A Pony for Christmas

I found this pony on the internet. I LOVE this pony!!!!!! I don't know what it is about it, but I think that this is THE dang CUTEST pony in the world! He strikes me and I really really REALLY want to go get this pony and bring him home!

I can picture "my" pony and I trotting trotting down the road with manes flying and big ole horsey grins on our faces as we wave at passers-by heading toward a destination yet unknown. People will say "Hey! here comes Pam and her Pony! YAY!" and throw parades lmao. It will be the Pam Pony Parade! Maybe we can have one in Prague!

I'm sure I will never even get to meet this pony, but I fell in love with him at first sight. We would have sooooooo much fun. Because I know it's a very long shot of getting him, I thought I'd at least dedicate a post to this little pony who should be mine.

Isn't he just the cutest thing you've ever seen?

BLOOD PRESSURE!!!!! GAH!

Here I am sitting at my desk in my cute little very cluttered office, MINDING my own business while working away like a happy little clam and a Sheriff's deputy walks in asking "Are you Pam?"

The blood simulatenously drains and rushes from and to my face and my heart jumps to my throat. My mind is racing "Omg... what now???????" I gulp and say "yessss?" and I feel like a cartoon character that has dialog bubbles with arrows pointing at my head screaming in neon "GUILTY! GUILTY! GUILTY! GUILTY!" on one side and "I DIDN'T DO IT, I DIDN'T DO IT, I DIDN'T DO IT!" on the other side.

It turns out the dude just needed some info on quantities of fuel that were delivered to a customer back in September that have allegedly been stolen.

By that time it was too late and my blood pressure was screeching through the top of my head like the end-of-day whistle on the Flintstones when it's time for Fred and Barney to head home from a long day at the quarry.

GAAHHHHHHHH!

Then to make matters worse, I look on this person's account and see that he had been credited back for the gas and diesel he was originally billed for. What the heck? Hmmmm, working in the insurance industry for over 13 years has made me a huge crime-fighter against insurance fraud so I asked the deputy if he would hang tight while I investigated this further! I marched away before he could answer me.

When I came back with copies of tickets and made a couple of phone calls he was trying not to giggle at me. By then I had regained some composure but still felt like an idiot because I just KNOW he could see the terror on my face when he walked into my office. He apologized repeatedly and then laughed at the idea that someone could easily haul away 400 gallons of fuel. I was still nervous and let out a huge HA HA HA HA kind of like Monica on Friends when Chandler is faking laughter at his boss. (sigh) gawd, I'm such a dork.

I sooooooooo wish I was better at hiding my emotions! People who think I'm a sneaky conniver have NEVER seen that side of me. I suck at poker too.

Since I've had this stinking cold, all I can hear very well is the pounding of my heart through my ears. It sounds like a bass drum in my head right now! If I only had a tamborine to ring a few bells in there, we could start a band.

Harmonica anyone?

The Road to Recovery

Mike's eye is looking REALLY good. I honestly thought that stitching it three days after the injury would be too late, but apparently the dead flesh that was trimmed off may be attaching. YAY!

I put the medicine in his eye, so it looks a little "gelly" in the photo and it only has the slightest amount of goob collecting. I don't think that's too awful bad considering his eyelid was 85% ripped off his head. I forgot to ask Dr. Adam about removing the sutures, but I'll watch them and when it looks like it's healed nicely and the sutures are loose, I'm sure we can take them out easily enough.

Adam did a really good job. I think little Mikey just may end up with a normal eye! :-)

Mike really loves the attention he's getting while away from the rest of the colts. He gets attention out there, but not as dedicated.

I have made fun of Mike and how he doesn't compare to the new Arab we brought home recently, but dang! he's really looking nice right now and I even made a comment that he's just as dang pretty in his own way. He's beautiful when he spots something of interest and perks his ears up and arches his neck. He's filling out nicely too.

He tried to yank Jay's cap off his head tonight. You have to watch him or he'll grab things and run off with them. Dad leaned his crutches on a tree one day and Mike had one of them and was carrying it away.

Weanling Maggie is in the barn with him to keep him company. She nickered when I walked into the barn. She's certainly going to be a nice horse some day too. She's sure a cutie.

Mikey Fay Baker

Dr. Adam came over today with plans to cut off Mikey's hanging eyelid. When he looked at it, he pondered and thought there's enough live lid there that he thought maybe we could save it. He felt horrible that he didn't come look at it on Wednesday night but said we could try.

Sooooo he dosed him up with sedative and started in on numbing the area with a local. Poor Mike was so doped up I thought for sure he was just going to plop to his belly. Dad held his head and I banded his forelock in the finest Cyndi Lauper style to keep it up out of the way.

At one point the needle popped off the syringe and numbing solution can FLYING toward Jay and me. Miraculously none hit us. It was kinda funny and prompted Jay and Adam to discuss all the accidental injections they received during "vetty procedures". Jay has been inadvertantly vaccinated for black-leg. He says that's why his legs are so white (snort).

Dr. Adam trimmed off external dead and dried tissue from both sides of the lid. Then he proceeded to the stitching. I must admit that does take some skill to avoid poking out the eyeball. I was amazed. I told him that Colleen would be sad that she couldn't have the chunk of eyelid we had planned to cut off, so I took pictures for her instead! He laughed :-)

Mikey is no longer a "free horse". But that's ok. He isn't what you would call a valuable horse but he's so dang sweet that you just have to give him a chance. OH! He's not going to that new home because I found out that THEY thought I was talking about Maggie. Um... no.

In any case, Mikey will stay here. Especially now that he has a special need to watch out for that eye. Dr. Adam commented several times that he was a really good little guy.

We were trying to think of how we can keep that eye protected while it heals. I ran to the house to get the fly mask that Shel gave us at the Wahoo sale. It's big enough that it shouldn't rub on his stitches and will help to keep dirt and other crap off it. He looks like a TOTAL dork with it on though lmao.

I have bute, cream, and powder we will administer over the next week or so. If the eye starts to look "off" at all, Adam said he would come over and we'll try something else.. or then cut it off. It sure would be nice if it would stick though. I wasn't sure how I was going to glue fake eyelashes on him... but I thought those with glitter would be cute!

Flying

We have this horse. We have this WONDERFUL and crazy horse lol. We don't own him, but he lives with us and we hope he will live out his days with us. He is owned by a marvelous 9-fingered man whom I've known my entire life. We laugh that he used to babysit me. He once got in trouble from my parents for doing my homework for me. I can't recall the grade I got lol.

"Buck" is this horse who we've had soooo much fun with the past couple of years. I first met Buck when he was a 4yo. We were at the local watering hole and Buck was out in the trailer. One of my best friends at the time was with me. Since we're all pretty much related through marriages, etc. in my hometown, she and I knew that Rick wouldn't be angry if we went out, unloaded Buck and rode around!

We rode double-bareback through town laughing and having a jolly old time. Then her hubby came out to join in the fun. He doesn't ride (lol oops). He puffed up in bravado fashion and got on Buck. He didn't stay there for very long, but he rode him for about three steps lmao! I've never seen anyone fall off in such slow motion before.

Fast forward about oh... ten years? Rick and Buck had spent a lot of time attending rodeos, team-pennings, roping jackpots, etc. The stories about Buck are very entertaining. He looooooved to run, but sometimes forgot to stop. He never tires... NEVER.

You could ask him to climb to the roof of the barn and he would. You could ask him to jump off a cliff and he would. You could ask him to slow down and enjoy the scenery... THAT will never happen lol.

A few years back Rick and Buck were at a team-roping event and Rick lost his thumb. I'm told it was quite fascinating because it ripped the tendon out clear up to his elbow and the thumb was still tangled in the rope that the steer was dragging through the dirt. In any case, Rick's roping time was put on hold for a while. DURING that time, he offered Buck to me to ride in speed events!

Me: "Um, are you serious?"

Him: "Hell yeah.. he's just standing around getting older and fatter."

Me.: "That would be so coool!!!!!"

Him: "You know where he is, go get him."

Me: "Awesome!"

Him: "Good luck getting him stopped."

LOL okayyyyyyyyyy.

So I went and got him :-).

By that time we figured ole Buck had to be about 17 years old. OH MAN IS HE FUN! I had taken him to the arena and ran a few practice runs through barrels and poles before our first show. Apparently I didn't let him out like I should have because at our first show we had people rolling on the ground as we used up every inch of that arena trying to get through the patterns lmao! Omg... I think we knocked four of the six poles down. I honestly think he likes the sound of the pole when it hits his head. I've since learned that he LOVES the sound of buckets flying when he kicks them through a keyhole pattern.

By the end of the season we had each other figured out fairly well. We sometimes even made it through the poles without knocking ANY down! He helped me win the high-point buckle at our local saddle club and I was beaming.

Now my 11yo daughter is riding him and she rides him much better than I ever did. Some people look at me cockeyed and wonder what kind of mother I am to put my child on the "psycho horse". Aw heck... Buck isn't psycho.. he's just very tightly wound lol and Vanessa rides him very well.

When you run him flat out, it feels like you are flying. I can honestly say I've never been a horse that I've was so sure-footed that you could put your ultimate trust in them like you can Buck. It's such a rush. HE is such a rush.

Blogging

When I think of blogging, it makes me want to put on large wooden shoes and dance on a stage with several of my closest friends. My gaze travels to these hideous shoes a friend sent me from Holland. Omg... if I tried to dance in these things I would either break a leg or the large piece of wood I've slid my foot into would surely fly off into the air and hit someone in the head.

Yes... these are my feet in these painted tree-remnants. Who knew a size 6 in Holland meant size 10 in the U.S.

On a positive note, if I were ever lost at sea I could probably float to shore with these babies.

We'll stick to blogging. It's much safer that way.

My Turn to be Thankful

I've been reading others' blogs on how they are thankful that horses are in our lives. It inspired me to jot down my thoughts.

Growing up, my horses were a part of me. It wasn't just that "I had horses"... they were a part of who I was and how I lived my life.

When I graduated from high school, I moved 500 miles away to college. Man, I missed my horses. I hooked up with a girl who was just as far from home and missed her horses too. So, we joined the college Rodeo Club lol. We didn't have our horses there, but at least we were able to spend time with other horsey folks. The bad thing was that it seemed not many other of the members of that club had their horses there either! Most of our time was spent partying with this group and just talking about horses. It helped, but it wasn't enough.

Each time I would visit home, my first stop was at the barn and whoopin' it up with my Rowdy horse. I'm sure he wondered "Now why don't she write?" Gawd, I missed him.

Then I got married and moved to Omaha. While much much closer to my horses but still an hour away from them, I pretty much remained horseless. Then babies came. I had dreams of them riding through the fields with me... teaching them to show! oh wow, we had such plans! Then it dawned on me that horses weren't in the business plan in my husband's mind. At that time, I wasn't sure I would be able to have horses in my life again. It was an empty feeling and very depressing.

One thing led to another and my husband and I divorced. Part of that was the fact that I don't make a very good trophy wife. Did you know trophy wives aren't supposed to speak unless spoken to? lmao... omg... imagine how THAT worked into my personality. You can guess the rest.

Then I met Jay. Jay walked into the room in all his cowboyness looking sexy as hell. I had been at a business meeting all day and was decked out in suit and heels with perfectly coiffed hair and full makeup... toting a briefcase. He wouldn't look at me. I elbowed a friend when I saw him and claimed him as mine. I spent the rest of the evening working ALL my charms on him and I think I stuffed 20 business cards in his pockets. He still wouldn't pay attention to me UGH!

Later I learned he was scared to death of me ROFLMAO!!!!!! That was after we had our first kiss on the middle of the dance floor.

Ok, so I digressed....... (enter Jay) into my life. And, enter horses back into my life.

He and I married, bought a house, bought a horse, brought Vanessa into our lives, bought another horse then packed up and moved "back home" to the area I grew up. Soon two horses turned into three, etc. Vanessa is growing up with them in a way that I had dreamt for with my two older daughters. She has far surpassed any savvy and skills I had at her age and I couldn't be more proud.

Now I can walk outside my front door and hollar "WOO HOOOOOO!" and you'll see several young horses' heads pop up and start to make their way to me. It's a fabulous feeling.

If I should find myself horseless again in my life, it would surely drain that life out of me and I would shrivel into a bitter husk of despair.

Ok, that was a little dramatic, but that's my story, and I'm sticking to it!!!!! :-)