Smoke Surroundings

All around us there is smoke. Last time I heard the news, it said there was 200 + fires throughout Northern CA. Luckily all this seemed to have by-passed this area. Except for all the smoke, which is now surrounding us like a grey blanket. You can smell fire in the air no doubt and I wonder how this is going to effect the horses that are closer to the fires? The smoke is fairly thick here and must be un-bearable in other places.

Today was much cooler than yesterday and the day before. We battled some 100 degree weather and now it’s suddenly in the sixties. I was actually seeking out the sun for warmth while outside. I’ve heard some people blame global warming.

Ink had his shoe appointment today. It didn’t go as smoothly as anyone would have liked. I sensed something wrong with the farrier. I couldn’t put my finger on it and it wasn’t my place to ask, but something wasn’t right. Ink wasn’t being quiet. He was moving a bit and wasn’t listening to S* very well. He pulled back twice but gave to the pressure and came back without a problem. I’m not sure why he pulled back in the first place. Ink wasn’t being really bad or spooky, he was just being mischievous, like he usually is when he gets bored. Most of the time he was falling asleep, so it had me a little puzzled.

Equine Spring Saving

It’s now spring and I’m gearing up for the summer.  I just got the new SmartPak catalog and I found the fly sheet that I’ll be getting Errika and Ink.  I’ll have to save apprx. $115 to buy them and I’m hoping that I can order them in time to be here around mid May because that is when the bugs start coming out around here and the weather will be getting warmer so they will need something cooler than their cotton sheets.  I also have their two fly masks from last year that I got at the expo so I won’t be needing to buy more of those. 

We got hay a few days ago and decided that we were going to switch them over to grass hay instead.  The trainer recommended it instead of Oat and I think it will be easier to digest and chew than the Oat.  What do you guys think of Grass hay? 

 Tonight is my brother’s 24th birthday and I made him jet black cupcakes with bright red frosting (his race car colors) and sprinkled black edible flake things on top.  They look awesome!  We’re having a little party over at the shop. 

Long Days with Horses

Yesterday was a long day over at the barn.  I lunged Ink again, rode Errika and cleaned stalls.  I had Ink eat his grain in the round pen while I cleaned Squirt’s stall.  When I was done, Ink was finished with grain and it was dark.  I grabbed his blankets and walked to the round pen.  I put the blankets on and reluctantly started walking to the back.  Last time I drove the quad back there, thankfully I was on wheels, I came across a possum that glared at me and just kept walking towards me.  I rammed the quad in reverse and floored it until I was back at the barn.  No way was I going to go back there again in the dark and I swore, not on foot.  But last night I was all alone and I walked Ink to the back.  I kind of hid next to him and stomped really loud, so if something was there it would hopefully run away after it heard us coming.

 No scary possum or rat was around and we made it safely to the field.  I was so relieved.  But then I had the walk back..  Alone..without the big guy to protect me.  I ran all the way back, as fast as I could.  

 It was such a loong day.  It rained, got sunny, was windy, man the day was full of adventures. 

Ink looked really good yesterday.  I didn’t notice any lameness and he wasn’t short strided at all.  I’m not sure what that means.  But maybe a feed through joint supplement and a chiro or massage therapist is all he really needs.     

I’m off to the barn, have a great weekend everyone!!   

Our Friday

I know Ink has a good heart, he just is a jokester about a lot of things and sometimes he doesn’t know any better.  I was reading a blog about a rescued horse and in a way it reminded me of Ink.  The things I have and wanted to do with him on the ground, the expectations I had for him (once he developed manners), are all things that I had to work hard for.   I think it would be easier to do that if I actually had a horse that wanted to be openly taken under my “wing.”  But Ink acts like a tough dude and can be stubborn.  So I think I did the right thing by being gentle and patient in the beginning?  Now, however he knows what is right from wrong.  Through understanding, between his stubborn hissy-fits, he now knows that nipping or threatening to kick is a big no no.

Tonight Ink got his shoes done.  T*** trimmed them and reset the shoes.  Ink was good and was pretty patient and willing, he made me laugh just because he kept resting his head on T***’s shoulder and smelling his back, hair and behind lol.  But he lifted a hoof a few times when he got a little tissy.  When I first got Ink he kicked at everything, if you’ve read this blog you’ve probably heard me say this before, but he kicked at water, at anything that even attempted to upset him.  Now he’s much better, more understanding with people and other things.  I think it’s just been his reaction from life on the track.  Things such as kicking problems aren’t worked through or even prevented in that enviorment.  Often times it’s encouraged, as one man has told me.  I think most of us horse people have seen the move Seabiscuit?  He was such a lazy little horse and then he was a sour thing with a bad attitude about everything.  Ink was probably very much that when he was at the track.  He’s crossing over to his real self these days, a laid back hunk, with a cool persona.  Lazy - falls asleep when he’s shod, having his hooves picked, stretches his back leg right out to have his belly scratched, stands patiently and quietly for almost anything.

I see the horse within him and it’s been a dream to see it emerge.   

Blanket Whoa’s

Did you enter the TEI Contest Yet?!  http://inkeq.wordpress.com/2008/02/19/tei-contest-image-time-lapse/

 

My mom is becoming quite the photographer!

Rainy days inspire a lot of posting on the blog…

I updated a few things and changed the look.  That’s me and Ink up there on the header image :D.

Yesterday my mom and I went to the new horse store.  The people are so nice and if I’d give anyone money it would be them. 

I had to exchange a blanket my brother got me for Ink for Christmas, it was too small.  But I went out the other day to give grain and Ink has bits of cotton from his blanket in the field….  It was/is still usable, somewhat.  But it needs to be stitched up.  It, however, made it one more day.  We exchanged the new, small one, for a re-placement for the now destroyed blanket.  It’s a Weatherbeeta “Landa.”  It looks so good on him lol.  Well until the mud gets to it..

I also had a gift certificate to the same store from my brother as well and decided to buy Errika a new cotton sheet.  The one she was wearing under her waterproof turnout, wasn’t working well and kept sliding back.  It didn’t have belly straps, but for less than $20 it was OK.  I bought it new at the Horse Expo for that price.  But it was time for an upgrade.  Now she has a nice, pink, sheet.  It looks very classy lol. 

On top of that we decided to put Ink on a different grain.  The new grain is “Strategy” by Purina.  I had just enough left of the old grain to be able to switch him over slowly. 

Clipped

Sorry I don’t have a picture!  Yet anyway.. =)

I kind of want to make this post as short as possible (but I doubt that will happen), because I am super tired.  Even typing is making me sleepy, and I’m doing it unusually slow deleting every few letters because my eye lids are ready to shut. 

I got up early yesterday morning, despite being up rather late the night before, and went to a bridal shower for our friend’s fiance’.  I actually won something!  We played this game where the hostess put these cards with famous peoples’ names on our backs and we had to ask people in the room three questions to find out who we were.  I was Rachel Ray =D.  I think I kind of cheated though, by accident!  Because I didn’t know you were only supposed to ask three questions.  Whoops!  I won hand sanitizer and lotion from Bath and Body Works, mmm. 

Then later on that day I planned on coming home, and hanging out with Ink.  It was raining and I wanted to bring him up to escape the rain as I often do.  Well all the boys (11 total) Matt, my dad, my mom, Klint (brother), Kirk (older brother), and some other people, including the friend who’s fiance’s wedding shower I went to, came.  We all drove up to this indoor karting track a few hours away.  My dad convinced me to go.  Because last time I totally kicked booty and beat some of the guys who actually race.  It was fun!  Although my chiropractor tells me to steer clear… =D

We left around late and got home around 1am…  I drove all the way there and back.  I was SOOO pooped!!  My back, arms, and hands are in pain.  Not to mention we still had to feed and I had to give grain (poor horses).  Ink was very ticked off that we got there so late.  Umm, we got home and went to bed around 3am.  We had to get up early for Ink’s clipping appointment.  Matt went over there around 7am to bring him up, sweep the barn, and give him his grain.  Seriously Matt is a life saver because my body would NOT get up this morning. 

Ink did really well for the clipping.  He looks so cute! 

I rode him after, and that went well. 

Ok pictures tomorrow and I’ll finish telling the clipping-drama-story……  Oh goody!

The New Blanket

 

It twas Christmas in November I tell you!  Ink’s blanket came early by UPS.  I was in the bathroom washing my face and I heard the truck..  Then the doorbell and there it was ready to be unwrapped like a present under a tree.  I know I am silly, but I just love getting new horsey things.  New or used, I love adding to my collection.  This is the first new blanket we bought for Ink.  His turn-out one we got used (but in new excellent condition) from a consignment tack shop around our area. 

Doesn’t Ink look handsome in that blanket??  Matt still doesn’t like it, but I think he looks sooo cute!  By the way, can you see how fuzzy the big guy is? 

The lady for clipping, is coming out to do a full body clip on Ink Sunday.  Yay, I’m excited for that too =).  He’s going to look sooo handsome, I can’t wait.  It will be my first clipped horse.  I’ve never seen anyone do it before, and never had my own horse clipped. 

After seeing this color blanket on Ink, I want to get Errika one.  She has a new cotton sheet (like Ink’s) but it’s not very well made.  Errika’s Christmas present perhaps?

My Equine Nutrition class was great last night.  We got into more of the math, and I was a little intimidated by it at first.  I’ve never been the math person..  But I really started to catch on.  I did the homework for the class this afternoon, and I think I did really well, but we’ll see.  It’s generally how to calculate the DM (dry matter) or the CP (crude protein) in a certain weight of a specific type of hay, that we were doing.  I actually enjoyed doing the homework.  I got only one wrong on the quiz at the beginning of the class.  The one I got wrong, was my silly mistake.   

 

Clipping the Beast

Ink is turning into a fuzz ball, to say the least!  I’ve tried to keep the fuzz down by keeping him on a blanketing routine, but it hasn’t worked.  He’ll be in continuous work throughout the winter, so I’ve decided to clip him.  I have to hire someone to do it for me because I don’t know how, and I don’t dare try =D, he’d come out looking shdjdhf if I did..  I already found someone in my area, and she charges $125.  Most places around here charge $150, so I guess we get a little break.  He’s out of shape that he sweats pretty good, all over, and I don’t want him to overheat and have to worry about him drying in the cold weather.  After some opinions, I’m going ahead with it.

I have decided on a hunter clip, but I just want the jaw to be clipped, not the whole head and I don’t want the full saddle shape area left, but a patch instead. 

Coming by UPS on November 8th is Ink’s new light sheet!  Since Matt accidentally destroyed his other one, he ordered me a new one.  It’s this one; http://www.smartpakequine.com/ProductClass.aspx?productclassid=1942&cmPreserveSource=true&cmPreserveCategory=true

I picked out the Chocolate Plaid one for the big guy, even though Matt suggested against it and wanted something a little more “manly” but the blue plaid was sold out in Ink’s size so I went to the Chocolate.  Kind of silly, but I can’t wait until it gets here!  It will feel like early Christmas.  =D

Stall Life

Errika is on two months stall rest (after the colic surgery) and she has been a good girl since we brought her home.  She otherwise hates being locked up, and honestly who wouldn’t?  If effects both Ink and Errika mentally.  They seem so obviously happy when they are out.  The dry season is the only real oppurtunity for Ink to be out.  Last winter, if you remember, Ink got an abscess not too long after the mud came about.  He was in for the remainder of the winter.  It was such a hassle during that time with many factors to take in and adjust to.  Ink needed to be turned out sometime everyday.  Because as it goes if we store his energy, he needs to have an outlet.  Well the only place that he could go for turnout was the arena.  That’s not un-common.  But the owner of the facility didn’t like the idea.  I had to turn him out in the round pen, which added in some other negative factors; there was grass growing in there, in the sand, so he would graze instead let some energy out, and there wasn’t a lot of room for this big TB to really kick up his heels.  But it was better than nothing.  Besides turning out, we had to do a lot of ground work before we even got to the turn-out part of the day.  He was such a ball of energy, that he would pull me out of the stall and to the arena (as he quickly started to know the routine) and then we had to be careful releasing him once in the arena because he had a tendency to take off bucking.  I would have lunged or round penned him some of the days, but he doesn’t know how to lunge and won’t go around in the round pen.  As soon as he gets his shoes and pads on, I want to have Stanley or the other trainer help me with the big guy, so we can make this winter easier on everyone, especially Ink. 

I’m really getting excited about these portable stalls, because we are making progress.  My dad is building them, and now instead of the panels to help frame the stalls, he is building the frame out of steel tubing. 

Portable Stalls

First I want to update on Errika.  I have been very busy lately with her and I haven’t been able to check up on emails lately.  Things happend so suddenly and in a blur.  The Friday before last we visited her and went to talk with the vet, at her request.  We thought we had to put her down.  But the vet then said she wanted to try one last thing, but not to get our hopes up.  The next day the vet called, and said she had done a complete 1-80!  And just this past Friday, we brought her home!!  We have a large remaining balance to pay for the surgery she underwent, roughly $5,000.00.  To help raise money to pay for that, we are selling photos of her, taken by me.  To view all the details please visit Errika’s blog: http://www.dearerrika.wordpress.com

The latest news is that we; being my parents, Matt and I, are going to build to portable stalls for Ink and Errika this winter.  Errika is in the barn right now, for two months stall rest.  But after returning home and being off regular feed for nearly 4 weeks, she is skinny, and needs to be warm and dry during the winter.  As well as Ink.  We are going to shortly be looking for the paneling, but we already have the metal roofing, metal siding and plywood for the interior siding. 

 My other problem is bedding for the stalls?  Errika has wood shavings right now, but they are expensive for lasting only a few days.  I came across this product called “Dry Stall” in which is a permanate bedding: http://www.drystall.com  Has anyone tried this product before or know anything about it?  Comments and reviews would be excellent!

How has Ink been?  Well he still isn’t sound.  But he will be getting pads and shoes on soon…  Next week he is getting his teeth done as well.  He’s been a good boy lately :).