A welcomed relief in the weather...

   We finally got some rain today. The temp at 900 am was 77 and a over cast from a cloudy sky. A slow sprinkle of rain misted the area. The place looks alive again. The grass perked up, the horses are feeling frisky, hummingbirds were flocking around the pink lemonade honeysuckle growing on the trellis and the dogs were sprinting around the yard. Now, only 81 degrees at 11:15 am. A sigh of relief from every living thing on the place. Though it wont stay long, it was a nice change of pace from this drought stricken area.

Channel33 News...story of 11 horses found dead.

   Sadly, a news story alerted the N. Texas area. Eleven horses were found dead in Parker county. Animal control officers arrived on the scene, they found no resources for either food or water. There were troughs, but they were bone dry and a well that had malfunctioned. There was a gelding still alive, and had to be euthanized shortly there after from kidney and liver failure. The televised news said: A near by neighbor had commented on not seeing the horses for a couple of days or so. Saying in the past, her family took pictures of the horses and petted them over the fence on occasion.

   Now I'm not one to pass judgement on people, but how could you NOT notice something that critical living so close. Thank God!, a man doing a drive by, noticed one of the horses struggling to get up and called the authorities. The pictures of the horses had signs of malnutrition and looked as though they had been starving for food and water. Again!, how could others living in close proximity, not recognize a cry for help from the helpless horses? The owner of the horses lives in Arizona and had a care takers, supposedly tending to the animals. Good grief! Cruelty charges are being brought against the caretaker. But, what about the owner? ffs!

   No one in there right mind, would leave horses to be cared for by some one else, without monitoring them. Having ownership of animals means being good stewards. Over seeing and managing the proper care of something so valuable, as a living creature. As brutal a season as this has already been, there is no way in hell those care takers shouldn't have checked the horses water source a couple of times a day. I was sickened at the news.

   That's why my husband and I never leave our animals with any one. It's risky business. Most folks don't know the first thing about caring for livestock, the signs of stress, sickness or other wise. At least most of our circle of friends don't. I wouldn't even strap them with the responsibility. As far as I'm concerned, it's cruel and unusual punishment for both parties. Off my high horse....arg!

We won't be breaking any weather records.

   Today, finally we got a break from the weather. As I was leaving work, I noticed the temp from my iphone. It was only 89 degrees. For the last 40 days it's been over 100 and most days near 105. I arrived home about 600pm  and immediately grabbed some dinner. I changed into something more comfortable and headed for the barn. I haltered all the horse, hitched them up and gave them a good brushing. The effects of summer are all over them. They have scrapes, rubbed places and Handsomes tail looks as though we cut it off from him itching his tail on the fences. I applied Corona all over the dry areas, fly sprayed them and turned them back out. They loved the attention. Earlier in the season, we had the Vet inject them with an allergy shot. It helped considerably. I don't know, when I've ever seen the summer quite so brutal on the horses skin and coat. Their manes and tails aren't as pretty as in the past either. We try not to brush or comb them as often, being careful not to pull the hair out. When I do brush, I bath them and apply conditioner.

The pictures tell the unsightly story of what a long hot summer can do, in spite of trying to protect them from the elements.

Ack!

It's been one hell of a hot weekend. We stayed in most of the time. Temps were soring above 105 both days, so I didn't do anything out-doors, I didn't have to. The horses seem to be chipper considering the heat, but he dogs are staying in where it's cool. *pansy asses* lol Haven't felt to well the past couple of days, the only thing I did do, was try and keep my sanity. I worked on a my computer. Down loading the latest updates and moving pictures in to an archive. I'm trying out a couple of different sites. Snapfish seems to be user friendly and has some great designs and pricing. Shutterfly is a little more difficult now, but with time, I should be able to use it with ease as well. I got a letter from Chris on Saturday. He's doing good. I took a trip to CVS and uploaded some pictures from my iphone to send him. Went to the grocery store today. I get so friggin tired of eating out. It's so cotton pickin' hot to cook. Our kitchen is so small it heats up way to fast and takes for ever to cool back down. Sitting here now contemplating on when I should go to bed. Thankfully, the house is cool. It sure helped having more insulation and getting a new AC unit. Energy savers are the best! Our electric bill this year is nearly one third less than what we paid last year at this time. Our water bill sky rocketed though. ha ha ha! Were watering the front yard late in the evening, just in case some nit-wit throws a cigarette butt out and catches the place on fire. Every yard up and down this road is scorched. Guess I'll mosey off here...bbl ;)

Click the link: treadlightly.org/responsible-horse/recreation

   Trying to teach my Granddaughter safe, and responsible behavior on the trail has it's challenges at times. Twelve year old girls seem to have no concept of the dangers of equine ownership. My next priority is teaching her safety on the trail. No matter where we travel.

Hay shortage in Texas...

   Findly we have enough hay to make it til' the next season. Early June we put up enough for two horses. Since we added the other horse, we had to get some more. We picked up another forty bales last weekend from Tractor Supply. I think the number is around 150 bales total, plus two round bales so far. We may pick up 3 or 4 more to set out this winter. Since the winters in Texas aren't that harsh, we may get by without them.
  
   I've been checking out local resources and hay has nearly doubled in some cases since we intially picked up our first batch. We payed $6 a bale for Tifton 85 in June. Last weekend, we payed $8.25 a bale. This weekend it's almost doubled. I don't know what some folks are going to do about feeding there animals. Ron had a gut feeling it may be a bad year, so he didn't waste any time putting up enough to feed our livestock.

  

Real endurance riding...

Living in the city makes it harder these days to ride safely. Cars whizzing by, the lack of respect for pedestrians, much less riders on their horses. People making a big deal out of you crossing an intersection. Hell, I had a lady come out of her house a year back. She picked up a sign of sorts, carrying it along with her as we were riding on the median across from her house. She yelled across at us. "do you speak english?" Now my Grandaughter was accompanying me along the way on her own horse. Replying to the woman, "yup, I speak english. What kind of question is that?" She began telling us, that our mexican friends were always using her pasture as a short cut. I'm not Hispanic! lol But, we do live in an area where the population is probably 70% Hispanic. Do I care? Nope! They're people too. But, she obviously didn't mind sharing her unsolicited opinion.
Now personally, from my street experiences, while horseback riding, 'people are crazy! and some folks have no respect for, public or private property,' no matter what ethnic origin they come from. How ever, I understood her concern. She certainly wasn't aware, I do respect folks property and I to, don't want horses on our manicured yard. And it was, after all her property, and she didn't want the horses crossing it. But the way she was wagging that sign around made me think, she might, wave it in the horses faces and cause a unwanted or needed incident. Ranting on that we need to tell our other rider friends, "stay off my property" was a little bizarre, since in my mine, we had nothing to do with any of it. As we were crossing towards where our cut off was, she got closer with that sign. My horse particularly, was getting nervous at her presence. High stepping with her head in the air, and my Grandaughters horse was side-stepping the other direction in the street. I finally had to get mouthy and tell the lady, "you better take your unhappy ass back-up to your house or I was going to be unpleasant in the end. Still continuing to follow us, her nasty behavior and disgusting mouth, we just ignored her til' we passed her property. Well, I almost never! The things we had to endure just to ride down the road these days.

Photo Editing

I found the coolest online photo editor. It's called LunaPic. I was amazed at the capabilities and it's totally free! Can't beat that...

 This is a color bar image.

This gives a painting on canvas appearance. Then I turned it into a button. I put on the corners and edges using Snapfish.