Some thoughts from the week

As you may have noticed, my alloted blogging time has been greatly reduced by my J-O-B, as have been my picturing taking time, my book reading time, and my equine time.  Although I did get to go for a nice trail ride with HC (that stands for "Hella Cool") down the road, yesterday morning.

But over the week some thoughts have been forming and I would like to take a quick minute to share them with the hundreds  few readers I have. (insert smiley here)

TC moved my feed storage container (an honest to goodness shipping container) over closer to where my ponies actually live.  Two things are awesome about this. First the fact that he has the capabilities to do so is flipping awesome!  Second, the fact that I no longer have to haul buckets of hay cubes from one end of the property to the other is also pretty flipping awesome!  I think I'll keep him around! LOL

I had some gals who wanted to board their 2 horses here. I was all set to do it, then got a full time job and told them I needed to hold off for a while to see if I could handle the hours.  I can't.  Not yet anyway. Plus TC is getting ready to build a shop and revamp the whole property. With all that construction going on, I think it is best to just hold off till that is done. Then we will see how I feel about boarding.

I go every weekend to Simon's football games.  I never feel like I fit in with the rest of the football mom's and there for stick pretty much to myself.  Last night during half time, they were playing some music and one of the songs that came up was The Cupid Shuffle.  It came on just as I was coming back from the concession stand.  A few of the mom's from the other team were attempting to do the dance at the bottom of the grandstands, but did not know the steps.  I just smiled and gave them cudo's for getting up and trying. (while thinking to myself "Epic Fail")  When I got to my spot at the top of the stands (where there is something to lean against when you sit) one our team players younger sister was also trying to do the dance but didn't know the steps.  I know the steps.  So she and I did the steps together. I showed her how and we rocked it!  Pretty soon we had a few young girls lined up with us.  It was fun fun fun!!!!!  When it was done, all the other mom's (the ones I don't fit in with) laughed and cheered.  I truly had no idea that anyone was watching.

Afterwards I told the girls, "The trick to true happiness- Dance like no one is watching!"

I worked Sassy in the round pen today.  She was able to go both directions at a trot without limping.  I am excited about this FOR SURE!  On the other hand I watch her and she still lands toe first with every step.  If what Pete Ramey says is true (and I suspect it is), if I can't find a way to change this, her condition will continue to worsen.

With that (his) whole thought process in mind (Here is the link to that thought process if you don't know what I am talking about) I have been watching the way my other horses walk.  Especially the one I ride the most, Trax.  Trax is the exact opposite of Sassy.  He really really lands heel first, almost to the point that he flops (for lack of a better word) his hoof down. Especially the one that grows flatter than the other.  On the bright side, I doubt he will ever have navicular issues. On the not-so-bright-side, I suspect that eventually the way he walks could cause some other issue.  Only time will tell.

Speaking of Trax, I am sort of regretting my decision to take him out on a trail ride yesterday.  He is due for a trim, and a barefoot trail ride did nothing but tear his feet up.  He has big chunks ripping off, and they need to be trimmed ASAP before the chip off too far. I have found that the feed store right down the street is carrying Easy Boots now, and I really want to buy some. BUT I have measure first, and you have to measure right after a trim.  I'm still trying to recover financially from my lack of income so although I will have the money for a trims all around soon, It will be even longer before I can afford the boots. It is a tad on the frustrating side and I suspect that I will cave and just get Trax and Killian some shoes on their next farrier visit.  I know that eventually I will go back to barefoot with boots, but for now I just need to get them some protection, and shoes is what I have to do then, it is better than nothing at all. I suspect that sometime today I will try to go and get some nippers and a file to do my own very mild trim on him.  I just want to keep things from going bad.

Speaking of Killian, I noticed some changes in him lately.  I can see that although his belly is huge (as always- it never seems to go away) he is losing muscle tone and mass.  He is middle aged now.  In fact if I think about it, he is past middle aged now.  Killian is more like my age, and that means that things are starting to hurt, and we need extra help to stay in shape.  With that in mind, I am changing his feeding routine.  He was getting just pasture or grass hay in the mornings, just a tiny tiny bit of senior feed with hoof supplements at night, and hay cubes at night.  I am going to up his senior feed to a regular serving, and give cubes morning and night unless he is on the pasture.  No one gets food if they are out on the pasture.  But I think he needs more alfalfa and less grass.

Danny is still King Danny, and pretty much does what ever he wants. We have started back on some exercising in the round pen, mostly backing up, to help build those back muscles up again.  He is just a funny old man and a joy to have around.

Speaking of  "Joys to have around" we have a new addition to the family.  Warning: super cute alert!

Meet "Oscar"

He came home with me from my new job. He came from a family of Feral cats but I think it wasn't in his nature to be wild because he fell right into the herd.

 In fact as I type this he is investigating all over the desk. He loves TC and follows him everywhere. Pretty soon he will get moved out to the shed where we will install a kitty door so he can come and go as he pleases.  That isn't to say he can't come in the house, but he was brought here for a purpose and he can't do that if he is a spoiled rotten house kitty. 

He spends most of his free time stalking the dogs, which is hilarious!  Especially since any one of them could kill him with one chomp, but they all give him a wide berth.  Mason won't even make eye contact for fear of retaliation!

In some sad news, I am very concerned about old Butchy.  He is eating well and all of that but has started having severe reactions to the sun. He is breaking out in big sores all over his mucas membranes. From the research I have done I suspect that he has Canine Lupus.  He will be going in to the vet next week to find out for sure.  There is no cure for this so all we can do is try to keep him out of the sun as much as possible and for now we keep antibiotic creme on the sores.  It would also explain why he has never been able to gain weight. His nose is very tender to the touch making it painful for him to eat as well.

So now I am off to work in my yard, move some fencing around to make one more big pen, and work on something new with my hay nets.  Hope everyone is having a great weekend.,