Serious breeding dilemma

Well, for once my paranoia about Diablo turned out to be well-founded. She has lost her Laredo Blue baby.

And I cannot rebreed to him because he is in Brazil. That means I have to decide between two other studs I can replace him with and that make financial sense. But I have to decide ASAP. Like tonight, as she is ovulating on Saturday probably.

The following information is taken from Buffalo Ranch's webiste.

Choice #1: TR Dual Rey.

Details

• 2008 AQHA Freshman Sire of the Year!
• First foal crop had 5 NCHA Futurity Finalists in 2008! 2 in the Open
• 2003 NCHA Leading Money Earner
• 7 Time Champion or Reserve Champion
• HERDA N/N
• Oldest foals born in 2005

Career Stats

• 2002 NCHA Futurity Open Semi-Finalist
• 2003 Augusta Derby Open Finalist - 5th Place
• 2003 Memphis Derby Open Reserve CHAMPION
• 2003 Suncoast Winter Derby Open CHAMPION
• 2003 NCHA Super Stakes Derby Open Reserve CHAMPION
• 2003 NCHA Super Stakes Stallion Incentive CHAMPION
• 2003 Breeders Invitational Derby Open Finalist
• 2003 NCHA Derby Open Reserve CHAMPION
• 2003 Brazos Bash Derby Open Finalist
• 2003 Suncoast Derby Open Finalist - 6th Place
• 2003 PCCHA Derby Open Reserve CHAMPION
• 2003 Great American Open CHAMPION
• 2003 LEADING MONEY EARNER
• 2004 Abilene Classic Open Finalist - 5th Place
• 2004 Augusta Classic Open Finalist - 4th Place
• 2004 Western Horseman Cup Open Reserve CHAMPION
• 2004 Memphis Classic Open Finalist - 7th Place
• Retired to Stud in February of his 5-year old year sound and on top - His very special show career will only be surpassed by his even greater career as a Sire!

Choice #2-- Hydrive Cat

Details

• 2007 NCHA Futurity Open CHAMPION Stallion
• CHAMPION Stallion 10 Times in his first 21 Major Aged Event Finals
• Simply a MASTERPIECE: Genetic - Performance - Conformation - Heart - Mind
• Not only is he the best PERFORMING stallion of his generation, but is also the best Bred one
• “From the very beginning I knew Hydrive Cat was special. I have been around a lot of great horses, but none have proven to me to be as consistent, athletic, cow smart, or more talented. He is equally as awesome to look at without a saddle on as he is in the show pen with one on. He is of the utmost quality in every imaginable way!” - Hall of Fame Trainer Clint Allen
• Dam LTE $218,916 - 6 Aged Event CHAMPIONSHIPS - 27-Time Aged Event Finalist - Produce Earnings to date of over $850,000
• 2nd Dam the great Playsboy Ruby #2 All Time Leading Broodmare of over $1.6 Million
• HERDA N/N
• EVA Negative
• First foals arrived in 2009

Career Stats

• 2006 NCHA Futurity Open Reserve CHAMPION - CHAMPION Stallion
• 2007 Abilene Derby Open Finalist - 3rd Place
• 2007 Memphis Derby Open Reserve CHAMPION - CHAMPION Stallion
• 2007 Bonanza Derby Open Finalist
• 2007 NCHA Super Stakes Derby Open Semi-Finalist
• 2007 Cotton Stakes Derby Open Finalist
• 2007 Breeders Invitational Derby Open Finalist - 10th Place
• 2007 NCHA Derby Open Semi-Finalist
• 2007 West Texas Derby Open Reserve CHAMPION - CHAMPION Stallion
• 2007 Music City Derby Open Finalist - 4th Place - CHAMPION Stallion
• 2007 Brazos Bash Derby Open Finalist - 4th Place
• 2007 South Point Futurity Open Derby Finalist - 3rd Place - CHAMPION Stallion
• 2007 PCCHA Cutting Stakes Open CHAMPION
• 2007 UCHA Derby Open CHAMPION
• 2008 Abilene Classic Open Finalist
• 2008 Western Horseman Cup Open Finalist - 6th Place
• 2008 Tunica Classic Open Finalist
• 2008 NCHA Super Stakes Classic Open Finalist - 9th Place
• 2008 NCHA Summer Spectacular Classic Open Finalist - 4th Place - CHAMPION Stallion
• 2008 Music City Classic Open Finalist - 7th Place
• 2008 Brazos Bash Classic Non Pro Finalist
• 2008 Brazos Bash Classic Non Pro Ltd Reserve CHAMPION
• 2008 South Point Classic Open Finalist
• 2008 South Point Classic Non Pro Ltd CHAMPION
• 2008 South Point Classic Non Pro Finalist - 5th Place

So what would you do?

Slater takes a bath

Ol boy was funky funky funky, and I do not know why. Just foul. So at half time of the NCAAs Sunday, we got the big idea that he needed an actual bath. Normally he takes a shower, but we end up with water all over the floor. It is a pain in the ass.

It was easier than I expected. Barry told him to get in the bathtub and he mostly did. And there he stood while he got all lathered up. He does not look particularly happy about it in this pic, but really he was fine with it.

I do not know why we never did this before. It was way easier than having to get in the shower with him, because that is just a little weird.

Now he is all soft and smells like a clean house, since I bathe him with Murphys Oil Soap. If you do not use that on your short haired dogs, you should totally try it--it cleans gently and rinses way better than regular shampoo. They just smell a little like furniture polish for a while. Oh well, that is better than the smell of dirt by a long shot

The Shakeup Shook him out!

I actually knew this by the time the earlier post posted, since I wrote that at 2:30 or 3:00 am and scheduled it to post this morning. By then, I had all kinds of other news, but no energy to write about it.

I stayed up watching her on the foal cam until a little after 4:00. I was watching a movie in bed and keeping an eye on her, and must have fallen asleep at 4:30 or so. Something fell in the floor right at 5:00 am, and it woke me up to see that Haida Girl was ready to foal. I rushed over there and got to see it all.


She was a little restless, and had already broken a sweat by the time I got there. I could tell she had been at it for a while, but not a lot of progress had been made.

In the above picture, you can see his two little feet positioned exactly as they should be, followed by his little snoot. The problem was that the snoot kept coming and going. She pushed her little heart out but could not seem to get his head all the way out. When it appeared she was getting worn out, I decided to help her. That is always hard work, and I was this close to having to call Barry to get up and come help, but I gave it one final shot and we got it done, Out he plopped right into my lap. (I totally forgot about this until I was getting a Diet coke and paper at the gas station, and dripped a puddle of amniotic fluid off my jeans--that is kind of embarrassing)
His feet had broken the sack already, so I peeled it off of his head and went to hide in the corner to take pictures. He is just minutes old in this shot, and not all the way born yet.

HG seemed to know what to do right off the bat. She talked to him really quietly and seemed to be an old pro. She liked him very very much, which is a huge relief when it is a first foal for a mare. You never know when one will have no idea what the baby is, or be scared of it, or try to hurt it, or just not know what to do. She was perfect from the start.
Right away, she started licking him dry all over and loving on him. I was excited to see those gray legs---I love a bay and we do not seem to get many of them any more. When he blows his foal coat, those legs will be black.

This pic is so not even in focus. That is what you get at 5:30 in the morning, and you do not get a second chance to shoot baby's first steps.
He fumbled all over the stall, trying to get those long legs under control. He was very good at going backwards. It was cute how that was easier for him. At one point, he went over backwards, did a few back rolls and ended up all the way across the stall under the hay feeder. When he tried to get up, he ended up in this rubber feed dish. Good thing babies are so flexible, cuz they sure do crash a lot.


I promise HG is a pretty girl, she just cannot seem to show it in these pictures. Sorry. Flash indoors is not flattering, esp when you are limited to a small area and cannot use distance to balance out distortion

I finally went back home around 7:30 and went to bed. Barry went back to check on them around 8:30. At that time, HG was very angry about Rock looking at her from the stall on the other side. Barry turned her out to give HG some peace and things looked up from there. Baby boy nursed well and bucked around the stall like a fruit loop. It is so funny to see them experiment, so I hate that I only saw one little awkward buck on my shift.
I slept a little and went back this afternoon to convince HG that she was not the boss of the baby and that I could do what I wanted with him. She was not a huge fan of this plan, but that is too bad--things have to be done to take care of him. She is already way better tonight, about letting us handle him without threatening us. That is not uncommon for a first foal, and I would rather see that than a lack of concern from her. I knew she would come around though, she is very disciplined and knows who the boss is. Quit laughing about that, Headleys. There has to be an exception to everything

It is supposed to stop raining tonight, so maybe Madison and I can get him out for actual pictures tomorrow. We might lose him in the standing water though, so it may take a couple of days to get it done.

As always, I need naming help. Dad is Sophisticated Catt (High Brow Catt x Shania Cee) and Haida Girl is by Haidas Little Pep, and out of Doctors Playmate by Son ofa Doc. No people names for call names, and I need both registered and barn name options.

Saturday Night Shakeup

This is a different sort of story than most of my rowdy retellings of things that happen to me. In fact, this whole weekend has been berserk. For example, I did not get home from work on Friday nite until about 2:30 a.m. I should have known this weekend would be berserk.

Barry and I went to the late show to see Hot Tub Time Warp which looks really really stupid, but was funny.

While there, my defective phone showed I had a blackberry messenger message, but when I clicked it, I could not find it. I was just sure it was Lorna telling me something was up with HaidaGirl--she tracks my foalcam almost as much as I do, and between us, we get most of the day and nite covered. I was frustrated at my phone because I always am, but the movie was almost over, so we decided to stop by the farm on the way home to check on her.

But did we? No, we totally forgot. When we got here, I checked the foalcam. I am having trouble with every single browser not wanting to show me actual live video--Java is acting up despite downloading it repeatedly. I spent most of the afternoon fighting with it. I can click back to the home page which is a still shot, and still I saw no HG in her stall. There is a small blind spot, but as active as she is, she does not stay in it long, so it is normally no big deal.

That made me anxious, and I knew I would not sleep if I did not see her before bed. She could not be too terribly bad off, since Barry had been there at 9:45, but still I was paranoid.

And it was a dang good thing I was. We pulled in the driveway and by the time I parked, I could see her stall gate was off the hinges, and was just hanging by its chain. Oh holy shit.

By this time, it was raining. We could find her nowhere. I could not even see traces of her, such as hoof prints or poop piles--those usually help the most. But there was none of it. We had every light in the place on--but in the rain, that light does not get too far. I drove the farm road, both directions, all over, and could not find her.

We decided we needed two cars, and flashlights--mine should have been in my purse, but that was at home-- so we came back to get Barry's truck. On the way, I called the sheriff to see if they had heard tell of her. It was a long shot, considering it all went down after dark in the rain, but I wanted to give the police the info.

Back we came with flashlights and started hunting the pastures to make sure she had not found some magic way to get back into one of them. I could not imagine why she was not in the back barn with the hay, or standing near the feed bins, or at the very least, grazing on the new grass--and that is what scared me the most. Most horses will not travel with all that to choose from. We hunted, I almost stroked out as I tend to do when something crazy happens--we got into the middle pasture, and I suggested we go around the back of the barn to count heads in the lean-to that we had seen from the other direction. It was so muddy and gross, but still I thought we should but I almost did not mention it as I knew Barry would not want to and I would freak out on him for not acting right.

Thank God we did. Shiloh was standing at the back of the barn sneaking hay through the gate, and Barry happened to look in there. He saw something in there and said "uh oh". That is never good. Then he said something about "baby". Something goes wrong with me when I panic about my horses being in real danger, and it is like I do not speak English and cannot make a decision--someone else's horse I never do that with, and it is the rare occasion it can happen to freak me out so bad, but this was one of them. I did not know if he had found her baby, or he had found her or what--so my next question was "Is it alive?" Almost every time I have asked that question, the answer has been no.

But not this time! Thank God! It was HG. She appeared to be in labor, but had not had the baby yet. She was laid out flat on the back side of a huge round bale, but appeared to be cast up against the remains of another one. She was breathing pretty hard, but had good color to her gums. Her back legs were stiff as if she was in labor. BAary kept saying things about being hurt, and I could not get whether he was saying she was or was not hurt--- I was not so good my own self.

She was lodged so tightly in there, we cannot figure out how she got there. There was maybe one foot between the round bales she must have squeezed through unless she went over one. But good Lord, she is full term pregnant, and while she is the most athletic horse I have, I cannot fathom her vaulting over a 6 foot round bale at this stage of the game. And how did she end up cast? It makes no sense. I called the police and told them we found her, and you know you live in a rural area when the police dispatcher sounds as relieved as you are.

Barry got the tractor and started moving round bales so we could get to her--which is not easy when you cannot move them even an inch closer to her, or run the risk of crushing her. I got two ropes to pull her over and BAM, we had her up in a minute. She was a little unsteady on her feet and a little goofy for a bit. As Barry would approach to throw a rope over her neck to take her back to the front barn to her stall, she would startle, and look like she was thinking of going over the gate that keeps the horses from the pasture from entering the barn. Of course, the peanut gallery was there watching the whole showdown.

Finally she simmered enough to let him have her and we came back up front. He worked on replacing the door in the stall while I observed HG. She was calming down, but wanted to be right on top of me. I moved, she moved. She followed me around which made it hard to see what kind of shape she was really in. I spent a half hour or so with her, mostly with her putting her head on my shoulder. I think she scared herself as much as she scared me.

She does not appear to be in labor now, but I would not be surprised if the stress of it and the weather drive her to it soon. I sure hope she did not do any unseen damage, and I do not think she did--I will worry though as that is what I do. It makes me even madder that the dealership still does not have our trailer done, since I would be able to stay with her if they did--and it is just one excuse after another with them. I am stuck just watching her on the foalcam as she paces and paces and paces.

What a night. Just when you think you have seen every wacko thing a horse can come up with, they come up with something new. Now I hope all that wallering in the hay with her does not do me in, but if that is the only bad side-effect of this adventure, that will be just fine with me

Happy birthday Gabi!

Gabi turned three today. She is still very short, but now she is "three old", or so she told Barry on the phone today. This is her last week with my birthday cake which she loved so much she wanted one just like it. So pretend it is hers. She talked about my cake for weeks, calling it a big large cake, and it had Texas on it and most importantly, it had sparkles on it. She put orange sparkles on both the cakes because sparkles make everything better. And orange is the favorite color of all us, so of course they were orange. She would sing about the sparkles in a funny little voice that made her sound like a pedophile luring kids with candy. Pretty funny though.

This is Gabi playing with my friend Joyce's dog, Lance, who thought she was swell. Or the bows in her hair were swell. Either way, swell. Lance makes Slater look tiny, so imagine how little she looked with him.


This is Lance's sister Gwen, who is kind of shy but like Gabi a lot. She did not care a bit about Gabi's bows, and that was fine with Gab.


Gabi is quite the fashionista. This was also on my birthday out by their pool where Mandy, AmyB and I laughed until we hurt. That always drives Gabi to up her game to get the attention back on her where it belongs. She thinks this is her cute picture pose. I am afraid her head may always lay that way if she keeps it up.

My parents are there for her birthday party today. Edward had made a candy trail from Gabi's room to Mandy and Edward's room. I guess Gabi did not get it because she was all out of whack from the "big mess" that GG (my mom) had made all over with the candy. That is so Gabi--so smart it is hard to get things past her, but she looks at things in her own funny way.

Happy birthday Gabi! We love you!

A new low

Tonite, just now, I did something I have never done and if I never do it again, it will be too soon.

I feed Strategy to most of my horses, and my elevator delivers it to me in bulk. I get about three tons at a time, and they shoot it into a gravity wagon that is in the front barn at the farm. When I need feed, I dial up the door, and Strategy falls out into this big rubbermaid container where I have put some buckets to catch it. I put my buckets in my wagon and away I go, delivering feed all around like the feed fairy.

Sometimes we do not time it just right, and run out of feed before the bulk delivery man gets here from the Purina plant. In that case, I buy bags to get me through. You have to schedule a week in advance and they only come in Fridays, and when you are dealing with that much volume, you cannot always tell how much you have, how long it will last, etc.

Anyway- the come tomorrow. Since Barry is not here, and Madison and her little spider self is AWOL, I had to be the one to make sure the gravity wagon was cleaned out. Sometimes, the Strategy dust will build up and you get what I call Strategy sludge on the sides of the wagon. I had to clean it out tonight.

I worked until 7:30, and it has POURED all day so there is water standing everywhere. By the time I fed and got ready to clean it out, my yoga pants had mud all over and my feet were muddy in my flip flops. Despite all that, I had to climb up the sides of the wagon, and take the canvas off the top to clean it out. It sounds easy, but believe me it is not. I tried both ends, and using all kinds of implements to knock off the crusty sides so it would fall down and I could throw it away.

It was a bust. I finally gave up and just got in there.

Now that is just nasty nasty nasty. Since I did not intend to go in there, I did not take any tools with me--and as clumsy as I am, I had no intention of getting back out to get something to help. I had to scrape away the sludge with my HANDS. I swear to you, it was the foulest thing I have done in so long. And I do not mind foul--I will turn a foal still in the birth canal, and I will stand in a necropsy with one of mine, I will eat lunch over autopsy pics three times a week, but do not make me get back in the grain bin and scrape that sludge by hand ever again.

Ugh

Anyway, I got home, stripped off at the back door because it was cleaning lady day and I did not want to sludge up the floor. Taking off my shoes did not help because that sludge was all up in my toes even. I got a shower down there, then let the dogs in, moved my computer, got some cheese (I discovered a new twisty cheese from CowPals that may be the death of me, I am addicted to it), and got settled here in my big chair straight away. I have all my stuff--my water, my cheese, computer, remote control, book--all the things I need.

That is when I heard the garage door open. Barry is not here, and my parents are in Houston and no one else just walks in my house--at least not more than once, since they likely have caught me naked having done so--so I HAD to get up to see what the hell was going on.

It was pig. He does not like the rain either.

I need this day to be over, but even after the shower, I can smell wet Strategy. Gross gross gross

Meanwhile, it is Sam's sixth birthday, and HaidaGirl has teeny tiny beads of wax on both sides. Any time now.

Sly's Grandson

I love it that they are all so pretty, even down to the grandbabies. I am also shocked every time there is a grandbaby at all, because I still think of him as such a young horse. He is ten this year though, so it is not that strange.

This young man is owned by Tina Keese of Lucky Cross Quarter Horses in Texas. She bought his daddy as a young foal---his name is Slydun Dirty. He is the full brother of Haida N Go Twist, our sorrel mare. Shooter however is a palomino dun. We bred his dam and sent her home to Louisiana, so it is so fun to keep track of her son, and now his children.
This is an old picture I snagged from Tina's website. He sure looks like a Slybaby, doesn't he? The poor feller broke his pelvis at a year old, so had a slow start. Tina reports he was born broke though and has been no trouble at all.


This gets my motor revving for our limited foal season this year. Just tonight, I moved Haida Girl into the foaling stall, as she is showing a teeny bit of wax. Since she is a maiden, I have no idea what her schedule is like, but I am getting excited. Cross your fingers!

Its a Fox!

So I am in Houston playing and Barry has reported on the dead baby goat in the back barn.

Turns out it is a fox.

Which is also very strange.

Fortunately it is not my problem since I am down here.

This is a trial as well, since Gabi just told my mom on the phone that I am not funny. That kinda hurts

Does St Patrick's Day call for sacrifice?

I ask you this because I think I just found a sacrifice in my back barn.

I was moving hay like a good little farmer after work, when I had two bad things happen. I picked up a round bale out of the back barn, tipped it up on the hay forks, and loads of crap fell off. Big chunks of poo of unknown origin came headed straight for me.

I cannot even imagine what can be nastier than this. We have on several occasions found poop neighborhoods in the back barn, where there will be lots of piles close together. It looks like medium size dog poop. Not little dog, by any stretch. Not Great Dane poop either--which would not happen since the dogs are never at the farm. We have no dogs there. We do have raccoons, possum, skunk, foxes, you name it. But this poop seems way too big to belong to such varmints.

In any event it fell on top of the tractor, which almost made me wretch.

I toddled my way back in to get a second round bale, and as I was negotiating the bale spears, I noticed a varmint having a nap in the sun on a bale close to the door. Except it did not move, even with all the racket I was making.

When I got that bale delivered, I turned on all the lights and snuck up on that heavy sleeping varmint. Except it was not sleeping obviously. Deader than a mackeral , and I could tell that without getting super close to it. For some reason, I was creeped out. That varmint looked like it was resting.

The disturbing thing is that I could not tell what it was. From the size and general shape, and what I could see of its face, it looked like a baby goat.

A Goat, I tell you.

I do not have goats.

I know of no goats within at least a half mile of me.

How would I get a damn goat sacrificed up in my back barn?

Now that is just weird.

Cripes

What a whirlwind of a few days it has been. If I never get stuck in the mud again, it will be too soon. I did however get some fancy Muck boots-they may be the most expensive shoes I own, which is a sad state of affairs in its own right.

Barry fixed my computer last week by replacing the top of it--my mouse pad and mouse clickers had gone berserk. It was swell. I could actually put my cursor where I wanted it some time close to the time I wanted it. Then last nite, it just quit again.

Ugh.

So I snuck out today during my ten hour work day and bought a little mouse to plug in, and forgot to check to make sure it had a USB port. When I finally got home at almost 9 pm, I realized it did not work. Great. Bout that time, Dad called to tell me something and of course, I went off like a fruit loop. He ended up going to get me a new mouse, and thank you Lord, it works. I was on the verge of just curling up in the floor and crying.

While he was here, I was opening the mail and found what I thought was a bill from the OB/Gyn. No bill. It was a letter saying I had bad test results, so I have to go back and get some biopsy thing. Well isnt that a nice invitation. Im sure it is nothing. But still. Who wants to do that twice?

I am not going to think about it until tomorrow, when I will make the appointment. If I am lucky--now wasnt that funny for me to even say--I will be able to schedule it next Monday, on my way home from the airport from my trip to Houston. Nothing like a doctor's appointment to cap off a fun long weekend.

Blech.

All my worlds collided

And even I had to laugh at this foolishness. I have the weirdest life. There are so many different parts of my world, and they are pretty antithetical to each other. I am a little bit regular person, a lot of lawyer, a wife, huge part animal lover, a person who likes new experiences, etc. I can go from farm girl, to fancy lawyer arguing a murder case, to a clumsy oaf in aerobics class in an hour or less. And I do, all the time. But it is rare that I get caught by one part of me while I am playing another.

Today, I had a big win at work. That was swell, because it does not happen very often and it certainly does not happen where this one did. My day got even better, because it was gorgeous outside, about 72 degrees and sunny. I spent my lunch hour feeding and watering the horses, and moving hay etc, so I could go to St Louis. There I was fetching my mother, who has spent the week running a gorgeous bed and breakfast called the Fleur de Lys Mansion . We went for a walk, to show her Barry's neighborhood that she has not spent any time in since she lived here before I was born.

Barry was delayed getting home from work. That gave us time to go get a beer. We had walked past all the sidewalk tables of people enjoying the weather, and who can really resist that for long? The closest bar to Barry's apartment is a gay bar. It is always busy, but there was an empty table on the sidewalk.

We got settled, got drinks and waited. And that is when all my worlds ran into each other.

I spent twenty minutes on the cell phone with my Amish workers, while I sat at a gay bar with my mother in the middle of the day, after exercising.

That is a lot of funny parts of my world running into each other at once.

FYI: The reason I came to St Louis was to pick up a truck. Barry finally found what he wanted, and we got her bought. He did great--made the deal himself, bought the truck for way under the money, and it is really pretty. He got a 2008 Toyota Tundra. It has had the recall stuff done to it, so no worries on that front. I have not been in it yet, but it is nice. When it comes home this weekend, I will get some pics of it. This means the big truck can come home and sit in the driveway to wait until I need it to haul something, and I can still drive my SUV every day. Win win for everyone!

Other scenes from the Play Date

Diablo is still playing the am I or aren't I pregnant game. And this pic sure does not help answer anything. I am more encouraged than I was though--evidently the Demon had been nursing occasionally, and since D was just on pasture with hay only, she had lost some weight. I brought her up, found out about the nursing, and am now seeing a little more going on with D's belly. She would still have a few months to go anyway, and I am crossing my fingers for a swell Laredo Blue baby this year rather than next.
Whatever has been going on out there has been good for the Demon. She looks great, especially for this time of year, when every one looks gross in some way. If it is not hideously shaggy hair, it is mud balls all over and jacked up manes. She is filthy, but she is in great condition.
Foxy and Rock played together a while, working on the fence like there was a cow in the mix somewhere. Maybe Rock is getting senile as well as mostly blind. I was glad to see her 28 year old butt keep up with Foxy with no problem too, especially since Foxy was wound for sound.
This is HaidaGirl--my only maiden to foal this year. She is due first, in about a month, with a Sophisticated Catt baby. I have a vision it is a boy. I don't care, I just want healthy. Since I raised HG, and remember the day she was born so clearly, this will be extra special for me. I was so proud of her, and she was the ugliest newborn there ever was, and I wondered if she was retarded as well. Turns out she is really impressive looking, smart as a whip and probably the most athletic horse we have ever raised. I will never forget calling mom to tell her she had just been born and she was hideous--and arguing with Barry to move the water bucket before she fell in it, and then she went head first into it.

I just told someone else that she was not really showing much , but that I knew she was still good. Then I looked at this pic. She is not hiding anything is she? Is she is not almost full term, there is something bad wrong here!~
But this shot does not scream huge pregnant to me. This is the pic in my head when I think of HG--and it is accompanied by a noise like a thunderstorm coming. I can recognize her hoofbeats in a crowd, they are so distinctive--but so similar to her mothers.
And here is her mama--Playmate. She is 29 and still has not been lame a day since I bought her about 10 or 12 years ago. Her feet look like draft feet, they are so big. That may have something to do with her staying so sound.
I cannot wait until we can have a three-generation family photo soon. And I hope this new baby grows up to be half the horse her grandma is.

I realize these are not particularly fascinating photos, but you gotta go with what you got when you finally get a decent day outside, that is not freezing, or raining.

I have big news to report but I do not want to jinx it so it will have to wait a day or two. As it is, I am scheduling this in advance to post while I am on my adventure---stay tuned for it

Play date for Foxy

Saturday was a gorgeous day, so all the blanketed girls got stripped--and have stayed that way. I took Foxy to the front pasture to play while Madison and I worked on fence, and unlike the other times we have attempted to get her to get some exercise, this time she took it seriously. Her first few steps released was typical spring day frolic, with bucks and farts and generally silliness. That always makes me happy.
I gave her some other girls to play with and they had an absolute ball.
Looking pretty good huh?
I so wish these photos were closer up, but whatcha gonna do--she moves a lot faster than I do!
This picture absolutely cracks me up. She is a hair under 14 hands on a normal day, and all stretched out like this, she looks like an oompa loompa.

Now that the weather is clearing up--well warming up, it is of course raining again--I am hoping to get her working out. I am jonesing to start riding, and she may be my first victim. Just a bit a day will go a long way for her condition, and I want to take advantage of her finally losing that belly.

I think we can call her pretty much a closed case

Damnation

This infuriates me.

I cannot explain to you how irritated I am.
Weeks ago when I was hunting a new propane company, I talked to every one. And then my original guy was so sweet I cannot stand it. Super sweet. He even promised to come by the next day to check my level and would fill me up since he would be in the are anyway. He swore I would never be caught cold again.

Did he? Nope.

Guess who is freezing now?

I have been working all week, exercising like a mad woman, and bustin my ass--I get home at 10:15 and it is 40 something degrees in here.

Are you freaking kidding me? I called the number to order emergency propane and tried my best to contain myself, but I am guessing I did not do good work. I already used a whole lot of restraint tonight when being put in an odd professional situation,. and I only had so much left in me.

Worst part of this? I have special dinner and party tomorrow nite in St Louis--and no hot water. Does anyone really think I am going to take a shower in this cold water? Hell no. so add more time to my get ready tomorrow, which screws up my workout and everything else.

Yep, I feel my blood pressure going up. Yes I do. Upper and upper.

MEanwhile, Barry has gone off to Lake Tahoe to ski with the boys. If you recall, he spent last year on oxygen from altitude sickness. Now he is sniffling. Bad. Good thing he is not sleeping here tonight--his face might freeze

And Jenna--I have your purse.

Paige now does Pilates--and it pisses me off

but probably will not do it again. I felt like I was kind of in yoga class, which does not agree with me. When I have to do things slowly like that, I spend the whole time getting madder and madder and madder---I am not genetically wired to just do one thing at a time. Yoga and pilates require that.

I could ill afford any more anger today.

Once again, I could not sleep--partly due to headache and partly just restlessness. So I did not get to work until 11 am. That is no way to start the day. Right off the bat, that stupid desk chair of mine bucked me off and into the shelves, making all my stuff fall off and on to me. This desk chair has been trying to kill me for close to a year and while you would not think it could get any worse, it has. For some reason, the stem of the chair has slipped down to the ground, so that the four wheels do not touch the ground. It is just perched on this middle column of the seat. It rocks every which way until a wheel hits the ground, then fires back the other direction---in addition, the leather is all ripped open at the seams, and the back is not attached too well. The only real surprise is that it has taken this long to pitch me all the way out. It has been doing that for a few weeks now.

And in the nature of bureaucracy, it was finally decided that I can have a working chair, but it takes several layers of people to sign off on it all over the state. I guess that takes a while.

In the midst of dealing with that chair trying to kill me, and trying to finish a few things, I got the taxes and my need to do them on my mind. When my computer started acting up, I felt like my head was going to blow off. I decided to quit this whole day and go home before I did something hateful to someone.

I ran errands and went to bed, and for the first time in weeks, I actually SLEPT. The first hour sucked, but the next two were swell. When I woke up, I had no idea where I was, what day it was--it was some good sleeping.

Since I was no longer so pissed, I went to the first pilates class. I do not think I am cut out for it. Anything we do on our backs where we have to raise our legs high up in the air tears my back up. If it was not my back hurting, it was my neck. Plus it is SO SLOW. I got better as the class went on and we did other things, like planks and scissors, etc. The best part of the class is that it only lasted forty minutes! I will try it again, but I am not a huge fan. I do not know if it is the teacher or just the discipline. If I get irritated again, I think it will not make it into my regular routine.

In other news of things that I do not do--I am making chicken soup. Out of a chicken carcass. I have no idea what has gotten into me--well, someone made me do this, but for me to have an actual chicken in the crock pot is really peculiar. It looks like an alien and I am kind of skeered. Pray the house does not explode and that I do not kill someone with this soup I have been badgered into making for an office thing. I guess if it sucks, I can put it in the desk chair and let er fly

Paige as a BellyDancer

I really have to stop speaking in the third person. I am pretty sure I irritate myself.

But what do you make of that foolish idea? I sure enough for real just got home from Intro to Bellydancing.

I shit you not. I am the most uncoordinated person in the free world, and only dance if I am drunked up and I went straightaway to the bellydancing class. When I told my boss I was going, she laughed out loud and that should have been a cue for me to reconsider, but I did not.

It is a new class at the Y, for women only, and this was the first nite. There had to be at least 30 people there. It was packed.

And I did it. I suspect I looked like a baby elephant with a seizure, but I did not want to confirm it, so I made sure I could not see me in the mirror. That would likely have sent me to the bed.

We learned about hip shimmies, which I have the basics of but sure cannot do properly, and undulations, which I may or may not have down---I am guessing not. Traveling undulations, I felt better about. The shoulder shimmies are really really hard. I got the hip drop and even the hip drop with a kick bizness.

It was really a trip. The class is twice a week, but the Friday will be a repeat of today, so I guess I will wait until next week to go again.

The teacher said we would all probably have a hard time getting out of bed in the morning. I can believe that, considering how tight my lower back is right now. I am hoping this whittles some more off my hips and especially my belly. It may have been a bad idea to do it on a day when I saw the personal trainer did step aerobics right before Bellydancing, but that is what I did.

If you do not hear from me for a while, either I cannot get out of bed or a video of the class has appeared and caused me to jump off the roof. It could go either way