Manual labor
May. 5th, 2008 10:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
murakoziWhew. I almost ended up being asked to go to the stuff up in Baltimore this week again, but don't have to. Bullet dodged again!
Sunday was a little unusual. Nothing really extreme happened, but there were a few little things that kind of stood out.
Sunday was a little unusual. Nothing really extreme happened, but there were a few little things that kind of stood out.
I learned that CNN was at the stables last week. They were out there filming a segment on womens' health. They must've sent Sandy some stills from their video, because she'd posted them on one of the bulletin boards. Looks like they were filming some private and group lessons. Due to the angles, I couldn't tell who all the horses are in the shots, but I was able to make out Firecracker and Baby Doc. It won't be the first time Firecracker appeared in the media somewhere. I'm told there were pictures of him running around on the National Mall back when he was a young horse and got loose after being in Reagan's inauguration parade. It won't be the first time a story has been done at or about the stables, either. It's been in local papers, the Washington Post, and other publications now and then.
Turns out the tractor broke down during the week too and wasn't running on Sunday. That made the stall mucking more of a chore. Instead of mucking out the stalls into a cart, the procedure here is to shove everything out into the barn aisle, whereupon we use the tractor (actually a skidsteer) to doze it all out. I can only recall ever hearing one other person mentioning having been at a barn that does it this way. The upside is, of course, that it's a good bit faster and requires less work. Of course, if/when the tractor breaks down, it's back to the old fashioned way. Thankfully, it wasn't summer and all hot 'n humid out. It took a lot out of me fully emptying the stalls and taking it out back by the wheelbarrow load. Since it takes longer doing stalls that way, it threw the regular schedule off a bit.
Stella, the new mare is still on probation. I suspect they're leaning toward not keeping her. She's the size we need and seems to move well, but she's young-ish and has a stereotypical pony attitude. She's proof that with horses, it isn't size, it's personality that gets you rank in the herd. After Casanova was turned out, we moved Stella to his box stall for the night (she, Maverick, and Clay won't be turned out with the rest of the herd til next week). That stall is right next to Cascades and those two mares have decided they want nothing to do with each other. Cascade was out on the trail at the time and when her rider went to put her back into her stall, she ended up getting loose after Stella started making faces and bouncing around next door. Fortunately, I was coming up the aisle leading Bonnie when Cascade came running down the aisle toward us. With Bonnie blocking much of the aisle, I just had to hold an arm up for Cascade to consider us an impenetrable barrier and run into the indoor ring instead of out of the barn. We caught her easily and since she was done for the day, I took her out back and turned her out.
It looks like the grass in the lower pasture will finally have a good enough foothold in the next couple weeks for us to turn the horses out down there. It's kind of amusing yet sad to see the horses up in the dirt pasture looking longingly down at the grass and sometimes hanging their heads over the fence to try to snag some. The first day on the grass is always a fun one to see. They just about explode through the gate to the grass pasture when it's opened.
Turns out the tractor broke down during the week too and wasn't running on Sunday. That made the stall mucking more of a chore. Instead of mucking out the stalls into a cart, the procedure here is to shove everything out into the barn aisle, whereupon we use the tractor (actually a skidsteer) to doze it all out. I can only recall ever hearing one other person mentioning having been at a barn that does it this way. The upside is, of course, that it's a good bit faster and requires less work. Of course, if/when the tractor breaks down, it's back to the old fashioned way. Thankfully, it wasn't summer and all hot 'n humid out. It took a lot out of me fully emptying the stalls and taking it out back by the wheelbarrow load. Since it takes longer doing stalls that way, it threw the regular schedule off a bit.
Stella, the new mare is still on probation. I suspect they're leaning toward not keeping her. She's the size we need and seems to move well, but she's young-ish and has a stereotypical pony attitude. She's proof that with horses, it isn't size, it's personality that gets you rank in the herd. After Casanova was turned out, we moved Stella to his box stall for the night (she, Maverick, and Clay won't be turned out with the rest of the herd til next week). That stall is right next to Cascades and those two mares have decided they want nothing to do with each other. Cascade was out on the trail at the time and when her rider went to put her back into her stall, she ended up getting loose after Stella started making faces and bouncing around next door. Fortunately, I was coming up the aisle leading Bonnie when Cascade came running down the aisle toward us. With Bonnie blocking much of the aisle, I just had to hold an arm up for Cascade to consider us an impenetrable barrier and run into the indoor ring instead of out of the barn. We caught her easily and since she was done for the day, I took her out back and turned her out.
It looks like the grass in the lower pasture will finally have a good enough foothold in the next couple weeks for us to turn the horses out down there. It's kind of amusing yet sad to see the horses up in the dirt pasture looking longingly down at the grass and sometimes hanging their heads over the fence to try to snag some. The first day on the grass is always a fun one to see. They just about explode through the gate to the grass pasture when it's opened.