Interesting day

I got up at 7:30am this morning. I just now sat down. It's 10:20 pm eastern time.

Once I was done at work I went out to see Indigo. I walk into the barn and hear this forlorn mewing of a very young kitten. I assume it was in the hayloft.

mew, mew, mew, mew, mew goes the kitten. No kitten up there. I look out a spot where a board was missing and sure enough right below me in the barnyard a very young kitten.

I climb down and over the fence. The kitten appears to be a day old I assumed. It was a cute little calico meowing so pitifully as they often do when they can't find mum.

I picked it up and stroked it's soft little fur. Poor little guy was so cold and soo, sooooo young.
I walked over to the calf barn. I couldn't see mum being too far.

Sure enough in the straw lay fluffers, two more kittens at her side, all licked clean and warm. I put the little lost kitty with her but she couldn't stay there for someone came to investigate why I had a gate out and why I was sitting on it.

Why hello thar.

Feeds me!

I shooed her away and in the blink of an eye a fourth kitten was born. A cute little tortoise. Now there are two calico, a silver tabby and a tortoise kitty. Maybe she will have more when I go out tomorrow morning to feed.


What a good mum Fluffers is. She is probably about five this year.

I put the gate in front of the door so Sheba wouldn't step on her. I went out to work Indigo.

She lost a little weight in the winter so I put her on some cracked corn. Boy was she gassed up today and raring to go. I couldn't use the round pen because it was too slippery still so I started to longe her in the hay field. She started out at a nice trot. I made her change directions a few times then a cat came sauntering out from an old tree stump. She gathered herself up and went zooming around at a really fast canter, fuled by a very auditable fart. I hollered at her and she came down to a nice extended trot then burst off again, zooming around like a maniac.

And I was going to drive this crazy horse today!? What was I thinking.

I took her for a little walk then we longed in the other hay field. She pulled another fart and gallop around like a maniac stint. After she got over that we went for a walk along the road in the field. She honestly, is the most observant horse. She looks at everything. I used to joke she had a fishtail head. She is always looking left and right and every other way when I ride her. It showed. She would get behind me walking but I would make a clicking noise and she would trot up to my shoulder. What a good girl!

I just thought about that. If my horse can walk on a slack lead (I mean it was slack today, she could have stopped to eat if she wanted) why can't I make my dog walk beside me!? I guess thats why I train horses and not dogs. Just my dog, she a pain in the ass. I mean she knows how to heel. She will do it, until something catches her attention which on average happenes ever 5 to 10 seconds.

Anyway I walked over to where the big paddock and hay field meet and longed her again. She was huffin and puffin but she was good. She only tried to zoom around once or twice more which was stopped by a good tug and growl on the line. I had an audience too. All the horses came cantering over and stood at the fence when they seen her running around. Silly horsies.

Oh and before I go, happy easter from the wabbit!

"Gawd I hates you!"

Weird wednesday

Again for my lack of being wordless.

I've dabbled in blacksmithing. It's a ton of fun. The local homestead lets me use their cool old shop any time I want. I volunteer there a lot by bringing my horses for events such as the upcoming parade of horse breeds and other events. I used to give pony rides there a lot and donated all the money to the refinishing of the main house and farm buildings. It really is a gorgeous old farm place right on the lake. But that is for another post.Me hammering away at something I was making. I think this was a bridle hanger I made which I ended up giving away to my moms best friend before she died. She spent many countless hours in this exact same forge. She was a farrier and a blacksmith and made some amazing art out of metal.

I am allergic to dust and mold and boy when I used the blower as seen in my left hand, it started the dust going. I was sneezing and rubbing my nose with my sooty gloves. I looked like I had been in the shop for a week when I was done rather than a few hours. I had black soot all over my face and nose.
The gloves I was using this particular day had a hole in the left thumb. Just after this picture was taken I touched where I shouldn't have and just about burnt my thumb print off. I hollered a little and dunked it into the barrel of water and went on working.

I have some hoof picks someplace. I made them out of old horse shoe. They are pretty cool.
I would love to have a neat shop like this one day. Working with metal has been a very fond past time of mine even before I learned blacksmithing. I used to make jewelry out of wire but theres something about blacksmithing that makes me want to purse my dream of going to the belleville school of horseshoeing to become a farrier.

Art!!

Just in case the last post hasn't enticed you to want jewelry out of horse hair here is my latest creation. Into the wee hours of last night I worked.... ok only till midnight :P


This is from the tail hair of the big golden bear

I had the seed beads from a wile back. I love their colour. It reminds me of Dallas' buckskin coat.


Some FAQ's about horse hair jewlery.

Horse hair is very strong. Especially when braided. It does not break or unravel and feels almost like fishing line.

I use tail hair for all my creations in exception to mane hair for tassles.

Any number of horses can be added into the creation. I have one flat braid bracelet that a woman sent me 14 different horses hair! It was an interesting rainbow of hair colours.

Hair can be dyed. So if you have white or light coloured hair I can dye it any colour you like.

Horse hair jewelry's worst enemy is abrasion. Worst case is you catch the jewelry on something and break a hair. Just take a pair of toe nail clippers and clip the loose hair as close to the others as possible.

If you treat it right it'll last you many, many years. I have some horse hair jewlery that was given to me as a kid that is over 50 years old! It looks brand new.

bwahahahah

Oh dear. Aren'tcha glad you don't have this problem. Ok maybe you do but once again duct tape solves all the worlds problems.

Erm, happy Monday?

On another note I need some horse tail hair. I have a project idea I want to do with the month of April off but I fear my horses are going to go bald in the tail department before too long. So I am offering this, because it is an artistic experiment of sorts for a VERY reduced price. I want to make a western browband, you know the v-knot ones like this browband
out of horse hair. I have horse hair but it's for other things like two hat bands needing to get done, a bracelet and a necklace but I really want to make a browband. I would need a minimum of 18 inches TAIL hair (mane is too fine but makes good tassels) about as big around as your thumb, maybe a bit bigger. I always send any unused hair back or I would be swimming in it. I usually pick from several different horses. Different colours would be cool too!. It will have two silver conchos where the browband attaches to the headstall and tassles in the front. Completely out of horse hair.

If you are interested drop me a message here and we can discuss price, how much horse hair, how to collect it and the size of your horse. Check out my Gallery . Unfortunately I only really have jewlery up there. I do hatbands, belts or anything someone can think of I'll give it a whack.

Amazing deal since most braiders and hitchers charge 200$ and up for custom work. Won't even cost you 50$ so long as you promise to take some pics for me after on your horse ;).

Sunday Stills

Sunday stills

This weeks challenge was animal husbandry. I exclaimed OH! I can do that! Only to remember that any pictures of the cows would have been on film and who knows where they are.

So I did the next best thing.

From left to right: Sophie (Sunrise Sophia) second oldest, Sebastian (Sunrise Sebastian) oldest, Suzy (BOM westside lady) The QUEEN of the paddock and the best mom ever!, Stormy (Sunrise snowstorm) youngest. They are all purebred Morgans. One of the few lines that don't have saddlebred in them.
There was a fifth. Sienna. She unfortunately got out and got hit by a car shortly after I got Indigo. She was a bitch of a mare though. Hell of a carriage horse. That mare could trot for 11 miles before wanting to stop for a walk. But still never fun to deal with.

Suzy and I are an unbeatable driving team! I over 100 ribbons and quite the few trophies from that mare. I went for a drive yesterday and she was soooo fired up. It was great. I love her.

I also rode Indigo seriously yesterday for the first time in a wile. She was CRAZY!!!! Shes getting some cracked corn to put a little more weight on her that the winter took off and her mind was everywhere but trotting circles in the field. She was acting all stupid and crazy. Ah silly neigh.

Shut yer mouth

The Wife asked "Does she ever keep her mouth closed?!" So here it is, a picture of Indigo, mouth closed.



Just in case you were curious, about 90% of the pictures I have of her are with her mouth open. Silly neigh.

Sleepy yet?

Just cause you can't get enough, theres more yawning.


Some interesting tidbits in an article I wrote for a magazine a wile back:

A horse eats roughly 22.04 pounds of grass in a day if allowed to graze.

It drinks 20 gallons a day when it is hot and he is losing electrolytes, and 12-15 on cooler days. To make sure your horse is getting adequate water intake in the winter and even summer adding 1 tsp of NTM (natural trace mineral) salt, twice daily to every 1000 pounds of body weight will increase the ammount a horse will drink and replenish the salts lost in sweat.

Horses create 12 gallons of saliva a day! However this number is only met if the horse is receiving adequate forage to chew on and make that saliva. Chewing activates a horses salivary glands.
Since most horses are forced to eat solid salt blocks meant for cows they often tire or run out of saliva before their needs are met. Cows have rough tongues and salivary glands that are activated by moving the tongue around so they are able to receive adequate minerals from a salt block. This is why you often find bite marks in the salt blocks. The horse is trying to create more saliva by chewing or biting the salt block.

Horses do not have a pancreas so they do not create any amylase in their saliva. Amylase is responsible for breaking down starches. This is why large carbohydrate meals are hard on a horses digestive system.

A horse can comfortably carry 20% of it's total weight.

A horse is capable of pulling three times it's weight and sometimes more!

And the deal maker *drumroll* A horse produces 50 pounds of manure a day! That equals it's body weight in about 3 weeks.

Who says shoveling S**T is easy!?

The pooch

Walk you say!?


Oh, you just wanted to take pictures of me. How disappointing.


Such a hard life I have. You know I can't eat many meats and never any wheat. I have bad allergies. I scratch my head off. My girl though I had a mad case of fleas when I was a puppy, but couldn't find a single one. I am now on very special, expensive food made with whitefish and sweet potato.

I do really weird things sometimes.
It's ok cause I am so damn cute. I find a way to get around everything they try and prevent me from doing. Thats how smart I am. Damn smart. I should have a PhD in outsmarting humans. I always come up with something new to do that drives my humans insane.
I've even pushed a chair to the counter once to get a sandwich. All by myself. Then they moved the chair so I started to pick the jacket pockets on the back of the chairs. I like to find lots of stuff to chew or run around with in pockets. My favorite is lipstick. Cap on thanks. I hold it in my mouth and trot around the house all smart like. Then I get put in my crate for being a bad dog.
They say I have enough toys. I don't think a whole doggie bed full is enough.

But my most favorite thing to do is watch the fan. See you gotta watch it all the time or it might move. Very carefully watch it.


Waaattcchhh ittttt.....

Then I bark my head off and spin in circles at it, most of the time even if it's not moving. Explain that one Caesar Milan.

I am a sucker for my girls scritches.

My belly.

My ears, ooooh thats the spot.

Right by my tail.

I groan really loud when you get just the right spot.

Of course I am full of hyperactive energy. I hear this word ADHD all the time, what does it mean?

After all this is done I have any bed, couch, sweater, warm blanket and sometimes the folded laundry in the laundry basket to fur. If it is clean, it will be furred, rule NO 1 of a shedding dog.

I think I'll take another nap on this clean blanket.

Make your brushes brand new!

The horses are shedding, rolling in the new spring mud and looking mighty pleased with their hairy, yak like fuzziness. I realized the other day I hadn't washed my brushes in a wile. I usually do it at least once a month but I have been busy so here, I hand to you my brush washing method that will not harm wooden back brushes, natural bristles or synthetic. It keeps grime from building up between washings and sanitizes them at the same time.

See I got the idea from this commercial brush wash from the tack store. I think I paid $8 for this little tube thing that guaranteed me that my brushes would look band new. It worked but not worth the money really. So I came up with my own method that works just as good, but doesn't smell or cost the price.

Start by collecting your brushes and combing the loose hair out of them with a metal curry cob or another stiffer brush.

First about 1/4 a cup of magnesium sulphate AKA epsom salts. Epsom salts help loosen the hairs in the bristles and fluff the bristles up. It makes them super soft and if you have some brushes that may get squished from time to time the salts actually make the bristles stand up again.

Then my favorite soap. This soap has been around for ages, make sure you ask for it by name. Original Murphys oil soap and you need about 3 tablespoons of it. You can get it for about $5 a bottle at any supermarket or . It not only protects your wooden backed brushes it contains oil. This oil coats the bristles of the brushes and makes a big difference between washing time and how dirty your brushes get. It is also kind on your hands and the horses skin. Believe me it does make a difference. Oh did I mention you can use it on leather too!? I use it for really, really mouldy tack.

Plug a skink, I use the wash tub because I don't think mum would apreceate me using the kitchen skink. I pour water strait from the hot tap, add the epsom salts then the murphy's. It bubbles and sometimes the bubbles form a little white film. Thats ok, that's just the glycerin and it does that sometimes like it did with me because I poured a little too much.

Pour enough water so it just meets the backs of your brushes when they are placed in the water, bristles down.

Swish them around and loosen the dirt. You can see why I said I used a little too much soap here. The floaty white bits are the glycern that has started to solidify after being in the boiling water. I guess less is more because it was a pain to wash out.

Set the timer. 10 minutes is the time they should soak for.



Once the timer goes off drain the sink and rinse them with cold water. The reason for the cold is the soap, because it has glycerin in it you can re-melt it and then end up with crap on them you thought you washed off.

Oh this step since the bristles have been softened and cleaned you want to re-brush them with a stiffer brush or metal curry comb because any of that hair you couldn't get will come out now.
Make sure you rinse them thoroughly because the next step could get messy if they aren't real clean. Once they are rinsed put them all back into the sink and plug it again. Pour some hot water into the sink to the bottoms of the wooden handles like before. Now you are going to add bleach. About a tablespoon or two.



Notice the hobbles next to the bleach. My sister comes over the other day and shes like. WHAT IS THIS!?!?! and shes got one brow raised like I should be in trouble or something. Well I left them on the dryer after washing them and my sister seen them and lol, thought they were like gigantic furry love cuffs or something. It was hilarious. I don't think she was completely convinced they were for horses. Ah non horse sister.


Ok so let them soak a minute or two more and rinse them again. The bleach kills bacteria and stops spread of skin diseases. Shake them out and let them dry preferably outside in the sun. Sun naturally kills many bacteriums and viruses but since it was windy and damp out I put them on a towel.

Oh even though I didn't take a picture make sure you wash your brush carrying box/bag/container because it's gonna have all that dust and dirt in it too.

Voila! your brushes now feel and look brand new at a fraction of the price of that commercial brush stuff. Enjoy.

Friday!!!

Wow it's been an extremely long week. I have been writing a very large paper (which still isn't done by the way) and haven't had time to do anything but work and write and work and write with minimal time for my own horses.

Oh speaking of horses, or on the smaller scale, ponies. I realized I have never mentioned mr.pony! Hes such a great little guy I love him to death. He is ever so conscious of your emotions and tries ever so hard to please. Once you teach him something he will do it perfect every time. I swear I have never met another like him. I wish he was a horse he would make an amazing trail horse. He is practically fearless because he trusts me so much. He rarely spooks but he does jump the telephone shadows on the road! lol silly pony.

See I started working with him about 4 or so years ago. He was a stallion (that shouldn't have been) with no training and could barely lead. He was very curious however. He liked to watch you work and see what you were about. He was also very flighty and unsure of people. One wrong move would send his head to the clouds and trapping him meant he would try and scale any fence or wall to try and get away. Did I mention this little bugger can jump? Oh man can he. For instance if you set up a jump he will gallop around at mach 10 and by himself, clear that stinking jump by at least a foot or two.

He has the cutest little trot. Well it's fast. His canter is choppy and fast but he was born for trottin. He is a hackney X welsh, pink papered pony.
Last year after finally getting a suitable cart for him I broke him to harness. Hes so much fun to drive. You just point in the direction, tell him what speed and away he goes until you tell him to do otherwise. I don't have many pictures of him on my computer. Why? I dunno. I should take more pictures often but heres one of his first driving show last year, in which we smoked the competition. I knew the judge, I show with her she asked me "How come you aren't driving Suzy?" I said cause "I was training pony". She says "Oh yeah? How long you been driving him?" I exclaimed "Oh this is his 10th or 15th time with a cart behind him" her jaw just dropped. Hes an amazing little guy. I can't wait to start showing him again.

Oh and tricks. Did I mention he can do tricks? I love teaching horses tricks. He knows how to bow, pick up things and touch targets I point him to. If there are carrot slices involved this bugger tries 10 times harder than his usual 120% zeal. Hes so fuzzy right now he looks like a hairy, mud caked bear. He loves to roll. Ahh ponies!