Some of my favorite things

Like the song but a horse lovers version.

Name 10 things you couldn't live without in your live with horses. It can be clothing, saddles, tack brushes etc. Something that you would recommend to anyone who has a horse or may have a situation like yours. Add a picture when you can.

1.Well worn Blundstone boots.

They are ungodly comfortable. When mine started to fall apart on the soles I contacted Blundstone Canada. The lady replied to me "They are too old you just need to buy a new pair because the soles are melted on and you can't fix them" Screw that! So I guess the head guy in Australia got a hold of the customer service. He was unsatisfied with the letter so today I got my free pair in the mail!! SQUEE!! I can't wait to tromp around the barn and everyplace else in them. They aren't broken in yet but next to my old ones they are still the most comfy pair of boots a person could buy EVER.

I've had these boots for 8 years! They have been through mud and ice, rain and especially horseshit. They have carried me miles on the ground and in saddle. I absolutely love them. The leather is in wonderful condition other than the faded toe and the insoles are a little rubbed down. They aren't discipline specific and will NEVER hurt your feet especially if you have wide BIG feet like mine.

2. Slotted kitty litter scoop from the $ store

Not only are they good for scooping ice from frozen buckets (winter anyone?!) they stand up a lot better than metal strainers from the dollar store. We use them for ice, hay in buckets and the water trough which gets gobs of green algae that are really nasty to grab by hand. Done it, the scoop is worth the 1$

3. Leatherman multi purpose tool

I live by this thing. Leatherman makes the best multi tool ever. You can cut bales of hay open, cut wire on fencing, open feed bags and more. It folds all up into a convenient belt holster. I've had immitation multitools and none meet the quality and long years a leatherman does. When you got a multitool get leatherman or just go home. Nuff said.

4. Shedding blade

For four reasons.
1. Spring when they shed. It takes off more hair easier than any curry comb. Even the ever expensive furminator didn't work on my horses like this thing does.
2. Where there is mud there shall be mud covered horses. It's a known fact and this again, easier than any curry comb.
3. No need to buy a sweat scraper. Out of all the ones I have bought or used this one (the flat edge without the teeth) Just works better. You un attach it and scrape away. You can get more intricate with it than the other two ones.
4. They are like um...3-6$ thats cheap and you get 3 good tools out of it and save money too!

5.Jelly scubber

I like the soft small nubby side. I use it to do legs and all over the place even the face. I found they are more expensive to buy like on average $6 but I use it the most out of all mine. It's like a combination between a rubber curry and a stiff brush. It gets a lot of dirt off but has the softness to do dirt on legs. Plus I use mine to bath and scrub real deep.

6. Riding helmet

Kind of self explanatory but I found I hate the ones with a dial. Especially the cheap plastic helmet ones. However I got a nice International riding helmet, velvet and vented and it fits like a glove just like my old velvet international did (but it's cracked due to a riding fall bareback). I hate how troxels fit. International velvet ones are the way to go, western or english. They save your head.

7. Hamilton halters

Sure they may cost 40$ for a horse size but they come in a BAZILLON different sizes so you can forget about those hard to find halters for horses. And they last forever. The only thing I have had to replace was a snap that my farrier sewed on for 5$. Now they make them with better snaps. The hardware is really durable and I've had horses haul back on them and they don't break.

8. Santa fe coat conditioner

Won't make the saddle slide. Totally worth buying a bottle if you horse has a long mane/tail. Gorgeous hair but not slippery. Plus it smells SOOOO good. I use it on my hair once and a wile.

9. MTG

Does exactly like shapleys says. Smells bad but works. Grows manes, makes them silky and grows hair back in half the time. When you have a cut on a horse and it starts to scab over I use it. Scabs become soft and fall off and the skin is moistureized and hair grows back in record time.

10. Cowboy magic/any product by them

Particularly the green spot remover (waterless bath), detangle and shine and the yellowout shampoo. Green spot remover works better than any waterless bath. I had two white horses (now one very dirty), believe me! I live by this stuff at a horse show and winter. The detangle and shine is just like baby oil only it does not attract dust like baby oil and smell bad. Plus a little bit goes a long way but it IS very expensive but very worth it because you don't use a lot. I use it for manes and tails every other day. No knots here. The yellowout, well white horses but it brings out the shine and opaque hairs any horse has for that really deep down clean look.

So what are your top 10 favorite things?? Reply here or post in your blog and link me. I love to read your blogs.

More on barn cats

We do have some resident barn cats that have been around for a wile and a few that were around for not long but their impression lasted a lifetime.

We don't really ever name the barn cats. Theres a lot of them and most of them run away or die or they have more kittens so we run out of names.

Fluffers. Shes got a permanent name. All the other kittens were cute and mewed and played. Fluffers looked like a gigantic frazzled cotton ball. All you could see was eyes and a mouth she was that fuzzy. Cutest kitten ever. I thought I had a picture of her, I guess I don't.

Anyway Fluffers is the queen of the barn. If any unruly kittens come to close they get a taste of her paw and a very growly verbal lashing. She is the first to eat out of the bowl and the first to get scritches and shes got the softest coat I have ever felt in a cat. Shes truely the queen.

Second is this damn cat. As soon as she figured out how her girly kitty parts worked she started pumping out kittens for a few months like there was no tomorrow. The first litter of kittens she had 2/3 died. She was having them behind some bales of hay and heard me pour the food and came out WITH A KITTEN HANGING OUT OF HER REAR because she wanted to eat. OMFG as if we don't feed them enough!!
This cat is really annoying. She will only let you pet her when shes eating. Other than that she just bitches at you when you haven't fed her quick enough.
Like last night I was feeding the horses and I hear this MMMMMMMMMEEEEEEEEAAAARRRRRRRRRRR........MMMMMEEEEEAAAAAARRRRRRRRR
I am like "where the hell is that cat!?" I look up and shes peeking out of the very top window in the hayloft and scolding me for being in the barnyard and not the barn to feed her.

Then there is this un f-ing believably cute kitten. I named him Ozzy, because well he looked like my friends cat Ozzy. This kitten had the cutest soft belly and he would literally just sit in my arms and chill for hours. Unfortunately he got hit by a tomato truck just a few days after I took this picture. He was a darn cute bugger. Can never get too attached.

About a year ago this mama cat lost two of her kittens between a wall. They were only three weeks old, cold and hungry. My first thought "they are barn cats theres going to be 15 more to replace them in a month" well a boarder where I work came in, heard the mewing, found the kittens and "we just couldn't leave them!" So I took them home.

I couldn't keep them. Savanah would kill them or at least maul them with enthusiastic dog love.

So they came to my ex'es moms house. She nurtured them and they became rocky and rambo. Rocky and rambo had an odd fascination with christmas light bulbs. They would chew on them or scale the tree and gnaw on the lit ones. I think they liked the clink, clink, clink noise they made against their gnashing teeth. They also broke an assortment of plants and ornaments and other things. We had to barricade everything. One thing they never got over was their ability to scale the patio window in one leap; claws out and into the screen door. There they hung until ex'es mother beat them down with this big tube of rolled up paper.

Anyway it came time they were making too much of a mess in the house and they needed to go back out to the barn. They were TERRIFIED. All the other barn cats rubbed against them in warm welcome and they hissed and hid. We didn't see them for a few days. Well I didn't.

Marilyn was making lunch one day and had the windows open in the house. She heard his forlorn meowing, as male cats often do. Then she hears a horrible shredding noise.

Rambo was on the window screen looking in at her like a long lost love. He missed being a house cat. Marilyn didn't think it was quite as funny and threw a pail of water at the screen, soaking the cat.

After a couple weeks of the two cats meyhem Murdo's brother, Dennis from down the road needed new barn cats so he threw the terrible twosome into the back of his truck and thats the last I heard of them. Well until his wife was cooking supper and a cat climbed up the screen window.

I saw my life flash before my eyes when....

I picked up a bale of hay and three sleeping kittens split in three directions. The fourth launched strait at my face and firmly attached itself to my eyebrows.

Yeah, all in a days work right?

I don't think it realized what was going on and either did I except there was a cat hanging off my face. Before I had time to think about beating it off it took off too and scrambled up the hay chute. I stood there for a moment wondering what just happened. Then I laughed and inspected my face for new holes. I don't know how the hell it did it but theres not even a mark on my eyebrows.

Oh that cat picture there, thats Squeaky. The cutest non-meowing (hence the name) barn cat EVAR!! He was totally in love with my dad. He died though as some barn cats do. He was damn cute though.

They say...

They say that having to put a pet to sleep is the loneliest feeling in the world. I couldn't agree more.


Naigen Blaze
1988-December 4th 2008

The best, most trustworthy little horse to ever trot on into my heart(and wallet as horses do)

I am glad I had to work today. I knew something wasn't right. I put the ol' girl out in the paddock and she lie flat on her side right in a big puddle and lay there. I got her up and put her in the arena and Chris walked her while I drove into town in a panic trying to find Audry.

Audry and I were there with her from 11:15 till 3 pm when Dr.Bob Featherstone, our wonderful vet came out and determined she had a twisted bowel and needed to cross the great rainbow bridge.
Chris and Audry's husband Ronnie were there too. Even though she was sick she ate some carrot and a banana(her favorite) which Ronnie brought for her.

Audry and I cried for a long time. I still feel like crying. I never cry. Not at funerals or anything but this little horse had a very special place in my heart.

I got a big chunk of her tail so I am going to make a few things out of it. To think when I first got her that tail was one big impossible deadlock. I worked real hard to make her tail as thick and beautiful as it was.

The saddest part was hearing about my friends granddaughters who ride her weekly. Cassidy(3) and Olivia(2). I could hear Cass on the phone as I talked to her "Why Siddy? Why? Why is Naigen gone? Isn't she coming back?" It made me want to cry all over again.