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!