This and That

I am so boring. But a lot of things have been going on around here--mostly little stuff, but stuff all the same.

For example, Madison finally beat the hay spear on the tractor into submission, so that we could put the bucket on and move the rock for the weaner castle. We did that Tuesday nite. It really grates on me when I cannot do something I want to do, so that is a big relief. I still have about four tons of rock sitting in the middle of the driveway, which will start driving me crazy, but for now, I am content.

The farrier was there Tuesday, and pronounced Fonzie free of any changes in his feet from his laminitic episode. Looks like we may have caught it in time to avoid any damage, although it is a little early to be sure we can call him good. I did let him go in with the babies to play, since he has been locked up so long. I may regret that and change him to another holding area soon--he is either getting beat up on or picking on someone else half the time I look.


Five others got trimmed too--including Harley who will be going to training next. She is Gyro's two year old--her last foal. She is in a funky growth spurt, but is 14'3" at the hip and plenty stocky. She did great for her trim and cockleburr removal, and her vaccines.


Target got trimmed too--his feet are a disaster. No matter what we do, they are a mess. Makes me nuts.

While the farrier was there, he helped me deal with Bijou who drives me crazy. She needed haltered and let out of the stall where she has been since weaning. Melody's babies are a pain in the ass, but when they come around, they really come around. She will be great eventually--if I let her live that long. I suspect she will be fine in the baby pen. I hope. Since it will be hard for me to fix if she is not, that is. On that note, China scratched her eyeball somehow--so she is being doctored for that. She is behaving wonderfully for it--always coming right to me to offer to have her eyeball goobered up. I like that.

Speaking of Mel's babies--Hammer was unwilling to load in a timely fashion on Sunday, so he is reacquainting himself with the inside of a trailer. We built a pen for him that is attached to the gray trailer--and he is fed inside of it. If he wants to eat, he has to go in the trailer. Tuesday morning, I checked on him while it was pouring rain--he was standing outside looking pathetic. By the time I got home Tuesday evening, he was happy as a clam standing inside the trailer like he was ready to roll. He stayed there a long time. I was at the farm probably three hours and he was in and out like clockwork. I love that trailer trick--it worked WONDERS on his brother Mojo.

This is what he looked like after our little tool around the farm Monday nite--before he realized this trailer was getting ready to be his world. He looks so innocent, doesn't he? I love this little bugger. Even when he looks a little swishy from standing like that.

Hammer has clearly loaded reasonably well for the rest of his life, but has recently decided he would rather not. This should snap it in the bud, as I want him to go with me camping this weekend. Since Barry won't be here to drive the horse trailer, and I am not about to attempt to get the Mack Daddy trailer in and out of the drive--we will load in the road outside the farm...not the place to have words with the Ham. Let's hope this works to make things as easy as they were for Mojo.



What else do I have? Ah--I thought Boce moved his kitties, but he has not. They are living in the black hole that is my garage. Mama came to me and acted sweet so I gave her a can of kitty food I had bought for the previous kitties. She shared it with her babies, who are laying on my favorite yellow blanket. I wondered where that was. Boce was very nice to not interfere in their dinner, even though his nose was twitching like crazy trying to figure out what their food was. He visited the babies and was very protective of them.

The last info of note is that I finally gave in and had my elbow xrayed. I could see a crack in it, but have no idea what the doc is going to do about it. My bet is nothing. I expect I will hear from him tomorrow. All I want is that shot that makes it stop hurting.

That is about all I have to offer up--nothing of great significance. It is getting ready to get exciting around here though, over the next few weeks...so put on your seatbelts and get ready!

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.

No hail for hammer

This pic was taken from the same spot as the top pic in my last post--two days later when it was not getting ready to hail. Way more to see huh? It is a pretty high point.
This is what baby Hammer looks like on day 3 of hard riding. He got better and better every single day. There was nothing he could have done better.
I never had to worry about him worrying the reins when he was tied for a break, because he was too tired!


Isn's he darling? I never thought I would be able to say this, but this one even tops Radar on his first hard trail ride. Someone will have a handy little horse when he gets a new home---any takers? You won't be able to throw anything at him on the trail that he will not take in stride. He will hop logs, climb out of steep ravines--he will drop his little butt and shimmy down the side of a cliff like he has done it a million times--and when he slipped in one, he burn the hide off his fetlocks and still has not even told me about it. He is a stoic sort, and I sure did not expect that from him. He thinks he is big--and thereby able to climb out of creeks like the other horses, even when the edge is almost over his head. And then by God, he does it, even if he has to crawl on his knees to get up it. I could not be more shocked by him, I swear.

The area is much prettier when the sun is shining, isn't it?
Hammer went up and down this washed out climbing spot---I admit that on the way down, I shut my eyes, laid back and let him go--hoping he could handle the weight shifts and be sure footed about it. He did it better than the other horses, and I do not think he considered for a second not doing it. Going back up, he just dug down and got after it, and the only side effect was my lost hornbags who could not handle the angle
There seem to be a lot of pics of roads here, and we rarely even ride on a fire road. This year's rain has worn out some of our regular paths, so that they are just rutted gravel--far more slickery than the rougher terrain we are used to.
This was a rare moment when Hawk was not torturing Jodi by rubbing his head on her to scratch. He is a scratchy dude. They got along fine--she liked him. As she said, he is a bit of an asshole, but he rides nice so she liked him. He comes across as such a thug and I do not know why, as he really is not--and he is so brave, I swear he holds his breath and just throws himself into any new challenge. I do not think he has any fear about anything either.

Here, he was asking Head if he could maybe have a drink of beer. I do not know how he made out on that deal. I suppose if Hawk really wanted it, he would have knocked Head off his perch and taken it.

Linda has a long horse--it makes it easier to get phone reception in the wilderness. Even out there, there is always something demanding attention back home--so thank goodness The Dirty Cowboy knows how to hook her up with a high point to take a phone call.



Radar rode only on Monday, and that is when we realized that he and Hammer have to share a headstall for their bitty heads. I was not about to give it up, so Barry had to make do with a closer fit. Not very close at all, actually--about a half inch too long, and the buckles on the throat latch thing were missing. Because we are fancy, Barry tied it in a knot under Radar's jaw--which of course would not stay. There was no curb chain either--so this poor feller was in a bit of a snit about his ill-fitting equipment. He and Barry do not get along like Radar and I do, so they argued for a while, until they reached a truce. And now I have an excuse to shop some more!

Look how far down on his head that browband is--pathetic, huh? He is still awfully pretty, but I guess we might as well admit that he will always wear a yearling halter and have to have his headstalls adapted to fit his pea head. I guess there are worse problems.

We had a great weekend, and there are more pics to go through, but if I waited to post until I was recovered, it would never happen.

I love these weekends with Headleys and Jodi, and various other people that come along-- they rejuvenate me. I am lucky to have friends like this to spend time with, and lucky to have a constant supply of home grown babies that make me happy to be around, and ride. What more could anyone ask for?

Hail for Hammer

This was the scene of the high point of our trail ride today--right before all hell broke loose. We had a lot of hangups getting ourselves to the campground today, but finally got here three hours later than anticipated. We hurried as fast as we could to saddle up and get out, since our friends had been waiting forever.

We should have know something would go berserk, as we had driven through off and on monsoons all morning to get here--but it had only sprinkled here.

Hammer got off the trailer a little shaky and a lot scared, but we did not have time to indulge that. He was immediately hooked to a picket line for his first time, so we could unload the trailer, etc. He did GREAT. Honestly, that was what worried me the most--picket lines are something we take for granted, but we are bound to eventually have a young colt that takes exception. Somehow, by the grace of God--today was not that day. Anyone who placed money on that deal---you will collect from me, because I sure did not see it going that easily.


Anyway, we went to the scene of the most infamous trailriding crime of my time--the place where Haida Girl hauled balls years ago, leaving me stranded miles from camp, on a bluff high above the Shawnee. We arrived, and I am not exaggerating, the second we got off our horses, I took this photo.

This was at about 3 pm. Brightest part of the day, on one of the highest points in the Shawnee. If you could see this on a regular day, you would see hills and bluffs for maybe 50 miles--but this storm was a doozy. We started out hiding in the trees and commenting on how easy it was to avoid the raindrops. That did not last long. Before we knew it, it was hailing and blowing and raining so hard, I was soaked through to my drawers within minutes. And it showed no sign of letting up.

We had no choice but to head back to camp in that mess--we were freezing and the rain was coming down so hard that previously hard packed trails had water running down them the wrong way. We made it back in about 45 minutes--but they were a long 45 minutes!

I could not have been more proud of Hammer. He hesitated at nothing. Mud? No issue. Logs? If they were below belly level, he never even hesitated. He did not need to be up anyone's butt, he was content to be left behind by hundreds of yards, he did not blindly follow the horse in front of him ( a pet peeve of mine)--he was just outstanding. My little scaredy cat acted like a seasoned pro. I felt as safe as if I had been on one of the oldsters who have done it a hundred times. On top of all that, he was as happy as I have ever seen a young one faced with all these challenges the first time.

Right now, I am outside the trailer at a picnic table--watching him on the picket line--which is also okay with him. He did not even have the initial trouble all babies have when trying to eat from a mobile hay bag--he figured that bad boy out with the first bite. Right now, it is strung across his back--about twice as scary as the rope that he got wonky last week after his bath that caused him to attack the barn wall, and yet he is not even bothered by it. I could not be more proud of him, I swear it.

I am psyched about tomorrow--if riding in a hail storm does not phase him, I feel a whole lot more secure in him than I had ever anticipated I would at this stage of the game. I am so psyched for tomorrow. Hopefully, there will be no more hail. The charm of that has passed.

Leaps and Bounds

Yesterday, I was thrilled with this sort of acomplishment--Hammer being quiet enough to get this done. Just letting me on him made me happy. Remember that? Just yesterday, it was.


Tonight, we trotted. This was our first time. I heard he had a nice trot, and he totally does. Forgive the pics-it was almost dark, and Mad is just learning my camera.
I felt pretty comfy on him. And since I had just taken Gyro for a trail ride with the neighbor, he had to be pretty good to measure up. Okay, to tell the truth--Gyro acted like a fruit bat on our trail ride. That irritated me but does not scare me in the least as I know her so well. To shift gears and then feel solid on Hammer is such a huge deal for me.
This is the hillbilly obstacle course Madison made for us last nite--poles on the ground--wadded up matting that moves and makes noise when he steps on it--buckets and pan, and diesel cans---and Hammer quite happily trotted over them. I was so excited.

After playing a while, I dismounted and we played our mount dismount mount dismount game and tonight, you never would have known it was ever an issue. He was perfect.

What do you make of me, riding two nites in a row? And God willing, I will be back up there again after work--maybe Madison and I will take a short ride, as her ankle is feeling better. I am having a great time.

Last note of the day-- I lost another 1.5 pounds. I am now within .5 pound of the lowest I have gotten on this round of weight loss--and while that sounds like I have screwed up and wasted all the summer (which I kind of have), I have been really working hard. And I am still moving the right direction---right on to me.

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.

Matters of some significance

Two of them happened today. In fact, two of them happened after work.

First, I cut off my hair. Well, I did not, Liza did. I have been thinking that it is way past time for a girl to have an actual style, instead of going around looking like bozo. The problem is that we all know by now that I am not about to put any work into my hair. It looks better without me interfering with it--just wash it and go. I don't even comb it when I get out, and it looks best then.

So I had to have something easy, and with a different shape than its natural state of long wild spiral curls that look like corkscrews scared half to death.

This was very exciting for Liza who immediately lopped off four inches off the length in the back and at least twice that in front-- I have freaking bangs now. BANGS. But I like them. She made very cute hair, and now there is so little hair there that I might be able to make it look right. I might could even use a round brush, which is all she used on it--I have never been able to do that before because it always got stuck and had to be cut out. It will also be fine if I do nothing to it, I think. We shall see.


Cutting off my hair is a big deal. My hair has its own fan club--made up of people who do not have to live with it, of course, but it gets lots of compliments. It was time for a change though, and it grows so fast that it will be back soon enough if I hate this. Still, it is a big deal.


I had already sweated it up by the time this pic was taken, so it had rebelled against the work Liza did on it, but you can at least see that I am missing well over a pound or two of hair.

The other thing took almost as much nerve. I had made up my mind that this was the day I was riding Hammer. I have not had a chance to get on him since he got home. He has been running wild since his return. I had mentioned it to Madison last nite, so when I pulled up with my new do, she was leading him in. We fly-sprayed him, and he was far more bothered by that then he had been only two weeks ago. This concerned me a little, but I was not having it.

We took him to the big trailer where most of the tack is and even the saddle pad freaked him out. He simmered though, and we went through the same thing with the saddle. Very strange I thought. We went for a little lunging, some banging of and hopping in the stirrups, etc, and kept getting overreactions to the first try at everything. I found it very odd and frustrating. We kept sacking him out until there was no more flinching. The only thing I can figure is that he is a little beat up from his return home--many nicks, bite marks, etc, that might be a little ouchy--but I am making excuses. He just went backwards without daily work.

I KNOW how quiet he is once you are on him though--watching his trainer ride him convinced me that perhaps Hammer has us snowed. I was not about to let him revert to his old ways with me, I was going to man up and do this.

Eventually, I got my mounting block. Yeah, I am a pansy, but it was a good idea since that barrel saddle we used does not snug up great on him. Madison and I both fiddled with him from there for a while, then sucked it up and got on. The first mount he was a little wonky, a little tense. As she rode--with me leading just in case--you could see Hammer deflate. He was FINE. He visibly relaxed once someone was in the saddle.

Then it was my turn. I cannot tell you how anxious I was. I have no idea why, other than I have known this child since the minute he was born, and he has always been reactionary. Seeing him not act like that in training was incredible, and I had to keep reminding myself of that to psyche myself up for it.

By God, I did it though. And Madison took pics to prove it to Barry.

There was no reactionary behavior at all once I was on him--despite two little kittens stalking us through the whole process, which tensed me up. He is quite nice. All I did was walk tonight, but we will be at this again right away, so I can try out that trot that Bobby bragged on. I was a little anxious with the peanut gallery watching us over the fence line--there were probably 20 horses watching us and he wanted to see them. Before we called it a nite, I mounted and dismounted a bunch of times, and he stood stock still--I guess he just had to be reminded that he knows all this stuff after all, and so do we.

I was so proud of us. We did it, just the two of us, and did a good job. It was fun, and I feel quite content with him. I could not have done it without Madison there to help me and give me the nerve to suck it up and get through it--and before I knew it, we were all having fun. I am lucky to have that kid around here.

All in all, a big day--but a good one.

For a similar story, you can follow the progress of Hammer's older brother, Mojo, who now lives in Pennsylvania. He has had his first two rides this week and they are being detailed at www.themares.blogspot.com His progress is even more noteworthy than Hammer's as he had further to go, and he is being started by non-professionals. It is the ideal situation for him. Go check him out and cheer them on

Hammer graduated

Maybe he does not look so proud, but I am so proud of him, I could explode.
We picked him up today from the trainer, and I could not be happier with Hammer. He is such an athlete, but most significantly to me, he is happy, relaxed and willing to work.
He has been very busy, learning the basics and riding out in the big wide open world. As you can see, he was totally content to lope forever in the open fields.
And stop and pose for me occasionally.






Look how happy he is in every picture--he is just one satisfied dude.




That makes two of us. He is going to make a great all around horse for someone--so send some takers my way! His mom is GDA Playboys Melody (Playboys Guard x dtr of Freckles Hustler), so he is loaded up on the Jewel's Leo Bars. Crossing a horse bred that way to a horse bred as intensely Doc Bar as Sly looks like a success after all!