Wednesday Pictures

As seems to be my theme in the last few weeks this will be a quick post as I am again short on time! First I want to thank Luanne for the blog award - it is always nice to know that someone aside from myself and Jason finds this blog of interest. Part of paying it forward isn't just passing the award along to other blogs but also listing ten things about yourself that others don't know about you. Luanne's were very interesting as were the ones that Kate wrote on her blog. You are both really interesting people! I'm kind of a boring person really but in one of my next posts I'll try to come up with ten things about myself that aren't common knowledge. Hmmmm, this could be tough . . .

It has been an excellent week so far with some great things to blog about. I just need to sit my butt down at my desk long enough to write a half decent blog post. That seems to be a tall order for me these days. Is anybody still bothering to read this lately?? I think that is one of those don't ask the question if you don't want to know the answer type deals (my finger is hovering over the backspace button).

On to some pictures:

Winston and Ogie

Faune

Trillion
O'Reilly and Bridget grazing with the chickens

O'Reilly decided to check out the Don

Winston, Faune and Sebastian grazing under the trees

Teddy

Clay with Slinky in the background

Lucky and Chili

Goats and Horses

This post started with horse pictures but ended up with a lot of fainting goat pictures. You have to admit, they are extremely cute! Most of these pictures were taken last week. I've gotten behind on getting my pictures posted again despite the fact that I finally ended up skipping a few months completely! We are seasonably dry right now and the grass has started to reflect that in the last few days. It still looks fresh and growing in these pictures but is definitely looking dry in certain areas of the farm right now. This is typical for us in the summer.

We have a busy day tomorrow with a lot going on so I'm going to finish this post basically as soon as I started it!

Lightening

Lucky
Teddy

Chili

Trillion

Winston

Bubba staring me down while I prepared feed one morning (as usual I feel the need to point out that I had nothing to do with naming him)

Harmony and MyLight

Mina resting

Jason and Mina

Jason playing with Jo on the teeter totter

Jo sticking her tongue out

Jo looking a bit more dignified

Jason holding Jo

Two fainting goats and a rooster

Jo giving kisses to Jason

Mina and a rooster

Quick Post

I'm running short on time this evening and I've yet to make out my farrier list for tomorrow so this will be a quick post. It has been one of those typical weeks where you feel like you are trying to cram two weeks into one after you've been away. I don't actually mind that as I like to be busy (Jason says I have an "active mind"), but I have enough going on in a normal week so I'm not usually looking for something to do!

Jason and I just finished doing a quick cleaning of the house as we have a house guest coming tomorrow afternoon. I kept reminding Jason today about cleaning the house and he always acted like I was making a mountain out of a molehill. So when he finally agreed it was time to clean he says "all we need to do is vacuum." Ummmmm, not quite Jason. The counter tops are so covered up in your junk you can't even see them so we need to pick it all up and put it away. The bathroom needs to be cleaned. We need to dust and clean all of the furniture. Then we need to vacuum, and follow that up with the mop.

Jason's response: "Why do you make this so complicated?" Argh! I wanted to say something really snarky in response but I (mostly) refrained. You see, I am the neat freak and Jason is the ultimate slob. I like to joke that he has broken me, as it was giving me nervous breakdowns trying to keep the house to my standards when we were first married.

Enough about us and our housekeeping and back to horses. Not a lot to report which is always nice. Knocking on every piece of wood in sight, everyone is happy and healthy. The pony wars have continued although they've calmed down a bunch. Cuff Links continues to be the coveted pony as he is shuffled back and forth between MyLight and Harmony. However I have noticed this week that they actually seem content to share him for the most part. Cuffie often finds himself as the middle part of a sandwich between the two mares. I'm not sure that he would necessarily choose that position but he seems to roll with it.

Bonnie and Lexi continue to play so enthusiastically with their water trough that they tip it over at least three times a day. I've tried tying it to the fence, propping the trough up high on wood blocks to make it harder for them to get their feet in, putting floating objects in the water to try and divert them, one afternoon a couple of years ago I sat there with a longe whip and would snap it at them if they did anything other than drink water (what a total waste of my time as they just thought that was a game too), and other things that I'm forgetting. Did I mention that the cute factor of the water trough games wore off a LONG time ago?

I watched Apollo and Ivan playing in the pond this afternoon. Apollo is 18.1 hands so when he slaps the water with his front legs it really makes a splash! His buddy Ivan thinks that is fantastic and slaps the water back at him enthusiastically. The other boys were starting to wander over to join in the water games but unfortunately I had to get back to work scrubbing water troughs so I am sure I missed a lot of the fun.

Off to make my farrier list for tomorrow . . .


Missy, Buffy, MyLight and Harmony (Cuffie was to the side and I couldn't fit him in the picture)

Sebastian in the back, Trillion, Winston, Faune, Ogie and Asterik in the front
Snappy; I need to write a post about him one day. He has competed around the world and been ridden by some very big time riders.

Slinky and Clay

My three girls; Lexi, Bonnie (the water trough destroyers) and Bridget

Lightening; our representative of the Arabian breed

When I took this picture a couple of days ago I remember thinking it would be really cute, Ivan and Apollo contentedly strolling through the pasture together. Instead I cut their legs off and mostly got a picture of the trees. Something clearly went wrong.

Teddy

Asterik and Winston

Apple; named by one of the Amy's because of the Mac symbol on her forehead. This picture didn't capture it very well.

O'Reilly

Summer Days

Summer has arrived and we've been hot and humid this week. In addition to scrubbing and filling water troughs the afternoon ritual now includes water games with the horses. Some of the horses love to be sprayed down with the hose while others seem to take offense to it. Some of them, when I am trying to spray them along their bodies keep re-positioning themselves so the spray will go right in there faces. They will even open their mouths to catch some of the water. I see a lot of the horses hanging out under the trees napping in the afternoons. What I never understand is when I see them standing out in the sun baking themselves, and if they just moved about twenty feet they would be in the shade.

For the most part the horses ignore their nice, big run-in sheds in favor of the trees and wooded areas. However if you are going to see the horses using their sheds this is the time of the year to see it. They don't use their shelters at the same time we would. We would run to the shelter in rain, thunderstorms, cold weather and wind. The only time I see the shelters in anything halfway resembling regular use is in the summer for shade. For the most part though they do tend to prefer the woods over the shelters for shade.

In the colder months I spend a lot of time blanketing and unblanketing the horses. In the warmer months the water troughs need constant attention. The troughs are filled twice a day to make sure the water stays fresh and cool. The troughs are dumped and scrubbed almost every afternoon to keep the gunk out of them.

On another note I can't believe how out of shape I feel after 10 days of being away and not working around the farm! I rode my two girls yesterday, although very lightly, and was going to ride again today. I decided not to after seeing how I felt when I got up this morning! I didn't want to over do things with them and make them sore as well. Isn't it funny how considerate we are to our horses but not to ourselves?

Asterik is one that doesn't like playing water games. Ogie is waiting behind him though and he moves himself around to make sure I get him everywhere.

Traveller loves playing water games and he prefers to have the spray going right at his face while he holds his mouth open

Of course he has to repay my kindness by immediately rolling in the dirt and turning into a brownish gray horse when we're done

Bonnie and Lexi looooove water games. They will spend hours playing in the water trough, putting their front hooves in it, and tipping it over. The cuteness factor of this wore off a long time ago. I have given up hope that they will ever leave the water trough alone. I am sick of constantly having to turn their trough right side up, scrub the dirt out from their hooves, and then re-fill it. During the summer this usually has to be done about three times a day. If anyone has any suggestions on how to stop this I am all ears. I've tried several things to no avail.

The sparrows hatched while we were away

Annie says "where's the beef?" She can joke about that since she is one of our pet cows and has lived here for several years (she was born on the farm)

Buster napping in the shade

Lexi

L-R Asterik, Faune (in the back), Sebastian, Ogie

Elfin was napping and letting the fence hold his head up; mostly what I see when I look at this picture is his mane. I think that it seems like I just pulled his mane a couple of weeks ago and it is already in dire need of being done again.

Bear playing in a puddle after a rainshower. I took this before we left for the beach. I think that was the last time it rained. We tend to get dry in the summer.

MyLight

The Don in mid crow