Denim Deb Hay, hay, hay. Thank the Lord!

[Denim Deb]

OK, I'll start w/Honey and Misty and see how far I get.

I've not finished all the work I need to do to the run in to make it so there's regular stalls. As a result, the only 2 I could close doors to are Misty and Stormy's stalls. But, I wasn't able to lock Misty's stall. However, when shut, the door would stick. So, when I feed the horses, I feed Misty first, then Stormy, then Licorice then Honey. Stormy gets the most, but he's the alpha. No one tries to get his feed. Misty is the omega, and both Licky and Honey will, given the chance, chase her off her feed, so I shut her door. But, since I feed her first, it's not unusual for her to be done by the time the other 2 are, even though they get less. (Stormy takes the longest to eat.)

Yesterday, I went to shut the door, and it didn't stay shut! I don't know what happened. I didn't have time to mess w/it then, and Honey did chase her off. (And got told about it.) Yesterday afternoon, I found some large rocks and placed them in Honey's bucket. The idea is to slow down their eating since they have to try and get their feed from around the rocks. The rocks are too big for them to eat, though. When I fed this morning, I tried again to close Misty's door. Still wouldn't stick. But, much to my surprise, I was able to lock her door. So, when I fed her, I closed and locked the doors, then fed everyone else. Honey got done eating B4 Misty, and went to get in w/her. I don't think she was very happy to find out she couldn't.

Misty likes to spook at one end of the riding arena. She always has, and it's getting old. There is nothing new there, nothing been moved, she's just got it in her head that there's something there just waiting to pounce on her and eat her. Today, I got tired of it. So, we spent the majority of the time I was riding her just walking up and down that side. By the time I was done, she wasn't spooking at all! I'll do more of the same tomorrow. I also need to start working w/her more on NOT moving off when I mount. Today was the worst she's ever been! I hadn't even put my leg over the saddle and she started to walk! I know some people don't care if their horse does that, but I do. It can be dangerous-especially if she had spooked. So, tomorrow, depending on how my leg feels, I'll work some on that.

We're doing some cleaning up in the yard. And, we have one section of fence that's covered w/Japanese honey suckle. I decided to let the goats out so they could help me clean it up a bit. They did eat some of it, but were more interested in running around and playing. Hubby's watching them and laughing-especially when they go up on their hind legs and start butting each other. So, he acted like he was going to head butt Sugar. Hubby is not overly tall, 5'7.5". When Sugar stands on her hind legs, she's almost as tall as I am! So, she got up on her hind legs, and started coming towards him! He turned tail and went the other way! If only I had had a video camera!

Wok up the other morning and had pain on the bottom of my foot-right were the big toe joins the foot. I have 2 warts. I have no idea where I could have gotten them. And, I didn't really want to spend any money on something to get rid of them if I didn't have to. Did some research on line, and it said you could use ACV, then cover w/a bandage. And, it didn't say it needed to be the good stuff. So, I got a cotton ball, got some of the store bought ACV on it, applied it to the area, and covered it w/a bandage. Both of them are much smaller, and they don't hurt any longer!

OK, I'm tired of typing, and the rest will take a while to type. Maybe I'll type about it in the morning.

 

[rebecca100]

Heehee! I can just see him running from the goat!

 

[snapshot]

Sounds like a really interesting and productive day!!!!!!

 

[Denim Deb]

I see my doctor on Thursday, and am hoping he'll tell me I can quit therapy. The therapist, however, thinks I ought to go for another month. So, yesterday instead of spending the afternoon at the farm getting caught up, I went home as soon as I could, dragged my canoe out to my truck, loaded it up, and went down to the lake. By then, the wind was blowing a bit stiffer than I wanted it to be, but this is the last chance I had to go B4 they do a reevaluation at therapy. (I have my allergists and chiropractor's appointments today.) I STILL haven't had a chance to fix the seat, but think I'm going to have to B4 I go out again. It's gotten much worse. :/

So, I get to the lake, get everything unloaded, put my dry box in the canoe and take off. I'll admit to it being a bit difficult to launch. Normally, I step in the water to launch. It's still a bit cold for doing that, and I almost tipped over B4 I was able to shove off, but I did it. I had a terrible time paddling across the lake, but knew if I could get to the back and up the stream, I'd be fine. And, it was a bit of hard work, but I made it. I saw several turtles, some small birds that I wasn't close enough to ID, a pair of swans, some Canada geese, a pair of mallards, some wood ducks and I don't know what all else while out. I got to the point that I normally turn around at. I've tried to get past there B4, but never had any luck. There's too many branches, etc in the way. I was all set to turn around when I noticed a piece of orange surveying tape tied to a branch. Much to my surprise, I found out that I could now get thru there! So I did. And, I found other pieces tied for quite some distance. Then, I got to a point where a red maple had fallen in the water. And, it had made new trees from the branches. But, since it's been fairly dry, the water level was down, and I couldn't get over the trunk, so I had to turn around. I was able to go a different direction and run parallel to this for awhile, but finally had to turn around.

Next time I go out, I'm planning on taking my pruners w/me. I know that the stream goes all the way out to the next road, but it's hard to find the main channel. There's a ton of mini islands that are brush covered that makes it difficult to get thru. Plus, at some point, there's a split from where another stream joins it. I might see if I can find that this year. I took some pics while I was out. If I have time tonight, I'll see if I can post some of them.

I tried to find a map of the area to post so you could see what the lake looks like, but didn't have any luck. But, if you go to the member's map, when I was added, I was put in the lake!

 

[Wannabefree]

Can't wait to see pics. It sounds like a nice little place for canoeing

 

[hqueen13]

Awesome with the horses!
Hilarious with hubby and the goats!
And hurray for canoeing!!

I agree, I take it VERY seriously that the horse allows me to mount and does not walk off. With an injury it is even more important than if you are completely able-bodied. I watched a friend get thrown off and broke her ribs and messed up her shoulder pretty bad when her horse moved while she was mounting, bumped the mounting block, took off and eventually she came off (course she's the hard head that insisted that she was fine only to find out later that she had broken ribs and messed up her shoulders!).

I ask Storm to step up to me beside the fence (can't mount from the ground and a regular mounting block is too short, too! ) and when he brings me the saddle I know I have his permission. If he changes his mind along the way, we start over. But that is his prerogative. I don't want to get on him if he doesn't want me up there, cause it ain't gonna be a good ride!

 

[Denim Deb]

She was better about it today. She did start to move off, but I didn't let her get away w/it. Of course, that didn't mean she didn't start to move once I was on. But, once I'm really able to work w/her, it shouldn't take long to get her to stand until I tell her to move off.

And once again, she wanted to spook in the one section of the riding arena, so once again we spent the time going up and down along the fence. She wasn't as bad, but I don't want her to spook at all. We did have one really bad moment. She got too close to the fence, and my foot hit a post. (Of course, it HAD to be my bad leg. :/) And, she really spooked! I thought she was going to start bucking. But, I was able to get her under control pretty quickly.

 

[snapshot]

Yikes! Glad you got her under control fast! How is your foot this eve?

 

[rebecca100]

Can't help but wonder what's spooking her. Is there dense woods back there that a predator like a cat or bear could be passing through at night and she smells it's scent?

 

[Denim Deb]

SS, my foot is fine.

Rebecca, I think she's just gotten it into her head that she doesn't like that area. It doesn't face the woods. It faces the parking area. She's spooked at the cats. RU built a mounting platform since she sometimes has trouble getting on since her hip replacement-it's taller than a mounting block and the cats eat up there. (The dogs can't get their food.) She spooks at any noise that might be made over there, but her field is less than 100 ft away, and if she was in there, she wouldn't spook at all. She'll spook if a tarp flaps in the wind-and this is in spite of the fact that my hay shelter collapsed, the tarp from it constantly flaps in the wind, and it doesn't faze her in the least. She's just being an Arab.