A Busy Saturday Morning

I am a bit overwhelmed by how much we've gotten done already today. (Ignore the typos. I am typing this manually because it is faster than the voice system and I havne't much time before we need to eat). I guess DH gets the credit for being a constant pest about getting me out of bed in the morning. He really tries to be understanding, but to him sleeping until 7 is sleeping late and if you're still in bed at 8, half the day is gone. He managed to get me up and moving around 9:30 or so.

He has gotten smart and gotten the girls into the "get mommy out of bed" game. He pretends he is coming back in to snuggle with me then lets the girls in and gets them all riled up into a play session. Although normally very careful about not walking on or banging into me, two border collies well wound up into a game of play fight with daddy will inevitably bang into, jump on, and walk over the other person in the bed. It also shakes the entire bed and makes a lot of noise. Although I do ahve a reputation for sleeping through just about anything, even that tests my ability and need to sleep.

Then, of course, Molly set off the "must go out and potty alert". DH didn't believe it was possible they needed out, so I got up and let them out. Although Shawnee had still been in bed with DH when Molly set the alert off, she apparently had an urgent need to potty. Molly always seems to be alerting for her sister.

I really just wanted to be in bed another half hour or so for the pain killer to kick in. Hrmm. Anyway, once I was out of bed, I figured I might as well hit the bathroom. On the way back, my leg was acting up, so I had to lie down again but DH massaged it a bit to loosen up the muscles.

Then I decided to see if Molly was able to find me when I hid on thec omforter like she can with her daddy. She HATES it if he hides all the way under the comforter and this has turned into a "find daddy" game. So this morning we played a little "Find Mommy" and I made it even more difficult after the first couple successes by slipping onto the floor under my comforter when she wasn't looking. The hardest part for her was figuring out how to get under the comforter when I was crammed in the little space between the bed and the cabinet. But she was very enthusiastic and I ended up giving her a pull command to drag the comofrter back onto the bed. Shawnee tried to get into the fun too.

By then my stomach was growling, so I got up. Made tea and musli for me and bread and coffee for DH. We tried to eat outside at the picnic table, but it was a little too breezy, so we retreated to the kitchen.

Then DH did the dishes and I wandered around to open windows in living room for fresh air. He also wanted to wash and peel potatoes. While he was doing that, I look the one houseplant from the living room that needed to be repotted out and did that. It needed some trimming, so I got the clippers out.

Then I noticed some dead branches on some of the lavender we had split up. It had been in a too shady corner was was VERY leggy and hadn't been trimmed as well in the spring as it should have. So I did it and the other clumps. One is coming in REALLY well now, so I was able to trim it back. I am afraid the others will die if I cut them back into the long branches under where the green stuff is. So I have to wait until they come better and hope that they start sprouting down the branches now that they have more sun.

I then took a very short rest. We've been talking for several days about trying to get some of the horses hooves trimmed. My mare especially was in desperate need of trimming and Quintas, DH's paint, is also in need of it because she broke some hoof off right before we moved them into the summer pasture (saw it first leading them over).

You see, we don't have a reliable farrier. We've tried several different ones. The only one we can sort of count on has absolutely no experience with Western horses and I don't think he trims them right.

(interupted for our main meal of today, which is more-or-less to be eaten at lunch time. DH busy this evening milking for a friend so it is easier to eat before he leaves then just have sandwiches later. today we are having the danish meatballs and potatoes we would have had last night if he weren't so late getting home from learning to do the cows that we ate the leftover burritos planned for tonight instead)

(okay, meal done and DH gone to milk cows. I can finally rest!)

We've tried a local farrier recommended by the most known one around here who didn't have time for new clients. The guy was a total jerk and I really hated him. He missed appointments, not calling until a few hours AFTER he was supposed to be here to tell us anythign. He put shoes on her but did it wrong, so he hammered a nail into the painful part of her foot AND tried denying it. (Imagine having someone pound a splinter under your fingernail and hold onto your hand when you tried to pull away) He was just an idiot for a number of other reasons.

Then we had the guy who bred Tracy do Ria a few times (once here and twice we drove her down to him) but when we tried to make an appointment with him a few months ago he told us he wasn't doing it any more. So there we stood without a farrier and horses in need. We did get the one we can count on to trim them, but it just didn't feel right.

So for DH's birthday in April, I gave himt he Western Horseman book on hoof care (Well-Shod) and a homemade gift certificate for the tools. He has now gotten them and we've spent hours studying the books. He's done some trimming, but not much more than cleaning up rough edges and such so far.

So this morning we got Ria out to try to get her feet done properly. The info in the book matched the gut feeling we both have had--they've been leaving her feet far too long in the toe. With the rain we've had this week, the summer pasture is a little wet. This softens the hooves and makes them easier to trim.

ria was uneasy because of her past bad experiences. It didn't help that DH was feeling a little unsure of himself and it took a while to do what needed to be done. But by the time all four feet were finished, we could really see a lot of improvement in how she is standing. We'll see how they wear over the next month then trim her again. We can't fix them completely at once, so will have to slowly adjust the angle so she is standing properly. We also want to get a tool for measuring the angle, because that will help a lot.

Tomorrow we will take one or two of the other horses. They don't have the severe problems Ria does and seem to wear well naturally. With Ria, we are pretty sure that she hadn't been trimmed properly as a young horse, which has given her lifelong problems.

Now that I am finished writing allt his, I am going to go outside and lie down to take a nap in the fresh air. I am EXHAUSTED! We had hoped I'd be able to sit on a stool while he worked on her, but she wasn't calm enough.