The Weighty Issue.................

I've decided what I am going to do about Miss Kola's overweight issue and her bitchiness and today was the start. I've separated the girls, Misty in the paddock and Kola in the training pen. Both have a water source and the paddock has access to the pasture in which Misty will be able to visit the pasture. My U-Guard showed up today and Kola was started back on it. Kola will receive her maintenance dose of hoof supplement along with her U-Guard with less than a cup full of grain. The hay that I have is the hay that I have, so she will receive one flake of hay in the morning and one flake of hay in the evening. It was still too wet to exercise her today as well, but in saying that, once I let Misty out into the pasture, she will be doing her share of trotting around to see where Misty has gone to. I will do this until I see some progress in her weight loss, she will get exercised on dry days when I'm not working as well. I think separating them for now is the best thing as she was an unbearable bitch to Misty. This way there can be no scraps over food, she will get only what I want her to get and already this evening she has seemed to have an attitude adjustment. Go figure.............

Good News, Bad News............

The good news is that Jeremiah was out today to trim the girls and all the care I've been giving to Kola has payed off as far as the hoof supplements and cephaparin earlier on and her hoof crack has healed. He says it looks good. Yay!


It does look much better............


The bad news is that Kola is extremely overweight! I think I didn't cut her back in the spring soon enough as I usually do. And Stephen calls her a "bloody cart horse". I have seriously cut back her food, I mean seriously and now she is a raging "BITCH", so I know she is hungry. The only thing is she is taking it out on poor Misty and now that I know she's good to go, she will start her mornings with a 15 minute lunge line routine, which will piss her off even more, I plan on starting that Thursday as we are due to rain all day tomorrow and this morning was taken up by other pressing things. I have tried the grazing muzzle and that as turned out disastrous as she gets even more pissed and bashes herself against posts, trying to dislodge it. She has a rub mark down to her skin on her shoulder and Lord knows what she did to her poll as she has a small bump and scab there, all from one half a day in the muzzle. Also, Stephen pointed out to me that I've run out of the U-Guard that I was giving them and since then her behavior has worsened, so I re-ordered that. The sooner it gets here the better. I think she may get locked in with a half of flake of hay and Misty allowed to be turned out, that will go over like a turd in a punch bowl, I'm sure.

Western Weaver Saddle For Sale! Never Used

If anyone out there knows someone who might be interested.........This saddle is for sale. It's brand new, Weaver, light weight codura and a little leather, used once for only an hour, if that. Seat size is 16 inches, QH bars. I've added grips to the stirrups and the girth strap is a nice one, not the one that came with it. I'm asking $250 for it plus shipping costs, I payed $350 for it. It's a bargain. I can't use it, it doesn't fit my fat Kola, so I'm on the hunt for an Aussie saddle, because of Kola's shoulders and the fact that she is gaited. Thought this would work, but I was wrong. It's actually pretty sturdy.

Did A Little Ridin'

Misty obliged my whim to ride bareback today....

And with just a lead and halter........

It went pretty darned well...........

I was pleased, even though it was a short ride.........

She's very good with leg cues.........

And then I just had to give her a kiss..................


And another one.................


And I couldn't leave Miss Kola out............

And just pardon my white clam diggers. Wrong choice of pants= ass amplification! I actually have lost a few pounds this spring!

Glamor Shots!

Zoe took some nice photos of the girls yesterday. She has a very nice Sony Cybershot. Someday, I'll get a new camera!

This Is A Day Of A Lot Of New Posts...........

An Introduction..............Joe & His Horse Blue Sky Belle . This is Joe's new blog. He just got his new mare this past November. She is a TB and he has fallen in love with her. He's got a few questions that will pop up every now and then about her care and I promised him that there was a whole bunch of us out here with just such experience and would love to give advice. So if y'all don't mind payin' him a quick visit and help him to get started, I'd sure appreciate it!

She Dunn it and Aimee Oak

She Dunn It

Aimee Oak

We let Stacy and Aimee out for the second day. We may just leave them out now. The weather looks a lot better now. I put her in the goat pen, and it doesn't have a shelter. I really haven't found a mare to put Stacy with since Black died. I may try her with Buffy and Skeeter when Aimee is a little older. She likes to pose for the pictures, they are a little dark. I have pictures of Mary's baby. I don't have the barn name for her yet. I was afraid to name her because she was born with an ulcer, I wasn't sure that she was going to make it. Her registered name is going to be She Dunn It.

MAXWELL & JACKSON

Callie, this one is for you. I know how much you believe in fate. I'm back down to 2 healers. Yesterday Gerald had a call from our friend Cole that had bought a sister to Spot and Jackson. He had wanted a female and so I called my friend Norm, he said that Cole could have the female that I had set aside for him. I had tried to get Cole to take Spot. Friday they had her fixed, she died yesterday. They wanted another one and we offered Spot. At first Gerald told him Jack, until he felt my dirty look burning holes through his head. We had discussed that Spot would be better off in a single dog household. He won't focus with another dog around, otherwise he listens well. Jack couldn't hadle the competition of 3 other dogs in the house. He is doing great with Max, he knows his place. I kept him in the house for the first night and he did not go potty on the floor. The only accident he had is when Geral walked in and scared him. He is intimadated by Gerald. Right now he is sleeping at my feet. We are still working on not jumping up on people and furniture. He does understand no, so he is figuring that out. Callie, you did do the right thing. Spot is in a place that he gets all the attention and Jackson is content having Max as his mentor and following me around without Max getting too jealous. He did negative things to get more attention. It really was good being able to place Spot with Cole, 2 puppies get into too much trouble.

Sunday Stills.............

Gotto LOVE Those Fillies!

Awesome!

We're Home !

We're home, land of where yer huntin' dawgs ride in the back of yer pick-up with yer six-pack of Miller High-Life..................


Miss Mina Moo decided to give me the scare of a life time as she split on poor Jeremiah while I was an 8 hour drive away and could do nothing about it. So Stephen and his infinite wisdom, asked Jeremiah after he spent hours looking for her, to leave out three tennis balls on our deck and leave the garage door open and for some reason knew she'd be home. I, of course was in complete panic, sure that she was gone forever and sure enough, she was home when Jeremiah came back in the morning to feed the girls and goats. He left the door open and she went in. Thankfully, my Moo is home now too.


I was hoping that Kola would have lost some more weight, but FAT chance in just two days. We were exhausted last night, but made good time.

These are some serious lightning strikes, we had in a storm the night before we left to pick Zoe up from college.

Some ladies laughed at me as I managed to pack All of her crap in the Jag. I can pack 10 pounds of shit in a 3 pound bag every time. One of my skills, I said to them, "Go ahead and laugh, it'll fit in and I'll still get better gas mileage than your SUV." Ha! 27 miles to the gallon, not bad......... And home in seven hours! :p

IT'S A FILLY!!!

Between 9:30 and 10:00 pm tonight Stacy gave foal to a beautiful bay filly. I checked at 9:30 and she was just laying there resting. At 10 pm Gerald and I went to move her into the barn because of the storms coming. There the filly was still half in the bag sitting up wondering what to do next. She was up before Mom. She did get a little help, she wanted to get moving. When Stacy got up I led her to the barn and Gerald carried the filly. He thought that she was around 80 pounds. Good thing he didn't have to go far. Stacy cleaned out by 10:30 and the baby is still trying to latch on. She is hungry so it won't take long. I tried to help a little bit and she would get my finger. She will figure it out, mom wanted me to leave them alone. She was tolerent at first, when I went back to check her she pinned her ears back. I won't sleep until I see her suck.

Scenes From Yesterday................

My Lilacs are blooming and smelling great!


My girls unimpressed after the last of their vaccinations. Kola jumped and I caused her to bleed. They received their WN-EWT and I gave them both a dose of banamine and held pressure on Kola's. Had to re-do hers because when she jumped I hadn't plunged it. I felt bad and she actually was pretty good through it all. Today, I'll go out there and put some antibiotic ointment over the spot if there's still a small bump and then cover it with aloe cream.


This little guy was less than 24 hours old. Not all of the babies are Jess's, just an FYI.

Angel, who clearly loves any attention and I received a mass amount of horsey kisses from her.

A couple of more new babies.

Jess's two Heelers and one is Jackson's brother. Jackson has joined them for now. Stephen and I had to make a difficult decision and bring Jack back to Jess's as he wasn't blending in very well here with our dogs and couldn't find his place in the pecking order. After we left and talking to Jess, I know Steve and I made the right decision. He blended in there as if he had been there his entire life.

It would have unfair to Jackson to try and keep him here. It was a hard decision to make, but I believe he needed only other Heelers and I think he'll be much happier.

This is kissy Angel again............

Flash Update..............

Remember that little colt who managed to shave off half his hoof last year? Well, here's the update. With the piece that he shaved off last year sitting next to the foot he did it too. Looks pretty good. You have to look real close to see anything of a sign that it had happened. So the answer to "Will it grow back?" is yes with proper care. Flash is now a yearling and doing well!

Happy Mother's Day!

As I pulled into the driveway this morning after working last night, I had my suspicions as I noticed the Focus wasn't quite parked the way I saw it last night when I trotted off to work. Stephen met me downstairs with the dogs as I fed the horses and goats and then turned the girls out to pasture. We then walked the dogs around the house. I gazed through the kitchen and didn't see anything and said rather pitifully, "Happy Mother's Day to me?". And then Stephen came around from the living room with this beautiful bouquet of flowers and a lovely card and he was laughing at me and still is, because I sounded so pitiful. I also received an E-card from Zoe in my mail. So it is a Happy Mother's Day! And I wish to all of you out there the same! He's still giggling and says, "I love you loads, pain!".