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murakoziBoring horse-related stuff
I'm a little surprised when folks ask me about events at the stable on Sunday evenings. While I couldn't love the horses there more if they were my own, I don't expect others to have much interest in them. I'll ramble on ceaselessly about them, given the chance, like some sort of proud parent. Last night, I had more inquiries than usual about them, for some reason, so I figured I'd recap, for the 3 or 4 people who read this and actually have any interest.
Overall, it was a fairly typical day there. The trail rides went off without a hitch, even with some question as to the actual weight of one of the men riding. Poor ol Doc deserves a medal for carrying that guy around. I don't know why Don didn't question him more about his weight. There were a couple notable things though. As usual, upon arriving at the barn and saying hello to people, I went down the aisle on the school horse side, and was greeted with the usual chorus of nickers. (Such love they have for me, so long as I've still got carrots or other treats) Then went over to the boarder side, to check on the privately owned horses and the few shool horses over there. Right off, I spotted a sorrel gelding in the formerly empty stall between Dan and BJ. At first, I thought it was Hobbes, and wondered why he'd been moved. But he was a little bigger than Hobbes, and had big feet. Heck, he looked like he could be Dan's little brother or something. I made a mental note to ask about him and went on down the aisle.
And stopped when I reached the stall formerly occupied by Tucker. The bars and a couple planks were gone from the front of it, and the door of the stall next to it was gone. Okay, that was odd. Heading back down the aisle, I ran into Sandy, who'd just arrived. Turns out the new gelding is named Toby. Don has him on a trial basis, to see if he'll make a good school horse. The blown-apart stall is apparently Toby's doing. Earlier this week, the horses were being turned out, but it was decided to keep Toby in, so he wouldn't get beaten up too much (as new horses often are when in a new 'herd' They gotta figure out where they fit in the ranks.) While Toby had only been there a day or so, he apparently was already pretty herdbound, and was not happy with being inside alone. So, he somehow knocked out the two topmost planks of the stall. Presumably by kicking them. With those gone, the window fell out too. Since the door for the next stall's latch was on one of those planks, the door and it's rail got yanked off as well. That's the official story, anyway. I kind of suspect that the reality is that Irina got careless driving the skidsteer down the aisle, hooked the door to the stall, and ended up ripping it and the boards out. Fortunately, there was another stall available to put Toby in.
When the first trail ride came back in, it was more than obvious that Bandy had gone lame. She seemed a little stiff coming back up the hill, and when she got into the ring, she began limping severely. That took her off the working list. I gave her some bute and left her in her stall for a bit, then took her out to turn her out in the pasture. She'd gotten worse though and would only take a few steps before stopping and refusing to move for a minute. Not a good thing. Got Don and he had a look and agreed with me that she needed to stay inside. Unfortunately, that'd mean she'd be all alone on the school side. The only stall to put her in on the boarder side was the one Toby half destroyed. Well, Bandy was lame as a post, and the remaining boards on the front wall of the stall were up past her chest. Seeing as how it was unlikely that she'd go over the remaining boards, we put her in that stall. She seemed to rather enjoy being next to Hobbes (hey, he's a handsome young fella who at least shows some interest in the mares, so who can blame her?) and really seemed to love having a huge 'picture window' to stick her head out into the aisle, which also let her have a good view of Sherman, the Clydesdale/TB cross gelding across the aisle, whom she got all nickery at.
Anyhoo, that's about it for the farm report for this week. Now if only I could get rid of this nasty sinus pain I've had since I woke up.
I'm a little surprised when folks ask me about events at the stable on Sunday evenings. While I couldn't love the horses there more if they were my own, I don't expect others to have much interest in them. I'll ramble on ceaselessly about them, given the chance, like some sort of proud parent. Last night, I had more inquiries than usual about them, for some reason, so I figured I'd recap, for the 3 or 4 people who read this and actually have any interest.
Overall, it was a fairly typical day there. The trail rides went off without a hitch, even with some question as to the actual weight of one of the men riding. Poor ol Doc deserves a medal for carrying that guy around. I don't know why Don didn't question him more about his weight. There were a couple notable things though. As usual, upon arriving at the barn and saying hello to people, I went down the aisle on the school horse side, and was greeted with the usual chorus of nickers. (Such love they have for me, so long as I've still got carrots or other treats) Then went over to the boarder side, to check on the privately owned horses and the few shool horses over there. Right off, I spotted a sorrel gelding in the formerly empty stall between Dan and BJ. At first, I thought it was Hobbes, and wondered why he'd been moved. But he was a little bigger than Hobbes, and had big feet. Heck, he looked like he could be Dan's little brother or something. I made a mental note to ask about him and went on down the aisle.
And stopped when I reached the stall formerly occupied by Tucker. The bars and a couple planks were gone from the front of it, and the door of the stall next to it was gone. Okay, that was odd. Heading back down the aisle, I ran into Sandy, who'd just arrived. Turns out the new gelding is named Toby. Don has him on a trial basis, to see if he'll make a good school horse. The blown-apart stall is apparently Toby's doing. Earlier this week, the horses were being turned out, but it was decided to keep Toby in, so he wouldn't get beaten up too much (as new horses often are when in a new 'herd' They gotta figure out where they fit in the ranks.) While Toby had only been there a day or so, he apparently was already pretty herdbound, and was not happy with being inside alone. So, he somehow knocked out the two topmost planks of the stall. Presumably by kicking them. With those gone, the window fell out too. Since the door for the next stall's latch was on one of those planks, the door and it's rail got yanked off as well. That's the official story, anyway. I kind of suspect that the reality is that Irina got careless driving the skidsteer down the aisle, hooked the door to the stall, and ended up ripping it and the boards out. Fortunately, there was another stall available to put Toby in.
When the first trail ride came back in, it was more than obvious that Bandy had gone lame. She seemed a little stiff coming back up the hill, and when she got into the ring, she began limping severely. That took her off the working list. I gave her some bute and left her in her stall for a bit, then took her out to turn her out in the pasture. She'd gotten worse though and would only take a few steps before stopping and refusing to move for a minute. Not a good thing. Got Don and he had a look and agreed with me that she needed to stay inside. Unfortunately, that'd mean she'd be all alone on the school side. The only stall to put her in on the boarder side was the one Toby half destroyed. Well, Bandy was lame as a post, and the remaining boards on the front wall of the stall were up past her chest. Seeing as how it was unlikely that she'd go over the remaining boards, we put her in that stall. She seemed to rather enjoy being next to Hobbes (hey, he's a handsome young fella who at least shows some interest in the mares, so who can blame her?) and really seemed to love having a huge 'picture window' to stick her head out into the aisle, which also let her have a good view of Sherman, the Clydesdale/TB cross gelding across the aisle, whom she got all nickery at.
Anyhoo, that's about it for the farm report for this week. Now if only I could get rid of this nasty sinus pain I've had since I woke up.