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. 

Product review, a blogger meet-up and a vet visit, oh my!

The weather has finally cooled off a bit around here, so I have been able to get some good rides in lately.  That is, until Rusty started having a major drooling problem!

Last Saturday, Rusty started drooling out copious amounts of saliva - probably a few cups worth in the 20-30 minutes he was on the cross ties.  This went on for a few days - he was fine otherwise - no obvious discomfort, still eating/drinking/pooping, etc. so I wasn't terribly worried. 

One person suggested to me that maybe he was anxious about riding, hence the drool.  Nope. Don't think so.  Another person suggested it was just because he was old.  Nope, not buying that either.  I thought it was either something he ate in the pasture, or a tooth problem.  I caved and called the vet out yesterday to have him checked.  His teeth are fine and the vet was 99% sure it was something he ate.  Turns out the clover in his pasture is covered with a white fungus (sort of like black patch fungus - same effects on the horse).  I guess Rusty was the only horse hungry enough (or maybe not smart enough) to stay away from that clover.

The fungus on the clover causes excessive drooling. Apparently it isn't as dangerous as alsike clover.  I think the clover is all red and white clover, although I'm going to check again this weekend for alsike, now that I did some research.

The fungus was on white and red clover in several sections of the pasture and I found in a couple of other spots as well. Rusty is due to be moved to another pasture today (which I walked yesterday and didn't see any fungus) so hopefully that is the end of the drooling problem!  (Unfortunately it took me calling the vet to get people to believe me!)

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On Sunday, I had my first ride with a fellow blogger!!! Ruckusbutt of Food, Life leases a horse near where Rusty lives and we went for a nice hack on Sunday.  She is a great person and we had fun (I did, I hope she did too!) and her horse was really great as well.  He seemed ok with walking slow to match Rusty's slow walk!  Neither one of us brought a camera, so unfortunately there are no pictures to share!

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Now for the product review - The Cashel Crusader long nose (with ears) fly mask!  I bought one for Rusty for a few reasons...

• he has a pink nose and muzzle and I'm not there to put sunscreen on him regularly, so the long nose protects his face quite a bit;
• the long nose also doesn't have a fuzzy band on it that would rub his nose like some of the other masks do;
• the other horses haven't managed to rip it off yet - probably because it secures with a huge velcro strip on the back;
• it seems to have good clearance in the eyes as well. 

It isn't the cheapest fly mask on the market, but it has been well worth the money for me this summer. 

I'm mmeelllltttiiinnggggg...

So, it's been kinda hot here.  Don't know how you folks from the deep South deal with this all the time.  It's been 43-44C (110F) with 100% humidity since last Saturday.  And it is gross outside.

We are supposed to get a reprieve this weekend, so I'm hoping that the weather guy is right this time around.

I had Monday off, so I went out super early and took Rusty on a short ride. We made it about 30 minutes and I just couldn't do anymore.  When I got back from my ride, the barn owners were unloading some hay into the barn, so I decided to help.  I love doing hay. I guess I'm weird that way, but the one thing I miss about having my horses at home is the work. I actually like cleaning stalls and doing hay and all that stuff!  Anyway, I helped them for about an hour or so and was pretty hot and sweaty by the time we were done.

All of that said, I have no interesting riding news to talk about this week!  I was reading through some of my old posts and came across the post I wrote in early Janaury about my goals for 2010.  I had to chuckle as I was reading it, since I haven't done so well on most of the goals.

So, for lack of any better things to write about, I've decided to do a mid-year review of my goals and realign them with how things are going as of today. (Can you tell I work for the government?  A boring mid-year goal review?  Yikes!)

• During the winter months, make it to the barn 3x a week to ride or work on clicker training - this one was a big FAIL.  I probably made it out 2x a week if I was lucky and it was mostly on the weekends. It is so cold and dark in the evenings here in the winter, that even with an indoor arena, I really just didn't want to ride much. I feel better going into the winter this year, because there is no indoor, so there is also no pressure to ride if I don't want to.
  
  
• In the spring/summer/fall (April – October), ride or work with Rusty 4x a week. - I'm actually doing great on this goal since we have moved to the new barn. I have my joy of riding coming back along with a good dose of confidence!  Riding is fun! Who knew?
  
  
• Attend a hunter pace or an organized trail ride.  - This one is a scratch.  Trailering is so expensive and I have no one to go to one of these events with. I also don't feel the need to go as much now that I have lots of space to ride on...
  
  
• Continue weekly lessons starting in Feb or March (often too cold in Jan) if financially possible, if not lessons twice a month will be a good alternative - This one was scratched too, since my hubby was out of work for most of the winter. (He is working again now - yeah!)
  
  
• Maintain my emergency vet fund (for all pets). I have a decent amount set aside and I need to make sure not to touch that money… - Somehow, I have been able to maintain my emergency fund - needed a bit of it to take the cat to the vet a few weeks ago, but that is what it is there for.
  
  
• Avoid buying any tack, riding clothes or anything from a tack shop (except in case of emergency), in person or online until June 2010 - This one makes me laugh! Who was I kidding??? LOL  I did ok until March, then I caved and bought a couple of pairs of riding breeches and a few other things here and there. 
  
  
• Start a contingency fund for a new horse and/or for retirement board. - I put this on hold once we found out that hubby lost his job.  Probably a smart move.  Now that he is working again, we are working on getting our finances back in order, so I can start saving money again.

So, there you have it - some goals are moving along well and others, well, not so much. I'm ok with that though - that is how life works. Not everything goes according to plan.  I'm trying to be flexible and let my goals flow with how things in my life are going - much less stressful that way!

Stay cool kids!

Laura 2, Appy-tude 1 (for those of you keeping score at home)

I went out to the barn for another ride last night. The weather was a bit iffy, but I knew I needed to just go and get out there.  I don't want to use "a chance of rain" as an excuse to not go out. The weather can be drastically different 30 minutes in any direction around here...so it is worth trying.

I actually managed to get a few pictures for you guys - just to show you a bit of the area where we ride.

Looking back towards the barn.  There is a round pen to our left

The farm is 100 acres and the barn in plopped right in the middle.  We are heading toward the front of the property here and the grass and other plants are very tall.  This section is also home to several deer.  The skies were starting to get very dark.  It had been raining on and off all day, so I was expecting to get a bit wet.

Sure enough, it started to rain pretty hard. That's when the appy-tude hit!  Apparently, once it started to rain, Rusty thought we should head back to the barn!  I gently reminded him otherwise and we kept going.  After a few minutes, it really started to pour, so I decided to head back, hoping that maybe it would let up a bit.  Sure enough, by the time we got back to the barn, it had almost stopped raining. I made an executive decision and decided to head back out.

This time, we went down the laneway and back.  Rusty was not amused.  I was willing to forgive one bit of attitude, but now he was starting to annoy me. So I decided we would ride past the barn several times, until he decided to relax and then we could go home.  He finally relaxed after another 20 minutes and we headed in.

Hey! There's the barn!  Let's go back!

I learned a few things on my ride tonight:

1. Contrary to popular belief, Appaloosas DO NOT melt in the rain;
2. I can be more stubborn than Rusty;
3. Riding in a light summer rain isn't that bad after all...

Rusty's "appy-tude" problems aren't that serious, they are just a bit annoying.  He just tries to turn for home by stopping and doing a slow turn on the haunches. There is no jigging, head-tossing or any dangerous behaviour (luckily!).  

I have two days off work and I'll be able to ride during the day (today is Canada Day!) so I think a couple of sessions with lots of trotting and cantering is in store for Monsieur Rusty.  Some good, old-fashioned exercise should help him out a bit!

Happy trails everyone!