Tidbits

Head Banging

Rock is a heavy metal head banger.  You see, he had this knack of grabbing hay with his wide open jaws as I was delivering it to his food trough, and sometimes he would include one or two of my fingers or my entire hand in his enthusiasm to get that first bite of hay, so I had to insist that he turn his head away before I would approach his feed trough with an armload of hay.  Now

A Rented Ride and a Raffle

There are a few different local horsemanship organizations in my new neighborhood, and I've been pondering joining one for a while.  I'm always hesitant about joining horse clubs, because my past experience showed that the members of these clubs spend more time in meetings and putting on horse events for other people than they do riding their own horses.  I was most interested in a group that

Friday Funnies

Some funny things have happened with the horses this week that I thought might be entertaining to read about.  Bombay has been a stinker about going into his stall on his own at feeding time, so I hollered at him to get in his stall while I was closing Rock's stall door and latching it, figuring he didn't understand anything I was saying.  I turned around and much to my shock, I found that Bombay

Looking Deeper

While trying various approaches to working Rock through his rein steering resistance, a little voice in my head told me to look in his mouth.  An equine dentist and vet had looked at his teeth not too long ago and agreed that he didn't have any sharp points and his teeth didn't need any work.  So, I didn't know why I should look in his mouth, but I trusted the voice, and I did.

I discovered

Peach Fuzz Monday

I woke this morning on the second day of the fall season and felt an actual chill in the air.  I ran my hand along my horses' sides and felt the peach fuzz of a new coat coming in.  Gotta go for a trail ride before that dang sun ruins everything.

I groomed and saddled up Bombay.  P.S. arrived and saddled up Gabbrielle.  Getting ready for a trail ride can be such a production.  I need to figure

A Ground Driving Test

We had a nice bit of cloud cover this morning, so I went outside to see what I could do with the horses before the sun came out.  The one neighbor with the dump truck and tractor was still doing his construction project, so I decided to take Rock for a walk down to the construction zone to see how he would handle it.  I know how my other three horses would handle it -- not well, but it suddenly

Out and About

I had high hopes that it would stay cool long enough for me to take a trail ride this morning, but I forgot that whenever the temperatures improve, I'm not the only one who wants to get outdoors.  My husband was going to start working on a construction project finishing the siding of the hay barn.  I'm really looking forward to this project being done, so there was no way I was going to ask him

Gray Horse Day

A picture of the harvest moon from the other night.  One more day until the fall season.  Yippee!

A couple of embarrassing things happened when the farrier was here.  I ran out of fly spray, so that horses were stomping around a bit.  You definitely don't want to run out of fly spray when you go for a ride or when the farrier or vet visits.  The other embarrassing thing was that I noticed

Question

For those readers who have been to the Hawaiian islands, are there any hotels, activities, or locations you can recommend?  I'm planning a trip in celebration of my and my husband's silver anniversary.  I went to Hawaii and Oahu when I was 12 years old, and yesterday I dug through scrapbooks and slides in search of the locations I most fondly remember, so that I could be sure to go there again.  

A Good Kind of Sweat

I don't recall ever sweating when I lived in the Eastern Sierra.  I became accustomed to smelling nice.  Now that I'm existing through these central Arizona summers, if I don't want to sweat or stink, I have to stay indoors.  The second you step outside, you find yourself dripping from head to toe.

However, this morning was different.  We had some cloud cover.  Not much.  Just enough for me to

Laser Tag and Cheesecake

It was my birthday yesterday.  There wasn't anything I wanted or needed, so I suggested we just do something together as a family.  It's not often that I get out of the house this time of year because of the extreme heat, Midge's storm phobia, and the problem with her food and medications having to be given in a timely manner.  It's amazing what we sacrifice for our pets.

My husband was on call

A New Topography

One thing I forgot to mention in my post about my trail ride yesterday is how much the topography of the desert has changed.  It's somewhat subtle in places, but I can really feel it on the back of a horse.  Whenever it rains a lot over a short period of time we get flash floods.  The desert floor isn't very good about soaking up water.  New channels force their way downhill.  So, while riding on

Trail Test

I rode Bombay out onto the trails by ourselves this morning to see how he would do after not being trail ridden regularly or without another horse all summer.  I misplaced my trail camera, so I didn't get any pictures.  Sorry.  But, you know what he looks like from between the ears by now.

He held still for the mount and though the mares did whinny nervously when I took him to the trailer to

Breaking Through the Rock

My back was feeling better today, but I had a couple of other health issues that were discouraging me from riding a horse.  It's seems like everything is a Catch 22.  My doctor informed me that I have more lumps growing in my body and need another biopsy.  I go through this every fall and spring.  I have tumors, cysts and polyps in four different organs now.  It's all a part of aging, but because

Windows

This time of year my horse moments only happen when I am alert enough to spot my windows of opportunity.  I've literally got to catch the cold front before and immediately following a storm.  It's easier said than done, though, because there are a lot of things I should be doing outdoors when I get a cool breeze, and those things compete with my horse time.  I spent much of yesterday and early

Rock Has a Mean Left Hook

It rained most of the day, but when the sun came out, the horses came out to play.   Rock and Bombay were rearing up and spinning their front legs at each other.   It was such a beautiful sight that I ran outside with my video camera.   Of course, they immediately stopped their horse play, figuring they'd get in trouble.  After a while they started up again.   I was shocked enough to shake the

It's a Good Thing Horses Don't Have Thumbs

There are many ways our horses can injure or kill us.  Let me count thy ways:


1.  Kicking

2.  Bucking

3.  Rearing

4.  Striking

5.  Biting

6.  Stomping

7.  Bolting

8.  Trampling

9.  Rolling on top of us

10.  Throwing us

11.  Knocking into us

12.  Stabbing us...



Stabbing us?  Yup.  You can add that new one to the list.  Seriously.  My horse stabbed me today.  Can you take a guess at

Raspberries All Around

Every time the sun goes behind the clouds, I run outside to see if I can either ride a horse or clean up some manure really fast.  Rock is so cute the way he stands with his head hooked over the top railing looking up at the backdoor, waiting for me to come out.  Ever since my husband took him for a walk and I took him to the round pen, he's been running to the gate when I approach, and I have to

Battles, Rebuttals and Belches

It's been a battle trying to get some alone time with the horses over the holiday weekend since everyone and his brother was home and resting from his labors.  Neighbors, neighbors, everywhere...

I felt sorry for P.S., who was looking forward to riding in the arena, and one neighbor behind us started some racket that sounded like he was banging dents out of a car with a hammer.  My husband tried

Fancy Meeting You Here... Or Not

Last night after dark the dogs needed to go outside.  The process of taking them out to do their business can be a laborious one.  I sure do miss our dog yard at our old house.  When we first moved into this house, we started taking the dogs out on leash in the front yard where we had a porch light and some footlights, but that proved to be a problem because rattlesnakes and poisonous toads

A Little Help From My Friends

I love it when one horse is not cooperating with me, and another horse steps in to help.  Usually, it's Bombay misbehaving and Lostine disciplining him, but today it was Lostine misbehaving and Rock taking my side of the argument.

I needed to pick out all the horses' hooves because they had been standing around in a mix of mud and manure after this latest storm.  I've learned how quickly