I'M NOT READY!!!!!!!

These were taken back in the good old days when all my horses got along.
It is also my reminder that winter is right around the corner and I am not ready!!!!

I know it is only August, but it is amazing how quickly Aug turns into Sept, and the Sept turns into Oct, and then Oct turns into...brrrrrrr!  

Sometimes it just seems like there are not enough hours in the day, nor enough money in the bank account, to take care of the things that need to be done.

I love these pictures, look how relaxed they all are with each other. I often wonder why things changed and if there was something I could have done to prevent it.

I will probably never know....

The road less traveled...OR..."The Shortcut"

So this weekend was busy busy driving here and there and everywhere in between.  First was Scottsbluff NE, which required us going through Lingle.

Do you know what is in Lingle???????

Whimsy !!!!!!  Oh yeah, that is one of my favorite little antique stores around.
I purchased two more pictures for my collection.

This is the first one, an original water color.  I have never heard of the artist, JL Stoner, but I love the picture!

This one is a pen and ink by Gary Ericson out of CA. Its just a nice picture and she had both marked down so I was able to get 2 for the price I was prepared to pay for one. 
The lady who owns this store has a great mix of new and old and she manages to find some of the best artwork I have ever seen.   She had some great old photographs of moving cows in WY, but they were full price and out of my range.  Too bad though, cuz they were awesome!

After that little excersion it was time to race home, grab the camper and make a mad dash for Ten Sleep WY for the Nowood Stock Music Festival.
It is a 3 day event held every August and every year I find new musical talent that you will not find on mainstream radio.  One thing about me....I am anything but main stream!

We decided to go through Thermopolis and Worland and headed out the 20/26 at a slow rate of speed due the the high winds and our top heavy camper.

Then Tom says to me, "Lets take a short cut!"
(Oh boy!)

We made a hard left at the tiny little burg of Moneta and started following a very desolate road, passing only trucks hauling gas.  That in itself wass a little scary.  Pretty soon we came to the town of Lysite. Then we blinked and it was gone. 

There was a little deliberation each time the road forked, but with the help of GPS on my Iphone and Tom's slightly dusty memory (he says "I've been here before but it was in the 70's"  YIKES!)  We did manage to make all the right choices.

Here are some pics of "The shortcut"

 Deserted dirt road

 We saw cows- some really nice ones

 And Horses.....

 No they weren't wild but pretty

 We even found this......

Complete with grass runway!

We saw some of the most gorgeous houses I have ever seen, but I did not take pictures of those.

We finally made it to Tensleep and I found that my camera was dead and my phone was dead and I had left all my chargers at home!

We stayed at the Ten Broeke, RV park, which I highly recommend.  They folks there were so good to us! They have a horse motel, next time I'm taking the ponies!

Then the next day we went to the music festival.

I found more art....I'm addicted I think

These are some photo's taken of some wild horses.  I managed to get the very first edition prints on these, both signed. I think they will look great in my basement that I am re-doing.

Then it was time to head home, after seeing Jalan Crossland play....I can't believe I wasn't able to take any more pictures!!!! 

The dogs, and kids and ponies were glad to see us, and it was sure nice to sleep in my own bed, but gosh what a great weekend!!!!!

Sometimes it really is worth it to take the road less traveled!







The Old Man and the Little Girl

I have had all the ponies pretty much locked up as of late.  Mostly due to Trax and Sassy's rehab issues.  Sassy with her coffin bone and Trax with his wound.  But they are both healing up nicely, Sassy does not seem to be limping at all, and Trax is way past the point of being ready to get out of that pen.

So this morning I decided to give everyone a treat.  I gave the geldings (Trax and Killian) just a little bit of food, and then after putting some Natures Edge on Trax's cut, I opened the gates and turned them out.  Then I grabbed the mare and walked her over to Dannys pasture and put her little bit of haycubes down by the gate.  I had already fed Danny first as he always gets a full ration plus his Strategy GX.  He eats the grain first of course and was chowing down on the hay cubes when I put her in with him.  She was eating her own little bit of food, but she looked up and saw him and left her food to go eat with him. 

Interestingly enough, Danny does not share his food with anyone....except Sassy.  She is the same way. It was nice to see the two friends sharing a meal again.  The were the first two in the herd and never fought or argued over anything.  They always shared nicely and I think they were really happy to get to be together again.  It has been a long time since they have been able to hang out together.  Mostly because she has been in confinement since April.   Maybe I am humanizing their feelings, in how I want it to be.  But the fact that there was never a pinned ear between them, leads me to beleive otherwise.

The Old Man and the The Little Girl

They Look Pretty Happy to Me

My favorite part of my day right now, is when I go out in the mornings to feed and clean stalls.  The air is usually cool and fresh, my herd is always happy to see me.  I love being greeted by whinny's and nickers.  They all come in for a scratch on the head and a treat.  They aren't pushy or rude.  They wait their turns nicely.  I love it when I can turn them out in the mornings.  I like watching them run and kick up their heels.  I'm glad that Sassy doesn't when she is with Danny though, after all she is still in "rehab".  The part I hate is that I have to go back inside and get ready for work.  I wish I could just stay home with them all day.  Maybe someday......

Great Music and Really Big Horses

Saturday was spent cleaning house and doing chores, and all the stuff I can't seem to stay caught up with during the week.  I was pretty exhausted by the afternoon.  Then Tom told me that my favorite local Troubadour was playing in town....suddenly I was not so tired any more!

His name is Jalan Crossland, he is from Tensleep WY.  I first heard his music a few years ago when he did a free concert at my sons high school.  I have a few guitar players in my family, so I have always been a big fan of a decent picker.  Jalan, is one of the very best I have ever seen.

His style is completely unique, unlike anything I have ever heard.  If you live anywhere near WY and get a chance to hear him play...trust me, it is worth the money!

He plays country/western/bluegrass/folk style music. 

He

He writes a lot of his own songs,
and then also does some covers of some great
songs as well.

Of course he doesn't just play the guitar, he also plays the Harmonica and the banjo.

There aren't many people who can keep an entire crowd completely entertained by himself, but Jalan Crossland can.  I wish I could get my video's to load so you could really see how amazing he is.

My post would not be complete without a horse picture......

We were at the Wyoming Historical Interpretive Center, and they had all the historical camps set up, and the wagons.  These were the draft horses they had there to pull the wagons with.  Big sweet boys.  With feet the size of saucers.

Lesson Learned- the hard way

After the big morning race yesterday, Trax and Sassy ran into the same pen. Usually Trax does not care to go in with Sassy, even with food. I made the mistake of leaving him in with her.  It seemed as though it was where he wanted to be.  I quit putting him in with anybody except Danny because he gets picked on constantly.  I should have moved him yesterday morning.....somedays I just don't think.

This is what I came home to yesterday after work.
Obviously he caught it on a T-post.  I hate those things.  I keep saying I'm going to go get caps for them all until I can put up pole fence.  I am guilty of procrastinating and poor Trax paid the price for it.


I had gone down to halter him, I was going to do a little round pen work with him.  I didn't even get the halter on when I saw this lovely gash.
I was pretty sure it was only skin deep, but as you can see it was already swollen and oozing. 

There is really only one equine vet in Casper.  I don't care for that hospital, and since it was afterhours I knew the extra charge would be really high.

I opted to call a different vet out in Glenrock.  Crossroads Animal Hospital.  A couple of younger gals are the resident Vets.  They may be younger, but I have full confidence in their skills.  I have used them several times before.   Fortunalty one of the vets was still there, she said to come on down.  I got him loaded up and made the 30 min trip to get him stitched up.

I have to brag a little.....When we first got there he walked into the bay door, and up to the shute.  He decided he didn't like it and backed all the out, taking me with him.  The vet grabbed a training stick, I told her, "We should not need that."  I asked him to step away from me sideways about ten steps.  He did so without any hesitation at all.  Crossing his feet just like I wanted.  Then I told him, to follow me into the shute, he walked right in.  I was damn proud of him and that vet was very impressed.  Its amazing what a little reminder of "I can always move your feet" can do.

She got him cleaned up, gave him a nice little coctail, and got him sewed up pretty quickly.  As you can see in the picture he was getting a little droopy.  One shot of Pennecillian and some "Scarlet Oil" and a little Bute, and he was ready to go.  Well not quite, we had to walk him around a little to wake him up some.  I was sort of afraid he would fall over in the trailer, but he didn't.  We got him home safe and sound and put him away with some dinner in the round pen.

This one I took this morning, after hosing it off real good.  He didn't care for that part.  I guess that well water is pretty darn cold.  He was shivering from it. As you can see she stitched it pretty loosely so that it can continue to drain.  Not sure I care for that big pocket of fluid that is buidling up down below. But for now will just keep an eye on it.  He will get another shot of Pennicillian this evening.

Sprayed with the Scarlet oil again....I had never heard of it before so I took a picture of the bottle, has anyone else ever used it?

Normally for wounds I use a cream called Nature's Edge, but the vet said that a cream could goop up and keep it from draining.  This is a natural fly repellant plus anticeptic that doesn't get goopy.

This is his "I don't think we are friends anymore" look.  He is not a big fan of hoses, or of people messing with his "owies". The fact that I insisted on both this morning has him a little upset with me.

A nice picture of Killian with the sun shining on him.  I am not happy with what he and Sassy have done to walls of my stalls. Gotta get those replaced before winter comes.  What do you guys think of his weight?  He has lost a ton since I got him (he looked pregnant when he came to my house), so to me he looks great, but some people say he is still heavy. 

I think Sassy could stand to lose a few pounds.  What do you think?

This guy could definitly stand to lose some weight....he still has that - I don't trust you now, look.

So all in all it wasn't a great thing to come home to and I am sorry that he had to get hurt for me to quit procrastinating.  I consider myself very lucky, as it could have been much worse.  One thing is for sure, I am going to have to take a break from riding for a while, so I will have more time to devote to getting my pens safer, and getting started on Danny's rehab.  With Trax's wound, Sassy's broken coffin bone, Killians chipped up sore hooves, and Danny's Stringhalt, I'm out of horses to ride anyway.   I kind of feel like I am a lousy horse owner, even though I spend alot of money and as much time as I can,  trying to make sure they are cared for properly. I keep them up to dates on shots worming and trimming.  I make a point of spending at the very minimum a few minutes a day just looking everyone over for any new issues, even if I don't have time to work with them or ride that day. (two jobs, 2 kids and a boyfriend take up a lot of time) I watch food intake and  I am not afraid to call a vet if needed, I try to keep the habitat safe (obviously need to work harder on that).  Sometimes it seems like it just isn't enough.





Early Morning Race

These were taken after the chores were done.  I do not care to
take a very expensive camera out to shovel poop!

I went out this morning to clean the pens, and was swept up by how gorgeous it was. There was a light easy breeze, a few clouds but not overcast.
The ponies were not thrilled that I came out empty handed.  They do not seem to appreciate my efforts to keep the pens manure and fly free.  since the wind was minor I let Killian out and kept Sassy in with me, but did not chain the gate.....big mistake on my part.
The next thing I know Sassy is out the gate.  She started off just grazing which was fine and I figured that since she was just grazing I'd leave her be.  2nd big mistake!


One of the pastures, pens down below

Suddenly I hear thundering hooves, and squeals and farts (yes farts).  There they all were, racing as fast as they could go around the pasture!!!  I ran out after them, "STOP!!!"  3rd big mistake!!!  This only fuel the fire and I watched my mare with the chipped coffin bone....(the one my vet just told me, "If she isn't limping a little more exercise is good, but I wouldn't have her running any races.")...race as fast as she could go (3 steps to Killian's 1) from one end to the other, coming into a sliding stop at the dog yard, landing hard on, yep you guessed it, her front feet!!!!



Gorgeous sky over the other neighbors house

She took back off again, threw a flying cow kick toward Trax which sent him off in the opposite direction. She was twisting and jumping and racing in circles, by now Killian was over it and had started grazing.  Trax was still racing. He is always ready for a good romp if he can find someone to romp with!




I finally came to my senses and ran up to grab breakfast.  Danny usually gets fed first, so he was unhappy that he was pushed aside.  I ran back down with my bucket of hay cubes, went through the gate and here they came.  I swear I thought Trax was gonna hit me at full speed!  He was headed straight for me as fast as he could come, I set down the bucket and did my "OFF ME!" move and about ten feet from me he did a sudden swerve to the left and slid to a stop. They all came and stood in front of me, I gave them each one bite then headed to the pens.  They got a little pushy so we did a lot of stopping and backing up as we made our way across the pasture.  They know better than to follow to close.  Good way to get a training stick in the chest!  Crises averted I got everyone fed in their prospective areas, got the pens cleaned and then ran in to get my camera. 



Danny finally got his breakfast, that is Casper Mountain off
in the distance, and if you look closely you can see the smelly
swamp/pond just past Danny.  I hate the way it smells but it provides
me with pasture so I will deal with it!

Now for my secret confession:  I really enjoyed watching my girl kick up her heels and have some fun.  She is small but soooo athletic.  I have always enjoyed watching her move. She has been in confinement since April, and I'm sure she was having a blast this morning. I kind of wish I had, had the camera with me.  I look forward to the day when she is healed and we can really start her training again.  Of course today I will round pen her to determine is she is limping again......lets keep out fingers crossed!

SOFT EYES; DRY HOOVES;AND STALKERS

This morning I had a minute to take a couple of pictures before I got ready for work.
It was so nice outside, I would have much rather called in "well" and stayed home with the herd.

 Sassy was nice enough to pose for this lovely picture.  She has always had such a soft eye.

 "Hey Lady...where's our breakfast?"

"Quit messing around with that silly little machine in your hand and get us some food!"

I had another good look at Killian's poor dried up hooves. 
They are just awful, despite the treatments he gets.
The only thing I take comfort in is that if you click on the picture and look closely you can see where he has good healthy growth above all those dry icky cracks.  Its amazing what a good diet can do for a horse.

I am glad I have the farrier coming out tomorrow. 
I'm sure this cannot be comfortable for him.
Although they have chipped down so short I don't know that he will get much relief for a while.
I'm sure he will enjoy the break from being ridden.
He is so lazy!!

I had a stalker this morning......
I took this picture over my shoulder.
He thought I didn't know he was back there. 
Notice how non-chalante he is, pretending like he could care less that I am there.

Then I turned around...
"Aw crap she saw me!"

Here he is PROVING to me that he could care less if I exist!

"Nope Nope, not following you, just back here fighting flies.  I didn't even realize you were out here."

"But hey, since you are here.....

I don't suppose you have any thing to eat with

you, do ya????"

Well that's all for now my friends....until we meet again....ride west!