Finally Foal Pictures

I promised to post the baby pictures of Queenie's foal right after she had him, but haven't gotten to it before today. These are his "day after" pictures. I haven't emptied the phone yet for the still-wet newborn pictures. Also not sure how fair it is to Queenie to show her while she was still delivering after birth. Personally I felt very honored that she didn't freak out about having me come in to visit so soon after her delivery.

So Blaze (not sure if that is really his name, but it is what I call him) was born the evening on the 19th of April. She didn't manage to hold onto him long enough to give DH another birthday present, which is probably a good thing since he's a colt so we can't keep him. Although he is so adorable  and friendly that I am very tempted...

Queenie's tail was braided to keep it from getting all messy but her legs still show signs of the birthing fluids.

His funny expression is happiness from the good scratch DH was giving him. Isn't the pink on his nose just irresistable?

Baby horses need lots of sleep...

As of today, Queenie and Blaze are still in the box. Our weather has conitnued to be cold and nasty, so we just aren't quite ready to make the little fellow brave the elements. He has tried wearing a halter and learning slowly to be led and tied, but it is off again now to keep it from wearing too much on his nose. Plus he is growing so fast that we'd have to keep adjusting it all the time.

Most likely we will move them out to the pasture this weekend, weather permitting. Queenie really isn't happy being in the box and hasn't been eating or drinking as well as we like. Today I gave her access to the large-horse part of the shed (with the horses shut out and a gate to keep her and Blaze IN the shed), so that should help. She was happy rolling in some of the dust when I left them and the large horses were standing there looking in the door at them.

Recent Leather Projects

I keep forgetting to post pictures of some of our recent leather projects. These are for our own use (and good practice for the intention of later selling some things).

DH wanted to make some hair-on spur straps. We lined these with pig skin. We actually managed the stitching with my regular machine, but it isn't as nice looking as I would like. In the future, we need to get a stitching pony and sew things like this by hand properly. They might be a little on the thin side, but the pig skin inside gives them strength. He bought the buckles in the US on eBay specifically for this project.

For myself, I did some drawing, using some Tandy patterns to start but making a lot of changes. My goal was a floral strap with our brand/logo in the middle. They ended up pretty nice, in my opinion, although they are far from perfect. I have learned the following lessons while making these spur straps:

1. Do not expect leather designs made while the drawer has a concussion to work out right. I had mirrored the ENTIRE strap when I made the pair, including ending up with a backwards logo. I had to redraw and redo that strap.
2. There is a reason most leather designs leave a plain border around the outside (not carving all the way to the edges). Things get a little messy when you try to work all the way out and it is much harder to burnish the edges properly. Would be fine if I had laced the edges, but laced edges and buckles don't always go well together.
3. Use heavier leather for spur straps. These are nice, but a little thin. We had to add a second layer under the tips to use the metal ends that came with the buckles.
4. This project is also when I have finally gotten a better feel for how dry the leather needs to have been allowed to get before tooling.

Next we made a simple set of slobber straps. Once again, we should have used heavier leather, but this is what we had on hand and DH wanted to ride with a hair mecate instead of regular reins on the bit of his mare. Next time I make some of these, I am going to make a style that is easier to remove from the bit or switch the bit it is on without taking the mecate out. Getting the mecate through the holes isn't easy and I worry that it will increase the wear or potentially break the hairs on the mecate. Horse hair mecates are NOT cheap.

These are without any fancy tooling. The mark you can see is our new larger makers mark for leather projects. It says "4 BARS RR DENMARK" with our logo in the middle.

It did go very well riding with them, but DH found the horse hair a little annoying at this time of year. The weather is warm enough for riding without gloves, which he prefers, but the prickly hairs are uncomfortable with bare hands. As far as I can learn from reading, the prickliness is part of the advantage of riding with a horsehair mecate. The hairs will "tickle" the horse's neck, making it easier to train neck reining. I've been riding Ria in the bosal when I can for the same reason--there is a horsehair mecate on the bosal. We're not feeling quite ready to try a bosal on Quintas.

The final project is also something started when I had the concussion. I originally intended this business card case to be closed with a magnetic snap, but the snap can't fit! I didn't realize it until after I cut it out. So that got put aside for a while until I realized that a leather button would be an excellent way to close it. So I set to work learning to tie an appropriate knot. So with that worked out, I finished the whole thing. I think it came out really nice.

It is made for hanging on a belt. I think that will make it comfortable to have with, easy to access, and at the same time keep the cards from getting messed up very easily.

The edging on this one is a mexican round or basketweave lacing. It's the first time I've used that lacing style on a project and I like it!

The New Foal (Teddy Bear?)

Our one shetland mare, Tanja, gave birth to a colt on 18 February. We'd moved her into the box in the horse shed the Sunday before he was born, so she would have a warm dry place to foal.

Although these two were taken several hours after we think he was born, he was still wet. He was so curly! But DH didn't think Curly was a good name for him.

We're calling him Teddy Bear for now, but it isn't definite that that's his name yet.

The rest of the pictures were taken today.

Tanja is a very good mother and quite content to have us in the box with them. She was already encouraging him to talk to us the first day.

Feeding Daisy and the Rest of the Herd

 

Winter is coming fast and Daisy is already showing signs of its approach. For anyone who doesn't know, Daisy is DH's 23-year-old Oldenburg mare. The picture here is an old one, but it's our favorite. Bryan doesn't ride Daisy very often anymore because she hasn't been doing well with long rides. She enjoys the occasional trip to the beach and that's about it.

The point is that Daisy's getting very thin and that is a very bad sign.We noticed when we brought them home from the summer pasture this weekend that she was really showing signs of her age. We agreed that I would go out every day and feed herto try to get some weight back on her before the cold really hits.

We expected this to be a hard winter for her. We had gone out about a month ago and bought a special food for her, that is designed for horses that have a little troublekeeping weight on, whether they are breeding or are old. Luckily for us, she seems to love her new food.

When I fed Monday, she gave me a bit of trouble. This would be the first time for her to go into the box in many year and she was not liking the idea. I ended up feeding her at her usual trough and fighting to keep the other three horse off her food the entire time. That was both unpleasant and painful for me.

So Monday night DH went out and taught Daisy to go in the box. He ended up feeding the rest of the herd while he was there.

Tuesday I went out to feed only Daisy again. She went willingly into the box and was eager to eat. But then the other three started fighting in the shed, trying to be as close to Daisy as possible and unhappy about the lack of feed for them. I drove them out of the shed, shut them out, and went and gave them hay. The result was that Daisy refused to eat until they were back inside and even then she was uneasy, wanting to know what was outside. AARGH!

Last night our favorite fruit and vegetable man came by with some stuff he couldn't sell for us. Mostly carrots and apples on the verge of being too old. So DH went over with that stuff and to feed Daisy and ended up feeding hte whole herd again.

When he got back in, we made a new deal for the near future. If the whole herd needs to eat once a day now, let me feed them so there is no fighting and hassle. He agreed. This is new for me--DH has always stood for horse feeding. Our feeding method is complicated with several different feeds and supplements to mix and he would adjust it based on exercise level and weather. Now that responsibility is mine--if I can handle it.

It went really well today. Ria (QH mare, around 7, proper name Borregos Maria) got the new box spot because it has a section of concrete on the floor. That lets the messy pig clean up all the food she throws all over. Because she tends to fatten easily, she also gets less feed than everyone else. Having her in the box keeps her from getting as annoying with her neighbors because they have more food and eat more slowly than she does. Ha!

This picture, by the way, is from this summer when she was on the pony pasture with Tanja, the fat shetland pony, for both of them to slim down a bit. She looks GREAT that way but is already bulking up a bit from having free access to hay in the past few weeks.

Quintas (paint mare, 4, proper name Quintas Cold Cash) came home from the trainer looking very fit and trim. Since the typical Danish wind and rain (and early dusk) keep us from riding as much as we'd like, this won't last long. But she still needs some feed now because there is so little on the pasture and the cold nights are coming fast (2 hard frosts already!!).

These pictures are from DH's first ride on Quintas after she came home from the trainer. The helmet was a concession to my concerns that we didn't know how she'd react with nearby cows, lots of on and off fitting the saddle on "The CorrecTOR" and a good bit of wind. He minds the helmet much more than he minds the safety vest. The CorrecTOR does its job excellently, BTW, and  makes his saddle fit her perfectly. I don't think we had it adjusted right in the first picture--his feet are farther forward than he usually has them riding. Another day we had taken a good length trail ride on our two and you couldn't even tell where the saddle had been on Quintas except for the slight smudge from the leather grease on the girth strap.

 

Our final large horse is Tracy (solid-bred Paint, 2, Miss Tracy King). I am ashamed to admit that this is the best pic I can find of her on my laptop. I swear DH went out one day this summer and took awesome pics of all of them, but I can't find those pics on my laptop.

Anyway, Tracy is a young two, being a late-in-the-year foal. She is still growing, probably, so needs plenty to eat. She seems to have a great temperament and we love how she moves. We hope she might end up being an even better riding horse for me than Ria because she doesn't have the sensitive feet and tendencies to pudginess that Ria has.

So, with these different needs, feeding really is quite an interesting job. The basis for all of them is whole oats. But I have to mix the leftover oats from last year with the new oats from this year. Ria only gets a small portion because of her weight issues.

To the oats for Daisy, we add some wheat. It should help her put weight on. She can't have barley because it makes her legs swell. Daisy also gets a glucosamin supplement that we are trying for the first time to see if it helps her move better and feel better. A dose of "Shy Feeder B" encourages her to eat. She also has the special gain-weight food I mentioned above. It is a mix of a bunch of different things, so we tend to think of it like a musli.

Ria has a special Musli of her own too. It is designed for ponies and other horses that gain weight easily. Part of the point is that it should have a long chew time, keeping her occupied with less feed.

Quintas and Tracy aren't left out on musli. They have a normal one with lots of herbs in it. Daisy gets some of that one too. Those three also get a type of melasses that is mixed with wheat bran. It is much cheaper and less messy than liquid melasses. We tried liquid last year but it didn't work well. They didn't really like it. We manage to keep water liquid many times by putting it in the shed, so don't need liquid for that either (that's what my mom did for the sheep when I was growing up).

Then all of them get the main vitamin supplement and hoof supplement, although Ria is the one most in need of the latter. We also use some kind of soy product that I don't know how to translate. Also not exactly sure why, but they like it.

Sound complicated enough for everyone? We had tried a full feed two winters ago, but none of them did well on it. They tended to turn up their noses at it.

Oh, I forgot to mention the green pellets that are basically a pressed grass. They look like giant rabbit food pellets. They're filling and help prevent problems from grass changes. Ria especially is getting a few handfuls of those right now.

Riding Quintas

A little over a month ago, we made a long drive with the horse trailer to take Quintas Cold Cash to our preferred trainer down south. This is the same trainer that did Ria two years ago and Daisy fourteen years ago. Obviously we are satisfied with the results or we wouldn't keep going back.

After we dropped Quintas off, it turns out she got into a bit of trouble. She wasn't too happy with the gelding that was put into the box next to her and kicked the box wall. It left her a bit lame for the first few days.

Unfortunately, a few days were not enough to completely resolve the problem. It wasn't that she remained lame, but she would be a bit stiff getting moving. The trainer found that working her on the longe helped and she would loosen up after a few minutes. Quintas was not comfortable galloping and her gait wasn't quite right sometimes. It didn't seem to be anything serious the she probably needs to have it checked by a chiropractor.

Over a week ago, we went down to see how things were going. We also took our two available saddles to see what fit her. We could see the problems she was having moving, but it wasn't anything we need worry too much about. It wasn't possible to get an immediate chiropractor appointment anyway.

DH rode as did the trainer. After having ridden nothing but Daisy for more than 15 years, DH found Quintas quite an adjustment. Their ride went very well anyway. I think a lot of the difficulties he had were caused by riding in the trainer's saddle as opposed to his own, which did not fit.

This past Wednesday, we went back to pick Quintas up. This time I rode before DH. Because Ria was only trained two years ago, the adjustment to riding Quintas is very minor for me. Ria is still being ridden in two hands.

That time we took Ria’s saddle, which sort of fits. The trainer seems to be satisfied with the fit, but DH and I are not. The back tips up when without a rider and bumps when riding faster than a walk. We are still optimistic that the product we are expecting from the United States will solve these problems and allow us to use DH’s roping saddle on his horse.

After I rode for a while DH did try for short time and did very well. Quintas was getting a little bit annoying, which was probably because she was tired. Having three different riders in one day it is quite a lot for a young barely trained horse to handle.

Then we loaded her up and drove home. She did fine in the trailer, but was very happy when we got home. Released her immediately onto the pony pasture with Ria and the fat pony Tanya.

Thursday morning, we didn't want to work Quintas. She had a hard couple days and reintroducing her and Ria to Daisy and Tracy on the other pasture gave all of them plenty of exercise.

Friday we went out and got a longe line, which we didn't have. I worked Quintas on it for probably about 20 minutes. Much to my surprise, her gait was completely normal in both walk and trot on both sides. She was even quite content to gallop on the better side. The slight bulge she had had on her back to the side of her spine was gone.

Yesterday's weather was absolutely miserable and not suited for working a horse. Today is windy but better otherwise. I didn’t want to wait any longer to get out her back.

So I started working her on the longe line. Again, no signs of the bulge and her gait was clean. This time I even got her galloping on both sides, but only a little on the worse side.

Then we saddled her up—in my saddle. DH held her while I got on from a block. The stirrups were too long, but she stood pretty quietly for those to be adjusted. DH led a short distance into the more open area of the pony pasture. The stirrups were still too long and she waited again for adjustment.

He removed the lead line and I began riding. She is a joy to ride—smooth and soft and easy. Just the slightest touch on the reins or press from my leg is enough to adjust her position.

She was actually easier to ride today than at the trainer’s. Down there she seemed nervous and insecure. She had trouble focusing. Here she was calm and, although I won’t go as far as saying confident, seemed less unsure of herself. She didn’t freeze up and get those “blonde moments” (as the trainer called them) where she seemed to have completely forgotten what to do or couldn’t figure out to combine two things together. Her concentration was complete, despite traffic, cows in a nearby pasture, and a good bit of wind. Wind and horses normally don’t mix well together.

Before my mother or anyone else gets too worried, I wore both helmet and safety vest while riding today. I am not taking any unneeded chances and wouldn’t have gotten on her back at all if she had seemed upset working on the longe.

I only rode for about 25 minutes. I wanted to stop while things were going well and didn’t want to push either of us too hard for the first day. I did jog a little on her as well as walking. I don’t even gallop on Ria most of the time, so am not about to be the first rider to gallop on Quintas right now.

We have an appointment next Friday with a local vet that also has equine chiropractor training. I’d used her for acupuncture on a horse several years ago and like how she works with horses. This also means that Quintas will not have to go through a long and difficult trailer ride on both sides of a chiropractor treatment like she would if we used the chiropractor the trainer recommended. We hope that will sort out the problem she had—if she even still has it.

I told DH he better not have me ride Quintas too much I will get horse jealousy. She is much easier to ride than Ria because of her sensitivity. I have to ride in spurs on Ria because my legs lack the strength to give a good strong kick. Instead I barely touch her with the spur. But Quintas reacts to much more subtle ques.

While riding today, I tried some of the things I know DH will be doing when he rides, like moving the outside rein into her neck. He’d rather ride one-handed, but she isn’t quite ready for that yet. Quintas had no problems turning as long as the outside rein was LOOSE, which it always is for DH. At the trainer’s, she had had trouble with that. With her increased calm, I am sure the two of them will be able to sort things out quickly and build up a relationship at least as good as the one he has today with Daisy. Because she is so light and sensitive, it is likely to be even better—even more telepathic where he just thinks it and she does it.

So I am VERY happy today and feeling much better thanks to the ride. I’ve been tired for several days and have slept most of the weekend so far. I do think I need a nap soon though…

There Aren't Enough Hours in the Day

My mother reminded me that I have been neglecting my blog dreadfully lately. The problem, quite simply is that there aren't enough hours in the day.

My health has been demanding that I sleep a lot. Nothing new there really but I have more things I want to do every day and it's getting harder and harder to get even a fraction of them done.

It's 10:30 now and I haven't even had breakfast yet. I have made it and had a few cups of tea. I've also managed start vacuuming that I need to do today. The vacuuming is far from finished, but I have to empty the vacuum before can do more.

Molly is in heat, so needs panties on to be allowed beyond the kitchen. She's been out twice today already, so that's multiple panty removals. Shawnee still seems to believe that she is to go out every five minutes even though she's as old as she is now. I think she's been out four times and spent some time in the crate to tried to encourage her to hold it longer.

In other things I need to do today, I am planning to make calzone for dinner, so need to make the dough and slice tomatoes and onions before DH is home from work.

Tanya and Ria are still on the pony pasture, which is without grass. They need hay twice a day so I do that in the mornings and DH does it in the afternoons.

There's a big pile of dishes that need to be done.

I am desperate to write. My struggles to write are taking a lot of my time. I also need to maintain a certain level of activity on the writer's list that I'm on. I have subbed two of my chapters already and have crits on those waiting for me to respond to and process. There also a few works by others that I need to crit. One is a complete book draft from someone who has contributed a number of useful comments to my subs so far. I offered to give her book a complete readthrough, because there are a lot of flaws in the chapter by chapter method that the group uses. By offering do this for others I have favors I can draw on later when I need my own done.

As if that weren't enough, the girls are desperate for training and attention. I really haven't been giving them enough training lately. Molly is really feeling it because she's not allowed to go anywhere when she's in heat. Since Shawnee hasn't started yet, she at least has been allowed to make some small outings with her father.

My health needs me to ride. Right now, I still can't saddle up by myself. DH has built the lift system for me, but Ria needs training before she's willing to go under the saddle. So I ought to spend at least 15 minutes working on that.

If I am going to finish my next secret leather project in time for when I plan to give it to the recipient, I need to get working on it. My drawing for the design is finished and I'm very proud of it, but I need to make a pattern for the pieces I need cut out of leather. The woman in the leather shop offered to help DH cut them out there.

I also have an order, when I eventually get around to it, for a lady's wallet for the friend down the road that ordered last one for husband. That one is finished by the way he should be getting it tomorrow. Idiot me didn't think to take any pictures of it. At least I still have copies of the drawing for the design.

Well, if I don't eat soon I'm going to pass out. Hopefully this gives you an idea why I am not updating my blog more often.

Clicker Training with Horses

I've been thinking my doing some clicker training with the horses for a long time, but I finally had enough reasons that I had to start. With Ria, I am mostly worried about how she reacts around treats. She gets very mouthy and I don't like that. With Quintas, my goal is to work with her and how she stands while DH is doing her feet. She tends to pull and push a lot while he's working on her and I can see clicker training could do a good job in cleaning that up.

The first lesson I want to teach them is zen. Zen is all about self-control. In any kind of animal, it's dealing with the art of getting what you want by acting like you don't want it.

I was a little nervous training this because it could be quite dangerous. The dogs when I start them as puppies are pretty limited in how much damage they can actually do to my hands. Also, both of them have learned that "OW" means back off that you're hurting me. But the horses haven't learned that. Most of the time that you working with horses your goal is to never let them find out that there actually bigger than you. It also means making an effort yourself to avoid things that will cause them to bite.

Holding out a treat in a closed hand in front of a horse's nose is very likely to cause it to bite. This is why you always feed horses with an open flat hand.

So I did some asking on my dog clicker training list because I know some people there have worked with other animals. I got some great advice as well as a pointer to a llama training book made by the author of my preferred dog training method. They also recommended a voice clicker training book, but I've kind of blown my book budget on other things at the moment.

So anyway, I started last night with my first Zen session. I took two apples and used the corer-divider on them (they got the cores too, just made pieces easier) and went over to the fence. They came right up, so I worked outside the fence. First Ria, then Quintas, etc. They already do half decent respecting each other's spaces, which made it easier to work them in turns. A step to one side or the other for a particular horse.

I held out the treats where they could barely reach them with necks stretched out as far into my space as they could. As soon as they pulled back into their own space, I clicked and treated. Using a verbal cue for eating, which I am sure they will pick up pretty fast. Both figured it out pretty quickly. They didn't quit reaching after the treat, but they got faster and faster at pulling their heads back and waiting for the click.

Not sure what I will do to continue right now. Our grass shortage got too intense, so last night we put all 4 together onto their summer pasture. We split that up for strip grazing, which means that right now they can't get near the road side of the fence. Going the other way around to them is extremely challenge for me. It is rough terrain in woods and a hay field and a lot longer walk than I am up to. So I guess sessions will be limited to when one horse is home for something, That does have the advantage of working one-on-one, but the disadvantage of rarity.

Rain and Water Cups, Flies and Fly Masks

We've been having a lot of intermittent rain this week. Unfortunately, this makes the flies very hungry and aggressive. Although Tracy and Quintas have a good bit of hair over their faces, the other two do not. Daisy is hit worst by them and has had some problems with her eyes looking like they were getting infected.

A long time ago we bought a fly mask that was supposed to be a very large one for Daisy. We hadn't tried it at the time, but it looked huge. A few weeks ago, we went out to put it on Daisy and it nowhere near fit. We figured it would fit Quintas. So I got on eBay and started searching for a draft horse sized fly mask for Daisy. We found one and the seller also had a single cob sized so we bought that for Ria. Much to our relief, it fit Daisy although the ears are quite large--probably made for mule or donkey ears.

When DH got home from work a few days ago, he noticed the flies were swarming horribly on Daisy and Tracy's faces. Those two are currently going on the pony pasture because we ran out of grass on the main pasture. Because Quintas and Ria are a bit on the pudgy side we left them on the main pasture. DH will probably need to get them a bale of hay this weekend. Daisy especially is on the thin side.

So to deal with the fly problem, we went out and put Daisy's fly mask on her and the one we bought for Ria on Tracy. Despite the copious hair Tracy has down over her face, she still was covered with flies. We also wanted those to do both have them when they were going together.

DH went out to check and discovered that Ria and Quintas were also similarly infested. I immediately got on eBay but was unable to find an appropriate mask that was reasonably priced. The seller that I had gotten the others from did not seem to have any more.

As an emergency measure, we decided to make a headband strip like fly mask for Ria. I am not sure what these are called in the states. It is usually something that looks like a headband for a halter with lots of strings hanging down from it. What we did was take a piece out of an old T-shirt. We made it long enough that it could get tied into the behind the ears part of a halter and flow down over the entire face. I cut strips in it from about where it would be above the eyes. We took scissors with us to make holes for ears when we were able to figure out where they belong.

So we took both things out of the pasture with us. We thought we be putting the purchased a mask on Quintas and the homemade one on Ria. However, this is supposedly very large mask barely fits Ria, who uses a cob halter and not its largest fitting. We probably should've put it on Tracy, but we didn't feel like swapping them around again.

So we fit the T-shirt in strips on Quintas. We tied knots in the end of each strip, so they'll be little bit weighted. It seemed to be pretty good at keeping flies off her eyes. She kept puffing at it like it tickled her.

Yesterday morning I went out to check on the horses and take pictures. Only the tie pieces were left on Quintas. I brought her halter in with me planning to make one like I'd seen online. I forget the address right now, but I tweeted it a few days ago.

But then I got thinking about how much DH wants to cover the ears. So I went out and borrow Daisy's to try to copy it.

I did my best to trace after and measure the necessary parts. I planned to use veil fabric leftover from when I married DH a couple years ago.

Then I made some repairs on Daisy's mask. She hadn't had it on for a day but had already torn the tip off one ear and made several small rips. My hands hurt too much to fix all of it but I did shorten the ears to a normal height and fix the worst rip.

By the time I was done, DH was home from work. On the way in he discovered that the pump outside kept running to the had to be a water leak somewhere in the horses watering system. He turned the pump off.

He was starving so started dinner. I went out to put Daisy's mask on and see if I could locate the cause of the flood. But I didn't find any signs of flooding.

When I got back in, I started working on the mask. DH had picked up Velcro on the way home for me. I plan to pillage elastic from old pairs of underwear. DH didn't like that idea, so we went back out to the store to buy elastic.

Once back he worked on dinner while I sewed. Some things went pretty well, but it was very fiddly sewing. Every time I showed it to DH he would tell me how huge it looked.

It took me all evening, but I finally finished to eight o'clock. DH had insisted that we shorten the elastic a little bit from what I had measured with Daisy so it would not be so huge.

So DH went with me to fit on Quintas. It had a lot of problems, but it still provided some protection in the end.

The elastic is on the snug side by more than just a little bit. The piece that I cut to make the top of the head piece was definitely not large enough. I think the problem is that I should have caught a much larger piece and cut a piece out of it to sew it together so it had more space and a better fit. I also sewed the ears in wrong so they were sitting too tight to be comfortable. That was one of those places where I had had to do a lot of guessing.

Veil fabric is not strong enough for making the entire mask. It had a few holes in it already by the time we were done fitting it. Because I was too tired to make all those changes last night and would have to replace the fabric anyway, I had DH take it off and cut away at the base of the ears with a pocketknife. That disconnected that your base, a little bit from the headpiece and gave the entire thing more space. It seemed like it was going pretty well last night.

Despite copious test and searching, DH was not able to find a leak in the water system. He fears that we need to dig up probably about 75 m of hose to find the leak underground.

Luckily, Daisy and Tracy are close enough to home that we could connect a hose directly to their water cup. So they're on an automatic watering system without problem. Quintas and Ria on the other hand will have to have water delivered in jugs until we get the thing working. DH got a tub set up last night and partially filled it.

After breakfast this morning, I went over to check on the water and the fly mask. They still had probably close to as much water as he filled in, and the water cups are still full of water. Yesterday's rain probably put more in than they drank. When the grass is wet as it is right now, they don't drink very much. That at least helps in the workload. I was able to escape from having to pour jug in.

Quintas's ears are still protected by her fly mask. Her left eye is as well. But is totally torn away from her right eye.

If DH gets home early enough tonight we're going to buy fly masks tonight. While trying to fall asleep last night, I think I figured out how to make it better. We should use T-shirt material for everything except the section over the eyes. Daisy has already retorn the ear that I repaired yesterday.

I don't feel like putting the pictures in so you're going to have to live without them. My hands could not cope with sewing yesterday, and having used crutches to get over the pasture to check on the water this morning made things even worse. I can barely stand to do anything with them, including pickup cup of tea.

I am very relieved I don't have to make a new fly mask today because there's no way I could do it.

Horse Video

The long awaited, at least by my mother (who won't be able to see it probably until later this week at the earliest), video DH shot of our walk to the horses.

The Weekend

Our weekend was extended by a day because DH's work made him take a day of his comp time because there wasn't enough work. Luckily he is back at work today, but it was a very hectic weekend for us. We just had a lot to get done and even with the extra day, not enough time.

Friday DH came home to pick up me and the girls after work then we went to his parents for dinner. We left early enough to go get fence posts enroute and put up a fence around their main vegetable, herb, and flower garden to keep the girls out of it. DH had set a couple rows of leeks for them (he will do most of the care but it enables them to harvest when they want them without having to call us a few days ahead to arrange for a dropoff) and we didn't want the girls running through it while they play in the fenced yard. We got that done then had a nice dinner and headed back out to do some more yard stuff. We pulled some plants out of their front bed that there were too many of and some weeds. Then DH trimmed several bushes and trees for them. We put what we could onto the trailer, but left a load behind. I hope to get the video of the girls playing with the branches up on their blog one of these days.

Saturday we planted the lilac seedlings we brought home from their place. Then DH took the car up to the neighbors and walked home. You see, we needed to lead Queenie and Hopi up to the summer pasture at his place and there was NO WAY I could walk that far twice. I led Queenie, who kindly let me lean on her shoulders to rest my hip some of the time. DH took Hopi, who is much better at being led thanks to my work and the time she went with a short stiff lead rope in her halter. She wasn't easy though. He had to drag her, quite literally, across the road. We were lucky to get a small break in the heavy weekend vacation traffic, but it wasn't big enough to dilly dally and try to teach her anything. So while she put her legs forward to try to stop, he dragged her across the road. After that things settled down and she was able to nibble some clover once she realized her mother was cool with it all. The train tracks were another problem, but it helped that she'd already seen Queenie cross.

So now our little herd of shetland ponies is reunited and they sure are happy about it! Idiot me didn't realize I was supposed to take Hopi's halter off when I released her (she is growing and it can quickly become too tight), so we had to go back up yesterday morning to do it.

We went in to visit a bit with the neighbor, who is enjoying having enough time for his garden and whitewashing now that he doesn't have cows to milk twice a day. We also needed to pay him for the hay we got from him all winter.

Then when we got home, I crashed for a while in exhaustion. Once I recovered a little, it was back to work with laundry and other chores. We dug up some of our own potatoes for the first time for dinner (we didn't have enough left). They were bigger than DH expected but not huge and VERY good. So we have now eaten the first of the harvest of our own garden.

Sunday we started as early as DH could get me out of bed (it was NOT early). It took me a while to get functional. Then he decided it was time to sand and refinish the coffee table, so we took that outside and got it started. While he scrubbed it down, I got out his farrier equipment and got it set up.

Then we fetched Quintas and spent several hours trimming her hooves. She was not particularly cooperative (we think she might have had a bad experience as a foal... it wouldn't be a surprise if she had considering how neglected and undernourished she was when DH got her). It took a long time, but he did a GREAT job on her. She had problems with some of the hoof having broken off, so it was not easy for him to clean up all those rough edges and get a decent result.

After that, I got another rest and he sanded the table. At some point, I made some homemade salad dressing with sour cream, fresh parsley and chives, and salt and pepper to have with dinner (pork tenderloin medallions, readymade potato wedges we seasoned, and salad) and prepared the salad.

While the sanding equipment was out, we got out of one of the panels of the folding wooden screen we retrieved from the trash place a while ago. It must have been a very gorgeous oriental screen once with inlaid stone. But when we got it, some of the stone had come off. So we removed all of it then but it has been standing in the workshop waiting for more attention since. So we got the one panel out and I was able to sand both sides. We need to get something to fill in the holes from the stones before we can paint it and we're still discussing decoration options. But I found an online pattern for a huge horse stencil and we're thinking of spray painting that on. I also have some other smaller stencil patterns in western motives that we could use. They are smaller than we want probably, so I may need to try to copy them up larger (copy machine can't do that, so I would have to do ti manually with the grid method).

I was really beat from everything we did, so I ended up lying outside on a blanket working on the book I am editing for Edith (she wrote it in Englihs, which is not her native language, but it is quite good and a joy to edit). DH worked on repairing the stucco on the house while I did that. I have pics of the house before and will have to take some after pictures to show what we've been up to with it. It has taken a LOT of hours already and many more to go before it looks decent again.

Then we had dinner. While he was taking the potatoes out of the oven, DH's back suddenly went really bad, probably caused by having fought with Quintas in the morning. So he spent the rest of the evening in misery trying to relax. I did manage to fold some laundry, but other than that, we were donebeing productive.

Monday he had fun getting me out of bed again becase I was hurting really bad. I also had to take more pain killers than usual. But then we started running lots of errands. We got the halter off Hopi, went to the pet store for dog food, two grocery stores, and several other places. By the time we got home, both my brain and my body had shut down from the pain. So I spent most of the rest of the day resting. DH went to a local blacksmith to get a hoof jack made similar to the one he borrowed from a friend.

In the evening, we worked together to pull and trim rhubarb for his mother. He packed his lunch and played with the girls (while I continued to rest) then we went to bed.

Today he brought me a pain killer at 5am before he left for work. Then I stayed in bed 5 more hours until a friend dropped by to see how I was and got me out of bed. I was on my way up anyway. So I talked to her for a while then got the girls out and got myself dressed.

I have two main projects today beyond recovering: bathing Shawnee (she smells like a dog, which isn't normal for our girls) and doing the dishes. I already got a zinc tub out and filled it part way with water in the sun for bathing her. I want the water to warm up. I also put the hose where the sun will be on it so at least some of my rinse water is warm. And the towels are out on the picnic table to warm up too. I need to do that soon but it has been a little cloudy and the water is not as warm as I hoped yet, but the chill is off it. I also did some rinsing and sorting of the dishes, so they won't be too bad to wash.

Now I am going to rest soem more before I get to work. Hope everyone else is ahving a good week.

Video of Hopi

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.

Hopi in a Halter

I've been spending a few minutes a day in the pasture a few times a day. Yesterday I started working with a halter--getting it partly on, taking it off again, over and over. I just got in from another short pasture visit but this time left Hopi in the little red halter. She let me put it on then a little later adjust it to fit.

So the next step will be teaching her to be led.

A few days ago, we moved the larges horses onto their summer grass. This year DH even set up a water cup instead of the usual trough he needed to fill every day by pushing jugs over in the wheelbarrow. The change is SUCH a relief for him. It was expensive in hose, but worth it.

With my back problems, I'm not allowed to ride right now, so it is not an issue for me to have them over there. When it improves, we'll have to work out if we can safely remove Ria from the pasture.

Overdue Update

Sorry for the extended delay updating this blog. Because it's been so long, I am not going to tell you about the rest of my visit from the Germans. Nor am I going to tell you about DH's military reunion weekend after. You're also going to have to live without the news of my weekend spent lying on my stomach after a gardening-induced backache (two weekends ago). Even though it was really fun, I'm not going to give you a big blurb on the trip to the race track with our friends down the road that have trotting horses. Only Edith would care about 20 chapters of her book that I edited. You also don't need to hear about ride this past Thursday that resulted in the current backache. No, I didn't fall off and no she didn't jump all over the place. It probably just aggravated the backache from the previous week. The weekend spent lying on the floor with my feet up on the sofa is also not very exciting. How much do you really need to know about Monday's trip to the chiropractor?

Instead I'm just going to tell you about today and not worry about all that other stuff.

Despite the continued backache, I am managing to be somewhat productive. Regular icing seems to be helping. So if I've done most of the dishes and spent a short visit with Queenie and Hopi in the pasture. The girls are managing to behave and Shawnee has not become a cliché again, like she did yesterday by chewing on my slipper.

Our garden is definitely coming along. The potatoes are growing like mad. DH planted six rows of peas. The rhubarb is overdue for its third cutting. I have to see about doing that tomorrow so we can take it to his parents after my chiropractor appointment. The giant pumpkins and regular zucchini have been moved out to the garden. The weird yellow squash thingy has come up despite our expectations to the contrary (I overwatered the dirt). The regular American aren't pumpkins are also about ready to be set outside. Today I found another empty meat tray, so I was able to start the thyme seeds that I just bought. For mom, who actually cares about this stuff and might be able to give me more information about them, it is Thymus vulgaris. The thyme I used to have died from the winter. We are hoping that we can start creating a ground cover in our flower bed with herbs. So anyone can recommend species that we appreciate it. So far, we are trying with the mint that we have and then this thyme.

We're having calzone for dinner tonight. I hope will be a right because we are using store-bought dough. It's shortening up the process a lot because I'm not up to more now. It will have fresh tomatoes, fresh oregano, ham strips, and grated cheese. Probably also other spices. Maybe a jar of mushrooms, if I feel like it.

Other than that I mostly just playing my silly horse game.

I Touched Hopi!

We're having a cracked barley cooked in water porridge for dinner. We call it "water porridge" (literal translation). We usually either put apples in or eat apple sauce in it. Today we are doing the pieces of fresh apple.

So I took the peels and cores out to the ponies in the dishpan. I gave a little to the stallion, dropped a little pile for Tanja, and headed over to Queenie and Hopi. Hopi was shy and stayed pretty far away until Queenie was almost done eating. Then she came close enough to sniff my hand but didn't take the bit of peel (Queenie was quick to get it).

After the peels were gone, I stayed and scratched some of Queenie's good itchy spots. After a while, the foal came really close and let me touch her nose. Then Queenie walked away a little so I grabbed Tanja's halter and got her to help me to my feet. Then I walked over to Queenie again and Hopi stayed right next to her. I scratched Queenie on her back and sides and over on the other side of her where Hopi was.

Then I casually scratched Hopi's neck a little. It took her a moment to register it was me and then she was startled, but still, this is great progress.

Just had to share!

A Few Pics from Yesterday

This is what DH's cake ended up looking like.



Here is the foal:



This can give you an idea of how big it is:


Queenie is obviously the one with the foal. The background horse on the left is the new mare Tanja. Mann, the stallion, is to the right in the back. Both Mann and Tanja are much larger than Queenie.

DH says this foal is more like the size they are at 2 weeks than one on its first day.

DH's Birthday Present from Queenie

Well, I was right. She was waiting for his birthday. He woke up this morning to see a large and beautiful Shetland foal running around the pony pasture with her mother. We're more than 75% certain it is a filly. Queenie is a very protective mother, so it isn't like we've been able to go up and examine it. It is red, of course, and has a small white star on its forehead. It's legs seem pretty white at this point, so maybe a sock? No time to get pictures now. I will try later.


In other good news, the package from my mother arrived yesterday. So DH got his bday presents on time. We were up well past midnight alst night, so he opened the two from me then. A book on horse hoof care and an IOU for the remaining needed tools. Also a specially made paperweight with a picture of him getting ride to ride Daisy. It is one of his favorite pictures.

I got some great things from my mother too. Some leather tools that I've already started using, a neat book on stitching and lacing, a warm shawl she knitted for me herself and some of the yarn has a history to make it a little more special, and a book filled with bread recipes.

DH opened his presents from the package this morning. He is so happy because he got two jars of Skippy peanut butter. HE also got a bag of minimarshmallows (he started on those last night and has Shawnee now as addicted to marshmallows as he and Molly are). Then there is another leather tool.

We are off in a few to DH's work for a short visit and his parents for the noon meal and afternoon coffee. All I did was assemble the cake, which is very colorful. OOPS! I need to remember the whipped cream and optionally whip it here too.

I cut DH's hair already this morning and he took a shower. Shawnee wanted into the bathroom with him while he showered. Molly doesn't usually want to because she is afraid she will end up in a bath, but in honor of the day, she also eagerly joined him in the bathroom.

A Little of This, a Little of That, and a Lot of Pain

There is definitely plenty going on over here. DH has been off work since before Easter. I had some trouble the first few days with him wanting me to start my days earlier that my body was ready but we seem to have worked that out. Sorry it's been so long since I last posted. With everything going on is really hard to find the time and energy to blog.

I am riding approximately every other day. Where I ride depends on the weather and my mood. When it is windy, especially if the wind is towards the coast from the sea, I ride in the woods. We have had a few days that were still enough for me to ride along the coast. Those days I get Ria out in the water. I wanted to blog a lot about that but I just never seem to manage when I get in. Ria is afraid of water. She always has been fortunately, it's getting better. When we first got her she was totally paranoid to be the coast and getting her the water was impossible. She also wouldn't walk through puddles. It is something we have been working on and working on and working on. I am now able to get into the sea by myself without using my spurs. Last time we rode that direction, we crossed the stream twice and rode extensively in the water. It was a bit of a struggle because she was a little mad at me. The time before that we wrote in the woods and I made her take a path along the stream. The entire ride she was afraid I'd make her go in the water. She also been startled earlier on the ride by a duck that flew up out of the stream. She didn't do anything wrong, but she was jumpy. So when we approached the stream along the coast. She was about ready to jump out of her skin. But I let her sniff and take it easy and she crossed without problem.

I am due for a ride today, but I'm not sure I will get there.

Another project I'm working on is my secret leather project. I had to delay that for several days because of the migraine. I finally got working on it again last night and it looks great so far. But it's going to take me a lot of time to get it finished and I'm running out of time. I realized last night that this is the largest leather project I have undertaken to date. I hope my recipient will like it. Unfortunately, I think I need at least one more tool to finish it. The beveler I have is too large for some of the areas I need to work in. We'll try to get the leather store tomorrow to pick one up. I just hope that is not one of the items my mother had decided to give me for my birthday.

You see, my poor mother and I are cursed when it comes to United States postal system. Things sent from Denmark to the US generally do fine but that's the Danish postal system. Things coming to Denmark from the United States. To find unless my mother has sent them. I don't think the problem is my mother. I think we are cursed. Either that or the local post offices mom sends from totally sucks. According to the tracking information on the most recent package, it has taken a side trip to Brazil. This package contains my birthday presents from my parents, probably DH's presents from my parents, and DH's birthday present from me. This upcoming Tuesday is DH's 60th birthday.

Fortunately, I have a small item for him that I ordered from net friend in United States that actually got here. The rest will just have to wait. I really do feel bad for my mom because she is so upset about this package's side trip.

Preparing for this upcoming birthday is another thing to be keeping me busy. We're not doing anything much about it. Just going up to his parents for lunch, but I want to do a cake. A typical Danish cake is three cake layers with some kind of pudding-like cream in the middle. For my past birthday, we ended up using homemade chocolate pudding instead of the usual cake cream. So I've been speculating over what I would be making this time. I let him pick, so it turns out, we are going to have American instant pistachio pudding between one place, and American French vanilla instant pudding and other place. We'll probably have the usual crushed cookies and whiskey or cognac. I need to mix the pudding today and let sit. Then I need to build a cake tomorrow. That way we'll only need to add the whipped cream on Tuesday. The whipped cream is best fresh and everything is else is best if it's gotten to sit for a day. So I need to work on that today.

I may not have mentioned this before, but I have friends coming from Germany the end of month. I am really looking forward to the visit, but I want to get the house cleaned up a bit more before they arrive. So I've been trying to work on that what I've been able to find the energy and be up to it from the pain.

Our weather has been gorgeous. I just want to be outside all the time, but I have to accept the fact that I'm not up to it. The ground is still too cold for me to lie down on the ground. I've been trying to do some gardening, but it is very hard on my body. Yesterday I over did it once again and ended up having to crawl to something I could get up with after I fell a few times. I have been digging bulbs up that we no longer want in our main flower bed. Several of them have been spreading like mad. One we don't particularly like the flowers of. Others are just too copious and in the way. The ugly ones were not a problem because they were very shallow. The others were unfortunately about a foot deep. In the course of digging those up with a fork I ended up falling down. I spent some time on the ground digging them up the rest of the way by hand. And then managed to get back on my feet using the fork. I had stiffened up so much for my time on the ground that when I started walking in I fell. I was than without anything to use to get up. So I crawled through the recently tilled vegetable garden. We should finally be done with frost, so today I cut back the roses, lavender, and butterfly bush.

My stone bed was great a while ago but last season was wasted with my health. It is now pretty thoroughly overtaken by grass and I am not sure I will be able to reclaim it.

We are still waiting for our Shetland mare, Queenie, to foal. DH had been sure she would've had her foal this past Thursday, but there's still no sign of it. I think she's waiting for his birthday. He think she's waiting for to get warmer.

An Overdue Update

To my one reader who answered my poll, sorry for the delay updating. Also sorry to my grandmother who gets my posts by e-mail every time I publish.

I have been struggling with a migraine since we got home from last weekend's outing. It has finally been lifting for the past few days. DH has been off work since he got home Wednesday and will be until May. So that has kept me busy the past day and a half.

With the migraine, I haven't been doing much of anything. The girls have been getting any training and I've barely been making food. Mostly I just play my horse game and do nothing.

Wednesday we had pancakes for dinner. Last night we had more pancakes and bacon and eggs. Tonight I'm going to make a calzone with ham, cheese, and fresh tomatoes. I made the dough a while ago. Since DH doesn't have to work I decided go ahead and put garlic in the dough.

Our weather has been absolutely gorgeous. Yesterday DH help me settle up and I got to ride for a couple hours. It might have been closer to three. Because of the wind, I rode in the woods. Today DH is hard at work in the horse house. We're trying to make a box in the end of the house so that we have somewhere to put a mare and foal whenever necessary. Queenie, the one Shetland mare, is due to foal any day now. We are not sure how Tonya will react, so are afraid we'll need to take Queenie away from the others.

Last weekend's outing was rather successful. We were able to get a weed whacker and a lawnmower. DH has already made extensive use of the weed whacker. He has also started with the lawnmower.

I'm sure there's more I should have written but my brain is little fuzzy. I need to go cut up the tomatoes and onion for the calzone.