Random Cold Stuff

Well, I had planned a nice post about Cartman's last trip to the trainer but realized that I probably better ask him (the trainer) if it would be OK to post his photos on the internet.  Cartman is a complete attention hound, so I know he wouldn't mind.

So, here are some random pictures from around the farm last week.  It was starting to get cold.

Certified Girl (or Girlie, or CG as she is also known) is living in the field out behind the house with her sidekick Draol.  They hang out, graze, groom each other, fuss at each other, and pester the neighbors horses next door.

Here they are one morning as I was going out to check their trough for ice.

Now they're getting curious, do I have ALFALFA?????

Ahhh, yes!!!!

And yes, that is a wisp of frozen hay and frosty whiskers hanging down below Girlie's chin.  I don't own a pair of clippers and have almost completely given up on pulling manes as well. 
Who would know these long haired beasts were Thoroughbreds?

On Monday I had the afternoon off, so I hauled Cartman and Dazzby in to town to a friend's arena.  I rode Dazzby while my trainer rode Cartman.

Dazzby was not up to snuff.  She kept swapping leads behind going to the left and to the right would only pick up the correct lead for two strides and then would swap to the left lead.  Troubling.  She has done this a little before, usually it is after an extended break from being ridden.  She has never been so adamant about the lead changing.

I have been riding her in boots when we go out anywhere there are rocks.  Unfortunately the last time I took her out a small rock got stuck in the heel piece of her boot.  It rubbed a small sore spot on the back of her pastern, not bloody, but definately irritated.  She is a very stoic mare and I feel bad for not noticing the rock earlier. I am hoping this small sore is what was causing the  problems for us on Monday's ride.

Thankfully my shoer was out Thursday and after about 3 hours in the sun, then rain, then hail, then snow we have shoes on again!!!!!

And now, for something completely different:

A cold poodle

Cheers!

Just how badly DO you want to go to Home on the Range?

Apparently the answer to that question is "Pretty badly". 

So badly, that tonite Dazzby and I did five miles in the driving rain and finally in the dark too.

Sigh.  I worry that she isn't as fit as she was last year at this time.

 In August of last year she cut her foot open; it was a long healing process involving lots of wrapping and praying.  The cut went through the coronet, but luckily the hoof capsule was not effected and the hoof grows out normally.  Consequently she had from August until January 15th completely off. 

She's not one to "overwork" herself turned out in pasture, so by January she was pretty much a gigantic, hairy, brown marshmallow.

So, now I worry.  I really want to go, but only with a horse fit enough to enjoy the ride.

I think I'll take her out this weekend and do our 11 mile loop, complete with really LONG hill in the middle.  I will feel confident that if she can complete this without problem she will be fit enough to do a really slow HOTR in five weeks.

Who wouldn't want to go here?

Home on the Range is near Washtucna, Wa. Over on the dry side!

This is the Palouse Valley

I can't wait!

Earth Tilts Off Axis

I'm pretty sure that most of our neighbors, all of my close friends, my family and co-workers would all be surprised to hear I have gotten an award for being "stylish".

After all, my husband has been threatening for some time now to turn me and my wardrobe over to "What Not to Wear".  I think the only thing saving me, so far, has been the fact that he would have to take care of all the horses while I would be off shopping in NYC!

Nevertheless, thank you AareneX from Haiku Farm for the honor of the Sylish Blogger Award!

Now I am to tell seven things about myself that you probably don't know (this shouldn't be too difficult as this is only my third blog post).

1)  I was born in Russelville Arkansas.

2)  At six I won the school talent show (yes, they really used to have talent shows and some kid could actually win) for singing "Come with Me to the Mountains" from The Sound of Music.

3) I now have an almost paralyzing fear of speaking in public.

4) My dream car is a 1959 Mercedes 190SL, black with red leather interior.

5) I can write cursive backwards and upside down.

6) The last award I won was Miss Cowlitz County Hotlips 1992, by submitting a lipstick print to the local radio station.

7) I once made my living galloping racehorses.


Whew- I have a whole new respect for all my favorite bloggers, this is harder than I thought it would be!

Just in case anyone questions my abilities to win this award, I will leave you with photographic evidence of my "Style"

Hey, what can I say- I was waiting for my friend to pick me up for a training ride and wanted to get a little floor installation done while I waited!


And now to perpetuate the Stylish Blogger Award I would like to nominate two of the blogs I enjoy reading:

Jonna of Barbs, Etc.
http://acerfarm.blogspot.com/

and Bif of I am Boyfriend
http://www.iamboyfriend.com/

Enjoy!

Three to go

Now for the other three members of the herd:

Certified Girl and her filly Pink Raisor (Pinky)
Girlie is now 22 years old and is still "The Queen" of our farm.  She has gotten somewhat more affectionate as she has gotten older, and will even eat a carrot or BerryGood treat nowdays.  In her youth she was one fast racemare and filly of the meet at Louisiana Downs circa 1992.

The sweet-looking black filly is oh, so deceptive.  Unfortunately Pink has not inherited her mothers kind nature and is somewhat of a feisty girl.  She was the horse that crushed my big toe last summer, resulting in a somewhat abbreviated summer riding season.  

But wait!  There's one more!
In 2001 I was mourning the loss of our first foal.  I had decided to breed Certified Girl the next spring and wanted to see what kind of babies the local TB stallions were siring.  I made the fateful mistake of taking my husband to the Oregon Thoroughbred Breeders Association mixed sale at Portland Meadows.

Not long after we arrived a pathetic looking yearling was led into the ring.  A little chestnut with a wormy belly, she did not get a bid.  The auctioneer was pleading for her and Todd looks at me and says "You could get her and turn her as a broke 2 year old."

He was still under the assumption the money could be made in horses-  He raised his hand!!!  Ack, I was feeling a pit in my stomach as the auctioneer brought down the gavel.

Well, it was somewhat worse than I had originally thought.  The small pathetic yearling was actually a two year old! 

Apparently this filly, named Draol, was one of a herd of TBs in the midst of a divorce battle between a long time Oregon breeder and his 80 year old wife.  They fought over the horses, and someone didn't feed them.  I later learned that Draol's three year old brother had died of the neglect during the ordeal.  They were dispersing a lot of horses.

Draol:

hello

I have been reading blogs for a few years now and thought perhaps it was time to try my hand at writing one!

For starters this will be a blog about horses.  I am pretty obsessed with horses and always have been.  Some might thing my life is somewhat narrow.  I have my husband, my family, work, our small farm, and six Thoroughbred horses.

Here are two of our horses:

The nose belongs to Dazzby, the mare I am doing LD endurance rides with.  The little guy is Taj, her 2003 foal by Taj Alriyadh.

Taj is now seven years old and I still have him.  He was pretty much a failure at TB racing, more on that later.

Here is Taj's little brother Cartman:

Cartman just officially turned five years old on Jan. 1.  He won't really be five until April but he is going really well under saddle and so far has not lived up to his name- well, other than that one kicking episode when he was a month old.  I plan on using Cartman for distance riding and hope to be able to move up to 50s, or more, when he is ready.  It will be a while, we are taking things really slowly with him.

Next post will introduce the other three Wren Loop TBs.