A Day In Pictures

I thought it would be neat to share my day in pictures. I had my camera with me a good part of the day today and took quite a few pictures. What always amazes me is that it seems like I take so many pictures, yet I didn't even take pictures of all of the horses today and I also missed a couple of great photo opportunities. I didn't have my camera handy at all times today and there were a couple of truly great pictures that I missed. Two great photo opportunities that I missed today included:

1. Asterik and Sebastian down for a nap together with their noses touching. It truly should have been a Kodak moment but I didn't have my camera.

2. Elfin rolling in front of an audience. You met Elfin in this post and we celebrated his birthday in this post. Elfin is of course famous for his "dogwalk." He rolls on one side, sits up like a dog and crosses his front legs over each other to push himself to the other side, then lays back down and rolls on the other side. Elfin did his famous dogwalk roll with Ivan, Apollo, Dustin and Leo in a semicircle around him watching. It was such a cute moment and I missed it because I had set my camera down.

I mostly seem to end up with pictures of horses grazing. You do tend to see a lot of that around here! All of these pictures were taken today and I even posted them in the order they were taken.

Traveller making his way through the woods eager for his breakfast

Sebastian and Ogie
Tony and Apollo

Levendi

Tony coming out of the shed to join Ivan and Apollo wherever they were headingIvan, Apollo and Dustin; something really had Dustin's attention

It was Baby who was making his way over to the fence for some cross-pasture socializing

Trillion

Levendi and Dustin

They look tiny in this picture taken from a distance but it is Slinky (Slink in Pink!), Baby, Snappy and Chili; Apollo and Ivan are even harder to make out on the other side of the fence

Chance and Leo

This was not the picture I wanted but yet again I had set my camera down. I noticed that Buffy and Harmony were down napping next to each other with Teddy and Missy also hanging out with hind legs resting. By the time I retrieved my camera and came back to their pasture Buffy had gotten up.

Bubba taking a nap

Billy grazing in front of the barn

The elusive Olivia napping in some hay

Faune

Pictures

I'm sure it is not necessary for me to remind everyone that I am, as always, way behind on posting pictures. All of these pictures were taken in November. Hey, at least we are getting closer to 2009!

Bella the dog and Cloudy the cat; Cloudy has been introduced in this post and also this post Harmony

Buffy

I caught Chance right in the middle of a nap

Sparky

Dad with Bugle in the passenger seat, Bush standing in the back, Bear is the black blob in the back and Trooper is on the floorboard. We call Dad's gator the dogmobile because he never goes anywhere without at least three dogs riding along. I introduced some of the dogs in this post and Bush had his own post.
Trooper yawning while he catches a ride

Fall colors Ogie and Sebastian

Asterik

Asterik, Ogie, Faune and Sebastian with a background of some pretty fall colors

Fall on the farm Chance, Apollo and Leo

Sebastian and Faune

Chance joined us from Connecticut in September and he thought he was still in New England this fall. His winter coat came in the earliest this year.

Leo and Eflin

Sebastian and Trillion

New Addition . . . Almost

We almost had a new addition on the farm today. I really, really wanted this one to join us on the farm. I'm on the e-mail list of the wonderful people that run our feed store, Bonnie's Barnyard. Bonnie sent an e-mail today that she had a client with an orphan fainting goat and were looking to place it in a new home. They didn't have time to do the four times per day bottle feeding. I have desperately wanted a fainting goat for years and after pleading my case with Jason he agreed to the new acquisition. I literally was bouncing around the house full of excitement and anticipation as I picked up the phone to call Bonnie.

Then the bad news came, the orphan kid had already been adopted, I was too late. I will admit this was a major letdown to me. In the seven minutes I had been aware of the kid's existence and availability I had already been compiling a list of possible names in my head, was dreaming of dressing him in a little sweatshirt for the few colds nights we have coming, and cooing over him while feeding him. Alas it was not meant to be although I know we would have provided him with a home any goat would love. Right??

To ease my pain I sorted through some of my recent pictures of our current two goat residents taken in November, December and January. Sniffle.

Bubba in December during our 24 hours of snow; yet another terrible naming job that must be attributed to my Dad. I shudder every time I have to tell someone his name.

Bubba and Billy (yep - you guessed it - another name from dad) in the snow
Bubba

Napping with the chickens in November

One morning in late November I realized I was missing a feedbag. Jason and I looked everywhere for it. We finally found it wrapped around Bubba's neck. Apparently he smelled the remnants of food in it, stuck his head in it while it was hanging on the hook, then managed to pull it down and wrap it around him.

Shaking his head trying to get it off. We finally caught him and removed it.

Chili wondering where in the world his parents sent him as he meets Bubba on his first day with us. This was taken in November

Billy and Bubba napping

A close-up of Bubba fast asleep

Blanket Freedom Day

I don't know how many blankets I removed this morning, and I don't think I want to know! The horses have worn their blankets a lot more this winter than they usually do. However today was in the 50's and tomorrow is supposed to be just over 60 so it was feeling a lot more like middle Tennessee around here today.


The horses and I established a routine pretty quickly as I went around the farm pulling off blankets. Everyone had gotten the memo: when the farm slave pulls off my blanket I immediately go and roll in the dirt. Both of these parts were key, not just the rolling part, but the in the dirt part as well. Not one horse walked away from the gate areas where it is dirt to the acres of grass in their pasture. Without exception they rolled in the dirt, and we immediately had a farm full of dustballs walking around. Clearly they were thrilled to be free of their blankets and celebrated their freedom with rejuvenating rolls in the dirt.


Sparky rolled as well, but I honestly think he was a little bit sad when I took off his blanket. He really loved having that blanket on! I'm still surprised by that, I was so sure he would object to having it put on and would set about trying to remove it immediately. And of course Poco was ready and waiting to play a key role in the removal process.


I hope everyone found something to celebrate today just as the horses did. Although hopefully you didn't celebrate by rolling in the dirt! That said I'm pretty sure I looked like I had done just that by the time I was finished handling all of those blankets. My new cart worked hard today with multiple loads of blankets strapped down, I was definitely the Paradigm Farms trucker today! Tomorrow will be a typical Friday and a busy day on the farm as Gwen the amazing farrier will be spending the day with us.

Chance enjoying a refreshing roll in the dirt

And of course the big shake afterward
Levendi always does an extended roll; he flops from side to side so many times you wonder if the end is ever coming!

Levendi finally finishing up

Homer with Apollo watching in the background

Apollo going down; when you are 18.1 hands tall it is a long way down!

Apollo rolling while Ivan admires his technique in the background

I switched Tony from his blanket to his sheet. Tony has no coat at all so he won't be naked until tomorrow. He still joined in the celebratory events though.

One load of blankets strapped down and ready to roll

Poco the pony wanting to know why he didn't have a blanket to be removed (he still celebrated blanket freedom day with a nice roll). Because you remove them and shred them Poco, remember?

Meet Missy

Missy is an adorable large pony who we have the pleasure of hosting in her retirement. Missy has truly earned her retirement and her golden years as she knows what it is like to work very hard for her living.

Missy

Missy worked for most of her life on a dude ranch out west. (I'm leaving out some specifics to protect the guilty). Her job was to be the safe and reliable mount for the kids visiting the ranch. She must have excelled at her job since she worked at the ranch until her late teens. All of the years of hard riding finally caught up with her at that point and she was repaid for her sixteen or so years of nonstop service by being dumped in the kill pen, very thin and crippled.

Missy grazing with Buffy

There was a guardian angel looking out for Missy though. An employee of the ranch was able to network on behalf of Missy and made contact with a family who agreed to purchase Missy and provide her with the home she had earned. Missy was literally pulled from the kill pen at the eleventh hour and her life suddenly took a dramatic turn for the better.

Teddy and Missy enjoying our snow that we had for almost an entire day in December. In Missy's former life (and location) I have no doubt she saw a LOT of snow, and I'm sure she wondered why we were so excited about this!

The family nursed Missy back to health. Thanks to their love and care Missy gained weight and her coat became healthy and shiny. Through cooperative efforts with their vet and farrier Missy was sound and comfortable enough to do light trail and pony rides for their children and their friend's children as well. Missy was and is wonderful with small children thanks to all of her years at the dude ranch. After a few years even the very light riding became more than her arthritis could handle and Missy was fully retired.

Missy never has to worry about being emaciated and hungry anymore

We are thrilled to have been chosen to host Missy's retirement. She is a wonderful addition to our family of retirees and wins the heart of everyone. She has the kindest eye I've ever seen on a horse and is incredibly gentle and quiet. Every horse crazy kid should have the opportunity to love a pony like Missy.

Missy grazing with Teddy

Missy strolling through the pasture. She also has a nice wardrobe in her closet now as well!

More Sharing

of pictures of our residents . . . that I didn't take! I shared pictures of Sebastian and Faune in this post that were sent to me by their moms. Sebastian's mom sent me another variation on the same picture. This one is equally as good but with a much more humorous slant to it!

She also sent me a picture of Henry, her other horse, who is here for some R&R. One of Henry's favorite holidays is Halloween, and he dresses up every year. She sent me a picture of Henry in his most recent Halloween costume.

Sebastian sending out his version of holiday greetings. I said it in the last post but I have to say again how young he looks with his dark gray mane!

The first version that I shared in the previous post. This one needs to be a Hallmark greeting card.

Henry dressed up as a cow for Halloween this past fall. I love riding and showing as much as the next person but to me these are the times you remember the most, just having fun and being silly with your horse. I think they both look pretty pleased with themselves!

I've Mentioned This Before

but truly sometimes I amaze even myself. You've seen many pictures of Sparky the donkey scattered throughout my blog. Sparky is an awesome donkey and is a lot of fun to have on the farm. The horses all love him and one of the highest honors on the farm is to be Sparky's best friend. In reality Sparky's best friend is Poco the shetland pony but all of the "big" horses are just fascinated with Sparky and like to stake their claims on him.

I randomly picked up a magazine about mules and donkeys a couple of weeks ago at TSC. I was enjoying reading about donkey behavior and reading about the inner workings of Sparky's mind. Then I was reading the article on health management expecting to confirm that I did everything right for Sparky. He is trimmed by the farrier every six weeks, is de-wormed on the same schedule as the horses, has his annual vaccinations, has his teeth floated annually, etc. I guess I was getting ready to break my arm patting myself on the back for my excellent care!

Well, instead I learned that I am a horrible mom to Sparky and have been torturing him for ten years! I learned that donkeys don't have an undercoat like horses do to protect them from precipitation or wind. I've never blanketed Sparky and yes they have shelter but no they don't stand in there every time it is windy or raining. So I guess I should have been blanketing him just as I do the horses and never have. The last time one of my equine vets was out (two weeks ago) I questioned him about this whole donkey/no undercoat/does he need a blanket thing. He told me that many of his clients that have donkeys blanket them.

So I inform my parents (who actually own Sparky) that we have all been remiss in our care of Sparky and he needs a rainsheet and a blanket. NOW! They are happy to go along with this and tell me to order them. Well I got busy and forgot and now we are having a bad cold snap, as in cold that we don't normally see in middle Tennessee. It is supposed to go down to six degrees tonight. Now I lived in Vermont for a couple of winters and my horses lived out 24/7 in temperatures MUCH colder than that but we're not used to this in middle Tennessee. And I left Vermont and came screaming back to middle Tennessee because I hated the winters. I loved Vermont and it was so beautiful but I just can't stand cold weather and they had seriously cold weather in Vermont.

So last night I'm freaking out because I forgot to order blankets for Sparky and have decided he will die from being cold. Oddly Jason was totally going along with all of this and humoring me, as he suggested last night that we run over to TSC and see if we could purchase a blanket for Sparky. (I realize he probably just wanted me to shut up, I'm not that stupid!) We purchased a 75" blanket for Spark-man which I knew would be way too big for him but I thought I could have it as a spare for some of the other horses and order him the appropriate size blanket for future use.

Sparky was extremely cooperative when we put his blanket on him today. Like, he just stood there. I thought he would have a problem when we tossed the blanket over him but he stood like a statue while we buckled him in and did up the surcingles. Jason swore he was smiling when we were done. Sparky really did seem quite pleased with the latest turn of events. So now I can rest easy tonight knowing that Sparky is wearing a blanket and I am back in the running for world's best donkey caretaker. I don't know how I manage to get myself into these situations like trying to find a blanket for a donkey at the last minute after he's survived without one for TEN YEARS!!

Jason and Sparky after we finished putting his blanket on. We thought it would take two of us to complete this task. We didn't even need to bother having a halter on him much less have two of us on hand.

Poco offering to help Sparky remove his blanket

Just Another Day

Today was just another day on the farm. A very pleasant one really. The first thing I do every morning when I wake up is I start soaking the bucket of alfalfa cubes that I bring in the house with me every night. A couple of the older residents have teeth that are not in great shape, or I should say the few teeth they have left aren't in great shape. So they get a mush of alfalfa cubes and complete feed a couple of times a day. Personally I think waking up and preparing for the day to the smell of alfalfa is as good as or better than the smell of coffee. I happen to love the smell of coffee but hate the taste so I'm not a coffee drinker. Jason always has his morning cup though.

We're still in blanketing season of course and I've been playing a bit of musical blankets. We'll have a a few days where it is pleasant and everyone on the farm is nekkid. Then it will cool off just a bit and the ones that I tend to blanket the most aggressively will be wearing sheets, and if it is also supposed to be really windy or raining then everyone is wearing sheets. And then of course there are the times when everyone has on their blankies.

We're getting ready to have a cold snap the next few days with the evening temps well below freezing for the next three nights so all of the horses are sporting their blankets. I am definitely loving my new cart as I hauled blankets all over creation in it today! I have to say it is quite a satisfying feeling to think of them all snuggly with their blankets on. And I do realize that is classic anthropomorphism and most of them would be just fine without their blankets. It definitely does a lot for my mental health though!

Jason teases me about my cart full of blankets. I bought some bungee cords so I could strap down my big, puffy loads of blankets. The top blankets would shift and fall out when I hit bumps. Anyway, Jason and I rarely watch TV (like almost never - our TV will go weeks at a time without being turned on) but we stumbled onto the TV show Ice Road Truckers one time. When we do watch TV we like the History Channel, Discover, Animal Planet, National Geographic and such. Yeah, we're pretty boring! So we've watched Ice Road Truckers several times and you would always see these guys out in -40 weather strapping down their loads on their big rigs to head out onto the ice road. Thus Jason calls me the Paradigm Farms Trucker when I am strapping down my blanket loads in the cart. Re-reading this paragraph makes me realize we need to get our more often or something!

Leo, Homer and Elfin in their blankets

Clay, Snappy and Lucky in their blankets. I really like Lucky's plaid blanket.

Silky whom we ended up nicknaming Slinky (long story!). Jason dubbed him "Slink in Pink" when he has his cute little pony blanket on.

Missy, another cute retired pony sporting her blanket. Maybe we should switch her blankets with Slinky's and she can wear pink and Slinky can take over her more manly colored blankets.

Chance lounging around in his blanket with Bella the dog admiring his taste in fashion.

What Is It Really Like? Part II

I mentioned in my first post on this topic that I hear from many people that I have their dream job. For that matter I have MY dream job! However there are times when it feels a tad bit less than dreamy. This morning was a great example.

We've had tons of rain the last few weeks. The mud in the traffic areas by the gates and water troughs is ugly. Thankfully the pastures are holding up ok away from the traffic areas. It would sure help a lot if the horses didn't gallop around digging their hooves into the ground and then do sliding stops and destroy the grass roots but I digress . . .

Today I was thinking about a discussion that Jason and I have been having about finding more help. We have some great help now (you know who you are!) but we've talking about adding some more. I was writing the recruitment ad in my head as I was working this morning and here is what I came up with:

Help Wanted
Horse retirement farm in middle Tennessee is seeking a horse lover to assist on the retirement farm. Do you like working outside in the rain for 2-3 hours at a time? Do you like to work outside when it is cold and windy? Do you like to work outside when it is hot and humid? Do you mind getting mud all over you and having no shortage of dirt under your fingernails? Do you enjoy scrubbing water troughs, even when the water is freezing cold? If you enjoy exercise this is the job for you! You must be able to walk extensively through pastures and up and down hills. You need to be able to lift 50 lbs.

This job will require you to work on holidays, weekends, birthdays, when you are sick and when there is a family emergency. You need to be willing to put on and take off horse blankets and sheets, even when it is windy and the blankets are blowing around like kites as you are trying to put them on the horse. You will especially love this part of the job when the blanket has caked, dried mud on it that blows all over you during this process! You need to enjoy cleaning and rebedding stalls, scrubbing and refilling water buckets daily and sweeping the barn aisle. You will stack more hay bales than you ever thought possible in the spring.

In exchange for being wet, cold, hot or sweaty as dictated by the weather you will have the opportunity to spend time with horses from all over North America. These horses will all have unique and interesting backgrounds that you can learn about. You can tell them how pretty and special they are as you groom them (after you've done all of the hard labor of course). You will also get to be outside when the weather is perfect, the sky is blue and your surroundings couldn't be more beautiful, but please keep in mind there is a lot of cold, wet, windy, hot, etc. weather in between these days.

In summary the pay is not great, the work is hard and never ending, and no one will care if you are sick, hurt or otherwise incapacitated. You will work in whatever weather conditions happen to be present each day. The horses will act like you are their long lost best friend every morning at breakfast and again at dinner. You will be able to chat and catch up on all the local gossip with the vet and farrier as you will see them regularly, and in fact you will become friends with them. You will be able to put on and take off blankets in your sleep. You will be dirty most of the time. If interested please respond to blah, blah, blah.

_________________________________________________________

Do you think I would have any takers?

Pictures

This will probably come as no surprise that I am still way behind on posting pictures. In fact, just as in my last picture post, these were taken in late October. I like looking at these pictures better than my current ones anyway. Everything is still green and pretty, just the way I like it!

Asterik And Sebastian grooming each other

Ogie nappingAsterik was keeping Ogie company while he napped
Homer rollingHomer looks very satisfied

Apollo sticking his tongue out at the camera

Ivan, Homer, Apollo, Elfin, Chance

Harmony, Teddy, Buffy

Asterik and Faune

Trillion, Faune, Asterik and Sebastian

Ogie

Asterik

Chance, Elfin, Homer and Bella the dog

Leo and Homer

Elfin, Apollo, Ivan

Elfin

Homer

Apollo with Ivan behind him, Homer and Chance

Leo

Pretty pathetic, we just celebrated the New Year and I'm posting Halloween pictures! Jason loves to carve pumpkins every year. Me not so much, but that has more to do with the fact that I really suck at it than anything else!

Faune

Sebastian

Jason took this picture to send to all of his friends in Ontario. October 30th with bright sunshine and low 70's, leaves still on the trees and green everywhere.

Trillion and Sebastian with Faune grazing in the background

I Really Love Him But . . .

Just as a warning this post has turned into a bit of a rant from me, and if I've offended you I don't really care. You probably deserved it. This is my blog and therefore MY opinion is the one that counts here!

NOTICE TO HORSE OWNERS:

Please do not call me, e-mail me, or contact me in any way about retiring your horse for free. The answer is NO. I can't afford to retire your horse for you. I have my own retirees that I am supporting.

And while we're on the subject I've got a news flash for you. If your horse is truly unrideable and pasture sound only, no one else is going to want him. Look at the thousands and thousands of horses that are shipped to Canada and Mexico for slaughter every month. EVERY SINGLE ONE of those horses could have used a companion home like the one you are seeking for your horse. Do you know how many truly good "companion" homes there are out there? VERY FEW in case you are truly interested. There are lots and lots of horses out there that have lost their "value" as far as riding horses. There are a few people out there who will take these horses as they feel sorry for them but the ratio of horses needing kind people who will assume the responsibility vs. people who are trying to dump their liabilities on someone else is pretty dramatically skewed, and not in the horses' favor.

Does it really make you feel better to go on and on about how much you love Dobbin and how great he is and what a wonderful horse he is as you are trying to dump him? And for the love of all that is holy please don't tell me how you can't afford him anymore since you now have a new horse to ride. The issue here is not that you can't afford him it, is that you won't afford him now that he is no longer rideable. If you could afford him when he was rideable, and you can now afford another rideable horse, the only problem here is that you don't want to pay the bills now that things aren't perfect anymore. I think my favorite part about these predictable conversations is that you will be checking references and a good home is a must. So you will be demanding that someone else step up and do what you aren't willing to do, and apparently they need to be willing to give a lot more than you are!!!

Since I'm on a roll now I have a few other tidbits for you to think about. The therapeutic riding facilities are not on the hunt for unsound horses. They need horses that can work in their programs. The horse rescues aren't standing around going "gosh, I really hope someone brings us another horse to take in today. We have all this space, time and money but no horses to take care of." The university equestrian teams need horses that are suitable for riding and showing.

To summarize things here, the bottom line is if you really care about Dobbin as much as you claim to, suck it up and do the right thing. Either cough up the money to continue to support him, and if you are absolutely unwilling or unable to do that then euthanize the horse. Trust me when I say there are far, FAR worse fates for a horse than euthanasia. I've had more than one horse show up here after it was given away as a companion, only to be given away again and again and finally wound up starving somewhere. These two horses were lucky because in each case a good Samaritan was willing to take the time and effort to track down the horse's story and find the old owners.

Oh, and in case you are wondering I have walked in your shoes. I had to retire my horse young due to injury and I basically didn't ride for a few years. I wasn't in a position to replace her and support another one at the time that it happened. So yes, as a matter of fact I do know what it feels like to be dealt a bad hand of cards. I chose to support my horse because I wasn't stupid enough to think that someone was going to do it for me. Or maybe it was just that my parents taught me about this thing in life called responsibility. Or maybe it is just that I really do love my horse. Bridget gave me everything she had when I was riding and showing her and I couldn't have looked myself in the mirror knowing I had dumped her to an uncertain fate. She is still with me today at the ripe old age of 16 years young and I smile every day when I see her.

Bridget in September of this year

Bridget packing a friend's sister around in short stirrup. I don't actually have any pictures of me showing her saved on my computer. She's jumping the snot out of this tiny little jump, she jumped the kid loose!

Bridget napping with her roomies in October 2007. Bridget is the one in the middle lifting her head, I disturbed her nap when I walked up with the camera.

Bridget under the lights in my arena; I think I took this in 2001

December 2002; Bridget letting me know she wasn't too happy about being kept in for a few days due to weather. She has never lacked for opinions! This picture was actually published in the Chronicle of the Horse a few years ago, Bridget rearing with a mouth full of hay!

Lights, Camera, Action!

As most of you know Jason's education and professional experience is in large animal nutrition. To say the least he is a handy guy to have around the retirement farm! Jason has developed many contacts in the nutrition field over the years. A few weeks ago a professor from Cornell University that Jason has worked with before asked if he could bring a camera crew to our farm to get some footage for a video he is working on that will be about feeding horses.

Bear did NOT understand why he wasn't an integral piece of this production. He tried to make himself a part of it anyway.

Of course the first thing that went through my mind when I heard this wasn't "that's neat!" but "can't he find any horses closer to Cornell than middle Tennessee?" As it turned out the production company he is working with is based out of Nashville, and it was cheaper for Charlie to fly here than for the crew to travel to Cornell.

Arranging all of the lights around Henry

Henry on camera; he was perfect and stood very still with his ears pricked the whole time. Those acting classes really paid off Henry.

First they did quite a bit of filming that did not involve the horses. Charlie was demonstrating how to take core samples from hay bales using a core sampler. My favorite part of that was when Charlie's core sampler was not functioning properly and Jason came to the rescue with his own sampler. Jason has the super deluxe $300 bale sampler while Charlie had a cheaper one and Jason enjoyed poking some fun at him about that. So the cameras stopped rolling while Jason used his core sampler to pull samples from the hay bales and then transferred the contents to Charlie's so it would look like he had pulled the sample himself.

Charlie emptying the contents of his core sampler into a baggie to be sent off for testing. Of course it was actually the sample that Jason had to pull for Charlie with his own sampler.

Then they filmed some other things like using the little hand held scale to weigh your feed and weigh your hay. As Charlie pointed out they are all basic things that everyone who feeds a horse should be doing but most don't. We got a gold star on our farm as Jason keeps a scale hanging right next to the feed room in the barn. Yes, we know exactly how much a "scoop" of each and every feed we ever use weighs. I have to say the term "scoop" drives me crazy. When I ask people about their horses current diet so I know what they are used to eating when they arrive it is always described in scoops of feed and flakes of hay. Do people not realize how many different sizes of scoops there are, and that the amount of hay in a flake varies widely depending on the type of baler used and how tight the person operating the baler set the tension? So a scoop and a flake tell me nothing about how much a horse was actually eating. Anyway, getting back on track . . . !

Charlie weighing the bucket of feed with the little hand-held electronic scale

Henry watching with a lot of interest

While the non-horse parts were being filmed Asterik and Henry, our demo horses for the day, went through "make-up" and were prepared for their starring roles. I was very impressed with how little they cared (none) about the lights, the cameras, the crew, anything. Clearly they both felt they were born to be stars and they were wondering why their agents had taken so darn long to get their careers launched. They both enjoyed watching the non-horse parts being filmed, especially when Charlie had to repeatedly scoop out feed for a certain segment. That was always watched with alert expressions and pricked ears! The horses were used to demo the use of a weight tape and for assessing body condition.

Asterik is clearly an A-lister as he was pretty bored by this point. He did perk up a lot when they started scooping out feed though.

Then, as quickly as they arrived all of the equipment was packed up and everyone was gone. Henry and Asterik had their blankets put back on and went back outside to rejoin their friends. As soon as their halters were off they went racing off to find their friends as if they had been separated for days. They probably just wanted to brag and say "guess what I just did!"

It's a wrap. Jason, Charlie, myself and Bear. Yet again Bear put himself in front of the camera!

What Is It Really Like? Part I

I am contacted on a regular basis by people who are interested in starting a retirement farm, or by people who are kind enough to mention that I happen to have their dream job. I've mentioned a time or two hundred in this blog that I happen to really like what I do every day. So what are the days like?

Most days start and end the same way and in some ways there is quite a bit of repetition in the daily tasks. First thing in the morning everyone on the farm is fed breakfast. This is actually the biggest job of the days as mornings are when we also include any supplements and medications that need to be top-dressed on the feed and that takes extra time. Most of the horses live outside 24/7 with only a few horses in the barn at any given time.

I always start in the barn and give the horses in stalls hay and then feed them breakfast. Then I prepare the feed for the two pastures closest to the barn. Each horse has a feedbag with their name on it as the horses obviously don't all eat the same feed, amounts of feed, etc. First I scoop the feed directly into the feedbags, and then for the horses that need their feed soaked I put the feedbags into buckets of water to soak. After the feed has soaked then I go back and add supplements, medications, etc.

The horses are then fed in the field with the feedbags. Feeding is easy as the horses have their established order, and you simply put the feedbags on in the same order each time. They don't really get worked up as it takes about two seconds per horse to put the feedbags on and within a minute or so of walking into the pasture everybody is happily eating. They learn quickly that no one can steal their food and they can't steal food from anyone else, and they will happily stand there and eat nose to nose. Another great thing about the feedbags is they eat with their noses down on the ground in the natural position in order to pick up the feed in the bag.

We do stand there with them while they are eating as when they are done they walk over to the trough and take a drink. That part is fine as the bags have mesh sides so they can dunk their noses in the trough and drink, and when they lift their heads the water just runs out the mesh side. The problem is when they are finished drinking they leave to resume grazing so you need to be standing their ready to remove the feedbags when they are done, otherwise you are chasing them down through the pasture. I usually feed two pastures with neighboring gates at a time.

Well, I've already typed multiple paragraphs and I haven't even gotten through breakfast yet. It is amazing how easy it is to talk on and on about yourself, good thing I have my own blog! To be continued . . .

Welcome 2009!

It is hard to believe I'm writing my first post of 2009. Time really does fly when you are having fun. First I would like to thank everyone who sent me the wonderful Christmas cards with all of your lovely notes inside them. I feel terrible that I did not send out cards this year. I like to send out cards each year as a way of saying thank you for my wonderful life. Things were simply so busy around the farm in the last three months or so that I never had time to even think about Christmas cards. I feel much better now that I have gotten that off my chest!

As I reflect on 2008 there are so many wonderful memories. As with any year there are a few you would like to forget. We had to say goodbye to two residents in 2008. In the spring we had to let go of Magick, a beautiful gray arabian gelding. Magick had a nice life and lived well into his late 20's. We had to let him go when what appeared to be colic actually turned out that his intestines were being squeezed shut by a tumor that had wrapped around them. At his advanced age surgery was not a kind option for him so I held him in my arms as we let him go. Then in July we lost Mable, the sweetest, gentlest chestnut mare who had such a sad story but ended up having a wonderful last 10 years thanks to her owner/rescuer Miranda.

2008 was also full of a lot of wonderful memories. We had many new residents join us on the farm. Nothing is more fun than a new horse to play with and we had the pleasure of adding several new horses to our lives this year! Believe me I KNOW how blessed I am to combine my passion and my work and to be with the horses every day. All of you who read that sentence with envy, I'm not trying to rub it in but doing something you truly enjoy every day is a blessing. In my former life I owned a very successful corporate recruiting company. I learned for myself that money and success don't equal happiness. I'm not saying I don't miss driving my BMW some days as I am tooling around in a diesel truck but all in all I can't imagine going back to my former life.

Now that I am finished waxing philosophical I will finish up by saying that I started out 2009 in the best possible way. I RODE ONE OF MY HORSES!! I am too lazy to dig up the post where I mentioned the trailer incident I was involved in with Bonnie and Lexi over five months ago. After being out of the saddle due to the retirement of my mare for a few years nothing was more frustrating than being out of the saddle AGAIN thanks to a stupid driver. I am happy to say that as of this moment Bonnie and Lexi are both back in work. Bonnie has been back in work for a few weeks with my trainer as I've been to busy to think about riding. I've been doing some groundwork this week and very light longing with Lexi to evaluate her soundness and finally was convinced after a few days that she really was fine. I decided to get on today and she was an absolute star. I could not believe she was a 4 year old that hadn't been ridden in 5 months. I was only on her a few minutes and we walked with a couple of laps of trot around the arena but she felt fantastic and remembered what we had been working on before our unplanned vacation. For an extremely green four year old to be like that I was a very proud and happy mom if you hadn't already determined that for yourself.

I will wrap this post up with some pictures. The pictures are all from 2008 in late October. If you hang in there with me you'll probably see some pictures taken in 2009 in . . . June?? Nah, I'll throw a few 2009 pictures in for teasers before then.

Ogie, Sebastian and Faune - do you think they might have rolled in the mud? Trillion and Faune There was just a lot going on in this picture. Trillion is sticking out his tongue and Faune has his head over Sebastian

Faune and Sebastian grooming each other

Trillion and Sebastian

The goats wandering in one of the horses pastures

Trillion, Sebastian and Ogie

Some of the chicks I rescued (part I and part II) and their ungrateful mother

Leo, Homer and Apollo

Chance

Apollo, Ivan and Elfin

Asterik

Trillion and Asterik taking a drink while Poco watches from the other side of the fence

Sparky

Teddy, Buffy and Harmony

Spread out and peacefully grazing

Chance and Homer

Buffy

Teddy and Harmony