Merry Christmas!

Just popping in here for a quick post.  I finally have all of my holiday shopping and wrapping done.

We are getting ready to leave Friday morning to head down "south" (more south-west, really) to see my family. I'll be down there for a week, so no horse time over the holidays for me.

I think Rusty will be fine.  The BO's daughter just texted me a photo of Rusty wearing some reindeer antlers...  Something to make me smile while I'm stuck at my desk.

I hope that everyone has a very Merry Christmas and gets to take a bit of a break from work to relax and spend time with pets, ponies, family and friends!

2010 is winding to a close

I can't believe how fast 2010 has blown by!  I can't say that I've been particularly busy, but time sure does fly...

As the snow, cold and darkness roll in, my riding season winds down. I went from riding 4-5 times a week, to 3, to 2 and now I am down to 1x a week.  Darn darkness and snow!  I have 2 more lessons before Christmas at the old barn and then I won't be riding there again until February, if the weather cooperates.  It is often just too cold to ride much here in January, even with an indoor arena.

I hope to be able to get in a couple of rides on Rusty here and there, weather permitting. I really want to try riding bareback in deep soft snow.  I haven't done that since I was a kid.  

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I have 2 weeks and 2 days of work left before a nice 10 day break over the Christmas holidays!  I can't wait - I haven't had much time off since May, so it will be time for a rest from the routine.  I'll be back at work for 2 weeks in January and then we are going on a cruise! I haven't had a warm vacation in a few years, so we are really looking forward to that.

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I just realized that this post is all over the place - I have lots of things floating around in my mind, but no one topic is really worthy of an entire post - so you'll have to bear with my disjointed ramblings for today!  :-)

I was playing around with Google Earth the other day - it is pretty darn cool.  I was zooming in on my house and my childhood home and then I realized that you could use it to map out distances. How cool! I decided to zoom in on the barn and see if I could map out some of my riding routes.  I mostly ride on our farm, as well as the occasional trip to the farm next door.  Next summer, I'm hoping Rusty's feet toughen up a bit and we can expand our travels up and down the gravel roads at the front and back of the property.

I was quite surprised to see that some of my longer rides were over 8km (just under 5 miles), with some heading closer towards 10km (6.2 miles) (when we did a few extra laps of the track).  Here is the google earth image - I just took a screen capture of our (approximate) route.  I feel pretty good about my riding this year - I had Rusty in pretty good shape by the end of the summer.  Next year, depending on how things go, I might look into seeing if we can get off the property for some sort of long charity trail ride, a hunter pace or something like that.

Have a look at our cool map!  Rusty's farm (100 acres) is the long narrow part and the neighbouring farm with the 1/2 mile track is on the top left corner. 

Although I've had a few minor hiccups with the care at this barn, the hacking is pretty darn good, compared to most barns. I have one barn in reserve if things go downhill with this place. It is a bit farther away from home, but they have more property and more access to outside trails.   I don't want to have to move again, so hopefully the little problems at this barn remain minor and nothing big happens.

What my horse does when I'm not around

I have had a fairly quiet week - which is kinda nice.  My Mom was here visiting last weekend, so that occupied most of my time. I did manage to drag her out to the barn to visit Rusty.  I have some pictures to share, but I'll save those for later in the week.

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Being a boarder is kinda hard sometimes - you often have to drive a good distance to see your horse and because of this, you are often just there to ride. Grab the horse, groom, ride and leave. That is my typical situation.

Every time I arrive at the barn, I see something similar to the scene below: horse butts at a round bale*.  Rusty is an older gentleman and is turned out with 3 old mares and a pony mare that is of an undetermined age and is also half blind. They are normally a pretty quiet group - munching on hay all day and strolling around a bit for a break.

Today, the barn owner's daughter was out doing chores and she caught these hijinks on her cell phone camera:



Rusty is in the middle of a rear in the center of the photo.  The old standardbred mare on the right looks on with disgust.  The pony has a look of "what? we weren't doing ANYTHING. I SWEAR!!!"  In reality, the pony had been galloping circles around Rusty and he was playing with her. 

Receiving this photo today, even though it is blurry, made me smile. 

*sorry for the poor photo quality today. Pics were taken with cell phones and no amount of photoshop work could really make them decent.

The best laid plans...

This is what we woke up to around here - well, minus the sun, of course!  I know it isn't much snow, but what you can't see from the picture is that there is a layer of ice underneath...  We had freezing rain overnight and it switched to a light snow around 5:00 this morning.

I have a couple of precious hours off work this afternoon and I was hoping to go riding.  The sun may melt the ice enough, but it is hard to say whether it will be safe to ride or not. Either way, I will be going out to the barn to check on Rusty.

I also had big plans to ride both weekend days right up until Christmas - now I'm wondering if that will be possible!  Ice is such a pain in the butt... Snow is quite manageable and even looks nice, but ice just about ruins outdoor plans (unless the ice is in your drink in the summer!)

Luckily I am still doing 2 lessons/week at my old barn, so I'm getting in some riding.  Rusty is just sitting around chowing down on a round bale and getting fat!  Lucky him - that is probably the way he prefers life these days. 

I hope all of my American friends had a nice Thanksgiving!  All the talk of Thanksgiving has me craving turkey...guess I'll just have to wait another month until Christmas...  :-)

PS - for all of you tack shopaholics out there, I've found a few Black Friday sales:

- horseloverz.com has 10% off everything and free shipping on orders over $75US or $150CAD
- equestriancollections.com has free shipping today only with the code BLACKEC on orders over $100.00
- rods.com - 20% off selected items
- statelinetack.com - $10 off $100 order, $20 off $150 order
- ecoliciousequestrian.com - free shipping on orders over $75

Wordless Wednesday

A nice weekend

So, after a few stressful weeks, I had a great weekend!  The weather was cooperative - which is a big deal this time of year - and I was able to get in three rides . I rode Rusty twice and had a lesson on Saturday afternoon.  We also came close to finishing some minor renovations in the basement too! Now that is my kind of weekend!

My ride on Saturday morning wasn't great - Rusty was a bit stiff or just not in the mood to work. So, we just had a nice quiet hack around the property, with a bit of cantering down the long hay field and called it a day.  Saturday afternoon was another lesson. I was only doing one lesson a week, but the barn owner offered me a second ride for free on Saturdays! I jumped at the chance, seeing as how she has a nice indoor arena.  It will be a great way to keep riding most of the winter. 

With daylight savings this past weekend, it is a bit brighter in the mornings, so I found myself wide awake at about 5am. I did some housework and by 7:30am I was ready to get out to the barn to ride.  (yes, I am an annoying morning person!)  We have a small 1/4 mile grass track at the farm, so I used that as my warm-up. (we don't have a fenced riding ring) On the way up to the front of the property, we worked on some trotting pace control - that type of exercise seems to help me work on my balance and rhythm and it keeps Rusty busy.  I had fun working on some of the stuff I have been practising in my lessons.  I also had some really nice canters, as well as turn on the fore/haunches.  I was even able to work on a canter transition from a turn on the haunches - which in my mind is kind of like a slow-mo rollback. It was pretty fun.   We then walked back up to the barn on a nice loose rein. 

Rusty's thrush is almost gone - there is still a bit hanging on in one hoof - anyone have any treatment ideas? I'm using Kopper Kare (the green smelly stuff) and I was wondering if there is anything that works better?

Friday, Finally.

I'm very happy to see Friday roll around this week.  As I mentioned before, things have been a little stressful around here.  By last night, things were looking better. *Phew*!  I had a lot of stuff going on this week that I am glad is now over.

Monday, Max went to the vet to have his teeth cleaned and they need to pull a couple of his little front teeth. He was a sad, sad boy when he got home. The kittens were obsessed with smelling him - I guess the smell of the vet clinic was interesting to them...  He is fine now - I really need to take a picture of his new "smile" without those front teeth - it is pretty cute! 

Tuesday was the farrier appointment - my "spy" at the barn reported that the teenage girl showed up on time and paid the farrier, but she didn't have her horses trimmed. She didn't tell the farrier in advance, so he showed up expecting to do 2-3 horses and only did one. Nice.  I then found out from my "spy" that this girl wanted to start using my farrier, since the barn owner and the old farrier were having problems getting money from her. They wouldn't hold her horse or book her in unless she was there to pay.  The pieces of the puzzle are slowly coming together.  So, I left a message for my farrier saying that he would only be trimming my horse from now on and this girl would have to make her own arrangements with him (if he was willing) or with another farrier. I don't want to be associated with someone that cancels appointments and doesn't pay people. My farrier is my horse's key service provider and I don't want to have to find someone new!!!

Wednesday, I had a written test for a job I applied for. It was 3 hours long and fairly easy. It was a lot of government communications "blah, blah, blah" stuff, which I'm fairly good at writing. So, we'll see if I get an interview out of this one.

Thursday - I had a riding lesson.  I usually take my saddle and my helmet with me.  With all of the other stuff going on, I didn't have a chance to get to Rusty's barn to pick that up. So, I had to borrow stuff from my instructor.  My lesson started out ok, but I was having a heck of a time getting that pony to bend to the right. She was trucking around the arena with her head  and neck all counter-flexed.  *sigh*  I'm hoping this riding stuff gets easier at some point!

That brings us to today.  Work is calm and quiet, my animals are all taken care of (so far, anyway!) and I don't have any plans for the weekend - except riding - which is just the way I like it!!

Serenity now!!!!

Things have been a little stressful lately here in Littlekeebler land.  It isn't all cookies and treeforts...  :-)  We have had a bit of a family crisis with my brother in law and that has been tough on everyone. The poor guy is having a huge breakdown and really needs our help. We have spent the last few weekends helping out and tomorrow we drive to Montreal to pack up and clean out his apartment. 

*phew*

I'm glad we are all close by to help him - give your friends and family a hug, an email or a phone call to tell them that you care - you just never know what might happen and when you will all need to jump in and lend a hand.

Add some barn drama to all of that and I'm just a little stressed.

*Serenity now!*  (Everyone remembers that from Seinfeld, I hope!)

Here's a clip:



The barn owners are not 100% up-front about things. I've come out to the barn a few times lately and found Rusty's stall a total pit. I mentioned in my last post that I cleaned it myself - I did and have no problems doing so, but when you are told that stalls are cleaned every day and you show up to find a mess, it's a bit discouraging. I have been fighting a bit of thrush in Rusty's feet and I'm sure standing in a messy stall (I'm talking 2-3 days worth of mess) doesn't help. I've talked to them about it, but just get a bit of a runaround.

I'm also relying on a teenager at the barn to hold Rusty for his next farrier appt.coming up on Tuesday. She is a good kid, but a bit flighty. Last time, she had one of her two horses trimmed by my farrier. She happened to forget to bring some money with her (!) so I paid for her trim. To pay me back, she has promised to be at the barn AND pay for Rusty's trim as well as her horse's. I'm going to leave some cash in my locker for the farrier in case she lets me down, but I have to try and trust her on this. I tend to like doing everything myself, but I can't leave work this time to make it to the barn. (Darn job!)

Sorry for the rant! I didn't realize that I had this much to say!!

On Wednesday night, I went to the barn for some time with Rusty. When I arrived, I got him out of the paddock and found that his stall was a mess. Since it was a nice day, I let him loose to eat some grass behind the barn while I cleaned up. When I was finished, I went out and sat with him for a bit. I was planning on riding, but I think I just needed to sit in the sun and enjoy listening to him munching on the last bits of grass. I sat there in the fading sunlight for an hour - turns out we both needed some quiet time.

Here is a short video - nothing exciting, just a horse munching on grass - which has to be one of the best sounds for us horse folks...

Max, the kittens and some other random blatherings... :-)

I had a great ride last night - it was a perfect fall night - the kind that keeps most people indoors.  Not me!!  It was hovering around 5C and windy, with some dark clouds threatening rain (but it never did rain, it seems).  It was the kind of evening that also kept all of the other boarders at home. I had the place to myself and had a nice ride - even if Rusty was a little reluctant at first!  I even got to play "barn" when I got back - I cleaned Rusty's stall and fed him his dinner.  The barn owner's daughter has a new baby and wasn't able to come out and do chores until someone got home to babysit, so I was able to take care of my horse myself! 

I was able to make sure he was all settled in to his stall - I realllly miss doing barn chores - sometimes I think I like to do chores and watch people ride more than riding myself sometimes!  That is one thing (of many) about boarding that bugs me (in my situation) - I rarely get to take care of my horse in the true sense.

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Not much else is going on, so I thought I would post a few kitten pictures. I haven't posted any in weeks!  Max (the dog) is adjusting to the kittens, but it is taking time. They like to torment him a bit - it is hard not to laugh at the dog - seeing as how he outweighs them by about 60lbs!

They climb on Max's dish when he is eating. I normally shoo them away, but I let it slide this time for the photo opp!

They attack him when he walks by the couch... They even try to steal his bed.

Sitting on my laptop - where it is nice and warm...

I don't mind when they play with Mr. P - he can handle them pretty well. I actually think he enjoys playing with them most of the time!

The dog's water must taste better or something...

And finally, I heard rattling in the kitchen and when I went to inspect, I found this! Both of them can now jump onto the counter.  Roxie was all curled up in a pot.

It is pretty funny to see all of the things that they get into!

Hope everyone is having a nice weekend!

A trail ride and some pictures

We've had some beautiful fall weather mixed with some rain and it has been pretty nice to be out riding most days. We had our first real frost (in the city) today, so I'm prepared for more cool weather from here on out. I dug Rusty's blankets out of the basement and need to take them out to the barn soon. I like to wait until November to start blanketing so that Rusty can get a bit of a coat in first.

Last weekend I went on a trail ride with a bunch of people from my barn, as well as the barn across the road. It was fun - there were about 16 riders in total. Unfortunately, the pace was a bit slow. I can't believe I'm writing that, but just walking now is kinda boring for me! Rusty was a total trooper though. He really is a "horse's horse". He is fine alone, but really is happiest out in a group. He marched along with a great swing to his walk. He is fine at the front or bringing up the rear. Towards the end of the ride, 3 of us got separated from the rest of the group. I was going to trot/canter to catch up with them, but the other 2 ladies were a bit nervous and only wanted to walk. So, having been in that position before, I decided to hang back with them. Rusty was good, but he was really walking fast - I love it when horses have that fast, back-swinging walk - I think it is a good workout for them...

Here are few pictures... (let me know if they are cut off in your browser window...)

Rusty in his new bridle

After the ride, we stopped by Rusty's paddock to say hi to his pasture mates. He is turned out with 4 old mares and a pony!!  The geldings are too wild for him - he always gets kicked and beat up if he is out with younger geldings!

A shameless attempt at getting comments... :-)

Sorry for the lack of posts around here, but I've been outside alot enjoying the nice fall weather!

I wanted to make sure to post today though, as a way to shake out a few extra comments. 

Wanna guess why???

It's my birthday! 

(gotta love lolcats!)

I'm not usually the type to announce my birthday and make a big deal out of it all, (especially now that I am officially over 35!) but I don't have much else to write about, so I figured you guys wouldn't mind.  :-)

I tried to scrounge up some old pictures of me, but the only one I have here is a scan of a picture from my 1st birthday.  I also found an old picture of me on the mare I had as a kid - "Tar" was an appy/welsh pony cross.  I would have been 12 in this picture, almost 13.  I think we were riding in a parade for the local fair or something.

Well, that is it for me.  No big goals for upcoming year or anything - just trying to keep my head above water...  I hope to have a new horse-related post in the coming days.

Happy trails!

Back to school for me (...well, sort of!)

Fall is here in full swing - the leaves are just starting to change; the temperature dips in the mornings and evenings;  kids are back at school and  parents rejoice.  lol.  I always loved school - I was a bit of a nerd that way. 

My foray back into learning doesn't actually invovle a real school, luckily.  I have started taking lessons at my old barn!  I took the summer off to have fun and canter around like a hooligan and now it is time to start working on polishing my riding skills.  I have a good amount of confidence back, so I think the time is right to move forward and see where that takes me.

I had my first lesson this past Saturday and it was fun.  Alot of stuff to work on, but man it was fun. I was riding an adorable APHA pony (about 14.1hh, solid buckskin for those keeping score at home) named Charm.  She has the cutest little western jog that I can actually sit to!  Imagine that!  (this is Charm with another student riding her last year...)

I was getting so frustrated riding Rusty in Western lessons - he just isn't built to do a slow jog or a lope. He is bouncy and kind of rough to ride in a ring setting, so I wasn't really making any progress.  I think I've found the perfect job for Rusty - he is a super trail horse and a great baby-sitter.  He has been a good companion this summer...more on that in a later post.

I'm really hoping to make enough progress over the fall and winter so that I can try some shows next year!  This pony has been shown a couple of times and my instructor would love to take her out more, but didn't have many students riding western this summer.  So, that is an exciting goal for me! 

There is a great series of local shows that are really beginner friendly.  We also have a bunch of nice fall fairs to try my hand at.  I think this situation will be a great way for me to try showing without the expense of buying a show appropriate horse AND show tack, on top of trailering... (which costs an arm and a leg!!!)  I'm feeling really positive about all of this, so the fall/winter should be interesting!

A fun ride (with photos, for a change!)

Edited to add:  I was wondering why someone thought a picture was cut off... Turns out I was using x-large pictures in blogger and not all browsers can do that!

I hope everyone enjoyed their long weekend - I sure did!  We had a busy weekend with family and I managed to get two rides in as well.  I also convinced my hubby to come along and take some pictures. I think Rusty looks great, but I could use a bit of help. lol

I went out to this barn this morning as rain was forecasted for the afternoon (and it is raining right now!) so I'm glad I got my ride in before the weather changed.  We went down the long hay field (about 1km) and then over to the stable across the road to ride on the track.  I am not the most confident rider, but after riding on a track a few times, I can sort of get why people like to go fast.  It is really fun - and that is on a 20yr old Appy!  I'm sure riding a TB or something would be just incredible...if you had the nerves to do so.

Getting started - trying to pose for a photo. I don't like having my picture taken, but this one isn't bad, I guess...

The one shot of Rusty in this field where he didn't have his ears pinned. What a guy.

Nice Monarch butterfly shot - my photographer got distracted.  :-)

Cantering through the hay field - not sure why I brought the crop today - it just got in the way.

Trotting back to pick up the photographer.  

Having fun on the track...The track needs to be harrowed, but the footing is still decent.

Not bad for an old guy!  Not sure what I'm doing with my right arm here...trying to flap it and make us go faster???  lol

So there you have it - finally some pictures of me riding Rusty.

A day with friends

My friend has come and gone - her visit was short, but we managed to have fun.  I also have an invitation to go horseback riding in Sweden - now I just need to get over there!

We even ran into RuckusButt on our ride - we stopped to chat for a few minutes, but we didn't ride together as we were headed in different directions.  I did take a picture, but my little camera isn't that great, so you'll have to take my word that the people in this picture are RuckusButt, Mr. Ruckus and the very cute Hazel.

We borrowed a horse for my friend to ride and she enjoyed the trails on the property.  We also went up to the front of the farm to the grass riding ring. She really wanted to ride Rusty as well and see what an appy was like to ride. She is a dressage rider and she usually rides one of her Lipizzaners - so riding in a western saddle was fun for her.

My pictures didn't turn out well at all, so here is what I was able to salvage...

Horse and rider getting used to each other - she wasn't used to a western saddle and he was probably expecting an inexperienced rider, but was in for a surprise...

It's nice to see what my horse looks like from the ground - not something I see that often...

This is my favourite shot - I like Rusty's big butt and my friend did too. lol  She gave him a good workout with lots of cantering.  He looked pretty good for an old guy!

Sunday dose of cuteness

I have managed to tear myself away from playing with the kittens and have made it out to the barn a couple of times over the past few days.  


I had another short ride with RuckusButt last week.  We are allowed to use some of their facilities, in turn, the boarders of her barn can ride on our trails.  Not a bad deal for either group...  I had decided to go over and try riding on their sand track.  They have a 1/2 mile (I think!) sand track and it is really fun to ride on.  Just as I was heading past the barn, RuckusButt walked out on her way to get her horse!  Nice coincidence!  :-)  So, Rusty and I walked/trotted/cantered a few laps while she got Brumby tacked up and ready to go. We then walked a few more laps and had a good chat.  One of us will have to bring a camera one of these days to get some photographic proof for you guys! lol


I have a friend coming from Europe for a short visit this week. I'm very excited to see her, as it has been several years since her last visit.  She lives in Sweden and has a small farm where she breeds Lipizzaners!  She is really excited to come here and go for a ride on Rusty -  I told her that a 20 year old appy might be a slightly different ride than a Lipizzaner!  :-)   As it turns out, we will be borrowing one of my barn owner's horses so we can go for a ride together.  I will try and remember the camera to get some evidence of the visit.


Okay, enough of my rambling - here are this week's kitten pictures!

I spent last Sunday taking pictures of the kittens because it was pouring rain and I was stuck inside...

Big cat and little cat in the box.  Mr. P barely fits in this box.

Mr. P is pretty good with the kittens most of the time, but he will lay down the law if things get too wild.

Max watching nervously...hoping that he is invisible and the Roxie won't see him...  Notice the burgundy carpet - we had to have that put in so that Max could walk from the living room to the front door. He is terrified of hard wood floors.

New additions to the family

I haven't been online much in the past week - due to some furry new arrivals at our house.  It has been a bit of a transition, but all the pets are doing ok.  The dog is probably having the hardest time.  I'll let the pictures explain...

Two little orange and white kittens!  We had planned on only getting one - that plan crumbled in the face of the cuteness.  Here they are playing with our old cat - who is about 5 times their size.  He doesn't quite know what to think. The dog (all 70lbs of him!) is totally terrified of these little furballs.  It's kinda funny...

This is Roxie (or maybe Rocky) - the vet wasn't able to tell 100% if it is a boy or a girl.  The staff of the vet clinic actually have a pool going on what gender this one will be!

This is Charlie. Definitely a girl.

They are pretty busy - playing, then crashing. And then playing some more.

Roxie challenging Mr. P - the big cat is not sure what to think!

So, that is what I've been up to! It has been a bit of work to integrate them into the house. Mr. P gets a special food, so we have to keep the kittens in the spare room while he eats.  I also don't want Mr. P gorging himself on kitten food, since he is already a bit "portly". lol

I'll probably be posting pictures of them once a week or so, as they grow, so be forewarned!!!

The dark side of clover

I wanted to expand a little on my clover/drooling situation. Rusty was (finally) moved to another paddock and the drooling stopped right away. Phew! I’m glad the barn owner finally believed me. I was hoping that they would bush hog the paddock with the clover in it, but that hasn’t seemed to happen yet. I guess everyone has different priorities…

There are many types/varieties of clover – just do a google search if you are curious. The main ones that most of us see are red clover, white clover and alsike clover. Here is a good resource to help you identify which plant is which.

I’ll start with alsike – it seems to be the worst offender for horses. It doesn’t need a mould/fungus on it to make it dangerous. It can cause severe symptoms such as photosensitivity and liver damage. If alsike clover poisoning is suspected and caught in time, the horse often recovers with no problem.

The main way (that I could find) to differentiate between white clover and alsike is the leave and flowers on white clover grow on separate stems from the ground. The flowers on alsike clover grow as “branches” of the main stem. White clover also has a faint white line in a “V” around the leaves. Red clover is pretty straightforward – it tends to be larger and has reddish-purple flowers, as well as having the “V” on the leaves.

White clover:

                   

Red clover:

Alsike clover:

      

Red and white clover and alfalfa (and probably other varieties as well) are susceptible to fungus. “Black patch” fungus seems to be the most common, with some plants exhibiting white spots. Most of the clover I found had the white/beige spots that the vet described. A few plants had black spots as well.

Here are the pictures I took of the very sad clover - note that alot of it has white spots, as well as black. Most of it is dead, or dying. Kinda nasty...

Most web sites say that the fungus tends to occur when you have a cool, wet spring. Our spring was hot and humid, with some rain in June, but I guess that was enough to cause a problem. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of information on how to get rid of the fungus without heavy herbicide use. I know most of us horse people don’t like using chemicals of any sort around ourselves and our animals. Cutting the affected areas might help, I suppose. I have to admit though, if it was my paddock, I would have harrowed the whole field (maybe ½ an acre, tops) and re-seeded it. But, alas, it isn’t my farm…

Here are a few links if anyone is interested in reading further:

• Info from farmseeds.com – explanations on varieties of clover

• Wikipedia

• Plant identification – scroll down to “legumes”

• Different types of disease on clover (sadly no pictures)

So, there is clover, in a nutshell. Anyone have any other info to add? Corrections to make? Please remember that this post is based on some information from my vet and some google searching.