Git 'Er Done

I've recently realized just how spoiled I have been by my husband. It's not that I chose to fall in to this spot, but our schedules turned out to allow him to get home sooner than me and he would always start chores and have them mostly finished by the time I got home. It worked well for those evenings when we had a horse event to attend and then he would have the trailer hitched, horses caught and be ready to go! What a deal for me!

However, two weeks ago my husband slipped on some ice and broke his ankle. Well hell... this is not good! My days of leisure seemed to have come to a screeching halt! After one week of hobbling around on crutches with a broken bone, he went in to surgery and came out with a plate and eight screws holding his foot to the rest of his leg. Waiting on him has reminded me of having a baby in the house again. The constant checking, feeding, changing! (ok, not diapers, but helping him to dress and such) and monitoring have both my 12 year old daughter and me running constantly.

It makes him crazy that he can't help out so he'll perch himself on a chair outside and shout orders to us. We quickly learned to feign deafness because we know exactly what to do and are usually in the midst of that certain chore as he's offering instruction. I guess it makes him feel like he's contributing? Heck, I don't know... but we just go on with our business.

The only part that I realized would be difficult for me to handle was the task of moving round bales. My gawd those things are heavy and non-forgiving. The horses sure do love them though. We are lucky to have bought 50 bales that were cut right here adjacent to our place. But the hayguy just left them out in the field so we take the pickup out, hook a chain on, and drag it to the feeding area. Not so bad if it's 60 degrees out and sunny. A horrifying experience when it's 10 degrees and freezing rain or snow. Boy that chain gets cold on the hands. You have to take your gloves off in order to hook it on. Brrrrr!

So far I've been fortunate to have local guy-friends come over and take care of that for me. Or my Dad struggles to do it. He offered to do it yesterday but he's not in the greatest shape either and it takes forever. He will try to go do it himself before I even realize he's out there. Then he comes staggering in telling me how bad he hurts. What the hell is it with men anyway? Is it bravado to see just how bad you can damage yourself????

So yesterday I told him I had someone coming over to do it. That kept him home and safe. I had fully intended to do it myself when I saw my best girlfriend sign on to the computer. AH HA! maybe her hubby can come and help me! She wrote back that they had the skidloader at the house that day and this would be the day to do it YAYAYAY!

So friend's hubby came over with the skidloader. It's such a cute little thing. Small but mighty! I was a little worried when I saw the back wheels come up from the weight of the bale though. I guess it couldn't have tipped far, but I had never seen one do that before. It was bucking lol.

As I was standing at the far south gate waiting for Rich to come back through, LG became fascinated with the fact that I was standing "over there" and was perked up and staring at Rich and the giant bale. He looked SO pretty there all attentive.

Rich put one bale in for the A-Team and had to beep-beep them to keep them out of the way. I'm sure they thought they were starving. Look who's there trying to snag a bite... IVAN! lol

We put the 2nd bale up behind the colts pen so it will be easy to drag it in from there. Lou found me out in the field and loped around biting snow as we ran along with Rich. It's beautiful outside. Ok, so it's only about 9 degrees.... but I did some running that got my blood flowing. At one point I took off running across the pasture to the south gate. It's been years since I actually ran. Heck, I used to do it for FUN! I started to get out of breath, but since he was driving behind me I cowgirled up and kept running. I was determined not to let him see me huffing and puffing. I MADE IT! Whew!

I needed to get the feeder over the top of the bale and he asked if I wanted him to help me. I pondered for a second and said "yeah". I went over to it and he was still standing talking to my hubby. I got it hefted up (whoof) and pushed straight up as far as my arms would reach. CRAP! I'M NOT TALL ENOUGH LOL! I never was good at math and it dawned on me that an eight-foot feeder was not going to be set on end by a 5-2 chubby woman.

I got it partway and I couldn't push it high enough to get it on end lmao! Rich stood at the gate and laughed at me. I was just kinda stuck there for the moment. So he came over and pushed on the other side so it was on end and could roll it to the bale. I was downhill (dumb dumb) but I'm not so sure I could have gotten it high enough even if I had started from the other side. So he rolled it over and set it over the bale and then I proceeded to remove the strings. Too bad I didn't get a picture of that part! My camera was in my pocket and if had let go with one hand I probably would have lost it and would have had to jump to the middle so it didn't crash on my head.

By the time I was finished with all the chores I had a wonderful sweat going on. I even unzipped my heavy coat to cool off. All bundled up, it felt like it was about 60 outside. It felt great.

Hmmmm I should have weighed myself.

In any case. I CAN do this and it makes me feel great that I can. I'm very grateful for my husband and all the help offered, but I'm even more grateful that I was reminded I'm not a piece of fluff who lets the man do all her work.

I feel good. :-)

OCR John Wayne "Johnnie" May 2002 - January 2008

From time to time, people tell me, "lighten up, it's just a horse," or, "that's a lot of money for just a horse". They don't understand the distance traveled, the time spent, or the costs involved for "just a horse. Some of my proudest moments have come about with "just a horse."

Many hours have passed and my only company was "just a horse," but I did not once feel slighted. Some of my saddest moments have been brought about by "just a horse," and in those days of darkness, the gentle touch of "just a horse" gave me comfort and reason to overcome the day. If you, too, think it's "just a horse," then you will probably understand phrases like "just a friend," "just a sunrise," or "just a promise."

"Just a horse" brings into my life the very essence of friendship, trust, and pure unbridled joy. "Just a horse" brings out the compassion and patience that make me a better person. Because of "just a horse" I will rise early, take long walks and look longingly to the future. So for me and folks like me, it's not "just a horse" but an embodiment of all the hopes and dreams of the future, the fond memories of the past, and the pure joy of the moment. "Just a horse" brings out what's good in me and diverts my thoughts away from myself and the worries of the day.

I hope that someday they can understand that it's not "just a horse" but the thing that gives me humanity and keeps me from being "just a woman." So the next time you hear the phrase "just a horse" just smile, because they "just" don't understand.

I miss you Johnnie... Rest in peace my friend.

I hope you had the time of your life.

Tall Black Colt - Ride #4

I suggest that when you choose a personal photographer, make sure he's not one who gets a kick out of seeing you dumb :-)... i.e. me stuck on the panel laughing because I couldn't haul myself back up and still hang on to my horse.

TBC was a good boy today if maybe a little sassy. Let's just say he was feeling his oats. Nothing bad but just a little more energetic than the last few times. He does better with a rope halter than the flat nylon.

He did fine though! And then when we were done, I took his halter off and walked away. He followed me to the gate. I opened the gate, he walked out, got past me... and stopped to wait for me. What a good boy.

Tres Jamaal

Tres is learning about life on the Krazy B Ranch very quickly. He tolerates things from afar but hasn't yet realized that approaching us means rubs, treats, and attention. He hangs back. But he's assimilated himself into the colt herd fairly well.

I was out there a bit ago and I saw him lay his ears back at one of the dogs. I THOUGHT it was the dred-lock poodle, but when I came and looked at my photos, it was my danged Chandler! who does NOT understand that he can be trampled very easily.

If it had been Rosebud there, Chandler would have a squashie hoof-print in his midsection.

More Mikey

He came from a dam who was rescued from slaughter a couple years ago. He was born on the 4th of July and the people who foaled him called him Firecracker. I thought he looked like a "Mike"... so there it was. They said he was "a bit wild". Pshaw.

He recently snagged himself on something and nearly lost half his eyelid. We called the vet and stitched it back on. I think it's gonna hold. I left the sutures in longer than normal because I wanted to be certain it had the best chance to take hold. I think there will be a scar, but at least he can close his full eyelid and still has his lashes!

He's a cute little turd and so very tolerant and sweet.

Coltish Ways

While Ivan and Spike took Clarissa and Dan to Chance Ridge to ride last night, Jay and I got something to eat, came home, and played with colts in the dark. We didn't accomplish much other than petting and playing, but it's always fun to play with the colts.

Tres, the gorgeous young Arab, is warming up to his life here. He's getting better and better about allowing us to approach him and moving our hands over his body. He's definitely going to take a lot more patience than some horses. He's soooooo pretty though.

Little Mags is a ball of fur. She reminds me of a bear rug. When you dig your fingers into her hair, it's difficult to find where the hair ends and her body begins! Jay says she looks like a mule :-). I think she's beautiful.

Speaking of mules, I got a shot of TBC (Tall Black Colt) with Jay. There are bad angles and low light so TBC looks muley and Jay looks like Colonel Sanders. TBC was NAUGHTY last night. As I was petting someone else he came up behind me for his attention. He does that all the time, so I didn't think much of it until I felt teeth grab the skin on the back of my hamstring. HOLY CRAP! I swung my arm around at him and screeched! Jay was laughing wondering what happened, so I walked over and demonstrated to him :-) (hee hee).

I took Mike's band out of his forelock and I really need to take his stitches out today. His eyelid healed FANTASTIC! I'm so happy we tried to save it. I don't think he will have any problems with it at all.

At one point I was standing with Tres, talking calmly and petting him. Somebody kicked the feeder and that set off a chain-reaction in the herd. Great. Just when I was thinking Tres might be trusting me, the entire herd of colts takes off at a dead run through the pen. Naturally his instinct kicks in and he tears away from me. They were gorgeous in the moonlight and I wish I had had my camera out at that time. They circled around and came back toward me looking for the source of the noise. Nobody would go back to the feeder until I walked over there first and then they realized it wasn't going to eat me, so it must be ok.

Rojo was a lover last night. I kept trying to get a picture of him, and the best I got was his face trying to get closer to me!

Red is one cute stocky little thing. I saw him trotting around the other day and couldn't believe the sweet slow collected pleasure trot I was witnessing. I wonder if I caught a glimpse of something or if he was just being collectively lazy. He's sure packed with muscle though. Cute.

The A-Team was across the fence looking for attention. Look at how LG stands... all cocked out and hangin' out like one of the guys. Then Annie is next to him all pretty and standing square, poised like the beautiful girl she is.

Ya gotta love 'em. Today is fairly mild (although the wind just opened our storm door and let the cat in) and I hope to get some good time in with them.

BRRRR-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R

Ok, so it's not HORRIBLE outside, but it's pretty brisk! The windchill is only about ohhhhhhh 7? above zero?

Long long ago when I was but a wee child I walked home from kindergarten. There was a nice path to the street OR you could take the shortcut through the ditch. I seem to remember snowfalls we got when was little to be much more than the snow we get today. It could have something to do with the fact that I was only 3' nothing tall. I took the shortcut one day and my tiny little legs sunk into the snow. They couldn't reach the bottom of the drift to the ground and the snow was up to my patootey.

I yelled and yelled "DADDDYYYYYY DADDDDYYYYYYYYYYYYY" for what seemed like forever before he looked out the window. We only lived kitty-corner to the school. It must have seemed a lot further in those days if I deemed it necessary to take the "short-cut". He mumbled over to me asking why in the H I didn't take the path!

You know when you are a kid and you KNOW you're stupid and any answer you come up with sounds even more stupid? so you just say "I don't know."? That's all I could come up with. I think that answer is the one answer that most often makes parents crazy... but I understand. Sometimes an "I don't know" that's earns you a whack upside the head is a lot easier than trying to explain how really dumb you are.

That would surely cause the parents to realize they failed in geneology and that I should have been drowned at birth. So I'll settle for "I don't know" and I don't get too upset with my kids when they use it.

TODAY, it is pretty frigid out. My daughter has a decent trek from the road to the house when she gets off the school bus in the afternoons. I've seen worse though. I've lived through worse. She'll be ok. In addition, she's a jock and she's been running it. It just takes her a few minutes.

Dad is beside himself with worry that she will catch frost-bite and is trying to get his errands done so he can get there when she gets off the bus. What happened to this man? Where did the grumbling short-cut curser go? Besides, he's going to make my kid soft, dangit! HA HA!

What I find interesting is that when I was her age, I was helping him haul hay in a flat-bed jeep with no heater and proceeded to get it stuck in deep drifts. Don't think I didn't get the evil eye over that one!

Now, where did I put those coveralls?