Is she Memorex??

7.18.21

 I was over at the farm this afternoon- the daily excursion it seems. I am so fortunate to have a gal who doesn't mind walking the girls to their stalls each morning.

I sprayed Briana with the fly spray, fed Jaide ( she is getting ribby due to no grass by now. The pastures are so terribly overgrazed it's sad.) Sooooooooooo I suppose I'll have to use the crap hay I bought for cheap that I have for winter- can't afford to pay much more- and up their feed too. Sighhhh. Jaides eye is looking good so far. Her swelling is going down slowly and I don't see a sign of infection.

Anyhow, there I was cleaning out two quite messy stalls due to them being in last night and today. I was deep in thought and heard something outside. This is a 4 stall row barn and I'm right there. I looked out and saw nothing to make any noise at all. It is Sunday and we have been told by the Amishman he wants NO ONE there at the barn on that day. While I understand it is his day of rest, it isn't ours. Oh well- I need to find somewhere else, but again- cannot afford it. Such is the life I now have. I try to remain positive, but at times it gets pathetic.

Back to my pooh shoveling and I heard it again. On the road this time- like a small fairy horse trotting about. Hmmmmmmmmm..... I look out again and still, nothing. Weird. By that time, I'm done with Briana's stall and spray it down with stall deodorizer to kill the urine smell. Again- there it is!

This time I caught a glimpse of a little brown tail going into the Amishmans' private barn. Ah HA! Someone '' short'' had managed to get loose???

I sit out front and wait to hear/ see this mystery critter. And I waited... Squeals from inside the private barn- I knew someone was causing trouble in there.

So now, what to DO? Shall I go attempt to catch this little horse? Shall I walk over to their house, disturb them on their Sabbath? Or do nothing. We have been told to stay away from HIS horses, and to keep out of HIS barn- so I decided to do absolutely nothing.

When Laurel and I were unpacking the truck/trailer that hot night the mares first arrived, he shows up and finds out what is going on- and Leaves. No offer to help, nothing.

Knowing that I chose to just leave it as it all was. Turns out it was a mini mare that he bought for someone on the farm. The poor little thing is thin, really beat up with hair missing all over her body. I wasn't sure if it was a kind of mange or not- another reason I didn't want to catch her. She was hanging around the barns, and I knew she wasn't going to wander off on her own. I think she saw it as a great adventure. Heck- let her have a little while longer to be meeting all the other horses in that barn. The ones that never get to be loose in a pasture and stand in pooh-covered straw until the stall gets cleaned out... I feel so awful for them.

There's one gorgeous mare that is supposedly totally nuts in the head. A loud noise sends her climbing up her stall wall or trying to flee. I so wish I could spend time with her... but I don't dare ask as I'll get rebuffed for sure. It's just so sad, again.

Anyhow- I wished the little mini mare good luck and to be careful out there, and left.

Jaide trying to find some grass...

'Hot now, summer in the city'

7.16.21

 Wow was it hot today! In fact, it is still in the 90s... ugh.  The 'dog days' on the east coast.  As my Finnish Grandfather always said when he didn't want to do something  " No thank you, very much" 

Even the trees look hot on my drive to where my mares are boarded. My solitary tomato plant is drinking a ton of water - and it gets all it requires. The little flowers don't like this sort of heat either- I feel like I'm constantly watering them. I feel bad for the horses and cattle the most.  There are places where there is no shade in their pastures, and then? Great open fields with a group of trees to stand under when it was incredibly hot.

Jaide's eyelid cut is looking really good - turns out she's a good one for healing. It is in a place that luckily doesn't get dirty and I tell her how wonderful she's doing on getting better.  I like to think she's liking all of the extra attention too. What a sweet mare she has become! Trusting, calm, but full of fire if needed. Sort of like my little firecracker in pony skin. Speaking of Briana- wow, she has lost all of her winter fat!  She is like she used to be before the rich grass in PA allowed her to gain all that weight. I imagine she will fit easily into my awful cart. 

This afternoon, while Jaide was finishing her dinner, I combed out Briana's tangled mane. Oh, my word- it was a mess! I will shorten it tomorrow, so long as it isn't as scraggly. Same with Jaide's mane. I know Standardbreds are supposed to have "long manes'' but hers will become a little thicker with it being shortened. I never Pull manes any longer. Instead, I use an old clipper blade- very little discomfort/ pain and the horses learn about that.  Usually, they're fine and look wonderful afterwards :)

I remember one hot summer's day back in Pa when my chickens all wanted to come into the barn early. I have a photo of them all standing on the mounting block, looking at the screen door.  This was a while ago, but I still remember them waiting there for me.

When I finally settle down somewhere, I will have more chickens for sure. Just my two mares, Cleo, Simone and yes, chickens.  I miss their antics and company so much.

I still remember little Bess singing her heart out simply because she was happy. And then, the gawd-awful roosters.  Wicked beings- each one. They sure created some lovely chicks though. We all learned to run and run fast, OR carry a big stick with us when those guys were loose.

I am no closer to deciding where "home" will be but I do know this much- there'll be enough room for us all to live together.  I don't mind boarding much, but there's nothing like being able to head to the barn when a big summer storm is coming. Or when it is being awful in winter, with ice and hail.  I just like having everyone in the same place.

The farm where I board has acquired some new animals!  Three Scottish Highland cattle- a bull and two ladies. The breed is my second favorite - next to Jersey cattle. Those are my favorites. I love their huge brown eyes and long lashes. They almost remind me of Percheron foals in that sense. The foals always have elegant long lashes and I miss being able to visit and chat with the babies. 

That's Evie above... and her mama, Katie, in the background.

 I miss them all so much, but now? On to bigger and better things, I hope. :)

 

News flash- I will be a legally divorced woman in the middle of October! Since I have been out of the Pa. farm, there's been a lot of soul searching on my behalf.  Growing and becoming stronger as well. No longer the broken woman from before and I'm feeling a lot more like the ME I used to be.

Not to mention I'm kind of liking her. No longer do I have a need to explain who I am , what I believe in and so much more. As Popeye used to say 
" I Yam what I Yam"

 

As for this summer heat in mid-July?

"No Thank You, Very Much!!"

My favorite pony, Briana  :) 

A Suzi Story

 7.7.21

As Suzi became a little more trustworthy, I began to see a different pony emerge. There was still that huge distrust of humans that she had. This would never completely go away, and I understood that. She was amazingly brave in other ways though.

Suzi was just 12.2 hands tall and considered a small pony. She was a perfect size for the younger students and for me to occasionally hitch her to the teeny cart for a short drive. All of the drives we took were very fast ones. She had learned that the human was just going to leap onto the cart seat and off she would go. Trotting was her favorite speed, by the way... a Very fast trot. Typically an Amish driving pony, Suzi only knew one speed.  Then to stop and "wait" if needed, then to go back home - yes, again at 90 miles per hour. Wow, that pony could trot!  I *think* she may have been a Trottingbred pony but there was no proof whatsoever. 

One day, I thought that I might turn my new Percheron mare, Kara, out with Suzi. Suzi usually got along well with all horses and she was so short if she was nasty, it didn't really hurt anyone.  I put Kara out and then let Suzi lose in the same pasture.  Walking back towards the barn, I heard a squeal. It was Kara attempting to be the boss mare. I turned around and there they both were. Kara and Suzi- rumps close to the other one. Both began kicking and squealing like mad. I began laughing when I saw nothing was going to come of those two backing up to each other and attempting to kick one another.  Suzi's kicks were about 3 feet off the ground and Kara?   At 16.2 tall ??  Hers were shooting higher and right over Suzi's rear end. Neither one was going to make contact in the least!😆😅   Shaking my head at those two, I kept walking into the barn. It wasn't long before those two were grazing together and becoming best pals. I wish I'd thought to take a photo of Kara and Suzi together as they were both flea-bitten grey.

Suzi let everyone realize that she was a very fierce pony and not to be reckoned with. Ears would lay back flat in a second and a bite might happen so fast we never saw it coming until it hurt! One day, a riding student's mom had dropped her daughter off for her lesson. Suzi was grazing lose in the barn area and being peaceful.  Nothing cuter than a little speckled pony eating grass, right? The mom was talking to Suzi, telling her how beautiful she was and did Suzi want a scratch on her back perhaps? I mentioned to her to not bother the pony- that she isn't as sweet as she looks...  Mom paid me no attention and kept on walking over to pet Suzi.  POW- ears flat back, eyes glaring and a big leap towards Mom who jumped back faster than Suzi could aim her teeth. So long as everyone ignored her, life was good and the older students all knew this. Even the little ones knew to ask me to help 'catch' Suzi...  This Mom was a horsewoman also and while she knew about horses, she didn't know about Suzi. She was shocked at that little speckly pony being so nasty!  Tell ya what, though... she never approached that pony again, wanting to give her a pet.

I'm not saying that Our Suzi was a mean nasty pony that tried to bite everyone. Only some who were a little timid got a threat from her. Once they learned to stand up tall and behave as though they were in control of the situation, they were good to go Eventually that little mare became almost trustworthy towards most humans and learned to trust them more than most abused equines did. 

We all loved her cantankerous ways and wished we had known her before she had been sold at that auction.

Whew- Summer is HERE.

 7/7/21

June was warm, but July is positively miserable! Holy mackerel-high heat, humidity and I remember SO well why I preferred Pennsylvania weather. As I have gotten ( ahem....)  Older, I sure don't enjoy summer heat /humidity.   Anyways, thanks for AC!!

Living alone isn't so scary any longer. I worried about what would happen if I got seriously hurt... then realized that it is 'worry' and not wise to dwell on those things. I kind of like it, actually. No more 20 questions about where/ what I am going to do before I leave. Such a relief! I felt as though I was being interrogated because I was having affairs or something. I am sure it isn't how it was meant to, but I felt that way. Good grief.  As if...

Cleo is doing so wonderfully! She has adapted to apartment living like a pro. Simone has become a satisfied house kitty instead of a barn kitty. She teases Cleo like crazy. You see, Cleo thinks she is allowed to chase anything that will run.  That is her mission concerning Simone. Make Simone run and well, it is fine to chase after her. This place is not that big but still, there's a bit of room. Simone tears down the short hallway and into the bedroom. She zooms under the bed, Cleo in hot pursuit. Cleo has to stop as she is never going to fit under this bed. So she dashes around the sides and end of the bed, trying to see Simone. This goes alright until one time when she was laying at the end of the bed, peeking under at Simone.  All of a sudden, a little grey paw sticks out and Cleo goes bonkers! As Cleo runs to one side and is on her way around the end of my bed, Simone is long gone. Back up the hall and onto her favorite chair in the living room. I sit here laughing at it all. This goes on all day long. When I leave, however, Cleo is such a good dog. She'll sleep on my bed or on her bed in the big closet. When I return, it is as though I've been gone for months!  There's nothing better than a happy dog waiting for a person to get home.

 I miss having my hens because the 'store bought' eggs are pretty tasteless compared to farm-raised hens who lay eggs.  I really miss having my horses in my back yard TOO. Even though it is just flat out too hot to do other than groom or whatever, I miss being able to walk to the barn and be with them. I go every evening to feed and turn out then clean stalls, wash buckets, etc, and re-bed. It's nice to know they will both have fresh clean smelling stalls to be in the next day.  There's nothing better than being in a barn, I think.  Yeah- even when it is beastly hot out. 

People are beginning to ask me when I'm going to begin 'dating'. Ummmm, I am not interested in it at all, so it will be a while before that happens. Heck, not even divorced yet.  Hahaha- I liken it to when newlyweds are visiting parents who keep asking " when are you going to get pregnant?"   So - dating isn't in the picture at this moment. That could change and quickly, but so far? Nah.  Way too many strange men "out there'' anyways.  No thanks. I find that many women in their 50's and more can't meet men who haven't any problems. I'm not looking at all; had my fill of strange men already.

My little tomato plant isn't so little any longer! I had to stake it so it would have to stop leaning over. There are dear little tomatoes on it, and daily when I give the plant water, I check to see if they are beginning to ripen. Not so far. :(  It'll be grand fun to have fresh tomatoes sprinkled w/ Old Bay seasoning  The flowering plants are busily making flowers and they make the deck look so cheery.  Very different from how I lived most of my life- so very different! 

I hope everyone had a good Independence Day. Here it was like a war zone with the fireworks. I read about a Recycling plant that was completely destroyed that evening. Investigations are going on but many folks think it was due to fireworks being exploded close by.  Where the Girls live, some idiots were shooting them off so close to the back pastures. People have no idea of the hysteria that happens to prey animals. Horses are prey animals and when they get scared, they run to attempt to get away. They will try to jump fences, run right through them. Dogs who don't like loud noises?  Cleo is one of them, and she is absolutely terrorized. She slinks back to my closet and "hides'' until she thinks it safe to come out. Humans don't seem to think of outlying problems- but more themselves. If they got to see the panic in a group of horses maybe they'd understand some?  I highly doubt it with some of them.  I'm glad the 4th of July is over. I love seeing fireworks, but not if someone's animals are being scared so badly they get injured.

 Enjoy your summer! Most horse folks won't unless they have a big pool to leap into or a boat to take out on a river/bay or ocean. OR if you just Love the heat/humidity??   Go for it- enjoy :)

Below is my idea of "boating" 

Then how it REALLY would be :

Have a great July!!!

''Summertime and the livin' is easy"

 7/1/21

Horse folks, carpenters, farmers, and anyone else who has to work outside in the summer - I don't think they'd all agree.  No- for we horse people summer is being fly bitten, sunburned, sweaty, dirty, and pretty much looking like something the proverbial cat dragged in a pile of crud.

Sadly this year I truly have a 'farmer tan', but it's alright, I guess. Hahahaa- it's not like I am going out to black-tie affairs or anything, where I'd need to have more. If I do?  How about those bottle tans? Wonder how they'd work?  Hmmm........

Having just two mares to look after is plenty this time of the year. Used to be, I would have had a barnful of horses. Nowadays?  Just the two. Actually, if you consider Briana is only half-sized, I have one and a half horses!   I enjoy them even when it is close to 95 outside and hotter in the sunshine. The darned humidity is what does me in.  When I visited Utah a while ago, it was hot, but none of this 'glistening" routine from here. It's miserable- and anyone who understands how it feels to attempt to do anything outside understands.

I clean stalls with sweat dripping off my nose and hair and eventually, I find a hose and soak my hair some. That really helps. Eventually, it all begins again though. The one wonderful thing about this farm I'm boarding at is that there's usually a breeze blowing. One can step outside and almost get cooled off a little. Now- that breeze in winter is going to be COLD as can be.  Add humidity and it will chill a person to the bones. I have some windproof winter coats so I "should" be ok.

The Girls are doing quite well other than being picked on. Gosh, I hate seeing bite marks and kick scrapes on them! Once things get switched from one pasture to the other one, and two horses leave, I'm sure it'll be better. At least I hope so- OR I win a giant Lottery and can buy my own little place. But for now?  They'll survive and I'll keep a close eye on them to ensure nothing is happening. 

The flies there are Horrible! No fly control whatsoever, no manure removal, or anything like that. I wish I could have talked everyone into using the Fly Predators I have used on my farms for many decades. They do Work!  Fly spray protection only goes so far... and if no one seems to be irritated by manure laying around in fields, or that sort- I can't change it.  It is an Amish-run farm and the owner either doesn't know or doesn't care about flies and the diseases they can spread. ugh.

Jaide has been getting her 'calming' powder in her feed now for almost a month and wow, what a difference!! She's almost feeling like she has finally relaxed into being "just Jade" and not some maniacal racing matching. I am liking her more than before too :) 

Briana is the same silly little power-pack she has always been. I think there's white clover in that field as she has the ''spits'' earlier this year.  White clover will do that to horses- it makes a reaction that shows up as excess slobber. When my Percherons would have this it was around mid to late August and omgosh, the slobbers from them, let's just say it is incredible.  Briana is nothing compared to those huge faces dripping spit.  ( I know, ewwwwwwwwww, gross)

 One time we had been hired to attend a company picnic at a church camp in late July.  It was hot and humid, so I brought a lot of fly spray for the team. Each time we'd head out with a new load of people in the hayride wagon, we would pause by the hose and I would hose the greys off well, then add fly spray. It worked well and they stayed basically comfortable. But the Slobber!!! I felt like I needed a 5-gallon bucket to catch it all, it was that awful. Of course, all the kids wanted to come " pet the horses" and I always asked mom or dad to please pick them up to pet the greys.  That did a great job until I was chatting with someone and failed to notice a dad and his little girl patting Lynn's nose. OH NO!!!!
 PICK  HER UP NOW!!!

The dad, as he scooped her up, looked at me like I was being so mean and nasty to them, but then?  The greys both let fly with a ton of spitty slobber to the pavement.  Yes-  Ewww, gross again.  He looked up at me in surprise and I explained it was caused by white clover in their pastures. He laughed and said that "Now he understood"   One dry little girl and a happy dad :)

Welcome to summer, white clover and giant horses slobbering. I like summer because everything is green or blooming or growing tall. The corn down here looks wonderful, the hay men got a great first cutting of hay and are looking forward to another one ( pending rain) at least. I love driving by a fresh-cut field of hay- mmmmmmmm - smells so good.

Lately, it's been too hot to get any driving in so those two have been having a mini vacation. At least Briana has due to Jaide needing a bigger harness and vehicle.   One of these days I'll be able to drive Jaide, just no time soon. 

Hope you have been enjoying your summer and if there are vacation trips? Let them be wonderful memories being made!