Over the weekend we discovered a secret trail system that appears to be like something out of one of my dreams - remember that dream where I cleaned out a storage shed behind our house and found a secret door to an entirely unknown part of our farm? That had another extension to the barn with a huge guest quarters and full kitchen? And a swimming pool?
Well, this is just about that good. We're in the process of exploring and mapping and checking, and it appears that we can ride from many miles right from our back forty.
Right on the tail end of that discovery the for sale sign went up at a neighbor's farm. She has a huge house with gorgeous office (perfect for the work at home person or writer), 7-stall barn, fenced paddocks, and a pond, all on 10 acres. If anyone is looking, or knows anyone who is, let me know. As it turns out, the realtor listing the property is the brother of my first riding teacher. His family shepherded me into the world of horses when I was around 9 years old, and he assured me yesterday he's working hard to bring another set of wonderful neighbors to our lane.
Otherwise, Salina had her massage on Friday right after the neighborhood horse-folk brunch which took place in our barnyard. We had spinach-cheese quiche, blueberry muffins, ham and cheese croissants, cocoa-date energy bars, more cheese for slicing, freshly-brewed coffee, and horsetail tea. And we were supposed to talk about muscles in horses but ended up talking about how horses talk to us if we only know how to listen. We each gave examples of this from our own experiences - it was really wonderful.
Salina was ready and waiting when H. went in to start the massage, and by the end Salina got so relaxed her knees nearly buckled. I was thrilled - she had cantered up the front pasture earlier that day, which was also a good thing - that she is feeling good enough to spontaneously canter - so it was particularly nice to see her so appreciative and so relaxed as she got her body work.
Sometime on Friday one of my wisdom teeth started bothering me a little. It's been slightly loose for about a year now, but has never bothered me in the least until Friday. I keep pondering the metaphor in all this, but can't quite get into thinking about losing any wisdom...! Yesterday I called the dentist, they worked me in, and I walked out without that wisdom tooth! I had no idea when I went in that it would be coming out yesterday - I thought I was going in to get assessed and put on the oral surgeon's schedule for July.
Instead, my dentist, who knows what a terrible dental patient I am, said, "I can take it out right now if you want me to." I hemmed and hawed and also realized that if I let him take it out the ordeal would be OVER. No stressing for two months, no dealing with it for that long either. Something deep down in my psyche said YES, I can do this.
I reminded him that I don't even get teeth cleanings w/o drugs - and that I have a huge and unwieldy needle phobia. He reminded me that he is very gentle and that if I came in so quickly with this tooth I must be feeling okay about him. (that was a particularly savvy thing for him to have said, and likely what gave me the boost I needed to agree)
Between me saying yes and him coming at me with the needle, the assistant put the TV on the DIY channel (at my direction) and I sat watching men re-doing a back yard complete with hand drills and screws screaming into big hunks of wood. It was not the best choice but on the other hand it sort of made everything in the dentist's office pale by comparison. I ended up taking the straps of my Ariat horsey bag used as purse, holding them like the reins of a double bridle, and riding myself through the needles and the procedure.
I focused on being very careful with the curb rein, and also managed to squeeze the finger and then the wrist of the assistant as my mouth was fully numbed. When he came back to check, I still had a little feeling at the root of the tooth, so he came at me with the needle again. I rode right through it.
And when he came back the next time he stuck something into my mouth and 5 seconds later the tooth was lying on the tray. At that point I was in such shock that it had been so easy I could barely speak.
In 30 minutes I was driving home. Once again horses guided me through something I couldn't have done alone. (we all know who I was riding in that double bridle, don't we? Keil Bay and I were doing upper level dressage! No rollkur, the barest touch on those curb reins, floating movement with balance and harmony!)
I came home and took arnica, rested through the evening, slept like a log, and am now sipping chilled coffee since I can't have hot beverages today.
I feel a little bit like I've lost time this week, but now I can get back to the normal routine around here.
billie hinton’s camera-obscura:
life and lessons on November Hill Farm
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Thursday, May 12, 2011
the senior horse, 3: a complete senior diet and summer kairos
Back in the late fall I decided to transition Salina off her complete senior diet and onto the same diet the geldings are on, the primary reason being that she is eating a lot of hay and I wondered if the unbalanced portion of her diet (the hay and forage) was in effect throwing off her trace mineral ratios.
Over the winter she got the geldings' diet, except she got an extra meal mid-day. She mostly maintained her weight but by the time the grass came out this spring, and a good month into it, she hadn't regained her weight. Not an alarming loss by any means, but enough so that I have decided to put her back onto the complete senior diet (developed by Dr. Eleanor Kellon).
I am in the process of adding the additional ingredients back in, slowly so as to allow her digestive system to adjust. We'll be up to the full amounts in another few weeks' time, and I'll start her back on the customized vit/mineral mix I get from HorseTech that goes with this diet. I'll still add her joint supplements and lysine individually, and her ALCAR.
She's picked up some weight already, and seems to have more energy. The reasoning behind the complete diet is that it alone provides all the vitamins and minerals she needs, balanced to the correct ratios, and served wet so she has the best chance of absorbing the good stuff. The geldings are also on a balanced, wet diet, but their meals are balanced to the hay they eat. With Salina, we have shifted to the assumption that she is no longer able to chew the hay well enough, or digest it well enough, to get all she needs.
After this experiment over the winter, I think I've established it pretty well - she does best on the complete diet.
I keep wondering when I should look at Keil Bay's diet in terms of absorption issues, etc. Although he would dearly love to shift to what Salina is eating, I'm not seeing signs that he needs it yet, and it may well be he doesn't need it for a long time, if at all.
Keil Bay's transition to senior diet might be that he gets a mid-day meal of ODTB cubes, which he will love just as much.
On another note, we've shifted into summer schedule here, which means horses come in around 10 a.m. and get feed tubs, then get groomed and set up for the day hanging out in the barn with their fans. Salina adores being groomed after a night out in the pasture, and she usually positions herself for it and waits. I brush, check for ticks and insects bites, use calendula tincture and water as needed, wash her eyes (the empty socket collects dust and she loves having it gently cleaned), and end with a light spray of the herbal fly mix we use. It's a special and quiet time that all of us enjoy. It's a drowsy time, and often one or more of the equines will lie down as I work.
For Salina, who is retired from riding, this time is even more special. It's very clear she enjoys the attention and the actual grooming, and I go slowly so it lasts about as long as a ride would. With all the horses and her donkeys in the barn, relaxing, it's a time she can let go and relax herself. No need to keep alert to everything going on - we're all right there, and with the fans going, the outside world just disappears.
It's a good time for her and a good time for me - so other-worldly that yesterday when Fed-Ex drove in and honked the horn for five minutes we didn't even hear it! We were in our own time, which is a place I think the senior horses are especially good at taking us.
Over the winter she got the geldings' diet, except she got an extra meal mid-day. She mostly maintained her weight but by the time the grass came out this spring, and a good month into it, she hadn't regained her weight. Not an alarming loss by any means, but enough so that I have decided to put her back onto the complete senior diet (developed by Dr. Eleanor Kellon).
I am in the process of adding the additional ingredients back in, slowly so as to allow her digestive system to adjust. We'll be up to the full amounts in another few weeks' time, and I'll start her back on the customized vit/mineral mix I get from HorseTech that goes with this diet. I'll still add her joint supplements and lysine individually, and her ALCAR.
She's picked up some weight already, and seems to have more energy. The reasoning behind the complete diet is that it alone provides all the vitamins and minerals she needs, balanced to the correct ratios, and served wet so she has the best chance of absorbing the good stuff. The geldings are also on a balanced, wet diet, but their meals are balanced to the hay they eat. With Salina, we have shifted to the assumption that she is no longer able to chew the hay well enough, or digest it well enough, to get all she needs.
After this experiment over the winter, I think I've established it pretty well - she does best on the complete diet.
I keep wondering when I should look at Keil Bay's diet in terms of absorption issues, etc. Although he would dearly love to shift to what Salina is eating, I'm not seeing signs that he needs it yet, and it may well be he doesn't need it for a long time, if at all.
Keil Bay's transition to senior diet might be that he gets a mid-day meal of ODTB cubes, which he will love just as much.
On another note, we've shifted into summer schedule here, which means horses come in around 10 a.m. and get feed tubs, then get groomed and set up for the day hanging out in the barn with their fans. Salina adores being groomed after a night out in the pasture, and she usually positions herself for it and waits. I brush, check for ticks and insects bites, use calendula tincture and water as needed, wash her eyes (the empty socket collects dust and she loves having it gently cleaned), and end with a light spray of the herbal fly mix we use. It's a special and quiet time that all of us enjoy. It's a drowsy time, and often one or more of the equines will lie down as I work.
For Salina, who is retired from riding, this time is even more special. It's very clear she enjoys the attention and the actual grooming, and I go slowly so it lasts about as long as a ride would. With all the horses and her donkeys in the barn, relaxing, it's a time she can let go and relax herself. No need to keep alert to everything going on - we're all right there, and with the fans going, the outside world just disappears.
It's a good time for her and a good time for me - so other-worldly that yesterday when Fed-Ex drove in and honked the horn for five minutes we didn't even hear it! We were in our own time, which is a place I think the senior horses are especially good at taking us.
Monday, May 09, 2011
lessons in riding, 5
Tonight after arriving home from daughter's lesson I marched out to the barn and called in the Big Bay. Husband was weed-eating and the three geldings were "trapped" in the back field. They started running the arena fence line, and then suddenly Cody turned around, picked up speed, and galloped through the gate right past the scary weed-eating monster!
Keil Bay came in when husband turned it off, snorting and blowing and standing up to his "big horse" stature (about 17.3h).
Fortunately I had done a good groom this morning so I didn't have much to do except tack up. By the time I entered the arena it was dusky, he was fully alert, and I figured the ride would definitely be interesting.
The thing about the Big Bay is that it's pretty easy to transform his "upness" into nice dressage work if you aren't nervous yourself. We did some really nice big walking and he wanted contact immediately. It took a couple of circuits to get him to notch down his alertness level a few clicks, but at that point he was nicely forward and I shifted into shoulder-in, some well-timed turns on the forehand, and alternating between big walk and a more collected walk to keep us focused.
We had one small spook at the end of a full circle of turns on the forehand but I used that little bit of impulsion to head down center line.
By the last bit of 20m circle work, we found the magic with very soft contact and a lovely bend.
The interesting thing was that when I dismounted, he was still very "up." That weed-eater really had them going today!
I wondered if he would stand at the tack room door, but guess what? Even the weed-eating demon is not enough to put Keil Bay off his end-of-work treats!
After several handsful of pellets and oats he marched off to the front yard, completely by himself, in the dark, and I cleaned all three of his bridles, his saddle, and am still happily breathing in the scent of Effax oil.
Lesson today: sometimes weed-eating jumps you up a level!
Keil Bay came in when husband turned it off, snorting and blowing and standing up to his "big horse" stature (about 17.3h).
Fortunately I had done a good groom this morning so I didn't have much to do except tack up. By the time I entered the arena it was dusky, he was fully alert, and I figured the ride would definitely be interesting.
The thing about the Big Bay is that it's pretty easy to transform his "upness" into nice dressage work if you aren't nervous yourself. We did some really nice big walking and he wanted contact immediately. It took a couple of circuits to get him to notch down his alertness level a few clicks, but at that point he was nicely forward and I shifted into shoulder-in, some well-timed turns on the forehand, and alternating between big walk and a more collected walk to keep us focused.
We had one small spook at the end of a full circle of turns on the forehand but I used that little bit of impulsion to head down center line.
By the last bit of 20m circle work, we found the magic with very soft contact and a lovely bend.
The interesting thing was that when I dismounted, he was still very "up." That weed-eater really had them going today!
I wondered if he would stand at the tack room door, but guess what? Even the weed-eating demon is not enough to put Keil Bay off his end-of-work treats!
After several handsful of pellets and oats he marched off to the front yard, completely by himself, in the dark, and I cleaned all three of his bridles, his saddle, and am still happily breathing in the scent of Effax oil.
Lesson today: sometimes weed-eating jumps you up a level!
Sunday, May 08, 2011
week's end catch-up
Busy week - with a lot of little dramas here on November Hill. Mid-week Redford started a new conversation with me in the mornings during breakfast tub time. He has learned to open the feed room door while I'm inside, and then waits 'til my back is turned so he can sneak in.
We go back and forth, him sneaking, me saying "you stay there, Redbug," and then he sneaks in another step.
He got a bit too far in at one point and I had my hands full so called out "Redford! No!" He backed out in a hurry and gave me a look, then used his nose to slam the door shut. It was hilarious. Of course he couldn't stand it for very long, and opened it back up again, but now if I ask him to back out, he does, and slams the door for good measure.
On Thursday the Carolina wrens fledged the nest. My daughter went out to feed Salina lunch and I heard high-pitched squeals - I thought something had happened to daughter and went dashing out the back door. She was in the barnyard, trying to keep the baby wrens safe. They were in the barn aisle flying and then out into the barnyard. Dickens managed to grab and eat one nearly whole, but the remaining four or five were safe.
At one point birds were flying, daughter calling, Corgis barking, Salina neighing, donkeys braying, and a hawk was circling overhead. Mama and Papa wren were squawking. It was chaos until the babies got their wings enough to get up in the oak trees.
My daughter says the wrens sometimes have a second brood so we're watching the nest to see if they return.
This weekend is writing group, and tonight I read the first half of the first chapter of the second book in the Magical Pony School series out loud. It's amazing to me that when it's time, the book comes. I've been juggling three very different books in progress, and Fiona's voice is the one who came clear this weekend.
We also went across the lane today and met our newest neighborhood "herd." A Quarter horse named Pablo and his four goat buddies. Turns out Pablo is a Zippo Pine Bar baby just like Cody (although older, at 11) and it's easy to see the resemblance. He's still settling in. It was fun seeing the barn. A few years ago that barn was right by the lane and home to a herd of ATVs. Now it's back behind the house and a lovely space for a horse and four goats. That's the kind of transformation I love seeing!
In other news, we brought home the last round bale of 2010 hay and are keeping our fingers crossed that the rain holds off long enough for the 2011 crop to be cut, dried, and baled. Our hay grower has some square bales he held back that we will use in the interim, and if I have to, I'll locate some timothy to fill the gap. We've had so much rain lately it's been hard to find enough clear days in a row to do the haying process. I've seen a few farmers doing parts of a field at a time trying to work with what they had weather-wise.
And, it being May, I woke up at 3 a.m. and feel like the cicadas are buzzing from inside my head. Spring is always a "loud" season in general and I have found over the years that May is always an intense month for me. Everything seems busy and noisy and I seem to feel it from the inside out. About the time I think I'm going to explode, it all dies down and the long lazy summer kicks in. Here's to middle of the night blog posting, the slow fade of the annual buzz, and maybe, if we're lucky, a mild summer.
We go back and forth, him sneaking, me saying "you stay there, Redbug," and then he sneaks in another step.
He got a bit too far in at one point and I had my hands full so called out "Redford! No!" He backed out in a hurry and gave me a look, then used his nose to slam the door shut. It was hilarious. Of course he couldn't stand it for very long, and opened it back up again, but now if I ask him to back out, he does, and slams the door for good measure.
On Thursday the Carolina wrens fledged the nest. My daughter went out to feed Salina lunch and I heard high-pitched squeals - I thought something had happened to daughter and went dashing out the back door. She was in the barnyard, trying to keep the baby wrens safe. They were in the barn aisle flying and then out into the barnyard. Dickens managed to grab and eat one nearly whole, but the remaining four or five were safe.
At one point birds were flying, daughter calling, Corgis barking, Salina neighing, donkeys braying, and a hawk was circling overhead. Mama and Papa wren were squawking. It was chaos until the babies got their wings enough to get up in the oak trees.
My daughter says the wrens sometimes have a second brood so we're watching the nest to see if they return.
This weekend is writing group, and tonight I read the first half of the first chapter of the second book in the Magical Pony School series out loud. It's amazing to me that when it's time, the book comes. I've been juggling three very different books in progress, and Fiona's voice is the one who came clear this weekend.
We also went across the lane today and met our newest neighborhood "herd." A Quarter horse named Pablo and his four goat buddies. Turns out Pablo is a Zippo Pine Bar baby just like Cody (although older, at 11) and it's easy to see the resemblance. He's still settling in. It was fun seeing the barn. A few years ago that barn was right by the lane and home to a herd of ATVs. Now it's back behind the house and a lovely space for a horse and four goats. That's the kind of transformation I love seeing!
In other news, we brought home the last round bale of 2010 hay and are keeping our fingers crossed that the rain holds off long enough for the 2011 crop to be cut, dried, and baled. Our hay grower has some square bales he held back that we will use in the interim, and if I have to, I'll locate some timothy to fill the gap. We've had so much rain lately it's been hard to find enough clear days in a row to do the haying process. I've seen a few farmers doing parts of a field at a time trying to work with what they had weather-wise.
And, it being May, I woke up at 3 a.m. and feel like the cicadas are buzzing from inside my head. Spring is always a "loud" season in general and I have found over the years that May is always an intense month for me. Everything seems busy and noisy and I seem to feel it from the inside out. About the time I think I'm going to explode, it all dies down and the long lazy summer kicks in. Here's to middle of the night blog posting, the slow fade of the annual buzz, and maybe, if we're lucky, a mild summer.
Tuesday, May 03, 2011
horses, baths, and field maintenance
It seems like every time I go out to ride lately I end up bathing a horse. Or two. That's what happened yesterday when I went out to ride. Salina came and stood by me, I looked her over, she seemed itchy, and since it was a warm day with a warm evening predicted, I shifted gears and bathed her.
She stood and stretched her nose forward, enjoying every moment of her bath. I used a very soft-pronged curry in one hand, soapy sponge in the other, and ended up removing about another half-pound of shedding hair. The bathing part is actually not what takes the time - it's the rinsing. I'm not sure why, but she seems especially hard to rinse - the shampoo seems to really cling to her coat and skin. Fortunately she loves being rinsed, so after a moment's difficulty when Keil Bay sauntered down the grass paddock and she was determined to go with him, I just dragged the hose and finished her rinse under the holly tree.
We got into it together, the sound of the water, the flow of suds off her back and down her legs, the cooling. Even when Keil got bored and led the herd back up to the barn, through the aisle, and across to the big barnyard, Salina and I stood entranced and connected by that stream of cool water.
I was still planning to ride, but when I got to Keil Bay, he too seemed itchy. In his case, he had a few ticks attached in the groin area, and he was fussing (by walking away) each time I tried to get them off. So I got his halter and a lead rope and we went to the bathing area for his first real bath of the year. Keil likes being bathed too but he is very nudgy as he tries to pull my arm with the hose to different parts of his body - do this part, do that part - mostly he just wants me to hose right beneath his jaw, but carefully so he doesn't get sprayed in the face.
Yesterday, though, he stood nicely while I sponged and did tick removal (easier with soapy hands and skin), rinsed him thoroughly, which took about 1/4 the time it takes to rinse Salina. You're done, I told him, but he followed me to the barn where he clearly expected to be treated for his time. You can see with Keil Bay how the expressive horse gets rewarded for being expressive, and thus it blooms into even more expression.
All through his bath he kept presenting his muzzle to me to be kissed, and when he comes along to the feed/tack room and stands patiently, it's absolutely impossible for me to not give him a handful of something. Yesterday he got a handful of alfalfa pellets for my interrupting his grazing to get bathed, and then he got a handful of oats because... well, just because he asked and I love saying yes to the Big Bay.
By this time it was dusk and I still hadn't checked and refilled water troughs.
With springtime and growing season there are many more chores to be done.
The week before last I cleaned and dragged the arena, last week I mowed buttercups, this week it's rotating/dragging fields, and the next big thing to do is weed-eat.
And grooming gets more detailed. Brushing, bathing, checking for ticks, dealing with biting pests, and managing the heat... all this is partly why spring is NOT my favorite season. But right now it's still more my favorite than this long, cold, wet winter we just came through!
On another note, we have a certain kind of cicada emerging right now by the dozens. They are everywhere, and anywhere there isn't a live cicada, there is the shell of one. These are like no cicada I've ever seen - they have golden wings and red eyes, and resemble little insect demons. Is it a coincidence that the leaves, every single leaf, on the squash and cucumber plants are now simply gone? All that remain are stems and blossoms.
May! I can't quite believe it but it's here.
She stood and stretched her nose forward, enjoying every moment of her bath. I used a very soft-pronged curry in one hand, soapy sponge in the other, and ended up removing about another half-pound of shedding hair. The bathing part is actually not what takes the time - it's the rinsing. I'm not sure why, but she seems especially hard to rinse - the shampoo seems to really cling to her coat and skin. Fortunately she loves being rinsed, so after a moment's difficulty when Keil Bay sauntered down the grass paddock and she was determined to go with him, I just dragged the hose and finished her rinse under the holly tree.
We got into it together, the sound of the water, the flow of suds off her back and down her legs, the cooling. Even when Keil got bored and led the herd back up to the barn, through the aisle, and across to the big barnyard, Salina and I stood entranced and connected by that stream of cool water.
I was still planning to ride, but when I got to Keil Bay, he too seemed itchy. In his case, he had a few ticks attached in the groin area, and he was fussing (by walking away) each time I tried to get them off. So I got his halter and a lead rope and we went to the bathing area for his first real bath of the year. Keil likes being bathed too but he is very nudgy as he tries to pull my arm with the hose to different parts of his body - do this part, do that part - mostly he just wants me to hose right beneath his jaw, but carefully so he doesn't get sprayed in the face.
Yesterday, though, he stood nicely while I sponged and did tick removal (easier with soapy hands and skin), rinsed him thoroughly, which took about 1/4 the time it takes to rinse Salina. You're done, I told him, but he followed me to the barn where he clearly expected to be treated for his time. You can see with Keil Bay how the expressive horse gets rewarded for being expressive, and thus it blooms into even more expression.
All through his bath he kept presenting his muzzle to me to be kissed, and when he comes along to the feed/tack room and stands patiently, it's absolutely impossible for me to not give him a handful of something. Yesterday he got a handful of alfalfa pellets for my interrupting his grazing to get bathed, and then he got a handful of oats because... well, just because he asked and I love saying yes to the Big Bay.
By this time it was dusk and I still hadn't checked and refilled water troughs.
With springtime and growing season there are many more chores to be done.
The week before last I cleaned and dragged the arena, last week I mowed buttercups, this week it's rotating/dragging fields, and the next big thing to do is weed-eat.
And grooming gets more detailed. Brushing, bathing, checking for ticks, dealing with biting pests, and managing the heat... all this is partly why spring is NOT my favorite season. But right now it's still more my favorite than this long, cold, wet winter we just came through!
On another note, we have a certain kind of cicada emerging right now by the dozens. They are everywhere, and anywhere there isn't a live cicada, there is the shell of one. These are like no cicada I've ever seen - they have golden wings and red eyes, and resemble little insect demons. Is it a coincidence that the leaves, every single leaf, on the squash and cucumber plants are now simply gone? All that remain are stems and blossoms.
May! I can't quite believe it but it's here.
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