Welcome Cuff Links and Happy Birthday!!

I just edited my post as I learned some vital information a minute ago - April 1st is Cuffie's birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY CUFFIE - your present is joining us for retirement!!!

As I mentioned in my last post we recently had a new arrival join us for retirement. Cuff Links joined us this past Friday after travelling from California, delivered by Hubbard Horse Transportation. Every retiree we have here from the west coast has travelled to us via Hubbard and we've yet to have anything but a good experience. "Cuffie" walked off the trailer alert and happy and immediately drug me over to the grass and started grazing. That has pretty much been his main desire since arrival, he is a lawn mower extraordinaire!

Does it get any cuter than this??

I keep telling Cuffie that he will like us a lot better in a couple of weeks. Although he is used to several hours of turnout each day he did not have access to any grass at his last boarding facility. Much to Cuffie's chagrin we only allowed him 10 minutes of grazing Friday evening, 10 minutes on Saturday, and then we have added 10 minutes each day since then. Today Cuffie got to graze for 40 whole minutes and I don't think he lifted his head the entire time! He does get out for a couple of hand walks every day and some extra turnout time in my arena, but he has made it clear that since grazing is now an option in his life again it is the only turnout time that really counts!

Cuffie in his favorite position - head down and grazing; he came to the right place for that!

Cuffie looking around at his new digs; he seems pretty pleased with them so far.

stretching his legs

When I originally started talking with Cuffie's owners a few months ago I asked them if by chance he was a gray and did he used to show on the East coast? Because if that was the case I had seen him in person several years ago at the shows. As it turned out it is indeed the same Cuff Links who used to show on the East coast. I remember Cuffie as a dark, dappled gray but he has become a beautiful snowy white as he has aged. Cuffie is in his late teens and unfortunately is no longer comfortable when working due to arthritis.

Cuffie and his young rider all decked out; I would guess they were getting ready for an equitation class since he has his boots on.

Cuffie can officially say that he has shown coast to coast and won everywhere. Cuffie is a medium pony hunter and has won and been champion in every division he has shown in against the best of company. He was a winner in the medium green pony hunters, the regular medium pony hunters, short stirrup, children's pony hunters, pony equitation, walk trot - his list of winnings is lengthy!

Cuffie and his young rider in the short stirrup division

Cuffie is well loved by the family who has owned him for the last few years. He has taken great care of both of their daughters. Unfortunately his time with their youngest daughter was cut short due to his retirement. Luckily for Cuffie they all want the best for him, and instead of pushing him anymore and trying to keep him going they decided to give him the retirement he has earned. On top of that they chose to ship him to our farm where he could enjoy life in big, grass pastures and let him return to the grazing that he loves so much. They definitely made the right decision in that regard, like I mentioned Cuffie is a VERY dedicated grazer! I expect that he will eventually lift his head from grazing after he gets to be out in a grass paddock for longer periods of time. We will be using the next month to continue to slowly re-introduce his digestive tract to grass.

Cuffie and his rider both look very focused (and oh so CUTE) in this picture

We have all thoroughly enjoyed our first few days getting to know Cuffie. Sometimes I have to remind myself that this is actually my job, not just what I want to do because it is fun every day. Taking care of a pony as sweet and cute as Cuffie is simply a very easy way to pass the time! It is ok to admit that you are jealous. I will admit that I have been gloating ever since he arrived. Hey, all of us horse crazy girls all dreamed of having the cutest pony around to call our very own. Well I can't officially call him mine but he does live with me now! My own childhood pony Daisy was an amazing pony and loved dearly by not only me but my entire family until the day she passed away. I have to admit though that Cuffie wins the cute contest. He also came complete with his very own purple Rambo Wug blanket. The cute factor is downright painful!

It has been my pleasure to introduce Cuff Links and to welcome him to our farm. We have a few more future residents waiting in the "queue" to join us for retirement. I'm looking forward to meeting each one of them in the upcoming weeks and months. What a great life!

Interesting Weekend

The weekend could not have had a better start. We greeted a new arrival on Friday evening! he arrived at about 8:15 pm from California. He made the trip from the West Coast to enjoy a first class retirement with us. Since I don't have time to type out a proper introduction with this post I will leave you with a starter picture below.

Our latest arrival to join us for retirement

Saturday was another beautiful day, low 70's and sunny. I had a nice ride on Lexi, Jason played with Mina and Jo outside and my dad busied himself mowing the grass up and down the loooong driveway. I must admit I don't understand why he mows since he pays a lawn service but I guess he has his reasons.

I was feeding the horses dinner on Saturday afternoon enjoying the day when I heard a rumble of thunder in the distance. Our weather report kept saying we were supposed to have thunderstorms all day on Saturday but it thankfully didn't work out that way. It did start to sprinkle as I made my way over to the last horses to feed them dinner. While they were taking their time eating it turned into a steady but fairly light rain for about fifteen minutes. I looked up to the sky and saw the most beautiful rainbow over the farm. It was awesome with vibrant colors and the full arch. I had left my camera in the feed shed so I couldn't take a picture right away. By the time I got a picture the rain was gone and the rainbow was also almost gone.

I wish I could have taken this picture about ten minutes earlier. The rainbow was fading away rapidly by the time I got back to where my camera was.

I was a little soggy as I walked back to the house after being caught out in the rain while waiting for the last of the horses to finish eating. I didn't really care about getting wet since I knew I was heading straight inside to take a shower anyway. So instead of complaining about being caught in the the rain I embraced my inner tree hugger and just enjoyed the warm rain as I stood out in it.

As I walked my wet self into the house Jason had the television on. This is notable since we literally go weeks at a time without turning on our tv. I wonder why I bother every month as I pay our Dish Network bill! Apparently there was a line of strong thunderstorms heading our way. Maybe the weather forecasters hadn't been completely wrong after all.

I headed to the shower and as I got out Jason said that the line of storms would hit us any minute. And boy did the hit us a few minutes later. We were pelted with over two inches of rain in less than thirty minutes! At one point it was raining so hard I could barely see the barn, which is next door to my house, out the windows.

The funniest part was right after Jason said the storms would be here any minute we heard a noise and looked out the window. It was my dad driving past on the lawn mower to put it away. He put the lawn mower away and started driving his Gator back to his house (fully loaded with dogs of course) right when the rain hit. So my dad and the dogs drove up the driveway to their house in torrential rain. As I understand it Bugle, who always rides on the passenger seat of the Gator, was not happy.

Then, as quickly as the rain started, it stopped. I don't think I ever heard even a rumble of thunder, just torrential rain. Jason and I went outside to see how things looked. We literally had a river running through our front yard. As we strolled around the farm we saw various low lying areas in the fields with some standing water in them. What shocked both of us was that behind my arena there was a little pond with inches of water. I've never seen that before. The horses in that field thought it was cool. They had plenty of areas that didn't have any standing water in them (as in most of their 23 acre pasture) but where were they? In the new "pond" slapping the water with their front hooves and having a great time.

I was surprised that by this morning basically all of the standing water was gone. The "pond" you see in the pictures below was pretty well completely gone in a few hours. This morning with the exception of the paths where you can obviously see where the water flowed leaving lots of dead leaves and such behind you can't really tell that we had a huge amount of rain in such a short time. I was expecting a muddy, soggy mess for the next few days. I was pleasantly surprised! I guess it helps a lot that the grass is growing now and taking up a lot of the water. The only reminder of the rain was the much cooler temperatures that came behind it a few hours later. Our high was only 50 today. Thankfully we're back to more pleasant temperatures tomorrow!

One of our new "rivers" flowing around my arena and feeding into the new "pond"

The horses couldn't resist playing in the water
Amazingly all of this water was gone in a few hours; you can't even tell today that we had these "rivers" and "ponds"

Pictures + Status Change

We had a big event today! Jason received his U.S. Citizenship today and we attended his citizenship ceremony. For those of you who don't already know this Jason is a Canadian citizen, but as of today he is a citizen of most of North America. Lucky guy! We celebrated by coming home and putting Mina and Jo out in their paddock to play and graze for a couple of hours. We were laughing that his first official act as a U.S. Citizen was taking his goats outside to play! Bear is also a citizen of most of North America since he was actually born in Ontario as well before moving to Tennessee at the tender age of six weeks. So I now live with a husband and a dog with dual citizenships. I feel left out!

We will have another busy Friday on the retirement farm tomorrow. Our wonderful farrier Gwen will be here for several hours tomorrow. We also have a new resident arriving for retirement tomorrow as well. And of course we will continue to work away with shedding tools in hand on all of the horses. It rained yesterday and last night and there is nothing like a good rain to help loosen up a lot of hair! I was yet again covered in horse hair and dirt this afternoon as I used my repertoire of shedding tools on several horses. The hair was just coming off of them in sheets after the rain. A few more weeks of eating horse hair and we'll have everyone sporting their slick summer coats. Some of the horses are almost there while others still look like hairy yaks in spite of the fact that we've curried them within an inch of their lives!

Now on to some pictures. These pictures were all taken in late November and early December. It is a lot easier to look at these pictures of horses in blankets and dormant grass when the temperatures are back in the 70's and the grass is green and growing again!

Gwen working away on Faune while Sparky watches and waits for his turn. Sparky adores Gwen, she is one of his most favorite people on the planet.

Sparky and Faune then moved in for a kiss

Trillion doing his dead horse imitation (I thought it was real one time) while Sebastian naps along with him. Asterik is standing watch behind them.

From back to front: Elfin, Leo, Ivan, Chance, Tony

Ogie and Asterik enjoying a nap together

Levendi napping; napping seems to have been a theme during the time frame in which I took these pictures!

Poco with his mane going everywhere. I remember taking this picture because we were having our own version of a "mexican standoff." He had to have Liver Kl'een every morning for five months and it was a rodeo every day to accomplish that task.

"What does a horse have to do in order to get breakfast around here????" L-R Trillion, Sebastian, Asterik, Faune, Ogie

Bella

Harmony napping

Grazing; L-R Elfin, Homer, Levendi, Tony

Ivan looking over the fence

Leo and Levendi

Buffy, Harmony, Missy and Teddy

Another Day In Pictures And Video

Below are some scenes from around the retirement farm on Tuesday. It was another beautiful day, sunny and 77 for the high. The horses were relaxed, the goats were playful and the people were happy. We also have a new resident who was picked up by the shipper toay and is officially en route to join us for retirement. Who doesn't love knowing that you have a new horse on the way??!!

When I watch this video and look at the pictures I am reminded again at how lucky I am to do what I do every day. I realize not everyone would want to spend their days outside in all types of weather with a farm full of horses and other assorted critters but I can't think of a better way to spend my days. Enjoy these scenes from around the farm.

Billy and Bubba doing their goat things. First we play a bit and crack our horns together, then Bubba bashes his head into their house a few times. This is the reason Jason and I have been working on rebuilding their house as they've systematically destroyed it over the years. We've pulled out the old floor and rebuilt a new one and now we just need to finish rebuilding the one side. The things we do for our stray goats . . .

Mina and Jo had fun outside today. Jo on top of the bucket.Jason propped up a couple of boards we had out there for rebuilding the goat house and made them a little ramp to play on. This is Mina playing on the ramp while Jo watches. Two little fainting goats running as hard as they can. I like Jo's "aerodynamic" look with the ears all the way back.Jason petting his girls while they play on the tree stump L-R Lucky, Snappy, Clay and Silky (aka Slinky)Dustin grazing quietlyLevendi goes after an itchy spot Tony coming eagerly to eat dinner with the breeze giving his mane a lift.

Working and Resting

The people on the farm worked very hard this weekend. On the other hand the horses mostly seemed to be lounging around while watching our frenzy of activity. Jason pretty much lived on the tractor Friday through Sunday. I think it would be appropriate to say that his back is killing him! He fertilized, did weed control, re-seeded with grass seed, and harrowed everywhere again. He basically covered the farm four times in three days.

Jason on the tractor

I was of course opening and closing gates and doing all of the regular daily farm things. I think I could walk around and open and close gates without opening my eyes today. The horses apparently found none of this of particular interest and I had ample opportunity to take pictures of horses napping and rolling.

We hardly took a break and Jason and I shared a very romantic lunch sitting on the tailgate of the Kubota utility vehicle out in one of the pastures. He had a brief reprieve from the cab of the tractor for a few minutes to eat lunch.

Finally on Sunday afternoon Jason finished his last pass on the pastures with the tractor. We were congratulating ourselves (mostly Jason really) for accomplishing an amazing amount of work over three days. All that was left to do was unhook the last piece of equipment and put away the tractor. We would be done in ten minutes - YAY!!! But then the pin wouldn't come out of the hitch. No problem, we'll just grab a hammer and give it a tap and it will pop right out.

Well it didn't. So Jason went and got the sledge hammer. We pounded on this pin from the bottom. It didn't move. It didn't move because it was bent, which sometimes happens as you pull equipment across a farm. Do you have any idea how awkward it is to swing a 16 pound sledge hammer UP and not down?? I do. We moved on to trying some big crow barns wedged under the top of the pin while pounding with the sledge hammer. We tried putting a jack under the pin and just forcing it up and out with the jack. All we did was lift the tractor up!

Three different sized pry bars, the sledge hammer, the jack . . . none of it was successful in getting the bent pin out

After almost an HOUR Jason couldn't take it any more and we weren't getting this bent pin out. So Jason went in the workshop and came back with a grinder. He said he was going to force it to be a cutting tool and cut this iron pin in half. It wasn't pretty and that poor grinder was smoking and sparks were flying everywhere. He finally managed to cut the pin in half, we popped out both ends and at last we were done.

Sparks starting to fly as Jason ran out of patience and just cut the pin in half. My camera battery died as I took this picture. The wall of sparks ended up being well above Jason's head before his mission was accomplished!

Unfortunately for Jason the torture didn't end though. I had gotten us tickets to see the Vienna Boys Choir at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville on Sunday evening. He was unable to come up with some kind of witness relocation program or to fake illness so he had to go. He didn't enjoy most of the first half where they sang classical music only and sang in all foreign languages, a lot of it in Latin. He really enjoyed the second half though when they performed some classic Austrian songs including some with yodeling, polka dances and other fun things as well as other pieces from around the world. I guess I will be expected to sit through a performance of the Grand Ole Opry as payback. Ugh.

Every day new signs of spring; this tree is close to leafing out

Chance relaxing

Harmony napping

Harmony then moved on into full sleep/dead horse position

Ogie napping with Henry behind him

Lexi rolling

Let The Fur Fly

The fur is flying everywhere these days as we enter shedding season. I walk around with horse hair on my clothes, in my hair, in my teeth (I really hate that part!), just everywhere! Amy and I each give a good currying to five or six horses per day and we've curried every horse on the farm twice this week. Both of us feel like our arms are going to fall off!

Even Mina and Jo are shedding! I am wondering if they are shedding their baby coats like horses do. Here is Jo on their "castle" Jason put in the stall for them - an upside down little water trough. They go outside for playtime every day but we don't want them to be bored in their stall. They are just 90 days old.

Mina sleeping on the chair

It is always interesting to me the differences in shedding from horse to horse. Some of them you can give them a couple of good curries and they are done. Others seem to let go just a little bit at a time. You can only curry off so much hair from them in a session. Others it seems like you could curry them 24/7 forever and the hair will just keep pouring off of them as you wonder if it will ever end. Some of the horses I can tell we've really made a dent in their shedding already especially on their necks, others looked like we hadn't done a thing even after we'd really worked hard.

On Wednesday morning we were working our way through currying the big boys. Apollo is 18.1 hands and he has a massive winter coat that he is starting to shed. Amy tackled him and I thought I was going to have to administer CPR to her after she was done - there is a lot of horse to curry with Apollo! He was one of the ones that looked like you hadn't done a thing after twenty minutes of effort even though the hair just poured off of him.

Leo was next and he really enjoyed his time. Leo was one that especially on his neck you could already start to see glimpses of a slick, shiny coat. Apollo and Leo wandered off over by their run-in shed after they were done. The funny part was that after Ivan, Tony and Elfin were curried they would wander a few strides off and then lay down in the sun. First Elfin, then Ivan, and finally Tony completed the napping triumvirate. I don't know if the vigorous currying really relaxed them, if they were just enjoying the gorgeous day we were having (70 and sunny - perfect) or what the trigger was. At one point they were all three doing their best "dead horse" impression. So we were laughing that we had caused death via the curry comb.

L-R Ivan, Tony and Elfin giving us his dead horse impersonation

I woke Elfin up when I took the first picture; here he looks a bit groggy and has his drooping lower lip. On another note why do they always have to get dirty as soon as you finish cleaning them up??

Tony doing his dead horse impression

And of course Ivan was not to be out done; here he is with his dead horse impersonation

I think I have every shedding tool under the sun. I have shedding blades including the double blade ones, I have a furminator, regular curry combs, curry mitts and also the epona shedding flowers. I had never used the shedding flowers before and was complaining one day to Amy that I dreaded shedding season because holding the shedding blade for hours always left blisters on my hand. She raved about the epona shedding flowers and that she liked them so much because they were easy to hold and didn't cause blisters or your fingers to fatigue. So I bought a bunch of those this year as well.

Chance happily relaxing while Amy works on him with the epona shedding flower

My only complaint about the shedding flowers is that your fingers and fingernails are right there getting all of the dirt and grime in them when you first start if the horse is really dirty. So if they are really dirty I go over them once with the shedding blade to knock off the dirt and then I work away with the shedding flower. In my opinion Amy was right, they work great and you don't get blisters and your fingers don't get so worn out! I like my furminator but I have to be careful with it, you can really pull out to much hair with those things and the directions tell you not to make more than two passes over the same area in a single session. We mostly use the furminator on Bear these days. Jason accidentally gave Bear a tiny bald spot with the furminator once - he felt really bad! So what are your favorite shedding tools and grooming routine for shedding?

Some of the trees are starting to leaf out as well. The pear trees have bloomed and in fact are already starting to lose the bloom and go to leaf. The grass is greener and taller every day. And of course the fur is flying everywhere. Spring is officially here!

The pear trees in front of my parents' house; one of them is already starting to leaf out
Leaves are starting to slowly make an appearance on some of the trees. We'll get to watch all of the trees slowly leaf out over a few weeks. When Jason and I lived in New England I remember being amazed at how fast everything happened. One day it was winter and then ten days later the grass was green and all of the trees were leafed out!

Meet O'Reilly

Mister O'Reilly was born in Ireland in 1992 and is an Irish Sport Horse gelding. When he was four years old, a friend of his current owners saw him in a field in Ireland, fell in love with his adorable little ears and starburst tail and bought him on the spot and brought him over to London. His mom's family was living in London in the late 90's and his mom was just about at the point of moving up to a horse from a pony.

Amazing how the little things in life can really set you on your path; here are the ears that started it all for O'Reilly.

I would love this picture if it weren't for the shadows; you can still see the adorable ears though!

O'Reilly has the ultimate tail for playing Barbie Dream Horse. This picture does not do his tail justice at all. It is so thick he has enough tail hair for five horses! I've seen lots of amazing horse tails but O'Reilly wins the tail award, hands down.

She met Mr. O at this friend's barn (the one who plucked him out of the field in Ireland because of his ears and tail) outside of London and fell in love with him. He had been in formal training for over a year and was ready to start in a program with someone so he became a part of her family. His mom told me that O'Reilly loved London. He was stabled in Richmond Park and was able to go out on trail rides in the beautiful park every week after equitation training. Apparently in his young days he was quite the firecracker and took to galloping off with his mom in the park and giving tourists quite a show!

O'Reilly still has plenty of his firecracker attitude. Here he shows off a nice leap in the air as he plays in the melting snow. That is Traveller rolling behind him.

O'Reilly running through the field with Traveller. Look at that tail flowing behind him!

When the family moved back to the States, of course Mr. O came as well. At this point O'Reilly and his mom started doing the Hunter divisions together. She told me that one day she was sitting on a tightly braided and shining O'Reilly at a Culpepper Horse Show. As O'Reilly fell asleep with his chin on her dad's shoulder, her dad looked at the jumper ring and said to her, "you would never do that." She turned to him and said, "I'll bet you a puppy that I most certainly would do that and get around clear." He said, "prove it," and she marched right over to add her name to the order-of-go.

Three bays; L-R Bridget, Lexi and O'Reilly. Of course Bridget and Lexi are mother and daughter but from this picture you might think they were all three related.

Poor Mister O'Reilly did not know what had hit him! But they marched into that ring, saluted the judge, and completed their first jumper course... clear! She said her horse immediately became known as "Saint O'Reilly." Thanks to their "proving it" with a clear round they also added a very naughty Jack Russell puppy to the family! After that day, the jumper bug had bitten her, and she and O'Reilly were off on their next set of adventures.

Poco, Sparky and O'Reilly hanging out in January

Mister O, as he was known in Florida, really seemed to take to the jumpers as well. They competed in Wellington for two winters. They also competed all up and down the East Coast and O'Reilly never missed a beat, always brought home a ribbon, and according to his mom had the time of his life doing so.

O'Reilly over the fence

Throughout the years O'Reilly has been through many variations of his name since he joined his family. During his firecracker days in the park in London, he was "Oh, really, O'Reilly;" after the first jumper course at Culpepper he became Saint O'Reilly; and, during his winning days in Florida, he was known as Mr. O.

Taking a nap to ring in the new year; maybe he partied too hard overnight!

When his mom moved up to the big jumper divisions and beyond O'Reilly's scope he then became her little sister's first horse and took her up the ranks for a couple of years as well. He has been out of work for a couple of years due to a persistent soft tissue injury, and the decision was made to officially retire him last fall. So O'Reilly was off to his next adventure, joining us in retirement at Paradigm Farms!

O'Reilly setting off on his early morning adventure . . . coming for breakfast! I just thought he made a pretty silhouette as the sun was coming up.

Weekend Report + Pictures

It was a pretty quiet weekend around here. Friday was a busy day as our wonderful farrier Gwen was here. We had a break from the rain on Friday which was I very much appreciated since farrier days mean I hike all over 100+ acres bringing horses in and out of the barn for their pedicures. Our goal is to have at least half the horses on the list already in the barn waiting before Gwen arrives at 9:30am. That doesn't sound too hard except that means we've got to have everyone fed, water troughs attended too, stalls done, blankets arranged if we are in blanket season, etc. before we start getting ready for pedicure appointments.

The rain moved back in Friday evening. And it rained, and rained, and rained and . . . you get the idea! The only redeeming thing I could think of as I schlepped around in the rain for hours on Saturday was growing season is here and I was almost watching the grass grow before my eyes thanks to all of that rain. The horses have almost completely stopped eating the hay we put out for them. Every now and then they wander over to the feeders and eat for awhile but they are spending far more time grazing these days. We'll keep putting hay out for another couple of weeks just to make us feel good about ourselves for doing it (and then frustrated watching the horses ignore it and waste it) before not bothering with any more hay in the pastures until late November or early December.

Sunday was a much nicer day with no rain. It was about sixty degrees and very humid thanks to all of the rain. Tomorrow is mid-60's and then back in the 70's on Tuesday. The last few days were hard to take after being in the mid 70's for awhile. We spent a couple of hours working on a retrofit for the goat condo in anticipation of the day when Mina and Jo (see their video in this post) permanently move outside. For now they still live in a stall and we take them out in the goat/quarantine paddock for playtime each day. At 90 days old they are still just babies and not big enough to be outside all the time yet, even with a nice goat house. Jason and I went to Target Friday evening and bought a couple of balls for them to play with. They are smaller than beach balls but still a decent size so they will roll easily. The cashier asked us if we were planning a big game of dodge ball and Jason and I were sheepishly mumbling that they were actually for our pet fainting goats. We lead a rather dull existence really . . .

On to the pictures. These are all from late November.

Bear sleeping on the couch with Jason

I think Bear looks like some kind of crazy bat-like animal in this picture
Jason always seems to find a hard way to do things; here he is putting up our Christmas tree. We broke down and bought a fake tree last year. I was tired of the cat puking up pine needles every year.

Snappy grazing; I need to write a post about him sometime as he has travelled the world and been quite the competitor in his day

Something had Baby's attention but since this picture is from November I can't remember what it was!

Lucky, Chili, Baby and Snappy Clay, Chili and Snappy

Homer

In the front we have Leo and Ivan; in the back Chance, Elfin and Homer. I can identify them by their blankets!

Tony says "Dear God I have been sent to the Twilight Zone, what IS this thing??"

Leo loves to pose

Lucky rolling

Asterik grazing

Harmony, Teddy and Buffy

Faune happily grazing

Elfin

Apollo and Homer

I Guess I Have Become A Wimp

I was supposed to take Lexi foxhunting on Saturday morning. I was just going to go third flight (non jumping flight). She's only been back in work since January and has left my farm a grand total of three times in her life, with the last time being in August 08 when we had our trailer incident. I thought I might have my hands a bit full but still thought it would be fun. I'm not crazy (I'm just a little unwell) as riding a completely green horse that's never really been anywhere or seen anything with a pack of hounds and bunches of strange horses galloping around us is not what caused me to be a wimp. Take green horse off the farm for this first time in seven months after only being back in work since January, check. Take green horse to a foxhunt for her first real outing, check. Spend a few hours outside when it is 50 degrees and raining riding green horse at the fox hunt - no check.

To say that I have complained about our weather yesterday and today would be an understatement. We went from anywhere in the mid 70's to low 80's to a high today of about 39 and rain. Tomorrow will be mid to upper 40's and rain. Saturday is supposed to be low 50's and rain. The horses are all back in their waterproof blankies. So call me a wimp because I just have no desire to spend a few hours outside when it is 50 degrees and raining. I was so excited about going but have lost all desire to go due to the weather. I have honestly never considered myself a fair weather rider but maybe that has changed. There is a schooling show on Saturday as well that I might take her to instead. Not to ride in any classes but just to hack around and school in a strange place with strange horses. I can go, ride around for 30-45 minutes and have the experience, and then load the horse in the dry trailer and myself in the dry truck and go home.

Now it is time for me to say something positive in this post. Hmmmmm, let me think about it. By Monday the weather is supposed to be really nice again, back in the 60's, so all of the horses will be back out of their blankets as of Monday morning. We have a new resident coming next week. He's been scheduled to come for awhile it has just been a matter of getting the shipping worked out and everything in order. Nothing is more fun than a new horse to play with. I can't wait to post pictures of him - he is soooooooo cute! I vacuumed up all of the ladybugs that were around this one window in my house with the Animal. I ended the ladybug invasion that we suddenly appeared to be having. Amy and I did a major spring cleaning on the office in the barn. Now I get cranky whenever anyone goes in there. I start shrieking about not getting it dirty again. We cleaned the bathroom, the sink, the window sills, even wiped down the blades on the ceiling fan, and swept and mopped the floor. It did make my inner neat freak very happy I have to say.

See, I had more positive things to say than I thought! I'll leave this with a few pictures. These are all from mid to late November. I slowly creep my way towards 2009 with the pictures!

Three lazy dogs. L-R Bear, Trooper and Bush

Close-up of BearCloudy in front of the barn
Buster in the back with his mom Beulah in the front. Notice all of the gray on her face. That is because she is at least 17 years old and maybe older. She is one of our retired/pet cows.

Tony on the run; too bad I took this facing into the direct sun as it would have been a nice picture

Ivan in his cute plaid blanket

Apollo in mid yawn

Harmony, Teddy and Buffy

Sebastian was looking at something

Leo enjoying a nice pile of hay

Elfin and Homer sharing a hay pile (we also celebrated Elfin's birthday)

A Day in Video and Pictures

We had another lovely day here today, it was sunny and about 80 degrees. I am watching the grass greening up and growing before my eyes. The pear trees have bloomed as well. Unfortunately I keep forgetting to take a picture of them.

The horses, donkey, goats, dogs, cats, chickens and all of the various assorted residents here have been thoroughly enjoying the lovely weather. I have been grouchy this evening as there is a front with rain coming through that will drop us back down into the 50's for the next several days before we warm up again. However today was gorgeous and everyone was enjoying the weather. I enjoyed all of the sights that ranged from peaceful grazing to joyous galloping and lazy dogs enjoying the sunshine. I managed to capture some of the sights in pictures and video and I hope you enoy them as much as I did.

Bush enjoyed a nice nap in the sunshine

Then he had a nice roll in the grass upon waking. Not a bad way to spend the day!

Trooper the three-legged wonder was out cold, sleeping hard. I walked all around him taking his picture and he never even opened his eyes.

Coming for breakfast. Things started quietly enough but then came the full gallop. I don't know if I am just stupid or what since I stood there videoing them as they stampeded right at me!

Missy, Harmony, Buffy and Teddy grazed quietly. Apollo is rolling on the other side of the fence.

Snappy and Lucky grazing with Sebastian in the background

Chili, Clay and Lightening grazing
Henry, Ogie and Sebastian
Asterik

The Weekend Report

We had another lovely weekend this weekend. The weather was wonderful all weekend. Friday the temperatures were in the high 60's and Saturday and Sunday brought us temperatures in the low to mid 70's. My only complaint was that it was bit windy on Sunday but really there wasn't much to complain about. The horses were all loving the weather as were the chickens, goats, dogs and basically every animal on the farm.

We spent a lot of time with Mina and Jo this weekend. Although Jason complained at first about adding two more "dependents" and mouths to feed, he is pretty taken with the Mina and Jo now. He is like an over-protective parent hovering around them! This weekend we took Mina and Jo out into the goat pen a few times for play time. They were so cute as they ran around exploring everything. By far their favorite activity was climbing on the tree stump left over courtesy of our other goats, Billy and Bubba (please let me insert this reminder that my dad is the responsible party for those names!).

In addition to playing with the goats I had some nice rides on Lexi as well. Otherwise it was pretty quiet weekend and we did our usual things like feeding, filling hay feeders, scrubbing water troughs and grooming horses. Our one weekend "we are so stupid" moment came when we went out to eat Saturday evening. As a thank you for helping him film his video about feeding horses Jason's friend Charlie had sent us a gift certificate to Stoney River Steakhouse. We had a nice meal but felt like idiots when we realized we had forgotten the gift card! So I guess we will be having yet another meal at Stoney River Steakhouse - duh!. All in all a quiet and laid back weekend, just the way we like them!

Video of Jo and Mina romping outside on Saturday

Mina on the tree stump

Jo and Mina on the run
Daddy standing over Jo and Mina being protective

Jo investigating the tree stump

Jo again

Mina was "in the house!"

Playing on the tree stump

Bear is still insanely jealous of Jo and Mina. He was always close by this weekend. Here he is sitting in the alley between two pastures while I was feeding horses.

Bear on the move this weekend

Tony smiling for the camera; he loved the weather this weekend

Homer; Homer was groomed by Amy on Friday and he is shedding like mad
Dustin smiling over the fence; Dustin was also groomed over the weekend. He never had much of a winter coat at all so shedding him out will be easy.

SWAT Team

The morning started off in a very typical fashion this morning. I did the barn chores and fed the first couple of pastures and it was just a typical morning on the retirement farm. As I was walking through one of the pastures to continue feeding breakfast I noticed the horses in the field and the other fields I could see were on high alert. Like seriously high alert. I saw a lot of horses standing like statues with heads raised, ears pricked, and tails flagged. Then they would prance around for a minute before striking the pose again.

Henry strikes the pose I kept seeing as I walked through one of the pastures

I could not figure out what had their attention. Then I heard all sorts of screaming and yelling coming from the old farm house. There is an old house in one of the cattle pastures on the property that was in a serious state of disrepair when my parents bought the land many years ago. Its state has not improved over time! I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket to call my parents' house and ask them if they new what in the world was going on and if not that we had a big problem. Then I happened to glance down towards the road and caught site of a police squad car and a van parked in one of the farm entrances.

Not an everyday site to see this parked in your driveway

Just as I noticed the squad car and the van then I saw a bunch of guys in full SWAT gear coming out of the house. I returned my cell phone to my pocket as I knew what was going on at that point. The SWAT team was practicing hostage rescue, high risk entrances, and all of the other dangerous and scary things that SWAT teams do. My dad founded and chairs a law enforcement non-profit foundation to support the local law enforcement agencies and a couple of times a year the SWAT team practices out at the farm. Jason and I have even been "hostages" and been rescued. In past practices our barn has been stormed by team members, the entire farm has been staked out, and the old house is used as well. They can storm around in the old house and not have to worry about breaking things, getting anything dirty, etc.

Trust me, even when they are just practicing you truly understand that you don't want to mess with these guys! The horses seemed to pick up on that and were riveted by the sounds and the occasional sites of the team in their gear. The horses certainly never find me that interesting - I hardly warrant a casual lift of the head.

My only complaint was that it would be nice if someone would bother to mention to me that the SWAT team was going to be out practicing. It is a bit startling for a second or two when you hear screaming, yelling, and gunfire before you put two and two together and realize what is going on!

Bush staring at the house wondering why there are so many people in there yelling. He wasn't brave enough to actually go over there and found out what was going on! It took forever for me to finish feeding everyone. Usually once they have their feedbags on they just put their heads down and eat quietly. But not today. They would put their heads down and take a bite and then the head went back up and they stared at the old house. Whenever the guys would emerge from the house that really fascinated them, even more than any of the noises. They would even stop chewing and just stare at them so intently. I guess it isn't everyday that they see guys dressed up in camo, face shields and body armour so I can see why they were so interested in the activities!

This was why it took forever for everyone to eat! Tony was doing the statue thing in this picture and not even chewing.

Just as I finally finished feeding everyone the team packed up all of their stuff and left. The horses seemed a little bit disappointed that the action had ended. They went back to grazing and eating hay, but I would see them lifting their heads hopefully and staring at the house as if they were willing the excitement to come back.


I'm sure the horses feel safer knowing they are "in" with the local law enforcement. Instead of going to horse shows or hitting the trails we entertain the horses with things like SWAT team practices. Instead of taking them to the action we bring the action to them. Just another day on the retirement farm!

Buffy was one of the horses most fascinated by the action. I don't think she ever stopped watching.

Levendi wondering what the heck is going on
Buffy and Teddy staring at the house

L-R Leo, Apollo and Homer watch intently

This picture has nothing to do with this post. The daffodils bloomed last week and I happened to take a picture of them today. These are by the old farm house. Spring is in the air!

Pictures

I'm sure there is no need for me to mention that I am way behind on sharing pictures! All of these pictures are from November.

Jason and I just finished finalizing all of our 2008 information as we are meeting with our CPA tomorrow. Nothing puts me in a grouchier mood than dealing with taxes. So to cheer myself up I thought I would go through some pictures and post them.

Levendi wanted to make sure I got a nice close-up picture of him

Two gray mares, Harmony and Buffy
Chili, Lightening, Lucky and Clay had somewhere to go

Buster and Apple relaxing on a nice fall day

Bella the dog with Cloudy the cat rolling around in the background

Sebastian, Asterik and Trillion

Fall color

Fence repair - the never ending job when you have miles of wood fence; I'm sure you noticed that Jason is using MY "toy" chainsaw!

Bear checking out the chainsaw

Bear and Jason loading up the Kubota after completing some fence repairs; Bear loves to ride in the Kubota

Trillion, Faune, Asterik and Ogie hanging out

Trooper, our amazing 3-legged lab mix

Ivan snacking with Chance in the background

Levendi grazing with a rooster for company

Sebastian

Asterik

Apollo

Homer and Elfin

Leo rolling

Leo always has the cutest look on his face when he pops up after rolling

Harmony and Teddy

The Weekend Update

Just as it did a few weekends ago this weekend got off to an auspicious start. On Friday morning my horse Lexi decided to put herself in the running for a Darwin award. Not five minutes after Amy and I had left her pasture after feeding and putting on rainsheets my Dad calls me to say there is a horse tangled up in the fence and to come fast. He also said to bring my chainsaw. GULP. OK, I don't know what else he could have said to make me panic because that certainly did! I ran to the barn, grabbing my chainsaw and other tools and jumped in the trusty Kubota and drove that poor utility vehicle faster than I ever thought possible! In the couple of minutes I had to think about what was happening you can imagine all of the horrible scenes that were going through my mind.


As I skidded to a stop in the Kubota and was assessing the scene my first thought was "this is really bad." I could see it was Lexi and she was very much trapped underneath the fence. As I walked up and started examining things I realized that the situation was not as dire as I thought. I could see no signs of a struggle and Lexi was laying there quietly waiting for someone to help her. Her mom, Bridget, was standing over her and looked so relieved to see me.


Clearly Lexi had gone down to roll, and when she went to flop to the other side she got all four legs underneath the fence. She also put herself on just enough of a downward incline that she could not scoot herself back. Plus it had rained overnight and she couldn't get any traction. She also complicated things by also now having her head underneath the fence. Her piece de resistance was that she had a fence post between her front and back legs. Great.


It would be impossible to flip her over so she could get out and dismantling the fence was the only option. My dad manned my much-maligned chainsaw while I covered Lexi's eyes to keep debris from the sawing getting in them. To her great credit she just laid there quietly with the saw buzzing away inches from her head. I honestly thought I would be racing back to the barn in the Kubota to get some tranquilizer for her once we started using the saw so close to her head. However she could not have been any more cooperative. First we removed the bottom board from above her front legs and her head but she still didn't have enough room to maneuver. So we ended up removing all four boards and completely tearing down that section of the fence.


She still wouldn't get up and it looked like we were going to have to completely dismantle the other section of the fence and remove the post. Just as we went to start doing that she suddenly decided to try and get up. She popped up, shook (I guess to finally complete the rolling experience) and then ran off to rejoin her buddies without even saying thanks. We had shooed the other horses away so there wouldn't be anyone trying to escape after we tore down the fence.

With perfect timing Jason drove up then so he got the job of rebuilding the fence. I had called Jason and told him to come home NOW after dad had called me and before I actually knew what the problem was. At least I didn't have to rebuild the fence myself. As Jason was very grumpily rebuilding the fence I pointed out that this could have ended with a huge vet bill and that we were really lucky. Of course he pointed out that if Lexi wasn't so stupid as to roll right next to the fence vs. the 20 open acres of pasture she lived in the whole thing could have been avoided. I did remind him that Lexi was not the first horse to roll right next to the wood fence and do this, and unfortunately I'm sure she won't be the last. Why do horses have to roll right by the fence, especially the horses on this farm who all live in huge pastures???


Amazingly Lexi does not even have a scratch on her and is none the worse for her experience. I can't say that I am none the worse for the experience as I had even more years removed from my life. I have decided that the horses on this farm are all in a conspiracy against me and are determined to see just how many years they can shorten my life span!


Other than that the weekend was pretty quiet, thank goodness. Jason and I are continuing to get to know Mina and Jo, the adorable fainting goats. They were very shy at first but are starting to warm up. They will now eat of my hand and let me pet them while they are eating. I still can't just walk up to them and pet them though. Any goat whisperers who happen to be reading feel free to give some suggestions for making friends with goats in the comments.


We got a little bit of snow overnight Saturday night, our second snowfall of the winter. We only had maybe an inch of accumulation that had largely melted by Sunday afternoon. As I understand it lots of other areas received a lot more accumulation than one inch so we were pretty disappointed! Like all good southerners and transplanted Canadians we look forward to playing in the snow a couple of times a year. At least the weekend ended a lot quieter than it started!

Trillion, Faune, Asterik and Henry in the snow

O'Reilly, Bridget and Lexi (without a scratch on her!) in the snow
Billy

One of the roosters (one of our three remaining chickens)

Mina was very interested in the camera

Jo was feeling really frisky

Jo giving me a kiss on the nose