Happy Days

     "Goodbye gray skies, hello blue!  Happy days are here again."

     The three horses always think it is a happy day when I open the gate to the back pasture and they can go join the cows.  They always go out at a gallop.

     It was a foggy Monday morning.  My flash went off when I took this photo of Hercules in the dewy grass. All the water droplets in the air, as fog, reflected back the light.



     This is the "mulch" (old hay and manure) around the river birch in the paddock.  I planned to weed and then rake it into the fenced in enclosure.

      The last several mornings, I have found Stew and Babe "sleeping" by the barn.  I wonder if they prefer it there because it is drier and warmer.  Now that Babe is moving much better, she is also willing to make the "hike" in from the back pasture. Oh happy day!

         The chickens always follow me from the coop to the barnyard to see what scratchings might be available.  They (Tiny too) especially like to dig through cow manure. 



 
     Stew decided he needed to get in on the action and break it up.  He puts his head down and shakes it like a bull ready to charge, and then chases the chickens.

     The fog did not clear off until noon.  Then it took me 20 minutes to get Roni on the trailer.  I drove to Marj's and picked up Josh and Miriam and Cowboy and Cowgirl and we continued on to Moraine View.

     Josh was going to give my lesson while he and Miriam rode the two quarter horses out there for the first time.  We rode for 90 minutes, each working with our horse and Josh and Miriam giving me helpful hints.  


     Cowboy did fantastic.  He stopped to look at the creek or a log in the trail, but then went forward.  I don't think he ever spooked.  Cowgirl, on the other hand, approached everything new with caution.  She jumped over large logs and the creek.  She spooked at a deer (by jumping, not running).  Miriam did a great job riding her.  In front as the lead horse, Roni was wonderful, and he did well in back when we walked.  But when we trotted while he was behind another horse, he got all revved up... and did that trotting in place (piaffe) like action.  I tried different things Josh and Miriam suggested to slow & calm Roni down, but didn't feel like I made much progress.

     I got home at 4:00 and hosed Roni off.  The first thing he did when put in the paddock was to lie down and roll.







     So much for a clean horse.  I picked garden veggies that I took to Growth Group to share with everyone. 

     I do not walk at dawn anymore, because the grass is too wet and the air too cold.  I intend to go later in the day, but last week rarely did.  This week I had better intentions.  Tuesday, mid morning, I made it out to take Kaysha for a constitutional.  There was a stiff breeze and the temperature was in the low 50's.  When walking into the wind, I wished I had worn hat and gloves. 

     I "cleaned house," scrubbing the downstairs bathroom and spot mopping the kitchen floor, while waiting for it to warm up outside.  I also read and cut wanted articles from my monthly magazine "The Horses Mouth." 

     Out in the paddock to work, I took pleasure in watching the horses enjoying the crisp fall air.  I weeded around the Birch and then raked the manure mulch under the fence and up and around the tree and day lilies.   


     I am hoping this discourages the growth of weeds and keeps the soil moist and tree healthy.

     Once Joe got home from work, we took on the job of putting plastic snow fence around the wooden snow fence, in an effort to keep cow (and horse) feet from getting caught.  We are fairly sure this is how Babe got injured. 
                                                          Zorro is happy and healthy,
although, like Roni, a little on the fat side.  Amiga is really over weight.   So, I have been keeping all three horses in the paddock, with two hours of pasture turn out time.  As you can see, there is not much grass to graze on here.  At least they are out of their stalls and able to get exercise.

     I cooked a pork roast for dinner, made a caramelized onion and apple chutney to go on top, baked potatoes, cooked up our home grown green beans, and tossed fresh picked spinach for a salad.  I was concerned I had put too much vinegar in the chutney, but Valencia said it tasted good.  The "boys" were aloof about it, but everyone got their fill on food.

      By Wednesday, there was no mistaking that fall is here.  It was 40 degrees during morning chores, I had to wear hat and gloves for my mid-morning walk, the horses are getting their fuzzy winter coats, and the neighbors (on all four sides of us) have started harvesting corn.  

     The white semi in this photo is hauling corn to the elevator.

       I spent an inappropriate amount of time on the front porch, at my computer, in front of the space heater, drinking extra cups of hot tea. 

     The resident squirrel has been busy going to and from the corn crib.   I can only imagine the nest and stock pile of food she has up on the third floor of this structure.

     I went to town in the afternoon to dig up Forsythia at teacher friend Jeff's house and then bought groceries on the way home.  After dinner I rode Amiga.  The wind died down as it got darker, (which is also occurring earlier and earlier these days).  Amiga actually did a nice job for me.  I enjoyed the time riding her.  Counting chickens before shutting the coop, I noticed Tiny asleep with all the others.  I have not seen her roost in the coop all summer. Her return to the flock makes me very happy.  Oh happy night.

     Thursday it was warmer, with more sun and less breeze.  After my mid-morning walk,  I planted all the Forsythia I had brought home.  The yellow flag is to remind the "boys" not to mow over these bushes... which occurred a few weeks ago... thus the effort at planting more.    



     Becks had moved from the fields behind us to the one west of us, where they worked much of the day and into the night.


     I am not sure why Jason was atop the combine.  He would be up there and then back in the cab with the driver.  I like the apple hanging in the foreground... also ready for harvest.


     I stayed busy outside all day... weeded the rock garden, sprayed weeds in the round pen, and worked with Amiga until the farrier arrived.  After trimming Amiga and Zorro, I had Loren look at Roni's shoes.  He started hammering nails back in, and then Roni decided he was not going to have anything to do with this.  It was a real struggle to get all four shoes tightened.  I tried reprimanding Roni, which made him madder and frightened.

     After Loren left, I tried lifting Roni's back legs to look at his hooves and he would not let me... even to the point of kicking out kind of.  I wondered if Roni was just being rebellious or if he was confused and afraid to let me have his hoof.  I considered our approach, and decided it was just too fast for Roni. 

     So I spent a long time rubbing him all over (even his legs) and loving on him.  I got him to lift each foot without moving away from me or kicking, and felt that was great progress.  It is so easy to get mad at him when I feel he is being defiant.  But this is where I think he has been misunderstood.  He gets concerned about something (who knows why) and acts rebellious, but is really confused and frightened I think.  My happy day had become sad.  I was in tears feeling bad about smacking Roni when he was misbehaving.

     I rode Roni for an hour.  It was a nice ride, although he rushed several times.  We went around Becks once, and he did well even with all the harvest commotion.  Brian Otto, our new hay man, was cutting alfalfa when we got home and Dan was mowing the lawn.  Amiga and Zorro were anxiously awaiting our return, because it was after "dinner" time.

       Hutch came over to pick up some straw for a hay rack ride he was giving this coming weekend.  Joe found almost two dozen of Tiny's eggs in two different nests while getting the bales out of the corn crib.  Then another hay man dropped by... the place was really hopping.  This did not concern the horses any, who were happily grazing in the back pasture.

     I went to bed early, not able to keep my eyes open at my computer.  No sooner did I lay down, and I felt the need to go out to the barn and talk with Roni.  I loved on and rubbed on him all over.  And again got him to lift each hoof without fussing.  I hoped I would be able to pick them tomorrow.

     Friday morning did not lend itself to drying hay or a nice morning walk.  The horses didn't mind eating in the drizzle.  It strikes me as strange how parts of the paddock are eaten to bare nubbles, while other grass is left long.  The long stuff does tend to be where they pee and poop though. 

     I took Kaysha for a walk in the intermittent drizzle.  We went around Becks.  It seemed strange that they left only two rows of corn between the harvested rows (seen at right).  The east side neighbor (seen above) just harvested the outside rows.  They do this because that corn is driest, and it exposes the inner corn to more wind, to dry further.  I know farmers will leave 5 or 6 rows between passes and come back later after more drying time.  But coming back for just two rows
                                                     seems like wasted energy.  To the left
Becks has left 5 rows, running the whole length of our yard.  It would be nice if they would leave them over the winter.  I have heard this makes a good snow fence.  It is also a form of privacy fence for us and slows down the wind.  Plus the squirrels would love it.

     My water proof jacket kept me dry during the walk but my feet got wet.  It aggravated my poison ivy which is around one ankle.  So I had to scrub it with more medicine when I came in.  I imagine I got it there after weeding out by my trail last week, when I took off my socks but left on my jeans which had the oils around the cuffs. 


     To fight off the urge to take a nap after lunch, I ran into town to get gas and pick up my grazing muzzles I had had repaired. Then I went outside to clean stalls and do some other odd jobs.  It soon became evident that it might rain, so I let the horses in.



     I fitted Amiga and Roni with their "new" grazing muzzles.  I plan to put Roni's on Zorro part of the time because he is on the fat side too.  Thinking the coast was clear, I turned all three horse out in the back pasture to graze.  Roni and Amiga did not like the restriction of the muzzle and threw their heads in the air and rubbed the muzzle on their legs.

     Moments after letting the horses out, it started thundering and lightening and soon pouring down rain.  I wasn't about to get them back in, nor did I want to go out to catch them, so I came in feeling less than happy.  No riding, painting, or raking grass, and I was especially concerned about the horses getting hit by lightening and our freshly cut hay getting drenched.  

     Don't worry, be happy!  There is always a rainbow following every rain cloud.  But there was also more rain after the rainbow.  I got the horses back into the paddock and removed their muzzles.  The rain came, off and on, all afternoon and evening.  The other thing that comes after rain is...

a dirty horse.  Roni loves rolling in the mud.  But even when he is muddy, there is a certain glow about him.








     After dark, and the end of chores, I spent almost an hour out in the barn cleaning Roni up.  He still will not hold his back feet up for me, like he used to do so well.  It makes me sick to think Loren and I soured him of this.


     Today is the September equinox, which signals the beginning of our autumn.  And what does this wooly caterpillar indicate?  I don't even want to think about winter.  The day started out foggy, but it soon cleared off.  Joe had gotten up at 2 am for work and was still hard at it, drinking strong coffee, at 7am. 

     The wind was quite strong, causing outside work to be more challenging.  I didn't get out until noon, but because I was inside most of Friday, I felt I needed to accomplish something outside.  The dog kept hoping for a walk, but that never happened.  I did some sanding and more painting.  Brian came and raked the  
two fields.  This is our 5th cutting of
alfalfa, but only our 2nd of the grass hay out in our front pasture.  After working for awhile, I got a call from Lisa, asking if I wanted to ride with her.  All work was put on hold. 


     I saddled up Roni and met Lisa (and her horse Scout) over at Becks.  We rode down the farm road across from Beck's drive (called Bakers lane), across the wood bridge and along the fields northwest of Becks.


     To the right, Zorro is enjoying the fence "scratching" post.  Next I rode Amiga.  She did okay, but tried to gait several times.  I worry about circling her because tight circles are not the best for her recovering legs.  Once she loses more weight and muscles up more... and her legs get stronger, I will feel better about letting her gait some. For now, I need to keep working with her on ground work and reinforcing the cues for moving different legs, stop and go.

     I gave this Blog its title earlier in the week when I was feeling so happy.  The recent problems with Roni have impaired that feeling.  His shoes are actually loser since the rain and mud, he won't let me pick his back hooves, and he still is difficult to get loaded in the trailer.  We leave Tuesday with him, for three nights of camping and four days of trail riding.  How is that going to go I wonder?  We also are hoping
                                         to get this hay dried and baled before we leave.
And, I feel bad about leaving this farm in the capable and caring hands of Courtney and Daniel because of all its potential problems.  And to top it off, sister Carol's farm and house have suffered a huge blow from a hail storm and high winds Friday.  I feel so bad for her... who am I to complain?  I guess we wouldn't have happy days if we didn't have sad ones to compare them to.  But I'd be willing to give it a try.  Like Camelot.  My dirty faced Roni to the left continues to be a mystery to me.  Will I ever figure him out?  When I do, that will be a Happy Day!