Driving, Pads, Hair cut, Possum Lodge

Here are some saddle pads in progress, almost done.



I had my driving lesson Wednesday. The weather was supposed to clear. It didn't, but I got the best part of the day. We had use of an indoor arena down the road and only got a little damp going to and from.

We drove Nutmeg down to a neighboring indoor arena and practiced cones. Haven't done that in a long time. Little rusty. Little! The footing was deep and boggy in places so the cart got bogged a bit, then unbogged, then bogged again. The sound echoed off the walls funny. These things bothered Nutmeg who is a brave but sensitive girl. There was an odd kind of pole in the center. She was wary and when it moved out of her field of vision, she wanted to veer away. Interesting. Remember, these things are supposed to happen in lessons.

Got back home to Milpitas an hour and fifteen minutes later. Tried to ride Janow but it hailed and we hurried back to the stall. THEN there was thunder! Don't want to be on top of a horse with steel shoes on in a thunder storm. No sirree Bob!

Some pictures Dave took on Mt Hamilton last weekend:



Joseph FINALLY got a hair cut! He wanted one and told me he wanted one, but when I had time to take him, he didn't want a hair cut. Then he wanted a hair cut but I didn't have time to take him. Then I had time to take him and he didn't want a hair cut....... Whatever.

Blinders On

Here is the second driving bridle. I sent the first one back because it was too small. He definitely has room to grow in this one! But it will work.
He is not so happy in it since he can't see. I had a hard time taking a photo from the side since it was just me and he didn't want me out of sight. He is much more dependant and docile with blinders!

Sunday in the SF Bay Area we had glorious weather! The sun was out, it was warm. Everybody was riding around grinning. Janow was very happy and walked very fast and loose. I had been worried about his feet hurting him because he was walking so slow, but when the sun came out his old walk returned. It was especially great because we had gotten soaked on our ride on Saturday. Sadly, Monday the gloom returned and today we got rained on again.

Monday Bunday

If you peel it, they will come.

Monday Bunday

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"Draw a Picture of Whiskers....Now Draw Silver."

Thursday, I was sharing the Mom's Bench with Dave who is not used to it. He got bored. "I'm bored." Where have I heard that before? Then he said "Draw......" and I did. LOL

Clicking on the pictures gets you the McGoo View.


I have finally decided that this bridle is too small for Janow. He has a big head like George Lopez.

Driving bridles are very strange. It took me a while! The cheek piece buckles in two places, above and below the blinders. The noseband hanger doesn't go over the crown, it buckles into the top buckle of the cheekpiece, under the blinder buckle. You can see in the photo how the noseband strap threads through the buckle above the blinder.


The noseband is too small, maybe. I couldn't get it lower to find out. The throatlatch is too small also.

It's hard to adjust because if you raise the blinder, you also raise the noseband. To lower the noseband, you have to take the blinder strap off the buckle, then put it back on. I could not get the noseband low enough without lowering the blinders. Of course, every time you raise the blinder, you raise the bit too. So you have to lower that with the bottom cheekpiece buckles.


The blinders are connected to each other with a strap that has a wire in it, so you bend it to fit. The blinders would barely go wide enough. They could have been lowered one hole to help the noseband get lower, but they were already spread as wide as they would go and it I lowered them, they would sit at a wider part of his face.



Is this confusing? Yeah, I thought so too.

We Went, Then We Came Back

Joseph and I went to Sparks to visit his Grandparents. My Uncle was there at the same time. He was visiting from Florida. HJoseph tried sledding, but it didn't work. We had a snowball fight instead.

Joseph left this morning with Boy Scout Troop 92 for the annual Bear Paw snow camping trip. They are going to build ice shelters to sleep in. Brrr!

My mom, my uncle, Joseph, my dad, at Squaw Valley where we did not ski, we just had lunch.

Driven Musical Freestyle

Here is a great Dressage Freestyle for you to enjoy.

Janow got to go out into his paddock on Friday. Cherokee saw him coming out and started to nicker. It was kind of cute, but kind of sad because it reminds me of how important social interaction is for horses. Being stuck in his stall was like being locked in solitary confinement.

Spring is in the hair.

I have noticed an increased number of comments from "anonymous" that have been solicitations for clicking to websites not affiliated to me in any way. Has anyone else noticed this? Silver's blog has not received any. I have hers set up so that you must type a password to leave a comment, but I don't moderate the comments like I do on this one.


Spring is here, or at least it's acting that way. Even if Punxatony Phil and the calender say otherwise. Dave took this picture of the almond tree in our backyard. We have one almond tree. It produces almonds because their are other almond trees in nearby yards. We don't eat the almonds. The squirrels get them first.

Janow is shedding. Not as gloriously as many other horses at Indian Hill. He started on his ears, then moved to his lower legs, then, yesterday, the upper legs and chest. It moves, like the leaf change in New Hampshire begins in the north and moves south. I noticed that the dashboard of the car has a layer of white hair, but I believe it is hair from a previous shed.

You can see how long the hair is behind his knee. I am tempted to save it and sell it to a wig maker. It's not so clean. In the morning, dew collects in little droplets on each hair. Then dust sticks to the moisture. Then it dries like concrete. The dust can't stick to in now that it is rainy mud season, but it's really hard to get off.

Janow is still stuck in his stall because of the mud. If he went out in his paddock he would sink in too far. He doesn't like being stuck in.

Tuesday, I rode him around the ranch for over an hour, mostly walking, of course. I did it again yesterday. It has been years since I could ride this long! Maybe we'll make it to the trails in Ed Levin this summer! I can have Jay ride him out there a few times so he can get used to going out and not endanger my fragile butt.

Pictures of Paula Pullet and Janow

Here are some better pictures of Paula.

Under Construction

Here is Paula outside the family room window. She hangs out here a lot. Usually she goes back and forth like a shooting gallery duck. She likes to be with people and we are inside. She stays outside because she poops at random. Big gooey poops. She poops as she walks back and forth, so she is building a poop rampart.

Poop is flammable, which may not be the best feature for a rampart. If the enemy surrounds you, they can just set fire to your defenses and smoke you out. Poop smoke would be even harder to breath than plain smoke.

The lookout tower is also under construction. I don't know if it is more functional that Paula's rampart.









My SIL gave me this oil lamp for Christmas. I've wanted one for a long time, but it's not the kind of thing you buy for yourself. Me, anyhow. It was good to have when we lost power in the recent storm. Handmade by Roy, who calls his brand Shovelin' Barefoot.

Driving yet?

People around the ranch are beginning to ask when. There is a lot of support for this, but for some people it is going very slowly. I explain that I am taking lessons and when we are both ready, I will take him to the trainer's to get him started with the cart.

I told Susie yesterday that a big part of my training must be to get all the horses on the ranch as ready as possible so nobody freaks out. My message is always that I have a professional trainer, I am taking lessons on trained horses first, I don't want anyone to be afraid, I am concerned for your horses too.

So, here is Janow in his harness. He did not want to stand, but he did when I told him to. His body language shouts that he does not really want to, but he is.

I put the hold backs up through the backstrap. They don't go here, they go on the shafts, but without shafts, they help stabilize the breeching a little when they are here. The traces are not buckled on to the breastcollar so I put the backband through the trace buckles to keep the breast collar from flopping. When there is a cart, the traces will connect it and so the breast collar will be firmly in place.

Janow had been longed in harness several times and it was no longer a big deal. He took a while to get used to having the breeching across his back legs. Monday, I ground drove him. It began with 5 seconds of total confusion, then he went "Ah Ha!" and it was a yawner from there on out.

Yesterday I decided to ground drive a bit and then double longe. We had a lot of bobbles. In the end, it was going better. In fact, it was the end because it was going better. Sometimes you have to move up "the end" to when things are going well so you can end on a good thing.

Now I can see where there are holes that need mending.

Monday Bunday

This week, Monday Bunday is borrowed from Silver Rabbit's blog: Buns of Silver. She explains why sharing is not always good.

New Duds

A very old and rotted leather halter broke last week. A new one was needed. Here it is. Pretty and red, with a brass name plate. By the end of the summer it will be pink from the sun. One more year and it will be grey. Well...maybe not that fast.
I changed the crownpiece over the top of his head for leather. It will break if there is a panic. I would rather break equipment than Janow.

The Parrelli instructor says you don't need that, you just train them so they don't panic. When they trust you, they just wait patiently for you to rescue them. OK, so they are trained not to panic at anything foreseeable. Even if it's breakable, it won't break. Then something unforeseeable happens. I have seen a tied horse break free and go kick the daylights out of a horse that is tied up and can't get free. Everybody gets to make their own choices.

Yesterday I saw this Great Egret by the on ramp in Milpitas. Wow!

No rain today! Yeah! Just fog. Fog fog fog. Cold damp fog.

Amy got through her surgery just fine. All was done through the front, that will be easier recovery and no bulky hardware.

Got to spend some good time with Janow. I went early because I wanted to longe him in harness. When there are too many people, somebody might freak out. I walked him all over, passing in view of as many horses as possible. The more they see the harness as part of the normal day, the easier it will be with the cart added.

The breeching made him feel funny, but he settled in OK.

Teacher in-service today, so no school for Joseph. There are very few normal 5 day weeks, it's always something. I didn't want to go for a driving lesson and leave him home alone while I was so far away. I KNEW he would NOT be happy if he had to spend a big chunk of his day off with me, so I didn't even try to plan driving.

I ordered two driving bits today. One is a Liverpool with a French link, one is a butterfly with a flexible plastic mouthpiece. Between those two, he will like one of them.

Still....

Still no word from the surgery girl. Probably only to a few, not the 'masses.'

Rode Janow for a bit, like ten minutes. Thought the break in the rain would last longer! He was super fussy 'cause I was rushed, then I put the saddle pad on to get tacked up. He settled right down. "Riding. Cool." Then the rain came gushing down. Abandon ship.

At home, Joseph continues to be a big distracting pain. I have to remember that my job is to help him grow into a functioning adult. Sometimes I feel that I just have to keep him viable until he is 18 and I can change the locks. Thirteen is a hard age. Forty-nine ain't such a walk in the park.

Trivia

The rider from Indian Hill Ranch who had the bad fall ended up back in the hospital. She was on Facebook with her cell phone, so we all were able to keep up with how she was. She had surgery yesterday to replace the fractured vertebrae and fuse the disks. Amy could use your prayers or Karma or whatever you are best at.

Janow had new shoes Friday of the week before last. He has egg bars and wedge pads in front, barefoot behind. Because his white line looked good and because of all the water in winter, Phil took his pads off. He was sore. That is to be expected, though Phil trimmed his feet so that the loss of the wedge angle of the pad would not be changed. Naturally, I was worried. My reaction would be to take him for many short walks throughout the day. Stormy weather prohibited that, so I just worried and gave him bute.

Sunday, I was able to longe him a little. The only arena dry enough to be workable was the indoor and there was a jumping lesson going on in there. Yesterday, Monday, I longed him in there and he seemed fine. He wore part of his harness, but I left the breeching off. I didn't know who else would be in here and I didn't want to freak anybody out.

He wore bell boots for the first time in a long time. He was starting to brush his coronary band. I think being out of condition is a contributing factor. He is a much more willing longer with bell boots. I don't know it its the brushing or that he feels like he is back in serous work with them on.

At least the stormy weather is over. We are still going to get lots of rain this week, but the blowing and gusting will be a lot less. We lost power in our house a couple of times. Gusts that keep trying to blow you over are hard to "work through."

Of course, my driving lesson got canceled.

I tried to work on saddle pads but it was not my week for that either. I accidentally melted some nylon webbing with my iron. Then I impaled my thumb with the seam ripper when I removed the damaged webbing. After that, I got acetone in the wound when I removed the melted nylon from the bottom of my iron.

It was a long period of procrastination before I got my Board of Equalization taxes done. I hate stuff like that. I ended up paying only 16.00, which is the total state sales tax I collected in 2009. Beginning in April, we payed 9.25%. It was a slow year.

The Possum Lodge on Mt. Hamilton enjoyed my presence on Saturday night and Sunday morning. There was snow, but by the time I got there, it had melted except higher up. Joseph and I had snow on the windshield while driving back.

When I returned, Whiskers, Mary Shelley, Paula, Silver, and Janow were all OK. Silver was pretty happy to see me. She scampered over and dug at me knee really fast, then hopped away. I'm not sure what that meant. I think she had some pretty strong feelings but could not think of anything else to do.

I need a scone.

Monday Bunday

A rabbit hops into a butchers’ shop and asks
“Have you got any cabbages?”. The butcher says that he doesn’t sell cabbages and the rabbit hops off.

The next day the same rabbit hops into the same butchers and says
“Have you got any cabbages?” The butcher, slightly peeved, says
"Look I told you yesterday – I’m a butcher, I don’t sell cabbages, now go away!” The rabbit hops off.

The next day the rabbit hops into the butchers again and asks
“Have you got any cabbages?” The butcher, really annoyed now, snaps
“No I haven’t got any chuffin cabbages! If you come in here again asking for some cabbages I’m gonna nail your ears to the floor!” The rabbit is scared by this and quickly hops out the door.

The next day the rabbit hops into the butchers and asks
“Have you got any nails?” The butcher replys
“No”. The rabbit asks
“Have you got any cabbages?"

Lookout Tower

Dave is building a lookout tower. This is just what we need. Maybe.
These pictures were taken before it started to rain. Yesterday I was pelted by hail. We are getting so much water! Paula the chicken is enjoying it most. It makes all the worms come up.

Monday Bunday etc

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Here is today's Monday Bunday. I'll bet Silver was even cuter when she was a baby bun.

My driving lesson was a blast! Spunky has so much heart. He just flies! Nutmeg and Indie are fun too. Can't wait until Janow is ready.

Joseph came down with a cold. He gave it to me. We are having a nasty storm here, gusty wind and rain. Santa Cruz Mountains are supposed to get it worse. I have to go lock Janow into his stall, but I'm putting it off. If he stays outside, the clay will get deep prints in ti and get muckier and muckier until it sucks the horseshoes off. He needs his front shoes to be sound.

Last Friday Phil the horeshoer took the pads off the front so now he just has egg bars. It made him sore. Some, I think, from the hammering and some from the fresh soles without pads. He should get better but I gave him bute to make him comfy, and some Isoxsuprine just in case, and to make me feel better.

Ew. Don't want to go out there with my drippy nose and sore throat!

Better Today...So Far

Driving lesson today! Had to cancel yesterday but got to reschedule for today. I have pictures to post soon, maybe I'll get to it later today.

One More Day

It's another day. Whoopee.

Today, I am droopy. Please forgive me. It's not your fault.

I had to have blood drawn for tests. Routine tests, nothing to worry about. I have never fasted for these because fasting gives me migraines. To change my routine bit by bit so that I can wait for the lab to open and give the blood and then have breakfast would take me a couple weeks. Skip that, skip the fasting. Make do.

So I go to the lab and cannot park. In fact, more and more cars are pulling into the parking lot, nobody is leaving and nobody can find a spot. I am lucky to escape.

Try again another day....so off I go, another 25 minute drive up the freeway. Ample parking. I walk around to the back of the building where the lab is. There is a sign and a map showing where to go now that this one is closed. I get back in my car and go there instead. There is one guy there. He will not take my blood because I am not fasting for twelve hours. In twenty five years I have never encountered this. I go to my doctor who says fast for 6 hours and lie.

It is the holidays. There is a lot going on. I shift my schedule so I am fasting for 6 hours and go again. There is new carpet. The smell is bad. It is giving me a migraine. I ask the guy(same one) if this is new carpet, it's giving me a really bad headache. He says "It's probably the paint." WTF I stay as long as I dare, but I have to leave before they get my blood.

So, again, I am fasting. I go to a DIFFERENT lab from the new carpet lab. I drive around the parking lot construction and park, take the elevator to the third floor, suite 301. The door is locked, there is no sign. This lab is no longer there.

I look up another lab and go there. I find a parking space in just over ten minutes and go in, standing room only! I wait 40 minutes and finally they get my blood. I take my Synthroid and wait an hour to eat. It has been over 2 hours since I left my house.

I wake up the next day with....a migraine. I am in bed, in the dark, for a day and a half. I come out and take care of Janow, then I check my email. Joe is getting an F in algebra and my Aunt Alice has passed away.

Whoopee.

Monday Bunday

"Never ever ever EVER give a bunny a lolly pop. NEVER! Well, maybe just once. "

I haven't figured out what is going on here..........but I know that rabbits are pretty adept at getting into trouble.......

Make Sense?

A couple posts ago, I wrote about some of the crazy stuff happening on New Year's Day. I did not write that "nothing happened." Of course it didn't. Nobody got hurt, beyond, maybe, a smashed toe. (My own toes long ago lost the ability to detect a horse standing on them. Thanks, Janow.) It goes that way all the time.

This past Tuesday went differently. We had a fall in the morning. I was there. It was an experienced and educated rider. One known to be safety conscious. Something scared the horse. It happens. Nobody did anything wrong. During the drive home, it began to seem that the emergency room was a better destination. Three stitches and an ankle cast.

This rider fared better than the one that fell that afternoon. The emergency response guys are getting too familiar with Indian Hill. A trip to the hospital in the ambulance with a fractured vertebrae, and not home yet. Another experienced and educated, safety conscious rider.

I have found that often, when someone falls and/or gets hurt, other riders speculate on what safety rule that person was breaking at the time. Even if they know the rider, even if they know that person is not the kind to break that rule, even if they weren't there. I decided, years ago, that people's brains protect them this way.

"That would never happen to me because I am smarter than that." Now they don't have to be afraid. They are safe.

Not really.

You can do everything right and still.......

It makes sense to say that getting hurt and acting safely are directly correlated. The more aware you are of safety, the more likely you are to get hurt. It seems to make sense. Maybe we should all ride 4 year olds in short shorts, tube tops and flip flops, cigarette in one hand(don't inhale, that will kill you). We would never fall off.

Then there was our the third fallen rider. Does it count if was off the property? His horse spooked and he was trying not to spill his beer.

mondaybunday.edu

A video lesson on how to relax your bun.

Up again!

This was scary. I came home and found that the post office had not delivered, because nobody was home to sign for .... a registered letter..... for me. Who is sending a registered letter to me? Last time we got one of those, it was for Dave who was being deposed. This feeds in to my mailphobia. I have never heard of anyone else being afraid of the mail. Some days I just can't bring myself to look in the box. I used to have to leave the room when Dave looked at the mail. I'm getting better.
I had to stew over my registered letter until the P.O. opened the next day. It was garment labels. I ordered them and seller wanted to know for sure that I received them. Phew!
My harness came. I decided to wait to try it on. New Year's Day brought all the yahoos out. With over 200 boarded horses, we have our share. The turnout of regular good people was also high. There were dogs, on leashes, but often the leash holder was about 5 yrs old. Lots of the dogs were not horse wise. Many of them in their new Christmas togs, like the pugs in full camo attire. Lots of the kids were not horse wise. In fact, lots of the adults were not either. They were friends and family, out for a fun horsey kind of day. There were 4 little girls with new ponies and the WHOLE FAMILY came and brought friends. People who crowd around the horse like flies on a scab. There was even someone riding in bathroom slippers. And Then..... a beginner rider/owner, sans helmet, reached down for an infant someone passed to her. She sat the baby on the cantle and held her on for a tour of the back lane. Can we get an ambulance on standby? I chose this day as one to NOT try anything new. Whatever happens, it's not my fault.

Today Janow wore part of his new harness. The crupper did not gain me any points in the popularity polls. He decided to live with it. I walked him, then lunged him briefly. At the first trot steps, he clamped his tail down hard. Then he just got on with it.

I took my saddle in to have new billets put on. When I got it back, I had forgotten where I put my leathers and irons, and my girth. It took me three days to find them. In the process I filled up half the recycling can.


Kathy took my picture. Janow was so focused on me that he would not take his ears off me. Kathy finally got one ear. I didn't think it was important to have his ears forward but Kathy was doing me a favor so I just let her do it.

Silver had her toenails clipped. It took two people! She held a grudge for two days. She would not eat anything while I was looking. I gave her raisins. She had a lapse of willpower and ate them. Then she would not eat anything else. She is fine now.