It's giveaway time!

Thanks to the wonderful ladies at Life With My Herd and Horseshoes and Hearts, I have some books to share with some lucky person.  Once you've won them and read them, pass them on. 

These two books aren't something I would have picked up off the shelf and bought, but they turned out to be very good books!  Having lived in New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina, I especially liked the
"Horses of the Storm" book.  I cannot even imagine what it was like in the stinking, stifling heat, with all the death and destruction.  My hat is off to those who fought through the ordeal and those who helped them.

Just leave a comment on this post by midnight on Saturday, and I'll choose a winner this Sunday.  Then I'll mail them off and you can enjoy them at your leisure and pass them on in a giveaway on your own blog.

 I think I'm pretty lucky to live in this neck of the woods.  :) 

We had a lovely ride today.

I caught a picture of Scout being curious yesterday.  He was pretty cute, sneaking up on the mower to see what it was.  If she saw this picture, my mom might be a bit worried he'd eat her motorhome, but he didn't.  I was watching.  I did have to catch him and put an end to his wandering when he got too close to the burn pile.  There are nails in there.

 

While I was letting Scout wander and eat dandelions, Bella was getting her fly spray treatment.  She's such a sweet girl.  She doesn't really like fly spray but she stands still for me anyway.  I had to spray it onto cotton balls and really work it into all of their ears.  We have these little biting gnats that we've never had before.  They're awful.

Joseph got to go out into the less secure pasture for a while.  It's only got one strand of electric for part of it so I haven't left him out there when I'm not home.  I think he'd be fine but I need to be sure before I leave him unsupervised.

He can't help but be handsome.

As I was sitting admiring my horse, it wasn't long before I had company.

They were hiding behind me, also admiring Joseph.

Then Joseph came to say hello.

Then Blue came up doing his ingratiating smiley dance.  I had already told him to stay out of the horses' area, but I'm a pushover when he's acting like a goof.  And he wasn't bothering the horses.  But then he stuck his nose on the electric fence and yiped all the way back to the house and wouldn't talk to me for a long time.  He thought I had something to do with his poor nose getting shocked.

Today we did some very low key ground work all over the pasture.  I've decided to slow down the progression to riding.  He's still so flinchy about stuff touching him.  He gets over it when we really concentrate on it, or at least he seems to, and then next time he's defensive again.  So he's obviously not really getting over it.  We have plenty of time.  I think he needs more time just hanging out, having things be relaxed and friendly.  With some low-key saddling and relaxed schooling too.  We just did circles at the walk all around the pasture, then worked on some trot transitions, and finished up with walking again.  He really relaxed and seemed to enjoy moving his feet in a way that wasn't complicated or scary.  He misunderstood a few times (or more likely I mis-cued him) and got a bit flustered, but I just calmly redirected him and he relaxed again.  At the end he was happy and relaxed.  He looked proud of himself and he was being open and curious.  Very cute.

Here he is about halfway through our work.  He's adorable.

The donkeys got a bit of a hoof trim today.  Pedro is living life in the "fat pen" where he only gets a tiny bit of grass and hay twice a day.  He thinks it's terribly boring.  I tried to put him out on the pasture a little bit and his hooves got sore.  He was laying around more and hardly braying at all.  Looking at the nice tight hoof wall he grew over the winter, I'm really kicking myself for trying to put him on grass again.  I'm sure there's going to be some new evidence of a founder episode when his hooves grow out.  Live and learn.  Can't fudge on his diet, I guess.  Bob, on the other hand, is doing great out on pasture.  Just what the old guy needs, I think.  They're so sweet.  I wanted to take my ass for a walk today but ran out of time, and it's just too darn hot. 

And now for softball!  The girls are doing pretty darn well lately, and they're playing the best team in the area tonight.  It'll be fun to watch.  And nice to just sit for a while.  :)

I introduced Joseph to the bosal yesterday.  He didn't quite like it at first.  I wasn't going to be able to get it on him in the psture with no halter on.  He just wasn't cool with it.  So I put a halter on him and played around, and he had it on in just a few minutes.  We had practiced proper head position for bridling on an earlier day.

I "drove" him around the pasture with my arm over his back to get him used to rein movement and requests.  He was hard to motivate forward, he thought it was weird that I was back at his girth bumping him with my side.  Plus, whenever he thinks something is weird he just wants to stand still, not move forward.  But we worked through that pretty well, and overall it was a great session.

Yesterday my sister asked if I wanted to go on a poker ride.  I told her I didn't have a good horse for that.  I like poker rides because you often get to see new scenery and trails, but only on a good horse.  I think with the level of energy there, with horses jigging and calling, you'd be setting yourself up for failure if you were to ride a green horse, and it's not fair to the horse.  She said I could borrow my old horse Danni from her friend.  I said, "Sure!" 

Now, I wouldn't normally ride just anybody's horse.  I'm not that brave and I really don't see the point.  For me riding is more about the relationship between me and my horse than it is just about getting on any horse and riding.  But I know Danni is safe and we did at one time have a bond.  She's a sweetie.

 None of my pictures in the woods came out, so I just ended up with bright, sunshiny meadow pictures.

I would love to camp at this pond, but it's private land.

  

Thank goodness we met up with this guy who knew where the trail was.  It wasn't flagged very well.

Danni does jig some when she's excited, but still she's pretty much totally safe, even if it is a bit rougher than walking. We did 13 1/2 miles today, and I have hardly ridden at all this year.  My butt HURTS.  But I rode in Holly's Orthoflex saddle, and it must have been good for me, because my knees and ankles never hurt at all.

After I got home I was so excited about doing some more trail riding that I decided I'd better get Scout back in shape.  He was a really good boy.  I went out with the idea that I was going to be a helping hand to my horse, instead of thinking about how he irritates me, and we got along beautifully.  I can't even tell you how bad it hurt to set my butt in the saddle though.  It got better after a few minutes.  In the past I found that the best cure for saddle soreness is more riding, but I never tested that in the same day.  Ouch.

I couldn't resist a silly picture as we were picking up cones.  Scout thinks it's dumb.

This isn't the best picture of either of my boys, but it shows how much bigger Scout is!  Big and doughy.  Sometimes I wonder if I shouldn't have gelded him so early.  Would he have been more muscular, I wonder?

We had a great day yesterday, visiting with family and of course I played with my horse.

One of our girls outdid herself - that's quite an egg.  The middle egg is a normal sized egg.  The teeny-tiny one was laid by our 8 year old banty hen.  I kind of wonder if it might have been her last effort.  It's about the same size as her first egg was.

This is Das, the layer of the tiny egg.  She's definitely her own bird.  She likes to hang out around people (especially people who have blueberries to share) but she's not exactly tame.  She's also very smart for a chicken, flies well, and likes to roost high in the trees.  I think if you wanted birds that could survive predation, you might want birds like Das.  She's a Silver Seabright.

We had German Pancakes for breakfast.  I probably should have taken pictures of the finished product.  I call them German Pancakes because that's how I grew up, but I've also seen them called Dutch Babies and my cookbook calls them Puffed Oven Pancakes.  They're awesome, but I can't eat them because of my egg allergy.

I don't know what these flowers are called, but I like them.  Even with poor focus, they're pretty.

I started working on Joseph's Equine Good Citizenship Level 1 video.  Here he is after I did the standing tied part.

Then we went out to lunch.  My rotten daughter was taking pictures of me so I took pictures of her and we took pictures of each other taking pictures.  :)

Now I'm off to go play with my horse some more.  The weather is icky cold and windy, but we'll still find something worthwhile to do.  Yesterday he learned that we can trot together without freaking out.  It was actually pretty funny.  He kind of bunny hopped to each side and backward on the first try, then we tried again and he did it perfectly.  He's a quick study sometimes.  Then in the course of perfecting our positions  we fell apart and came back together again, and then started over on the other side.  It's all good.

I never did post these photos of my friend's visit, I don't think.  They were here over Easter weekend.  I wish they could come visit all the time.

Bob doesn't really eat hay unless he has to, but he humored Hillary.

Even Joseph was pretty good for her:

Good old Dyno.  He's looking for a home with kids to play with, if anyone knows of someone (locally).

We all "rode" Pedro.  Meaning we sat on him and he mostly ate grass.  Look how Allegra's legs almost wrap all the way around:

 She thought his back was more comfortable this way:

Hillary sat on Pedro too, but you could tell who she really wanted to be riding.

 

 Then we went fishing.  She caught her first fish ever!  Awesome.

The girls - my daughter and my two nieces:

Liam and my nephew, wrangling a fish:

Yesterday after Bob bit the crap out of Pedro's neck and left it bloody, I tried putting Pedro in with Joseph.  At first they kept their distance, then Pedro chased Joseph around a bunch.  I had to run to town, but I heard reports that Pedro was trying to get a hold of Joseph's neck, and Joseph was staying just out of reach and kicking up at him.  Good exercise for them both, I figure, as long as nobody gets hurt.  I'm trying them together again today.  I'm hoping to get some video of them running around.  :)

I couldn't decide if I wanted to go to my sister's today - I could just work at home, and then maybe I could work with three horses.  But there have been a few things that have been bugging me, and I figured I sure could use another set of eyes and ideas.

The first thing she suggested was using treats.  He's been tense, watchful, and kinda introverted.  He would be okay with something one day and then we'd have to start over again the next, because he wasn't really okay at all - he was just surviving.

The treats turned his brain back on and got him interested and engaged.  He was seeking a dialog instead of just letting things happen.  I'm totally not against using treats, as long as you're not rewarding bad behavior.  I just haven't had any treats, and I rarely remember to stick some carrots in my pocket.

One of the things, maybe the biggest thing, he's had trouble with is switching eyes.  He didn't like me reaching over him, although he would tolerate it and even look at my hand on the other side, and he couldn't stand still for me to walk behind him.  That was just too damn terrifying.

He's not sure he likes this game at all.

 I just kinda like this picture.

Here he says he just can't stand still and let me walk around his butt.

Oh my gosh, would you look at this!

Good boy.

Wow, buddy!

I did successfully walk behind him from both directions.  He would still have to move, but not until after I'd switched sides, and it wasn't a scoot and bolt, just a turning around to face me.  At the end, he didn't even do that.  We broke it up with some other stuff so it didn't get too intense.

I mentioned to my sister that he wasn't comfortable yet with me being above him, and she insisted I work him from the fence.  This isn't something I do.  It's really uncomfortable!  But it was sure a good thing to do today.

Once he got to where he understood where I wanted him, I'd lean over and give him a treat from the other side.  So he's not hiding away behind half-closed lids and then shocked when he actually sees me on that other side, he's actively searching for my hand.

 Good boy :)

Not sure about this.

Maybe this is okay.

Ooh, food!

Yes, this is about as comfortable as it looks.  Which is not very.

He's cute.  My posture sucks.  But one day I'll be sitting on his back, not behind it.

Check him out!  Interest, not fear.

What a good boy.

I even put my weight on his back.  He thought that was weird, I thought it was uncomfortable.

At no point did I commit myself to the point where I'd fall if he moved.  I had a good hold on that fence the whole time.  Well, except maybe when I draped myself over his back, but then I could just drop to my feet.  Yes, I probably should have been wearing a helmet, but I assure I was not at risk - I don't take those kinds of risks.

When I got home Bella helped me learn that I have a little PTSD from Tonka's accident.  I heard a big metallic bang, and I couldn't see her, so I hauled butt out to the grain bins with a halter & lead in my hand.  I figured I could use it to find a way to MAKE her get up if she was cast.  But what if she had a broken leg?  What if I had to have her put down inside the grain bin?  How would I get her body out?  I was all business and ready to tackle whatever the problem was, but all sorts of thoughts were going through my head.

This is what I found - Bella's tail knotted around some gate hardware, and her shaking like a leaf, pulling on it.

I took the picture while I waited for her to quit pulling.  I had a knife in my pocket but I really didn't want to have to use it.  It only took her a second to give me some slack and then she was free.  I watched her walk away pretty painfully and I was worried.  I forced myself to get a good feel of it, even though it was hurting her and that bothered me.  It might have had some swelling, but she was able to gently clamp it down, which made me feel better. I kept watching her, on and off, for several hours.  She wasn't using her tail at all, even though the other two horses were pretty actively swatting at bugs.  Finally she had to poop, and she lifted it a little. I talked to the vet and she said that even if the tail was damaged enough that she couldn't use it, there's not much you can do.  If she was peeing and pooing on herself enough to cause infection or flystrike it could be amputated, but it's a big dang deal.  I'll give her a pretty hefty dose of bute for a couple doses, then a normal dose for a few days.  I think she'll be alright but I don't think I'll be riding her any time soon.

And I was thinking about riding her, just a little.  She got this award today:

And I really want to work on Level 2!