Down Right Tacky

     This weeks title has nothing to do with our kitchen floor when it is much in need of mopping.  Nor am I talking about the outfits girls have been wearing to school lately, or the language I sometimes hear in the hallways at school.  This is not even in reference to how our school district is treating all of our new teachers... giving them pink slips and not re-hiring until so late in the spring the people not getting re-hired will be hard pressed to find openings elsewhere.  I am not even addressing how some people are trash talking our President of the United States, or how other people who call themselves Christians talk and behave.  What I really had in mind, is this whole business of horse tack.

Come to find out, it is a science in and
of itself.  It is down right difficult getting saddles and bridles to fit, bits to fully communicate without hurting, pads to cushion but not slip, and keeping it all
in an affordable range, but not so cheap
it is tacky or falls apart.


  




This is Buck Tooth Betty whom Courtney named.  Her two beaks do not occlude but cross over each other.  It looks tacky, but she is surviving.  Because she has troubles eating, I will give her hand outs when others are not around.  Well, now she has gotten in the habit of following me around.  I also think that is tacky.  I have been researching trimming her beaks in hopes that she will be able to eat and drink better.  In the winter time she had frozen water down her front feathers, that she had dribbled while drinking.  Also tacky and maybe cold. 

     Tuesday after school, Marj came over with another saddle for me to try on Amiga.  It was a Stuben, an English saddle, so I was lukewarm about it. But her friend was selling it for a reasonable price. We threw it up on Amiga and it did fit quite nicely.  Hum…. Marj left and I proceeded to take Amiga out in the round pen and work her.  Then I rode her in the round pen, and then out in our pasture on the trail I had mowed a few days ago.  The new saddle fit nicely and felt comfortable, but I really missed having a horn.  So, I came back to the barn, and switched out with the saddle Marj had sent
                                                      home with me on Sunday.  It is a
kind of hybrid English/Western type.  It looks like an English saddle but has a horn and the back of the seat is a little higher and more padded.  The girth is English.  In this picture the girth is not on it yet.  Amiga has a funny expression because of all of the commotion.  Me with the camera, Sissy passing through and Flopsie looking for manure to pick through.  I actually rode in this saddle for another 45 min.  I went over to Becks fields. Amiga did very well. She even crossed the railroad tracks without stopping.  She just slowed way down. I kept praising her for every time she hesitated but went when asked. She was a bit nervous riding along 74 with the big trucks coming up behind her (even though we were 50 feet from the road). Once we turned around and she could see them coming towards her, she was much better.  She gaited quite well most the time, which is what I have been working on with her.  My trouble was getting her to walk and not gait.   I had a great time riding but think it would be more fun with others.  Courtney was already working with Zorro when I got back to the barn.  I had been “horsing around” for three hours and was ready to quit….needed to get inside and hit the grading. I felt kind of bad ditching Courtney….I know she is longing to ride Zorro around our place.

       Wednesday I got home to observe brother and sister horses resting in the shade of the corn crib together.  I had high hopes of Courtney joining me for a ride around our pasture and maybe to Becks.  So, I did my normal pre-riding routine before Courtney came, and headed out to the pasture on Amiga.  She was a little more distracted than yesterday, but I felt safe enough to venture over to Becks.  She spooked at a couple of things, but it was just a sudden halt on her part.  And then would go again when I asked her to.  She did a side stepping kind of thing a few times, but would then get back to forward walking.  I saw Courtney’s car parked at the barn and was riding around waiting for her to come out into the paddock to work Zorro.  Apparently she was busy washing green slobber from Chuck off of Zorro's neck.  I finally came back and parked Amiga in the stall and helped Courtney get Zorro tacked up.  We started with the Stuben saddle that Marj had brought over for us to try.  It didn’t really work so we went back to Courtney’s saddle.  We used the bridle and bit I had had on Amiga.  Zorro did okay with it.  But Zorro just did not behave as he normally does when Courtney rides him at Marj’s.  He kept wanting to turn in one direction.  When I sat on him in the saddle, I could see the problem Courtney was having.  The back of the saddle does not line up with the horn, it is aimed slightly off to the right.  The whole saddle is twisted which is putting pressure on Zorro, that causes him to want to turn.  It was also bothering Courtney’s hip.  After messing around with different options, we just gave it up.  A ride together was not going to happen.  It was extremely frustrating for both of us.
                                                           During all this “horsing around”, the

repair man dropped our riding mower off, Joe mowed the yard and riding trail through the hay field, trimmed along the fence line, sprayed for weeds in the hay field and  weeded the garden.  At least someone had a productive afternoon.  Here you can see a photo of one section of  the trail taken through our bathroom window, so there is some reflection.

     Right after school Thursday, Joe and I left for the St. Louis airport. We were running late and it was extremely windy making driving tough.  I was hoping it wouldn’t interfere with air travel.  As it turned out, Britney was right on time but we were a bit late. I jumped out of the car to get her at the baggage claim.  She was the last one left and had been waiting.  We had to rush to get back to the car because security was trying to get Joe to move it.  Everything was very rushed and hectic,  
not at all a warm and welcoming homecoming.  Poor Britney was already in culture shock, and this did not help any.  Once on the road, we made a spur of the moment stop near Greenville to have dinner with Alissa, Britney’s roommate of 3 1/2 years.  Finally we could slow down for a bit and enjoy life.  The two ladies had much to catch up on as we all  enjoyed  a nice dinner.  Once home, Britney was in her bed asleep before I even got in the house after a few quick chores.  In this picture taken Friday morning, she is getting reacquainted with Sis.

     Continued high winds accompanied the sun on Friday. I didn’t leave for school until 10:30 cause it was a workshop day….but I didn’t leave to come home from school until after 4:00.  The day was full of meetings and school improvement tasks, so none of our individual agendas could be taken care of…but, we Bio teachers were able to accomplish work that may be of benefit.   When I arrived home, Britney was already in the process of
                                                                                    spoiling the dog,
who is not allowed in this part of the house where you see her in this picture.  Before dinner, Joe, Britney and I walked (with Kaysha) to our neighbor’s to see the progress on their house and their baby calf.   They tore down their old farm house and are going to build a new house there.  We talked with Brian and watched the month old calf for a bit.  Brian did mention seeing a coyote passing through a few days ago.  I am guessing that is what I had spotted on our place last week.  I have also seen 2 large rats in the chicken coop on several occasions…. usually after dark.  If only I could get the coyote to get the rats but leave my chickens alone.   After a simple pizza dinner, we watched 2 episodes of survivor. And then it was early to bed for us. 

     Because I had put the horses in the barn early with the stormy weather, (we had a tornado watch from 6pm till midnight ) I let them out in the paddock before bed.  So, when I woke up at 3am Saturday, I went out to bring the horses in from the paddock. It was so nice out, perfectly still and 62 degrees. After those high winds from yesterday....it seemed so calm.... even as life continued to rush by in trucks on interstate 74.  Being up well before the break of dawn allowed me to get lots of desk work done.  However, it also meant I needed to take a nap...actually, I was woken after 15 min of my first early morning nap...but got in over an hour nap mid morning.  Just after lunch Joe and I cleaned the hay out from under the roost of the chicken coop, and as I suspected, there was a large family of rats.  (two very large rats and about 8 juvenile rats)  They were running in all

directions but were too fast for the two barn kitties, dog or my shovel.  I did not want to hit a barn kitty in the head with my shovel, so was using it to chase rats out of nooks and crannies. Many of them took flight (not literally) out the nice size hole they had chewed this winter.  Several of the small ones ended up between the rafter boards of the roof where we couldn't get to them.  The dog and cats spent almost an hour running around the inside and outside of the chicken coop. At one point the dog almost grabbed a kitten.  I finally hooked her up because she was over heating and in need of water.  Joe nailed up some boards on the outside north wall to cover the holes.  With a little paint it shouldn't look too bad.  You can see one cluster of ornamental grass we moved last fall.  The Trumpet vine growing up the East side wall is ready to bloom. 

     We took a break from the coop cleaning and took the horses out to Moraine View where we hooked them to a picket line, brushed and lunged them, and walked them around.  Joe set up his new hammock and Mike watched and helped us with the horses. We wanted to see how the horses would behave and get them used to the campground.  We were the only ones out there because of the cloudy skies.  We did get sprinkled on once.  The horses did very well. 
Once home we finished cleaning the
chicken coop and did some other little jobs like picking up sticks.  It wasn't long before we ran out of time and day light.  Joe started a fire in our little fire pit to burn many of the branches that had blown out of trees Thursday and Friday.  We ate our dinners at the picnic table by the fire.  It was a nice ending to a nice day.
 
     After working in the nursery 1st service and then going to Church 2nd service, I came straight home to get ready to go back to the park with the horses.  Once Courtney and Mike got here, we finished loading gear and then loaded the horses.  Joe went out ahead of us to set up the picket line.  We stopped by at Marj's to get a bridle Courtney needed to borrow.  She was also borrowing one of Marj's saddles.  The lack of tack continues to be one of our hurdles.  When we arrived at the park, Joe was ridding off on Vinnie with Richard in the lead.  No picket line was set up.  Hum...it's hard to get good help these days. LOL   Unloading, grooming, tacking, and lunging our horses all went very smoothly.  And then Courtney and I went for a great trail ride with Marj leading the way on Vinnie.  We were very happy to see how well our two young horses did.  It was a beautiful ride through the prairie, fields and woods. I wish I had remembered the camera to capture this "first trail ride".  Finally, a day of riding we have dreamed of!