Exechorseluver

The life and times of modern day horse woman

Not a bloody good day!

Posted on January 25, 2013 by Exechorseluver

I have three daughters and all three of them had bloody bad days today. And my mother, well, don’t get me started on her.

According to Wikipedia-Bloody is the adjectival form of blood. It is commonly used as an expletive attributive (intensifier) in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth and ex-Commonwealth countries.

Well, we may be in a non-Commonwealth country (maybe, technically we are an ex-Commonwealth country-you know the whole split from England thing), but the phrase was appropriate today, figuratively and literally.

Jordyn, at age five, had permanent teeth appear behind her baby front teeth. They had to be pulled this morning. Due to a delay in the timing of the anesthetic or maybe just because it hurt, Jordyn cried long after she got home from the dentist. I have been assured that there was a great of blood involved in this first example of my daughters’ bloody day.

I called Ally to beg for help (although she was standing over Jordyn and dentist at the time) when I received a call from Lauren telling me she was stranded on the side of the highway. Lauren and Feather had been headed to trainer Dev’s for their first lesson in over 60 days. But it wasn’t to be. Lauren had a trailer tire blow out on the highway causing the truck to rock hard to left. When Lauren finally got the trailer safely off the road, she found Feather’s white face covered in blood. To say she was panicked and overwhelmed when she called me was an understatement. We have no one to call here to help. I knew Luke was at work and Blake was at school.

I tried a tire store that suggested she drive it on up there. Then Lauren called me back to tell me some nice man had pulled over to help her. Mommas out there, if you are raising your sons to help stranded women with horse trailers, I applaud you! Then I called Dr. Criner to see if she might be in the vicinity to give Feather a look over to decide if we should head home or to the vet clinic. Luck was on our side when she told me she was about 10 miles away.

Just about the time, Dr. Criner arrived the guy had finished with the tire. I even had Lauren borrow some cash from DC to give to the young man (full service vet care). I will pay her back soon! Dr. Criner wanted to get Feather out of the trailer to examine her but I reminded her we were dealing with Feather who might never get back in the trailer after this so she settled on examining her through the trailer window. She determined Feather had cut her ear, it did not need stitches, but had produced a lot of blood.

By this time, Lauren was ready to head home and I think Jo had finally quit crying over her teeth and was settled in to watch a movie. Amber had been calling me off and on but I am doing training at work and was trying to focus on it, and had not picked up the calls. Turns out Amber endured a minor surgical procedure that also produced a lot of bleeding. She had gone in for a consultation and it had been decided to just “do it now”. This is my nurse practitioner daughter who is usually on the doing not the receiving end of health care. She didn’t like it a bit.

What a time! My head is still reeling. When I got to my mom’s she was distraught over news of Jim’s fourth marriage and just couldn’t believe he could have married two women after her (of course, he hadn’t but that took some explaining and repetition to get her to believe).

I am now going straight to bed. I have not had a bloody good day but so far I have encountered no actual blood. It does not seem like a day to take any chances!

p.s. When I got my used 2002 trailer they said it had new tires on it. They looked fine and had good tread. One blew a year ago but both of my son-in-laws were on hand to help. The tire store said today that the three remaining tires had dry rot and could have blown out at any time. I replaced all the tires. I am grateful that except for a little stress and a lot of superficial blood all are fine. I am grateful that the tires did not blow out on the trips to or from College Station with Bruno.

Feather’s One Year Anniversary

Posted on January 19, 2013 by Exechorseluver

Friends of ours, the McMaster’s had an amazing horse, Prince, from a Texas Irish Sport Horse stallion, Flagmount’s Freedom. Melissa took that horse and increased his value by tenfold. Part of it, was that the Flag horses can really jump and have amazing temperaments. I heard that the McMaster’s had a young Flag mare in Florida that had some issues but was in my price range. I talked to Lauren to see if she wanted to spend her money to buy this horse sight unseen. Prince was enough for me to know that we had a good chance to own an incredible horse if we took a chance on her. No part of the journey from Florida to Texas was easy-broken down trucks and numerous delays. But once we saw Feather, we knew she needed to grow up some, gain some weight and learn to trust us. You will remember major issues with this horse and trailer loading. And issues because she was just plain scared. But it has been a year now. I was surprised and pleased by a post on Facebook by my daughter, Lauren. It is shown below along with some special pictures commemorating Feather’s first year at Six Meadow Farm.

Lauren Davis on Facebook–About this time last year I got news that there was a Flag baby for sale. My mom was SO excited because we knew what a great horse Prince was and thought if Feather was half the horse he is we would have gotten a deal. So I talked with Dee and got my savings out of the bank to buy my first ever “warm blood”. Dee then told me that she thought every horse had someone they were meant to be with, and …boy was she right. I could not be more thankful for the opportunity to bring this mare along and could not have found a horse that challenges me daily in the best of ways. Feather has brought back my love for riding because with her there is no pressure and with every mile stone or achievement we grow closer. This year has been a bumpy road but I would do it all over again, looking forward to a wonderful 2013 season with my Flag baby and many thanks to Dee, Melissa, and my mom because without them I would have never met this amazing horse.

Before she left Florida, young and dark grey with lots of dapples. She had yet to grow into her head which appeared oversized for her body.

One of their first rides. Feather was slow and cautious. Not what we had expected. Most young horses are hyper and little nutty.

Good jumpers learn to “bend” so you can easily adjust them through and around a jump course. It starts with the young horse and Feather was an eager learner.

I have enjoyed riding her as well. She is sensible beyond her years and has carried the our toddler friend, Miss Z, who worships her along with Jordyn for many safe rides.

A year later Feather, aka Flagmount's Irish Freedom, is a show horse. What all she will do in her career is pure speculation at this point. But she and Lauren have come a long way in this first year. We cannot wait to start the 2013 season.

A year later Feather, show name- Flagmount’s Irish Freedom, is a show horse. What all she will do in her career is pure speculation at this point. But she and Lauren have come a long way in this first year. We cannot wait to start the 2013 season.

What a blessing she has been. I love seeing her siblings (half and full) looking just like her and doing so well in the Eventing world. What a beauty she has become!

I rarely take big chances. Buying a horse and shipping it to Texas from Florida was an unheard of adventure for me. At some point, you just have to say, if not now then when? And put yourself out there to succeed or fail but at least give it your best shot. I will never regret my immediate yes to Dee on that day a year ago when this journey started. Like Lauren, I have no big expectations, but I am still hoping for some nice surprises! Happy anniversary to Feather and Lauren. Could be the best money she will ever spend.

Sun Break

Posted on January 18, 2013 by Exechorseluver

Beautiful sunset as the weather finally breaks over the farm.

Lauren worked hard today. It was the first day in ages when it was not rainy, cold and miserable. I think the break in the weather is just inspirational to wanting to get chores done and things swept clean. After weeks of mud, rain-soaked fields and days in their stalls, it was great to just send the horses out to play. They ran, stomped, bucked and played. Bruno, of course, only got to watch from his stall but I think he was happy to get the blankets off his back, feel the sun on his face and roll in clean shavings.

Lauren cleaned out tired stalls and refreshed the bedding. Then when the horses came in, everyone had their whiskers, ears and bridle paths trimmed. I was actually shocked to see Feather had gone along with the ear trimming. There was a time (pre-Sarah training) when just turning the clippers on in Feather’s stall led to a totally freaked out horse. She has learned a lot.

Feather got ridden today as well. Again, for the first time in weeks. Lauren said she was working well and no worse for the time off. It will be time to start showing for the 2013 season soon and we must get her on some regular work patterns.

Pony Mimi got her hair done today. She looked precious with her ears clipped and pretty face peeking over the stall when I got home tonight.

Bruno got trimmed up as well and I have not seen him with his face clipped and show ready. What a handsome guy! Of course, he is not going to a show but we wanted him to feel like he was part of the show team.

Even Mr. Kid’s chestnut coat was gleaming in the evening sun tonight. Spending time sequestered with Bruno has given Kid time to eat more and rest more. He will have his 31st birthday soon and deserves a little peace. He doesn’t have to be ever vigilant that one of the other horses is going to kick him or chase him.

I hope the sun is here to stay for at least a few days. It sure was a nice change.

Rain, Rain go away

Posted on January 15, 2013 by Exechorseluver

Our last nice day was December 22nd. We spent that day riding with friends and enjoying the great south Texas weather. The holidays and rain followed. Then last week more and more rain fell. We have had rain each day since the deluge last Tuesday. I still have standing water in my yard and arena. Thankfully, Bruno has not needed to be out of his stall. He is scheduled to go back to Texas A&M on January 28th. Right now, I could not get him in the trailer to go there.

All horse training has stopped. Hopefully, when the sun shines once again we can take up where we left off. Probably, we will take some steps backward before moving on.

In the meantime, it is cold and wet. Last night, with the furnace going full blast we could not push past 63 degrees in the house. My little house is not built to withstand the cold.

And no more talk about the Texans (at least not until next year). They just were not good enough to continue on.

When I visited my mom yesterday she tearfully sat me down. She told me she had come to a difficult decision. After a lot of contemplation, she decided it was time to move to Texas with me. I wish I knew if I should just go along with her and say, yes momma, that is a good idea or if I should tell her she is already there. I look at her and see so much of myself in her. I wonder if I will find myself confused, lonely and seemingly abandoned in a nursing home in my future. I guarantee she never thought she would end up there.

I know brighter days are ahead. There is a sun icon on our weather channel report for the next ten days. Maybe some new warmth headed our way.

In the meantime, we should all take a nap like Puppy Girl.

oh, Puppy Girl!

And Some More Rain

Posted on January 9, 2013 by Exechorseluver

No riding in this arena for a while.

I couldn’t believe it when I saw the forecast. For Wharton, it was forecasted that we would receive up to six inches of rain between this morning and tomorrow night. Who gets six inches of rain? Maybe with a hurricane or a tropical storm but in January? Again, maybe six inches of snow but not of rain, not of water. Of course, this unlikely weather event comes along with the doctor’s order that Bruno cannot get his hoof wet.

We got through today. Maybe two to three inches of rain fell on the farm. More is forecasted for tonight and tomorrow. I remember when my friend Gaylyn told me that this winter was going to be wet. We made changes to the barn, the walkways, and the arena. We were going to see if my project improvement plans were really worthwhile.

I texted Lauren late this afternoon. I was 70 miles away-I hadn’t seen what it looked like “in the country”. She said we had been hit pretty hard. The trailer was sitting on an island, surrounded by water. Then I asked if Bruno’s stall was dry. (We had an evacuation plan where we would cover his leg in plastic and move him to Gaylyn’s barn if the water got too high.) I waited anxiously for her reply, scared that I hadn’t been able to keep Bruno’s leg dry.

Lauren replied, “Bruno’s stall is dry. They are all dry.”

I gave a sigh of relief and headed for home.

Wintertime in Texas

Posted on January 5, 2013 by Exechorseluver

The grey skies with my barn Christmas lights reflecting dimly in the mist.

For at least the 14th day in a row, it has been rainy, windy and cold. I understand that many of you, especially on the East Coast have been dealing with below zero temperatures, which leaves my whining about 45 degrees to not have much merit.

Still, from our Texas perspective, it has been extremely difficult to work horses (or do horse related chores) between the cool (see I said cool not cold) temps and the rain and mud. We have used three times our norm in shavings for the stalls with everyone inside all day, every day.

Most horseshoes are, well, horseshoe-shaped. This one goes all the way around and also has a screw on plate that covers the bottom.

Lauren re-did Bruno’s bandage today by herself. She swept a clean spot in his stall (on the mats) and then placed a clean towel under his foot. She unscrewed the plate, removed the old gauze, added medication, added new gauze, replaced the plate and re-bandaged the hoof. Lauren swears it looks like it growing back each time she re-wraps it (every third day now). I am providing enough hoof supplement to grow five horse’s hooves so hopefully it is. Bruno quietly stood for her. I think he has just given up on ever leaving his stall. Faithful Kid, just hangs by Bruno’s stall or in the stall right next to Bruno, keeping his friend calm.

I think Kid is pretty happy with the separate housing for Bruno and himself as well. Once the mighty leader of the herd, at 31 years of age, Mickey, Feather and pony Mimi were likely to harass him if he got in their way. It is a much safer environment living on the locked-up Bruno side.

Tomorrow we are to try once again to take Mickey and Feather up to the trainer’s for a lesson. It is forecasted to be 45 degrees and rainy. That is Chicago weather not south Texas. I hope we make the lesson but know his ring is already wet and soggy.

All six dogs totally sacked out after their sleepless nights of cats gone crazy.

The cats have finally settled down and the dogs (along with Lauren and I) are worn out from many nights of listening to crazy cats. I am hoping for a warm, quiet night.

Catting Around

Posted on January 3, 2013 by Exechorseluver

I am sure this is one of the many swashbuckling kitties under my house fighting for the female's affection.

I am sure this is one of the many swashbuckling kitties under my house last night fighting for the female cat’s affection.

Yesterday, the rain and cold continued in south Texas. It has been under 50 degrees for several days and I know all of you in the rest of the country do not really consider this a hardship but we do. Normally, what is left of my cat population since the wild dog attacks earlier this fall, can be seen lounging on my porch, sitting atop Lauren’s jeep or chasing birds at the barn. We have not seen them since the rain has started.

But starting yesterday morning and continuing through the wee hours of the night, I can tell you where they are now-under my house.

Note how the house is raised off the ground. This allows predators (cats!) to live underneath it.

In some diabolical plot to make me crazy the night before I had to return to work, the feral cats took up residence directly below my bedroom. I have three unneutered females who must have simultaneously come into heat. So, the males, not to be left out in the rain, all joined the females in some mass, unrelenting session of love. The males were busy fighting off each other (and howling with blood curdling meows) and then attacking the females which apparently also required a lot of high-pitched meowing as well.

I was laying in bed trying to read and had the dogs in my room. The first hour or so of “Cats Gone Wild” was pretty captivating to them. BrownDog would stand perplexed on the wooden floor while the cats screamed just inches below her. She even scratched at the floor a few times before going off for a nap. If my old Doberman Wally had been here, no one would have gotten any rest. He would have gone insane from the thought of screaming cats below his feet. But none of these dogs seemed to care very much.

As the evening and then the night progressed, I had visions of the females alternating on a chaise lounge, a cigarette in their paw, while the boys fought each other with laser sharp weapons, smoked cigars, and took the spoils of war. Just when you thought things had settled down, the pandemonium would begin again.

The only idea I had to stop the cat madness was to get the water hose and spray it under the house, soaking the cats in the process. But as I said it was under 50 degrees and I just couldn’t make the cats freeze to death. By midnight, I was unwilling to go outside from my warm bed but no longer cared if the cats froze to death or not. I had visions of the old ice fisherman that cut the round hole in the ice to get to the fish. I would have cut a hole in my floor and dragged the cats out if I had been able to do so.

Finally, I found some old ear plugs from a trip to Bartlesville (not really sure why they have them in the tunnel from the parking lot to the office building but I picked up a set one day). From that point on-no more cat shenanigans were heard, at least by me. I haven’t talked to Lauren about how her night went. I am deeply prayerful that the cats have concluded their “love time” although it is still cold and raining. At least I will know when to start looking for new kittens!

Weekend Scoreboard

Posted on December 16, 2012 by Exechorseluver

Short post tonight-busy time of year for all, I am sure!

First, El Campo Ricebirds went down fighting-Stephenville was a tougher, bigger team and they dominated the scoreboard. Still what a thrill it was to be at Cowboy Stadium-reportedly some 7500 strong (that’s a major percentage of the town!). The boys of fall got all the way to the state championship and hopefully will continue to build a strong program in the future. I am so glad that I encouraged Lauren to go with Jo Etta and Blake. There are things you look back on in life and remember fondly and this will be one of those for Lauren.

Jordyn came down yesterday and helped me out around the barn with the chores. I swear she could probably walk Ally through our routine of the cleaning, watering, feeding (including which horse eats what, how much and with what supplements) if we ever needed to call on them in an emergency.

We got rain Saturday but we let Bruno just go out, get wet and get muddy. Being a race horse most of his life he has not gotten to be “just a horse”. We take him to Texas A&M for surgery Tuesday so he will not be getting out and muddy again for a long time. He absolutely raced the wind from the far back of the arena to the barn, over and over, joyously running for the pure pleasure of the romp. Little Mimi was a hundred yards behind him and would turn when he was half way back from the run down to the barn and catch him for a few yards before he lost her again in a blaze of speed. Oh, I wish I would have seen him run on the track!

Today, Lauren was supposed to take Feather to Dev’s for a lesson and Jordyn would get to ride her beloved Snowney Pony. But a torrential downpour nixxed that plan, right after Lauren got Feather successfully loaded in the trailer (so that was good!).

Our gift to Dev-thanks Amy!!

We had Amy McCaffery make Dev a rosewood mounting block to take to the horse shows. It turned out beautifully and we were thrilled to give it to him at his Christmas party today. It is kind of a selfish gift as Lauren needs it at the shows and will be glad to have there in the future. It is always nice to have a step up when mounting your horse, but if we ever get big Bruno going, it will be a necessity.

I will spare you the Jordyn went to the nursing home with me story, except to say, Lauren, Jordyn, mom and I walked the halls last night to look at the decorated doorways of the residents. By the time we made it around, several of the residents were in tow. Jordyn was holding the hand of Miss Lou who had yelled for us to slow down and Lauren was hearing the tale of Christmas past from Miss Bernice. The best part (okay, I am telling you the story) was having Miss Bernice show Jo how to Texas Two Step.

I am thankful for the nice weekend.

Dogs and Hay

Posted on November 1, 2012 by Exechorseluver

Lauren on top of the flat-bed while hay is loaded from the field. At this point I was doing the labor intensive job of counting the bales that were loaded.

It was balmy and warm this morning in comparison to the last several days. It was morning for me, although only 4 am, while I did not think about it a whole lot, I figured, I will just leave the door to the tack room open. I usually close it up when the wind is blowing or it is cold. I didn’t think about the pack of dogs, it wasn’t night any more (I was up, wasn’t I?-must be morning) so I thought it was past the time the pack would show up.

I was already at work, but it was still dark when Lauren heard the dogs in the house starting barking like crazy. She rushed to the barn to find three dogs inside the tack room, another kitten dead and food scattered all over. Of course, they ran off before she could do anything. What she would have done, is unclear as her gun is at her boyfriends (I know we are just not good Texans!). As I was discussing this with my vet friend this morning, even she said, it is time to kill the freakin’ dogs.

We have everything locked up tight tonight and I will not make the tack room door mistake again. I can’t find my Matt Cat (several days gone now) and my last neutered male has disappeared as well. Not to make light of this situation, because my heart is very heavy, but my cat overpopulation problem is not a problem anymore.

Tonight was the last hay cutting for the year. We will need to make do with the hay from this cutting until spring-or buy some high-priced feed store hay. I called my friends and between four families of horse owners collected almost 290 bales of hay. Lauren and I were in on moving and stacking at least half of that. I am tired but satisfied that we are as well set as we can be. This year was a good year for hay, so it is plentiful. But it will be nice to have it stacked and stored when it gets cold and wet.

Away Dog Pack! Away!

Posted on October 30, 2012 by Exechorseluver

I really don’t want to think about how this is obtained

I wrote a few days ago about my cats getting killed by something in the night. Most regrettable, was the loss of favorite cat, Chloe.

Jordyn came down to spend the weekend. She was sleeping with me when the frenzied sound of my dogs barking awakened me. A quick glance at the clock told me it was 2:36 am. I leapt from my bed mostly because I wanted the dogs to shut up and Jordyn not to wake up. The dogs were riveted toward the barn and barking like maniacs. Knowing that I was likely to find coyotes or dogs out at barn, I still headed outside in my make-shift pajamas in the cold (45 degrees) still of morning. I didn’t have a gun (don’t own one unlike most of my Texas neighbors) but I was thinking about the shovel I had left out by the barn.

As I rounded the corner I caught sight of a pack of four or five dogs surrounding Mr. Kid. They had barricaded him against the barn wall next to Mickey’s stall. Both Mickey and Feather were in their stalls but Kid is allowed to move in and out of his stall at night. My cat, Alice, was perched on top of the ten-foot high gate and two other cats were on the roof of the tackroom. Under the full moon, I went screaming at the pack of wild dogs. They went running, no doubt frightened by the sight of me in pjs, screaming with a shovel in my hand.

Sunday morning I found blood all over the cat’s bowls. I did not find any dead cats. This morning found another kitten dead in the pasture, the cat food container still sealed but found lying on my drive-way and all my cat food bowls thrown haphazard around the my front yard.

I understand I need to put all the cat food away so the dogs are not coming here to get food. They are not eating the cats and kittens that they kill. The are just killing for the sake of killing. Today I got a lot of advice on what to do to stop the killing by the dog pack.

Here are the top suggestions:

Have someone sit outside all night until the dogs appear and shoot them dead.

A) It could be a long, cold night

B) They would be lucky to get one shot before the others scatter

C) The sound of a gun in the middle of a quiet night will scare my horses to death

Fence my entire property with solid-mesh fencing that dogs cannot cross through. I just spent a lot of money (I thought it was a lot of money) to fence a small section of my property. The cost of fencing my entire property would probably be more than what it cost me to buy this little house. Good solution, but not practical for me right now.

Find something to keep the wild dogs off my property. The number one internet solution? Bear urine-I am not kidding. Bear urine and wolf urine were both equally recommended, however, the wolf urine does come with a disclaimer that it could attract wolves. I do have some questions. A bottle of bear urine is about $30. You are supposed to leave four or five droplets every two to three feet around the perimeter of your property. Do you have to repeat every time it rains? How long is bear urine effective in dry weather? Does it come in a spray bottle? (I found on another site that it does come in a spray.) What do horses think of bear urine? Will I be cantering along only to have Mickey bolt in fear upon suddenly sensing bears are approaching? For those of you better at math than I, how far will 32 ounces of bear urine divided into four or five drops every two to three feet go-like, do I need multiple bottles?

Two kittens that are left.

I want to stop the senseless killing of my kittens. I have moved my one remaining neutered male and Lauren’s favorite cat, L’Orange into my front room. I see that momma kitty has moved the two remaining kittens to the tack room. Hopefully, momma can keep the kittens from playing outside in the moonlight.

I also understand that citrus peelings spread around the perimeter may stop the dog packs as well. My friend at work suggested getting a lemon tree. And waiting how long for it grow, I asked? Wow, we are going to need a lot fruit. But until the bear urine gets here , I better getting working on the fruit. Anybody want an orange slice?