C.S. Wilson's Blog, page 15
May 8, 2015
It's Been A Year!
I can't believe it's been a year since Skeets came home. My heart just stopped when the trailer door opened and there she stood. It was for real - she was really mine and we were really going to start this journey.
Surveying her new kingdom.
From the minute she picked me out in the pens she was a cheater mustang. In the pens, she allowed me to touch her all over, including her legs and belly. I went into this partnership confident that I could handle whatever she threw at me. She proved herself to be fairly level-headed even on the first day home when she finally calmed down enough to approach me to say, "hi, I remember you".
I love this picture :)She even allowed me to take her tag off that day. I know that she was busy taking everything in, and not totally focused on what I was doing, but she knew I wasn't going to hurt her and allowed me into her space long enough to cut it off. (I didn't even know until just a couple of months ago that you could un-thread the tags to get them off - I didn't look at them very carefully.)
The scratches after the tag was off felt pretty good.It hasn't always been smooth sailing, but it's been a lot easier than some people have with their wild ones. We've had our big issues, but I can count them on one hand and still have fingers left over.
About a week after she was moved out of her gentling pen, she tried to pick up my camp chair and when I scolded her, she wheeled around and kicked out at me with both barrels. It was a warning, and she had no intention of connecting, but it shook my confidence for a while. She learned very quickly that she had to "face up" whenever I go into her pen. We've not had an incidence since.
A few months later, just when I was starting to trust her again, she pawed at me while I was closing the gate and scraped the back of my calf. I got after her pretty hard, and didn't turn my back on her for a very long time. She wasn't being malicious in any way when she pawed at me; she wanted me to hurry up and she paws when she gets impatient.
And just two weeks ago, the bitch bit me (and Bill). We got after her pretty hard, but I do have to take some responsibility for it because I'd let her manners go by the wayside. Familiarity breeds complacency. I got complacent and it bit me in the ass. Okay, she bit me in the shin, not the ass, but you know what I mean. We went back to groundwork and respecting space and you can believe that she'll not be allowed to turn her head toward anyone again.
Even with those three issues, we've had it pretty easy. Easy enough that I probably should be full-on riding her, but I'm not really in a huge hurry. Yes, I want to be on her riding, but I'm enjoying the easy pace we've got going.
I really wanted to get a pretty, one year "Gotcha" pictures. Instead, thanks to Mother Nature and this very wet storm system, this is the one year picture I got:
Surveying her new kingdom.From the minute she picked me out in the pens she was a cheater mustang. In the pens, she allowed me to touch her all over, including her legs and belly. I went into this partnership confident that I could handle whatever she threw at me. She proved herself to be fairly level-headed even on the first day home when she finally calmed down enough to approach me to say, "hi, I remember you".
I love this picture :)She even allowed me to take her tag off that day. I know that she was busy taking everything in, and not totally focused on what I was doing, but she knew I wasn't going to hurt her and allowed me into her space long enough to cut it off. (I didn't even know until just a couple of months ago that you could un-thread the tags to get them off - I didn't look at them very carefully.)
The scratches after the tag was off felt pretty good.It hasn't always been smooth sailing, but it's been a lot easier than some people have with their wild ones. We've had our big issues, but I can count them on one hand and still have fingers left over.About a week after she was moved out of her gentling pen, she tried to pick up my camp chair and when I scolded her, she wheeled around and kicked out at me with both barrels. It was a warning, and she had no intention of connecting, but it shook my confidence for a while. She learned very quickly that she had to "face up" whenever I go into her pen. We've not had an incidence since.
A few months later, just when I was starting to trust her again, she pawed at me while I was closing the gate and scraped the back of my calf. I got after her pretty hard, and didn't turn my back on her for a very long time. She wasn't being malicious in any way when she pawed at me; she wanted me to hurry up and she paws when she gets impatient.
And just two weeks ago, the bitch bit me (and Bill). We got after her pretty hard, but I do have to take some responsibility for it because I'd let her manners go by the wayside. Familiarity breeds complacency. I got complacent and it bit me in the ass. Okay, she bit me in the shin, not the ass, but you know what I mean. We went back to groundwork and respecting space and you can believe that she'll not be allowed to turn her head toward anyone again.
Even with those three issues, we've had it pretty easy. Easy enough that I probably should be full-on riding her, but I'm not really in a huge hurry. Yes, I want to be on her riding, but I'm enjoying the easy pace we've got going.
I really wanted to get a pretty, one year "Gotcha" pictures. Instead, thanks to Mother Nature and this very wet storm system, this is the one year picture I got:
April 28, 2015
The Adoption Process
I got a question on our Facebook page about the process and I thought I'd write about it here. It can be confusing to navigate, but it's doable (obviously, since both Jay and I have done it). I only have experience adopting from Canon City, so I have zero information about adopting from other facilities or through internet adoption (IA).
The adoption process begins with the application that you fax into the BLM office. The application asks about the facility, trailer, food, and water. There's nothing on the application about horse experience, which I found a bit disconcerting.
There are three options when you adopt: unhandled ($125), halter trained ($300-400), or saddle trained ($1,025). Jay and I decided to go with unhandled, as we wanted the experience of "doing it ourselves". If we didn't have Mom and Bill to help, I doubt we would have gone that way.
The requirements differ based on what type of horse you choose to adopt. Unhandled horses must be in a 20'x20' pen (minimum) with a six-foot fence, while halter and saddle trained can be in any standard pen/fence. The unhandled horse is required to stay within the six-foot fence until they are gentled (a term I never heard in the domestic horse circles). A gentled mustang is one who can be easily caught and haltered, and leads. It can take days, weeks, or months to take a wild mustang to a gentle one.
The only exposure to adoptions I'd had were through watching the Extreme Mustang Makeovers, so I assumed we'd have to bid at auction for horses. I couldn't have been more wrong. We got to go into the pens, interact with the horses and get chosen. There wasn't any bidding, once a horse claimed its person, it was no longer available.
Jay and I both ended up with "cheater" mustangs - they were easy to get our hands on right off the bat, for which we are very thankful. We had our horses out of the gentling pen in under three weeks.
If you pick up your horse the day of the adoption, there are regulations about the type of trailer you can use (stock trailer with a divider), but since we chose the delivery option, we didn't have to worry about the trailer. At the time, Canon City offered free delivery of horses within 150 miles of the facility. However, they're undergoing some staff changes and the future of free delivery is uncertain.
Once you have possession of the horse, you're really just "fostering" it for one year. It remains property of the US Government until it is titled. During the course of the year you're fostering, you're subject to in-person or phone inspections. I was worried about the inspection, because I didn't know what to expect. Turns out it is pretty easy. They come out to check the facility and the horse, ask a bunch of questions about how training is coming, what you're feeding, and if there have been any issues. Skeeter had an in-person inspection in January, while Copper had a phone inspection just a few days later. The inspections are randomly assigned, so it is possible for one adopter to never have an inspection, while another is chosen.
At about eleven months, you receive a title application to fill out and return to the BLM. A vet, farrier, or BLM-approved inspector must fill out part of the title application, certifying that the horse has been properly cared for. I don't believe there is a training requirement for the title inspection, but it can't hurt that she's halter-broke and just barely beginning under saddle. If there are any training requirements, I would think it would be the bare minimum, as some people adopt these horses as pasture pets. I think they just have to be gentled enough to get vet care if they are sick or injured.
This is the point Skeeter and I are right now. I've got my title inspection scheduled for Thursday at 9:00 am. After the inspector signs off of the paperwork, I will mail it in to the BLM and they will choose to either assign a title to me (Skeeter will be mine!), suggest remedial care, or repossess the animal.
I'm not as nervous about this inspection since I went through one in January. If I hadn't had an in-person inspection, I'd be fretting a lot more, but I don't think this will be that much different. The only thing I'm concerned (slightly) about is that I haven't had Skeeter's feet done. They're a good length and she doesn't have any lameness issues, but they've not had a pedicure to pretty them up.
The adoption process begins with the application that you fax into the BLM office. The application asks about the facility, trailer, food, and water. There's nothing on the application about horse experience, which I found a bit disconcerting.
There are three options when you adopt: unhandled ($125), halter trained ($300-400), or saddle trained ($1,025). Jay and I decided to go with unhandled, as we wanted the experience of "doing it ourselves". If we didn't have Mom and Bill to help, I doubt we would have gone that way.
The requirements differ based on what type of horse you choose to adopt. Unhandled horses must be in a 20'x20' pen (minimum) with a six-foot fence, while halter and saddle trained can be in any standard pen/fence. The unhandled horse is required to stay within the six-foot fence until they are gentled (a term I never heard in the domestic horse circles). A gentled mustang is one who can be easily caught and haltered, and leads. It can take days, weeks, or months to take a wild mustang to a gentle one.
The only exposure to adoptions I'd had were through watching the Extreme Mustang Makeovers, so I assumed we'd have to bid at auction for horses. I couldn't have been more wrong. We got to go into the pens, interact with the horses and get chosen. There wasn't any bidding, once a horse claimed its person, it was no longer available.
Jay and I both ended up with "cheater" mustangs - they were easy to get our hands on right off the bat, for which we are very thankful. We had our horses out of the gentling pen in under three weeks.
If you pick up your horse the day of the adoption, there are regulations about the type of trailer you can use (stock trailer with a divider), but since we chose the delivery option, we didn't have to worry about the trailer. At the time, Canon City offered free delivery of horses within 150 miles of the facility. However, they're undergoing some staff changes and the future of free delivery is uncertain.
Once you have possession of the horse, you're really just "fostering" it for one year. It remains property of the US Government until it is titled. During the course of the year you're fostering, you're subject to in-person or phone inspections. I was worried about the inspection, because I didn't know what to expect. Turns out it is pretty easy. They come out to check the facility and the horse, ask a bunch of questions about how training is coming, what you're feeding, and if there have been any issues. Skeeter had an in-person inspection in January, while Copper had a phone inspection just a few days later. The inspections are randomly assigned, so it is possible for one adopter to never have an inspection, while another is chosen.
At about eleven months, you receive a title application to fill out and return to the BLM. A vet, farrier, or BLM-approved inspector must fill out part of the title application, certifying that the horse has been properly cared for. I don't believe there is a training requirement for the title inspection, but it can't hurt that she's halter-broke and just barely beginning under saddle. If there are any training requirements, I would think it would be the bare minimum, as some people adopt these horses as pasture pets. I think they just have to be gentled enough to get vet care if they are sick or injured.
This is the point Skeeter and I are right now. I've got my title inspection scheduled for Thursday at 9:00 am. After the inspector signs off of the paperwork, I will mail it in to the BLM and they will choose to either assign a title to me (Skeeter will be mine!), suggest remedial care, or repossess the animal.
I'm not as nervous about this inspection since I went through one in January. If I hadn't had an in-person inspection, I'd be fretting a lot more, but I don't think this will be that much different. The only thing I'm concerned (slightly) about is that I haven't had Skeeter's feet done. They're a good length and she doesn't have any lameness issues, but they've not had a pedicure to pretty them up.
April 12, 2015
Scary Trucks
Chances of the horses running across radio controlled vehicles while out on the trail are pretty darn low. However, both of my brothers and their wives race RC trucks, so I saw an opportunity to start desensitizing the horses to them. We live in paradise (just my opinion, but I love it here) and one of the things Jay and I want to do is host get-togethers frequently this summer. With a few acres to play on, we can easily run the RC trucks, play with dirt bikes or three-wheelers, throw knives, or shoot the crossbow.
Jay and I have shot the crossbow outside of the horses' pen before and they don't care. They didn't care much about the knife throwing either, but the RC trucks caused a bit of a ruckus.
At one point, a truck made its way into the pen (things happen when you allow a six year-old to drive), but as soon as the truck came to a stop both horses went up to sniff it. Monster, my youngest, managed to snatch it from the jaws of death just before Skeeter started pawing it. Thank God for quick reflexes and the ability to climb fence like The Flash, because I don't think I could afford to replace one if Skeeter had rolled it around trying to figure it out. Those trucks are made to withstand a certain amount of abuse, but I don't think 900# of abuse would be good for them.
We still have to get the three-wheeler up and running, along with the dirt bike, but so far, summer desensitizing seems to be going well.
Hay net update: the horses have slowed down on their hay intake, to only a bale a day. They're still killing the bale overnight, but not *starving* to death in the morning. Looks like Mom's not going to get our net.
Jay and I have shot the crossbow outside of the horses' pen before and they don't care. They didn't care much about the knife throwing either, but the RC trucks caused a bit of a ruckus.
At one point, a truck made its way into the pen (things happen when you allow a six year-old to drive), but as soon as the truck came to a stop both horses went up to sniff it. Monster, my youngest, managed to snatch it from the jaws of death just before Skeeter started pawing it. Thank God for quick reflexes and the ability to climb fence like The Flash, because I don't think I could afford to replace one if Skeeter had rolled it around trying to figure it out. Those trucks are made to withstand a certain amount of abuse, but I don't think 900# of abuse would be good for them.
We still have to get the three-wheeler up and running, along with the dirt bike, but so far, summer desensitizing seems to be going well.
Hay net update: the horses have slowed down on their hay intake, to only a bale a day. They're still killing the bale overnight, but not *starving* to death in the morning. Looks like Mom's not going to get our net.
April 8, 2015
Slow Feeder, My Ass!
If you haven't been following the hay net exploits on our Facebook page, let me enlighten you here.
Mom has had great success with her hay net. Us? Not so much.
We started on Sunday and all looked good. We started with a full bale, which should have lasted them 24 hours according to our regular feed schedule. We were feeding 1/2 a bale in the morning, and 1/2 a bale in the evening.
Since they were supposed to be eating from a "slow" feeder, I was confident that there would be a bit left over on Monday morning.
Ha!
Ten hours after we put out the first bagged bale it was empty. And I do mean empty!
It was so empty that I had to walk the pen to look for it.
I made Skeeter carry it to hay storage for me.I filled it up for a second time that day, all the while cussing at them. Certainly they couldn't kill TWO bales in 24 hours, right?
I was wrong. At feeding time on Monday, we had to again walk the pen to find the empty net. We filled it for the THIRD time and anchored it to a cinder block so we could easily find it when the pigs emptied it. By this time, I was also cussing my mom for talking me into this cockamamie idea.
Bale #3 - we're going to go broke at this rate.Not only was I cussing about it's lack of powers as a slow feeder, I was cussing at the increase in hay waste. I mean, our horses are Hoovers - they clean up after themselves, there is very rarely a single snuffle of hay left ever.
After work on Monday, the hay bag wasn't empty-empty, but it was close. Almost three bales in 36 hours. We put out another bale and thought, surely they have to be slowing down.
Wait Dad! Don't take it, there's still some in there!Bale #4 went out and we were optimistic. They had to be getting full, right? Right? Jay and I went into town for the late showing of Furious 7 and when we got home after midnight those fools were still standing there eating. Jay may or may not have told them that they were going to pop like zits if they kept it up.
Tuesday morning there was still most of the bale left. Success!
64 hours and almost four bales to get to their "full" point. In fact, when I looked out the window on Tuesday morning Copper was sprawled out on the ground looking like me after Thanksgiving dinner. If he had pants on, he would have unzipped them to find more room.
They grudgingly ate breakfast when we took it out to them, but their hearts weren't really in it.
Finally! We were getting somewhere.
Tuesday night (last night), we got home and the horses were starving. Like, pacing and pawing the fence (Skeeter!) starving. In went bale #5 (heavy sigh).
This morning, there was about half of bale #5 left. Instead of letting it run out, I just added another bale to it and sent up a quick prayer that they wouldn't kill it in one day.
I swore I'd give this hay bag thing a solid week, and I will, but damn it's getting expensive pretty quickly. If I get home from work tonight and that damn bag is empty I might lose it. (Which Mom would like, because I told her if this bag didn't work out, she could have it.)
Mom has had great success with her hay net. Us? Not so much.
We started on Sunday and all looked good. We started with a full bale, which should have lasted them 24 hours according to our regular feed schedule. We were feeding 1/2 a bale in the morning, and 1/2 a bale in the evening.
Since they were supposed to be eating from a "slow" feeder, I was confident that there would be a bit left over on Monday morning.
Ha!
Ten hours after we put out the first bagged bale it was empty. And I do mean empty!
It was so empty that I had to walk the pen to look for it.
I made Skeeter carry it to hay storage for me.I filled it up for a second time that day, all the while cussing at them. Certainly they couldn't kill TWO bales in 24 hours, right?I was wrong. At feeding time on Monday, we had to again walk the pen to find the empty net. We filled it for the THIRD time and anchored it to a cinder block so we could easily find it when the pigs emptied it. By this time, I was also cussing my mom for talking me into this cockamamie idea.
Bale #3 - we're going to go broke at this rate.Not only was I cussing about it's lack of powers as a slow feeder, I was cussing at the increase in hay waste. I mean, our horses are Hoovers - they clean up after themselves, there is very rarely a single snuffle of hay left ever.After work on Monday, the hay bag wasn't empty-empty, but it was close. Almost three bales in 36 hours. We put out another bale and thought, surely they have to be slowing down.
Wait Dad! Don't take it, there's still some in there!Bale #4 went out and we were optimistic. They had to be getting full, right? Right? Jay and I went into town for the late showing of Furious 7 and when we got home after midnight those fools were still standing there eating. Jay may or may not have told them that they were going to pop like zits if they kept it up.Tuesday morning there was still most of the bale left. Success!
64 hours and almost four bales to get to their "full" point. In fact, when I looked out the window on Tuesday morning Copper was sprawled out on the ground looking like me after Thanksgiving dinner. If he had pants on, he would have unzipped them to find more room.
They grudgingly ate breakfast when we took it out to them, but their hearts weren't really in it.
Finally! We were getting somewhere.
Tuesday night (last night), we got home and the horses were starving. Like, pacing and pawing the fence (Skeeter!) starving. In went bale #5 (heavy sigh).
This morning, there was about half of bale #5 left. Instead of letting it run out, I just added another bale to it and sent up a quick prayer that they wouldn't kill it in one day.
I swore I'd give this hay bag thing a solid week, and I will, but damn it's getting expensive pretty quickly. If I get home from work tonight and that damn bag is empty I might lose it. (Which Mom would like, because I told her if this bag didn't work out, she could have it.)
April 5, 2015
I Caved
Mom has been raving about her cinch net ever since she got it. I mean three blog posts on it in four days? Yeah, she's happy with the product.
I couldn't call her without her raving about the damn net, so I finally caved and bought one. The horses have had it all of three hours and are still working on it.
We tried tying it to the fence, but decided that wasn't such a good idea. Mom ties hers into her feeder, but we don't have a sturdy structure to tie into. Hopefully this summer, we'll get a hitching post put up and then we'll see if we can tie into that.
After horse sitting for our neighbors last week and using their Nibble Nets, I can honestly say the cinch net is much, much easier and faster to use. In fact, it was so easy that Jay and I are playing with the idea of picking up a second net so we can rotate. It will come in very hand on mornings when we're both running late and have to be in early - we can just throw the pre-filled bag into the pen and pick up the old one.
I couldn't call her without her raving about the damn net, so I finally caved and bought one. The horses have had it all of three hours and are still working on it.
We tried tying it to the fence, but decided that wasn't such a good idea. Mom ties hers into her feeder, but we don't have a sturdy structure to tie into. Hopefully this summer, we'll get a hitching post put up and then we'll see if we can tie into that.
After horse sitting for our neighbors last week and using their Nibble Nets, I can honestly say the cinch net is much, much easier and faster to use. In fact, it was so easy that Jay and I are playing with the idea of picking up a second net so we can rotate. It will come in very hand on mornings when we're both running late and have to be in early - we can just throw the pre-filled bag into the pen and pick up the old one.
March 23, 2015
Adventures in Horse Ownership
Hay.
The horses need it and we were getting low, so we did a quick CraigsList search and found some small bales reasonably priced at $6.00/bale. We figured that 100 bales would get us through to the first cutting this year, plus that's all we could afford.
Jay had to work the only day that the sellers were available, so I had to call in reinforcements. Well, reinforcement. Okay, I called Beel. Jay's truck's transmission isn't so hot and I didn't want to risk taking it, so I asked Beel to bring his truck down and I borrowed a flatbed trailer from a friend of mine.
I maybe should have known that all was not going to go smoothly when Bill called from the interstate and told me he was still a half hour out. No big deal, I texted the sellers and told them that we were running a bit late.
When Bill got to the house and we tried to hook up the trailer, it didn't like Jay's ball hitch, so we switched to Bill's and finally got it to work with some cussing and persuader tools. An hour later than we anticipated, we were off!
Now, both Bill and I have a nasty cold, so we're not working to our fullest potential and we hoped that the sellers would be able to help us load. Turns out, it was mostly just Beel and me to load. The seller was kind enough to back the truck and trailer down his driveway, around the house, and into the barn where the hay was (Thank God, or we'd still be there trying to negotiate his driveway).
The trailer is a big, good sized one, so we thought we could get all 100 bales onto it. About three-quarters of the way through loading the trailer, we realized there was no way we could do it. Stacking the bales four high was as high as we were willing to go. We decided to move twenty bales off the trailer and onto the truck. At this point, the seller's wife came to help us, so we could form a hay brigade. (The seller has a wrist injury and can't lift bales). I stood on the tongue of the trailer and took the bales Bill handed down to me, then handed them off to the seller's wife, who was kind enough to stack them on the truck.
An hour after we started loading the first bale, we put the last bale on the trailer and started to strap them down. Only, we could only find three of the five straps that Bill usually keeps in the truck. We needed all three straps for the trailer and didn't have any for the truck, so Bill figured a way to tie down the bales on the truck with baling twine (amazing stuff, isn't it?) and off we went.
I started firing off texts to my sibs and kids letting them know that we were running late and if they still were going to come help us unload and stack, it would be closer to six. We were now two hours behind schedule.
A few miles down the highway, Bill decided he didn't like the feel of the trailer and pulled over to check it. We used a step-down hitch to hook up the bumper-pull trailer. Mom and Bill have a goose-neck trailer, so the step-down hitch doesn't often get used. When we pulled over to look at the trailer, we noticed that the weight of the trailer had torqued the step-down. Not a little bit, either. A lot a bit.
I started calling my sibs and kids again, trying to find out who was already at my house and who could bring Jay's truck to me, bad transmission be damned. Just as I was talking Digger into bringing me the truck, Bill said he thought we could make it if we moved more hay off of the trailer and onto the truck, so I told Digger to standby and we started handling they hay for the third time, this time on the side of the road. Since we didn't have an extra set of hands, I pulled the bales from the trailer and lowered them to the ground, where Bill picked them up and stacked them on the truck. Thankfully, he's tall.
Remember, I said earlier that we didn't have straps for the bales on the truck? I wasn't entirely sure how on earth we were going to secure the bales we moved from the trailer to the truck, but Bill dug around in the truck and found three little straps - not the heavy-duty ones, but straps nonetheless. Hallelujah!
He was reasonably sure that we could make it back to my house as long as we took it slow and easy, so I called Digger back and told him not to come get us yet. We'd see how far we could make it.
We limped on back home, about two and a half hours behind schedule, but we made it. My kids were already there (and had been for a couple of hours). I was exhausted and over the whole thing, but the bales still needed to be moved from the truck and trailer to the hay shed.
I'd decided to put the horses in Estes' old pen so we could just open the fence and drive the trailer in. Bless our horses, they were amazing. Copper hasn't wanted to be caught and haltered for the past couple of weeks, so Jay's been working on it. I think that over the winter, Copper just decided life was pretty good without being caught. I was ready to have to move him and really work to get him haltered. Bill got Skeeter caught in under a minute while I headed for Copper. Copper backed away for about twenty steps before deciding that if his sister was caught, he might as well be too. Took less than two minutes to catch and halter Copper. Whew. Finally, something about the day went right!
They walked nicely over to Estes' pen, where we turned them loose to graze. There were no complaints from them about that!
I don't usually like leaving halters on them when they are unattended, but I thought that if they got the notion to jump the four-foot fence at least we had a chance of catching them if they were haltered.
I took the horses' behavior as a sign that things were finally going right with this damn hay moving day. Digger and Ashinator's boyfriend started helping unload and stack and I was so happy. Not five minutes after we started, my youngest brother showed up with his family to help and I was overjoyed! It took no time at all to get it all done.
Before we knew it, it was time to move the horses back from Estes' pen, and not a moment too soon, because the sun was setting fast!
Digger and CopperAshinator had manned the grill and had dinner ready for us by the time we were finished. She might not have done any of the heavy lifting, but she definitely played an important role in hay moving day. I was famished.
The hay adventure started on a bad foot, but ended with food, drinks, and laughter with some of my favorite people.
Not a bad day at all.
The horses need it and we were getting low, so we did a quick CraigsList search and found some small bales reasonably priced at $6.00/bale. We figured that 100 bales would get us through to the first cutting this year, plus that's all we could afford.
Jay had to work the only day that the sellers were available, so I had to call in reinforcements. Well, reinforcement. Okay, I called Beel. Jay's truck's transmission isn't so hot and I didn't want to risk taking it, so I asked Beel to bring his truck down and I borrowed a flatbed trailer from a friend of mine.
I maybe should have known that all was not going to go smoothly when Bill called from the interstate and told me he was still a half hour out. No big deal, I texted the sellers and told them that we were running a bit late.
When Bill got to the house and we tried to hook up the trailer, it didn't like Jay's ball hitch, so we switched to Bill's and finally got it to work with some cussing and persuader tools. An hour later than we anticipated, we were off!
Now, both Bill and I have a nasty cold, so we're not working to our fullest potential and we hoped that the sellers would be able to help us load. Turns out, it was mostly just Beel and me to load. The seller was kind enough to back the truck and trailer down his driveway, around the house, and into the barn where the hay was (Thank God, or we'd still be there trying to negotiate his driveway).
The trailer is a big, good sized one, so we thought we could get all 100 bales onto it. About three-quarters of the way through loading the trailer, we realized there was no way we could do it. Stacking the bales four high was as high as we were willing to go. We decided to move twenty bales off the trailer and onto the truck. At this point, the seller's wife came to help us, so we could form a hay brigade. (The seller has a wrist injury and can't lift bales). I stood on the tongue of the trailer and took the bales Bill handed down to me, then handed them off to the seller's wife, who was kind enough to stack them on the truck.
An hour after we started loading the first bale, we put the last bale on the trailer and started to strap them down. Only, we could only find three of the five straps that Bill usually keeps in the truck. We needed all three straps for the trailer and didn't have any for the truck, so Bill figured a way to tie down the bales on the truck with baling twine (amazing stuff, isn't it?) and off we went.
I started firing off texts to my sibs and kids letting them know that we were running late and if they still were going to come help us unload and stack, it would be closer to six. We were now two hours behind schedule.
A few miles down the highway, Bill decided he didn't like the feel of the trailer and pulled over to check it. We used a step-down hitch to hook up the bumper-pull trailer. Mom and Bill have a goose-neck trailer, so the step-down hitch doesn't often get used. When we pulled over to look at the trailer, we noticed that the weight of the trailer had torqued the step-down. Not a little bit, either. A lot a bit.
I started calling my sibs and kids again, trying to find out who was already at my house and who could bring Jay's truck to me, bad transmission be damned. Just as I was talking Digger into bringing me the truck, Bill said he thought we could make it if we moved more hay off of the trailer and onto the truck, so I told Digger to standby and we started handling they hay for the third time, this time on the side of the road. Since we didn't have an extra set of hands, I pulled the bales from the trailer and lowered them to the ground, where Bill picked them up and stacked them on the truck. Thankfully, he's tall.
Remember, I said earlier that we didn't have straps for the bales on the truck? I wasn't entirely sure how on earth we were going to secure the bales we moved from the trailer to the truck, but Bill dug around in the truck and found three little straps - not the heavy-duty ones, but straps nonetheless. Hallelujah!
He was reasonably sure that we could make it back to my house as long as we took it slow and easy, so I called Digger back and told him not to come get us yet. We'd see how far we could make it.
We limped on back home, about two and a half hours behind schedule, but we made it. My kids were already there (and had been for a couple of hours). I was exhausted and over the whole thing, but the bales still needed to be moved from the truck and trailer to the hay shed.
I'd decided to put the horses in Estes' old pen so we could just open the fence and drive the trailer in. Bless our horses, they were amazing. Copper hasn't wanted to be caught and haltered for the past couple of weeks, so Jay's been working on it. I think that over the winter, Copper just decided life was pretty good without being caught. I was ready to have to move him and really work to get him haltered. Bill got Skeeter caught in under a minute while I headed for Copper. Copper backed away for about twenty steps before deciding that if his sister was caught, he might as well be too. Took less than two minutes to catch and halter Copper. Whew. Finally, something about the day went right!
They walked nicely over to Estes' pen, where we turned them loose to graze. There were no complaints from them about that!
I don't usually like leaving halters on them when they are unattended, but I thought that if they got the notion to jump the four-foot fence at least we had a chance of catching them if they were haltered.
I took the horses' behavior as a sign that things were finally going right with this damn hay moving day. Digger and Ashinator's boyfriend started helping unload and stack and I was so happy. Not five minutes after we started, my youngest brother showed up with his family to help and I was overjoyed! It took no time at all to get it all done.
Before we knew it, it was time to move the horses back from Estes' pen, and not a moment too soon, because the sun was setting fast!
Digger and CopperAshinator had manned the grill and had dinner ready for us by the time we were finished. She might not have done any of the heavy lifting, but she definitely played an important role in hay moving day. I was famished.The hay adventure started on a bad foot, but ended with food, drinks, and laughter with some of my favorite people.
Not a bad day at all.
March 10, 2015
Copper Has A New Trick
I came home from work today and both horses were soaking wet. It was warm and they still have their winter woolies, but it wasn't hot enough for them to be absolutely soaked. The area around the water trough was an absolute mud pit, so I wandered over to investigate, thinking that it was leaking or something. The closer I got, the more clear it was that someone - ahem, Copper the water baby - had learned the joys of playing in the trough.
Skeeter was soaked as well, but not quite as thoroughly as Copper. It looked like they had learned Jesse's trick of putting both front legs in the trough to play and I was surprised because Princess Skeeter does not like her feetsies to be wet.
As I was laughing at them and wondering what the heck they'd been doing, Skeeter was kind enough to demonstrate her new trick. She buried her face in the water and exhaled through her nostrils to make bubbles.
"Did you see Mom?"I tried to catch it on video, but she doesn't perform on demand, no matter how many times I asked. I finally kissed their soaking noses and went back into the house. While loading the dishwasher I heard a noise I couldn't identify coming from the pen, so I peeked out the window. It seems that Copper learned to empty the water trough with his head.
Skeeter was soaked as well, but not quite as thoroughly as Copper. It looked like they had learned Jesse's trick of putting both front legs in the trough to play and I was surprised because Princess Skeeter does not like her feetsies to be wet.
As I was laughing at them and wondering what the heck they'd been doing, Skeeter was kind enough to demonstrate her new trick. She buried her face in the water and exhaled through her nostrils to make bubbles.
"Did you see Mom?"I tried to catch it on video, but she doesn't perform on demand, no matter how many times I asked. I finally kissed their soaking noses and went back into the house. While loading the dishwasher I heard a noise I couldn't identify coming from the pen, so I peeked out the window. It seems that Copper learned to empty the water trough with his head.March 8, 2015
Skeeter Training 1/27/15
Y'all are lucking out. It's been so long since Skeeter's last training day that I can't possibly bore you with the minutiae.
When Mom and Bill first got here, Bill decided to teach Skeeter how to drag a log, but I think he's confused.
She got to stand tied at the round feeder next to the Bionic Cowgirl for almost an hour, while Copper was getting worked. It was good for her. Without a proper hitching post, we're tying to anything we can, but that doesn't necessarily mean that what we tie her to is strong enough to hold her if she throws a fit. I mean, she already made an accordion of the fence and tried to break the trailer. Mom was close enough release her if she needed it, and also close enough to correct her for pawing. Skeeter is impatient and likes to paw - it's an on-going battle with us.
When Grandpa and Jay were ready to take a break with Copper, we decided on a little saddle refresher course. Skeeter still doesn't like it much. She's good about standing to place the saddle, but she hates the cinch. She's not cinchy, she's just a mare. I need to spend more time with her and the saddle to get her past it. I also need to find my leather punch and fix the length of my stirrups so we can start learning to mount from the ground.
She learned she can drink with the saddle on and it's not very scary.
Over all, she's doing well. She will follow someone on the ground with a rider, but hasn't quite made the connection between the bump with the heels and the click. It'll come soon enough, I think. I did get my first "ears" pic of the year, which made me very happy.
And afterward, when the focus returned to Copper, she got to stand tied at the trailer. I'm not sure she thinks that's a whole lot of fun, but standing tied is a fundamental skill.
Here's a quick video of our day:
When Mom and Bill first got here, Bill decided to teach Skeeter how to drag a log, but I think he's confused.
She got to stand tied at the round feeder next to the Bionic Cowgirl for almost an hour, while Copper was getting worked. It was good for her. Without a proper hitching post, we're tying to anything we can, but that doesn't necessarily mean that what we tie her to is strong enough to hold her if she throws a fit. I mean, she already made an accordion of the fence and tried to break the trailer. Mom was close enough release her if she needed it, and also close enough to correct her for pawing. Skeeter is impatient and likes to paw - it's an on-going battle with us.
When Grandpa and Jay were ready to take a break with Copper, we decided on a little saddle refresher course. Skeeter still doesn't like it much. She's good about standing to place the saddle, but she hates the cinch. She's not cinchy, she's just a mare. I need to spend more time with her and the saddle to get her past it. I also need to find my leather punch and fix the length of my stirrups so we can start learning to mount from the ground.
She learned she can drink with the saddle on and it's not very scary.
Over all, she's doing well. She will follow someone on the ground with a rider, but hasn't quite made the connection between the bump with the heels and the click. It'll come soon enough, I think. I did get my first "ears" pic of the year, which made me very happy.
And afterward, when the focus returned to Copper, she got to stand tied at the trailer. I'm not sure she thinks that's a whole lot of fun, but standing tied is a fundamental skill.
Here's a quick video of our day:
February 21, 2015
Copper Training 1/27/15
Mom and Bill came down to help us with the horses again on an absolutely beautiful day. I had to work (as usual), but Jay was off, so they started with Copper.
Since Copper *hates* being left in the pen when we take Skeeter out, we thought we'd see how he did if we took him out and left her in the pen. He was a rock star. Skeeter couldn't have cared less that he was out and about, and Copper was happy to play along with Jay. They went for a walk and slalomed between the fence posts, but Copper drew the line at crossing the ditch.
It was good, focused time for Jay and Copper. By the time I got home, they were back in the pen. Copper got to wear the bareback pad and try to load into the trailer, which he still hates. Not even bribery worked. He was being such a good boy, that we thought it was time to get some weight on his back again. It's been a few months since Jay and Bill have played Dead Indian with him.
Copper does not like people standing above him. Does not. We tried getting him to line up next to our "mounting block", which is just a turned upside-down feed tub and he was having none of it, so we back off a bit. Instead of taking him to the mounting block, we turned a bucket upside-down and took it to him. Jay and Mom spend a good deal of time just placing the bucket next to him, stepping up, leaning over, and getting down just to repeat the whole process on the other side.
It was good for Copper to understand that just because he doesn't like the black feed tub (which is a lie, he plays with it all the time) doesn't mean he's going to get out of work.
Since Copper *hates* being left in the pen when we take Skeeter out, we thought we'd see how he did if we took him out and left her in the pen. He was a rock star. Skeeter couldn't have cared less that he was out and about, and Copper was happy to play along with Jay. They went for a walk and slalomed between the fence posts, but Copper drew the line at crossing the ditch.
It was good, focused time for Jay and Copper. By the time I got home, they were back in the pen. Copper got to wear the bareback pad and try to load into the trailer, which he still hates. Not even bribery worked. He was being such a good boy, that we thought it was time to get some weight on his back again. It's been a few months since Jay and Bill have played Dead Indian with him.
Copper does not like people standing above him. Does not. We tried getting him to line up next to our "mounting block", which is just a turned upside-down feed tub and he was having none of it, so we back off a bit. Instead of taking him to the mounting block, we turned a bucket upside-down and took it to him. Jay and Mom spend a good deal of time just placing the bucket next to him, stepping up, leaning over, and getting down just to repeat the whole process on the other side.
It was good for Copper to understand that just because he doesn't like the black feed tub (which is a lie, he plays with it all the time) doesn't mean he's going to get out of work.
February 4, 2015
Nite Beams
While I was at SHOT Show in January, Mez and I ran across a great product called Nite Beams. Though the product is primarily aimed at joggers, I immediately thought of my endurance friends. Or really, anyone who rides at night.
Nite Beams are LED lights that can be seen up to 1/4 mile in each direction. If you have a dark horse like I do, or like to ride at night (*cough* *cough* crazy endurance peeps), this could be a great product. We spoke to the owner for quite a while - he's passionate about safety of people and animals. When I mentioned that I thought it would be a great horse product, he said that he had made some halters in the past, but didn't really have a market for them. (P.S. he still has a few in stock, you just have to ask nicely for them - I think I'll order one just to try it out.)
Here's a quick video of his products:
There area multitude of ways you can use the products. I'm planning on ordering two sets of the arm bands an putting them around Skeeter's legs, just above the hoof, so that she can be seen from any direction. Bill suggested using the dog leashes as reins. As long as you're comfortable using split reins, I could see that working. I also just saw on FB horses that had LED strips hanging from their tails.
For you endurance peeps who use glow-sticks, couldn't you just attach these to your breast collars?
The lights will last for thousands of hours, but the batteries will eventually need to be replaced, and that's okay. I'm seeing this as a one-time investment (unless Skeeter destroys them, which is a real possibility).
Nite Beams are LED lights that can be seen up to 1/4 mile in each direction. If you have a dark horse like I do, or like to ride at night (*cough* *cough* crazy endurance peeps), this could be a great product. We spoke to the owner for quite a while - he's passionate about safety of people and animals. When I mentioned that I thought it would be a great horse product, he said that he had made some halters in the past, but didn't really have a market for them. (P.S. he still has a few in stock, you just have to ask nicely for them - I think I'll order one just to try it out.)
Here's a quick video of his products:
There area multitude of ways you can use the products. I'm planning on ordering two sets of the arm bands an putting them around Skeeter's legs, just above the hoof, so that she can be seen from any direction. Bill suggested using the dog leashes as reins. As long as you're comfortable using split reins, I could see that working. I also just saw on FB horses that had LED strips hanging from their tails.
For you endurance peeps who use glow-sticks, couldn't you just attach these to your breast collars?
The lights will last for thousands of hours, but the batteries will eventually need to be replaced, and that's okay. I'm seeing this as a one-time investment (unless Skeeter destroys them, which is a real possibility).
