now on to the farrier. This actually worked out pretty good. Good idea guys. We used the round pen to trim everyone. Racheal was good, Sweety has a mind of her own. Narley just said no, Spot was an angel. Little Eddie, (the midget horse I spoke of, he's a weanling), watched all with interest. Charm his mom hid in the corner of the pen.

On to the next group. One at a time I led them through, first Gracie, she did great. Then Red, then Chester wouldn't let me catch him, then Sam who was especially good, then Solitair. Still Chester wouldn't let me catch him. His mom will be real dissapointed in him I think. Then Tez. Finally, went to get Chester's red halter instead of the old green one. Quess what, he walked right up and put his nose in the halter. He just didn't like that other one, what a pain.

Then on to Trucker, he's not a problem at all. And then to Rascle. This farrier is new to her and she didn't particularly like the process. Anyway, got it done.

Still have to switch everyone back, which is the fun part. You see they have done this before and my husband always snickers cause he just knows that it will take forever to get it done. So I walk out to the gate in between the pens and here comes all the young ones. Open the gate and they all go home, and oh look, come here Gracie and Red, Soli come on. Here come the older ones, Group 2 through the gate. You would think that they did this every day! They like their own feed buckets I think and it's getting close to time.

Anyway, it was a very entertaining day. Pictures would have made the story better, but didn't have the camera with me. Probably would have thrown it at them in the beginning anyway!

Busy, Busy

The Barn has been sitting untouched for a while now and then Sunday somehow I lit a fire under my husband and we got something done. It's a good feeling to actually get something accomplished! Especially after this past few weeks of getting nothing done. And Sally and Random showed up just in time to help out us old folks, so we got more done than we thought we would!

I know in the pictures it doesn't look like much but it is a whole lot to me! and this stall is elephant proof thanks to my husband. I tease him about that all the time.

For right now I will store the feed and tack in here so I can clean the trailer out. He has started on the work to get the floor done in the tack/feed room so hopefully this will be a short temporary thing.

And thats how we spent Sunday. The sun even came out for a while! Was really good for the soul.

Something educational or at least useful!?

OK, something new. Cause these blogs have been really boring the past couple of times, I am going to try to do something educational, helpful, fun or just not boring!

First go:

Here in Oklahoma, most hay is wire bound. I know that isn't the way in all states, but that is how they prefer it here. It can cause problems, especially if you forget the wire cutters and it's a really tight bale.

Also when you open a bale, and this happens with any bale, no matter how it's closed, the ends flop over and sometimes you lose a flake or two. My solution to this is to bend the wire at a little more than 90*, (that's degrees).


Then, pull wire gently, so as not to pull it out...

and stick the end back into the bale. Do this to all 4 ends if necessary. It holds the bale together good enough to keep it from falling off the pile. It is not sturdy enough to stand on or move. For that you actually have to twist the ends back together.

This has helped keep hay out of mud, water or just from being wasted on the floor or where ever. Hope this was helpful. Of coarse, you all probably knew this already and I am way behind!

OK, be back with more..........Any suggestions?

It has gotten warmer in the past few days but there is still snow on the ground. Still dealing with frozen water, frozen mud, ice and just plain cold and yucky. The horses still manage to get into things. This is an innocent moment for Spot and Rachael but it usually doesn't last long. This weekend it is supposed to be near 60 degrees! Yea haw! Gonna have to do some riding and cleaning and catching up.



Red is sneaking around looking innocent at the moment but don't let that fool you. He has been playing with the others.

And finally, it is here. The pink princess has arrived!! Rascle's new blanket and neck cover are here and she really likes it I think. Now she officially looks like a Barbie horse. It gets lots of stares from the neighbors when they drive by and my husband says they get a good laugh from it at breakfast in the morning. But AAAHHHHH, ain't she cute. Patience hasn't been able to come see her much this week because of the cold, but the bus should be driving by any time now and she can see it from the bus.

It has been a long week but the weekend should be much nicer. Off this weekend, YEAH! Have more pictures to post and hopefully some of riding too!