Your Drive Day

[jeanniecogan]

again, we have more in common. standard poodle is my favorite.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

I've only met one standard poodle and he was amazing.

I planned to drive yesterday and had DD all brushed and ready, but the wind was so terrible I gave up. I was planning to drive him tonight during the full moon, but the wind is predicted to blow all night. And there were lots of coyotes howling around (full moon?) so I think I will give it a pass.

 

[Cayuse]

The moon was beautiful here last night, but is was so cold!

I hope to start ground driving again in a few days. My ice is about gone and everyone can get out again but those days just standing made a huge difference in their fitness (or whatever little bit of fitness they had). Everyone was stiff. I have hand walked Peanut a couple of days and lunged him this morning for a short period of time. He has weak stifles so I need to get him strengthened again. He was a handful on his walk yesterday morning, reverted back to his bad self, lol. I walked him again in the evening when hubby was home and he was much better. I tripped over a wild raspberry vine and fell FLAT on my face. I thought he'd spook and high tail it outta there, so said to hubby who was going to grab him "don't touch him, I'm OK, I got him" and gathered my wits (and dignity) and pulled myself up. Peanut just stood there, rock solid, no foolishness. I was amazed at that after his morning "airs above the ground" episode. Wise little stinker, he is.

It's a funny thing, when I was a kid I was taught to NEVER LET GO of the reins, EVER!!! And 50 years later, flat on my face, I was NOT GIVING UP that lead line. Even to my husband.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Well, my neighbor came over to walk the horses with me. Dapper Dan was hanging back. I was leading him and could hear his hoof drag, which happens sometimes. She was leading Buckly and noticed he was having trouble. So, I am thinking he has been frolicking again and hurt himself. Not bad enough to limp, and he can still flex the leg up, but I think I will make him rest for a week. Boy, does stall rest annoy him.

 

[Cayuse]

Well, my neighbor came over to walk the horses with me. Dapper Dan was hanging back. I was leading him and could hear his hoof drag, which happens sometimes. She was leading Buckly and noticed he was having trouble. So, I am thinking he has been frolicking again and hurt himself. Not bad enough to limp, and he can still flex the leg up, but I think I will make him rest for a week. Boy, does stall rest annoy him.

Boys will be boys no matter what their age, lol. Between Buckly and DD, who usually instigates the other into playing? Or does DD do the frolicking on his own?

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Boys will be boys no matter what their age, lol. Between Buckly and DD, who usually instigates the other into playing? Or does DD do the frolicking on his own?

Dapper Dan frolics on his own. Sometimes he runs around snorting, then will leap into the air like a circus pony. He doesn't know he is getting too old for that.

I have seen Buckly gallop around and leap into the air, all four feet off the ground, but he does not play. He is somewhat aloof.

 

[Cayuse]

MajorClem, how is Clem? I was just peeling a clementine orange for lunch and I thought of her!

 

[Marsha Cassada]

The moon was beautiful here last night, but is was so cold!

I hope to start ground driving again in a few days. My ice is about gone and everyone can get out again but those days just standing made a huge difference in their fitness (or whatever little bit of fitness they had). Everyone was stiff. I have hand walked Peanut a couple of days and lunged him this morning for a short period of time. He has weak stifles so I need to get him strengthened again. He was a handful on his walk yesterday morning, reverted back to his bad self, lol. I walked him again in the evening when hubby was home and he was much better. I tripped over a wild raspberry vine and fell FLAT on my face. I thought he'd spook and high tail it outta there, so said to hubby who was going to grab him "don't touch him, I'm OK, I got him" and gathered my wits (and dignity) and pulled myself up. Peanut just stood there, rock solid, no foolishness. I was amazed at that after his morning "airs above the ground" episode. Wise little stinker, he is.

It's a funny thing, when I was a kid I was taught to NEVER LET GO of the reins, EVER!!! And 50 years later, flat on my face, I was NOT GIVING UP that lead line. Even to my husband.

They are so strong! Glad you were not hurt.

 

[Cayuse]

Thanks Marsha! Only my pride was hurt, really. I had so many layers on I think I was protected.

I see on the other thread Buckly was put to the cart and did well! A big thumbs up for the little man!

We have ice again :-(. I am getting discouraged and squirrelly. I am wishing for snow, we might get some Sunday night, but it might turn to rain. :-( again.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Wish you could send some of your moisture to us. I would even take the ice. I did have a little ice yesterday--left the horse tank faucet running all night. Luckily it was turned down pretty low, but it sure made a mess. It was interesting to see where the water flow went. The sun was out today, even though it was a little nippy and windy. Just bundled up and we went for it. I can do a route that is sheltered by the mountain most of the way.

 

[MajorClementine]

MajorClem, how is Clem? I was just peeling a clementine orange for lunch and I thought of her!

Can't get her in to our vet until the 14th but she's eating fine and doesn't seem uncomfortable unless you poke at her so I think she'll be okay waiting. She's still acting like an overly hormonal mare so my fingers are crossed that she's not pregnant. I'll post an update once we chat with the vet.

We could use some moisture here too. Our highest snowpack for the state is 86%. But that same area last year was over 200%. The average for the state is around 40%. We can survive one drought year (but hay is going to be $$$) but if we don't get some serious moisture this spring and next winter we are going to be in for a world of trouble.

Poor DD. Getting old is hard. You think you can do things then your body fails you. I've been experiencing a bit of that myself. Hope he feels better soon and doesn't need more than the week of stall rest. That would make anyone go stir crazy.

It looks like I'll be getting zilch for driving this month. We are going on a family vacation at the end of the month so that means no weekend trips down south during the month. Hopefully I can play catch-up in March and I'll have a full week down south in April. I'm not sure if I love having the horses south or not. I could have driving all winter up here this year. When it has snowed it's only stuck around for a day or two and the back roads have always been clear enough to drive on. Oh well, win some lose some.

 

[Cayuse]

We went through a drought the summer before last. Hay went up and although this was a good hay year, the price

remained about the same. Maybe that is because I do not get local hay, I think it is Canadian. when I buy it it is priced out by weight and not bale. I am not used to buying it that way and had to adjust. I get a small load every two or three weeks and it is always a surprise what the invoice will be.

Not only is it sold by weight, I think the price is dependent on what hay is selling for in the market that day. If I order hay and want to leave a check, I have to call the feed store after the truck is loaded to get the total.

Anyone else get hay by the weight instead of bale?

No driving for me either, weather will not cooperate for the next 10 according to the weatherman. I lost my gumption somewhere anyway. This is a long winter. Time to hibernate.

 

[Northwolf]

I always buy the hay by weight. It's mostly locally produced hay and my feed store is expensive compared to the price if I would buy the hay directly from the producer. But there is a guaranty on it and I can bring it back if the quality is not good. If we have a bad hay year, they import from other countries. We had french hay last year and this year we had a load of german hay. I never buy big amounts because I would not store too much.

I had a little adventure with Moony this weekend. On saturday, I drove him. He did great, but he was kind of sleepy and slow. He has the habit to stop or slow down and stare if he's confused about anything he sees. And there are a lot of scary things around him. He always was a scary type, but I'm glad he's stopping and not running away - usually...

On sunday, I took him running with me, as I usually do on sunday mornings. This is a great opportunity to show him the world and discover new routes without risk. We're used to go about ~10 miles on a normal sunday. This time on the way back home, we just follow a railway line, as - unfortunately - a train was coming from the back. I never showed him a train before and I didn't realize that this could be something that scares him. He panicked and broke free, and I was surprised by his reaction. Bye bye, Moony... I just saw him running the upward going road in a furious speed, NO CHANCE to keep up... Luckily, the road has not very frequent traffic and it's going straight upwards, so I hoped he will stop soon and graze. But not Moony! He desided to go home and I saw him far away as he cooled down a bit and jogged the road homewards. One mile after the railway line, an older couple could stop him. As I catched up him, he was almost normal and cooled down. His breathing was nearly at a normal level. I thanked the couple for stopping my horse, I was very glad there was anyone catched him before he ran on a road with more traffic. We continued our running trip as nothing was happened

Next weekend, I'll take him again to the railway and show him from a little distance that trains do not eating little horses

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Thank goodness you caught up with him safely. What a scary adventure. Trains are frightening. We have a lot of large farming equipment here. The scariest are heavy trailers full of cattle. They make a terrific racket and usually the farmers are driving pretty fast. Even my experienced horse is a little nervous of them. Combines are another scary monster.

I was wondering how Moony was doing. Smart boy to head for home.

 

[MajorClementine]

Wow! I'm glad your adventure with Moony ended well. Nothing more scary for a horse owner than a loose and running horse. I'm glad he cooled down and you were able to finish your run. I've got one horse who works up and up and takes forever to calm down. Sounds like Moony has a pretty level head after a scare. I think that makes a huge difference. Clementine is that way. She does spook but she is also quick to recover.

I finally sent in my paperwork to get Candace and Pistol transferred into my name. It's all been sitting here finished just waiting for me to address it and take the time to walk to the post office. Isn't it amazing how the smallest things seem to be so hard to accomplish. I took all new pics of both horses since the pics on their papers are terrible. They are a bit wooly in the pics but at least they aren't in the shade of a tree or facing away from the camera like the previous pics.

I think I've decided to go south for a short weekend this month before our family vacation. Especially if I find out that Clementine has something going on that requires surgery or special care. This is the hardest part about not having the horses here with me. I'm used to overseeing all vet care and being the middle man is hard.

 

[Cayuse]

Oh,poor Moony! I am glad his misadventure ended OK. That is pretty scary. I can sympathize alot with him, anything big like that makes me nervous, too. When I was about ten, our teacher, who LOVED trains, took a few of us kids on an outing. We went to a train station where he knew one the conductors so we could climb aboard the Engine and have a look around. I was quite frightened by the Engine. I felt like Moony, I wanted to run the other way!

 

[Marsha Cassada]

I disregarded a cardinal rule today and took Buckly out without wearing gloves. I attached the sulky to him and was leading him and we went for our walk. He was doing so well I got overconfident by the cows. He lost his cool and started bucking. Dragged me off my feet and down into a ditch. I couldn't get to my feet and was afraid he might stomp on me, but he just kept going around me. One more buck and I would have lost the grip on the lead rope. Thank God he stopped before that buck. I managed to get him settled down and we walked back toward home. Everything looked okay on the harness but he got pretty spooky on the way home so I unhooked. Rope burns on my hands, but I'm so glad I was able to hang onto him. It would have been a catastrophe otherwise. Moral: always wear your gloves when working with a green horse and don't get overconfident.

 

[Cayuse]

Wow, I think we are all experiencing some coincidental horse drama this past couple of weeks. That was a close call Marsha, glad you're both OK. I hope your hands will feel better soon. I bet you will be sore all over tomorrow. I was when I fell flat last week. Sometimes you can wrench something and not feel it in all the excitement.

Blasted cows. I think you need to buy or borrow one and put it in their paddock for a month or so. Then they will have to get used to the idea.

Do you think Buckly might have learned that the cart is going nowhere if he acts up and that all the rattling and shafts and stuff are OK?

 

[Marsha Cassada]

It was my fault; I hope I did not ruin him.

One of the straps broke on the breast collar so I will have to send it off for repair. No driving until I get it back.

Next time I will have someone go with me.

I really like him--he is the first horse since Bridget that I have felt this way about. I may end up sending him to be trained. The closest is Rosa Roca which is about 3 hours from me. Too far to go for lessons; he would have to be boarded.

He was wearing the rope halter. He had pulled it all the way down his nose. Thank goodness the knot held. My guardian angel was watching out for us for sure.

Took three advil when I got home.

 

[Cayuse]

He sounds like he has been level headed up until now. I bet you didn't ruin him. If they have a good mind they can be pretty resilient. I thought I ruined Peanut when he took off in the otter sled witout me but he was OK. I know it is a different situation as Peanut is seasoned and Buckly is green, but I do think their mind has a lot to do with how well they can recover from an incident.

If you really like him maybe it would be worth investing in him (Rosa Roca). Sometimes it's so hard to find one that you can get that special connection with. It was for me, anyway.

Who was Bridget?