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.

More zebra action

Madison and I were safari guide types to go with Twist's zebra costume. She was a nerday safari guide, which was pretty cute, I have to admit.
She had never been to a sorting before, she she and Twist studied it hard.
I thought this was cool since the only almost clear part of the photo is the striping
Even Sam had a turn on the zebra--his second ride ever. He kept hollering Yeehaw.
The zebra has not been sorting lately, but he took a few rounds for fun.

Our Sunday escape

This is a completely gratuitous photo of Radar taken this afternoon at Sam Dale. I actually did mail in my Powershot camera for servicing, but since Barry was not there to rag me about taking my good camera on the trail, I did. Which is how I got this swell photo of my buddy Radar. Today was one of his best days ever--I enjoyed virtually every minute of our ride, he is really growing up.

You can see the lake more than usual, since so many of the leaves are down. The crunching under the horse's feet was really loud, and in places, the leaves were so deep that each step would kick them up in a swirl.
It was a gorgeous day, if a little cool. I rode in a t-shirt, but Headleys ended up putting on jackets. I think our comfortable afternoons are going to get short soon--the weather is changing so fast
I love old barns. I don't know what the attraction is, and I sure do not love MY old barns. But other people's old barns make me happy--even if they are falling down. There is something about them that makes me nostalgic--for what I have no idea

Madison rode Gyro today--I was going to ride her, but then I decided at the last minute that Madison could go with me and did not have time to come back and get Twister for her. I gave her Gy and I took Radar--that way we were both happy.
Madison had never ridden Gyro, do you think she liked it?

Days like today remind me how lucky we are. Being able to bring a broodmare out of the field after just weaning a baby, and know she will be solid for Madison is priceless. That reminds me why I insist on only using broodmares that ride and do it right--these are nice perks.

Look at those draft butts---in this world of stock horses, I almost never see a draft horse under saddle. I just do not think of them that way-I am used to seeing them work at the neighbor's, as we are surrounded by Amish who use them. It was cool to see them out on the trail.

and on that note, I am out--I am worn out, which is how I like to end a Sunday--but I have to be at the vet for preg checks at 7 am, so off to bed I go.

How do we miss what is right in front of us?

I often wonder this, but rarely as much as I did this morning, when we finally got it together enough to take Madison on her trailride I had been promising her all week and kept having to put off. We all went, and rode behind the farm--there are about 250 extra acres back there that we never take advantage of--which is just stupid. We decided to check it out, since the hunting outfit had cut trails, and we only have until the end of this month to use them (at their request). I sure wish we had been back there more often, as it is so pretty--and we just ignore it.

Probably the reason Barry was willing to go was that he got a new saddle last nite. It is really plain, but really well made, I love how it feels. Barry was excited to get it on Target, who he is really clicking with and enjoys riding a lot.

Target pulled a screwball stunt before we mounted up (first exposure to a rear cinch, which resulted in him wigging out on the lunge, slipping on dewy grass and wiping slap out in the front yard), so I was a nervous wreck about this, and to ride behind our farm without going through our pastures (never a great idea with young horses), we have to ride a couple of hundred yards in the road. Why country people do not understand that it is not cool to zoom by at 60 mph, or think it is okay to speed up just as they reach us, I have no idea. But they don't.

Anyway, the above shot is taken on the farm road bordering our fence line, which leads back to the back part of the farm where we were going to ride--the houses across the street are the cul de sac across the street which often shows up in my photos.

This next one is taken from the same spot, but the other direction--you can see Gypsy and Aries in the pasture, behind Madison. Unbeknownst to them, they were experiencing their last hours with their babies--we weaned them when we got back.

This is the cattle pass under the railroad tracks, where Playmate used to escape and end up out in the damn wilderness. I was always sure she was dead, laying in the tall grass somewhere, and I would race around in the Gator and be sure I was getting ready to drive right over her--but nope, she found an escape, and tore down the gates on both ends so she could use it. Those old ladies can be tricky. Not as tricky as me though, as I eventually busted her out.

This is to the east of our farm, high up on a bluff overlooking the Little Muddy River. There are all kinds of artifacts in this area--broken pieces of pottery, arrowheads, etc--the man who sold us our property said it was called Indian Ridge. By who, I do not know.


This is the larger of the two ponds back there. Both of them presented Radar with some serious stress--as we approached, big frogs would plop around in there. I thought poor Rad was going to come out of his skin--he was a spooky monkey all day, completely unlike him. I don't know why he was like that, but it was a little unsettling. If he cracked a dead branch, he wigged--if he bent one over and it wacked him, he wigged--you name it, he was just wound way too tight today. He actually acted like he was a baby 3 year old, for the first time ever. I realize that he IS a baby three year old, he just never acts like one.

He was not the only wackaloon though--Twister gave Madison her first real buck and he meant it. I am pretty sure that we got into some ground bees or something as Target was fine, then there was a good amount of time before Twister hit that spot, and just as he quit, Radar got set off. Fun times. I was so proud of Madison though, to do so well with her first one--she never grabbed the horn, she did not holler like a little girl like I do when that happens, and it did not ruin her ride. He pulled another stunt later, which flat pissed her off, and I was so proud of her for working through it--I know she was scared, but she would not admit it. I also knew full well that he was being a pecker head for the fun of it and not because he hurt--which is good news to me.
This is an example of the paths the hunting outfit put in--most are not like this of course, as most either edge a bean field or are through woods, but there were some areas like this. It made for a very pleasant ride, to work through the squirriliness most of us were having.

This is what 70% of that land looks like--it is in beans right now. This year, things were planted in a different pattern than they normally are--so had it been up to us to find a clear path to ride, we would have been in a world of hurt, I think--all our paths are covered up.
The hunting outfit cut trees and brush in a completely different pattern than we have ever ridden, so it was kind of interesting to see parts we had never seen before.

Isn't this a cool tree? It is all twisty. I swear I did nothing to this photo, it is just so thickly wooded in some parts of the property that there is not much color--just Radar's ears and some leaves.

As always when we ride back there, I wonder why I do not do it every day. Most people would love to have this at their fingertips and we do not even use it--it is silly. We may be able to get out after work a day or two this week, but then we have to get out til hunting season is over---but it will be there all winter and from now on--we have to take advantage of it. We rode two solid hours with no breaks and did not backtrack except in the rare occasion where we hit too steep of a cliff to traverse, or the brush got too thick.

CC is going blonde

Isn't she growing up into a pretty girl? CC is Fuzzy's yearling--her youngest. Like her mother, she is turning blond, or at least getting highlights. Fuzzy's did not last, but Radar (who is CC's uncle and her half-brother--how is that for some southern breeding?) still has his highlights.

Yeah, she looks like a llama here, but it does show how frosty she is getting. I think it is fascinating, as it has to come from Kindalucky, but she does not show it. She is the only thing they all have in common.
Here there is no denying who her daddy is, is there? That is the expression Sly has most of the time--except when he is looking cocky. This is the "I am so bored I cannot pay attention" look.
She is blonde down to the roots.
All right, I have no excuse for these last few pictures. I post them because they came up in my photo editor before the decent ones and I spent time shrinking them and cropping them, so by God, here they are. So shoot me.
This is Phoenix with CC and Madison--she is a pretty girl, but I never got a decent shot of her, due to realizing that no one knew where Boogie was--which is a whole other story that I am too tired to tell.

The neighborhood ride

Twist is at it again, as the all purpose ride for anyone who offers---he does not mind at all. In fact, I think he enjoys himself.
That little one is a speed demon--she was as irritated with me only allowing them to walk as I would have been as a kid. Before I knew better.

It is cute to watch Madison show her the ropes. It also shows me just how much Madison does really listen to me when I point out things to her.