Corgi Fun

If the felines of November Hill are featured then you know what has to come next - Corgis!

We have 12-year old Kyra and almost-2-year old Bear. Bear came to live with us as a puppy, about nine months after we said goodbye to Kyra's litter mate brother Chase, who died of a cancerous tumor.

Chase was a loyal, sweet boy who loved to play fetch. Kyra had never lived without him, and she grieved for several months after his death. She also developed a severe skin allergy that took a lot of effort to figure out - and I feel certain part of it was her sadness over losing her constant companion.

The day Bear came home to November Hill, I took the crate he was in and set it down in front of Kyra. She needed to meet him first and I held my breath hoping that it would be a good thing that we had brought home a puppy. She took one sniff and her entire Corgi butt began to wag. Bear has been the best thing ever for Kyra - in a few minute's time she got her spirit back, and her spunk and the two of them have been best buddies ever since.

Bear was and is smart enough to know that Kyra is the Queen, but he was and is spunky enough to test her just the right amount to keep her on her toes.

Here they are doing yoga together:

And playing Corgi tag:

It's hard to believe that that cute little puppy is now all grown up:

The thing about Bear Corgi is that he is EVERYwhere:

Doing EVERYthing:
 

He's always coming to see what's going on:

Or digging someplace he's not supposed to be:

 Which is probably why he almost always has a slightly guilty expression on his face.

Kyra says there are more pictures of the Wild Nosy Banshee because she is a Corgi Who Minds Her Own Business.


But those who live with her know that she gets involved in EVERY conversation that goes on between Bear and the Five Aforementioned Felines.


There are good reasons behind the nicknames Ka-bear and Kyra Crotchet. :)

UVA Torturing Cats to Train Medical Students

I opened my email just now to find this:

http://www.change.org/petitions/uva-president-stop-cruel-outdated-trainings-on-cats?utm_campaign=DfDUPbFetJ&utm_medium=email&utm_source=action_alert

You can cut/paste or just CLICK HERE to sign this petition.

Once again I am mortified and ashamed about what humans think is okay to do in the name of science.

This has pushed me over the edge this afternoon - I just cannot believe this.

the November Hill Pride

Husband left a huge folder of photographs on my desktop earlier this evening and suddenly I have a treasure chest to explore!

Here are some updated photos of some of the November Hill crew that are not equine - although Dickens E. Wickens was surely a horse in a previous life.

Here's Osage, aka Muffine Eloise, resident princess:

She knows how to live the life of feline leisure, venturing out to the back deck to take a bit of sun before napping:

Here is Dickens E. Wickens, resident cowboy. He patrols the fence lines, herds horses and donkeys, does a little bit of equine training on the side, sits by campfires and thinks about women and glasses of beer, and takes care of the day to day running of the farm. He was convinced to pose for this somewhat formal portrait:

Here he is in a more normal pose - stretching on one of his favorite look-outs - on the side of the horse trailer in the big barnyard:

And here we have the handsome, mysterious, stealth-cat, Mystic:

 

 His domain tends to be the front porch, the front field and the driveway, and my daughter's room. He finds all kinds of sneaky ways to get in, which he has to do because of a certain Bear Corgi who can't resist chasing a cat that runs. And Mystic almost ALWAYS runs!

 

This is Apollo Moon, most affectionately known as Moomintroll. He has had a rough year but was just diagnosed with hyperthyroidism and is on a month-long homeopathic treatment. We'll recheck bloodwork and see if it's helped. If not, we'll proceed with the medication usually given to cats to help with this issue. Moomin sleeps by my head nearly every night. He snuggles up on my shoulder while I read and purrs in my ear. We don't know exactly how old he is because he arrived one day at the barn as thin as a rail and has been here ever since. We think he is somewhere in the 15-17 year old range. He's polydactyl, has no front claws, and packs a powerful smack with his big mittens. He's a sweetheart with spunk.

 Moomin goes on the front porch periodically and occasionally goes out into the front or back yard. Once in a very blue moon he goes out to the barn - but from the moment he arrived here he wanted to come into the house and that is where he mostly stays. Speaking of moons - he has a perfect white moon on his belly that makes rare appearances when he stretches out and lets his belly show - hence his name, Apollo Moon. Here he is on his favorite chair. He is often draped across my husband's chest as he sits here working on his laptop.

And finally, our black cat Keats, aka Weets-Anne.  She is a huntress and very sweet. She is also HUGE and could possibly stand a few weeks in a kit-meow weight-loss spa. She can be found anywhere on November Hill, although occasionally she gets chased by her brother Dickens who has been known to make both his sisters scream.

Keats in the arena, where she sometimes visits and watches the action:

And that's it! All the fabulous felines who keep us company here on the hill.

living with seniors: tight hips and ticks (and today a great ride)

Keil Bay and I got back into a morning ride routine last week and on Friday I was dealing with a tight left hip that he helped me straighten out by the end of our ride. It was enlightening to feel how his walk opened up and extended as my hip muscles began to release.

The start of the ride though was not a pretty sight - I had put my old stirrup leathers on thinking (correctly) that the length of the new ones would be too long for my tight hips. Turned out even the old ones needed shortening and my left hip was so tight I was nervous about adjusting from the saddle. Nor did I want to dismount so I begged dear daughter to get off Cody and come to my rescue. She did, and as the ride proceeded with shorter stirrups, the motion in the walk slowly worked the tension out of my lower body.

Thank you, Keil Bay!  (and dear daughter!)

On Saturday as I went into Keil's stall to get him out for grooming, he turned his rear to me. I don't remember him ever doing that, and although it was not a mean-spirited turning away, it did seem to say very clearly "no."

I walked to the door of his stall and waited to see if he would come join me. He didn't, but when I turned to look at him again, he had turned his head and neck to me and I went to meet him. He put his head in the halter, and we went into the barn aisle where he immediately seemed to stretch his hind legs out as though he needed to go to the bathroom. I groomed for a few minutes and watched him and he seemed a little antsy - so I put him back in the stall to see if he needed to go. He'd eaten half his breakfast - I'd reserved the other half for after our ride - and often he does go either right before or right after - but this time he didn't. I waited and did a few tack room chores and when he didn't use the bathroom I brought him back out again.

He stood more normally but there still seemed to be something wrong. I continued grooming and then found the culprit - a tick dug in deep way up in his groin. He stretched his legs out so I could remove the tick. Aha - that's what that was about!

I decided though that there was still something not quite right and I wanted to let him know that I was not only noticing but listening to what he was saying to me. After a thorough grooming and a very complete tick check, we went in the arena on halter and lead line and just walked together.

I expected sluggishness but Keil Bay was alert and attuned to my movement. We walked and walked and turned and walked some more. He was overtracking immediately, which was good. At one point I walked with very big steps and he offered a nice collected trot, so we alternated some walking and big trotting and he was great. No head bobbing, and a nice even stride.

We backed, we did turns on the forehand and haunches, and we did some poll flexions and neck stretches. All looked good.

I spent a lot of time just listening to his footfalls beside me. The rhythm was good, everything sounded balanced and rhythmic.

I'm not sure what the message in the stall was about - except that it was later in the morning than I had meant to ride, and the sun was fully in the arena, and I do know that Keil prefers a much earlier ride time - so perhaps he was stating his displeasure in my taking too long to get to the barn.

However - my body got a work-out as we walked and trotted, I was able to ensure that he was moving normally, and to be honest, it was nice to be "with" him with his eye just beside mine, and his head at my shoulder. Our connection was strong and maybe that's exactly what we needed.

This morning, the sun is out and it's raining at the same time. My grandma used to say that meant the devil was having a fight with his wife. I'm taking it to mean the weather is trying to appease me - we had a big rain last night and I really want things to dry out a bit before we get more!

PM addendum: I went out to get Keil Bay today for a ride and was very curious as to what he might say to me. He turned his head, then literally backed himself across the barnyard to put his head in the halter.

I put my stirrups up one notch and our ride went very well. He was alert and moving in big beautiful strides right from the start. We had some torquing at one specific corner that I figured out was me doing a funky thing with my shoulder. Later today at the chiropractor I discovered my sacrum was rotated, which I suspected. No wonder Keil Bay has not wanted to carry me around. Talk about crooked!

Anyway, this morning we did get some very nice trot work in and rode on through some rainfall. The trotting felt great to my back and my hips, and by the end of the ride my legs had stretched out nicely.
Keil Bay was happy as could be and so proud and nonchalant about his work. Love this horse, as if anyone doesn't know that by now!

Coming soon from November Hill Press!

 My newest book! 


I love the cover - the King of Zen himself in what I call the Tree of Life Bay photo, taken by dear husband who has done so many gorgeous portraits of Keil. 


What you don't see are that his hooves send down roots to the center of the earth, grounding me, and his energy soars right up to the sky and takes mine with it.


Which is what this book is all about!