more rain and hoof trims all around

We're in another stretch of rainy days here. The horses and donkeys are hanging out in stalls most of the day and night so it's an ongoing effort to keep the barn clean. The longer they're in the messier they get, strowing hay, dropping manure all over the place. Relationships were straining: Keil Bay and Little Man pinning ears over the stall door at one another, Rafer Johnson nipping at Redford. 

I had the trimmer coming in an hour and needed to tidy the barn, clear the barn aisle, and get the herd settled in some new configuration that would hopefully improve their moods.

Over the years I have learned that they like to be surprised, within a range of options. They like switching from one side of the barn aisle to the other; mostly with a few exceptions they enjoy having a new "barn mate" to hang out with. Alternating between hay on the stall mats to hay in nets to hay under the shelter keeps them happiest on these long rainy days. Apples or carrots in feed tubs make them happy, as do peppermints.

It was noon so time for Keil Bay's mid-day meal. I quickly cleaned a stall - not the one he was standing in - and moved him in with his meal, a fresh bucket of water, and a closed door. The rest of the boys were upset - they wanted meals too - so I gave them each a very small snack of Chaffhaye which gave me time to get another stall cleaned and set up for Cody. I closed him in too. When free to come and go 24/7 Keil and Cody seem to enjoy being closed in from time to time. The pony and donkeys had been on the near side of the barn all morning, so they went on the other side - with one stall open to the shelter and the arena open in case they wanted to take a stroll in wet but non-muddy footing.

Once I got them all situated with fresh water and Chaffhaye I served up their hay. 

Our barn is never really dark during the daytime but I put all the lights on, including the twinkle lights in the feed room, and turned on NPR. Suddenly it was cheerful and like a big living room. Everyone was munching, no ears were pinning, moods had improved dramatically.

By the time the trimmer arrived I had the barn aisle clean and horses groomed. The pony - well, his elves took the night off and he was simply a lost cause. The donkeys don't roll in the mud so they were nice and clean and fluffy already.

All mine enjoy the attention they get from our wonderful hoof trimmer. She is attuned to them as she works, gives lots of praise, and yesterday offered a "Peace and Calm" blend of essential oils to all of us. The rain was falling outside the barn and it was a dreary day with flies and mosquitoes (yes, in November - the curse of a temperate climate) but everyone got a turn and everyone ended up licking and chewing and enjoying the new scent.

It looks like Cody is okay to ride, carefully, with an eye on his abscessed hoof as the opening grows out, and if we can get to the end of this rainy spell, I'll be aiming to get he and Keil Bay on a schedule I can keep up with. Cody is feeling terrific - cantering and galloping around and tossing his head - so I think he'll enjoy some time in the saddle again. His break has been longer than Keil Bay's! I'll have lots to report as I bring him back into work.

I went to the barn at noon yesterday and came in at 5:15. Barn time, as most of us know, doesn't follow the clock. I came in damp and, once I took my boots off inside, realized my feet were tired from standing for so long. But I was also deeply relaxed, content, and restored. Peace and calm. 

And here's the pony last rain spell we had, the morning after. His grooming elves not only cleaned him up, they awarded him a gold star!!

a little book stuff

I've linked my GoodReads "currently reading" list to the blog. If you look on the sidebar to the right and scroll down a little you'll see what I'm reading. 

I do very brief reviews on GoodReads if you're interested in seeing more, and longer "formal" reviews for LitChat (you can find those at LitChat.com under the book review tab). 

For the past year or so I have been reading a little physics every morning. My son is passionate about physics (he's a junior physics and pure mathematics major and looking at physics grad schools now) and hearing him talk about it kindled my young science self. I'm often reading at the far edge of my own comprehension but find it a wonderful way to spend a half-hour or so every morning.

I usually read fiction at night before bed.

Feel free to share your book recommendations here. I have piles of books all over the house and my Kindle is packed. And there are new titles coming out every day. But I'm still in denial that I won't ever get to read all the books I want to read. There's a Many Interacting Worlds theory floating now that means I might well be reading books all over the place, and somehow maybe what I'm reading in those other worlds is interacting with me here. 

For those of us who ride, consider the implications! Keil Bay and I are riding Grand Prix somewhere. :)

We had a nice ride today. Still building up to more trotting. Riding through things like Cody cantering up to the arena fence, tossing his head, and trying to nip Keil Bay on the rump, Rafer Johnson knocking the mounting block off its cinder blocks, and cats dashing in and out of the woods at us. Keil was brave and a solid ride through all that but he spooked after I got off when I crackled the peppermint wrappers! 

And tonight:

Halloween graveyard cake! Made with our own sweet potatoes, cream cheese frosting, and a slew of Halloween candy decor. :)

rainy day

We've had a long streak of lovely weather and all the grass that came up from the overseeding needs water! So I'm happy to have a rainy day to enjoy.

Yesterday was cloudy with a stiff wind but Keil Bay and I tacked up and rode through it. Leaves flying, deer crashing, cats dashing in and out of hiding places, hay tent flap making periodic whoosh noises that sounded like silenced rounds from a hit man. (watching X-Files and Homeland lends to this kind of analogy), daughter dropping the muck barrow inside the barn with a bang.  

Even when I reached up and grabbed a low-hanging dead oak branch, thinking the small part hitting my helmet would be all that broke off, and the whole three feet long branch cracked and fell on his hindquarters, he did not spook. He was alert and forward but he took care of me.

Yesterday we did more walking, shoulder-in, turns on forehand and haunches, 20m circles, and increased our trot time. Then more walking. 

We've been avoiding the F area in the arena - not because of spookiness but due to the million and one acorns covering nearly every square inch of that corner. After our ride I spent a little time with the muck rake (oddly it works perfectly for acorns!) and the wheelbarrow and cleared them back a few feet. I'll do more tomorrow and that should do it (assuming more don't fall). I can't figure out if they are just weird to walk on or if he is unwilling to walk on a source of treats. Though this year they're not eating as many as they have in years past, thankfully!

Tomorrow I'm going to get on the three days on/two days off riding schedule, as I think it works best for Keil. We'll build on the trotting and see how it goes. He's muscling up and I'm getting ready to add a mid-day meal into his diet for extra calories. 

Otherwise, the color here is starting to pop. It looks like the first week in November will be the peak - which is exactly where the name November Hill came from. We moved in October ten years ago and when we hit November here the color and beauty of the season blew us all away. It's the perfect name for our farm and our favorite season. Even in the rain!

a horse and his friend

A couple of days ago I was getting ready to turn the boys out to the front field, which had a month off and was limed, overseeded with spring fescue, and seeded for winter with grazing rye. We had just the right rain at the right time to get it off to a lovely start, and the herd had been eyeing it for several weeks.

I'm not quite ready to turn them on it full-time but for the past week I've been giving them a couple hours out there each day and they've been enjoying it a lot, but not going nuts, which is good. (Nuts would be them pacing up and down the fence line off and on all day and trying to break through the gate!)

Keil Bay came out of the barn first, to the side gate which I had open and waiting. The pony and donkeys had gone out the other way, and Cody was still in the barn. He's moving pretty well at this point; the abscess exit has grown down the hoof about 1/4 inch, but he's not totally sound on that hoof yet. So he was taking his time to get to the front field.

I was standing in the gateway and started to close it just in case the donkeys or pony decided to come through and go to the barn. Not likely with the grass out there singing their tune, but it was a reflex on my part. Keil put his body in the gateway and stopped so I couldn't close it, and when he heard Cody coming from behind, he used his nose to shove the gate wide open - giving Cody space to get through. The two walked off together almost literally into the sunset, with not a bit of space between them.

If you want to look at herd "order" Keil Bay is top horse and Cody is at the bottom. This is why I think the idea of herd order is not quite the whole picture when it comes to horses and the way they operate when they truly live together, in other words, are not separated very much of the time and have access to stalls, and each other close to full time.

Keil Bay didn't rush out to the green grass -  he waited for his friend whose hoof is slowing him down right now, and he didn't insist that Cody follow behind him - he actually shoved the gate open so Cody could join him shoulder to shoulder and walk to the pasture together. 

It's nice knowing the horses have their own relationships with one another and that they make allowances when needed. 

A different day this week I had tacked Keil up in his stall and Cody was standing in the barn aisle watching. Knowing there would be no issue, I didn't hesitate to open the stall door to walk Keil through on our way to the arena, but Keil realized before coming through that he might bump Cody with the door as he passed - he stopped and pulled back into the stall. I got it - and asked Cody to move over a few steps. On we went with no problems. This is one of those times when the horse is smarter than his rider, and I'm happy to listen and adjust my request as needed!

They have their spats from time to time, but for the most part, this herd gets along well. Anyone can turn out with any other one but I think they're happiest all together. 

riding the real and imagined big bay horse

Something reminded me this morning that ever since I was very young, as early as I can remember, really, I rode a big bay horse every time I rode in the car with my parents or anyone else. 

In my imagined ride, I walked and trotted and cantered and galloped alongside the car I was in, on the terrain that paralleled the roadway. There were obstacles. Ditches and fences and forests and things that had to be jumped or sometimes ridden around.

It was me on that big bay horse, everywhere I went. For years and years of my life, until I got my first horse, a chestnut with a wide white blaze and four white socks, and then again when he was sold after I went off to college.

Even as an adult I realized I still rode the big bay, off to the far right of the green minivan, with my children in their carseats in back. I think that big bay became my guardian, or maybe just a reminder that I was born wanting to ride and even during periods of time when I didn't, the desire remained, and was, in a way, fulfilled by my imagination.

It was no surprise that when I typed in my dream horse to DreamHorse.com I typed in a big bay with a white star. I've recounted that story several times here - the result of that query was Keil Bay, the REAL Big Bay, who has turned out to be the actual dream horse come true for me.

We've been riding again last week and this week after several months off. He is a horse who, when I take him into the arena and drop the rein to go set right a dressage marker that was tipped over by donkeys, marches to the mounting block and lines himself up and waits for me to come get on. 

He is the horse who reminds me that he needs shoulder-in to work out the stiffness, and who shows me that was the exact right thing to do by offering a big lovely trot just after the shoulder-in.

At the end of the ride he lines up perfectly so I can dismount onto the mounting block, and waits patiently while I climb down to the ground and dig out his peppermint from my pocket. He follows me to the gate and goes ahead when I ask him to the tack room door where he waits while I take off his bridle and saddle and give him his Chaffhaye.

He is the horse who, in the midst of eating, which he loves to do, he will stop and turn around and touch his muzzle to my hand, a gesture I can only take to mean something good and kind.

I'm reminded that somehow, even as a little girl, I made up this big bay horse and the spirit of him and the image of him persisted into middle life and then manifested perfectly. When I ride him now I think how lucky I am and how grateful I am and when I get off and give him the peppermint I say thank you and I tell him that he's the best horse in the whole world. He is 26 years old and I know now that every single ride is a gift. Dressage is a not something I care much about these days, but it is a remedy, exercises that sustain us physically, not something that happens in an arena with a judge sitting at the end. Piaffe is no longer in the picture as far as I'm concerned. 

Shoulder-in has become the most important piece of dressage work we do. It supples and seems almost like a healing balm. I see him doing it sometimes along the fence line in the pastures.

I'm rambling here but thinking about how sometimes there is a single line we can draw through an entire lifetime, a thing that has sustained us and been with us and remains. For me it's the big bay horse, always with me, always moving forward. And right now, I'm going to go give him a double pack peppermint and just breathe him in for awhile.