December 2008

Zippy in 2008 Christmas parade!

December 1:

We had flurries this morning, then again this evening, but they melted off in between. Big fluffy fat snowflakes. It was very pretty in a snow globe sort of way, but I am happy to see it melt.

Dec. 2:

With Kumquat's help we got the rest of the lights and some of the decorations on our 9 foot tree. She can get up to the top and has managed to knock the silver star off. I had to unplug the lights for awhile when she was going after some of the bulbs. There is no help like Kumquat's! I found a cute little Santa hat for her at the Dollar Store yesterday . She seems to be in the holiday mood, so a hat is just what she needed....



Dec. 4:

I spent the morning cleaning the barn, etc. and then the afternoon giving Zippy, the mudball, a bath. Actually we both got a bath at the same time. It was 50 degrees outside, but the wind was calm and he never shivered. I did. Then I spent two hours in the stall with him drying him off and keeping him from rolling. The Christmas parade is Saturday, but the temps are supposed to really drop after tonight and I couldn't take him to a parade looking like a brown pony. He is locked up in the mares' stall until Saturday. He is not happy with me. I carried hot water down to barn for him, but I doubt he appreciated my efforts much....

After we had dinner, I sat down on the couch and totally zonked out. Turning brown ponies into white ones is tiring.

Dec. 5:

Zippy is still clean, although really ticked off at me for being locked up in the mares' stall. I stuck Trinket in there with him this morning, so at least he isn't alone. He won't end up perfectly white, long shaggy white hair never seems to come completely clean in the winter, but he will look pretty good. They are calling for snow showers tomorrow afternoon during the parade. I got some battery operated Christmas lights to hang on his cart, so we will show up!
Decorating cart with Kumquat and Creampuff's help

Dec. 6:

The parade went really well! It was lightly snowing the entire time, which made us a bit soggy, but added to the atmosphere of the event. There were tons of people along the parade route, including an amazing number of little kids. Zippy got lusted over a lot. I heard one kid say she wanted a pony, someone beside her say "where would you keep it?", and the little girl replying "In the backyard". Boy, I remember those days. Zippy managed to stay clean and was shaggy, but very cute. It was just getting dark by the end of the parade, so he showed up really well, along with the strings of battery operated lights we had on the cart shaft. We had the cart decorated in red roping with green holly leaves in it and in the basket behind, poinsettias and greenery. We looked quite spiffy if I do say so myself! We were the first horse unit and there were quite a few horses behind us, several decorated really nicely.

Anyway, we are home, Zippy got lots of snacks and was a very good little guy all day. We are all three exhausted. Putting on a parade display takes all day.

Zippy pulling cart in 2008 Christmas parade


Photo in Roanoke Times Current Dec. 10, 2008

Dec. 7:

We never made 30 degrees today, but at least the sun was shining. My black water troughs will melt the ice if the sun shines. otherwise I spend a lot of time adding hot water and breaking ice. Not my favorite thing to do.

We are supposed to have a windchill factor of +6 degrees tonight, so the ponies and Cactus are in the large mares' stall, Ivan is in the ponies' part of the barn and run-in, and Kazi and Daisy have their usual spot. Ivan's little shelter really doesn't protect him from high wind too well and I didn't feel good about leaving him in the arena tonight. He does have a nice shaggy coat and is used to living outside, so probably wouldn't care, but I wouldn't sleep too well knowing he was in that wind and cold. He thinks he has arrived with his own spot in the barn.



Dec. 8:

Ivan has un-arrived , he is back in the arena tonight. The temps are up and there isn't the wind we had last night, so everyone got put back in their original spots. Even Zippy is back in the pony lot with Trinket and Cactus Jack since he doesn't have to stay clean now. The ponies make such a mess in the mare's stall, I am glad to get them back in their own run-in area. But they were all happy last night!

Zippy has been so sweet today. He usually ignores me for the most part, but today he was wanting to be petted and loved on. So he got lots of hugs and rubs. He is still relatively clean and a pleasure to hug! I had to take a couple of handfuls of cockleburs off Trinket and while I was doing that, Zippy was laying his head over my shoulder and giving me hugs. Such a sweetie horse! You would think after his bath last Thursday and then pulling us for two miles in the parade on Saturday that he wouldn't want much to do with me today. I spent the better part of an hour in the pony lot with Zippy, Trinket and Cactus Jack, so each got brushed and petted, then a treat at the end. They liked that!

Dec. 11:

It has been raining here a lot since yesterday. My mud is getting deep and slick. I got the barn cleaned up, but slipped and slid with the wheelbarrow. I was sure I was going to go splat and end up with a full load in my lap.... ....It is still pouring here, so the herd goes into the barn.

This morning I had to round up a dozen Christmas tree ornaments and rehang them on the tree. Seems some cats had a party in the tree last night. Dead ornaments were all over the livingroom.

Dec. 16:

After a lovely day of 62 degrees with sunshine during part of the day yesterday, we are back to clouds, rain and dropping temps today...sigh....Yesterday was soooo great, the best day we have had in weeks. I spent the day running around doing errands, but did spend some quality Ivan time hanging out with him in the late afternoon. He had one of those 'witch's braids' in his mane that took some time to work out. He isn't thrilled with my messing around with his mane and tail, but is getting used to it. One day he is going to have to have a bath, that will be fun.

I also made Kazi, Daisy and Ivan run around the arena for a few minutes yesterday. Kazi looked great!!!!! No limps and she seemed to be enjoying the run. Daisy opted out pretty quick, but Ivan and Kazi looked like they were having fun. It was wonderful to see Kazi moving so well. I am really hoping we have her and Zippy's feet problems figured out. Now if we could just get Trinket sound...but I think she has more than feet problems going on.


Dec. 17:

Daisy was gaining inches around her middle for several weeks in a row, but seems to have slowed down in the past couple of weeks. She looks chunky, but not balloonish. I will have to get a photo.
What concerns me is that I had a goat, Tinkerbelle, who kept me guessing about her pregnancy for 8 months, she was huge, but considering that goats have a 5 month gestation she was good at fooling me for three extra months. She wasn't pregnant. I am hoping Daisy isn't just getting fat. She has never gone back into heat and her attitude is different from her normal goofballness, so we THINK she is still pregnant. She'd like to kill Ivan, another sign of impending motherhood.

Ivan is back in the pony part of the barn tonight. It is just too rainy and yucky out. The ponies are busy messing up the large mare's stall.

Dec. 18:

I think I saw the foal formerly known as "Speck" moving on Daisy's left side this morning! Daisy doesn't like me sneaking feels and will move away if she isn't tied, so I decided to just watch her side. Something in there squiggled around! Daisy is due for her 9 month rhino shot on Dec. 28. Surely she will start plumping up hugely soon. Kazi was bred on April 22, Daisy had the embryo transfered to her on April 29. The range of dates the vet gave me is Feb. 25 to March 25 that are possible due dates. A guess would be mid-March...or not. Only Daisy and the foal formerly known as Speck know......
We have been giving pep talks to the foal. Daisy probably wonders why we talk to her belly .


Mud and muck galore here. It is twice as hard to clean up crapola when the wheelbarrow sticks in the mud. Yuck. It is supposed to get up to 65 degrees tomorrow, but also it is supposed to rain.....sigh....more mud.

Dec. 19:

We had a relatively nice day here today. It didn't get up to the promised 65 degrees, but was warm and actually sunny part of the day. Now it is windy and the temps are going to drop all weekend....Only 2 more days until the Winter Solstice when the sun will start staying longer every day!! Hurray . Spring is only 3 months away, 90 tiny little days. Merely a hop and a skip.....Soon....

Dec. 20:

Our temps were better than predicted today, we got up to 58 degrees. It was supposed to be in the 40s, so I guess their timing was off. Now it is supposed to be that tomorrow and in the high 20s on Monday. Yikes . That's gonna hurt.

We spent the day finishing up with our outside Christmas decorations and cleaning up the barn. You can walk on most of the mud now... ... We had lunch at Five Guys and stocked up on bedding for the stalls from Tractor Supply this afternoon. I suspect the horses will appreciate it tomorrow and Monday night when the windchill is supposed to be +3 degrees. Double yikes!! I may put blankets on the horses tomorrow night since their run-in is open to the elements in a high wind. Ivan has never worn a blanket before, but he has let me put a tarp on his back. Hopefully he will let me blanket him. The ponies are in the luxury suite, the mares' stall, and will be comfy. I just took a pillow down to put in the barncat's 'doghouse', so they should be comfy, too.

Dec. 21:

We stripped and re-bedded all the horse areas of the barn and this evening put blankets on Kazi, Daisy and Ivan. This was the first time Ivan has had a blanket put on him and he didn't seem to mind a bit! Such a sweetie horse. I bet I couldn't have done it this time last year.... ...It will be one year since Ivan arrived here on Dec. 30. I hope by next year this time that we are veteran trail riders....my New Year's resolution, I guess.

Anyway, all the outside animals are as warm as we can make them for tonight's high winds and low temps. They say we will have wind gusts up to 50 mph and windchills at -8 F after midnight. I suspect the horses will appreciate those blankies tonight!

Dec. 22:

This weather is just too horrendous this year. I think I will write the Weather Channel and complain . Think it will do any good? It stayed pretty darn cold here today, but at least the sun was shining so my black buckets melted enough to get the ice out of them. Kazi, Daisy and Ivan were snug in their rugs all day. I kept checking to see if they were too warm, but they weren't. Ivan is wearing Kazi's best fitting blanket, I need to get him one of his own, it is a bit too big. Kazi is wearing her original blanket that is a bit too big for her. Daisy is wearing a New Zealand Kiwi rug that I got at a used tack sale for $25. It fits just fine. I snuck a feel under her rug to see how the foal formerly known as Speck was doing and felt him wriggling around under there! So I sang him a song.
Since he is a captive audience, he couldn't run too far to get away from the noise.....

The wind has finally slowed down. I wore my sealsuit all day and appreciated having it.

Dec. 23:

Donnie is now off work until Jan. 5th!! I'll let him rest a couple of days, then we HAVE to get to work on a new Daisy confinement system. She starts her non-fescue hay Jan.1 and I won't have enough of it for the rest to munch on hers. Life is going to get a little complex keeping the bulldozer out of fescue hay and the rest of the crowd away from her more expensive stuff. All these fat little equines are going to be very jealous of what Daisy will be eating for the next few months.....Someone let Ivan out of the pony side of the barn he has been living in at night the past few days TWICE. We don't know if it is Daisy or Ivan who has figured out the latch to his gate.

Dec. 24:

It has been a nice day here this Christmas Eve! It got up to 57 degrees and only just now at nearly 9 pm has it started to rain. So we had a fun time today eating at Five Guys for lunch, browsing thru the Books-a-Million store for stuff we wanted for us, and taking Christmas horsey pix. Of course, we are going to make you folks look at them....:-)


Donnie and Daisy


Diane, Ivan and Kazi


All the horses got apples, cookies and mints with their evening dinner. We hope we have bribed them to say good things about us when midnight tonight arrives..

Dec. 26:

I just heard from "Speck's" sire's owner. She said the stallion was in a bad driving accident in September and is only just now being hand walked out of his stall. I don't have all the details, but it sounded pretty bad. She is hoping he will recover fully. Such a shame, he is such a great horse.


We are having a rainy,sleety, yucky, cold day. At least yesterday was pretty nice. It is supposed to be 60 degrees tomorrow!! We will have to fix up Daisy's confinement system tomorrow. She starts her new diet, which includes orchard grass hay, alfalfa hay, supplements, and grain, but no fescue pasture time. She is not going to like that last bit....I gave her a few bites of alfalfa yesterday, which was a big hit, and she has had her grain increased little by little over the past few weeks. She says she is eating for two and deserves everything I can give her.

You know it is slick when you have to use two manure forks like ski poles to keep from making a rather deep impression in the mud.....

And you know it is slick when you take two steps forward and slide one back.

It rained all day here, our mud is unbelievable....again. Mud skiing is not much fun. My white horsies and my dark one match.

Dec. 27:

Kazi and Ivan both did soooo good with their pedicures today! Ivan was so good that Dave knocked off 5 bucks due to good behavior! We started with the bad behavior foot and he circled around a time or two then settled right down. That and a dozen treats for being good made Ivan a much happier guy.

Kazi's feet are doing great! No sore spots, no residue from former spots of abscesses, great frogs, great shape, great everything! Dave said her feet look better now than anytime since he started working on her. He put her clogs back on since they are doing so well for her. After she and Ivan were done I had them galloping around the arena to show Dave how they were moving and she looked like she was enjoying herself. Not a head bob in sight!

Dec. 31:

New Year's Eve! We have been in a wind storm all day with 60 mph winds knocking out our power for 6 hours today, starting just after we got up. So I pulled on my sealsuit and went down to throw hay and check water for the horses, then we spent the powerless day reading and sitting in front of our woodstove. The power came back on just before 3 pm, but other than the howling wind, it was a nice quiet day here. 2008 is definitely going out like a lion. I hope 2009 comes in like a lamb.

I chased tarps and trashcans all over the yard, and one tarp that had been on our wood pile was wrapped around the neighbor's mailbox across the road. The ponies stayed in all day in the luxury suite, but the horses went in and out of the barn all day as they pleased. With hay in the barn, it pleased them most to stay in. We put their blankets on this evening since with the wind gusting so hard and the temps at 16 degrees, the windchill will be way too low for comfort. This is Ivan's second time having a blanket and he acted like it was old hat having it put on. Such a sweet guy.

So December 2008 has ended and Ivan never got ridden the entire month. He did learn to have a blanket put on and has been living in the barn most of the month with the mares and ponies. I think he likes that. We have been talking about how to rearrange the barn or add on a little to accommodate having 4 large horses and 3 small ones in it at once, after "Speck" is born. Most of the time only the run-in areas of the barn are used by the horses, but the weather this past month or so has been so bad that using the entire barn has been necessary to keep all the equines dry and happy.

My New Year's resolution for 2009 is to be riding Ivan a lot this year. His year here has been a success, I think. He has gone from being a wild young horse who was nearly un-handleable to being a fairly well mannered fellow who can now be saddled, bridled, and ridden, if only at a walk. He has formed an attachment to me that I did not expect when I got him which makes me very happy. I think he is going to make a fine trail horse for me and I am very glad he is here. He has definitely been my 2008 challenge!

November 2008

Riding Ivan in the Moonlight!


November 1:

We are in the midst of a mouse invasion here. Either there is a litter of mice that have hatched inside, or they are coming in from the outside. Either way, Kumquat is thrilled. She finally figured out how to kill one last night, after chasing several others around and playing with them, but not killing them over the past few days. This morning there was a dead one in the kitchen. Luckily, Donnie was the one who stepped on it in the dark...... ....Everyone in the county would have heard the shriek if I had stepped on one in my bare feet in the dark.

A couple of days ago I was standing in the living room with 4 cats laying around the woodstove and watched a little mouse cruise right by my foot. When I yelled and pointed it out, all the cats looked at my finger and wondered what my problem was. The mouse kept on trucking.

Kumquat the Mouse Herder

Nov.3:

I worked with Ivan a little on the ground last night while Donnie trimmed Zippy's feet. Ivan seemed so happy to be doing something. I think he is a horse who wants a job....and maybe a few mints for rewards. We worked on moving away from pressure, front and back feet, by crossing one foot over the other. We haven't done nearly enough work on that, and I want him to know how to sidepass across things soon. He did pretty good! He is also getting pretty good about letting Donnie handle him, that used to freak him out. Hopefully we will have him socialized to people soon.


Nov. 5:
Election Day. Sooo glad the elections are over!
Life back here in Podunk, VA should get back to normal now. I am going crazy from not being able to work how I want with Ivan, but may just go ahead and saddle him up this coming weekend. It is three weeks today since my little procedure and I am feeling pretty good! I showed Megan, my farm helper, what Ivan was learning the other day, crossing one foot over in front of the other going to the side, and he did it perfectly the first time I asked him to do it! He is such a smart little horse......


Nov.6:

Poor Isis the goat is having major problems. She broke her horn at the skull a week ago and has had ups and downs since. I found her unable to get up yesterday, although she ate the apple slices I gave her. So I had Megan call her dad to bring his gun and we would do her in while she wasn't looking. Megan and I got to work for a little while, happened to look in on Isis and she was up and eating and drinking! So Death got called off for the day. (I have never shot one of my animals before, but Isis is so fearful of being handled that I think it is the best way to put her down without causing her terror at the last moment.)
Then this morning she was down again and unable to even sit up, but was hungry for those apple slices. I fed her three entire apples and leaned her up against the wall. I figured I would call Megan's dad again. Then a few minutes later, Isis was up and eating her oats and apples again. I think she must be running right on the edge of her energy reserves. As long as she eats and can get up a bit, I won't do her in, but it won't be long now. I hate this part of animal stewardship...Isis is 14 1/2 years old and has had a very good life for a goat, but it seems it has passed so fast.

Nov. 7:

I believe Isis may have been brain damaged a bit when her horn was broken, or developed an infection afterwards there. She was basically paralyzed the past couple of days, she couldn't even sit up on her chest when I would try to prop her up. She was put down this afternoon. She didn't seem to be in any pain, but just couldn't control her body. I have three male cashmere goats left, one of them Isis' twin brother, Inkblot. He is 14 1/2 years old and will probably be the next to go. His brother Lightning is 12 years old and Phantom is 7, so I'll have goats for a few more years.

Nov. 8:

We have worked ourselves into a frenzy today. It started off pretty and warm and as the day has progressed, it has gotten colder, cloudier, and windy. It is not so pleasant outside now. Besides cleaning up after the horses, we had a neighbor come here grooming our arena with his tractor. It looks very nice. The first thing Ivan did was roll around in the nicely loosened footing and take a dust bath. Then the fellow used his tractor to dig a grave for Isis for us, which reduced our work by a couple of hours. The nice thing is, he traded that work for my goat tattoo set that I no longer need and he was getting ready to order one! No money exchanged hands and we are both happy. I love trades like that.

Nov. 12:

Remember the radio contest Donnie was in last June? Well the results were finally published in QST, the Amateur Radio magazine. Donnie won first place in his category nationwide!! He is a happy clam tonight. They listed the first 160 radio operators in his category (one radio, one operator, 5 or less watts) and he came out about 200 points higher than number 2! The guy he always competes with, and loses to mostly, was number 5 this year. Hurray for Donnie!!!

I had my little procedure a month ago today. It went pretty well and I should be cleared to do what I want tomorrow when I see the surgeon. Ivan misses our work together .

Speaking of Ivan: Hide your eyes if you are tired of Ivan pix. I just found these from the last ride we had before my little procedure.....



Riding Ivan in October


Nov. 13:

I saw the surgeon today. He says I am doing fine, but would prefer I not do anything too strenuous for another couple of weeks. So I asked if this included riding my horse and he said I shouldn't do that either because the trotting might upset stitches or something. So I said how about if I only walk my horse, I am going nuts here. He said "you horse people drive me crazy. Just walk your horse" . (His nurse is a horse person who also had a hysterectomy, so he probably did get driven crazy by her.) So anyway, I now have official permission to ride Ivan, and since we haven't done any trotting yet, walking only is not a problem!

Nov. 14:

It has been raining off and on for the past couple of days. We need it, but it puts a stop to riding Ivan. The farrier is coming tomorrow to do Ivan and Kazi's feet. I watched Kazi float down the hill this morning in a beautiful canter when I went to get them in. I think her feet must be feeling pretty good. Ivan floats, too, but looks more racey than Kazi. She looks more collected. I think Ivan will make a good trail horse. Daisy gallumps along . She is a sweet horse, but grace is not one of her attributes. She is very pacey.

This morning I went out to see Donnie off as he climbed in the truck to go to work. I was standing next to the driver's window when he clicked on the windshield wiper to clear the windshield of the rain we had in the night. At least a quart of water got thrown in my face, hair and down the front of my sweater... ...I was soaked, my glasses were soaked and I couldn't see a thing. I stood there gasping and Donnie says calmly, "Wow, that was spectacular...I guess I had better go NOW.".....Yep.

Nov.15:

This morning I went out to turn the horses loose and right at the gate in front of where Kazi and Daisy were waiting was a strange looking mess that I thought was mouse guts. yuck. I thought the barncats had gotten busy overnight and left a trophy for the horses to step on. So I decided to nudge it past the gate so the horses wouldn't step on it. Just when my toe touched it, it sprang apart into two long skinny nightcrawlers that rapidly slurped back into their respective holes which were about 6 inches apart! I was so shocked . I didn't expect copulating nightcrawlers this time of year. I looked around and found another pair a couple of feet away that slurped into their holes when I got near them. Apparently they were throwing an end of the year party.....If they try it in a day or two, they will become wormcycles. It is going to be cold enough for snow flurries by tomorrow night.

Nov. 17:

It has been spitting snow here today and is cold....really cold....and going to be colder tomorrow. Yuck. They say we may have an inch of snow tonight. THEY could be wrong....Kazi didn't get her front feet done yesterday because it was too chilly for the epoxy to set up. The farrier may have to bring a heat lamp. Ivan continues to do three out of four feet well. That last foot has spooks attached and I will have to work on it.

Nov. 18:

We have 2 to 3 inches of snow, but it is hard to tell because the wind is howling and there are drifts. Pix this morning:


Nov. 22:

Daisy got her 7th month Rhino shot this morning. Seems to have weathered it just fine.

Nov. 24:

Is it ever going to warm up here? Sheesh. Usually we will get a day or two of cold weather, then back to fairly normal temps. It has been about 20 degrees below our normal averages of 50s in the daytime for over a week. Yuck. I have been hauling hot water down the hill already.
Kazi's feet still haven't been done in front because the epoxy takes about 50 degrees to set and now she is starting to limp. We are going to have to get her indoors somewhere to do her shoe re-set.... (Okay, I'll stop ranting about the weather for a few minutes....maybe...)

Nov. 25:

I have been run ragged the past two days. Yesterday I had errands in two towns to take care of...in the rain....and today Dave the farrier was coming and I had to clean the mare stall out so he could do Kazi's feet in there out of the weather. I dusted lightbulbs and tons of cobwebs, and moved the bedding to one side to clear the floor. I worked harder in that stall than I did in the house afterwards . Kazi's feet are now looking very pretty! She has her clogs reset, and the angles on her hooves look normal. She was so good the entire time, too. Considering it took over 2 hours to do just her front feet, she was very patient. It was after 8 pm when we got done and then we ate the homemade chicken soup I had cooking in the crockpot for dinner. That took the chill off...

Nov. 27:

I felt the baby horse formerly known as "Speck" moving today!! Daisy doesn't appreciate all the feels I have been sneaking lately . She has been acting more pregnant lately, laying down for naps in the middle of the day and such. Kazi got very lovable when she was pregnant, but Daisy hasn't gotten more mellow in the same way. If anything she is a bit irritable. I guess it is a difference in mama horses. We know "Speck's" name now, but I won't tell until after he is born..... ...(It ain't "Speck".)

Nov. 28:

Happy Day After Thanksgiving! Or Black Friday...
We didn't go anywhere today. Donnie chased down an electrical connection problem in the wiring all day and I picked up horsey doo, fixed leftovers, napped, read, and goofed off most of the day. Nice! This evening I played with Ivan on the ground a bit. He is so anxious to start working again....for mints if possible, of course. He remembered everything we did from 6 weeks ago and even picked up that back foot for me and stretched it out easily. Good horsey.... Now if I can just get him to do it for Dave next time.

Nov. 30:

I just looked up how big "Speck" is right now. Daisy is 222 days pregnant today and Speck is somewhere between the size of a beagle and a small lamb. I was wondering if what we were feeling was really Speck or just gas, but I guess it is Speck after all!!

We put the lights on our Christmas tree. I need to get two more strands of the new LED blue lights tomorrow to finish up the lights and then we can decorate it. Those LED lights are so bright! Kumquat was very helpful while we were stringing the lights up, she spent most of the time in the top of the tree. I suspect our ploy of having her get used to the tree for a week before we decorated it hasn't worked too well. She knows every branch and can climb it very quickly. It's going to definitely be a plastic ornament year.....;-)

November sure hasn't seen a lot of Ivan training, due to my surgery and recovery time, and then the really cold/rainy/snowy weather. Hopefully December will have us working again! we have both missed it.

October 2008

Discussing the plan with Ivan



October 1:

Ivan got on the trailer for me yesterday afternoon and stayed on it as long as I wanted him to! That was the lesson of the day, to stay on without backing off until I told him he could. Next lesson is to close the buttbar and hope he doesn't freak. I can't believe how much I have enjoyed Ivan in recent months. He has been so darn sweet! The horsey has me wrapped around his little hoofy .

Oct. 3:

I worked a little with Ivan this evening, getting him on the trailer. He doesn't like the idea of the buttbar locking him in. I didn't lock it, but just touched him with it, and he backed right out of the trailer. I suspect I will have to have Donnie work the buttbar while I hold him up front for awhile. Dave the farrier is coming to do Kazi and Ivan's feet tomorrow. Going to be a busy day....

Oct. 4:

The hay guy is baling the hay. Our afternoon is accounted for, we will be moving hay around. He knows if it molds that I will probably be indicted.....

IVAN NEWS:
Guess who KILLED a groundhog last night? Poor thing had every bone in its body stomped and broken. Then afterwards, it looks like a fox came in and ate the internal organs, leaving the rest of the body in the arena. It must have had its snack after Ivan got tired of the stomping game and retired to the other side of the arena. It's always something new with Ivan....

I was surprised that Ivan killed something, though. I would have expected that of Daisy or Cactus Jack because I have seen them try to get our dog on occasion, but never saw Ivan do anything against another animal.

Ivan did very well with Dave's farrier care for 3 1/2 feet today. Then Dave accidentally poked Ivan in the flank while working on the last foot and Ivan decided he had had enough. So they went round and round for about a half hour before Ivan decided to let Dave finish that last foot.

The hay guy and his henchmen have finished my fields...at last. We got 242 more bales stuffed into the barn. With the non-fescue hay we have to get for Daisy's last 3 months of gestation, we should have plenty of hay to last until spring and shouldn't have to worry about finding anymore this year. Even having our own fields, hay isn't cheap. With the labor and fertilizer, plus the basic hay cost per bale, this year our own hay cost us $3.30 per bale. But a horse has gotta eat! (So say all my butterballs....)

Oct. 6:

I rode Ivan last night for the first time since we started the horse trailer training. He was actually better than before. We are now into 'power' walking, but still no trotting. When he gets tired of hauling my hiney around, he gives gentle hints that it is time for me to get off by stopping next to the mounting steps every time we pass by. I think he was happy not to be going in and out of the trailer and gave me a nice ride as a reward...


Donnie took some photos of Ivan's saddle time ....He was soooo good!


Oct. 7:

Yep, Ivan is my horsey. Considering what showed up here in January, I am continually amazed at how well he is doing and at how he seems to trust me for many things. He still has issues, mostly about other people, but he is learning that we aren't here to eat him. I don't think I could stand to let anyone else have him at this point.

This has been medical week for us. I went to the hospital today for preliminary tests for a hysterectomy scheduled one week from today. Then when Donnie got home this evening, he announced he had something going on in one eye and will have to go to an eye doctor tomorrow. He may have something going on in the retina of his eye. And I have to go talk with my surgeon tomorrow afternoon to finalize the plan for next week. So if we disappear for a few days now and then, we'll get back as soon as we can!

I have a neighbor girl, the one who took Zippy thru the obstacle course event we held last June, who is going to help take care of our horses and barn while I can't for a week or two. She is soooo excited for me to hurry up and go under the knife! She is 15 years old and very enthusiastic about her new job.


Oct. 8:

Donnie went to see an ophthalmologist retina specialist this afternoon in Roanoke. It turns out that things are better than Donnie expected. He has posterior vitrious detachment..... He has a membrane inside his eye that is detaching from the retina that happens to many near sighted people at about his age. It will take about 3 weeks to completely detach and there is only a 15% chance that the retina itself will be torn or detached. He should be fine. Thank goodness!!

DONNA:
I am all set up for the surgery next Wednesday. I talked with the surgeon today and we seem to be on the same page about everything. It will be a laproscopic surgery unless something shows up to change that during the surgery. He says I won't feel too good for a couple of weeks at least. My little neighbor girl will be happy to take care of the barn for a longer period of time, so it should work out okay.

And some good news: Dave the farrier came and did Kazi's front feet this afternoon, he replaced her clogs with new ones. He said her feet were looking really great!! The abscess that was coming off her coffin bone that had been concerning him has completely healed up, no discharge at all. She isn't limping at all either. He says I can ride her now without hurting her, her feet look the best they have been in a very long time. Hurray!

I am not going to take Zippy to the parade on Saturday after all. Donnie isn't supposed to do any major shaking of his head or drastic things, and lifting that cart out of the back of the truck isn't something he should probably do. So Zippy will not have to face the bagpipes this year....he would be relieved if he knew that! I may ride Kazi at home instead.

Oct. 13:

My neighbor girl, Megan, came today for another barn cleaning and horse feeding session. She is taking it very seriously! I think she is going to work out just fine. Ivan let her take off his flymask today, the first time for that, so I guess the horses are getting used to her being around.




I rode Ivan yesterday and Saturday. He is really doing well with turning and backing up! My farrier is going to bring his Arab gelding, Charlie, here after I have recovered and have Ivan follow him around our property while I ride him. The next step after that is going off property on a trail ride......Hopefully this will happen before Thanksgiving. I brought my saddle back up the hill to the house since I won't be riding for at least 3 or 4 weeks....sniff...

Oct.14:

Basically I am starving to death today. I can only have liquids you can see thru. I just had a bowl of jello that I swear was the best stuff I have ever eaten in my entire life! This was after all day of nothing but clear juices. I am not normally a jello fan, but would buy stock in it today. Did I mention I am starving? I just got the call from the hospital and they said to come in tomorrow at 11 a.m. No food or drink after midnight. I thought I would be going in at around 7 a.m. I expect to survive the surgery, but wonder if I'll live thru the diet leading up to it.....

Oct. 15:

Donnie here. I just wanted to let you know that Diane (aka Ark) is doing fine and is sound asleep in her hospital room. The surgery took longer than we thought, but no serious complications. She is going to be ravenous in the morning, after being on a liquid diet for two days and having nothing at all today, except for a little bit of ice. I will go by Wendy's in the morning and get her a little chocolate frosty.
With any luck, I should be able to bring her home tomorrow afternoon.

It's almost time for the debate. I promised that I would record it.


Oct. 16:

I am home! I have to say, drugs can be wonderful. I never saw the anesthesia given and woke up before I could get nervous about it. Boom, and I was in a room, all done. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers, I am certain it helped!

Today I feel sleep deprived after a session of Ivan dancing on my stomach. I literally woke up on the hour every hour last night. My roommate was noisy and kept laying on her I.V. tube, which would set off an incredibly irritating beeping. But they treated me like gold and gave me chocolate ice cream and chocolate pudding in the middle of the night whenever I asked for it! After two or three days of no food, chocolate was foremost in my mind's appetite! Donnie got me more chocolate ice cream on the way home.

Kazi's farrier's wife is a vet. She called me up this afternoon while I was still in the hospital and told me to tell them that my vet had called and I could go home now, LOL.

I can see the horses from my livingroom and bedroom windows. You are right, they are therapeutic! I'm not going down to the barn this evening, but will tomorrow. Donnie said Ivan has been incredibly well mannered yesterday and today! He let Donnie put on his flymask and went right into the arena when Donnie just pointed at it. I think Ivan is busy wrapping Donnie around his hoofie....Too late , he already did that to me. I am glad Donnie is seeing the sweeter side of Ivan, though! I have been drinking cranberry and apple juice, thanks for the tip!

Megan, our barncleaning neighbor girl, is very happy with her job . Donnie kept an eye on her yesterday evening and said she did great!

Oct. 18:

I am actually doing okay. Yesterday was so strange, we had company we NEVER have. Donnie's aunt and uncle showed up out of the blue and visited for about 3 hours. I was swaying a bit by the time they left, but took a nap and got up in time for Megan to show up and 'do' the horses. I was feeling pretty good, so walked down and visited and moseyed around while Megan and Donnie cleaned and fed horses. Then I came in, Donnie fixed some dinner, and then my sister, Vicki, called and we talked for 4 hours.

Percoset seems to be keeping me pain free for the most part. I suspect this laproscopy type of surgery is way easier than the 'bikini' cut that I keep hearing horror stories about. My sister said she couldn't walk upright for a month and certainly not walk all over the barnlot two days after surgery.

This mollycoddling business could be more addictive than the drugs I have been taking! Donnie has been keeping me warm, fed, and happy. I haven't done much more than feed the cockatiels . It's more of a vacation than our vacation was....I will be sad to see him go off to work on Monday.

Later:
Well, I am Percosetting right along today! Donnie took me to Five Guys for a late lunch (yum ) and we got home in time to help Megan finish up the barn work. She is doing a great job. When she has extra time, she can get her 2 hours in by cleaning and organizing my terribly messy tack/feed room. It is looking soooo nice! She has been timing herself and is getting faster at doing certain chores, like stuffing hay nets. What a kid!

I basically have been a slug, although did ramble around the barnlot and actually worked with Ivan a few minutes this evening. I wanted to try out a grooming block on him to see if it would take off botfly eggs. It makes a sound, reminiscent of the old dreaded velcro days. Ten mints and a few minutes of work and he now stands and lets me scrap him with it. Unfortunately, it didn't work to take off the eggs, though. I guess I will have to pluck them off. Strangely, Kazi and Daisy don't have any botfly eggs on them, just Ivan. Are botflies attracted to dark horses?
I didn't have him on a leadline. He was standing near me because he wuvs me....and I had mints. All he had to do was let me rub him with the grooming block and he could have the mint. It took a handful of mints, but he picked up on letting me try to sand those botfly eggs off of him without backing away, freaking, or generally acting badly. Too bad the grooming block didn't actually work on the botfly eggs, now that I have him willing to let me use it....

Oct. 21:

I got up early and let the horses out while Donnie hung up haynets, then went back to put the horses up a couple of hours later, then went down with Megan and picked up a little horsey doo with her. The rest of the time, I have been a slug. I am cutting down on my Percoset (sp?) and am doing pretty good so far. I am getting tired of not being able to do much with the horses. Ivan keeps asking me why we aren't doing anything . Yesterday he helped me by hanging onto the manure fork handle while I was carrying it and followed me around. Megan asked today when I thought Ivan would be ready for her to ride him. Yikes! Not for awhile....

Oct. 25:

I walked Ivan onto the trailer a half dozen times or so, so at least he remembers that, with the help of mints. We are taking the trailer to get new tires tomorrow, so it may not make it back into the barnlot for a few days. After 10 years, it needs all new tires to be safe. This is the first major thing we have replaced on this trailer, so we can't complain. We will probably repaint it in the spring, though. Not much rust because it is fiberglass and composite, but the paint on it is oxidizing away now. It has been a great trailer!

Oct. 28:

I did a bit too much over the weekend and have had to lay around and do the slug act for the past couple of days. I am fine now, but no more lifting stuff for awhile. Megan and Donnie are now doing everything, although I walk down in the morning when the horses need to be chased back to the arena or barn enclosure and visit with them then. Ivan keeps seeing me in the yard and nickering at me to come on down. I keep telling myself that he misses me, not the mints he gets when I work with him...

Oct. 30:

I have been down to see the horses this morning while Donnie was putting out haynets. Yesterday Daisy and Ivan had another fistfight, so I had to put some medicine on hoofprints they both had tattooed on their hides. I saw the fistfight yesterday from the livingroom window. I do believe that Daisy has learned to run backwards nearly as fast as she can forwards as she is aiming double barreled shots at Ivan who skips around her going "nah, nah, nah" at her with his tongue sticking out and his eyes crossed to get her going and firing his own double barreled shots at her. Daisy is starting to look like a tank. She has been gaining a couple of inches a week lately around her circumference. Her tolerance levels for Ivan's antics are right at zero....Kazi just stands back and eats and lets the underlings fight it out.

I have rediscovered why I rarely cook breakfast this morning. I woke up feeling great and thought I would be nice to Donnie and actually make him a decent breakfast of eggs, ham and toast. I broke 10 eggs when a glass lid jumped out of the cabinet and landed on them which knocked 3 or 4 of them into the floor, nice mess, dropped a couple more eggs into the sink, burnt 4 pieces of toast BLACK, and broke my teabag in my cup and had tea leaf floaters in my cup. I finally got a couple of eggs cooked decently for Donnie and I ate truly vulcanized eggs myself.. . Donnie is the morning person around here....obviously.

Oct. 31:

Donnie let Ivan out this morning before he left for work and hung up haynets for me, then when I went down to let the mares out later, Ivan followed me all over the barnlot. This is the horse I used to not be able to get near in the barnlot, now he is my shadow!

September 2008

September 1:

We painted on the house and worked on some wiring yesterday and today, a fun Labor Day's labor. This evening I did tack up and ride Ivan. He did really good, even opened his mouth wide to put the bit in. He doesn't have a clue about going forward, so Donnie would walk to the end of the arena and call him and then he knew which direction I was asking him to go. We have now ridden up and back across the arena several times, exceeding our former endurance record of 300 feet! The only negative thing came when I dismounted. He backed up a step and squashed my foot.
Amazingly, he didn't move an inch while I shrieked in his
ear.....I have a monster bruised toe and foot. I will probably live, but probably in a more colorful way for awhile.

Donnie worked some with Daisy and their Daisy Dance. He is trying new moves with her. They are so cute. They are going to have an entire dance routine before too long.

Sept.2:

My foot is quite colorful today, but not broken and only sore. I am not quite sure which I am happiest about with Ivan's performance last night: His letting me ride him back and forth in the arena, or the fact that he didn't have a heart attack when I screamed in his ear as he stood on my foot. He just stood there (calmly) wondering if he would get treats for not reacting to my shrieks. He did. Then he let Donnie un-tack him and I hobbled back to the house. That was good, too! He LET Donnie do something to him without getting upset that it wasn't me doing it! There is hope for that horse yet.


Sept. 3:

My foot has a hoofprint on top of it, but feels okay today. I am hoping Donnie gets home at a reasonable time so I can work with Ivan this evening. I may get him to lead Daisy around, his knee keeps him from riding, and have Ivan follow her. We have to be careful about that, though, Daisy likes to take aim at Ivan. She backs up better all the time in her quest to kill Ivan with a double barrel shot.
The foot is better than I thought it would be. While colorful, it is only sore. The good thing is that the arena had just been scraped and was softer than normal. I can't imagine a draft horse standing on my poor foot on any kind of ground! A little 800 pound Arab was quite sufficient. I bet the neighbors wondered what that yowling was about last night...they probably thought it was a tomcat....

Donnie's class was this evening so I didn't get to ride Ivan. He looked disappointed. We really need lights in that arena so we can ride after dark. I hate that we are already getting dark earlier. I don't like doing potentially hazardous things with Ivan without Donnie around, even just getting off got me squashed last night. Lights would be very helpful.

I finally got around to ground driving Ivan this evening. He has problems knowing where to go when I ride him and this was the missing bit of training. I think he read the instruction manual! It was the first time I attached reins to his bit for some directional hints (I've had the bit and bridle on him several times, but always attached to the halter part),and the first time I walked behind him to get him to move forward. I had a surcingle on him, his bridle, and two 12 foot lines. After a moment of confusion, he did great! We walked all over the arena, going thru barrels and back to spots I wanted us to go and making turns all over the place.

Donnie was amazed . He expected Ivan to put up a struggle. I have been saying 'walk' and 'whoa' when we go to give him his grain in the arena, so it wasn't all totally new. I really think Ivan enjoys these training sessions.


Sept. 4:

Ivan really picked up on being ground driven quickly. He really amazes me sometimes, I keep telling him what a horse genius he is! Daisy and Donnie never did catch on to ground driving very well, but Donnie never really bitted her up much beforehand either. I think driving Zippy in his cart has helped me with knowing how to handle long lines, Donnie never drives Zippy. Kazi did pretty good with ground driving, too, but didn't catch on nearly as fast as Ivan has. I have put out more barrels this morning so that Ivan can go around things more this evening.

Sept.6:

I rode Ivan today for the first time since we started ground driving. It was the first time I rode with reins attached to his bit. Donnie and I were so amazed at how well he did!! He is turning really well, going forward with little effort on my part, and trying to please me so hard. I think he is going to make a good trail horse. We rode all over that arena, turned around barrels several times and he is getting so much better at turning. He broke into a little trot for about three steps and I stopped him easily with one rein. I am not ready for trotting yet until we do it on the ground. I rode him about a half hour and stopped before he did anything negative. Ivan was GREAT!!

Donnie took pix, of course:




Riding Ivan with reins for the first time....


Sept.7:

This is the same horse I spent 45 minutes one day running around the arena until he decided that having a halter on wasn't nearly as much work . He has been a different horse since that day. The path to Ivan's love, though, has been thru his stomach. He will do just about anything for snacks. (Probably like a lot of men.... ) The nice thing about him is that he is polite about taking reward snacks, unlike a certain Daisy who goes out of her mind at the sniff of a mint. Ivan takes the reward gently from my hand like Kazi does.
I actually had fun riding Ivan yesterday. He was so calm and happy about what he was doing, he was a pure pleasure. Now if I can just get him into a creek.....


Later:
We had another riding session this evening. He really amazes me. Today we went around cones and barrels, walked up and stood on our little wooden bridge, went all over the arena for 35 minutes, and learned to back up a step or two while mounted. Not bad! He also crossed the tarp and over the drain tile.




Sept. 8:

Donnie was outside of the arena last night. Ivan kept looking for him because the day before we got him to move by having Donnie give him a mint from the rail in different areas of the arena. We could use an older horse to have Ivan follow, but it is hard for me to ride Kazi and Ivan at the same time and Donnie's knee is still too gimpy to ride Daisy. Last night, he didn't get Donnie mints except once. Here he is chewing on a mint after being really good for quite a long time:


I hope to get another ride in on Ivan this afternoon. I feel like winter is sneaking up on us quicker than I want.

Later:

Whew, it has been a hot muggy day. Kazi and Zippy were sweaty and I wasn't far behind. It is supposed to rain tomorrow, so I brought the saddle up from the barn so I could clean it while the weather is wet.

I rode Ivan for just a few minutes this evening, it was getting pretty dark before I started. He did pretty well, remembered the backing up steps and turned a few circles nicely.

Sept. 9:

It has rained pretty hard here this morning. I just spent the past hour wondering when the power would come back on. Nothing in the house was working except this computer! Donnie has this laptop, modem, and monitor connected to a battery that activates when the power goes off. It worked! Amazing. I had internet, but nothing else.

The ponies are put up in the large mare stall, Ivan is in the ponies' run-in, the mares are in the main run-in, and I am soaked getting them all comfy. After getting the barn and barnlot all nicely cleaned, bedded in the stall, hay put out and horses rounded up, I walked back up to the house to discover no power to dry my soaked hair. Then it immediately stopped raining .


Sept. 10:

It has been a cool, cloudy, dreary day here. I got soaked again this morning, naturally. It didn't start raining until after I was busy working at the barn, so decided I wouldn't melt and just kept on working. I was right. I didn't melt. I did drip a lot, though....


Sept. 13:

Yesterday morning I was finishing up cleaning the barnlot while the horses had pasture time in the upper field. They were about as far as they could get from me and I wasn't looking forward to walking up and chasing them in. So I got a rattly cup of grain and shook it and called Daisy, our major snack hound. She came RUNNING as fast as she could bringing Kazi and Ivan along with her. I gave them all handfuls of their low-carb grain telling them how good they were for coming so fast. But Zippy and Cactus Jack were still up there in the field, so I yelled to Zippy to come and clapped my hands. This caused Daisy, Ivan and Kazi to go galloping straight back up the hill, bucking and laughing at me for giving them snacks and forgetting to shut the gate. They ran straight back up to where they started, circled around Zippy and Cactus, and all 5 galloped right back into the barnlot where I was standing amazed. Horses are funny people.

Sept. 14:

Donnie and I have been out making mini-movies with a borrowed movie camera. It's kind of fun, but we have discovered it takes talent . We don't have much of that! For some reason, our horses don't understand the word "Action!"....unless it is an action in the wrong direction. We may have to get one of these cameras, though. It is fun to play around with.

We spent it doing fun things with the borrowed video camera, had lunch out, cleaned the barn area twice, moved some hay, trimmed pony and donkey feet, and played with Daisy quite a bit today. She enjoyed the attention. Donnie stays so busy during the week that she gets only minimal attention from him then. Oh, and I rode Ivan a bit this evening, too. He did really well!

Yesterday when we were learning how to use that camera, Donnie taped me playing around with Ivan. What he didn't tell me was that my mowing shirt that I had put on to mow wasn't buttoned up straight, and with my hair was tied in a knot, I made a very glamorous video presentation . Here is a still shot from that....Dressed for success:



Yes, I am a fashion bug. Or some kind of bug anyway...

Sept. 21:

Our leaves haven't started turning yet, although some are drying up and dropping off probably due to needing rain. It is pretty dry here again. I rode Ivan last night while Donnie worked on Daisy's front feet. He did really well! He has caught on to backing while being ridden and turning is getting easier. He is such a love bug. He wuvs me. He didn't want Donnie to feed him last night, he wanted me to.


We have been busy trimming Daisy rear feet today. We are actually caught up on horsey and donkey feet for a couple of weeks!!


Sept. 23:

Ivan got his first trailer loading lesson yesterday afternoon. I wish I could say he walked right on like Daisy did. He is more like Kazi. It took me a week to train Kazi to get on a trailer and I suspect that it will be the same with Ivan. I did get his front feet into the trailer and called the game on account of darkness. I haven't stressed him with it, it has been a very easy going lesson so far. If this doesn't work, I will have to get a bit more organized and use Clinton's techniques. So far I am using John Lyons' tap, tap, tapping that I used with Kazi.

The trailer is sitting in the barnlot with the ramp down. This morning when I was gathering up ponies after their morning munch, Cactus Jack RAN into the trailer to hide from me . Now if I wanted him in there, it would be a different story.....

Sept. 25:

I haven't ridden Ivan since the weekend, but have done trailer loading lessons every evening. This morning I turned the horses loose, the mares went on up to the pasture. Ivan followed me and walked right into the trailer after me with no leadline on! I can't say he is 'trained' to get on whenever I want, yet, but he is definitely getting more comfortable with the idea. I am looking forward to hauling him to a friend's place to see if he can get over his excitement and behave for me at a new place.

Sept. 30:

I didn't get my computer back online over the weekend... ....However, we did get the new microwave installed, the wiring for the air circulation system installed in the attic, the stove's burned out heating element fixed, and Donnie's class presentation ready for today's class. It was a busy weekend. I didn't have a chance to work with Ivan over the weekend, but did yesterday. He is getting completely on the trailer now! The next trick is to get him to stay on it until I can get the buttbar hooked in place and the ramp/door closed.

August 2008

August 1:

We drove down to Florida to see my dad and family, leaving our farm in
some very capable hands while we were gone.

We had a pretty fun day here on my dad's birthday! We went to see "Swing
Vote", which Donnie and I loved! It is the first movie we have been to in
awhile that the audience actually applauded in appreciation at the end! Of
course, Donnie and I brought down the average age of the audience by 20
years or so . It's a fun flick with a very good message during an election
year.

Then we went to a Cajun restaurant sitting on the side of a canal or swamp
or some kind of body of water. We ate on an outdoor porch over the water.
The place looked like a shack with lots of character, Cajun music playing,
and pretty authentic Cajun food. I had an alligator tail BBQ burger with
fried okra and Donnie had red beans and rice with alligator sausage in the
beans. The gator was good to the end and the end wasn't bad either! I
think my dad had a pretty good birthday. We drove over to the beach after
dinner and watched the sun set.

Strangely, I found out today that my friend who I got Ivan from's father
had his birthday today also. And he was born the same year as my dad! My
dad said he had never run across anyone who was born on the same day as he
was. I guess now he has.

I called home and the animals are all doing well...thank goodness! Ivan
hasn't had his flymask on since I left, but otherwise is doing okay with
his caretakers.

August 4:
On our way back north we stopped in Ocala to meet the sire of our foal.
He is an Spanish Andalusian stallion who is just gorgeous! We
discovered not only is he beautiful, he is also very talented and has a
mellow personality. All this bodes well for Speck!


August 5
The weather was very hot and humid down there, but as we came back north
the next day, it was much hotter and just as humid in SC! Yikes, it was
97 degrees there. Today here it was 84. Felt great .

I think Ivan missed me. He has been all over me every time I went down to
the barn. He wouldn't let our farm sitters put on his fly mask and
practically threw his head into it when I put it on him this morning. He
has nickered at me several times today and wanted to work this evening, so
we worked on the going forward signal on the ground. I need him to
understand it so I can get him to go forward when I get on him. He seems
to be catching on.

The snack factory is back!

August 7:

I have had a slug afternoon. While cleaning up the barnlot this morning, I
HAD to go back up to the house (2 cups of tea, you know), and just as I
was getting ready to walk out the door to go back down to the barn, the
rain suddenly poured down. It hadn't even sprinkled and I didn't think it
was going to rain so soon, although it was cloudy all morning. The rain
caught the horses and goats by surprise, too, and they got soaked as they
dashed back to the barn in the deluge. For once they were wet and I
wasn't. It rained for about a half hour and then I went and finished up
the barn work. I spent the cool afternoon reading a Hamish MacBeth book
that I have been trying to get to all week. A good slug afternoon.

Our little horse club is sponsoring two obstacle course classes at the
Newport, VA county fair on Saturday morning. Kazi won her ground class
three years in a row, but won't be going this year, so they have made me a
judge. Yikes! I would much rather be taking Kazi! The classes are the
first in the show, so we have to be there to set up at 8 a.m. It will be
the last appearance of the Noodles of Death. We are sort of sick to death
of them . Now that Ivan goes into 'seek and destroy' every time he sees
them, we can't leave them up to play with anymore. He now plays with
plastic 55 gallon barrels and 10 foot long plastic drainage tiles. He
hasn't figured out how to destroy them yet.....yet.....

August 9:
I found a great arrowhead this afternoon as I was cleaning the barnlot!
We think there was an Indian village right where our barn is and we find
lots of arrowhead pieces where they seemed to be making them. Most have
goofs in them, like they chipped off the tip or something, but this one
was white quartz and the best one we have found so far. It is fun to
think of how life must have been hundreds of years ago where our horses
live today.



I rode Ivan this evening! This is the first time I have been on him since
his first two 'rides', but this time, we walked around. He thinks he is
supposed to stand still, which is what I spent weeks teaching him to do
before mounting him. So I had to wait him out today until he decided to
walk off. (John Lyons method) So I waited for several minutes until he
was bored with me sitting there and moved a little. I praised him,
thanked him for not blowing up, and waited some more for him to move.
Then when Ivan moved off and walked in a circle, I praised him and gave
him a mint. He liked that! So he walked off again in another circle and I
gave him another mint. We made a few more little circles and I got off. I
bet he will move off easier the next time. He is like Kazi in that he
thinks things over and improves on them the next time we do it.
I used my better fitting leather saddle this time, not the synthetic one
that throws me off balance. It seems to fit Ivan and is so much more
comfortable for me. It makes different squeaky noises than the synthetic
one, so we had to work on all the noises before I got on him. It didn't
seem to bother Ivan at all. Such a sweet boy for not killing me!

If I can't be anything else, I can be color coordinated!
I decided I would do Ivan in purple since he is using Kazi's stuff and her
colors are blue and purple. When he greys out, it should look nicer on
him.

August 10:
I rode Ivan again today. The weather has just been incredible the past few
days, just cool enough. Ivan was very agreeable again. He doesn't seem to
mind me crawling around on top of him, although doesn't have a clue why
I'd want to . He is picking up on moving more, but we have no directional
control yet. I am only using his halter and lead rope and letting him
choose the direction so far. That worked fine until he walked us into a
corner by the fence and didn't seem to understand I wanted him out of the
corner. I had to dismount on the off side and lead him away from the
fence. But he never got upset over anything, not even having the breast
collar on for the first time. He really has been good lately!
Donnie took a few pix this evening.




Ivan does seem to be learning to balance me. I can remember Kazi having
more problems with staggering around at first than Ivan has had. Ivan has
a shorter back than Kazi, I wonder if that has anything to do with it?
I can't get over how great the weather has been the past few days. It was
only 75 during the horse show last Saturday, it is usually in the 90s
then. Today it is a sunny 74 degrees with a light breeze and it won't be
much different they predict all week. My kind of weather!!!

Aug.14:
Well we are now gearing up for the new endurance ride being held about 50
miles from here the weekend of Aug.22nd. Donnie and I have volunteered to
do radio communications for them and Donnie has been gathering other ham
radio operators to help during the 2 day rides. This weekend we are going
down to make sure radio signals can be heard from the different check
points. I may end up riding the water truck and being the radio contact
for that. The area is very mountainous and cell phone coverage is
non-existent in many places, so radios are needed. So far they have 180
riders registered!! Pretty good for a brand new ride. Two drag riders just
called me and they are amateur radio operators, too, so will trail the
last riders on their horses and make sure everyone gets back to the camp.
This could be fun. Hope the weather cooperates!

Aug. 16:

I didn't get a chance to ride, it was too late before we got home and
then the farmer guy came to get the manure trailer late, and I didn't
have time to spend with Ivan with a saddle. So I crawled all over him
bareback and he stood still and let me mount on one side bareback and get
off the other side without moving. He was just so darn sweet!

We spent the day running around finding the vet check locations and
figuring out which radio frequencies could make it over those mountains.
The Va Highlands Endurance Challenge is next week and the trails are
gorgeous! If they could have held it today, the weather would have been
perfect. Mid 70s, low humidity, sunny skies. Just beautiful for August. I
think it is going to be fun to help out with this ride.

Aug. 17:

I got on Ivan bareback this evening and rode him around (at his
directional discretion) and he never acted up and didn't seem to mind me
on him at all. This is good since he could easily have tossed me. I didn't
even have a bareback pad on him. I flop around quite a bit while getting
on him and he puts his stoic face on and just stands there. He seems to
have an allergy to something in our pasture. After he comes back from
eating grass, he snorts for quite awhile, spraying me with assorted horsey
liquids....


Donnie and I spent another day getting the radio frequencies figured out
for the endurance ride this coming weekend. We went back to the ridecamp
and the vet check points and had contacts with a couple of guys thru
different radio repeaters until they figured out which were the best for
covering the mountainous area the ride is in. There are several folks who
have now volunteered to help out! The communication plans are coming
together, but we sure discovered some holes in the ride management's
overall plans. They hadn't contacted any rescue squads yet! So tomorrow my
job it to get all the contact info for the volunteer rescue squads in the
three counties that this ride goes through. The radio folks will want this
info in case we have to contact a rescue squad for help. I think I
volunteered Donnie for more work than I realized, I thought we would just
stand at check points and call info back and forth to one another. Nope.
There is a lot of planning and legwork that goes into the communication
aspect of a ride. Donnie seems to be having fun with it, thank goodness!

Aug. 18:

I jumped on Ivan this evening, and I do mean jumped! He is getting so good
about letting me thump around on him. He is getting better about
understanding that I want him to walk, it seems to be easier for him
bareback than with the saddle on him and he doesn't seem to mind me being
there. Of course, we don't go far and he gets lots of treats for his
efforts....

Aug. 19:

I have been running errands or talking on the phone all day. This
endurance ride is turning out to be bigger by far than anticipated! They
now have over 200 riders registered . It is turning into a who's who of
the eastern US in the endurance set, lots of nationally known big name
endurance riders. (At least well known to the endurance folks.) The good
news is, they have downgraded our chances of getting rain from the
tropical storm from 80% to 30%. So maybe we won't get soaked for 2 days.
The radio operators are having a time getting emergency info from the
powers that be, part of what I have been trying to work on. With a ride
that is in parts of 3 counties, there is jurisdiction overlaps in
everything...They had thought about the horse emergencies, even have horse
trailer 'ambulances' all set up for each vet check, but hadn't thought too
much about the rider injuries, the part our group thought about first
since hams tend to help out in people emergencies.

Stay tuned. This will either be great for a first time ride, or you will
hear about it on the news .

Aug. 20:

Speaking of endurance rides: Ivan and I had our first last night!! It was
all of about 300 feet long, but he went the direction (almost) that I
wanted him to go, saddled and bridled, the length and width of the arena
and back. He still can't figure out why we are doing these things, but is
happy to go along for the snacks.

Aug. 21:

I have a busy day. I have to pack up stuff for my car and Donnie's truck
to keep us comfy for a couple of days in the woods. I am sure we will be
at different check points, so will need both vehicles. Our poor animals
are going to feel neglected Friday and Saturday, no mollycoddling, just
basic feeding and such. We will be gone before dawn and back well after
dark both days, and tonight. Then Sunday we have the farrier coming to
change out Kazi's and Trinket's clogs and trim Ivan....AND it is Donnie's
birthday on Sunday. I suspect it will be a strange celebration. He will be
trimming Cactus Jack's feet .


Aug. 22:

What day of the week is it? I am soooo tired!

We have worked like slaves today from about 4:30 a.m. when we got up until
9 p.m. when we got all our animals fed and bedded. The endurance ride is
great, we just don't have enough radio folks to cover all the areas so are
having to work the entire event. We will be back at 7 a.m. in the morning
for the next ride and back by about 8 pm tomorrow. It is fun, just very
tiring. The campground is an hour away from our house.

The people riding are having such a great time, which is very nice. The
ride management expected a couple dozen riders and there are about 220!!!
Considering the huge amount of work facing them, they are doing a pretty
good job. The weather had been incredibly kind and the trails are
beautiful. We have had temps in the high 70s with low humidity, sunny with
a light breeze. Perfect riding weather. The basecamp is at Jubilee Park in
Ivanhoe, which is right on the New River and extremely nice. It is also
free to campers with horses and would be a perfect place to practice
camping when they aren't having an event. It is right at the New River
Trail and Virginia Highlands Horse trail. VERY nice!

Next year I would love to have Ivan ready to do the 30 mile trip. If
little kids can do this, which there were a few, then surely I can do it!
These horses are extremely fit. I own butterballs. It is mostly Arabs, and
some very nice ones, but I am still prejudiced enough to think that Kazi
is the prettiest, . Donnie, wisely, agrees with me..

This has been a good experience, except for the exhaustion, and we will
probably help again next year. There is already talk of adding a 100 mile
ride to the 30 and 55 mile rides they have this year, and having it as a
site of a national championship sometime because it is centrally located
on the eastern side of the U.S. for the different AERC regions. Hopefully
with a year to work on it, we can get many more amateur radio operators to
help. Cellphone coverage is very spotty to non-existent and we helped
quite a bit today with arranging horse transportation for horses who were
unable to continue and for keeping track of where all the riders were. The
ride management didn't realize how hard communications would be and would
have had more problems than they needed if our group hadn't volunteered.

So, so far, so good....stay tuned. My animals couldn't believe their eyes
when I showed up at 5 in the morning to feed them this morning! I had to
wake up Cactus jack and Trinket and tell them to go out and eat some grass
. I don't think I have ever caught Cactus sleeping before.

Aug. 24:

Today was a momentous day, Donnie turned into a SENIOR CITIZEN! He now
qualifies for the senior drink prices at Bojangles and Hardees: he is
55years old!!! Looks darn good for a senior citizen .

We are soooo tired. The endurance ride ended successfully and we did our
part with the radio communications, but we could really have used another
6 people to help out with that. It was great to see the camp and ride and
all the pretty horses! At the end of the ride, I am sure I feel nearly as
tired as some of those riders.....maybe more. They were in great shape. I
enjoyed looking at all the tack and the riders' clothing styles. There are
some crazy looking outfits out there! One lady who rode a loudly spotted
leopard appaloosa, wore an even more loudly spotted pair of giraffe spot
tights . The ride was deemed a success and as far as I know, there were no
bad injuries. One horse colicked, but seems to be recovering now, and one
drag rider got thrown from her mule when a bee or horse fly bit it under
his crupper and the mule parted ways with the crupper. The rider had some
good bruises, but walked away okay. The weather was perfect for the entire
weekend. It isn't usually quite as nice as this in August, so the riders
had a nice impression of August in Virginia. They were from all over.

Donnie got birthday cake and ice cream this evening. Our farrier was here
today and changed out Kazi's clogs and took Trinket's completely off. Kazi
still has something going on inside her bad foot, there is still a small
bit of abscess type drainage that hasn't gone away completely, but her
feet are in much better shape now. The weird angles of her hoof walls had
grown out and her feet look pretty much normally shaped now. The bit of
abscess drainage is worrying and Dave is going to ask Gene Ovnicek if
there is anything else we should be doing. Trinket's white line disease
problem was completely gone! Ivan got a trim and was pretty well
behaved....for Ivan..

Aug. 25:

Donnie is off to his radio club meeting. I am home still recovering. The
club is apparently all fired up to work the event next year...we could
have used some of those folks this weekend...sigh...but the work got done
and everyone seems happy about it.
Where I was stationed part of the time was at Vet check 1, a very nice
commercial horse riding stable. They had very nice facilities marked in
horsey related ways. I was a bit embarrassed to discover later that there
were many people listening in on our radio transmissions for the event and
I had announced to the world in general that I had been off visiting the
little "mare's room". I thought it was just our little group who could
hear those transmissions, but it turns out that the repeater we were using
goes way down into NC and sw Virginia. Lots of folks commented later that
they had followed the race progress both days. BTW: the men's room was
labeled "Colts, Stallions and Geldings". I guess only they knew for sure
where they fit in that grouping....

Aug. 28:

It has been drizzling here all day with a few showers, but supposed to
finally clear up tomorrow. It has rained for days, the mud is really
slick and deep. I had to keep Ivan out of the barn enclosure with the
mares, the footing is just too slick for Kazi or Daisy to chase him
around. I sure don't need any more leg injuries.


Aug. 30:

We have been taming up a stray tomcat who visits at dinner time most
evenings. When he first showed up, he was bony and had hide removed,
perhaps from boiling water or being rolled under a car. His ears are
split from fighting with other cats and he has that thick tomcat neck. He
was pretty pitiful at first, and wild as a hare. We named him Spooky Cat
since he is solid black like a Halloween cat. Today he saw me coming out
the door with his food and he meowed hugely, rubbed against my legs and
let me pick him up to put him on the porch table where I put his food. I
think we have been adopted. We needed another cat, seven wasn't quite
enough We will get him neutered soon and perhaps he will give up his
wandering, fighting ways. All our neighbors have herds of dogs. We have a
herd of cats.

July 2008

July 2:
I worked with Ivan this evening. He was really in the mood to work! He still won't jump those barrels, but he climbed over them first time I asked him to cross them, so he knows I want him on the other side, at least . You could really see he was trying to please me. We reviewed his earlier lessons and he remembered everything, then I had him stand next to the mounting stool while I flopped over his back, from both sides, and hung on him like a sack of potatoes. He didn't move a muscle, but once. Then he stepped back one step, realized I wasn't coming off, so
he stood still until I slid off of him. He was soooo good!

Donnie trimmed up Zippy's feet. We think he is going to be okay to put in the parade on Friday in Dublin. Zippy gets a major bath tomorrow in the hopes he will mostly be clean on Friday. And I have to decorate his cart. Going to be a busy day tomorrow.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

July 3:

Today's jobs
White Pony washed: check
Cartwheels inflated: check
Harness cleaned: check
Hoofboots located: check
Cart decorations ready to be installed: check

Tomorrow morning's jobs
Pony re-washed
Cart decorated
Cart loaded in truck
Find clothes for reluctant parade partner hubby
Pony spot cleaned
Horsetrailer hitched
Pony loaded

After arrival at parade line-up jobs
Pony's new dirty spots covered by decorations
Pony hitched
Jerk a comb thru my hair
And we are off!

After parade jobs
Haul pony home
Rinse off pony
Collapse!

Won't this be fun?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

July 4:

July 4th Parade in Dublin


We're back from the parade! I could barely believe my eyes when I looked
at Zippy this morning and he was still CLEAN after his bath yesterday!!! I
think this is a first. I usually end up at least spot cleaning him a few
minutes before we leave for a parade.


I wanted to pad his feet for less road concussion and found a sale on
men's flipflops the other day, so Donnie cut out little rubber shoes and
we duct taped them to Zippy's feet using red duct tape. And what was the
one thing we heard most during the parade? "Wow, look at his red feet!" If
you want attention, use red duct tape on your horse's feet. We were
dressed in red shirts, white hats and blue jeans and Zippy and his cart
were covered in star spangled decorations.

I love the little kids during parades. Besides the red feet comment, I
heard one little boy point out Zippy's blinders on his bridle...."That
horse has sunglasses!"

We were the only horse in Dublin's parade this year. Not sure where all
the rest of the horses went, so we got all the horsey attention. They
stuck us in the middle of the line of antique cars, behind a 1930s
restored Dodge. This was kind of nice, the fire engines were way behind
this year, so we didn't have to listen to them the entire time. They
usually stick horses behind the fire engines with their horns, sirens, and
general mayhem, so that no one has to walk in horsey doo. I guess they
didn't worry about Zippy 'going'....

The most often comment heard from men was: "How many miles/gallon do you
get?" Donnie would tell them 100 miles to the gallon, what a deal!

Zippy was very good for a pony who hasn't seen his cart in a year. He
knows he only works 2 days a year and this is one of them, so he didn't
mind working today. Our biggest problem with him is that when he is
working, he wants to hurry and get there fast! Parades are too slow in his
opinion. So I would have him wait a little for space in front of us and
then let him trot out. The crowds like that, he jingle, jangles more when
he trots from his harness bells. He did really well.

Unless by some miracle, someone sends us a photo, I don't have any to
share. We were so intent on getting there, hitched up, then found a tire
almost flat and Donnie had to work on that, then switching car and truck
around so one of us wouldn't have a long hike back to the trailer,...we
forgot to take photos. Lots of other folks took them, though.

We are off to see a movie this afternoon, then fireworks tonight. Hope
everyone is enjoying their Fourth!!

Happy Independence Day!


July 5th:

Someone called Donnie this morning on his radio and told him that there
was a photo of us and Zippy on the Everything NRV website! Sure enough,
though we aren't identified, there is a picture of us there from the July
4th Dublin parade.



It had been raining off and on all day, Ivan is covered in a layer of mud, so we didn't do anything. Maybe tomorrow I will try Clinton Anderson's 'human currycomb lesson with Ivan....

July 7:

I think Ivan has decided velcro won't kill him after all!! Tonight he was so easy to deal with when I removed his flymask. Of course, he expects snacks for not being freaked out over it. He has killed 2 flymasks this week, both Daisy's. He ripped the velcro off her new Wrangler mask the day before yesterday when she rolled and got it off, then today she rolled in her old Crusader mask, got it off, and he ripped the nose piece off of it. El Destructo strikes again. Velcro won't kill him, but he will kill velcro whenever possible.


July 8:

I did work with Ivan today, it cleared up about 7 p.m. I did Clinton Anderson's 'human currycomb' with him! That is laying completely on his back with my feet sticking out past his tail, but with my ankles together, not straddling him. Ivan did great! He stood very still and waited for me to get off and I was on him for about a minute on two occasions. As short as he is, I have to leap up on him to get on from the mounting stool, which was the part that concerned me the most, how he would react to that leap and then weight on him. I also had him in a bridle with snaffle bit and a bareback pad. I didn't use the bit, just had it in his mouth and held him with the lead rope attached to the halter part of the bridle/halter. I finished up covered in sweat....and it wasn't from the muggy weather, I was waiting on the big explosion that didn't happen. Clinton said it wouldn't, but I didn't believe him...I am such a horse training chicken!



But I still can't get him in that little tarp pond.....there's always something to work on!


July 13:

My computer blew up...sigh...We have been busy with Kazi's knee. She injured the same knee last Thursday. I didn't see her do it, but suspect she went diving
after Daisy, slipped in the very slick mud, and thrashed around trying to get her footing. She was covered in mud and I had to give her a bath just to see how she had hurt herself. She has abrasions on her side and three of her ankles, and scraped the scar off her formerly injured knee. So we are back to bandaging her knee again, but it looks to be doing okay. Silly horse. With any luck, the knee may end up looking better without that thick scar she had.

Ivan has been doing very well. I got up on him a few days ago while Donnie took pix. Until the computer is fixed, I can't post anything, though. Ivan stood still while I wriggled and jiggled and tickled him all over . Not very glamorous pix with me laying on his back with my feet sticking out over his rump. If we can ever get an afternoon without a storm, I think I will sit up on him and see if he sends me over the arena fence.



July 14:
Today was an Ivan Red Letter Day! I took my synthetic English saddle down to the arena and tacked Ivan up...waiting all the time for the big explosion since he had done that
when I put Zippy's little saddle on him a couple of months ago. No explosion this time! He was patient and never freaked out over anything flapping or squeezing him. I put it on him and then stood back, figuring he might go zinging off and hoping not to get run over. He followed me expecting a snack . I flapped the stirrups, left them dangling, with no reaction. So I stood on the mounting stool over him and leaned on him. Just expected snacks for his good behavior. So I put my foot in the stirrup and bounced up and down a few times, then stood in the stirrup over him. No adverse reaction!! He was such a good horsey....and I lived!

I'll be in that saddle soon. My dad wants me to wait until after I visit in case Ivan decides to do something breakable to me.....but I am not sure I will wait that long....(Isn't it nice when folks have confidence in you? )





July 15:
I just got in from barn duties and Ivan 'helped' me hang the haynets . He was right at my elbow, nuzzling me and nibbling the hay as I tried to hang the daily soaked hay up. He can be so cute sometimes and seems
to have decided I am his person. That's a nice feeling.....
I haven't ground driven Ivan yet, but have been putting the bridle and bit on him and having him 'give' to the bit to either side...working towards that one rein stop. I have an old surcingle from when Arkady was being trained to use for ground driving and have put that on him just to girth him up before I put that saddle on him. He doesn't seem to mind it and that may be part of why he didn't mind yesterday's saddling adventure. (I can't tell you how relieved I was he didn't explode over that! ) He is now so casual about velcro that it is funny. He says "What do you mean you think I was afraid of velcro?" I think his mastery over velcro has helped with other things he was afraid of. Eventually I think he is going to be a wonderful riding horse!



The wait is over! I officially had my first ride on Ivan this evening and it was a success! (Meaning of course, that I didn't die ). It lasted about 30 seconds, but he got lots of praise and snacks and hugs and kisses for it. Kazi and Daisy watched from the barn enclosure and Kazi told Ivan:"If you kill her, the snacks will stop."...Daisy said, "Snacks? Where?"


Ivan's First Ride !



July 16:

I was out with Ivan this evening. He did really well, didn't offer to do anything silly. I am not really too worried about
bucks, it is the spins and bolts that concern me. Both Kazi and Arkady have done that with me on them at one point or another.... ....Ivan didn't offer to do that, thankfully. I was on him for several minutes at a time this evening, but didn't ask him to move much. We worked on one-rein stop moves mostly. It is nice to be on a horse again! He is definitely shorter than Kazi, and shorter bodied, too. Feels nice, though!



Ivan's Second Ride!!

Donnie was working on Daisy's feet this evening while I was playing around with Ivan. After I was done, Ivan cruised over to check out Donnie's tools and managed to walk off with practically every one of them. Donnie would chase him down and retrieve the nippers or hoofpick, then Ivan would go back and pick something else up and walk off. The boy is getting casual.

I discovered our long-haired solid black barncat, Wizard, completely wet from his neck to his tail. His hair was spikey from being so wet. I worried about him having some kind of skin condition...until I found out that Daisy has a new hobby. She licks Wizard, who seems to enjoy it. I have seen her do it several times this week.


July 17:

Well Dave the farrier was very impressed with Ivan this
evening! Ivan behaved himself really well! They tangled their legs up
together once and threw them both off balance, and Dave into the fence,
but Ivan was just trying to get his balance, not trying to get away or
anything. Poor Dave banged his back on the fence, but Ivan just stood
there and watched him. Dave is okay, thank goodness. Ivan got his feet
trimmed in record time and never got too upset. I was very happy with
him.

Kazi had her rubber pads taken off the bottom of the
clogs she is wearing and is walking better. Her feet have grown fast
enough that the angles had changed and she didn't need the pads
anymore. Her coronet bands are evening out to where they should be
since the scarring was removed 6 weeks ago. She is still wearing the
clogs, though, in place of shoes. She will wear them for at least 6
more weeks.

Trinket didn't have any signs of white line disease
in her feet this time!! She got trimmed, too, but is still wearing her
epoxy shoes on her front feet. So, all and all, we had a pretty good
experience with trimming this evening!


July 18:
I didn't do a great deal with Ivan today, just tried to get him across the tarp pond. Since it is half dried up, I thought he might cross it easier. Nope. It may be a dirty tarp, but it is a trap to him. I did finally get him to get on the dried part of the tarp and he actually stuck a foot into the moist area...but probably didn't realize it. I'll keep working on it. We ended up with all 4 feet on the tarp, one on moistness, and darkness called the game over. It took over 2 months to get over velcro. The tarp pond may take as long.....Crossing a creek may take years.

One day there will be a puddle across our path and I may never get any further down the path!

Arkady used to hate puddles, too, but loved getting in streams and rivers. She jumped a lot of puddles. Kazi will cross the tarp pond with no problems, but it took her awhile to get comfortable with creeks. Now she likes creeks and will splash and play in them. I haven't tried her with a river yet. So far, Ivan just hates water in general. I am surprised he drinks water at all.... ...He has GOT to get over this. I want to take him to the ocean one of these days. (Bet that will cause a little Arabian heart attack.)


July 20:

There is some little animal sneering at me from the peacock and chicken's dome at night. It has been stealing the random laid eggs in the dome (mostly guineas' since they seem to plop them down where they are standing at the moment). I find the egg shells in the barnlot, inside nicely cleaned out. I saw a footprint one day after a rain and thought it looked like a dog track, smaller than my dog's. One day last year I saw a fox for an instant in my barnlot, so thought this might be what has been stealing the eggs. Anyway, I have been setting a live trap every night for weeks and putting a concrete block in front of the little poultry house where I lock up the birds at night to make sure nothing springs the door and gets in and has a nicer dinner than eggs. Nothing has gotten into the trap despite 5 eggs in it. This morning, something left a smelly 'calling card' on top of the concrete block.... ...Cheeky fellow.

The tarp pond dried up in the hot weather. So I got Ivan to cross the dry tarp after he discovered there was no water in it. Lots of praise. Then I threw a bucket of water on the tarp, just dampening the sand on it a little. Oh no! Ivan was sure he was going to drown! But finally he crossed the damp tarp...so I threw another bucket of water on the tarp. There were actually tiny little footprint sized puddles on it, Ivan would surely drown, he thought. But he finally crossed it. So on came another bucket of water. This went on until there were more little puddles than dry spots....and it got dark. BUT Ivan didn't drown and his feet actually touched water!! More buckets of water coming tomorrow......

While Ivan was eating his after work snack and I was standing nearby with a little cup in my hand, a pair of robins suddenly burst out of the walnut tree nearby, shrieking and yelling, and scared him half to death. Daphne the cat was after their baby robin who apparently fell out of the tree or tried to fly prematurely. Ivan went back to his snack while I freaked out over Daphne about to jump on the baby bird, yelling and shrieking and catching it with the cup in my hand. I tried to put it back up in the tree, it flopped out of the cup and landed right in front of Daphne again! Oh, joy! thought Daphne. More shrieking and yelling on my part while I chased Daphne off and caught the stupid little bird in the cup again. I tied to put it back in the tree again and it fluttered to the other side of the fence away from Daphne into the bushes. The parents weren't thrilled with me or the cat. I hope the little bird lives....Daphne doesn't....She thinks the bird in the hand was worth more than the two in the bush.


July 21:

Ivan has really turned a corner in his interactions with me and other people lately. He is still suspicious, but not nearly as fearful of people as he was when he arrived. He is getting nearly casual around me and will come up to me and say hi fairly often. He is sure a horse you can't rush thru anything. He has to have things proven to him that they won't hurt him and then he will get back with you later about actually doing them . Lucky for him, I am the slowest horse trainer on the planet, which works out well for him. I do like that he has figured out the herd rules and now doesn't think I am after him when it is time for the horses to come in. He trots right in with the rest and waits for me to put on his flymask every morning now with no complaints. I am getting to really like him a lot!

One thing I have decided, the Kazi/Daisy foal will be imprinted within an inch of its life with everything I can think of! Having to get over 3 year old fears and phobias hasn't been the most fun thing to do with Ivan.


The tarp pond is being conquered! This evening I left Ivan standing in the middle of the tarp pond with all 4 feet in about a half inch of water!! It had dried up again today, so we once again walked across it dry, then started adding buckets of water to it. Strangely, Ivan's bad side that he didn't want to do it at all has turned into the side that he will go into the deeper part of the water. He was VERY happy to get lots of treats for that! After I ran out of water from his trough, I turned on the hose to fill the tarp pond with and Ivan wasn't thrilled with that, but didn't freak out. More water tomorrow.....Then the dreaded creek!

July 22:

Ivan crossed the tarp pond!