Ham-Cam: Hammer's medium-sized adventure

Tonight was Hammer's first trail ride near the farm but not on the farm. You would think that would not be a big deal--but you would be terribly wrong. As far as I know, this was his first RR crossing. Most horses will do it once, but wig the second time---or put up a good fight repeatedly, until they get used to it. Baby Hammer rolled right over it the first time, and then on the way back I took this pic. Although he appears to be standing at high alert--he was seeing and recognizing that he was home, and not at all bothered by the tracks.
I will admit that he was not as good as he was in the Shawnee, but that is to be expected, because so much of the riding behind the farm is on a mowed path, rather than a real challenge. He paid a little less attention because of that, but he still did exceptionally well. We ventured off pioneering, like he likes to do, and ended up in the dry creek bed. He is in his element in tricky terrain.


I so wish I had my real camera, as this one just does not capture the colors like the good ones do.
There are about 300 acres to ride on, but the bean fields are blocking access to a lot of it. Still, we can get in 90-120 minutes easily without backtracking, and we still find new things everytime.

This sort of mowed path riding is not my favorite kind of all, but beggars cannot be choosers. These are the paths they have cut in anticipation of hunting season, which starts October 1, and will mark the end of the riding at home days for us. We are sure having a good time packing in as much as possible until then.


This is what some of the paths around the edges of the fields look like.
I did not realize until I loaded this photo that the leaves are starting to fall. That makes me sad, but it sure makes for some pretty after-work jaunts.

On the Radar front, he was heartbroken to be left behind tonight. That did my heart good. I am going to take Jodi's suggestion and leave him be for a few days, then try a quick change bridle on him. Once I buy one, that is. I have one, somewhere, but it has a browband and that defeats the purpose.

Uno is doing fine. He was out of his stall when I got there this morning, which put me off my game by thirty minutes. The most appalling point was that evidently his deworming has been very successful. Enough that I noticed it when trying to catch him. And then I stepped in it. Now that is nasty.

The only other news of the day is that I did half a spinning class (stepping in wormy horse shit can make a girl late), and half an aerobics class (my bodyfat session ran late) and weighed in. I hit a new low! Go me! I do not know how, as I surely did not deserve to have lost it, but I will take it.

One more day in this week--two workouts tomorrow, and perhaps an after work ride. Then this sister is going to take a BREAK! Barry won't be home again, so I can sleep and catch up on things. I am so looking forward to it

Daily farm chores

This is what a stoned pony looks like. It was float day at the farm, and that always makes for some funny scenes. This is Radar after we were done with him. Blech he says!

This is him in the process. Radar has had his teeth done before of course, since he is four years old, so it is old hat to him to be a gentleman. Then again, a generous be nice cocktail helps everyone get along! We determined there is nothing wrong with his left ear--it is just attitude. Good enough, now we know. His teeth were pretty rough though even though it has not been that long since he was done--so maybe that will help him not be so adamant that his bit be exactly right all the time. That is kind of a pain in the ass.

This is baby Hammer's mouth. Once again, if I had my old camera you would have been able to see just how much damage occurs in the mouth of a horse even this young--he is only two, but already has ulcerations inside his cheeks just from chewing, etc. My vet is a fanatic about teeth, and swears that most people should be horse whipped for neglecting them--so I was on his good girl list today for being so on top of things. Even I could see the sore spots--and once again, Hammer had failed to complain about it. Sometimes, horses are really tough creatures. He did great getting his sedative--he is not a fan of shots, but this time was no problem. He got his first Coggins drawn, and I gave him all his shots, so he is ready to roll when someone wants him.

Look how much root was on his wolf teeth. They were massive. I should have put something in this pic to show size. It was a big ol honking root--but they popped out easy. Hammer was glad to have a little snooze in a stall after this session!

All that- and a pile of Coggins- got done over my lunch hour, and I toddled back to work where I spent all afternoon thinking about drunk people beating each other with bottles. Fun times, I tell you. Funny how my day can shift so dramatically within minutes.

After work, I went to the farm to play and feed, and while Madison was loping all over tarnation--her new skill--I discovered this mess in the back hay field.

This is the yearling gelding Uno. He has evidently stuck something up in there. He is swelled up a little crazy, but oddly enough it is not hurting that much. Explain that to me. He is walking on it fine. We wrestled him up front and got him to a stall. He is a wily character- he wanted no part of leaving his friends, but ultimately he learned how to stand there like a good boy for his cold hosing, and cleaning it out, and taking all his shots, and what the hell, a little dewormer while we were at it. I started him on SMZs and threw him in a stall. He took exception to that, which he demonstrated by standing on his hind legs and trying to climb over the gate. Oy vey. This is how I know he does not hurt too much. I moved him to another stall, and put him on lockdown--if he can act right for a day or two, I will move him to one of the new pens where he can move around more, but still be separated to stay on his meds.
While watching Madison ride, I had a visitor. Or two. Finally, a picture that shows how teeny short stuff is. The cat with her is less than six months old, so that gives you an idea how little. I figured out that if I put her in the back of the truck, she cannot get out really quickly and thus is not underfoot while I am doing something kitty sensitive. It only worked a couple of times though til she was launching herself out. That one is a handful.
All in all an okay nite---and I love this photo of Madison walking her little sister home.

Scenes from an almost perfect day

Finally, I got back to doing what I love--riding horses. I am so busy that this quite often gets put off to some other day--and then does not happen. But TODAY-- I went trail riding with Randy, Linda and my mom, about an hour away from here. Sure some things went wrong (flat tire on trailer, potentially stolen tractor when I got home, etc)....but the rest of the day was awesome.
Mom rode Gyro, probably for the first time. Gy is always a treat in every way so mom had lots of fun. The weather was perfect--about 70 degrees. In August, for Pete's sake.
Radar and I had a great time--every time I get on him, I am reminded how much I love this horse. I mean really love him. I am not selling him. So there Barry (please don't be mad, I just cannot do it). I love him.
Due to all the hangups getting there, I arrived sans-beer. I know--almost unheard of right? But a safe move when one is going to meet Head. He always is stocked. He can hook a girl up. The only thing to make a day horseback better is a cold beer at the rest points, so it is good that he is reliable in this way. But when Head busted out these little bitty beers, I cracked up. He had a selection of regular size beers and beers for midgets or children, and you could not know which one you were getting when you stuck your arm in the saddle bags. It was like some bizarre game of spin the bottle, I swear.
And you know he is a real horseman, just by this scene back at the trailer. A real horseman never takes his spurs off--he just changes boots instead.

When we got home, I discovered some unfortunate things- my head almost spun plumb off my shoulders and I had the beginnings of a full-blown come apart. The details of that may or may not come later. I did not want to skimp on Hammer boot camp due to fury though, so we got him out and went through the motions of his refresher course of saddling and stirrup flopping. He was so good tonight that we decided to push our luck, and ended up having a great ride. Hammer was the same horse I brought home from the trainer three weeks ago and not that raving lunatic that I dealt with last week. We played around in the hay field for a while, until Madison got bored with me. She set up a bunch of obstacles for me--cavaletti, scary diesel cans and wadded up tarp stuff--anything she could think of that happened to be laying around (and that can be just about anything in my world). Nothing put Hammer off--even kittens jumping out at him at Mach 2--he was a rock star. We played til dark, then gave him the night off.

It is amazing how that turned my world around. I was so proud of us. It was the perfect way to end the day.

Weekend in the woods

Try as we might, we cannot quite get everything together at the same time. We got out of town a little after 4 pm on Friday and arrived at the campground around 5:30. Jodi and Ed had been there all afternoon, so were set up and relaxing. We were surprised to see how busy the campground was--we have gotten a little spoiled in that we have quite often had it mostly to ourselves over the past year, since our friend bought it. The word is out though that it is open, and it was pretty busy.


We hung out and had dinner and talked all nite. We expected Amy and Burt to arrive from Chicago Friday nite, but they hit a snag of some sort, and did not get in until Saturday afternoon. Linda and Randy arrived Saturday morning. We had a nice ride--not long, maybe 3 hours or so on Saturday afternoon.


I rode Gyro, because she is delightful. And after this, none of the pics will make any sense.


This Great Pyr came to visit on Sunday. I thought he was swell.

Amy brought her pack of dogs. This is Bopper.
Every time the dogs got a chance, they got their short asses right back in the Denali. Evidently, camping is not the best thing in their world--they prefer leather seats to sleeping in a tent.
This is Jodi, looking like she has been caught in a thunderstorm, because she had in fact been caught in a thunderstorm. Our Sunday ride went off the rails a bit, as it looked like the rain was over. It most certainly was not.
Only Eddie had a reasonable raincoat. I of course, had nothing, and was soaked to the skin.
Look how wet all the horses are. I had to use the flash too, as the skies were so dark.
Poor Amy had on a sweater, I cannot imagine how unpleasant that felt.

I did not mind the rain so much, it was actually kind of fun.
This is what Jodi looks like when she is not caught in a thunderstorm. Her horse is a pretty good boy too.
Here, you can kind of see Tequila's ouchies. And that her ass is shaved, so that her wounds could be treated. She discovered the couch in the trailer, but honestly, she was as happy having the mid tack and stud stall to herself--she could come and go and had two rooms to choose from. Not a bad way to live.
This is Barry and Head at the initial tree. We always stop here for a snack break.
Who knew that Bocephus had been there?
It was at this stop that Gyro got up close and personal with this tree. She spent the longest time trying to get it in just the right place to scratch her itchies--which evidently involved her udder or something else personal. I don't think you can see her face well enough to know how much she was enjoying this episode. We watched her do this for several minutes, moving that tree all over the place. When she got done, she picked up her off hind leg and tried to get it out of there--that required hopping on her other leg all the way around the tree. She never got the least bit bothered by any of it--she is a good girl, and kept us laughing for a while.
This is the big Weed. His real name is Tumble Weed. we mostly call him the Weed. When he is bad, he is the called Dick Weed. This weekend, he was regular Weed, which is nice.
I did not get many scenery shots, as I thought I would have time on Sunday--and then the down pour started, so I mostly have pics of rain, and a few rocks in the rain. That kind of sucks
This is Tequila acting like a good girl. She was an angel all weekend, and she is feeling very good. It does my heart good.
Ah--finally proof that it did not rain the entire weekend. This is Linda and the Dirty Cowboy. Saturday was hot and humid and other than it making me sweaty, it was really nice.
Barry rode Hawk on Saturday. Hawk got cut from the team last year, as he was pretty solid and did not need the work, and got bratty about the trailer. It was time for that to end though, so he was back in the lineup. He was excellent. Did not take a wrong step, was great about the trailer, and was all around swell in every single way. We were thrilled since he has been off so dang long--like a year or so--which is a long time for a young horse. Barry loves him.


I kinda like him my own self. He is such a handsome boy. He is going to make someone a great horse---if someone would just step up and buy him. You could not ask for more in a young horse with as little work as he has had--he is just such an athlete, but laid back enough to get along with everyone.

This is Barry's favorite activity on these weekends---sitting. He did not ride on Sunday, opting instead to go mountain biking, but he did not get to do that either due to the rain. So he sat and rested. I take my resting in the form of a nap--I slept so long Saturday evening, I missed dinner. I only was down for an hour or so on Sunday when Darrell and Paula showed up and I never ever ever miss the Logan show. You just cannot make that stuff up, so I got up for that adventure.
The other swell thing of this trip as baby Junior---Eddie and Jodi's pup. Is he not the cutest thing ever?

It must run in the family

and this time, I am not talking about the foul mouths, bad attitudes and various other wackaloon attributes, but this horse thing.

We already knew that Gabi was totally into animals, as her big show with Fonzie yesterday demonstrated. Today we all went riding together, and she got to sit on Twister, Gyro, and a few others. Because she is so tiny, someone always has a hold of her and it makes her so angry that she cannot go by herself. Yes, all 23 pounds and 20 months of her. She pushes people away, tells them no and cries when you take her off. It is ridiculous. Yesterday, she clapped most of the time, but today we were able to get through to her that she needed to hold the horn so the horse could move.
This is her kissing Barry, but then telling him to go away so she could ride. If she was not on a horse, she was constantly saying "up, up, up". When she was on one, she said "go go go". If you asked her what a horse says, she would neigh and crack up. It was so cute. I give them two years and she will be riding her own pony behind us on these rides, instead of waiting at the trailer with Leo, waiting for us to come back.
This is my cousin Kim. She rode Gyro on one shift.
This is my aunt Jana, Kim's mom--she is my mom's little sister. Twister took good care of her. He still looks a little bit like a zebra. He does not care. He is losing weight for no good reason lately, so I am keeping an eye on him.
This is Edward, the brother-in-law. He does not normally look like a thug, I think it is that crazy hat he had on. He is not, not by a long shot.
When we came back from one ride, Gabi insisted on going up up up, then raised her arms up and shrugged her shoulders, like she did not know why she was having to share the horse. Funny kid.
This is Barry and Jack. Jack is Kim's son. This was Jack's first ride with us, except for on Marvin the donkey a long time ago, and that does not count. Jack had a blast and if he said thank you once, he said it ten times--it is nice to know how much he appreciated it. I was amazed at how well he did, he followed instructions well, he did not get bothered by anything, and did a great job with Rock. Even though she is 26 years old, she is plenty opinionated, and is blind in one eye, so we had to think carefully about who we could pony her from to start his ride--so that it was not someone she would feel obligated to beat up on. That left us with Playmate, who Barry is riding, and is 27 years old. She has probably not been ridden in at least a year, and it might well be a couple of years. She was PERFECT, as was Rock, we could not have asked for more out of any of our horses that the behavior we got from these girls today. They did so well that we were able to let Rock loose in the woods, and Jack handled her really well up and down the hills and through creeks--all in all, it was a perfect family ride.

This is the second shift of the ride--me, Mandy and mom.
And Edward was part of that group as well.
This is Barry and Jack on their first entry into the woods--I like how good these old bay mares look, and knowing how much fun Jack had and that Gabi has to look forward to over the years made it more fun for everyone else too.

When that was over, we came back to my house, and had chili that Aunt Jana had hauled all the way down here from Chicago. We had ten people here, I think, and played some crazy Dominoes game that brings out some nastiness in this bunch. Evidently they played this game last nite too as I took my nap, and Barry was not kidding about how insane these people are--not that that is news to me at all. That he willingly hung out with my family is a little strange, which just goes to show you how much better things were this year than they have been in years past. We did not have any real screaming or arguments of any significance, which might be the first time every in the history of family doings in this bunch.

It is amazing how much easier the days are when you know the person calling you a SOB, or a MF'er is not doing it in anger!

Tomorrow is back to business, as Kim and Jack, Leo and Jana head back to Chicago, and Mandy and Edward head to his hometown to do his class reunion, then back to Houston on Sunday.