God loves all his creatures...

Makayla and Happy...

You got to love kids and dogs.

O' Christmas Tree...

I never thought I'd have a white Christmas tree, with purple and pink decorations. Though I thought I'd never have a little girl, either. he he! My Granddaughter certainly has an interesting look on life.

Holy cow...

It's been almost a month since I posted anything. There's not been much going on in the way of outside activities. I'm still not able to ride or mess with the horses either. My leg is still bothering me. There is only a nagging pain left, and it drives me bonkers. Plenty of medication to screw the ole stomach up too. ack! I'm going to have to get some pro-biotics after I'm through to get my stomach back in good working order. And, being a fat lady doesn't help the matters any better. I've managed to gain 9 pounds from the steroids this past month. I'm lucky I haven't put on more. I'm just not built to sit idle. The smell of food seems to attract the poundage. ha ha! Any who... we're off to the grocery store to get some food that won't simply attach to my ass. Atleast I can walk for short distances now, without the excruciating pain. Eating food that Ronnie cooks is lethal to my body. I'm going to have to take control of my own weight management. Awww well, he means well. : )

Still sick and tired of being sick and tired!

It's the second week in a row. I've been down in my lower extremities with muscle aches and pains. Three ping pong size muscle cramps. The massage therapist has been slowly working these little buggers out. The pain, while massaging these areas are excruciating. I'm quite sure this happened when I was under my horses. You have to give Farriers the props they deserve. It's a physically challenging occupation. And most of the ones I've encountered are nearly half my age and much stronger than I ever was at their age. I'm not one to give up though. I did plug away early this morning on my mare. I pulled up the mounting block close to her, placed it near her front leg, sat my happy ass down on the block and rasped away at the over grown heel. Thank God for the small favors he has bestowed on me in my hour of stupidity. She stood quietly and patiently while humoring my need to "get'er done" mode. I can't say enough about this mare. She certainly has a easy way of doing exactly what I need at the right time.

Sick and tired of being sick and tired!

I've taken one more hit to the ole body recently. On Friday, my leg gave out. My first intial reaction was, it was my knee. However after evaluation of my predicament, I leaned more to it being located in the hip region. I could hardly walk at all. Ron dug out the crutches in the storage shed. It helped tremendously. After a lot of rest and flat of my back for the entire weekend, I decided it was time to see a Dr. I had already contacted the Dr.'s office on Thursday because I knew something wasn't quite right. So, Monday, it was off to the Chiropractor. I mulled through all of his questions and realized after much deliberation, it wasn't my hip either. He said " Your back is out of line and you've pulled some muscles. Yikes! It's off to therapy and a message therapist for 3 days to help with the unwinding of some of the muscles attached to my lower spine. Little did I know that this would cause a chain reaction into my lower leg area. Any how, my life is getting better again with the second go around of therapy. I have one more visit of Friday. I feel pretty good at this point, but I certainly need more ajustments.

Home hoof care!

We finally broke down and bought some tools to do our own horses hooves. It seemed like the right thing to do at the time. I simply got tired of farriers and their talk of natural hooves, with no decent results. I've finally got Jerzey rocking along on all fours without any issues with lameness after trimming. Yay! She's traveling heel first, except for the club foot on the right front. That foot is going to be challenging without some knowledgeable help. I've never owned a horse with this particular problem. When I bought her almost two years ago, I was aware of the problem, but chose to overlook it. I've never felt, for any reason to throw away a good opportunity, just because things weren't perfect at the time. Her recovery seems to be quicker since the shoes had been removed nearly 90 days ago. A horse, the previous farrier claimed, would never be sound barefoot.

Left Front

Bottom Left Front

Right Front (Club)

Bottom Right Front (Club) 

Right Rear

Bottom Right Rear

Left Rear

Bottom Left Rear

We obviously still have a ways to go. How ever, the results from our last trim are, leaps and bounds from the previous professional results. No lameness issues and heel first landing. And!, no friggin stumbling! I'm not sure where to go from here, but as long as I learn to read my horses posture better, how their hooves land on the ground and no limb soreness, I'm confident I'll be moving in the right direction. Jerzey is even riding comfortably over rocky terrain. Something she never did, even with her shoes on.  

Horses loving girlfriends...

Makayla, Eryka and I headed out to the barn last weekend for a leisurely day in the saddle. Cleaning up the horses and getting ready to ride out. We headed out the gate towards the Balch Springs area for are usual rural ride. It was a nice comfortable afternoon. The horses were pleased by the expressions on their faces, to get out of the pasture. They seem to love to sight see just about as well as we do. They had happy faces, perked ears and a lazy way of going.

Barefoot hoof care...

After going through a slew of Farriers in our area, we've decided to do it ourselves. For one reason or another, they all seem to talk a good line, with the same results. They all seem to agree on one thing though. If your horse gets footy, we can put shoes back on them. Well, Doh! That sort of defeats the purpose of going barefoot and building a good foundation from the inside out. We've been doing our part. Our feeding regime has been low sugar consentrates, good hay without all the added fertilizers and no sugary treats. Our pasture is not ferilized either and they have plenty of other forage to pick at.

The last time our farrier came out. Mind you, he was the fourth one we interviewed and decided to try. I'm certainly not saying he's incapable of doing a good job putting shoes on a horse, but he doesn't want to do it the way I want it done. After two weeks, I needed him to come and do some work, and he recommended I wait another four to six weeks to trim them again. Except for the fact!, they had grown significantly in the two weeks since his previous visit, because he hadn't taken enough off in the first place.  Ack! Since we ride almost every day, the horses hooves are growing quickly and they need regular care so we can lower the heels gradually instead of all at once. I mean, after all, I don't want a lame horse, do to over extention of their tendons during the proccess.

Just a bit on bits...

Mouse has the kindest eye of all the horses, excellent temperament, and quiet personality. There's not much else to ask for when your looking for the right prospect for trail riding. He's easy going, doesn't see a lot of buggers and never gets riled up. Poking along the trail with little be excited over. He almost seems to be in another world. Most likely dreaming of greener pastures and that purple feeding bucket we haul his feed to the stall in. Awe! The feed bucket. Just when you think he hasn't any personality, rattle the feed barrel. He flies into another gear. Impatiently pacing about the grounds, nickering, throwing his head about and kicking his heals up. When the feed lands in the trough, he's back to low gear. He's such a nice character.

Ron has been riding him every evening, for the past two weeks. And just when I thought he couldn't get any better, he proved me wrong every time he was saddled. I did change head gear on him. We were using a O-ring snaffle. He didn't respond the way I thought he should, so one day I rode him with just a rope halter. He did wonderful. Since we really don't know anything about the way he was ridden before we got him, or what they used, it seemed like the right thing to do. He reined a whole lot better and backed much easier with less pressure. Since we ride on the streets around light traffic, my bit of choice is the Weaver Stop and Turn.

I know some folks wouldn't agree, because it can be extremely harsh in the wrong hands. However, my husband and I both are very light handed. I rarely get into a horses mouth and if I do, it's warranted for one reason or another. My mare gets head strong when she sees something at a distance when were riding in an open field. And it certainly isn't because she's not broke to death. It's just that once in a while. I feel it's better to be safe than sorry.

Here, were using the "Weaver Stop and Turn"
 on both, Jerzey and Mouse.

  We use a sweet iron snaffle on this horse. It has a copper roller in the middle. I like it because it doesn't pinch the corners of his mouth, and it gives him something to do when he stands tied for longer periods. The bit doesn't have any stopping power unfortunately, but it's easy on his mouth when our Grandaighter get's heavy handed. Thankfully, the horse responds well to her in most situations.

It's not that I needed a new saddle, but...

I was lurking about on eBay and found a Australian saddle. The price was right, so I bid on it. The starting price was 99 cents. I ended up paying 112.50 for it. Now, I know it's not top of the line, but for the price, I could make it work. I picked it up today and was quite surprised by the condition. Not half bad for a cheap saddle. There are a few things that would make it better. I had one before and remembered after cinching up the saddle why, I got rid of it in the first place. ha ha! It didn't tighten up enough for my fat ass to get aboard. So, I've been searching for a English to Western converter for it. There are a couple of options to check out. Though my Granddaughter tried it out and loved it. And she didn't have any problem getting aboard the saddle. I'll probably end up letting her have it. Another thing I'm not crazy about are the stirrups. I'm going to convert them to irons instead of the western ones. It also needs some fleece on the stirrup leathers for comfort. The first thing you know is, I'll end up having another 100 in it after it's all said and done. All in all, I'm very pleased with the purchase. : )  

From one fat woman to another...

I came across a blog today by accident. It caught my eye with the heading..."A Fat Girl & A Fat Horse". What an eye opener. This young woman struck me right down to the bone. You can, be happy in your own skin! Struggling with my own weight for the biggest part of my life, it's real easy to look around at those who are seemingly in better shape and wish I was there. It was because of my weight I became introverted in the first place. Never wanting to go any where or do any thing, because I was always worrying about what people would think. It's taken me a lot of years to become comfortable with my self. And to tell you the truth, I just got damn sick and tired of being depressed with myself. So I got up off my FAT ass and bought a horse. It's been two years now since I bought him. I really have my Granddaughter to thank for that. She's 12, going on 13 come February and she loves the horses. Initially, it was her, I bought another horse after a ten year break from the equine world. It was because of my weight, I'd thought I'd never own another horse again. I had had my mind made up, that I couldn't do it. Little did I know, that I can do it and do it quite well, in spite of my limitations. It was a grueling experience the first six months on the back of my Granddaughters horse. Both of us were out of shape, neither of us could breath and my muscles screamed during the night from exhaustion. The prior owners stalled him and never rode him, and when he was ridden, it was by a six year old girl. Poor guy! lol After the several months atop Handsome's back, I decided to look for a horse of my own. I found her in January just five short months after we got Handsome. She, to was out of shape. She hadn't been ridden in three years. Both of us got a crash course in respect. She was mare-ish and bitchy! I thought myself nuts for a short time. Buying a horse that had to be tuned up was a huge challenge for a fat woman! Leizurely riding was all either of us could do at first. I excercised her 30 minutes or more, a day most days, until we were fit enough to do as much as 4 to 6 hour rides, 2 or 3 times a week. Our distances varied between 10 and 15 miles. There were a couple of time we rode 20 miles round trip.  I must have put nearly 1000 miles on her in less than six months. Who was it, that said "a FAT woman can't ride the distance"?

I've been so busy...

I haven't kept up with my ramblings. Oh well!, I've been busy. Over worked, under paid and getting older has its challenges. September 25th was absolutely horrible. It started out good, but early morning we woke up to a dramatic scene. Ronnie came in the house and woke me up at 5:30 am. He said one of our older dogs wasn't acting right. Slowly rising, because most of the time when he hollers at me about something happening, it's not as dramatic as he makes it sound.

Unfortunately for the dog, this time, it was a matter of life and death. When I dawned the doorstep of the kennel, I looked into Chessies crate and he was foaming at the mouth. He was seemingly calm and lifeless, however when I reached in a dragged him out of the crate, he started seizing. It was a small seizure lasting a few seconds. He snapped out of it pretty fast, but never regained mobility. He had had something similar just a month before.

At that time, I had spoken with our Vet and he said "since he hadn't had any prior episodes, just watch him and see". The seizure then, was mild and regained mobility shortly after and never missed a lick. This time however, was a entirely different episode of continuous seizures. Some of which, lasted mearly 6 minutes. I was frantic, not being able to get in touch with a veterinarian on Sunday morning.

I contacted a local emergency animal clinic with several questions and asked if there was any one who could come out to the house. They were rude and unhelpful. It finally dawned on me to call the equine clinic I use for my horses. I got a recording and a pager number. I left our contact number. It was shortly there after, Chessie started seizing again, lasting nearly 5 minutes this time. After this episode, he was unresponsive and seemingly gasping for his last breath.

Not being able to move him because of possible spinal injuries from earlier, we opted to make him comfortable until we received a response from my phone call. He seemed to be resting, lifeless and breathing as normal as possible at the time. Watching him closely and monitoring his breathing, he went into another seizure. This one lasted nearly 4 and a half minutes, it stopped for 2:58 minutes and then repeated another seizure for almost 5 more minutes.

I knew then, there was nothing else we could do for him. Shortly after, I got a phone call from our equine vet, and he reccomended we make him comfortable by administering drugs that would help the muscles relax. Thank God!, we had some on hand. We finally got him relaxed, though lifeless and unresponsive, he was comfortable and no more seizsures. He passed away before we could load him up for a trip to the vet.

Here stands, nosey...

  Handsome is a real nice character. He doesn't let to much shake him up. Standing around, while working in the stalls and the grounds around the pasture, he looks on, as though he's over seeing our project. I can't say enough good about this horse. Having bought him two years ago last month. He's been the perfect first horse for Makayla. I can't say he's bombproof, because I don't think any horse is, but he's as near bombproof as a horse gets. I guess the only real concern I have a times is, he pulls back on the lead rope sometimes when startled by something. I do suspect he might have a vision problem in one eye. And it only happens on the one side rarely. He's nearly 18 years old, so it's about time for the old age to set in.

Procrastination at its best...

   I've been procrastinating again. So, what's new, eh? ha ha! It's been along week at the work front. Long hours and in dire need of a vacation. The weather is getting better as days go by. It was in the 50's last night. Winter coming around the corner, I've noticed the horses coats are changing. They almost look fluffy in the early morning hours. They've become darker and have a shine to them again. The hot summer really took a toll on all the critters around the place.

   Since it's been quite cooler, Ronnie decided to use his energy playing with the new "old" tractor. It sure comes in handy for cleaning out the open stalls. It's something we had normally done by hand. I can't believe it took less than fifteen minutes to accomplish what would have taken us a couple of hours to do by hand. We've been looking in to getting a load of sandy loam for the stalls. Ronnie leveled and graded the excercise pen shortly after we got the tractor so it will drain better after a heavy rain. Luckily it did rain one night last week and no water stood any where. Oh yea!

The new "old tractor"!

   Now we're cookin'. We bought us an old 51 Ford Tractor. It sure isn't much to look at, but it's really cool. In the purchase price, we received a brush-hog, blade and gin pole. It's going to help us old folks move stuff around a lot better this winter. With this sandy ground moving under our feet when it gets wet and cold, there will be no more waiting until it gets dry to move the horse trailor and round bales. : ) Not forgetting to mention, we'll able to mow the larger lot behind the house. Of course, there wasn't much mowing to do because of the drought conditions this summer.

I took a schooling lesson on how this thing works. He started out showing me where to check the fluids and how it operates. First checking the...

1. Oil
2. Transmission fluid
3. Water level.
4. Gas

   Next he showed me where the clutch and pedals were. The stick shift, how to shift, where the key was, then the starter button. It fired up immediately when I pushed it. Yay! Then I got to take it for a test ride. I thought to my self as I was riding up the drive-way, this thing is slow as hell. Then, Ron said there was a faster gear if, I wanted to go faster. Now, we're truckin'. lol

Good lord! I'm certainly not dressed for taking pictures. I could have prepared my self. ha ha ha!

We are an unsightly mess this morning, but we do clean up pretty well. lol I'm positive the animals around the place don't care what we look like, as long as a feed bucket's in our hands.

Cooler Temperatures

  It was beautiful today for the first time in over seventy days of 100+ temperatures. The horses are roaming about with a skip in their steps. The dogs were racing around the backyard and the birds were singing a different song. Kela and I agreed on a time to tack up for a ride the night before. It was around 8:00 am. She had come to feed her horse earlier and I had already saddled, ready and waiting on her to arrive. Jerzey was feeling full of her self. I lunged her for a short time to take the edge off. I don't normally do this if we ride often, but since it had been more than three weeks since our last ride, I thought it was necessary.

   Kela had not made the cross over, so I rode over to her house. It's just across the street. She keeps her horses at her Moms. We rode off down the road and today, even Oreo was feeling the cool temps. She is normally low keyed and doesn't find much to bugger about. Today, however, she was sporting her new found freedom. We headed out by way of Haymarket. We took the underpass and went up I20 until we come to the Kleberg Road area. On the other side of Hwy 175, we followed it until we went back under it and picked up Riley Crest to Garden Grove.

   We rode down Garden Grove where it met Riley Crest again and took the I20 green to Seagoville Road. I'm not sure how many miles it is, but I'm guessing, all in all, about 15 miles round trip back to the house. It was a really nice day. Sunny and not to hot most of the day. The horses were feeling tired by the time we got back to the house. Jerzey had been laboring a bit and showing favor on her left hip. I walked several distances through-out the ride time. I definatley needed the walk. I get stiff in the saddle to long. I'm going to make it a point to bring tennis shoes next time. I have saddle bags I can put them in. Doh! I really need to lose weight for several reasons. Not only to make my horse more comfortable on long rides, but to feel better my self. It's always been a struggle for me to find the time for my self. You'd think, I'd be the most important thing on my daily list, however I find so many other
things to do but me.

Ron and Maykayla got home at 2:00 pm after having gone to Pecan Gap. He bought another toy! hahaha He picked up a hay dolly. dollie? Any who, it's blue and homemade from the looks of it, but it'll get the job done. Makayla helped get it off the flatbed and onto the ground. She's such a big help to us. She can do almost anything Ron can do. She's almost as bossy as he is too.

You'd think this was the reason we bought round rolls of hay. She loves playing on them. What kid doesn't like climbing on stuff.

The weather and riding don't mix...

   I thought I'd go for a ride this afternoon. While saddling up, Jerzey gets spooked by the barn door. The wind is crazy today. There are many objects being tossed about by the wind. She quickly regained her composure and stood quietly. It always makes me nervous to ride during a real windy day and this was no exception. I just couldn't help it. I've been grounded long enough. It's been such a friggin' hot summer, none of us have gotten to much done in the way of horse backing.

   I'm not sure how long it has been since we last rode. I have it blogged somewhere here. Oh well, back to the subject at hand. After tacking up, Jerzey and I headed out towards the back pasture. Mouse, "like a puppy" was on our heels. You have to watch him closely. He walks so quietly, I don't really notice him following on occasion, when all the sudden; I'm trying to keep him from following us through an open gate. What a pest! As usual, I caught him before he made a bee-line through the open gate and shooed him off. haha!

Yesterday, the silly shit was following and darted through the gate as I was going back to the house. I tried to close the gate before he went through and he got caught on the post and skinned his side. Having to keep my appointment with nature before I watered the yard, I just let him alone. I didn't care if he was in the yard, really. After taking care of business, I let Jerzey in and they grazed on the grass in the back yard.

    

   This is such a nice mare. Hardly any trouble at all. The ocassional baulk or jump, but nothing major. "famous last words of a fool' I know, but she is lovely none the less. I like her mane pulled. I got tired of looking at that scraggly thing yesterday and finely broke down and did it. Her mane is so thin, it just didn't look good long.