Uncle!

Ok, I now have my PHD in handling farm emergencies 101. Between rain, mud, flooding, hurt husband and baby calves I haven't had a lot of time to do any picture taking or horse pampering.

First off my husband hurt his back. O yeah, if you have ever been married or lived with a man you know what I'm going through. While I love my husband and feel bad that he hurt his back, well... men have a real flare for dramatics. So for the past few days I have been keeping the farm going by myself. I also had to deal with loosing a calf this week. Yep, cutest little thing that was looking really healthy until Tuesday night. I took Ely out for a ride and decided to go check the cattle. Found momma guarding a lifeless baby. Sad but it happens.

The rain and mud will be the death of me. We have had nothing but rain this week so the pastures and stalls flooded. Thank goodness the horses and cattle were smart enough to get into the high pastures up by the barn. The stalls didn't flood so much as they became water logged when there was so much water outside of the barn that it decided to start coming up through the floor mats. Oh what a mess. I stepped into the stall yesterday morning to pour grain into Daya's feeder and I literally felt like I was walking on a water bed. I didn't have to look down to figure out what the squishy sound was either. What sickens me more was the fact that the night before I had stripped every stall even limed under the mats.... I give! UNCLE!

So needless to say I'm exhausted and will try to get some pictures up sooner than later. I have yet to get any of the trails or other rodeo ponies here. I'm heading to bed and hoping for some sunshine.

The hardest part of selling a horse...

I decided earlier this winter to put Katie up for sale. She is a great mare. I've used her for beginner and first time riders, ridden her myself when I need a relaxing trail ride and even hauled her to a few local trail rides. She is bomb proof and has never let me down. She has no vices, always does whatever she is asked and is so easy to train. So why do I want to sell her? We just don't click, I have had her since last summer and I still don't have a strong bond with her. She just doesn't love to be with you like my other horses do. She loves being groomed and fed but that is the only time she shows ever shows "pleasure" being around humans.

Since bring my horses to my cousins place I've started to notice that my horses have been sticking to their own little herd out in the pasture, never mixing with Suzies other 13 horses... ever. Those 3 horses stick together like glue and will only be quite in the stalls when they are close to each other, especially if Katie is the one who is out of sight. I wouldn't call them herd bound, there is no crazy stalling weaving or frantic calls to each other but when stalled together with Katie in the middle they all look so calm and relaxed. Its like she is the glue for Daya and Ely. Whats weird to me is Katie is not the dominant mare, Daya is the head mare. I will never understand mares I guess.

Anyway, the point of this whole blog post was this. To me this has to be the worst/hardest part of selling horses. Spiting up the made for each other, happy herd. Its even made me second guess selling Katie. Sure I could use her this summer for anyone that wanted to come ride, or offer her to my Uncles kids for riding lessons and fun shows. They love to ride and soak up anything to do with horses like a sponge but know no one in the area with a kid safe horse. But on the other hand, do I really need this horse? Will she be anything else to me but a Thoroughbred wannabe that goes through feed and hay like a draft horse? lol Decisions, decisions. The horse crazy kid I used to be is screaming at me to keep her just for the horse crazy kids in my family who will probably never have their own horse but the adult side of me is telling me to do the smart thing and lower my feed bill! (Did I mention that 15.2 hh Katie eats more than 16.2hh Daya? lol) What would you do? Seems like the more I think about it, the more I leaning towards the horse crazy kids!

Busy is an understatement!

I can't believe its been 2 weeks already. Things have been so fast paced around here I feel like I'm chasing my butt in circles. Its been pretty chilly around here so I haven't been spending as much time in the barn as I would like to. Feeding,watering, cleaning stalls and daily blanket/ grooming checks usually take about 2 hours both am and pm. Plus there are plenty of cattle to feed and keep an eye on. Thank goodness the temperature will be rising a little this week. Highs in the 50's starting Wednesday. I plan on doing some major riding and conditioning on Ely. Barrel season is getting close and this bad weather has put a major kink in my riding plans. I plan on posting with more pictures later this week and introducing more horses. For today though I only have a few....

Daya getting used to the barn aisle. I wish I had video of her going into the barn for the first time. Needless to say at one point I had to back her down the aisle and into her stall. Poor girl. I never thought tying things from the rafters would have such a training impact but nothing rattles Suzie's youngsters.

Daya agreeing with me on the winter weather.

Lootah enjoying being in her stall.

Meet:
Grey Bob- odd name I know but this is the best horse by far in the barn. He is a 1D barrel horse but he also pole bends, ropes, team pens,and just about anything you can think of. He is built like a tank. I've never seen such a built horse. Of course my camera angles are horrible so he looks long and funny but this guy is one of the best cow bred horses I've seen around here in awhile.
Bart- My absolute favorite in the barn!!! This guy greats me every morning and evening, loves to be loved on and is one of the highest trained horses in the barn. Bart is 34+ and suffers from moon blindness but guess what, he is still ridable in the arena with an experienced rider. Bart used to be on the Ohio University Equestrian Team and boy does it show. He is one of the softest horses I have ever been on, his canter is unbelievable and he can do anything you ask. He is such a power house. He is literally the kind of dressage horse that everyone dreams of having. Needless to say Suzie and I pamper this guy a lot and he is very spoiled.

More pictures to come. Im hoping with the better weather coming this week I will be able to spend a lot more time in the barn. As for now Im off to clean stalls and feed!