Paradigm Farms Horse Retirement

Exercise Gone Wrong

2012-02-14T21:45:00.000-06:00

As I mentioned in my last post we finally had some cold weather for a few days. This will surprise most of you but I'm actually not gearing up to complain about our chilly weather. I had no desire to go running in the cold so I decided instead I would do this exercise DVD that I've had sitting around for awhile. Staying inside and following along to an exercise video was a lot more appealing than going running outside. I had actually bought the DVD so I could complement my running with some strength training and ab work and it seemed like a good time to (finally) get around to that.

Thirty minutes later I had completed multiple reps of just about every variation there could possibly be on squats and lunges. There was also some upper body work with hand weights and various types of sit-ups and crunches. Given that I can run for up to 20+ miles at a time I wasn't too concerned about my legs being sore. I was worried about how sore my arms would be as I am naturally a weakling when it comes to upper body strength.

I went to hop out of bed the next morning and head out the door to care for the horses. OMG the pain. Not my abs, not my arms, my thighs. I could. not. walk. More specifically any movement that involved any muscles in my thighs made me want to cry. I peg legged my way around the house hoping things would loosen up and be slightly less excruciating after I had moved around. No go.

You are probably wondering what this has to do with our horse farm. Let me tell you it is hard to do basic things like feed, wrap a leg, put on a blanket, etc. when you can't bend your legs. I was thankful that I did not have an audience as I changed a standing wrap while attempting to not bend my legs. What is the normal position one would assume in order to wrap a leg? Yes, that is correct, you would squat. Somehow I managed to accomplish this while not bending my legs. I basically did the splits standing up and then bent over from my waist as far as I could to put on a standing wrap. At least I did not have an audience to witness my indignities.

I have also perfected the technique of going down stairs while keeping my legs straight. I can tell you from two days worth of experience that this is not an easy thing to do. I basically put my arms on the handrails and swing my way down the steps like a monkey. It's impressive really.

The good news is today I have been moving much more normally. As of tomorrow I guess Jason and the horses won't be laughing and pointing at me behind my back. Jason claims he has not been making fun of me behind my back but I'm pretty sure he isn't telling the truth.

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Maisie and Calimba managed to have a nice grooming session even with their blankets on

Johnny and Rampal

Stormy

Hemi

Chimano, Fonzi and George

B-Rad

Cuffie

Silky

Silver and Romeo were having a fun time

Playful Horses

2012-02-12T18:56:00.000-06:00

We are currently being subjected to a few days of cold weather, something we've managed to mostly avoid this winter. This came complete with a few snow flurries on Saturday. Thankfully this weather is supposed to leave and go make someone else unhappy after another day of hanging around with us.

Unsurprisingly the horses have enjoyed the cool air and have been quite frisky. We have not lacked for opportunities to watch playful horses and even managed to take pictures of a few of them. Enjoy!

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Trigger and Leo were having a great time; I was trying to put Leo's blanket on but he obviously had more pressing things that required his attention.

Faune and Silver were playing the face game

Noble and Fabrizzio were playing the face game as well

Fabrizzio stopped after a few minutes so Noble started nipping his front leg . . .

. . . and then his hind leg

Then he just started making funny faces; that got Fabrizzio's attention. His expression says "what in the world are you doing??"

Funeral Procession = Better Day

2012-02-09T21:13:00.003-06:00

Last Friday was a perfectly pleasant day. The weather was beautiful and it was a bright, sunny day. The horses and people were all smiling and content. It was one of those days when everyone with an office job is jealous of those working outside.

Jason and I were filling up the hay feeders before we took a break for lunch. We have a routine down. He is on the tractor moving the bales around and placing them in the feeders. I open and shut the gates and remove the strings from the bales. We were in the last pasture in the midst of putting out the last two bales when the front right tire on the tractor went flat. The amount of time that went by from the moment I noticed the tire was looking low to the tire was flat was less than a minute. Not kind of flat, or just starting to go flat, but so flat I wasn't sure if the tire was going to stay on the rim in the span of a minute. I ran to the gate and screamed at Jason to leave the pasture now!! He managed to get the tractor just on the other side of the pasture gate and then it was going to go no further.

Needless to say this put quite a damper on our moods. In a flash we went from working at a leisurely pace and enjoying the day to OMG we have to get this tire fixed right now. Jason removed the tire from the tractor, we loaded it in the trunk of the car and headed to the co-op.

The co-op is on the other side of town from our farm, and of course it was right at lunch time. We managed to hit every single traffic light as it was turning red. When we were actually moving everyone was acting like they were out for a Sunday drive and the top speed seemed to be in the neighborhood of 20 miles per hour.

Jason is an impatient driver at the best of times and this was pushing him over the edge. As we approached yet another traffic light turning red behind a line of cars going about 15 miles per hour Jason blew his top. "The only thing that could make this day worse would be if we get caught in a !#$% funeral procession!"

You can imagine what happened next.

That's correct, about two minutes later cue the funeral procession. The look on Jason's face was priceless. I couldn't help but burst into hysterical laughter. After a minute even Jason started laughing and our moods improved dramatically thanks to that funeral procession. I am sorry for the friends and family who lost a loved one but I thank them for making us take a moment to realize that our life really wasn't as bad as we were making it out to be. An hour later the tire was repaired. We returned to the farm and the drive back to the farm went much more smoothly than the drive to the co-op. Jason mounted the tire on the tractor and we finished feeding hay.

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The bird in this blurry picture taken early this morning has been identified on Facebook as either a chicken hawk or a red tail hawk. What do you think?

Noble

Kennedy

MyLight and Cinnamon

Who is that . . . ?

It's Sebastian!

Stormy saying to Rampal "let's play!"

Cuffie and Traveller

Calimba and Maisie

B-Rad

Alex always stands with his tongue sticking out for a few minutes after getting a drink of water

Gus

Bonnie's Barnyard, Our Outstanding Local Feed Store

2012-02-07T21:01:00.005-06:00

I recently had the opportunity to have a Q&A session with Bonnie Ozburn, one of the owners of Bonnie's Barnyard. Bonnie and her husband Stephen own and operate Bonnie's Barnyard in Triune, Tennessee. Bonnie's Barnyard is a feed and animal health store that services pet and livestock needs. We became customers of Bonnie and Stephen shortly after they opened the store and are just one of their many loyal fans. Their customer service is unsurpassed and they go out of their way to fill any request. We buy our Triple Crown feed from Bonnie's Barnyard as well as a lot of our daily supplies, dog and cat food, chicken feed for The Don and goat feed for the World's Cutest Fainting Goats.

Bonnie and Stephen have seen their store experience tremendous growth since they opened in October 2006, no doubt due to their outstanding customer service along with carrying a wide variety of feed lines and other animal health products. Last year they bought property just a couple of miles from their current location and are in the process of building a new store and warehouse. We are thrilled to see their business thriving and look forward to seeing their new location.

Bonnie and Stephen live a few miles from the store. They share their home with their two dogs Josie and Roscoe, two horses, 21 chickens and 65 goats.

Bonnie & Stephen in front of the store

1. When did you open the store?

October 2006

2. When did you decide you wanted to open a feed store? Once you decided you were going to go forward, how long was it until the doors opened?

My husband Stephen was the one who originally thought we should open a feed store. He first brought it up in the spring of 2006. In December 2005 the Nolensville Feed Mill, where I was employed at the time, sold to a new owner. The new owners almost immediately revamped it into an antique store instead of keeping it a feed mill. When I would be out and about town, like at the grocery, I would run into customers asking where they could find certain products, anything from feed mixes to animal health products. I then would tell Stephen about all the conversations and questions. Clearly the need was there which led to Stephen suggesting we open our own store. Talk about Dreaming BIG!! We worked all spring and summer on finding a location. After several (SEVERAL) roadblocks, we ended up where we are now and were able to open in October 2006.

3. How did you decide what inventory to carry when you first opened?

When we first opened, our “Opening Inventory” was based on items and products that I was familiar with from working at the Nolensville Feed Mill and at Tractor Supply Company, and also from my notes I had my made from the grocery store conversations with customers.

I was employed by TSC for 4 years, and the Nolensville Feed Mill for 1 year. These two jobs got me through high school and college AND I found my hubby!! TSC is where Stephen worked in high school, too!!

4. What all did you need to have when the store opened aside from inventory? (as in skid steer, computer, etc?)

When we first opened we needed everything from inventory to office supplies. After several trips to Staples and Wal-Mart we had ourselves set up with a computer, QuickBooks, pens, paper, tape, staplers, chairs, stools, phones and a fax machine!! The desk that we use as a “counter” per say was my Grandpa’s! Our first large purchase was a forklift and after that came the pallet jack and feed dollies.

We also worked a lot on the building. The front door used to be a heavy black solid door with four locks on the front (not sure if any actually worked) and rust holes halfway up. We bought a glass “commercial” door and replaced the solid black door. We also painted the building, it was an ugly gray-green color, but is now a cute “barn-red” with white trim. A little bit of landscaping, some 80 sheets of plywood (painted crème colored) to cover the inside walls, and some red paint for the floor of the office, then we were good to go!

5. Do you use a special computer program to keep up with inventory and such or can you do everything in QuickBooks?

We have found that QuickBooks is sufficient for all we do, at least for now!

6. Purina was the original line of feed that you started with correct? How did you decide on Purina?

Yes, Purina was our original line of feed. We went with them for a few reasons. One, they are nationally known and already have great brand recognition. They have a wonderful line of products. In addition I was familiar with their line from working at the Nolensville Feed Mill as Purina was a main vendor there as well.

7. When did you start adding other major lines of feed?

Shortly after we opened we started adding other lines. As our business grew, companies began contacting us to see if we would be interested in pushing their products. On the other hand, we would also have customers asking for certain companies/products, so we would make a phone call to them and see if they were interested in us pushing their line. In five years we have gone from 3 vendors to easily over 20!

8. How many lines of feed do you carry now (can you list them)?

I’ll try: (Melissa here; I've bolded a few brands that are equine related, I may have missed some)

Ainsworth Nutrition (VF Complete/Enhance/Back to Basics)
Blue Buffalo
CPC, Commodities
Faithway
Farmers’ Milling, Co.
Fromm
Glover Farms
Guardian Shavings
McCauley, Bros.
Nutrena
Producer’s Feeds
Progressive Nutrition
Purina
Orijen Dog Feed
Ontario-Dehy
Redmond Naturals
Royal Canine
Southern States
SouthLand Supply
Standlee Hay Company
Triple Crown Nutrition
Tucker Milling

Stephen & Bonnie in the warehouse of Bonnie's Barnyard

9. How do you decide when you want to add another line of feed? And how do you decide which products from that line to keep in stock?

Obviously we want to carry what sells so if there is a need or want for it, we do our best to try and get that product in. Unfortunately, due to a lack of space at our current location, some of those feeds/products are more considered Special Orders and do not necessarily have a regular home in the warehouse…yet!!

10. What do you feed the most of? Cows, horses, dogs, cats, chickens or . . . ?

Horses!! Though, cattle would be next with chickens and goats close behind!

11. How do you pick suppliers? For example there has to be lots of places to purchase shavings, or to buy alfalfa pellets and salt blocks, so how do you decide which ones to carry?

Quality, price and availability are some reasons why we purchase from certain suppliers. For others, they may be the only company who carries that line or product. I also like and look for a company that is friendly and offers helpful customer service!

12. How did you decide on the name Bonnie’s Barnyard (instead of say Stephen’s Barnyard)?

We prayed about it!! I really liked it because it was catchy and feminine but not too feminine. There were several names thrown out there but this one just seemed to fit best!

13. What feed advice do you find yourself giving most often in regards to feeding horses?

WEIGH your feed and hay!! (Jason is saying “right on” about weighing your feed/hay)
Follow tag directions!!

14. What are some of the most common questions you answer?

When will your new building be ready?
How much am I supposed to feed?
Which feed will work best for my horse…or show steer…or sheep…or goat?
What feed do I get again? (Melissa here, I think this common question is my favorite!)

15. What days/times of the week tend to be the busiest?

Saturdays are the busiest and are busy all day. Fridays and Mondays are also very busy but more so first thing in the mornings and when people are on their way home after work.

Bonnie always has a smile for everyone

16. What has surprised you about being in the feed business?

Every day I am surprised! I am surprised by how far people drive to shop with us, we have 2 customers that come once a month from different parts of Alabama to pick up feed. I am also surprised how we can be a place to hang out and “shoot the breeze” for some. I am surprised how some just come by to get a lick on the cheek from Josie or Roscoe. I am surprised how some customers’ critters really DO eat better than they do!

17. How long does it take to unload a delivery of feed for the store, and how many days per week do you have feed and supplies being delivered to the store?

We usually have at least one truck every day, but Thursdays are usually the busiest averaging 4 deliveries…and sometimes they all pull up at once!

18. How do you decide what supplements and supplies to stock inside the retail store? What are your biggest sellers in there (and does it vary through the seasons like selling tons of flyspray in the summer for example)?

The seasons play a major role in the hot sellers! Yes, we do sell A LOT of fly sprays in the spring, summer and fall!! Flea and tick spot-ons like FrontLine Plus or Advantix tend to be pretty popular year-round, as well as de-wormers for all critters. We sell much more hay in the winter months, and much more feed (all kinds), too!

As far as supplements go, our shelves have filled over the years. Where we once only had a handful of supplements, we now have an array of them. From weight supplements to hoof supplements…from probiotics to vitamin supplements….and all in between! This is due in part to what the customer asks for and also if I hear about a product that I think our customers would have a need for.

19. Tell us about your two dogs. Do they come to the store all day every day?

Josie is a Blue Heeler/Jack Russell mix who just turned 5 and has quite the personality, She LOVES kids and tennis balls! Roscoe is a full blooded Blue Heeler who will be 3 in April and is my Love-Bug. They are our official greeters!! They are at the store with us the majority of the time, though they often take half-days and head home around lunch time, especially if it’s very hot or cold that day. Oh, and they also like to sleep in on Saturdays, so we just go ahead give them that day off!!

20. I know you have big plans for your new location. When do you hope to move?

We do have big plans and cannot wait to move. We are super excited about what is to come in the future, with the new store will come new opportunities and products!! We HOPE that we will be able to actually move later this spring, early summer…like April or May.

21. What did you know you wanted to have at your new location? Jason and I certainly had a list of Must-haves after living with our old location for several years.

Must Haves included central heat & air and a bathroom/running water!!! We will also have a separate office for paperwork and a break-room for our “Barnyard Boys!”

22. Has your vision of what you wanted the store to be changed now that you have been in business for a few years?

Our business does serve many horse owners, but I would have never dreamed that so many people would have chickens. It is like an addiction I suppose though, as I LOVE just watching our small flock scratch the ground and chase fireflies!

I would love for our store to be the “one place shop” for all of your barnyard needs, especially when it comes to animal health. Hopefully we will be one day!

23. What trends have you seen happen in the feed business and/or are there things that you anticipate happening in the feed business?

Trends…
Horses: Low Starch
Cattle: Non-Medicated Feeds
Sheep: They really exist in Tennessee!
Goats: Dairy Goats
Chickens: All-Natural/Organic Feeds
Dogs & Cats: Grain Free

I do foresee more and more customers leaning towards a more natural approach to raising their critters, from the feeds to their living conditions (hence, free-range chickens)

24. Do you think you will ever take some time off? (I had to ask this question as I don't think Stephen and Bonnie have missed one single day of work since the store opened. I think Jason and I work way too much but they make me feel like a lazy slug!!)

As far as a vacation goes, not for a while!! Though, I do hope to be able to take lunches this year!!

25. How do you manage to always be in a good mood? (Another question I had to ask. Bonnie and Stephen always have the same level of good humor and positive outlook every time you visit the store.)

It’s simple…I choose to treat people how I would like to be treated!!

These questions barely scratched the surface as far as learning about the store and all that goes into running such a successful business. I hope you've enjoyed learning more about Stephen, Bonnie and Bonnie's Barnyard. Everyone should be so lucky to have such an excellent resource in their local area!

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Johnny and Tiny

Noble going in for a big bite of hay along with Snappy and O'Reilly

Hemi, Apollo, Trigger and Homer on the move

then Grand took over the lead followed by Apollo, Homer and Thomas

Sam doing his post meal licking routine; Dutch and Wiz in the background

B-Rad, Alex and Lighty

Lightening

Fonzi and Silver

Gus, Romeo and George

Renny

2012-02-05T18:16:00.001-06:00

Renny, officially known as Renaissance, is a thoroughbred gelding that was bred in Virginia. Renny and his mom first met each other Renny's mom and her trainer made a weekend horse shopping trip to Virginia. They spent the entire weekend going from barn to barn to barn trying horses. Renny's mom was still a novice rider at that point, and Renny's owner at the time was also a fairly novice rider. She was going back to school and needed to sell Renny. Renny happened to be the first horse they tried that weekend on their horse shopping trip. Although Renny was young and green the ride went well. Then they kept going to more barns and riding more horses. At the end of the weekend Renny's mom asked her trainer what he thought and he said "buy Renaissance, the first horse you rode!" Thus 19 years ago Renny and his mom became a team.

Renny showing off his winning form

Renny made the move from Virginia to Ohio, and as everyone had thought when they tried him Renny was very talented. As it turned out he could also be quite a handful at times and had quite a squeal and a buck on occasion. Apparently Renny always let out a high-pitched, pig sounding squeal before he would let out a big buck. His mom said he often did this routine after jumping a jump in beautiful form and she would find herself no longer on Renny's back!

Renny

During his early years of showing Renny's mom had a great friend named Terri who really clicked with the young and occasionally rowdy Renny. She began showing Renny in the adult hunters at the "A" shows. Terri's experience and eye for a distance combined with Renny's beautiful jump and movement made them a real presence in the show ring. They won everywhere in the adult hunters and were Zone 5 champions one year.

showing at the Kentucky Horse Park

As Renny gained experience in the show ring he developed into a wonderful show ring partner for his mom as well. Renny's mom said eventually Renny got to the point where he made her look like she really knew what she was doing. If she made a mistake on course or was trying to ride to a bad distance Renny would simply ignore her and focus on his job. In her words "although Renny was a handful when he was young he matured into a graceful schoolmaster."

Renny and his mom on their way to winning another hack class

In addition to his beautiful form over fences Renny frequently won the hack classes as well. His mom said she and Renny were getting ready to go in for a hack class at a very prestigious show. The class was really big and the competition was hard with many beautiful movers in the class. Her trainer had other riders he needed to attend to in other rings and left her and Renny to do the hack class on their own. Since the class was so big he probably assumed that she and Renny were not going to do anything spectacular or she might make a mistake. As it turned out she and Renny won the class and her trainer made it back to the ring in time to make sure everyone knew that it was a horse in his barn that had won the class!

Renny and his mom hanging out horse shows

Although he was a beautiful mover and looked like he was floating around the arena, his mom said riding him did not always feel that way. Aside from riding through his squeals and bucks when he was younger, the only thing she did not enjoy about riding Renny was trying to ride him with no stirrups. It is often the case that the prettiest hunter movers can be quite uncomfortable to ride, especially at the trot. Trying to do no stirrup work on them can be incredibly difficult.

Some of his mom's fondest memories are from the way Renny would announce her presence to everyone at horse shows. Often Renny would ship to the horse shows a day or two ahead of his mom. When Renny would start screaming in his stall everyone would say "his mom is here." Renny always knew when she had arrived at the horse show even when she had not yet seen him and was nowhere near his stall. But Renny always knew and he would start screaming and announcing her presence, and he would keep it up until she came to his stall to say hello.

A portrait of Renny and two of his "brothers" that hangs above his mom's fireplace. Renny is in the middle.

Renny was in work up until his retirement with us this summer. He wasn't jumping anymore but he was still happy to go out on hacks. However his last winter prior to retirement things were a little harder for him. When he could not go out much due to snow or cold he would stiffen up and was not as comfortable as he used to be. She decided it would be best for Renny to move him to a more moderate climate where it would be more comfortable for him to be out and moving around more. After being together for almost 19 years it was a really hard decision to not be able to see him every day. However after he had given her so much through the years she decided it was time to give back to Renny, and he joined us for retirement.

Renny enjoying retirement with his friends Sam and Sebastian

We hope you have enjoyed getting to know Renny and his mom as much as we have!

Daffodils on Groundhog Day

2012-02-02T21:28:00.000-06:00

(post by Jason) Any groundhog who came out of his hidey hole to have a look around here in Middle Tennessee definitely saw his shadow today. I hope the pesky little rodent enjoyed the sunshine and the 65 degree temperatures that accompanied it, and I hope he had a good look at the early daffodils and forsythia in bloom all over the Mid-State today with his six more weeks of winter prognostication.

I've been an amateur phenologist for most of my adult life, and for far longer than I knew what the study of phenology was. In Ontario I used to watch for and keep track of bloom dates for daffodils, tulips, snowdrops, crocuses, lilacs and forsythia. Additionally, I also kept track of leaf out dates for willow (earliest tree to green up, usually late April or early May), Manitoba Maple, Sugar Maple, White Oak, and Locust (latest tree to leaf out...usually the end of May or early June).

Here in Tennessee I do much the same thing. As I walk the farm each day checking horses, cows and fences, my eyes are always drawn to the fencerows and woods, particularly to spots where stuff I watch for every year grows. I'm still learning the layout and the various plant species at the new farm, but I found a fantastic patch of daffodils in every pasture two springs ago and I watch for them early every spring.

The horses have been enjoying our very mild temperatures and I noticed today that the cool season grasses have broken their winter semi-dormancy and are seriously beginning to green up. While it's not too late for us to get some cold winter weather it has been my experience here in Tennessee that once the grass starts to really green up it is most likely going to keep at it no matter what the weather throws at it. As such, the horses are spending less time around their hay feeders and more time stealthily searching for a bite of fresh green grass.

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the daffodils on February 2nd

Lily napping shortly after the rain stopped yesterday

Lighty, Fuzzy and Renny

Chimano, Romeo, George and Faune

Winston and Fonzi

Renny

Alex

Murphy, Dutch and Wiz

Fabrizzio, Thor and Lightening

Who's coming up the driveway ?

2012-01-31T21:31:00.000-06:00

I've mentioned before that it's continually surprising to me how many people we interact with in the course of an average day. Many interactions get done in an impromptu fashion at various local community gathering places. If I choose to, I can spend as long as I want at the feed store, post office, gas station or local coffee shop. However our driveway seems to be a magnet for visitors and more often than not we watch the flow of visitors driving in and out of our very long driveway.

Most days the first vehicles to drive up belong to one or another of our employees. They bring with them a wealth of local knowledge and I enjoy hearing about and following the local foxhunting updates as well as what may or may not be happening in various local households and on various farms. We see vets, farriers, various service employees as well as an inordinate number of people who are trying to sell us something, most often something totally implausible.

From time to time we get people who are lost and are asking for directions. I feel sorry for these people when they drive up and find Melissa instead of me when directions are needed. (Melissa here - it is true that I hardly know where I am half the time and I certainly don't need to be giving anyone directions. Jason on the other hand is a walking, talking GPS system.). I think my favorite question was the guy who drove up, spotted me, and asked me if I could tell him who owned the farm. Apparently I looked like an unlikely owner in my dirty jeans and work boots.

Of course the best and most frequent visitors are friends and good neighbours, of whom we thankfully have plenty. I'm looking forward to seeing who turns in the driveway tomorrow!

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Thor and Snappy

Happy grazers; Fuzzy, Murphy, Renny, Wiz, Dutch, Sam, Chili

Darby, Alex, B-Rad and Lighty

Thomas and Homer

Rocky and Clayton

Rampal and Johnny

Kennedy, Rampal and Toledo

Thor, Noble and Walden

Fonzi, Asterik and Gus

Not Much Complaining

2012-01-29T21:33:00.001-06:00

Just out of curiosity I clicked through some of the old blog posts from this time last year. I had a very common them running through many of my posts, and that was complaining about the weather. Anyone who has read this blog for, oh, five minutes, knows that I despise cold weather. I define cold as anything under 50 degrees. In my world tolerable is in the 50-60 range, nice is 60-70, and ideal is 70-85ish. Last winter was one of the worst winters I ever remember in middle Tennessee.

This winter has been much more normal. Maybe it is because I bought waterproof gloves, a new coat, two new pairs of boots, smartwool socks, a couple of boxes of toasty toes and several sets of long underwear? (I think I am scarred for life after last winter.) This year I was not going to be caught unprepared, and maybe my state of preparation made the weather gods decide to pick on someone else this winter. Now that I've bragged on my unnecessary winter attire undoubtedly I will have cause to use it all in the near future.

Most of our days this winter have fallen into the tolerable range with a few in the nice range and a couple in ideal. The cold days have been randomly scattered about but have never permanently set up shop. For winter weather I really can't complain about that too much.

With my charming personality of course I can still find something to complain about. Apparently the one thing that is mandatory this winter is heavy rain. We have a few sunny days and then we have a couple of days of hard, heavy rain. Winter is always a wet time of year but this has been a bit over the top. It isn't that I don't want rain, but it would be so nice if all of this extra rain could bless us with its presence in July and August instead of now. The grass would really appreciate it. Is that asking for too much? Probably.

What has winter been like for everyone else this year?

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Trigger, Moe and Chance

Tony, Baby and Leo

George and Silver

Fonzi, Chimano and Romeo

Thomas

Darby

Fabrizzio, Thor and Lightening

Levendi

Horses in Moscow

2012-01-26T20:13:00.001-06:00

Jason and I both like to travel although we have different ideas about what defines a great trip. I like to get off the continent of North America and Jason likes to be within a day's drive of home and he hates changing time zones. He complains loudly about driving to Lexington, KY and having to switch to eastern time. Flying also would not make his list of favorite things although he usually tolerates it without complaining (much).

Jason found himself being towed through JFK airport by me a couple of weeks ago to board a flight to Moscow, Russia. This trip did not meet anything on his list of things he enjoys about travel. We definitely were not within a day's drive of home, we crossed ten time zones and he had to do a 10 hour flight. It helped that the Aeroflot flight had individual entertainment centers at each seat and Jason and I amused ourselves for quite awhile playing Pac Man.

We visited all of the usual attractions one associates with the city of Moscow including the Kremlin, Red Square and the Bolshoi Theatre. Having never been anywhere in eastern Europe I was quite excited about the trip. I was expecting the language barrier to be big and it was huge. The Cyrillic alphabet might as well be hieroglyphics as far as I am concerned.

In addition to the typical tourist attractions we also visited a riding club and a tack shop. As always I manage to locate horses no matter where in the world I find myself. Suffice it to say the buildings were a bit more, hmmm how should I say this, upscale than our farm. The horses all looked very well cared for, they were groomed within an inch of their lives, and the stalls were so clean if there hadn't been horses standing in all of them you would have been able to convince me they were never used. I don't think I saw a single manure pile in a stall as we walked down the barn aisle.

This facility was in the heart of the city, not in the suburbs or in the outskirts. There was an outdoor riding arena, a couple of tiny turnout paddocks and a couple of eurosizers. The facility also adjoined a racetrack with several rows of barns and it looked like you could hack around the rows of barns as well, but that was pretty much it as far as any outdoor facilities. Everything else was inside. The impressive clubroom, the changing rooms, the restaurant, the indoor and the barn were all part of the same building. The indoor and the barns were both heated to about 65-70 degrees. All of the horses were body clipped but not blanketed as there was no need for blanketing when inside.

The horses were fed hay 5 times per day and grain 3 times per day. We saw a pallet of what looked like excellent quality timothy hay as we were touring the barn. I have no idea what they were feeding for grain. Of course I tried to ask but all of the conversation was taking place through a very non-horsey translator. I just converted the board amount from rubles to dollars and it came out to about $2,200/month which was lower than I was expecting. Moscow is an expensive city and as I said this facility was IN the city.

Being able to include horses in some away always makes any trip better. Then we had the long 10 hour flight back to JFK. We and our fellow passengers had the pleasure of sharing that flight with a drunk Russian guy at the back of the plane that kept hitting the flight attendant call button over and over and over. This resulting in the dinging bell noise over and over and over. He also spent some time wandering up and down the aisles being overly friendly and even tried to pick up one couple's baby. Needless to say that did not go over well. He finally passed out/went to sleep after a few hours. As one of the flight attendants said "at least he is a happy drunk. The mean drunks are the worst." I was just glad that our seats were in row 5 and his seat was almost at the very back of the plane. If we had been too much closer I am pretty sure Jason would have told him exactly where he could put the call button and he would not have been friendly about it!!

the main building and entrance to the combined riding club/racetrack facility

another view

the red carpet leading to the main door

the barn aisle

The indoor riding arena had a large viewing deck that wrapped all the way around the arena. There was also a bar/restaurant that overlooked the indoor (behind the yellow wall on the left)

the indoor arena and the barn were heated to about 65-70 degrees

dragging the arena

a few more random pictures from around Moscow; The Bolshoi Theatre

me in front of St. Basil's Cathedral on Red Square (note this picture was taken at 9:30am and it is still dark outside)

Russian Orthodox cathedral

Jason and I liked the Russian exit signs. Make like the stick figure and run for your life in this direction!!

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Maisie and MyLight

Ivan

Silver and Romeo playing

Toledo (Rocky and Kennedy in the background)

Clayton and Largo hanging out together

Tiny and Kennedy

Silky

Walden on the run

Fabrizzio on the run

Perfect Winter Day

2012-01-24T21:09:00.000-06:00

There are days when we wonder why we do what we do and there are other days when we wonder why we'd ever do anything else. Today was definitely one of the latter. We watched the morning light up and the stars fade into a perfect blue sky this morning. We started chores just as the sun cleared the horizon and you could feel the cool morning air warm up immediately. Within a few minutes, the frogs and crickets began singing and well before I was done feeding the first group of horses I was down to shirtsleeves. This far south the late January sun has some power, and before I was done feeding the second group I was down to short sleeves which is how I spent the remainder of the day. You know it's truly warm when Melissa is in shirtsleeves and by the time we met up after the horses were fed that is how I found her AND she was comfortably warm, even her hands !

We spent our time between chores fixing a multitude of things that had been piling up, waiting for a pretty day like this one. Periodically, Melissa would grab the camera and film the horses; they seemed to enjoy today every bit as much as we did and they spent the day laying around and doing some grazing. I'd be lying if I didn't mention that in between fix it chores I spent some time propped up against the fence enjoying the sunshine myself.

Today was a mild mid-winter gift, and we have had many beautiful days this winter. These sorts of days are one of the many reasons I love the life we've created here in Middle Tennessee.

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Rampal was sound asleep in the sunshine

Bonnie on the go

Norman

MyLight and Calimba hanging out

Chimano, Fonzi, Silver, Gus and Faune grazing as the sun was rising

Walden, Fabrizzio, Noble and Lightening

Thor and Snappy

B-Rad and Murphy with Sebastian in the background

Sebastian and Wiz

Back Soon

2012-01-17T20:09:00.000-06:00

Jason and I will be back in a few days with our regularly scheduled blogging. We are away for a few days but will be back soon!

Meet the Residents

2012-01-15T19:45:00.004-06:00

I finally sat down and made a master list of the "meet the residents" posts. Just click on the names to read more about each resident. Hopefully I have all of my links going to the correct pages. If you find an incorrect link please let me know in the comments!

Pictures & Video

2012-01-12T21:29:00.001-06:00

Fonzi, George, Gus, Asterik, Chimano and Romeo. You have to love the mud colored grey horses.

Toledo, Rampal and Rocky in the background

Chance

George and Romeo napping, Asterik eating hay

Faune, Chimano, Winston and Fonzi

Lily, Norman and MyLight

Lighty and Murphy playing

Jason with Jo, Mina and Miss Lyle

Jo, Mina, Bubba and Miss Lyle passing a lazy afternoon

Levendi, Elfin and Hemi

Who's On First vs. Who Cares

2012-01-10T22:15:00.001-06:00

When Melissa's not organized she is almost certainly in a BAD mood. I am almost the complete opposite of this. When someone decides that I need help in order to get myself better organized it's almost certain to put me in a bad mood. If you sense that this could be pretty awkward, you'd be correct but most of the time we are able to find some middle ground in this muddle. However this week it's definitely my turn to be in a bad mood because Melissa is in organizational overdrive mode. It's almost like those shark frenzies that you see on TV only in this case I am definitely not the shark.

I can usually sense this is coming when I start to see several page long printed "to do" lists littering Melissa's desk. I was pretty sure this week was going to be a doozie when I counted six pages of to do's. I actually saw several more pages but I decided to stop counting to save my own sanity. I knew it was going to get rougher when she came home with a dozen three ring binders and enough paper to wear out a printer as well as a trunkful of clear plastic tubs, all the better to label and organize our farm stuff.

I was wrong about it being rough. It wasn't rough at all. It was EPIC. The three ring binders are FULL. Everything you would ever want to know about each horse is neatly filed in a three ring binder, in alphabetical order I might add. Along with lists of every phone number we've dialed in the last 5 years or so, and all sorts of other information. Of course it is all neatly organized in the three ring binders with tabbed and labeled dividers.

The plastic totes are full too. And labelled. In excruciating and painstaking detail. I'm proud of her for doing all this and I've said so when prompted (Melissa here - he has said so only when prompted - otherwise he has complained about it ENDLESSLY), and it sure seems to make her happy now that it's all done. (Melissa again - yes it does indeed make me very happy.) She's also right when she says that I didn't know where all the stuff was before she started organizing it. I made a lot of happy discoveries this week which were mostly accompanied by statements like " Huh ! Haven't seen that in years." when I'd discover some mislaid item in an odd and/or unforeseen place.

But the tradeoff is that now everything is labelled and put away we have SO MANY plastic totes that it's actually worse than it was before, at least for me. I don't know where ANYTHING is, and finding any single item will take me hours of sorting through totes and cross checking labels. (Melissa here; actually his true complaint is not that it will take hours to find something, but now he has to take the time to put things back instead of just leaving it in whatever odd place that happens to be convenient.) At least with my system I knew where SOME THINGS were and I could lay my hands on them in a few seconds.

At least there is no arguing that the farm is gleaming, clean and organized. We ought to be posting pictures of it. I wonder what's coming next. :)

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Chimano and Silver enjoying some horseplay; Fonzi, Romeo, George, Gus, Asterik and Winston are in the background

Clayton and Rocky playing while waiting for breakfast

Leo and Thomas were also having fun

Leo and Thomas

Hemi and Ivan

Walden

Faune and Chimano

Thor and Fabrizzio

B-Rad and Sam

Fuzzy

Levendi and Thomas

Thor

2012-01-08T18:57:00.003-06:00

Thor is a Holsteiner/Thoroughbred cross who joined us for retirement this past spring. Thor's mom has owned and ridden horses since she was in her teens. She ended up taking a 15 year break from horses to concentrate on raising her family. As it always happens with teenagers, the day came that her kids decided it was no longer cool to be seen at the mall and were busy with their own activities. In an effort not to become a clingy helicopter parent she decided to find a local barn and start taking riding lessons again.

Thor and his mom

Thor happened to be boarded at the barn where his mom began her re-entry into horses, and in fact her very first lesson as a "re-rider" was on Thor. She must have felt like it was her lucky day to have her very first ride on a horse after a 15 year hiatus on a gorgeous, black 17 hand horse. Thor's owner at the time had received Thor as repayment for a debt that had been owed. She did not ride or visit him much and Thor did not really have a job or a person paying attention to him so he was used in lessons. Thor's mom began riding him regularly. When she learned that Thor's owner had decided to sell him due to financial difficulties she decided to buy him even though she had no intentions of purchasing a horse at that time. She just knew that she wanted to be Thor's person, and in 2005 she became Thor's mom.

Thor and his mom playing in the water

Since dressage had always been her passion Thor’s mom started riding with a local dressage instructor. As she said Thor has a huge walk, a canter to die for and a trot that makes you want to die because it is so bouncy and big. She felt that dressage would suit Thor not only because of his elastic gates but also because he is innately an introvert and a thinker. Despite these characteristics she found that Thor could become very unconfident when learning something new or in new environments. She said that Thor seemed to expect to be reprimanded when he became unconfident and he would sometimes bolt before she realized that he was getting really concerned. The few dressage shows they went to were not fun for either of them as Thor was very tense and worried most of the time.

Thor patiently posing for Christmas pictures for his mom

Thor on the right and his "little brother" Alquimista on the left posting for Christmas pictures

As Thor’s mom began to really think about their situation she realized that Thor’s confidence was a barrier to him being able to offer what was being asked of him. It was not that he would not do what was asked, but when he really got worried and lost his confidence he could not do what was being asked. Rather than trying to force Thor through his thresholds she sought out some horsemanship training with the Parelli organization with the goal of building Thor’s confidence in himself and her.

Thor and his mom tackling one of the obstacles at the Parelli center

Thor and his mom attended several horsemanship courses at the Florida Parelli center where she learned about horse and herd psychology, how to read horses’ body language and how to adjust her approach to be a successful partner and leader for Thor. Their first course was on-line work focused on training her to apply techniques to build their trust and partnership on the ground. The course format gave her two solid weeks to spend with Thor in a horse friendly group environment with lots of opportunities to build his confidence.

Thor and his mom

During those two weeks Thor got over his fear of puddles and actually went knee deep into a lake and spent 20 minutes splashing and pawing water all over both of them. He jumped over logs, went through car wash obstacles, over tarps, in between tires, through tents, and over wooden bridges. Of course all of these things were scary for Thor at first. The point was to apply the horsemanship skills to help Thor overcome his fear and offer, rather than be made, to expand his thresholds.

Thor on the left playing with his little brother Alquimista in Florida

One of their breakthrough moments towards the end of the two week course was when Thor slipped and fell on his side after cantering over a log on-line. Thor initially had the familiar look of panic in his eyes. Instead of running to him Thor’s mom dropped the rope and waited. Thor took a deep breath, his eyes softened and he calmly got up and they continued on. Later that day, she was running next to Thor on-line through some obstacles on a hillside. His mom stumbled, twisted her ankle and fell down. Even though they were going at a pretty fast pace downhill, Thor immediately noticed that she was no longer next to him. Thor stopped and faced his mom and waited for her to get up. She got up, picked up the line and Thor matched her pace as she limped down the hill to a bench.

Thor leading a run through the pasture at our farm with O'Reilly and Lucky following him

Unsurprisingly, all of the work that Thor and his mom put into their relationship on the ground really paid off in their dressage training. However competing Thor at dressage shows was no longer very important to his mom and they focused more on their work at home. They now knew how to read each other and neither of them jumped to assumptions when things went wrong or when they had a miscommunication. This meant they were able to work through any challenges they faced together without tension or bolting.

In addition to continuing their dressage training Thor and his mom took more horsemanship courses. This led them to doing some amazing liberty work where Thor had no halter or line. Thor would stick with his mom even with others riding around them. He would change direction at different gates, trot when she trotted, canter when she cantered, he learned to do spins, open gates with his nose, and even learned to back onto a horse trailer.

Thor (center) grazing with his friends at Paradigm Farms

The liberty work eventually led to them riding without a bridle at all gaits. Thor would turn just from shifts in his mom’s weight, change gaits with cues only from her seat and legs, change directions, go over obstacles and small jumps all with others riding around them. For a horse that had confidence and trust issues when she bought him all of this was a testament to the relationship Thor and his mom had built.

Thor really began to shine and become playful during their liberty and bridle less sessions together. Although the original focus was on dressage and showing, in the end their partnership success was not measured at shows with ribbons or awards. As his mom said, “I think we were put together to help each other grow. I became a horse person, not just a rider. Thor became a trusting partner, not just a horse to be ridden.”

Thor and Lightening galloping through the pasture at our farm

In 2009 Thor’s mom purchased an energetic 3-year old Andalusian named Alquimista with the goal of starting and training him as her future dressage partner. Thor really enjoyed having a younger brother. He and Alquimista had adjoining stalls and their mom would periodically turn them out together to play. Alquimista kept Thor young and Thor was a voice of reason for his impetuous sibling.

In the year leading up to his retirement it become increasingly more difficult for Thor to offer the hind end engagement required of dressage horses and he began to exhibit more stiffness in general. Thor’s mom thought hard about what she wanted for Thor’s future and felt that a situation meeting the following criteria could make both of them happy. She wanted 24/7 turnout on grass pasture with lots of room to roam and some hills to keep his joints moving. She also wanted a moderate climate out of the hurricane zone (Thor joined us from Florida and he was a non-sweater there). She also wanted Thor to be part of a herd and to retire at a farm that focused on retired horses rather than a boarding/training facility that had pasture space for retired horses. Finally, she wanted to continue to be involved in Thor’s life and we well-informed about how he was doing.

Fabrizzio, Walden and Thor showing how hard the retired life can be

Luckily we were able to meet all of his mom’s requirements and Thor joined us several months ago in the spring. We have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Thor during that time. I always tell his mom that their work together shines through as Thor’s ground manners are impeccable. He is always an incredibly friendly and polite horse to live with. Thor has taken well to the retired life and loves to hang out with his buddies, graze, nap and sometimes go for a gallop through the pasture.

We hope you have enjoyed getting to know Thor as much as we have!

Fickle Herd Dynamics

2012-01-05T22:46:00.000-06:00

A few months ago B-Rad left the farm for awhile to see if returning to work was going to be an option. B-Rad and Alex had been BFF's for a couple of years at that point, with Darby rounding them out into a triumvirate for a little over a year. For two years B-Rad and Alex were always together, almost inseparable. You always wonder what impacts there will be any time a horse leaves (although typically we only have horses leave when they pass away), particularly when they are very bonded to a certain horse.

As we have always seen in the past when a horse has passed away, both Alex and Darby carried on as if nothing had changed in their world. Another excellent example of the power of group living. A couple of months after he left B-Rad returned. We were very anxious to see what would happen when B-Rad rejoined his herd.

When we led him to his pasture Alex and Darby happened to be grazing right up near the gate. We opened the gate and led B-Rad in. Alex and B-Rad immediately noticed each other. Alex let out a little nicker. B-Rad walked away from the gate and Jason and I had big grins on our faces as we watched the joyful reunion.

The joyful reunion that did not happen that is. B-Rad walked out to the pasture and kept walking past Alex and Darby. Alex made no effort to go over to him or to to greet him and carried on grazing. We were shocked! It has been proven in many studies that horses have amazing memories, and B-Rad had only been gone a couple of months. Clearly they recognized each other, in fact the whole herd recognized B-Rad. There was no squealing, nose sniffing, posturing, or any of the other typical behaviors that you often see as horses play their "getting to know you" games.

The first few weeks that B-Rad was back we saw him hanging out with Murphy more than anyone else. This was odd given that he and Murphy had never traveled in the same social circles in the past. However in the last couple of weeks B-Rad has been gravitating back to Alex and Darby and we are seeing him with them more frequently. Alex and B-Rad are nowhere near the inseparable, BFF status they had before but it will be interesting to see if that strong friendship is rekindled in the coming weeks.

The moral of the story? I have no idea, except that apparently horses can be as fickle as people when it comes to their interpersonal relationships. It has been very interesting to watch these herd dynamics play out, and needless to say we are very curious to see what happens over the next few weeks!

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pony cuteness with Norman and Traveller

Fellow blogger Lytha and I were going to have a contest about whose horse gets the dirtiest. When I sent her this picture of my retired horse Hoffy a couple of days ago I think she went ahead and conceded victory to me. Note he has a stocking on his left front that goes up to his knee that is all but invisible under the mud!

Hemi and Apollo were nose to nose

Tiny and Johnny hanging out in the woods

Miss Lyle and Mina snuggled up together

Murphy and Chili

Apparently this hay feeder is reserved for gray horses only; Moe, Homer and Ivan. I like how Ivan is trying to give himself pinto markings on his face. Moe was not going to be outdone and had turned himself into a pinto as well.

Trigger, Leo and Levendi

George and Fonzi

Dutch and Wiz

Winter/Rain Clothing Update

2012-01-03T22:13:00.001-06:00

Several of you were kind enough to share what you wear for boots and gloves with Melissa in a post she wrote back in early December. We took your suggestions plus some good ideas of our own, parted with a ridiculous amount of money and FINALLY got us some rain and in Melissa's case cold weather gear that is fit to be called such. We work outside all day every day no matter the weather. In terms of comfort improvement I'm left wondering why we did not make these purchases a long, long time ago. (Melissa here: Why I did not do this a long time ago? With the exception of Christmas I prefer to pretend that December, January and February don't exist. By ignoring them then surely they are not happening and I am warm, right? This approach did not work despite many years of implementing it.)

Without my friend Kristy's recommendation it probably never would have occurred to us to go to Bass Pro Shops, but I am SO GLAD we did. We both got thick but breathable, heavy duty Gore Tex waterproof shells....the best that Bass Pro Shops make, and after having worn them through several heavy rains I can say they work a treat. The biggest problem I had with rubber rain gear was that I would sweat so heavily while wearing it that I might as well have saved myself the trouble and just gotten wet from the rain. Not so with this stuff, it actually breathes. Also, the hoods on these coats are incredibly deep....so deep that I can wear my glasses during a hard rain and not have them get wet.

Melissa got a pair of heavy duty Bass Pro Gore-Tex fisherman type waterproof insulated pants that cost every bit as much as her coat did. I thought those would be too hot for me so I got a lighter (and much cheaper) pair of rain pants plus a pair of suspenders to help hold them up.

It'd be really dumb to work alone out in the middle of a group of horses with no peripheral vision, so one of my must have items was a truly waterproof hat. It looks a little odd, but for thirty bucks I now own a Gore-tex full camo fedora type hat that is completely waterproof.

Melissa is quite pleased with her Seal Skinz gloves. She says they are not the warmest things she has ever worn. However she overlooks this because they fit tightly enough that she can put on and take off feed bags and blankets with them on AND they are truly waterproof.

After a lifetime of misery on the work boot front I broke down and tried a pair of Red Wings a few months ago. I think I have finally found a boot that is water and "barnyard acid" resistant, has excellent traction and that is so comfortable that I can't wait to put them on in the morning. They have now outlasted all but one pair of boots I've ever owned before and they show no signs of leaking or tearing. They are also the first pair of boots I've ever owned that actually fit my feet correctly.

The one thing that is still on Melissa's must get list is a pair of really good, comfortable pair of boots that are warm and waterproof. We're on the lookout, but we haven't found them yet. She is so picky we may never find the right boots.

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I've seen this video posted a few places and it was too funny not to share. The Equestrian Whisperer teaches other horses how to get what you want from humans. I particularly like the part at the end, how to get them to give you all the food you want but leave you alone.

Stormy, Largo and Clayton

Chili, Wiz and Sebastian

Dutch and Fuzzy

Trigger and Thomas

Thomas, Tony and Ivan

Thor and O'Reilly

Fabrizzio, Walden and Lightening

Chili and Sam

B-Rad and Murphy

Cuff Links and Norman

Welcome 2012

2012-01-01T18:30:00.002-06:00

It is hard to believe that another year has passed. 2011 was an outstanding year for us in many ways. We completed a lot of building projects at the new farm including a few miles of fence, a couple more barns and several more water lines. Not to mention water lines, driveway and the myriad of other things that come along with new construction. Anyone who has followed this blog for any length of time is very familiar with our construction projects that did not always go as planned. I like to refer to these as marriage building exercises.

The net result of our many construction projects meant all of the horses were officially settled at the new farm as of September. Interestingly our final moving day with the horses came almost a year to the day after our first moving day. In 2011 we also welcomed several new residents. Nothing is more fun than a new horse in your life! We also brought Miracle home in March. Being a retirement farm we do experience the full circle of life and we also said goodbye to several residents during the year. Losing a friend is always hard, yet it comes with the territory.

Overall it is hard to imagine that 2012 could be a better year than 2011. However Jason and I have several big things in the works for 2012 so we are hopefully in for another fantastic year. Happy New Year to all of you, and thank you to each of you for helping us have a wonderful 2011!

Jason and Miracle

The Big Boys on the move. In order of appearance it is Hemi, Levendi, Moe, Tony, Thomas and Baby.

Calimba and Maisie grooming each other

Calimba and Maisie grooming

Clayton and Rampal grooming each other

Clayton and Rampal grooming

Lily, Maisie and Traveller with their heads buried in the hay

Rocky

Leo

Fuzzy Punch and Jason

Lighty and Murphy were playing

Silky

Faune, Asterik, George, Chimano, Fonzi, Silver

One of Those Weeks

2011-12-29T21:12:00.000-06:00

We've had a few too many misadventures in the last week. It all started as we were driving along Highway 31 planning to run a few errands and eat some lunch last week. We were driving along chatting away and all was well. Then we crested a hill and there was a large mound of something in the middle of the road. We ran over it at 50 miles per hour, and in the process heard a very loud "smack" upon impact. The kind of noise where you know you just did some damage.

Jason immediately begins ranting and raving about the idiocy of people and humanity in general. Who leaves @##$%% in the road. What dumb @$^&*$ does that? I'm sure you can use your imagine to come up with something very similar to what he was saying. I'm trying to ignore him so I can listen to the very odd noise that is now coming from the car. I finally interrupt his tirade and ask him if we shouldn't pull over and ascertain exactly how much damage we just did to the vehicle? Finally we pull over into an empty parking lot. Jason gets out and is looking underneath the car. He launches into another tirade, complete with kicking the tire of the car.

He gets back in the car and tells me it looks like the shield underneath the car is broken and it is hanging down. He then proceeds to tell me that because I made him clean all of his crap out of the car a few days ago (Jason is a slob and I'm a neat freak) that he has no tools at all and can't do anything about it. Of course the whole thing is my fault now. We happened to be only two miles away from a Tractor Supply store where Jason could get some tools. It took us a long time to drive those two miles while listening to part of the vehicle scraping along on the road.

We make it to TSC, Jason goes in and purchases the tools he needs, and he proceeds to crawl under the car. Did I mention yet that it was raining? He is under the car in the dirty parking lot in the rain for about 10 minutes. He finally crawls out from under the car victorious with the broken piece removed. His mood improves instantly. Later that day we leave the car in the loving care of the Toyota dealer for repairs. We were laughing about it by the end of the day.

Jason crawling under the car in the rain

Jason saves the day!

Today started out as a fine day. It was a sunny day and everyone, people and horses, were happy. We had just finished eating lunch when Jason's cell phone rang. It was the utility company calling to let us know they had just cut off the water at the farm. They had isolated a leak in their system and located it at our farm. 48,000 gallons of extra water will be on our bill this month. I'm not sure what was more surprising about that phone call. The fact that our water had been shut off or the fact that we had a 48,000 gallon leak.

The "good news" is when you are talking about that much water the leak is very easy to find. The leak was located at the main connection at the road, the pipe had become completely separated from the main county line. The county water line is six inch pipe. We are only about three miles from the tower, and are also about 500 feet below it. This means that we have water pressure of 180 psi where our one inch water line taps into the six inch main line. Now you know why it is even possible for us to have such a massive leak - and why we also have a pressure regulator installed at the main connection.

Thankfully after a trip to Home Depot and a couple of hours of getting wet and muddy Jason saved the day again. The leak is repaired and our water is back on. I didn't push my luck with any pictures as I had a strong desire to live to see another day. To give you an idea of Jason's unhappy expression today here is a picture I took a few months ago of Jason dealing with a different plumbing issue. Not a happy look is it?

Sometimes I wonder if Jason wishes he were not so handy. When the car had its boo boo I would have just had it towed and had someone pick me up and give me a ride home. No crawling under the car in the rain dealing with it myself. As far as our leak I would have called a plumber. Aside from the fact that I am clueless about anything to do with plumbing I'm not good with anything involving tools. Jason gets nervous if he sees me so much as looking at a screw driver. Needless to say we are hoping for a few quiet, uneventful days - especially Jason!

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Romeo

Homer and Elfin

me with B-Rad

I always feel like I am being watched . . . probably because I am

Thomas, Baby and Tony

Chili and Sam

Wiz, Dutch and Murphy with Sam in the background

Thor

Details

2011-12-26T18:48:00.002-06:00

The old saying that the devil is in the details is very true at least here on this retirement farm. In terms of duty delineation I clearly come out on top. I and the employees look after the details that are farm related including keeping the pastures mowed, the machinery running and the fences fixed and some of the horse work while Melissa does the lion's share of everything else.

There are a LOT of things included in the "everything else" category. Things like monthly invoicing, entering receipts, running QuickBooks, keeping up with bills and payroll, communicating with clients, scheduling client visits, visits for farriers, vet visits, taking pictures and videos of the horses, etc. In addition to this she does more than her share of the hands on horse work too.

Communicating with clients really ought to be it's own whole chapter. At regular boarding barns when a horse needs to see a vet or needs a trim it is often up to the owner to arrange this. Because most of our clients are not local, we look after this for everyone. In addition to regular updates with photos and videos as well as updating the blog several times a week, every time a client's horse needs needs to see a vet or really anything out of the ordinary it requires a host of interactions. These include several emails or phone calls with both the owner and the vet plus follow ups and updates. As much as anything this business is successful because Melissa is an excellent and thorough communicator.

We appreciate our clients and we enjoy what we do. However I am very happy somebody else handles the details because this place would be in four alarm crisis mode ALL the time without Melissa actively working to keep a lid on things !

Lightening yawning and Noble grazing

Darby wins the award for cutest fuzzy ears in the winter

Cuff Links

Walden and Fabrizzio

Cinnamon

Rampal and Tiny

Tony and Baby

Stormy

Ivan, Homer and Moe

Christmas Traditions

2011-12-23T20:38:00.002-06:00

I've been thinking today about Christmas and particularly about the varied traditions it brings about. When you grow up, as I did, in a fairly homogenous small community it's easy to assume that everyone celebrates Christmas in a manner similar to oneself. Of course that isn't true. It's been a revelation to me to see how other families celebrate the holidays. It's been particularly interesting to see and learn what other families consider to be important traditions in their households. Some celebrate with a meal of fresh seafood while others open their presents on Christmas Eve or forgo presents altogether. Cornbread dressing was something I had never heard of until I moved south and I'll admit I still miss the traditional Christmas puddings I grew up with. Of course, I'd be remiss if I forgot to mention those that choose not to celebrate Christmas at all.

Melissa and I are looking forward to spending some time visiting with family, and our first big family dinner usually takes place on Christmas Eve. After we tend to the horses on Christmas morning we usually go to my in-laws to join them for a big breakfast prior to opening our presents. We spend the rest of the day until evening chore time at leisure, either relaxing at a variety of non-strenuous activities or doing nothing at all. A much anticipated nap in the chair usually figures pretty prominently in my Christmas Day activities. Maybe this year we'll do something different and go to a movie.

Whatever your Christmas traditions, Melissa and I would like to wish each and every one of you a very happy and safe holiday.

Clayton, Stormy and Largo hanging out and Kennedy grazing

Sparky and Sky

Chance dozing

Sebastian, Renny and Murphy

George, Fonzi and Chimano

Faune and Winston

The Big Boys came thundering from the back of their pasture staring at something (Trigger, Apollo, Ivan, Homer, Hemi, Levendi, Elfin and Moe)

then they all struck a pose and stared at something very intently

In Memory of Clay

2011-12-20T20:15:00.001-06:00

Yesterday was another sad day for us, we had to say goodbye to Clay. Last Wednesday when Clay was eating dinner he was eating very slowly. Aside from that he was acting completely normal, including trotting in from the back of the pasture with his friends when called up for dinner. His temperature, pulse and respiratory rate were all normal. His capillary refill was normal. Despite all of this, given that Clay was just shy of 33 years old, we called the vet clinic and told them we were bringing a patient. It seemed like overkill at the time, but when anything is less than perfectly normal with an elderly horse it is better to be safe than sorry. Always the perfect gentleman, Clay self loaded on the trailer and we drove to the clinic.

Clay

Clay was examined immediately upon arrival at the clinic. All vitals were still normal and he had excellent gut sounds. His bloodwork was normal and indicated he was fully hydrated. However a rectal exam revealed an impaction. It was only about 12 to 18 inches in from his anus. The vet removed as much manure as he could and it all looked normal. He said the impaction felt pretty large but the good news was everything else seemed to be working normally. The hope was that with the assistance of IV fluids and some oil and water administered via tubing that Clay would pass the impaction and carry on. There was certainly a question mark as to the cause but things were looking very good for recovery.

Clay grazing with Fuzzy and Chili

Thursday morning another rectal exam revealed more manure in the exact same area. The vet again removed the manure. Same thing again that afternoon. By Friday afternoon all the manure had been removed and there was no more impaction. At that point, once the area was clear, Clay's vet said he could feel a large abnormality upon palpation.

such wise eyes

At this point things became more clear. Clay was scoped through his rectum and a large tear at the area where the manure kept backing up was revealed. The tear appeared to be old and chronic. As the vet said there was no blood in the area, not fresh blood, old dried blood, nothing, so it was not anything recent. The tear did not go all the way through the colon, just the first few tissue layers, creating a large pocket. There are no good guesses as to what caused the tear other than an aging body beginning to wear out. Is is assumed that something happened to stretch the tissue around the tear and make the compromised area even larger, creating the pocket where the manure would get packed in and back everything up.

trotting through the snow with Fuzzy

The plan was to keep Clay on IV fluids and continue giving him fluids and oil through a tube as well to make his manure as soft as possible. The hope was that with super soft and wet manure Clay could pass it on his own. If that was the case we were all hoping he could come home and carry on with life with a modified diet.

grazing with Fuzzy

The waiting game began. Clay did not pass any manure Saturday but still seemed comfortable. No more Sunday either but Clay was still comfortable. Then he got uncomfortable Sunday evening and the vets had no choice but to remove manure through another rectal. The manure had stopped at the usual spot around the tear and packed in.

Clay, Fuzzy and Chili

During all of this the surgeon on staff was exploring surgical options for Clay. Unfortunately due to the size of the tear and the location, along with the already weakened tissue that a 33 year old horse has, she determined that Clay was not going to be a good surgical candidate. As if that news was not bad enough Clay's vets also were confident that Clay had nerve damage in the stretched areas of tissue and that was the main reason why Clay could not evacuate manure on his own. In the end we were left with one reasonable and humane choice for Clay, euthanasia. The staff at the clinic gave Clay a big pile of alfalfa hay to eat since he had been on a severely restricted diet the last few days. He munched on his alfalfa. Jason hand picked grass for him and brought it to him in his stall. Then we said goodbye and Clay passed peacefully. Everybody involved, us, his vets, the staff at the clinic, were devastated.

Clay, Chili and Fuzzy

When you were around Clay you knew you were standing in the presence of a wise old soul. He always had a serene aura about him, and he was one of the smartest horses I've ever worked around. The entire time he was at the clinic, with the constant rectal exams and nasogastro tubes, Clay was a perfect gentleman. He never needed to be sedated or restrained. He just stood there while someone held the leadrope. His vet said it was as if Clay knew they were helping him and could not believe that for several days in a row Clay stood quietly for each procedure. Jason and I were not surprised at all. We already knew Clay was a wise old soul.

Clay and Chili

Clay had lived with us for several years. Jason and I were reminiscing about the first day we met him. Clay walked off the trailer and we put him in a stall next to his buddy Chili who had travelled with him. Clay stood in the stall with his legs trembling, probably from a combination of nerves (he had not been on a trailer in 10 years) and being tired from his long trailer ride. We gave Clay some paste electrolytes and stood outside his stall watching him anxiously. Jason made the comment "It will surprise me if he is with us six months from now."

Clay and Snappy

Clay rebounded quickly and within a few hours he was happily eating hay and settling in. Happily he beat Jason's worried prediction of six months by several years. Clay quickly made it clear that while kind and gentle to both people and horses, he was no pushover either. He quickly rose to number two in the order in his group. The joke was that Clay walked around with an air of quiet self confidence that said "I have been there and done that."

enjoying a good roll

Clay had been owned by his family for almost twenty years. He started out life as a race horse on the Quarter Horse racing circuit. He won $18,000 at the track. I have always said that this part of his history surprises me. Clay was so smart and not spooky at all, and had this vision of the gates flying open and the bell ringing and Clay just standing there going "what is everyone in a panic about?"

Clay enjoyed the retired life

After his racing career he joined his family and became a trail riding companion. His mom said she had been devoted to Clay ever since one day out on the trails when he saved her life. She had been trail riding with her daughter who was on her pony and they had been out for several hours. They were riding in the mountains and she had lost her way. She kept trying to to get them on the right path home but without success. Finally, scared and trying not to cry in front of her daughter, she dropped the reins and said to Clay, "Clay, please get us home. "

Clay felt you could never roll too much

During that ride she never picked up the reins again. As it turned out they were almost 10 miles off their trail and at over 10,000 feet elevation in mountain lion territory. Clay picked his way along, sometimes at the walk, sometimes at the trot and canter, through the dark on the narrow, steep and twisting trails. A few hours later he got them back to their base safely. She firmly believes that Clay saved her and her daughter's lives that day, and as she said she has been devoted to him ever since.

Clay with Lightening and Chili

Unfortunately Clay had to be retired from riding a couple of years later due to navicular at the age of 12. Clay enjoyed 21 years of retirement, the last several with us. As Jason pointed out yesterday Clay really should have had no complaints in life. He essentially retired at the age of 30 and got to lead a pampered life that someone else paid for until he passed at 95. I don't know anyone who would complain about that. After 22 years of retirement Clay certainly does not support the oft repeated refrain that horses "need a job" in order to live a long and happy life.

Slinky and Clay

Clay leaves behind his close friend of almost 20 years, Chili. Fuzzy was also especially attached to Clay. We have been watching them closely since we took Clay to the clinic last Wednesday. As we have always seen in the past Chili and Fuzzy have been just fine and acting their usual happy selves. As for us, well we have not been just fine. It really hit Jason today when were preparing breakfast for everyone this morning and filling up feed bags. Before he realized it he had filled Clay's feedbag. He stood there with Clay's feedbag, fully absoring the reality that Clay was permanently gone. It was a heartbreaking moment. We miss his kind and gentle presence.

Clay's dad said it well when we were telling him the only humane option left was euthanasia, "goodbye to a good soldier." Clay was a wise old soul and good soldier. May he rest in peace.

Sam

2011-12-18T20:55:00.004-06:00

Sam is a 13 year old Hanoverian gelding who joined us for retirement this summer. Sam was bred and born in Germany. His sire is Saint Cloud who was a Grand Prix dressage horse.

While Sam was frolicing in a field in Germany as a young horse his future mom was riding and showing her Arabian gelding, ironically named Ham. Sam's mom had been showing Ham at some USDF rated dressage shows and she was also starting to do the upper level ratings in Pony Club and becoming more involved in eventing. When it came time to purchase a horse more suitable for moving up the levels she began the search for another horse.

Sam and him mom schooling at home

Sam's mom looked at horses up and down the East Coast for about six months. She never found what she was looking for and ended up trying horses at a farm in Canada. While she did not find the horse she was looking for in Canada, she did meet someone that she trusted to travel to the Verband Auction in Germany and pick out a horse for her.

Sam at the Verband Auction in Germany

This person picked Sam out for her at the Verband Auction. After Sam enjoyed a plane ride from Germany and a short quarantine, Sam and his mom met for the first time nine years ago. Sam was a very green four year old that had just been lightly started undersaddle. She said she remembers meeting Sam for the first time and holding the leadrope attached to the gorgeous and feisty black gelding and wondering what she had gotten herself into.

Sam and his mom at a dressage show

It turned out she had gotten herself a wonderful partner and they began furthering their training together in both jumping and dressage. At first they did a lot of jumping, and over the years the migrated more and more towards dressage. Sam was very athletic and full of try under saddle, but as his mom said you had to keep his brain engaged and keep him from getting bored. If you didn't he would find ways to start entertaining himself under saddle. This usually involved a spook and spin, or sometimes a buck. His mom said Sam was the most talented bucker in a barn full of really athletic horses, and she developed a great seat riding him.

When riding Sam the challenge was to keep his mind focused on the task at hand while channeling his energy in a constructive manner. His mom said that when everything came together when riding Sam he was an amazing ride. Soft and supple in the bridle, forward, sensitive yet always listening. She especially loved riding his extensions as she said it felt like you were floating.

Sam and his mom

Sam and his mom finally found a trainer that they really clicked with a couple of years ago. A lot of trainers wanted to label Sam as difficult since he required such a tactful ride. It was during these last couple of years that she and Sam had their best work under saddle. They went all the way back to basics and spent a month at the walk learning how to walk into contact. Then they worked on really going forward at the trot. After they had mastered these two things they started to advance very quickly. They often drew an audience for their dressage lessons as Sam had become so impressive to watch under saddle.

Sam on the move a few weeks ago

Sam and his mom had their low point about three years ago. Sam bucked her off and she had a compression fracture in her back. This episode sent them looking for reasons for the much stronger than usual bucking episode, and Sam was diagnosed with kissing spines. Sam was successfully treated and brought back to work, they found their wonderful trainer and were having the best riding times they had ever had.

Sam trotting through the pasture in one of his first weeks with us, I'm sure he was about to go cause trouble somewhere.

A few little things started bothering Sam in the last couple of years and he wound up having various joint injections done. Then he came up lame up front and an MRI showed severe navicular changes in one front hoof and moderate changes in the other. Sam's vets were amazed he had been in work and was only showing mild lameness relative to the changes seen on the MRI. His mom decided at that point that she was not going to keep pushing things and trying to patch him together, she was worried if she did that he would wind up really broken. Instead she decided to retire him now so he could really enjoy retirement after 9 years of working and trying hard for her.

Sam's personality is exactly as him mom described it to us. He is very self confident and likes to be in the middle of things. He is never bored and is always finding ways to entertain himself, just like he did when he was being ridden. He has a very in charge personality and if there is a ruckus going on in his group you can be confident that Sam is in the middle of it and probably the cause. Because his mom decided to retire him before he was pushed too hard he is enjoying retirement to the fullest. He is a very lucky horse!

We hope you have enjoyed learning about Sam as much as we have enjoyed getting to know him the last few months!

Water in Winter

2011-12-15T22:53:00.000-06:00

I remember being stuck in Lexington due to an ice storm three winters ago when Melissa called crying and cold after being outside for seven hours on a ten degree morning trying to keep all the water troughs open. Fortunately there was not ice in Middle Tennessee but it was much colder than normal and at that time we did not have electricity at every trough. We also had one hydrant that had a leak and it froze during this very hard freeze.

In spite of the ice in Kentucky, I dusted off my winter driving skills and left Lexington immediately. After an epic trek across central Kentucky including three hours on the Bluegrass Parkway completely by myself (I later found out they closed the highway) I finally made it home and put my Canadian cold weather skills toward remedying some of our problems. A few hours with a blow torch had us in water again and everyone was happy. Fortunately we don't get many ten degree mornings in this part of the world, but I disliked that one enough that I swore up and down that we were going to do better when we had our new place.

Fast forward three years. As we approach winter, one of the nicest things about having everyone at the new farm is having properly installed, correctly buried water lines, properly installed hydrants and insulated troughs in every paddock and around all the buildings. We have eliminated the need for electricity and trough heaters which is a huge relief as you always worry about trickle voltage when using them. Cold weather and the possibility of intermittent power doesn't scare me a bit any more. In spite of the infamous rock, every line and connection on the farm is buried two feet deep...more than twice the frost line in southern Middle Tennessee. The horses have instant access to unlimited quantities of fresh, clean water and if something fails there are shut offs everywhere and redundancies are already built into the system.

Winter coming ? Yawn. This Canuck says bring it on !

Toledo and Johnny

something had Fuzzy and B-Rad's attention

Elfin even managed to get his eyebrows dirty when he rolled

Rampal and Largo

Calimba, Norman and Cuff Links

Gus

Thor, Walden and Lucky

Chimano, Faune and Winston

More on the Pony Wars

2011-12-13T21:35:00.000-06:00

We have told many stories of the pony wars that have happened here throughout the years. The mares like to stake their claim on a pony and occasionally they have what could be described as "discussions" about who owns which pony.

One mare who has tended to stay out of the pony wars, in fact has seemed to have a total disinterest in ponies, has been Lily. Her arch nemesis in the world of ponies has been Cuff Links. When Lily first arrived and was integrating into her new group she was, how can we put this, unnecessarily rude to Cuffie sometimes. Cuffie had arrived about three months prior and had not yet become the pony we know and love today. Although comfortable in the group he was not the independent, bossy, overly full of himself pony that we know and love today. He was still respectful of his elders and if someone told him to move out of the way he did so promptly.

This went on for a few months with Lily clearly dominant over Cuffie. Until one day things changed. Lily pinned her ears at Cuffie and told him to move, she wanted to graze where he was grazing. Cuffie ignored her and kept grazing. Lily swung her butt around and in horse talk was telling Cuffie to move now or face my wrath. Cuffie's response to this was to swing his butt around and fire double barrels at Lily. Lily was so stunned she walked a few steps away. Cuffie didn't stop, but instead threw it in reverse and flew backwards at Lily with hind legs flying. Lily hustled out of his way, in fact went almost halfway across the pasture, with a stunned look on her face.

For almost two years this remained the status quo between Lily and Cuffie. Their roles were reversed and at times Cuffie was "unnecessarily rude" to Lily just to remind her where her place was. Most of the time they just functioned together as part of the group but every now and then Cuffie would remind Lily of the way things were, and that they hadn't changed.

Right about the time that we moved their group to the new farm we began noticing subtle changes in the dynamics between Cuffie and Lily. Cuffie seemed to no longer feel the need to remind Lily from time to time of how things were. Now it is not an unusual sight to see them paired off together, we see this routinely whereas it used to be rare. It is too soon to tell if Lily has not only claimed a pony but claimed Cuffie, her former arch nemesis, or if they are more like frenemies. Cuffie typically prefers not to be claimed anyway and likes to remain independent and be his own boss, despite the fact that pretty much every mare has tried to stake their claim on him. It will be interesting to watch them over the next few months and see if this new friendship remains or if the former status quo returns.

I took this picture of Lily and Cuffie a couple of weeks ago

matching chestnuts; Fuzzy has his ears forward and Murphy has his ears to the side

then they switched ears; Fuzzy's to the side and Murphy's forward

Tiny and Johnny

Alex

Gus, Chimano, Fonzi and Asterik

Toledo, Largo and Rampal watching and waiting anxiously for breakfast

Cinnamon

Thor

George

Fabrizzio and Walden

Chainsaws and Loaders

2011-12-11T19:33:00.001-06:00

I had a profoundly thankful thought as I was effortlessly spearing and feeding 1,000 pound bales of hay with the front end loader earlier today. If there are two tools I absolutely cannot imagine trying to run a farm without they would be a chainsaw and a heavy duty front end loader tractor.

That said, I'm going to start my thankful tool post with a gripe. If anyone wants to become an instant millionaire all they need to do is invent a blade for a chainsaw that holds an edge for more than a couple of hours. It is no exaggeration to say that for every hour I run a chainsaw I spend at least half that much time re-sharpening the chain. If I have a bunch of cutting to do and a limited time to get it done in, the easiest and fastest thing to do is bring along several sharp chains and worry about repairing and sharpening the dull ones at a later time.

Dull chains and all I still cannot imagine trying to run a farm without instant access to a really good chainsaw. For fun I've run a crosscut saw with a friend a few times. I cannot fathom the labour involved in trying to convert a two foot thick oak trunk into manageable pieces with a crosscut saw and an axe. Yet until a couple of generations ago this is exactly how logs were cut up.

As I mentioned earlier, the other non-optional tool around here is a heavy duty front end loader. In the winter, our loader's main job is feeding and moving hay. Just in the last week we've fed out 10,000 lbs of hay and have moved another 25,000 lbs. All total this took me about an hour. Prior to 1950 every pound of hay on this farm would have been moved, stacked and fed with a pitchfork. (Melissa chiming in to say I would just quit. No way am I moving 10,000 pounds of hay a week with a pitchfork. I wouldn't get anything else done.) We regularly ask our loader to lift, move, spread and smooth literally tons of earth and gravel, lift and move logs, push and pile brush, etc, etc.

That we can get as much accomplished as we do every day is in no small part thanks to the many labour saving devices we own and operate. My back and I are thankful for each and every one of them.

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Grazing as the sun was going down; Apollo, Thomas, Hemi, Trigger, Leo, Tony

Miss Lyle in the back of the gator, Mina attempting to climb in and Jo watching. When you are a fainting goat everything is a toy.

Miss Lyle demonstrating her climbing technique with Mina watching

Wiz and Sebastian napping with Murphy and Sam hanging out

This picture is demonstrating how hard it is to be a retired horse. Gus, Fonzi, Silver and Romeo are down and George, Chimano, Faune and Asterik are hanging out.

Renny and Clay

B-Rad

Calimba and Maisie

Lighty looking so clean and well groomed that I think we should use this picture for marketing purposes.

Baby, Trigger and Moe

Toledo rolling, Kennedy hanging out and Stormy grazing

Walden, Lucky, Snappy, Fabrizzio and Noble

Clayton

2011-12-08T19:22:00.000-06:00

Clayton and his mom first met in February of 1996. Clayton's mom had ridden some when she was a child. She had a couple of horses and had fun with them but never took riding lessons, just enjoyed her horses. When she started high school she stopped riding altogether. As often happens she felt the urge to return to horses, and when she was 30 she bought a horse. She rode that horse for 13 years until she retired him, and the search began for another horse.

Clayton

(photo credit Bob Tarr)

She ended up purchasing another horse from a dealer in upstate New York. That horse turned out to have a lot of soundness issues, so she took him back to the dealer in February of 96 and picked out another horse. This horse was Clayton and it was the beginning of a long and special relationship between them. At the time of purchase Clayton was five years old. His mom doesn't know much about Clayton's life prior to her purchasing him except he was bred in Canada and he is half Selle Francais, 1/4 thoroughbred and 1/4 percheron.

Clayton showing off at a dressage show

(photo credit Bob Tarr)

Clayton was very green when his mom purchased him and she wisely always made sure that she and Clayton were under the guidance of a good trainer as they progressed in dressage. As his mom said the thoroughbred side of Clayton never really showed up under saddle. He was kick along quiet and liked to squeal in protest and do little bucks when his rider would insist that he start working and engage himself. Most of the time the bucks were little and nothing scary. One time when his trainer was riding him across the diagonal she asked him for a lead change. Clayton threw a huge buck and sent his trainer airborne, the only time Clayton ever did anything like that. When his mom told me that story I said "I'm sure Clayton felt really bad after it happened, that is so not him." His mom said "no, I don't think he felt bad about it at the time!"

this photo was used to create the painting below

"PUNCH" is a 60" x 36" oil on canvas painting of Clayton by Patricia Powers. I would love to see the PUNCH painting in real life. As gorgeous as this replica is (scanned from a notecard) I am confident that it must be seen in full size to be truly appreciated.

Clayton's personality is aptly described by his mom, she refers to him as the Wal-Mart greeter of horses. Clayton loves everyone and assumes that anyone he encounters, be it another horse, a person, or even a fainting goat, has come along to be his friend. I don't think Clayton knows what it means to be in a bad mood.

My favorite picture that I have taken of Clayton, taken almost a year ago on his second day with us. Clayton was being playful with Kennedy, note all four hooves are off the ground. Clayton had rolled and when he got up from his roll he sprang straight up into the air and did a 360 spin.

Clayton's kind and happy personality was put to the test several years ago when he was kicked just above the knee. This resulted in a spiral fracture and in infection. Clayton had to be tied in a stall for three months and could not be allowed to lay down. It was a rough time for Clayton and his mom. Thankfully Clayton pulled through and made a full recovery.

Clayton looking very focused at a horse show

(photo credit Bob Tarr)

Clayton and his mom showed through first level and he showed through third level with his trainer. They did not do a lot of showing through the years and kept the focus more on training and enjoying each other. Six years ago Clayton started having some soundness issues and was diagnosed with ringbone. Despite the best efforts of Clayton's mom and her team Clayton was never completely sound again due to the ringbone and their riding days came to end.

Clayton with his mom and dad

(B. Cataldo photo credit)

In some of the various pictures we have posted of Clayton on the blog you may have noticed that he is missing his left eye. A few years ago he began having reoccurring bouts of uveitis. He had a cyclosporine implant put in at Ohio State which helped for awhile, but eventually his eye had to be enucleated. With his laid back personality Clayton has adapted well to his circumstances. Most people who watch him in the pasture interacting with the other horses do not even realize Clayton is missing an eye. It doesn't stop him from playing hard and being rambunctious when the mood strikes him.

Clayton winning a high score award at 1st Level

(photo credit B. Cataldo)

We met Clayton almost a year ago in January. His mom made the hard decision to not keep him in Ohio with her after 15 years of seeing him almost every day so he could have more turnout. Clayton also had to leave behind his girlfriend, a mare named Marlie who had been his neighbor for several years. His mom said one of the hardest things in her decision to retire Clayton with us was breaking up his romance with Marlie. Hopefully no one told Marlie that Clayton did not spend any time mourning the loss of their relationship. He wasted little time settling in and quickly discovered the joys of playing with Toledo and hanging out with Stormy.

Clayton getting some pats from his mom for a job well done

We have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Clayton over the past year and we hope you have enjoyed getting to know him as well. Several people have asked about Clayton after seeing his pictures on our blog. To borrow Paul Harvey's words, now you know the rest of the story!

a couple of pictures from a schooling ride at home

Things Jason learned in 2011

2011-12-06T21:54:00.000-06:00

1. Redbox is a vending machine for movie rentals ! Of course I'd heard of Redbox, but I had no idea until this year what it actually was or where I might find such a thing. (I'm aware this has absolutely nothing to do with horses !)

2. If you pull up old fence wire with your city born wife who (thankfully) had no idea what this entailed ahead of time, you're guaranteed ten curse words a minute between you, no matter how unlikely that may seem while reading this at home. Don't believe me ? Give it a try and report back to me.

3. It doesn't matter how much money your southern born wife spends in pursuit of winter time comfort, if it rains and snows hard enough for long enough she's going to be wet, cold and miserable anyway! (Please don't tell her I said this).

4. It's not very manly to dress up your fainting goat for Hallowe'en.

5. We buy gravel the in exactly the way some people buy tobacco products or alcohol. I wonder if there's a group called "Gravalholics Anonymous".

6. Frogs, bleach, wives and water troughs don't mix well at all.

7. If you are going to play pasture strip tease with your southern wife, for your sake wait until it's a lot warmer than 43 degrees outside ! :)

8. Some rocks aren't going to move no matter how much effort you put into it.

Melissa here. I saw this post and asked Jason if he forgot to finish writing it. He said no. I said "but your list only has 1-8, aren't these usually top 10 type lists?" He just shrugged his shoulders and walked away so . . . I guess this means he hasn't learned anything else??? I was hoping that number 9 would be something like "I've learned my wife usually hands out excellent advice and now I listen to her." 2011 is not over yet so Jason still has time to learn one more thing.

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Lighty, Alex and Darby

Ivan and Hemi

Rampal and Tiny with Rocky grazing in the background

Kennedy, Stormy and Toledo flat out on the ground

Norman and Cuff Links

Calimba

Fonzi, Romeo, Gus and Silver were staring at something intently

Winston joined the others in staring at whatever had captured their attention

Rampal, Clayton and Kennedy

Cleaning Hay Feeders and Preparing for Rain

2011-12-04T20:10:00.000-06:00

First of all, Melissa wants to say thank you to everyone for their boot suggestions, no doubt another purchase is in her near future. Her box from REI came on Friday and I got to see all of Melissa's winter clothing and glove purchases. Curiously, I saw everything except the bill. I'm thinking that little nugget will remain well hidden for some time.

As Melissa mentioned late fall weather in Tennessee can be somewhat schizophrenic. We've got a cold front that's getting ready to stall out just to our west overnight tonight and that scenario usually brings copious day long rains to our neck of the woods courtesy of moisture from the Gulf of Mexico. But today was simply gorgeous; shirt sleeve warm (even for Melissa) with lots of bright sunshine and a nice breeze out of the south. We've had several days in a row of nice weather and the ground has dried up quickly.

I thought today would be a good day to clean up the wasted hay in each hay feeder as well as the manure that collects around the feeders. We try to do this every few weeks as the weather permits because if you don't keep after it the hay feeders slowly get buried in a stomped up mess of old hay, and the feeders get surrounded by a stomped up mess of dropped hay and manure. We stand each round bale hay feeder on it's edge and roll it a safe distance away and then we scrape up and push away the old hay and manure with the front end loader of the tractor. We do our best to remove everything and get all the way down to the gravel layer. This often requires the use of a pitchfork to supplement the front end loader. Like most jobs on the farm this one can get tedious, but it was such a nice day that I actually briefly felt sorry for all the folks sitting inside wondering what to do with themselves. After a few hours of labour we had this done and we ended our day by refilling the feeders with new hay.

Although we started out grumbling about working on Sunday it turned into a nice day. I hope you had a nice weekend !

Kennedy and Toledo napping with Stormy hanging out

Fonzi

Norman

Silky

Trigger and Baby

Lightening, Walden and Fabrizzio

Snappy, Lightening and Lucky

Clayton and Largo having a grooming session

Maisie, Calimba and Cinnamon

Different Perspectives and Boot Suggestions

2011-12-01T22:37:00.001-06:00

We've been having some typical end of fall weather in the last week. It went from 70's and sunny, to 50's and then 40's and raining, and as of this afternoon we were back in the 60's. This time of year Mother Nature tends to exhibit multiple personality disorder. One thing that has been consistent in the last week is the morning temperatures have been cool, anywhere from around freezing to mid 4o's as we start our day.

It is no secret to anyone who has read this blog that I really dislike cold weather. Jason with his Canadian roots does not have as many issues with cold weather. This morning as we were getting ready to start our work day I compared our outfits. Jason had on his jeans, a long-sleeved shirt, and he had a jacket with him. I had on long underwear (top and bottom), jeans, two pairs of socks, a turtleneck, a sweatshirt, my heavy coat and gloves.

It was a bright and sunny day and Jason's jacket lasted about 20 minutes. After about 45 minutes I did take of my gloves, but the rest of my ensemble remained. At noon I took my coat off, but the long underwear, jeans, turtleneck, and sweatshirt remained. I was able to continue to work comfortably like this for the rest of the day, even as the thermostat finally worked its way up to sixty degrees. Jason kept asking me if I was hot. I kept replying that I was comfortable. He absolutely could not fathom this and all day long I kept having to answer the same question, "aren't you hot?"

One would think after several years of marriage and working together in the great outdoors that Jason would have clued in to the fact that it takes a lot of heat and sunshine for me to be hot. But apparently he still doesn't grasp this concept. I guess when my box of winter apparel arrives from REI tomorrow he will be surprised, although I don't know why. I'm most excited about the Sealskinz gloves I ordered, I hope they live up to their claim of being waterproof. I also have some more Smartwool socks on the way, more long underwear, hand and foot warmers, sweatshirts, etc. I'm trying to be prepared, and hoping that being prepared will keep me from needing all of this stuff.

My only source of frustration is my ongoing hunt for winter boots. The last couple of years I've worn insulated paddock boots that were waterproof. However I always manage to kill the waterproofing and put cracks in the foot within a few weeks. Jason told me to order Sorel boots, a Canadian brand. I ordered those and wore them twice last week. My feet still hurt from wearing them, they are the clunkiest, heaviest, most uncomfortable things I think I've ever walked around in. To be fair they were very warm and dry (they are rated to -60F!) but I was crippled after two days of wearing them. I've also tried two pairs of Muck Boots in the past but they always pull my socks down and rub my heels. And surely I am not the only person who has managed to put cracks in Muck Boots?

If anyone has any suggestions for winter boots to try (waterproof and warm are my goals) please share!

Sebastian

the Blue Heron that we see almost every day

Kennedy and Toledo

Wiz

Silky and Calimba

Chance and Leo

Tony

Trigger and Thomas napping, Apollo and Baby grazing, Homer hanging out

Hemi

Johnny, Rampal and Largo

Back in the Construction Zone

2011-11-29T20:22:00.000-06:00

Last Friday we celebrated the day after Thanksgiving by finding ourselves back in a construction zone. I'm here to tell you it seems like it will never end. A couple of weeks ago we had some a day of heavy rain. It was the first heavy rainfall since the warm season grasses went dormant (and hence were not soaking up much water) and we found that we had some issues with drainage and standing water in a couple of areas which needed to be addressed. In addition to our drainage issues we needed to relocate a couple of our water hydrants and we also upgraded some of our existing water "infrastructure." We added lines for waterers, put in some more shutoff valves, etc.

Looking at these pictures that I took on Friday it is hard to to believe that through Saturday we were all working in t-shirts in gorgeous 70 degree weather. That changed on Sunday and the last few days have been anything but gorgeous with cool temperature and lots of rain. I've been sporting an unhappy face and several layers of clothes and the horses have had their rainsheets on. Thankfully we should return to more pleasant weather in a couple more days.

Getting back on topic the horses found it very interesting to watch the big excavator digging away in their paddocks. We would chase them away only to have them come back and resume their positions. The only problem with this is they tended to park themselves right in the way and then when the operator needed to move around to work on different areas they wouldn't move, and instead would stand there and have a stand-off with the excavator. Another one of those scenarios where if someone had been riding them it would have been 1001 excuses to spook.

Faune acting as supervisor while the poor guy operating the excavator played dodge the horses(s). Faune was one of the ones that would. not. move. when the excavator came towards him, and I finally had to run him off with a leadrope!

Romeo doing some supervising

While the contractor was working away on the water lines Jason was working away on our drainage issues. Jason was running what we were calling the "mini me" excavator. Of course he wants one of his very own for Christmas but I'm pretty sure Santa isn't planning to leave one under the tree.

Jason figuring out the controls

Jason dug trenches and then we placed tile drains in them. I am happy to report that our drainage problems seem to be solved, his work has been well tested from all of the rain the last few days. Jason was at the back barn trenching away and we realized it was almost two in the afternoon, we hadn't eaten anything all day and we were hungry.

We decided we were going to take a break so we could go somewhere to get a quick bite to eat since we were starving. Then we realized that we had dug a trench from one side of the barn yard fence to the other - and the truck was parked behind the trench. In what can only be described as a stroke of genius (not) we had trenched ourselves in! This led to some testy moments when we realized we were going to stay hungry for awhile. We wasted some time and both displayed what could best be described as a crabby attitude as we tried to decide who was responsible for our predicament.

the trenched in truck

After a few minutes of ill-tempered squabbling we re-engaged our brains and began dragging a couple hundred feet of tile drain around as fast as we could and positioning it in the trench. Jason then backfilled in a few feet so we could drive our genius selves out of the barn yard and go eat. We now are the proud owners of some new tile drainage and even more water lines. Who could ask for more?

Fonzi napped in the hay while Silver, Chimano and Romeo were eating

Hemi and Trigger

Thomas

Toledo, Kennedy and Rampal

Moe

Hemi

B-Rad and Sebastian with their faces buried in hay

the mares and ponies had their heads in the hay as well

George, Asterik, Winston and Faune

As the World Turns

2011-11-27T20:40:00.002-06:00

(post by Jason) Maybe it would be a more accurate title if it said As the Seasons Turn because the upcoming forecast suggests several cool, wet days so this marked the first general blanketing of fall 2011. We measure the passage and entrance of seasons a little differently than most people do, and the first general blanketing is a big turning point in our world because it means our blanketing season has arrived. For the next three months, blankets will be put on and taken off MANY times.

Usually we feed our first hay a few days after the first real good frost. As is usual in this part of the world, the first good frost happened a few days into November, and we put our first round bales out on November 12th. Up until now, November has been a very pleasant month (at least for me) temperature wise, featuring lots of warm, sunny days in the 60's and 70's and cool nights in the 40's.

We are far enough south that taking seasonal cues from plants is kind of hit or miss. While most of the trees are bare here in the winter, we do have some large broad leaf evergreens and the understory is FULL of broad leaf evergreens. There is something in bloom every month of the year and it's no exaggeration to say that it's only a little harder to find flowers in the middle of winter here than it is in mid-summer.

I'm looking forward to some cooler weather to get me in the Christmas spirit and this week upcoming should provide that remedy for this Canadian-American !

Lighty and Alex getting their sheets nice and dirty

Sam and Wiz (in their matching sheets) thought Alex and Lighty had a fine idea

Wiz, Dutch, Sam and Murphy

Lily and Cuffie

Darby and Alex

Tony, Hemi, Moe and Thomas

Homer and Baby

Apollo and Ivan

George and Asterik (I wish they could all be this clean)

Lucky, Slinky and O'Reilly

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T19:56:00.000-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! As usual on the holidays we worked today. It was a beautiful day in middle Tennessee and I was appreciative to be out enjoying the day and working with the horses. As I walked around the farm this morning feeding and doing chores I took some time to really admire the views which are much easier to see these days with the trees missing their leaves. I am blessed to own and work in such a beautiful place (although I will admit to complaining about it on rainy days).

I have so much in my life and much to be thankful for. I have far too many people in my life who deserve to be thanked individually, but if you are reading this thank you for all the support, either virtually or in "real life." I have many blessings, and today was a beautiful day to appreciate all of them.

________________________________________

As I walked along the driveway from the back of the farm towards the front I was very thankful for this view

Maisie, Cinnamon, Norman, MyLight and Calimba coming on the run for Thanksgiving breakfast

Tony was pretty fascinated with our visitor yesterday

Lucky and O'Reilly having a nice Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving breakfast: Chili, Murphy, B-Rad, Sam, Lighty, Clay, Renny

another Thanksgiving meal; Hoffy, Sparky the donkey, Bonnie, Sky and Miracle

B-Rad says he his thankful to be back

Fabrizzio, Walden, Thor and Noble

Romeo, Chimano, Faune and Winston

Silver

Fuzzy and Sebastian

Deer in the Headlights....or in the Fence

2011-11-22T18:29:00.001-06:00

Anyone who uses electric fence knows that the most critical detail regarding fence management is to always keep the fence hot. However, users of electric fence will tell you that keeping an their fence hot all the time is often considerably more challenging than it would first appear to be. We try to keep 5000 volts on everything at an absolute minimum, and I try pretty hard for twice that much though I don't always succeed.

Some of the problems and challenges you run into while trying to keep electric fence hot sure are interesting. After a lifetime of installing and dealing with multiple miles of fence plus various types of solar and electric chargers I've gotten pretty good at diagnosing problems just by reading and interpreting what the volt meter is telling me. For instance, a reading of zero volts means the fence is completely grounded out; most often a complete ground is only achieved when a piece of metal manages to touch the electric fence and the ground at the same time. More often, one gets a reading that is very low everywhere, or that's very low and fluctuates. Most of the time that means a good sized piece of wood is lying across one or more sections of fence and either the contact with the wood is causing a partial ground or sometimes the fence is actually lying directly on the ground. But as today's story will show, that is not always the case.

Of course I think it is important to be pretty thorough about testing our fences, and as such we check every bit of fence along the road one or more times a day. We're a little less thorough with internal fences and boundary fences that don't abut a road but we still check all of it several times a week. I last checked the rear-most section of fence that borders our hay fields a couple of days ago so it was time to recheck them today. That's easy to do because we have a strand of electric wire that runs all the way around the back of the farm on top of a four board wood fence. So the first thing I did was hook up the voltmeter to check the charge. I found the charge to be low and fluctuating (800-1300 V), which as I mentioned earlier usually means a branch lying across one or more sections of fence. Only one thing to do and that's walk around and check it out.

Much to my surprise the short wasn't caused from a piece of wood, but instead from a very dead deer ! I've seen a lot of things in my time but I never have seen a deer caught up in a single strand of electric fence atop a four board wood fence. How in the world it managed to get caught up the way it did I will never know, but it somehow managed to snare it's right rear hoof in such a way that it couldn't free itself and there it lay until I found it. It did such a good job of entangling itself in my fence that I couldn't free it's leg with the tools I had on hand either, so I guess tomorrow's job will be to take the tractor and some additional tools to the back and see if I can fix my fence and extract the deer from it at the same time. Strangest thing I've seen in quite a while. (Melissa here - I have opted not to see the deer in person although I fear I may to have to help extract it from the fence. Not sure if I'm up for that. Not sure at all.)

Happy grazers Johnny, Rampal, Tiny, Rocky, Largo and Kennedy

Lily

MyLight

Calimba and Maisie

George and Fonzi

Johnny and Kennedy hanging out, Toledo napping hard and Tiny grazing

Rampal

Leo

Grand

Silky

2011-11-20T19:11:00.001-06:00

Silky is a 28 year old Appaloosa mare who was born in Flagstaff, Arizona. She was bred to race and her sire is Deep South who is in the Appaloosa Hall of Fame and out of Go Yummer. Silky’s early career was at an Appaloosa race track and she raced under the name Strumming Yummer. After just a handful of races Silky injured her back, and somehow she made her way to Oklahoma where she was a barrel racer for a couple of years.

Silky

After her barrel racing stint Silky was labeled as “psycho” and “untrainable” and wound up at an auction. A trainer from Florida, Lynn, happened to be attending the auction. She purchased Silky and took her to Florida with plans of retraining her for a career as a hunter or a jumper. It was in Florida, 23 years ago, that Silky and her mom met.

Deep South, Silky's sire

Silky’s mom was attending summer camp at the barn where Silky was living. It was her first time being around horses and she was assigned a 30 year old mare named Star. Star was slow and bombproof and gentle, but Silky’s mom found herself drawn to another stall. The stall that everyone was warned to stay away from. This horse would kick the stall walls, charge the stall door, and snort and grind her teeth so loudly that you could hear it on the other side of the barn. This horse was, of course, Silky.

Silky napping with Missy and MyLight hanging out

Silky’s mom began hanging out around her stall. Silky didn’t trust this new person at all but she was curious. They began to bond over their shared love of apples and carrots. Once Silky got used to her eating in front of her stall she started paying her some attention, and eventually Silky’s mom was able to feed her and pet her. Eventually the summer was over and Silky’s mom had to go back to school.

During this time Silky’s mom had recently been adopted, but she felt more alone than ever. After summer was over and she went back to school she acted out, badly and often. One day her father finally dropped to his knees in front of her and tearfully asked what he had to do to get her to accept him and her mom and her new life. She said she wanted Silky. Her dad called Lynn and said they wanted to purchase Silky. Lynn was opposed to it as she didn’t feel it was a good idea to match a beginner child with a difficult horse. However her father told Lynn they would pay whatever it cost in order for Silky to be properly trained and that week Silky’s mom officially became Silky’s mom.

Silky on the run

A few weeks after that, Silky promptly tossed her mom into a puddle -- her first fall. As soon as she fell, Silky stopped, craned her neck to look at her, tossed her head and walked back toward the barn. She never fell off of Silky again. Silky learned (somehow) how to shift herself under her weight when she felt that her young rider was off balance. Countless times her trainer yelled, “she just saved your ass kid.” They learned together and soon found themselves ranked number two in Florida for the 13 and under division on the hunter circuit.

At this point, with the riding going so well, the family decided to move to Tryon, NC to immerse themselves in the horse scene. They bought 20 acres and built a house, a couple of barns, and put in an arena. Additional horses were purchased to maximize showing and training, but Silky remained the “go to” horse.

A couple of pictures from Tryon, NC

Silky’s riding career almost ended shortly after the family moved to North Carolina, she had a severe tying up episode. Silky was paralyzed from the top of her neck to her rump. She would not, or maybe could not eat, drink or do anything. Her mom found her that way during the morning feeding before school. When she got home from school her mother and the vet pulled her aside to explain that Silky was going to have to be put down. They were telling her to say her goodbyes.

Silky grazing with Traveller

That night she did not leave Silky’s side. She cried and begged Silky to move, to do anything. Her mom brought her some food and a soda at some point. When she popped the top on the coke, Silky’s ears moved to the sound, showing interest. Silky’s mom poured the coke into a bucket and held it up to Silky’s lips. Though she wouldn’t drink water, she drank the entire coke. By the end of the hour, Silky had drunk three cokes and was trying to move around her stall. Her parents called the vet back out. By the time, the vet arrived, an hour or so later, Silky was moving stiffly around her stall. The vet warned them that they were not out of the woods, but she was happily shocked by this development.

Happily Silky continued to improve. The vet said that she would need a minimum of six months of easy work and no showing, and they decided to breed Silky during her time off. Silky had a filly and her mom named her Goddess. Goddess would be 16 now and is an Appaloosa/Hanoverian cross. The goal in choosing a sire was to keep Silky’s speed, personality and love of jumping while hopefully adding to the mix a love of dressage. Goddess was a beautiful chestnut filly who inherited Silky’s personality. As soon as the little chestnut filly hit the ground she was independent, just like her mother. From the moment Goddess started walking, she walked away. Other than when she rudely demanded to be fed, Goddess had little to do with Silky.

Silky's filly Goddess (with Silky's mom)

After having her foal Silky returned to riding and showing. She was a Pony Club rally champion and they immersed themselves in eventing. Dressage was Silky’s weaker phase. Silky did not (or as her mom said WE did not) have the patience for dressage, but they were stars in the other two phases of cross country and stadium jumping.

In her entire career Silky never refused a jump, no matter how scary looking. She thought about it once during a cross country round. One of the jumps was a gazebo that you had to jump into, take two strides and jump down out of. The roof was unnerving to both of them and the pounding of her hooves while inside the gazebo was horrendous. In her mom’s words “as we came up to it, I felt her withdraw. She slowed, shortening her strides and lifted her head as if to say, “seriously?!” We were thinking the same thing. I closed my legs around her and leaned forward, urging her for more speed. She trusted me. I’ll say it again, she has NEVER refused a jump.”

Silky and her mom continued their winning ways together through college, and after graduating from college Silky’s mom retired her to light riding. She was 19 years old at that point. Her mom continued to enjoy trail riding Silky until she was 25. During this time they remained constants in each other’s lives and moved together to several states.

Maisie and Silky

Silky joined us this past spring. Her mom knew that she was going to be moving overseas, and a few months before we met Silky her mom contacted us. She was in the middle of a thorough search of potential farms where she would be comfortable leaving Silky. Somehow we managed to pass the screening and the background checks and Silky joined us in the spring. She remains as opinionated as ever, but we are happy to report that her opinions and feedback have all been positive so far - with the exception of having her teeth floated. We hope you have enjoyed getting to know Silky!

Fun Feeding Hay

2011-11-17T20:21:00.000-06:00

(post by Jason) I think I’ve mentioned before that I hate hay tarps, but in spite of my distaste we own several, the smallest of which is 36x50 feet. I’ve got a lot of experience with hay tarps which for those in the know means I have a lot of pent up reasons not to like them. Let me enumerate just a few.

Hay tarps are unwieldy and are a royal pain in the rear to maneuver across a huge pile of hay on a 90 or more degree summer day.

Hay tarps don’t breathe well. This means that if the hay stored underneath is even the slightest bit damp….and in a humid climate like that found here in Tennessee the hay underneath is *always* a little bit damp……it wants to go moldy and then spoil unless it gets enough air. How do you get air into a pile of damp hay ? Well, the best way is to pile it fairly loosely and then remove the tarp. And then put it back again every time it threatens to rain. Frustrating, yes ?

Put a 50 mile an hour wind gust against the ropes holding a hay tarp on the ground and you have an instant sail. I’ve picked up the remnants of hay tarps from as far as a mile away. Of course just about the only time it gets this windy is when it’s also raining, and if the tarp blows away all the hay underneath the tarp is suddenly getting more than slightly wet. See above comment to best understand my frustrations.

Feeding out of a tarped hay pile sucks. It takes forever and a day to untie everything, move the tarp, remove the necessary number of bales, tie everything down again and finally, feed hay. If it’s windy and raining while one is trying to do this, believe me when I say the whole experience sucks infinitely worse.

The solution to ALL these problems is simple. Store the hay in well constructed hay barns on deep gravel pads. No waste, lots of air movement and no need to remove and reapply tarps. As most of you know, we built not one but TWO hay barns this summer. Unfortunately barn number two wasn’t complete before it was time to bale hay so in spite of having a hundred and sixty rolls in our new barn we had over two hundred stored under hay tarps and another hundred stored in a friend’s barn. Having this much “extra” hay allowed us the rare opportunity to sell some, and today I folded up and put away what I hope is my very last hay tarp.

Not coincidentally, I also fed out our first rolls of the fall season today. It was SO EASY and SO PLEASANT to feed hay stored in handy, convenient, purpose built barns that I almost can't wait for next week so I can do it again ! Almost is the key word here. I’m going to go find some wood and knock on it right now.

Fabrizzio, Walden and Thor

Kennedy, Toledo, Rampal and Stormy

Sebastian

Lighty

Johnny and Rampal

Clayton

Chance and Leo

Winston and Faune

George

I was watching Cuff Links eat hay and thinking "awww, he looks so cute" so I took his picture . . .

. . . and the a second later the ears went all the way back and he reminded those around him that he is all pony and not to be messed with!

Vet Visits

2011-11-15T19:09:00.000-06:00

Jason and I are both recovering our voices and things are much louder around here again. It has been a busy couple of weeks so a couple of days of relative silence weren't such a bad thing. I've mentioned before that we go through periods where we have no need to see our talk to our vet for weeks at a time. I remember fondly when we were in one of those periods this summer. Since he had not heard from us in quite awhile our vet called me to ask jokingly if we had by chance started working with a different clinic. Hopefully he will feel the need to make a similar inquiry in the future as that has not been the case the last couple of weeks.

Thankfully it has all been manageable things but we've seen our vet more days than we have not as of late. We've had an interesting range of issues to address from a horse with a small tumor on his sheath that needed to have a biopsy to a mild gas colic to a small puncture wound and everything in between. Some phrases that have gone through my head lately have been "I'm not a vet but I play one on the farm" to "I'm not a vet but I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night."

I love our vet and the clinic we work with (Tennessee Equine Hospital) but here's to hoping we will not need to avail ourselves of their services in the near future!

Alex napping with Lighty and Darby hanging out

Levendi

Grand grazing and Ivan waking up from a snooze

Sam on the move

Sebastian

Gus must have had a very long night

Largo, new face on the farm

Largo having the new experience of sharing his hay with a fainting goat (Miss Lyle)

two more new faces Walden (chestnut) and Fabrizzio (bay)

Cat Got Your Tongue ?

2011-11-13T19:04:00.000-06:00

I think this may well go down as the quietest week we've ever had in our household. No, we didn't decide to go sotto voce, at least not intentionally, although we might now that we know how it can be. On Tuesday I came down with some sort of virus that features some nasal congestion and a really, really sore throat and just as I was starting to feel better Melissa came down with the same malady. I never lost my voice entirely but it was close. Melissa on the other hand is down for the count and pretty silent. On the plus side, I learned for the first time that the horses will come at feeding time if you wave your arms around long enough.

I wonder if we should learn American sign language so if this happens again we'll be able to communicate with one another ? ( Melissa just read this and she communicated very clearly with a universally understood sign. )

Please enjoy some pictures while we attempt to find our voices this week.

Thomas napping with Moe and Apollo nearby

Sam

Grand

Toledo and Kennedy

Tony and Baby

Trigger

our visitor that watches us every morning

Overtime

2011-11-10T21:59:00.000-06:00

I think the moral of the upcoming story is that we should never make work related excuses for not completing a blog story. You'll soon see why if you follow along.

We've been having a fabulous run of weather lately with sunny skies and temps generally in the 60's and 70's which is perfect for working outdoors. Despite the short days this time of year we have been taking full advantage of them, working consistently from sun-up until the light fails just after sun down. Unknown to most of you we have been operating with only one car around here since our Tahoe gave up the ghost a couple of months ago. This might have gone on indefinitely as neither one of us could find the motivation to go car shopping. (Melissa here - in my opinion few things are more torturous than car shopping.) Melissa put her foot down on Sunday. She made sure that I understood that we were going to buy a car this week *no matter what*. Gotcha.

Anyone who has a farmette stocked with various sorts of critters and maybe a couple of horses knows better than to set any sort of deadline when the variables involve animals or fencing or property or old equipment. When it includes ALL of these things on a scale much larger than any farmette you know you're going to wind up feeling like you're trying to bail the Titanic with a thimble at some point.

In spite of working what feels like a hundred hours in the first four days of the week accompanied by a liberal crescendo of problems including both Melissa and I being sick, we DID buy a car which is probably a good thing. I think the poor car wonders what happened to it. We've only had it two days and we've already managed to fill it with farm detritus, feed bags, medicines and old clothing. If I tear off a couple of the hubcaps and bang in the side with a sledge hammer it ought to fit right in around here and I can stop worrying about when it's going to get scratched.

Oh the joys of farming.

Snappy, Noble, Thor and Lightening

Gus, Romeo, Fonzi and George

Thor

Johnny saying "I wasn't doing anything, promise . . . "

. . . "OK, I did convince Tiny to go all the way in the woods and now he's trying to find a way back out." (Tiny is on the right)

Clayton meandering through the woods

Rocky having a lazy day

Wiz

Dutch and Murphy

Maisie

Pictures

2011-11-08T21:20:00.001-06:00

This day managed to have too much work and not enough time and the blog is getting the short end of things this evening. We did manage to upload a few pictures so enjoy some scenes from around the farm!

Murphy

Renny

Silver

While Silver was napping he was sandwiched by a very dirty Gus and a very relaxed Fonzi

Rampal enjoying a good roll

then doing his dogwalk so he could roll on the other side

mission complete

Sam and Chili grazing while Fuzzy napped

Moe and Homer

Lucky, Thor and O'Reilly on the move

Thor started to pull away from Lucky and O'Reilly

Thor left the others in his wake

Good Enough ?

2011-11-06T21:45:00.004-06:00

Melissa and I get complimented on the new place fairly often, and for some reason this is especially true lately. As you might expect we never get tired of this....I don't know anyone who *doesn't* like to hear praise when someone is complementing their choice of real estate, but at the same time it's kind of embarrassing because when Melissa and I look at the place we see everything that remains to be done. To us, it's a work that is still very much in progress.

With a couple of exceptions, most of what remains to be done could be considered "finish" work. We need to change the grade in a couple of spots, we could always use a few more loads of gravel and we need to work away at finishing some of the interior spaces in a couple of our buildings. Truthfully, it'd be nice to add a couple of lean-to's to some of our existing structures too, and there is always fence to paint, etc, etc, etc. Most of this stuff will get done eventually, but as much as our Type A personalities would like to get it all done right now I think Melissa and I are taking the winter off from any more construction projects. Maybe after years of marriage and working together we're finally learning that there is sanity in saying, " Good enough." It's a nice thought, anyway. Stay tuned for more !

Have you hugged your goat today ? Jason and Jo enjoying a treat.

Kennedy, Rocky, Toledo, Johnny, Tiny, Stormy. WHY are they in the run in sheds when it's 72 degrees and sunny ???
Does it get any better than this ? Lucky, Snappy, Lightening, Thor, Silky and Noble
Apollo, Ivan, Moe, Grand, Thomas and Hemi

A nice shot of some of our buildings

Norman and Calimba

Leo

In Memory of Missy

2011-11-03T18:14:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was another sad day on the farm. We said our final goodbyes to Missy. We knew this day was coming and it was planned, not a surprise, but it did not make things any easier.

Missy

Missy was a bay Quarter Horse cross pony. She spent many, many years working very hard on a dude ranch in Colorado. Her job was to make sure the kids visiting the dude ranch had safe rides in the Colorado mountains. She worked tirelessly and always brought the kids back safely.

enjoying some down time in her well earned retirement

After many years on the dude ranch she was no longer physically able to hold up to the long days in the mountains. She was repaid for her years of work and dependability by being sent to the kill pen. Luckily for Missy an employee of the dude ranch contacted a family that had a ranch in the area, hoping they would give Missy a home. This person was Missy's guardian angel as the family did buy her from the kill pen and gave her a home, a forever home.

A warm blanket and a big mouthful of hay make a rare middle Tennessee snow day much easier to take.

Missy's only job in life was to be spoiled rotten by their daughters and teaching their youngest daughter how to ride. As always Missy was dependable as ever and taught her young charge how to ride.

An early morning grazing session as the sun was rising. MyLight, Missy, Harmony and Cuff Links.

One thing that Missy would not do was canter undersaddle. The dude ranch absolutely did not want Missy to ever canter with one of their guests' kids undersaddle. The way they taught her that cantering was bad was they essentially beat the crap out of her anytime she cantered. Missy learned the lesson well that she was never to go faster than a trot. EVER.

Missy, MyLight and Maisie

Her first summer as she carried her new young rider around she walked and trotted. The next summer when the family returned to their ranch her young charge was a stronger rider and that summer they learned to canter together. She was also trusted with any young friends that were visiting both on the ground and undersaddle.

A happy yet very sad picture for me. Buffy, Missy, and Harmony walking through the pasture on a summer afternoon. All three are deceased.

Eventually Missy became to stiff behind for any riding at all. Her family kept their promise to Missy for a forever home and even when she needed to be fully retired she had nothing but the best care. We had the pleasure of living with Missy for the last few years. Although stiff on her hind legs she was still a feisty little girl. She was never shy about expressing her opinions on things, either to people or horses. She was very, very attached to her group of horse friends and she got to the point where she just detested coming into the barn. She didn't want to be groomed, she didn't want to see the farrier, she wanted to hang out with her friends. We would practically have to drag her to the barn, and then jog along with her trying to keep up when it was time to go back to her friends.

passing a quiet afternoon under a nice shade tree

She never forgot her lessons from the dude ranch about not being allowed to canter. If her friends were running and being rowdy Missy would usually be lagging a bit behind, trotting instead of cantering. On a couple of occasions she forgot her lessons about not going faster than a trot and she would start galloping. It never lasted for more than a few strides and then she would come to an abrupt halt. It was as if she suddenly remembered she was breaking the rules. She would look around anxiously to see if anyone had seen her. Without question those few times that I saw Missy run and act carefree are my most cherished memories of her.

Missy and Buffy

Missy was well loved by her friends here through the years. I've written more than one post about the "pony wars" that tend to happen here, and Missy was always proudly claimed by a mare. For a long time Buffy staked her claim on Missy. When Buffy passed away MyLight took over ownership of Missy. More recently Silky and Missy were often together.

Missy and MyLight

Everyday things were starting to get hard for Missy in the last few months. It was difficult for her to have her hooves trimmed by the farrier. Her back legs were getting terribly stiff. Her daily pain medication was not enough to help her anymore. We knew the day was coming where she was going to go down and not be able to get up, and we didn't want to put Missy through that trauma. She was having trouble maintaining her weight and bloodwork revealed the early stages of liver failure. We talked with her family and our vet about Missy and we all agreed that we would let her enjoy the fall weather for a few weeks and then let her go peacefully. It was tempting to want to be a hero for Missy and increase her pain medications and aggressively treat her liver issues, but realistically the only parties that were going to feel better were the people and not the horse. One of the hardest things we have learned through the years is that sometimes being a hero is stepping up and making the hard decision, the final decision, especially when you will be fighting a losing battle.

Silky and Missy

Silky, Missy and Maisie

Yesterday was as perfect as any day can be. 70 degrees, sunny, a light breeze. Missy had a supersized breakfast and some extra treats. She was grazing with her friends when the vet arrived. I walked out to the pasture and put her halter on her. In typical Missy fashion she planted her feet and pulled back, letting me know she didn't care to leave her friends. Then we walked slowly across the pasture. All of her friends followed us to the gate and stayed with us until the end. It was very peaceful. Missy was 30 years old.

MyLight and Missy

It comforts me to know that Missy and Buffy are reunited. Being the thoroughbred mare that she was Buffy loved to run. I hope Missy is in a place where she feels like she can run freely along with her without fear of repercussions. I know without a doubt that Buffy is diligently guarding Missy and watching out for her as she always did here. Rest in peace Missy.

Buffy was never far from Missy

Buffy doting on her pony

Dressing Up Goats, Cleaning Troughs

2011-11-01T19:11:00.000-05:00

We decided to dress up Jo, one of the World's Cutest Fainting Goats, as Batman for Halloween. Unfortunately it just didn't work out all that well. The costume didn't really fit right, the black cape blended in too much with the black areas on Jo, and all in all it was a Halloween fail. We always joke that Jo wants to be Batman for Halloween so we decided to make her wish a reality. She was pretty tolerant of actually wearing the costume aside from the head band with the batwings for her head. She shook and rubbed her head until that was around her neck. Of course since she already has long black ears that stick out to the side I guess she didn't really need that part anyway.

If goats could talk . . . any suggestions as to what Jo is saying right now??

Total costume fail. The bat symbol wouldn't lay flat on her chest.

More costume fail. The bat wings are around her neck and you can't even see the yellow part of the belt. She was too fat and it is all under her stomach.

Yep, total failure. She looks like she has two sets of batwings in this picture between her ears and the wings around her neck.

We needed to clean the waterers again today. Jason announced that he was going to "make this easier." I hate it when he says things like that as I know it is going to be a huge production and not feel any easier. He proceeded to collect a bunch of tools, some pipes (I was like WTF?? as he dug out the pipes) and then loaded the generator in the back of the truck. What went through my mind was "great, more 'don't try this at home' activities."

We went in the Big Boys' pasture first. Apparently whomever installed the waterers used a product called loctite on the bolts. There have been many words used to describe loctite each time we've needed to clean the waterers and today was no exception. I've never heard of loctite before but I have now heard a litany of uncomplimentary things about it. Jason proceeds to get out some socket wrenches and the pipes and starts trying to loosen the bolts on the waterer so we can take the top off and clean it. He inserted the handles of the wrenches into the pipes so he could have more leverage when trying to loosen the bolts - so that is what the pipes were for!?

Jason getting his wrenches and pipes ready

wrenches inserted into pipes for leverage

I am instructed to hold the pipe/wrench on the bottom while Jason attempts to loosen the bolt from the top. I would never bet against Jason in an arm wrestling contest and I would always bet against myself. You can imagine how this went. Jason is putting everything he's got into turning this wrench leveraged with the pipe. I'm trying to keep my end from moving. This resulted in my basically playing ring around the waterer as I hung onto my wrench/pipe while Jason outmuscled me and spun me around. This irritated him. I was accused of not trying very hard. Good thing he had plan B.

Plan B involved the generator and some rotary cutter thing. With an ugly look on his face and much muttering and shouting (I couldn't hear him as the generator and the tool were making a lot of noise and I probably didn't want to know what he was saying anyway) the sparks flew as he cut away. This plan worked as the bolts with loctite have now been cut into pieces and removed from the waterers and replaced with new bolts that don't have any loctite on them. This should make for much easier cleaning in the future although it made things take forever this time around.

Of course the big boys heard all the noise and came wandering up from the back of the pasture to see what was going on. Thomas checking things out.

Moe was happy to supervise

Grand was keeping a very close eye on Jason

Thomas was the first to christen the clean waterer

In the next pasture Tiny and Johnny watched Jason clean the trough

Maisie and Lily were uninterested in all of the noise we were making

Norman, Missy, Cinnamon and Silky

Calimba and MyLight

Darby, Alex and Lighty trotting through the field. They look cute but if you look closely something is a bit off. Yes, that is Darby running away with his feedbag on again.

Dutch, Renny and Sam

Murphy, Dutch and Wiz having an afternoon nap

He Said She Said

2011-10-30T20:26:00.002-05:00

One of the "joys" of working with your spouse every day are the misinterpretations that come because one spouse was communicating in a way that the other spouse can't understand. I'm not talking about clear, concise instructions like, "Please clean the feed up that spilled on the office floor. " Anyone can follow that, even me, at least when I can hear what the other half of our partnership said.

This morning Melissa was in charge of the farm while I attempted to buy some new tires for the truck. When I got home I went out to check on a couple of Melissa's horses and on the cows in the back field. It was wet and cool this morning, so I thought I'd be a nice guy and blanket her horses, except that I wound up not being able to locate one blanket. When you run a retirement farm you always have several spare blankets on hand, so I selected one and applied it to the naked horse. Problem solved, or so I thought.

As I stood filling the cow trough with water, the phone rang. It was Melissa. I explained about the blanket and I proudly explained my solution. She told me to take the blanket off, immediately. Huh ? Is the blanket contaminated ? No, the blanket is missing one strap. I'm thinking to myself one piece of twine and two minutes and the blanket isn't missing a strap any more, but to my credit I didn't say it. The horse was smiling and happy, standing warm in it's minus-one-strap blanket twenty feet away from me. My wife was several miles away and telling me to take the blanket off. I took the blanket off.

She then told me that the cows didn't need water, and she said this knowing I was standing right in front of their mostly empty trough. (I feel the need to jump in here since what I actually said was "the cows shouldn't need water," but Jason's less than stellar hearing is well known in our world ...) Now folks, I'll be the first one to admit I'm not very smart sometimes, but after a life time in the livestock business I'm smart enough to know when the cows need water. What I'm not smart enough to do is to figure out an answer to a wife who's telling me something that is patently incorrect that doesn't lead immediately into an argument. I thought about not acknowledging her at all except to take a picture (yes but were you also going to include a picture of the other two troughs that were full? Just asking because I know how much it is annoying you to read this right now. Hopefully you aren't wondering why I'm giggling right now.) and send it to her but I didn't do that either. So I scratched my head, got confused and then mad and came to the house instead.

Anyone recognize themselves here ?

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Johnny keeping watch while Rampal napped

Missy (unbelievably, we put sheets on a few horses again a couple of nights ago. Crazy October weather!!)

Cuffie

Calimba letting out a big yawn while hanging out in the shed

Lily and Norman (we're finally getting more fall color!)

Dutch napping in the sun

Murphy

Clay, Chili, Darby and Lighty

Romeo and Asterik were surrounded by so much fog my poor little point and shoot camera could not focus on them

Gus and George

Silver, Faune, Winston and Fonzi