Time Sure Flies

Goodness, time flies. The below photo was taken March 7, 2009. This was the last time D rode his pony, Tonto. Finally, this past Saturday, D decided he wanted to ride, so we pulled the poor pony out, cleaned him up and got ready to ride. :)

I longed Tonto for about 10 minutes just to be sure he was not too full of himself. He appeased me by walking, trotting and halting on command, like he never missed a day of work. He sighed heavily each time we stopped as if to say, "Can we please get on with it?" Since he didn't so much as bat an eyelash wrong, I let D climb on. "Keep him at a walk," I said. "It's been months since you rode him last." D smiled.

Old Tonto marched off like a pro. It seemed as if he missed being ridden. The two walked in lots of circles and changed directions a bunch. We worked on halting, sitting up straight, quiet hands, heels down, straight line from bit to elbow. Check, check, check.

Now, looking at the photos, I should have dropped his stirrups a hole or two. The problem is, D's legs are getting so long that longer stirrups will let his legs hang below Tonto's belly!

Yep, it is hard to believe D is finally outgrowing Tonto. I guess it doesn't take too long to outgrow an 11.2 hh pony though...

The photo below made me laugh. D and Tonto hid behind my Mom's garden of zinnias. It is the end of their growing season and they are dying off. They sure were amazing this summer.

D and Tonto moved out to the front yard. There is more room to trot and they didn't have to avoid Maggie and Filly who were enjoying being loose in the yard.

The photo below shows how badly he needed his stirrups dropped. *Sigh.* My baby is growing up. And rounding his shoulders. He sure sits great in that saddle though - thanks a MILLION Horse Crazy Girl #1. (I loves you bunches.)

A couple of times around the front yard and a few short trots. They were both getting tired.

Too cute for words.

Look out Tonto...there is a little girl in line for you.....


I also worked Filly on Saturday. After longing her for a while, I decided I needed to climb on her. I climbed on, laid over the saddle, then got off. She turned her head around and looked at me as if to say, "Boy, it's been a while!" So, I climbed back on and rode her in a few circles. We didn't do much as I lost my nerve. We ended on a good note with no injuries. Maybe we'll do more next weekend. :0) (Dang, I've become a big Chicken.)

Maybe D is going to have train her afterall.

Well, Shucks

Do you ever feel like this?

Well, shoot. We've had to delay the landscaper for a bit, but hopefully we can get the hill work done soon. I want that grass to start growing before winter! I'll keep everyone posted.

Thanks so much S for the barn tips. I am making my list - stall mats are a definite need and at the top of my list.

I'll post more later when I have more time. Off to work now!

More Progress!

My dear hubby finished the wooden part of the fence on Sunday.

It looks awesome!!

The tree house got fenced in, but I believe we can make the slide go over the fence so the kids can still play in it. :)

Below is the view coming in our driveway.

I can just imagine Tonto and Filly's heads poking over the fence.

The gap is for a gate of coarse.

Below is a view from inside the pasture.

Up to the far right is the barn, but the house is in the way, so you can't see it...



Another view of the pasture. I'm loving it!

One more pasture shot...grass!
We have fenced approximately 3 acres.

Now the dreaded hill. We had a professional landscaper come out to share his advice and give us an estimate. He begins work on Friday!!!!!!
The plan is to terrace the hill with railroad ties and create a gradual slope so the water doesn't just rush over the hill as it has been doing.

No grass!

Daisy is standing in the majorly eroded part of the hill.

The photos don't really show the extent of the damage.


The two pieces of metal you can barely make out in the photo are part of a drain.

The landscaper is going to fix it so it will drain properly.

Below you can see where the erosion caused ruts in the dirt.

More photos of the ruts:

More bare dirt/gravel/exposed tree roots:

I can't wait to see what it looks like in a few days!

Next: the BARN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The plan is to make this into a 2 stall barn (approx. 14x14 stalls), with a center aisle and feed/tack room. (The ladder to the loft is removable.)

If you were making this into your dream barn, please share your "must haves!"

It is time to make my list so I will be ready when it is time to finish this baby!

Happy Labor Day! Bath Day for us!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Labor Day holiday! I enjoyed the day off from work - it was much needed!

Saturday was another bath day for the ponies. It has rained a lot the last few weeks, which is kind of strange for August/early September. Usually it is hot as hell and so humid it is hard to breathe. Not so lately! I'll take the rain and cooler weather any day over that hot, humid, sticky stuff! However, it makes for muddy ponies....and children...

This was my audience - they were wonderful helpers going to retrieve needed items from the garage. They also pointed out spots I missed on the horses, so they got to help scrub, too. :)

Filly; pre-bath: (looks a little less than thrilled)

Filly, post-bath: ("Okay, all clean lady. May I get back to the grass now?")

"What?! Another photo? How do you like this?"

"BOR-ing"

Filly's face. Besides the rubbed areas on her face, she now has a bunch of small bumps all over her cheek and part of her neck. It looked and felt like possible fire ant bites. I think she may have put her face in an ant bed while rolling or laying down.

I treated the whole area with TriCare. Poor girl.

After her bath, I tacked her up and lunged her in the pasture. No side reins again, but we worked on walk/trot/canter/halt transitions both ways for about 30 minutes. I didn't put D on her today. They were both too tired for extra work.

Tonto enjoyed his bath and his treats - my mom loves to ruin the ponies! :)

Clean and shiny pony - I didn't get any pre-bath photos.

I was trying to hurry as another rain cloud moved in.

You can tell it is getting dark from the photo. This was about 4 in the afternoon, but it was getting dark! (Should have used my flash.)

This one was so dark I highlighted it and changed the tone to sepia so you could see Tonto!

And last, but not least - old Maggie. (Pre-bath photo)

Her poor pasterns...I guess 31 years has put a lot of stress on them.

Does she remind you of a dachshund?

Post-bath. You can tell she feels better!

I am going to miss the warm weather - I love bathing the ponies. Too bad they don't stay clean for long. As soon as I turned them out, they all rolled and looked like pigs again!

Tomorrow I'll post an update about the fence and dreadful hill! Stay tuned!

Fun with the Ponies

We spent some time at my parents' house yesterday messing around with the ponies. The weather has been unusually cool lately, so I had the energy to get Filly out and work with her. We began by having a long brushing session, then I tacked her up and walked her around the yard. She is a bit spooky, so desensitizing is something she desperately needs. She was able to sniff the big blue tarp covering the lawn mower, then she spent some time checking out the big silver gas tank in the side yard. Filly relaxed and seemed to enjoy the attention once she realized the odd objects weren't going to eat her. Once she settled, I longed her for about 30 minutes. We worked on walk, trot, halt transitions; no side reins and no cantering this time.

She was very well behaved and quiet, so I put my oldest child on her, still on the lunge line. I had him work on walk/halt transitions and change of direction. They both did great and there was no silly stuff from Filly. After about 15 minutes, we called it a day.

Next, it was spa time. D and I gave Filly a good bath and painted her face and ears with Swat. Her sweet itch is at a minimum, and she didn't seem too miserable and itchy this time. I read an on-line article recently about putting a mixture of baby oil and scarlet oil on the mane and tail of horses suffering from sweet itch to prevent the midges from biting them. It sure seems to work! Below is a photo of her tail which has been treated with the mixture. She has not been rubbing in the last week, so her tail is growing back nicely.

Filly has rubbed her mane only a little bit - you can see how it is thin near her shoulders:



She has no sores or bare patches on her ears, shoulders and croup as she did before:

The dogs were in the woods, so Filly is in her alert stance:

A little more relaxed:



Close-up of her sweet face:

Once I turned Filly back out with Tonto, it started to rain.

Tonto playing in the rain:

He and Filly started running around like crazies as the rain came down harder.

They were too funny playing.

Had to take a break to graze:

Tonto checking D and me out to see what we were up to:

I didn't snap any photos of Maggie this time. Once it started to rain she was off to the barn.

All three are doing well, fat and happy.

Wasps!

We were out in the pole barn the other day and realized there were several BIG wasp nests. With lots of kids and animals around our place, someone was bound to get stung.

My dear husband took on the task of eliminating the buggers. He dawned full gear to prevent getting stung:

You should have seen our dogs disappear when he walked out of the house. Sam couldn't get out of there fast enough! I guess we can't count on them as being good watchdogs. It's a wonder he didn't just scare the wasps to death as well...

Anyway, B successfully took out all of the wasps - I believe there were around seven nests total - and didn't get stung one time, which I don't think would have been possible anyway with all of the wasp gear he had on....

Tears and Times to Remember

Well, the last couple of weeks have been hard ones. We lost two beloved pets in one week.

Our old dog Snowflake was 17 years old and going deaf and blind. My husband adopted him form a friend when Snowflake was about a year old. He was a great dog for sixteen years - having fun running, playing and being loved.

Recently, poor Snowflake was incontinent, vomiting a lot, and sleeping more than normal. There were so many times we would be in the yard and he would just walk aimlessly around, like he was lost. Probably mostly in part to being deaf and blind...He had done so well up until last year. It seems as if Snowflake aged overnight. My husband and I had started asking ourselves if it was "time," and we both agreed it was.

Snowflake

I dropped my oldest off at the bus stop Friday morning 2 weeks ago and pulled into the driveway. I was looking to my right at Sam coming out of the shed and didn't even see Snowflake. I just heard him yelp and felt the bump. The sick feeling in the pit of my stomach was unbearable. Shaking and feeling nauseous, I climbed out of the van terrified of what I was going to find. To my relief, he wasn't dead, nor was there blood. He just couldn't stand up. It looked like I had hit his back leg. Sobbing, I ran into the house and grabbed some towels. My other 2 children were thankfully still asleep, so they had no idea. I ran back outside and wrapped Snowflake in the towels to keep him still. It took me several tries to dial my husband's cell phone number - I was crying and shaking so hard I couldn't get the phone to work. It was horrible. My husband rushed home and took Snowflake to the vet. There were no choices this time; he had to be put to sleep. We knew it was time, but I sure didn't want him to go like that. The images of him struggling to get up are etched in my mind and the guilt of hitting him just won't go away. I am so thankful none of our kids were with me though. They took the news better than I expected. All three talked about how much they would miss him, but they knew he was really, really old. My husband buried Snowflake by the barn in a nice quiet, shady spot. His feisty, yet fun-loving personality will be greatly missed.

My parents still have the 3 puppies we rescued last October in South Carolina. These little guys also had a rough start to life. They went from this:

to this:

in no time at all. Boots, Max and Sally have grown and matured into fun, playful, loving dogs; although quite destructive...They have completely stolen all of our hearts.

My husband and I kind of kicked around the idea of adopting Max, the only boy of the 3. He loved to play fetch and got along really well with our kids. We still needed some time to think about it though, as Snowflake's loss was still so fresh in our minds.

Then six days after I hit Snowflake, my Dad called to break the news about Max. He had been struck and killed on the dirt road in front of their house. As expected, that news hit like a ton of bricks. Max was only a year old. He was the one who loved to play ball and always carried a toy around in his mouth.

Max

He was such a sweet, sweet pup.

Two losses in a week is really hard to stomach. I find myself spending more time loving on our dogs Daisy and Sam and our kitties K.C. and Stripes. Go hug you pets and your kids...becuase you just never know....