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Hot Leo

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South Texas is having the first of its summer’s heat wave.  Well over 100 degrees the last few days.  Lauren has been getting the horses into the barn early in the afternoon as we do not have any trees in our pasture.  The land we purchased was farm land so no one wanted trees out there. 

We added the fences when we came so three of the trees that were planted to surround the house actually ended up on the horse’s side of the fence. I think, because of the size and type of trees, that the most recent previous owners had decided to grow a little orchard on the southside of the house.  Included in this area are pear, fig and plum trees.  There are a few of each.  On the horse side of the fence, the three trees were plum.

I vividly remember walking out to the pasture to find white Snowboy covered in blood.  There were reddish stains all down his neck and front legs.  I ran up to him with my heart pumping only to discover that my previously starved rescue pony had spent the morning eating all the plums high and low from the tree.  Snowboy’s stripping of the fruit coincided with our summer of flood waters and we lost all three of these trees that first year.

The horses have nothing but open pasture.  In the mornings, the shadow of the house and the one big tree left by the yard throw some shade into the pasture but by noon it is all full sun.  Our barn/giant run-in shed faces east so by mid-afternoon shade is making its way across the paddock in front.  We have put up big fans in the stalls which successfully move the hot air around.

Leo decided to take the getting cool into his own hands today (or hooves to be correct).  He has always liked to go to the 100 gallon water trough and splash the water up on his neck and head.  He does this by methodically moving his head back and forth until the water splashes out of the trough and onto him.  Today with temperatures soaring he managed to take his front legs and place them in the trough.  Lauren said he was quite content to stand in the trough looking like an old man soaking his feet.

While Leo was content to hang out in the trough, I was concerned that he would get startled and hurt trying to get out of the water.  I was also concerned that Mickey would decide it was his water trough and relentlessly bother Leo until he moved out of the trough (and subsequently got hurt).

Lauren decided (at my urging) to set up the sprinkler.  It works for kids, right?  There is always danger a horse will get hurt, no matter what they do and the hose/sprinkler certainly presented a few opportunities for this but we are living on the edge.  Horses running through sprinklers, cats chasing poisonous snakes, it’s all in a day at the farm.

Well, as you can see-Leo loved the sprinkler.  This may become a regular afternoon treat.  However, you can see that none of the other horses had any interest in Leo’s method of beating the heat. 

Tomorrow, we try to get Feather to load in the trailer and go to the trainers.  Caroline has generously offered to come and help.  Actually, I begged and pleaded until she agreed, but whatever it takes.  I am giving it one hour.  If she doesn’t load in that time, I give up for now.  Check tomorrow for an update.  Oh, and say a little prayer for everyone’s safety. It is appreciated!

Leo

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Leo blazing to the finish line.

I have another update from the weekend horse show.  Leo had a great show-ended up with a first, second and fourth place ribbon to be reserve champion overall.  But wow, Friday was bad.  Lauren was thrown hard into a jump when Leo stopped on her in the warm-up ring.  Dev got on Leo (although I noticed he did not hurry to jump another jump once he was on his back).   Dev got him going over jumps, then Leo stopped again.  Dev stayed on, but was thrown way up on Leo’s neck.  As Leo pulled himself out of the jump ( and the poles and boxes that made up the jump), he reared while Dev clung to his neck. Then the big Leo did a fast spin in retreat but still Dev hung on.  Leo got in a little trouble for that.  Dev pushed him through the next several jumps with a kind of banshee yell each time he approached a fence.  Leo did not refuse again. 

With Leo, I am reminded of the old saying that God gives us what we ask for but sometimes we do not know we already have what we need.  Sometimes we need to try a little harder.  We keep asking God to help us and he does but we keep looking for something else. 

Leo went to training at Dev’s in January.  He was sent home with the advice to sell him.  We tried that.  No one wanted him.  Or if anyone wanted him, we did want them to have him.  So, we started the whole chiropractic/vet work-up thing to try and improve him. 

Leo is better.  You can see it in his canter.  Most of time you can see it when he jumps.  But when Lauren took the hard fall on Friday, with tears in her eyes, she told me to get rid of Leo.  Sell him, kill him, she didn’t care.  I said he is so sweet and doing so much better.  Her reply was “you don’t have to show him”.  Fair enough.  I wish I could.   He was hot when we left him Friday night and hot horses are easy colic victims.  Half kidding (I think) Lauren told Dev not to call the vet if Leo went down.  It was her form of DNR-do not resuscitate.  I think she was kidding.

On Saturday as he started through his classes, Dr. Criner-Leo’s vet, sat with me.  She kept questioning-puzzled, “This is better?  This is really better?”  with amazement in her voice that what he was doing could possibly better than anything.   But it truly was.  Perhaps not good yet, but definitely better.  By his third jumping round, he was pretty much jumping like a real horse not a gazelle.  Lauren had gained confidence and relaxed which helped Leo do the same.  By this third round, not only did they do better but they won.  Been a long time since he has won a round.

Perhaps, God is giving us the horse we need.  Perhaps he will never fly like Mickey.  But perhaps somewhere there is someone who just wants to soar a little and this will be their boy. I do not God’s plan for me and this horse.  I will try to make him better to the best of my financial and physical abilities.  I will not make Lauren ride him if he is dangerous.  I can’t.  But I must follow this guy and try to find the right spot for him.  It is out there with me or with someone new.

p.s. the trailer ride home with his friend Mickey along was way better.  Although Dr. Criner might have said, “this is better?”  because he was still rocking and rolling.  Thankfully, I was in the truck and Mickey was riding shot-gun.

Leo starting to get more collected.

Fences

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After over nine months of waiting, I have a new fence along the front of my property and along the front of my arena.  I put the fence in five years ago but between last summer’s drought that loosened all my poles and with horses getting their hooves stuck in the wire, my fence has not held up well. I have been worried as line after line of wire has broken or come loose.

I had nine months of waiting for the fence man to call me back.  The fence makers in my town are busy.  There may be job issues in other places but it seems in this town, no one (remodelers, painters, plumbers, fence makers, sand delivery men, or any other type of handy man) is ever eager for additional work. They are all busy.   Must be a good position to be in.  The guy who fenced my back pasture has been telling me he has had “cows to move” .  He told me that in the summer, in the fall, at Christmas time and again this spring.  Where is he moving all these cows?  These are busy cows. 

So, finally I got a referral from him to another man who was too busy building fences for others (at least he wasn’t “moving cows”) and he gave me a third referral.  After three weeks, the third referral fence man came and I got my new fences up.  I must say it was almost worth the wait.  He was a perfectionist and it looks great.  My cats were first to try it out.  It created a sort of gymnastic track for them.  Everyone worries about exercise now, you know.

Chloe doing her daring high-wire act on the new fence for her cat audience.

Fences, a sturdy one like this, are imperative when you live just off a state highway.  In the last five years, our horses have gotten out, through or around the fence a few times.  These episodes have included me racing manically up and down the highway trying to lure them back with feed, while praying cars wouldn’t hit them or me.  I had chased them a mile or so down the road, when they all suddenly reversed and headed back toward home.  I was closing in on a capture as I had almost caught Mickey when my 90-year old neighbor came out to the road. He was armed with a broom which he waved athletically at the horses.  The horses, reversed again and headed away from home at a gallop.  I am hesitant to admit that I cussed the old man out for scaring off my horses, but I was more than a little bit crazy.  Eventually, I caught up with them and got them home safely.  The old man died soon after that, but I am pretty sure it was unrelated to our adventure.

The horse escapes have included me being at work and overhearing co-workers talk about these horses that got loose and were trashing some farmer’s cornfield.   Out of curiosity only, I asked what the horses looked like, and of course, they were mine.  By the time I got to where they were being held, they were loaded all together (four of them jammed in a stock trailer), terrifed and white-eyed.  I was actually stunned that Mickey had loaded in a trailer.  That was amazing in itself. There were three sherriff’s cars there.  I guess it was like a local crime spree.  It cost me $175 to get them back that day.  When I hesitated about paying, the sheriff offered to take them to the auction barn.  Still, better than dead. 

 In yet another escape attempt, I was chasing them across my other neighbor’s property when she popped her head out of her house to speak to me for the first time in three years to tell me to get the horses off her lawn.  Really?  Did I look like I was willfully sending them across her lawn? Here’s the thing, Lauren weighs 120 pounds.  Mickey over 1000 pounds.  If he decides he is going, then he is going.

So, this fence is a big deal to me.  It makes my property look better and be more secure.  This fence is a symbol that my life is now better and more secure.  Fences between me and my silent neighbor are priceless.  Fences that hold in what is dear to me, keeping my animals safe and secure is also priceless.  The fence had a price but it was well worth paying.

Chloe-daring to look down. If only the fence kept the cats off the highway it would be perfect.

Grandbabies

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I was never the kid that baby-sat.  Never the teenager that loved little kids.  Actually, until the moment that Amber arrived in my arms, I had no idea I even liked babies.  Likewise, I had no idea what to do with one.  Thankfully my dear friend, Liz, a pediatric nurse, was there to help me, in the early days. Then she and her family provided almost a second home for Amber as I worked nights and weekends at the hospital.  And so it began.

Later, when Ally and Lauren came, things were easier in a way.  But I was still hurrying so fast to work, run a household and manage three children that I know I never, really, took time to enjoy them.  Sure I marveled at their accomplishments and was proud of them as they grew and excelled but I was always running so fast just trying to keep up.

Now, with my oldest at 30 (do you appreciate that, Amber, that I keep telling your age?), Ally at 24 and Lauren now 19, things have changed.  The grandbabies have forever changed the way I look at family.

Jordyn

Jordyn is the oldest at four and I have spent the most time with her, due to geographic restrictions of the other two being in Colorado.  The summer Jordyn was two, she spent three days a week with Lauren and I while her parents were working.  While of course there were things that were harder with a two-year old, and sometimes Lauren and Jordyn both acted like toddlers, overall, it was one of the best summers I remember.

We spent days doing horsey chores, playing countless hours in the backyard, going to the beach and just letting Jordyn teach us to enjoy the little things about summer.  We went to horse shows and barrel races.  Jo rode in an exhibition barrel race with friends Kallyn and her sister, also named Lauren, helping her stay in the saddle. 

We don’t see Jo near as much as we did that summer but have started picking her up from school on Wednesdays so she can spend some regular time at Granny’s farm.  While she still loves the horses, dogs and cats, she also loves Justin Bieber.  She is planning their wedding.  Things change, but it is so great to have her in our lives.  Hopefully, she will learn to love riding as much as Lauren.

Riley-my first little boy

Riley is two and lives in Denver.  I have been fortunate enough to visit regularly (as my mother is there as well) and he knows his Granny.  He believes I live at the Denver Airport (when I am not on the farm) and is forever after his mom, to just go to the airport and pick me up.  I think he believes I just wait there for them until they come.  Riley and I are friends and understand each other.  We like the same books, the same animals, the same treats, although he does like some car, tractor, truck stuff better than I.  He has come to the farm a few times, most recently for the Houston Rodeo and always has a blast.  I, the mother of three girls (did I mention Amber was 30?), have never had a little boy around.  I treasure his smile and the way his eyes lit up when I watched him take his first solo ride on Mr. Kid. 

I cannot wait for the day when he is old enough to fly to Granny’s by himself.  I want to learn more about this little man with the bright, inquisitive mind.

Lexi Faith

Lexi, is nine-months old now.  While I have seen her a handful of times (since she also is in Denver), my most recent trip had her showing serious reluctance to hang out with Granny.  For the first 24 hours or so, there was no way this little one was spending any time with me.  Slowly, we had a breakthrough.  By the last night we were sitting together in the rocking chair.  I was singing my stupid made up baby songs that the kids all love.  Amber actually got to take a shower without worrying about what Lexi was doing.  Lexi is going to be a beauty like her momma.  I can’t wait to spend more time with her!

Finally, we have Ally and Luke’s next child, Kendyll, due in July.  We will add another girl to our girl happy family.  I am sure she will be as smart and talented as all my grandchildren.  It is just what a grandmother knows.  I know this is all a cliché-but grandchildren are amazing gifts.  I am blessed in so many ways!