Ezra Pound said:
Man reading should be man intensely alive. The book should be a ball of light in one's hand.
Now I know why it is taking me so long to get these novels right AND why writing novels is such a transformative, wonderful process. It's alchemy of a very special kind.
billie hinton’s camera-obscura:
life and lessons on November Hill Farm
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
cast-away
When I left for my office late this afternoon, Rafer Johnson was in his cast. He'd spent the morning (he and Redford put themselves in Salina's paddock this a.m.) lying in the sunshine on top of Salina's pile of hay, while she tenderly plucked strands from beneath him and Redford stood guard behind him.
We allowed Salina to spend an hour with Rafer and Redford in the barnyard this afternoon, and Rafer took an afternoon nap once again with Salina standing guard on one side and little Redford on the other.
When I came home tonight, Rafer's cast was gone! And in its place he now has a spiffy little splint on his ankle, to give him support as he heals that hairline fracture.
We're charged with the mighty task of taking the splint off every 2 days, giving him 1 day without it, and then putting it back on. For a month!
I'm not real sure how putting the splint back on the donkey is going to work. But we'll figure that out in two days!
Redford is now braying loudly for Rafer whenever Rafer is out of his sight. My daughter said that Redford did caprioles today when she had to take him for a walk away from Rafer during the procedure. The Flying Donkey returned - but at least this time it was on the end of a lead rope and there were no walls involved!
We allowed Salina to spend an hour with Rafer and Redford in the barnyard this afternoon, and Rafer took an afternoon nap once again with Salina standing guard on one side and little Redford on the other.
When I came home tonight, Rafer's cast was gone! And in its place he now has a spiffy little splint on his ankle, to give him support as he heals that hairline fracture.
We're charged with the mighty task of taking the splint off every 2 days, giving him 1 day without it, and then putting it back on. For a month!
I'm not real sure how putting the splint back on the donkey is going to work. But we'll figure that out in two days!
Redford is now braying loudly for Rafer whenever Rafer is out of his sight. My daughter said that Redford did caprioles today when she had to take him for a walk away from Rafer during the procedure. The Flying Donkey returned - but at least this time it was on the end of a lead rope and there were no walls involved!
hush for a while
We suddenly have COLD here. I was shivering in the barn before we came in for dinner last night, but realized later in the evening that the temperature was 34 degrees out and would surely drop lower. So around eleven, I suited up in my husband's LL Bean down coat and my black fleece hat and marched out to the barn to blanket the horses.
I always wonder if I should blanket at all. But given that they go in and out all night long, and since two are older, I do it. I'm using single weight sheets, so not piling on the layers, but still... do they really need it?
By the time I went out last night it had dropped to 32 degrees, and the forecast for early this morning was wind - and a high not cracking the 40's. I tossed my blanketing dilemma to the birds and they got their sheets on.
It was so quiet out, the way it gets when the cold comes. Quiet with horses snuffling and then the pure sound of a donkey braying in the night. Rafer Johnson and Redford got cookies and then my husband came out to help. I mucked and he blanketed and we gave extra hay. Rafer Johnson escaped the barn and headed directly for the round bale! He is walking well now, using his leg almost normally. The puffiness is almost gone.
I was glad my daughter and I had devoted the day to switching the donkeys across the barn to the center stall, nice and warm, and moved Salina over to the end stall beside them. The geldings have their three stalls back. And everyone can come in if they want, or take a walk if they want. Donkeys in the barn aisle for now, but eventually they'll get access to the grass paddock with Salina.
Those LL Bean coats are warm - my body was toasty but my fingers started tingling in the cold night air. And those few moments of cold quiet reminded me of a favorite Sam Keen passage:
The Word is still spoken in sparrowsong, windsigh, and leaffall. An electron is a single letter, an atom a complex word, a molecule a sentence, and an indigo bunting an entire epistle of the sacred. The ocean whispers its mystery within the chambered sea shell. Listen quietly to the longing in your heart for love and justice and you may hear an echo of the holy word that addresses you. Hush for a while. Be still and know.
-Sam Keen
For some reason the cold nights and early mornings of winter are times I hear this most succinctly.
I always wonder if I should blanket at all. But given that they go in and out all night long, and since two are older, I do it. I'm using single weight sheets, so not piling on the layers, but still... do they really need it?
By the time I went out last night it had dropped to 32 degrees, and the forecast for early this morning was wind - and a high not cracking the 40's. I tossed my blanketing dilemma to the birds and they got their sheets on.
It was so quiet out, the way it gets when the cold comes. Quiet with horses snuffling and then the pure sound of a donkey braying in the night. Rafer Johnson and Redford got cookies and then my husband came out to help. I mucked and he blanketed and we gave extra hay. Rafer Johnson escaped the barn and headed directly for the round bale! He is walking well now, using his leg almost normally. The puffiness is almost gone.
I was glad my daughter and I had devoted the day to switching the donkeys across the barn to the center stall, nice and warm, and moved Salina over to the end stall beside them. The geldings have their three stalls back. And everyone can come in if they want, or take a walk if they want. Donkeys in the barn aisle for now, but eventually they'll get access to the grass paddock with Salina.
Those LL Bean coats are warm - my body was toasty but my fingers started tingling in the cold night air. And those few moments of cold quiet reminded me of a favorite Sam Keen passage:
The Word is still spoken in sparrowsong, windsigh, and leaffall. An electron is a single letter, an atom a complex word, a molecule a sentence, and an indigo bunting an entire epistle of the sacred. The ocean whispers its mystery within the chambered sea shell. Listen quietly to the longing in your heart for love and justice and you may hear an echo of the holy word that addresses you. Hush for a while. Be still and know.
-Sam Keen
For some reason the cold nights and early mornings of winter are times I hear this most succinctly.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
feeding the "whole" herd
A few trims ago, our natural hoofcare trimmer recommended I head over to Pete Ramey's website to read THIS article, as he knows I'm constantly trying to learn more about feet and keeping them healthy.
As a result of reading the article, and then following up by talking to more folks who steep themselves in hoof/whole horse knowledge, I signed up for an online course in equine nutrition with Dr. Eleanor Kellon.
The course, NRC Plus, was already full, but she allowed me to audit the class beginning in November, and then I will be a full class member for credit in the February section. In effect, I'll get to go through the material twice, which sounds good to me!
Our trimmer, Pete Ramey, and Dr. Kellon all strongly recommend getting pasture and hay analyses done while taking the class, so that the numbers and percentages are actually relevant ones to your horses. THIS is a good place to get that done at a reasonable cost.
Pete recommends a few places to go to for custom supplementation (if needed) once you have all the data and want to add in only and exactly what your horses need based on the feed/hay/pasture analyses done in the class, and applied to the individual needs of your horses. I wasn't surprised to see Horsetech listed. Rod and his staff have been enormously helpful to me over the past year and a half, making custom blends for me based on the changing needs of my herd.
I'm very excited about Dr. Kellon's classes, and learning how to feed my horses with confidence based in knowledge.
Right now they are off all processed feeds, and looking wonderful on a combination of soaked beet pulp pellets and whole oats, with a good salt blend mixed in. I tried alfalfa pellets but they wouldn't touch them - and come to find out, that particular brand of pellets has "feed grade animal fat" added in for "palatability." I need to find some alfalfa pellets that are pure alfalfa next trip to the feed store.
Salina also gets rice bran, and the two big geldings get black oil sunflower seeds. They all rotate through several vit/min mixes during the course of the year. I've also started giving probiotics after deworming.
I think I'm doing a decent job but I'd like to get it better, using more real data. I've started to see how powerful it is to be able to customize the tubs for each of my horses, and I'm so excited I wanted to share the links in case any of you horse folk readers have interest.
It's my answer to the "ignorance is bliss" conundrum I posted about a few weeks ago. Hopefully Dr. Kellon can help me synthesize all this data into a good, organized plan.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
finally! our rising star
Redford arrived Sunday morning and my first sight of him was his perfect little jump out of the van, onto his bale of hay as a step, and down to the grass. He looked like he had done that particular move forever, and that was just about how his first day at November Hill played out.
He was absolutely and completely at home from the first moment on. You would never know he hadn't been here a dozen times already!
Rafer was so intrigued as Redford came into the stall next to his:
He and Rafer Johnson met over the 2 1/2 foot stall wall we had lowered so they could interact more easily. They touched noses, they shared hay, and they did a lot of looking and watching. Little donkey eyes met and studied, as only donkey eyes can. The horses, including Salina, were in the front field, and although they had access to the barn, they didn't come up right away. The donkeys had their own special time to say hello.
Redford is absolutely adorable. I had already forgotten how snuggly baby donkeys are - and although he is 7 months and some days old, next to the handsome, more mature Rafer Johnson, Redford seems like a teddy donkey! What a treat to get to watch him grow up as we have Rafer!
So... these two donkeys visited. And then suddenly Redford started looking at the wall between them. "He's thinking about..." and then he did it - he jumped right over the wall into Rafer's stall! Rafer jumped off to the side, clearly startled, and we all felt terrible. We had seen it coming but then it happened so quickly we couldn't stop it. We were all stunned too at the agility of little Redford - and Rafer wasn't quite sure he liked this little Flying Donkey coming right into his space. Redford got his halter on and went back to the adjoining stall, and we all gave Rafer time to relax again while we watched his leg to make sure everything was okay. We also added another board to the wall!
A little bit later (I think I have the sequence straight) the horses ran up the hill and Salina marched up to the back windows of the three stalls. Redford was in the middle, Rafer in the end stall to the right. Salina stuck her head in, expecting to see Rafer, but there was Redford! You could see the thinking process going on as she looked, amazed, from Redford to Rafer, back and forth a number of times, almost as if she couldn't quite believe it. There were two of them!
Suddenly a light bulb went off above her very alert ears. Wait! There's another stall! Maybe there are THREE! She went down to the last stall and looked in, just to be sure. It was the funniest thing I've ever seen. She was so hopeful - but when she saw there wasn't another one, she came back. And then she, Redford, and Rafer had a pow-wow right there over the stall door and stall wall. Redford walked up and let her sniff him. They stood with noses outstretched, and you could see that Rafer and Redford were both forming opinions based on one another. Redford looked at Rafer to see what he thought of Salina. Rafer watched Salina befriend Redford. (maybe that scary Flying Donkey who sailed into his stall minutes before wasn't quite so scary!) And Salina had no qualms at all - she was as happy as could be to have both of them.
After we said goodbye to Ken and Marty, who stayed and helped us navigate this important meeting, the geldings went back out to the field. Salina remained in the paddock with some hay, right by the stall windows. I went into Rafer's stall to muck and forgot to latch the door. When I turned around he had marched out the door and around the corner of the barn to stand by Salina - with the fence between them. He seemed so happy to be out and grazing in the sunshine, I decided to let him be for a few minutes. About that time, I heard a rumble and then Redford dashed out of the barn. This little donkey had jumped a 3 1/2 foot wall taller than his head!
I realized at that point we had to stop raising the wall and just let the two of them be together. They spent the rest of the day with Rafer's stall open to the barn aisle. They watched one another, shared some cookies, touched noses, munched on hay, and after the first hour, Salina went back out to the front field and Rafer Johnson was completely fine - because suddenly he realized he has a new buddy who wants very much to be with him. You cannot imagine (well, maybe you can) the absolute joy of standing in the barn aisle with these two precious donkeys and watching them bond.
They do it so differently than horses do - without all the fanfare, just those sweet donkey eyes measuring the situation and deciding that it will be all right.
Redford very appropriately has a star - and if his arrival here is any indication, it looks like he is one special Flying Donkey. The last thing I did before heading off to my Pony Club meeting Sunday night was kneel between two donkey noses and two donkey eyes gazing into mine - one on each side. Double the donkey love.
Welcome to November Hill, Redford! You have already taken Rafer Johnson's mind off the wandering mare, the puffy fetlock and hairline fracture, and the temporary confinement. And you have taken our breaths away with your jumping skills. We know you'll be very happy here.
And some more settling in photos, first playing donkey carousel:
Having a moment with the other red equine on the farm:
Shining his star light all over the barnyard:
Rafer Johnson, our little donkey of the light:
And finally, the November Hill donkey team:
He was absolutely and completely at home from the first moment on. You would never know he hadn't been here a dozen times already!
Rafer was so intrigued as Redford came into the stall next to his:
He and Rafer Johnson met over the 2 1/2 foot stall wall we had lowered so they could interact more easily. They touched noses, they shared hay, and they did a lot of looking and watching. Little donkey eyes met and studied, as only donkey eyes can. The horses, including Salina, were in the front field, and although they had access to the barn, they didn't come up right away. The donkeys had their own special time to say hello.
Redford is absolutely adorable. I had already forgotten how snuggly baby donkeys are - and although he is 7 months and some days old, next to the handsome, more mature Rafer Johnson, Redford seems like a teddy donkey! What a treat to get to watch him grow up as we have Rafer!
So... these two donkeys visited. And then suddenly Redford started looking at the wall between them. "He's thinking about..." and then he did it - he jumped right over the wall into Rafer's stall! Rafer jumped off to the side, clearly startled, and we all felt terrible. We had seen it coming but then it happened so quickly we couldn't stop it. We were all stunned too at the agility of little Redford - and Rafer wasn't quite sure he liked this little Flying Donkey coming right into his space. Redford got his halter on and went back to the adjoining stall, and we all gave Rafer time to relax again while we watched his leg to make sure everything was okay. We also added another board to the wall!
A little bit later (I think I have the sequence straight) the horses ran up the hill and Salina marched up to the back windows of the three stalls. Redford was in the middle, Rafer in the end stall to the right. Salina stuck her head in, expecting to see Rafer, but there was Redford! You could see the thinking process going on as she looked, amazed, from Redford to Rafer, back and forth a number of times, almost as if she couldn't quite believe it. There were two of them!
Suddenly a light bulb went off above her very alert ears. Wait! There's another stall! Maybe there are THREE! She went down to the last stall and looked in, just to be sure. It was the funniest thing I've ever seen. She was so hopeful - but when she saw there wasn't another one, she came back. And then she, Redford, and Rafer had a pow-wow right there over the stall door and stall wall. Redford walked up and let her sniff him. They stood with noses outstretched, and you could see that Rafer and Redford were both forming opinions based on one another. Redford looked at Rafer to see what he thought of Salina. Rafer watched Salina befriend Redford. (maybe that scary Flying Donkey who sailed into his stall minutes before wasn't quite so scary!) And Salina had no qualms at all - she was as happy as could be to have both of them.
After we said goodbye to Ken and Marty, who stayed and helped us navigate this important meeting, the geldings went back out to the field. Salina remained in the paddock with some hay, right by the stall windows. I went into Rafer's stall to muck and forgot to latch the door. When I turned around he had marched out the door and around the corner of the barn to stand by Salina - with the fence between them. He seemed so happy to be out and grazing in the sunshine, I decided to let him be for a few minutes. About that time, I heard a rumble and then Redford dashed out of the barn. This little donkey had jumped a 3 1/2 foot wall taller than his head!
I realized at that point we had to stop raising the wall and just let the two of them be together. They spent the rest of the day with Rafer's stall open to the barn aisle. They watched one another, shared some cookies, touched noses, munched on hay, and after the first hour, Salina went back out to the front field and Rafer Johnson was completely fine - because suddenly he realized he has a new buddy who wants very much to be with him. You cannot imagine (well, maybe you can) the absolute joy of standing in the barn aisle with these two precious donkeys and watching them bond.
They do it so differently than horses do - without all the fanfare, just those sweet donkey eyes measuring the situation and deciding that it will be all right.
Redford very appropriately has a star - and if his arrival here is any indication, it looks like he is one special Flying Donkey. The last thing I did before heading off to my Pony Club meeting Sunday night was kneel between two donkey noses and two donkey eyes gazing into mine - one on each side. Double the donkey love.
Welcome to November Hill, Redford! You have already taken Rafer Johnson's mind off the wandering mare, the puffy fetlock and hairline fracture, and the temporary confinement. And you have taken our breaths away with your jumping skills. We know you'll be very happy here.
And some more settling in photos, first playing donkey carousel:
Having a moment with the other red equine on the farm:
Shining his star light all over the barnyard:
Rafer Johnson, our little donkey of the light:
And finally, the November Hill donkey team:
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