Katie The Cow Horse

Well I forgot my darn camera and Melanie was taking great pictures until she erased them all... so you will have to make mental pictures. Katie is our Spotted Saddle Horse, our only gaited horse. Tonight she and I went team sorting. What a blast! Now I know that Paint Mare will do cows, but Katie hasn't even seen many.

You sure couldn't tell by her behaviour! Point her at a cow and tell her to get him, and away she went. Push him through the gate and stop and guard while our teammates Mary and Buck went after the next one. Then it was our turn again... it was amazing! All I had to do was put her nose on a cow and she took it from there.

The only bad thing is we started at 7pm and they were still going strong when we left at 10pm... and my usual bedtime is 9pm!

But we will definitely have to do this again! Gotta get Randy back on that mare so he can play with cows too :)

Hhmmm, wonder if the minis will let us use them for practice?!?

Meet Skeye

Skeye is on my mind today as I recently had Bonnie Fogg, my animal communicator friend, do a reading for a pregnancy check. Skeye spent a couple of months with Trooper last spring. Bonnie says Skeye says yes she is pregnant and it's a girl. Bonnie is also starting to guess at color and says dark. (By the way Bonnie said, last summer, that Susie was having a girl, and she did!) Skeye should be due within the next couple of months but she sure doesn't look very big. Of course 26 years ago I kept my first baby nice and tight, and Paint and Lily did the same. (The others it was not their first pregnancy - except for the donkeys, who seem to be built different as they get HUGE!)

I first saw Skeye when she was about a year old, she was called Pixie back then - her mom was Dixie, and she was the smallest horse on the place. When I realized that this solid black pony had two blue eyes I was fascinated. I told Yvette, who had rescued Dixie pregnant from the kill buyer, so had the pony from birth, that if she ever wanted to sell that pony, to let me know. Yvette promptly swore she would NEVER sell that pony... but about 6 months later she called asking if I still wanted the pony. Her kids weren't wanting to ride after all and she said "come and get her before I change my mind". However when she came to my house, with all the minis, she was not the smallest by far, so the name Pixie just didn't fit any more.
Since her eyes were blue as the sky I put the two together and she became Skeye. This white star is the only white on her, but I am told by a guy who has done a lot of genetic research that blue eyes come with paint/pinto blood, so that means she is what they call "breeding stock" paint, or in my terms, a "secret paint".
I also discovered that she wasn't truly black, just such a dark brown that most of the time she looked black. She has an awesome mane and tail...

She loves to play with Zacchaeus

This spring she will be six - SIX!!! How time flies... I started to teach her to drive last spring, then it got hot and when fall came I jsut never got back to it. Once she has weaned this foal, though, it will be time for her to have a job!

This is my favorite picture of her, at age 4 in the tall grass at Mormon Lake with Hilary atop - all slicked out she does look brown, with her winter woolies she appears black...
I just love my blue-eyed girl...

OK I Am Amazed!

Today was a long day for Darci and Hannah.

See it's Wednesday so after work I go to my Midweek Fellowship. I do not go home after work, it's the wrong direction.

Generally Hilary is home every Wednesday to feed, since Lindsey works every Wednesday. However yesterday Hilary had her car taken away... long story! And I'm sure she wouldn't want me to tell it!

I had already made arrangements to visit my friend K, the one with cancer that I talked about not long ago, and I wasn't going to disappoint her.

Hilary did manage to talk her dad into bringing her out to feed, so at least I didn't have that chore awaiting me at 9:30pm... but since she didn't drive, she didn't bring her keys. And the outside key was not where it was supposed to be, so she couldn't get in the house to let Darci and Hannah out. Which means my poor girls were in their respective pen and crate from before 7am to after 9:30 tonight.

And even after 4+ hours, neither one of them had a wet spot on their potty pads. Wow. I just couldn't believe it! There is no way I could do that, not even close... They were sure happy to see me!

Sure made me think about changes I might have to make once the girls are gone for good... I sure do depend on them to help out!

Weird subject I know but hey - I am AMAZED!!!!!

Tis Better To Give...

I hereby bestow the above award on my fellow bloggers:

Mikey http://thehorseshoeinghousewife.blogspot.com/

Katie http://savingargus.blogspot.com/

desperate horsewife http://carpentercreek.wordpress.com/

Josh & Lacy http://carrollfarm.blogspot.com/

Donia http://smallwondersminifarm.blogspot.com/

and

Tish http://www.foreverhomedonkeyrescue.blogspot.com/

and i would have given it to Jen at http://copenhagenkisses.blogspot.com/ but someone already did!

You are each special to me in your own way but with each of you, I know, the equines hold a special place in your heart as they do in mine!

One Of Those Days

Yup. Today was ONE OF THOSE DAYS. You know, the ones that are just not so good, but there's not one big thing that you can point to that made it a bad day - just a lot of little things.

Today - work sucked. Bad. Not one thing did I start that got finished without at least one interruption. And? I'm doing not only MY job, but a good part of someone else's too. Don't you think if I am doing part of that person's job, I should get part of that person's paycheck? Makes sense to me anyway. Or perhaps the extremely wealthy client whose extremely complicated paperwork I am slaving over could add my name to the list of people who are getting $250,000 each. I'd take that...

And I pinched something in my back. No matter how I sit or stand it hurts. And I've been trying to stretch it out to no avail. Randy even tried to crack me but so far no relief. Lindsey has a similar ache so in a bit we will mutual massage and see if that helps. If it isn't markedly better by bedtime, I will be thanking God for Vicodin!

To make things worse, I got home, changed clothes and went straight out to cuddle with Dillon. He always makes me feel better. And today he was just not in the mood. So I thought I would try Clementine and she wasn't in the mood either. Which was making my day go from bad to worse so I gave up and went for the wheelbarrow to clean the stalls I didn't do this morning. Otherwise there is double tomorrow morning. And I know I will NOT be in the mood...

Lindsey and friend Tasjja were going for a quick ride before feeding so I horned in, took Katie out for the first time since she fell. Her gash is almost healed and I want to start working her back into shape slowly. A short walk was a good start. At least that cheered me up a little :)

Well dinner is ready and I am going to spend a few minutes with Randy before he heads to Tucson. He has to work there until Thursday. You've heard of football widows? This week I will be a SAN Plumbing Supply widow - lol. Not.

And yesterday was such a good day!

Another Busy Sunday

I come home at 11pm last night and see something in my headlights... What? What is this? DONUTS in my yard????? Who would do such a thing? (picture taken today in the daylight so it would show up)

Apparently while I was riding yesterday Randy and Alex spent much of the day working on the ProHauler to get it to go faster (and we need this WHY?)

Getting home so late I slept in till 8, got up and fed, had breakfast, then back out for chores. Cleaned some pens...
Betty Lou checking my work
Moses is so fuzzy!
Made a quick trip to Serenity Farms in Wickenburg for some hay this morning (please don't rain until it gets put into the hay barn!)
Back home for a quick lunch to find Randy and Alex STILL working on the ProHauler to make it go faster - so he can go and do donuts ACROSS THE STREET and not in my yard!!!!!

Then we were meeting up with some friends to help us move roof panels... Rose met us at the house and got a quick tour of the minis, then we met Kristy and Lisa at Mark's and the 7 of us made short work of dismantling 3 horse shades and leaving 1 at Lisa's next door, dropping one at Mary's on the way home (poor Mary was going to help too but ended up sick in bed), and bringing the last one home (forgot to take the camera along) Back home to clean more pens...
My camera must be getting low on battery, when I started to take this picture there were 7 dogs, not just 4, in my "star"
aawwww, Ozzie!
Grace was really getting into relaxing...
Darci thought she was really something chasing Ozzie!
Tried to get a picture of Skeye, Luna and Katie who were all laying down, before the camera battery wound up Fred had decided to come and pick on Luna, standing right in front of Katie, and Skeye got up and left.
Luna gets tired of that real quick!
What is this? 3 big gray donkeys... where is Clementine?
Found her halfway across the pen snoozing... and mama didn't even care!
Clementine's new human daddy came to see her and Fred again today and brought her new human brother to meet them (mom had to work). He was pleasantly surprised to find that she was much friendlier in just a week. In fact he was scratching her and stopped, and just like a dog will do, she pushed back under his hand for more. I told him that his new full-time position was "donkey scratcher"!

Then ran over to CarrollFarm today to pick up a trailer and got to see the baby goats... this is Chloe who looks a lot like my first goat Heidi
And this is the CarrollFarm mini horse. He would like a companion if anyone local knows of a little girl for sale...
Then back to the ranch to - guess what - clean more pens... while Alex and Randy loaded the tractor so we could drop it off in town for repairs on the way to take Alex back, and grab a bite to eat (nothing like a Lenny's burger, yum yum!)

While we were gone, Lindsey got a cute shot of Hannah's pup

Halfway home the fuel lights comes on in the truck so we stop for diesel at Fry's and I run in to get a couple of things. The truck starts fine at the gas pump but 5 minutes later we come out of the store and it won't start to go home {sigh} so we get a jump and that was our LONG and busy day!

Maricopa - Another Great Ride

Sorry short blog - got up at 5am, left the house about 6:10, picked up friend Lisa and her horse Maggie and drove to Maricopa for a trail ride and pot luck, just walked in the house at 11pm so heading straight for bed. Awesome day, awesome company, awesome food, awesome ride... thanks AZ Back Country Riders once again!

Luna, taken from atop Paint Mare as she is being ponied as usual. We were joking that someday I will actually ride Luna, and no one will recongize her with a saddle and rider!
Lisa and mustang Maggie

Hannah's Pup (Day 10)

Well today is actually Day 11 but I had already blogged yesterday and then I took more pictures of the pup, so here they are:

Isn't he getting big!?!
Darci can't stay away
His eyes are starting to open!
Pup and his papa Zacchaeus
Great squint! Darn flash...
Can't you just hear Hannah asking me to get her baby back from Randy?

Hilary taking pictures
Zacchaeus making sure Darci doesn't get too excited...
Worn out by all the excitement
See Darci, he's ok!

Randy was holding the pup last night and petting him with one finger, tickling his belly to make his little leg scratch, it was so cute. Something occurred to me and I said to him, "You've never had a puppy before, have you?" He said "Ahgee was the closest" but of course that was 13-14 years ago and Ahgee was already weaned, so about 2 months, when they got him. We did have Chloe's pups about 4 years ago but that was before the PTSD diagnosis and meds so his attitude wasn't as good back then and he didn't get involved as his main concern was that we find homes for them elsewhere (well, you can't really blame him, we did have four kids clamoring to keep a puppy - and they each wanted a different one!) Anyway Randy has never really dealt with a newborn pup like this. I get a real kick out of watching him. And oh boy, yes he does read my blog...

I've Been Tagged Again!

Actually for the same subject, 5 top pet peeves, by both CarrollFarm (Josh/Lacy) and Life's Funny Like That (Debby).

So here you go:

#1 - Right this minute I would have to say computer generated solicitation calls. Because I get at least one a day at work, and usually more. Especially those that begin with a phrase which includes the term "very important" or "urgent". I mean get real. If it REALLY was very important or urgent, there would be a REAL HUMAN BEING on the phone, not a computer.

#2 - CarrollFarm took one of mine - the way people drive around horse trailers. I already did a whole blog on that one!

#3 - Liars and hypocrites. Especially people who do it to their own family. Especially because both my husband and I have been victims of yes, our own so-called families... very sad. Very, very sad.

#4 - Anyone who abuses or neglects an animal... a child... their spouse... their parents. Geez I guess I could go on and on here but you get the idea.

#5 - Public places that have a TV blaring in their waiting room. I know we are few but there ARE actually people on the earth that are not interested in that crap. Like me. And I can't concentrate quitely on my book with that irritating noise...

#6 - oh wait. I'm only allowed 5. But I'm not done yet! Hhmmm, since I got tagged twice, can I do this twice???

Most of the people on my blog list have already been tagged, so I'm tagging Donia my new mini donkey friend at http://smallwondersminifarm.blogspot.com

A Virtually Critterless Day

This is weird for me but it is happening about once a week now. Wednesdays are becoming my virtually critterless days. Generally I feed every morning and the girls split the evening feedings based on their schedules. Lately they have both been gone so much I am doing a lot of the evening feedings on top of mornings. This semester Lindsey has no school on Monday and Wednesday so I started sleeping an extra hour and she feeds. After work on Wednesday I have 2 hours before Midweek Fellowship, not enough time to go home, but plenty for a few errands and a quick bite, or for Randy and I to have a nice dinner together if we have no errands and both get off work on time (translate RANDY gets off work in time). Hilary made sure to request every Wednesday night off work so she can be home to feed while I go to Midweek Fellowship.

But this means that other than a few minutes with Darci and Hannah in the morning, and again a few minutes before bed with whatever dogs greet me at the gate or are inside for the night, I don't get time with my critter kids.

And that's a lot harder on me than I thought it would be!

Thanks to Randy, I'm Amazing Too!

So yeah, I weld. I’m not like professional or anything but I can get the job done. I even welded a fence panel that was breaking once. It didn't look very good but hey, it held together! This post will be mostly pictures of some of the things we both have done, because we are a team. In the beginning I would have the idea and Randy would make it reality. Then he started teaching me to make my own reality…

Daisies:



Tulips:

Butterflies:

I really like doing the butterflies in case you can't tell by how many pictures I have of them!

We also made salt lick holders - they work much better than the storebought ones, they do not bend even under a horse's itchy butt and they don't get knocked off the fence either! I need to do a couple more but we have them in almost every pen now.

We have made halter/bridle racks for the big horses, halter racks for the minis:


We made towel hooks for our bathrooms, candle holders, napkin holders... and when I said to Randy that I wanted to make little horses out of horseshoes, he helped me design and built those as well. Some of these items you can see under the fundraising button on our seriously outdated website http://www.paintedpromise.com/ but since I can't find the pictures of them on the computer, at least you can go look there.

I even started trellis on the back porch where the wood has rotted off, eventually I hope to have the whole porch done that way.
And if you like what you see, we do take orders :) and you don't have to live close, the butterflies fit great in the USPS flat rate box and even the flowers can be shipped thanks to UPS golf club boxes - who'd a thunk?!?

All proceeds go to feed and vet bills for the rescues, so order away!