Pedicure Break

It's been a crazy week at work with the phone ringing off the hook, assignments flying at me faster than I can prioritize them, way too much overtime, and I even had to drive into town late at night to hand off some equipment to a coworker, so it feels like I haven't had a single break all week. However, I did get outside for a little over an hour when my farrier arrived to work on the horses' hooves. I was able to do a quick photo shoot with him while he worked on Lostine, because she's always so well behaved that I don't have to hold the lead rope.

Catching the horses was rather entertaining. Lostine ran from the halter and ran straight at my farrier, who put his arms out wide and said "WHOA!" He cornered her so I could get the halter on. Then Gabbrielle had to follow in Lostine's footsteps by running from the halter as well, and again my farrier stopped her. By the time it was Bombay's turn, he learned from the girls' mistakes, and just walked right up to my farrier to say, "Here I am. I'm ready. Get to it."

I talked with my farrier about Gabbrielle's limp at the trot. He said that he could tell by the way her hooves were worn that she was putting more weight on the left front leg, and when she uses her right front leg, she puts the weight on the inside, because she had a lot of hoof wall on the outside. He mentioned that when she was younger, her right front hoof appeared to be a bit clubbed, but it has improved since then. He made some adjustments in how he trimmed her to see if it would help with her limp, but when I moved her out at the trot afterward, we didn't see any improvement. He thinks the problem is in her right front shoulder too.

I have the phone number of an equine chiropractor, but literally every time I pick up the phone to call him for an appointment, I get interrupted or someone calls me on another line about something urgent that has to be done at work. I probably need to invest in some x-rays of the shoulder and the entire right front leg as well. I've got an appointment for something else tomorrow, so all of this will have to wait until next week.

You can probably guess that I haven't had the time to get more estimates for a wall around the paddock too. My nosy neighbor was out setting a world's record in the amount of time she spent spying and eavesdropping on us. Each time I caught her peering at us from over the roof of a car or from behind some other object, she'd suddenly pretend like she was looking for something she lost.

Since this is such an old injury or condition, I seriously doubt much can be done for Gabbrielle, but at least I can find out what exactly is the problem (hopefully) and can get an assessment of whether I can at least ride her at a walk. Unfortunately, my farrier told me about a client of his whose horse went lame and she spent thousands trying to find out what the problem was, and the vets could never figure it out.

My friend reminds me all the time that Gabbrielle would make a great broodmare with her conformation, fine head and bloodline, but I really don't want to go into the business of breeding, nor do I want a fourth horse. I'm contemplating leasing her as a broodmare, though. She's my buddy, so I wouldn't sell her, but I wouldn't mind giving her a job to do, as long as being pregnant wouldn't put added pressure or pain on whatever is causing her lameness. I'd also have to make sure that her lameness is the result of an injury and not some genetic condition. Knowing that her one hoof is a bit wonky worries me from a genetic standpoint, though. I'll just have to wait and make my decisions when I have more information. In the meantime, she's just enjoying being a pasture ornament and getting an occasional carrot or two.

Doggie Glamour Photo Shoot

I still haven't had the time nor energy to paint my photography studio white. The new blood pressure medication that my doctor put me on really kicks my butt. I'm so depleted of energy that just the thought of hooking up the horse trailer or lifting a saddle onto a horse's back is too much for me. However, today I drank coffee until I had enough energy to do a quick photo shoot with the dogs.

I got a new master flash unit and tripod from my husband for my birthday and I wanted to try them out. It was a very educational experience. First of all, I definitely have to paint the walls and ceiling white, and rip up that green carpet in the studio. With the walls, ceiling, and floor all being green, Scrappy's gray fur came out green, so I had to make some adjustments with my Capture One editor.

I used a 50mm prime lens, but really should have used my macro for some of the really close up shots, because there were some depth of field problems. With the close up shots, either the nose, the eyes, or the ears could be in focus, but not all three at once. It did help if the dogs tipped their noses down, though.

I'm reading a wonderful book called "Creative Canine Photography" by Larry Allan. It was published in 2003, so some of the information is outdated, but it is still a gem of a book. It contains plenty of crucial information for pet photographers.

My main problem was not having a big enough background. I was just using a white towel at first, but if the dog turned its head or the light changed, I had to move to a different vantage point, which resulted in me losing my clean background. I took 146 pictures and about 19 of them were good quality. I visited a portrait studio this past week to get a peek at all of their equipment. I definitely need at least one strobe light, a soft box, and some backdrops before I can start taking on customers in the studio. The great outdoors still has plenty to offer in the way of lighting and backgrounds, though.

I had to get down on my knees and shoot up to avoid getting the carpet or baseboard in some pictures and that hurt on a concrete floor. I might carry my knee guards with me on photo shoots in the future. Which photo is your favorite and why?

After the photo shoot, the dogs needed a pee break, of course.

Nevada's Governor Injured in Horse Riding Accident

Nevada's Governor Jim Gibbons is recovering from surgery after a fall from a horse. The accident broke his pelvis in at least two places.

“He was getting on the horse and throwing his other leg over it when the horse spooked and took off,” Daniel Burns, the governor’s communications director, said. His foot was briefly caught in the stirrup, and the governor was kicked in the chest as he fell.

Ouch. That's gotta hurt. Get well soon, Governor.

Complications

Just when I decided to take my mother up on her offer to pay for the wall between us and the next-door neighbors, complications had to arise. Nothing is ever simple. You may recall that last spring I was having problems with a family of strangers walking onto my property to pet my horses over the fence each evening. Their presence disrupted my ability to work with the horses and get them into their stalls for the night. I didn't want to be a shrew and tell them to get off my property, because they were just trying to keep their baby entertained.

They stopped showing up, so I figured they moved away. However, now that the weather is cooling down, they're showing up multiple times a day and in the evening. I can't tell you how many times they scared me when I walked into my backyard to do chores thinking I was alone, only to hear a child's voice behind me. The baby is a toddler now.

It's easy to say that they are not hurting anything, which is mostly true. However, they are robbing me of my privacy and I find it offensive when people just traipse up my private drive, which is clearly marked as private, to visit my animals without having the courtesy to ask for permission. They actually stand right between my "Private Property, No Trespassing" and "Private Drive, Please Stay Out" signs while they pet my horses. I guess they think that if they stay on the other side of the fence they are okay. Or maybe since they are distant neighbors they think the rules don't apply to them. The only people those rules don't apply to are those I specifically invite over to my place, or those who have to contact me in an emergency. I'm very busy and my chores have to go like clockwork, so I don't appreciate unexpected visitors -- unless they are willing to pick up a pitchfork and help out mucking manure or doing a few loads of laundry.

It leaves you to wonder that if a person will trespass without permission, what else will they do? Are they going to get so comfortable on my property that they start "borrowing" or stealing things that I leave out like one of my neighbors did years ago? Am I going to walk outside some day and find them having a picnic on my front lawn since they seem to think my property is a public park and petting zoo? (Yes, I have had that happen before. I've also had tourists stop in their RVs and let their kids out to pee on my property.) Or perhaps they might go as far as lifting their toddler over the fence to sit her on one of my horses' backs. That would be a huge liability.

I recently met with my new insurance agent and she explained that even with the NO TRESPASSING and PRIVATE PROPERTY signs around my property, I can still be held liable if someone comes on my property and gets hurt. The insurance company will pay up to $5,000 in damages, but beyond that the person would have to take me to court and prove that I was negligent. Unfortunately, we do have plenty of things a person could trip over on our property, and we like to let our dogs out off leash. They could bite someone. Because we own the road that leads to four other houses besides our own, we can be held liable if someone gets damage to their car hitting a pothole. Believe me, there are a lot of potholes on our dirt road, and with all the speed demons who ignore my 10 MPH signs, my husband and son have to get out there after every rainfall to shift the dirt around.

What this means is that I'm going to need to have a chat with this young family and I'm probably going to have to extend the wall around to the street side of my property. With the way this neighborhood is growing with multiple generations and multiple families living under one roof thanks to no one being able to find work, it's only a matter of time before more Lookey Loos start wandering up my private drive to visit my horses.

The mason came out the other day to take measurements and dig a test hole. He sent me two estimates: One for just the side of the property between us and the next-door neighbors, and one with that plus a wall along the road. My husband explained that the neighborhood's television and Internet cable runs right along both fences, which really complicates matters. When the company who put up our chain-link fence came out years ago, they broke the cable and everyone lost their television and Internet for several days. I can't afford to have that happen this time, because I need the Internet to do my job working from home and so do many others.

I had hoped they could just build the wall in front of the chain-link fence, but since the cable is there, they will have to rip out the chain-link fence and use the same holes for the wall. The demolition and disposal of the old chain-link fence is an extra expense. When all was said and done, the original $8,000 estimate turned into $10,000 and rings up to over $15,000 if I throw in the street side of the paddock. Neither my mother nor I can afford that even if we split the cost. This is an estimate using the cheapest gray blocks. I especially can't afford this now, because there is a good possibility I may get laid off from my job sometime over the next couple of weeks. Fortunately, my employer is thoughtful enough to give us forewarning when things start going south.

The other thing that bothers me is that this masonry company hasn't stuck to their word on anything. They took their sweet time returning my calls. If they said they'd get the paperwork to me in two days, they took four. They misspelled my name, screwed up my email address and sent the paperwork to someone else, and got my address totally wrong after physically coming out here and somehow finding me with the wrong address. I don't want to do business with anyone who gets that many things wrong. I can't trust them to build the wall right. So, I'm going to get a second estimate from another company. Unfortunately, I'm running out of time. They lay each block by hand, and we've got to get this done before the first snowfall, otherwise we'll have to wait until next spring.

Almost Buddies

Now Scrappy can sit or lie near Midge without growling and snapping at her. I think that since I'm spending more and more time away from Scrappy, he's learning that the other dog in the house is good company too.

Bringing New Meaning to the Word "Outhouse"

Just when I thought the view next door couldn't get any worse...

What do you think? Should I traipse over there and break it in for them?

It's All in How You Manage the Ropes

On Sunday morning I went through my usual routine of getting Lostine ready for a trail ride in the mountains, only this time she absolutely refused to get in the trailer. None of my tried and true methods worked, so I regressed back to my old method of getting babies in the trailer.

I attached a long line to her halter, threaded it through the window in the front of the trailer and pulled on it with my left hand while encouraging her forward from behind with a long whip in my right hand. Tapping her croup repeatedly with the whip was easy for her to ignore. Cracking the whip loudly behind her also didn't have any effect. Throwing the rope part of the whip over her back and around her hocks did nothing, but if I pulled on her head she would take a step forward. That was my cue to release the pressure on both her head and from behind to reward her and let her rest.

We continued on inch by inch until she had nowhere to go but up into the trailer. She went up alright. She reared and hit her head on the top of the trailer. Fortunately, she quickly learned how high she could rear without hitting her head, because she did rear several more times. This was all just stubbornness. She's a 23 year old horse who has be riding in trailers her whole life.

I kept the pressure on until she stopped rearing and went in. She found some hay in a bag by her window, snatched a few bites, and then turned around and let herself out. We did this two more times, each time I asked her to stay in the trailer a little bit longer. I had to be very conscious the entire time of what the rope was doing in my hands. I could not let it loop around my hand or arm, because if Lostine decided to make a run for it, I'd be dragged along.

Unfortunately, she started this habit of lowering her head and turning it away from the trailer, which caused the rope to repeatedly get caught under the folded partition wall. Then her head was pinned down, which was a recipe for disaster. I had to keep releasing the rope and jumping in the trailer to get it out from underneath the wall. I really needed the help of a second person, but didn't have anyone who could assist me. By the time Lostine got in and out of the trailer on the third occasion, a storm had moved in and it was too nasty to go on a trail ride anyway.

This storm was predicated for the afternoon, but it arrived several hours early. I didn't want Lostine to be spooking at everything that moved in the wind or get rained on, so I released her back into the paddock and caught Bombay. I needed to practice putting on his polo wraps. It's been a few years since I've used some.

At first I tied Bombay to a post in the paddock, but when I turned around, Gabbrielle was trapped in his lead rope between him and the post. Argh! She always does that and I never learn my lesson. I can't tie a horse to a post when there are other loose horses around. It's another recipe for disaster. I backed Gabbrielle out of the mess, rescued Bombay, and led him to a separate pen.

Once he was tied to a post there, I began wrapping the left front leg with the polo wrap. No issues. Right front -- no issues. Left back was a bit more complicated. I began wrapping, heard a noise behind me, looked back, and saw a whirlwind headed our way. I wrapped faster and faster, praying I could get the Velcro attached before the whirlwind hit, but it beat me by half a second.

Bombay jumped, ripping the polo wrap out of my hands, pulled back, reared, bucked, kicked, did a dance from side to side while I ran for my life. I watched in horror as he struggled to get free from the post and appeared to be unwrapping and shredding that brand new polo wrap with his hooves. I yelled, "WHOA!" and amazingly, he held still.

He was stiff as a board, ready to explode again, so I spoke softly to him while trying to finish unwrapping that fabric snake from around his legs, because at this point it was wrapped around both hind legs. The wind kept coming in strong gusts, and the new tarp on the haystack was rattling and ballooning out beside us. Fortunately, Bombay held still until I could free him from the polo wrap.

I then had to desensitize him to a 9-foot strip of felt flapping in the wind, by throwing the polo wrap like a rope over his head, neck, body, and around his legs. He was good about that. Then I used him as a hanger to hold the polo wrap over his back while I picked out all the burrs. Amazingly, he didn't rip any holes in the wrap during the incident.

By the time I was done with him, I had spent several hours working with both horses and the wind was horrid. I closed up the trailer in preparation for rain and backed it into its parking spot and called it a day.

So You Want To Own A Horse?

So you want to own a horse? I own three. Here's a day in the life of a horse owner:

-Woken at the crack of dawn on a Saturday by horses kicking their stalls because they were hungry for breakfast.

-Let the horses out of their stalls and fed them.

-Upon opening one horse's stall, (people familiar with my horses can probably guess which one), I found a $120 horse blanket ripped from where it had been hanging on the wall, stomped on, and shredded. Spent two hours hand-sewing the horse blanket back together. (Hint: Don't encourage your horse to play with and shred old tarps, because he will carry that behavior over to the things you don't want him to destroy.)

-Noticed a horse rubbing its rear on the chicken wire and went in the house to look up when the last time was that the horses were wormed.

-The boys knocked down 60-pound bales of hay from a new block that was as tall as our house, covered the stack with a new $160 tarp that must be replaced every year, and anchored it down in the wind.

-I quickly (translation: spent only 40 minutes) cleaned all the manure in the paddock and horse stalls before a mason came by to measure the fence line in order to replace it with a wall. The horses swarmed him, so I had to shoo them into a separate pen so that the man could get his work done.

-While the mason did his thing, I painted some stinky stuff that is supposed to halt cribbing all over the barn and wood fence in order to avoid having to replace the wood planks.

-Spent the entire day moving the hose around in the pasture in an attempt to soak the soil so that it won't be so compacted, and hopefully the grass can grow again.

-Fed the horses lunch, went to the bank to cash a couple of birthday checks and then went to the feed store to buy polo wraps for my horses. (As a rule, horse people spend every penny of gift money on their horses.)

-Haltered each horse, applied splint boots, and lunged in the round pen at various speeds. (This is the equivalent of walking a dog so that it will expend its energy in a healthy manner rather than destroying everything in your house out of boredom.)

-Practiced ground work with each horse to encourage softness and responsiveness, so that cues from the saddle won't result in a fight with a thousand-pound animal.

-Massaged a horse with a sore shoulder. Right when I was performing physical therapy by gently pulling her front leg out in front of her for a stretch, some man driving a truck way too fast came barreling up my private drive, spooked the horse, the horse reared, and I had to bail out from underneath her hooves.

-Gave the horses their grain and medications.

-Put the horses in their stalls, fed them their dinner, and the day came to an end without me having had the time to ride.

-Oh yeah, and I got farted on and had a tail slap me in the face multiple times while picking out hooves.

Red Velvet Zoo

Yesterday was my birthday, but we were all too stuffed from eating at my favorite Mexican restaurant to be able to eat any cake, so we saved it for tonight. I've hoarded all the cake decorations from all the kids' birthday cakes through the years, so now when one of us has a birthday, we mix and match the old decorations for fun. I looked at the decorations my son chose for my cake and said, "Look! It's a horse with two humps and another horse with a really long neck."

My son said, "No, it's a camel and a gir... oh. You were joking."

Good Fences...

...make better neighbors. I won't venture so far as to say that they make "good" neighbors, but I'm sure they must make better neighbors than what I've got.

I have noticed that my nosy neighbor has been trying to time getting her mail at the same time I do. I have a habit of feeding the horses their lunch, then walking up the street to pick up the mail. So, me feeding the horses tips her off that I'm about to get my mail, which gives her the chance to check out what I got. This is the same lady who used to walk up onto my porch to read the return addresses of packages I got when she thought I wasn't home, but in reality I was just too busy working at my desk to open the door and bring in the package.

So, I started waiting until 2:15 PM to pick up the mail. After a couple of days of that she caught on, and I saw her walking up the street at exactly 2:15 PM with her mail. Fortunately, I got held up by some problem that day. Then yesterday I took the dogs for a short walk and the mail carrier just happened to arrive right then. My nosy neighbor saw me walking up the street toward the mailboxes, and she ran out of her house, jumped in her car, and raced up the street to try to head me off at the pass. However, by then I was turning around to walk the dogs back to the house via the trail around my pasture, so she missed me.

Then yesterday I went outside to clean up manure along the fence. I knew I was being watched closely from the house. Lostine started doing something bad, so I had to run over to her and shoo her away. As soon as I left my post at the fence, I heard my neighbor's front door open and close, then saw her out of the corner of my eye running for her car. I heard her car door slam and expected to hear an engine start up. I returned to the fence to clean up the manure and when no engine started up, I looked in the driver's seat of the car. No one was there. However, the back seat had fully tinted windows, so I could not see in. I suspected she was sitting in the back seat of her car behind those tinted windows watching me shovel manure. She's done odder things, so it wouldn't surprise me.

Between her always watching for me from her house and car windows, me having to look at all the junk in her yard, whirlwinds blowing all the junk in her yard around and spooking my horses, the endless traffic next door, and all her guests always pestering me while I'm trying to work with the horses or do barn chores, I made another phone call for an estimate to build a wall between our properties. Over $8,000 for one 140-foot long cinder block wall. Ugh.

Then I asked what the height limit is for a wall in our county and was told that it is 6-feet. Hmmmmm. That won't work. Because my neighbors' property is elevated higher than mine, they can still stand on their porch or their driveway and see right over a 6-foot solid wall. I could make it taller, but would legally need permission from my neighbors and I'm sure they would not approve of me taking their favorite view of me away. I'm their only form of entertainment. They love to watch me trip over the hose and fall down while I'm cleaning out water troughs. It's even funnier when I actually land in the water trough. They love to watch the horses sneak up behind me and tip over my wheelbarrow of manure so that I have to pick it all up again. What would they do without me?

Another suggestion was that I could build the wall higher and ask for forgiveness, since that is easier than asking for permission, but if the neighbors complained to the county, I'd have to pay even more money to lower the wall. It's just not worth the risk. We can't erect anything that is wood, because the beavers will eat it. I tried installing a hedge, but the horses were eating it before I could even get it into the ground. My only option is a solid wall. Has anyone had a solid wall around horses? Are there any hazards that go along with it? I'm not concerned about them getting cast against the wall, because the wall is on the uphill side, so it shouldn't be too hard for them to roll downhill to free themselves.

My mother has offered to pay for the wall to improve the property value of this house, since she owns it. I'm sure that the junkyard next door would be a huge deterrent to anyone who might want to buy the house in the future. A wall would cover that up. I'm thinking I will go with the legal 6-foot limit and take what I can get as far as improved privacy and less distractions goes.

I really would like to ride my horses on my property more often like I did years ago before these neighbors moved in. I'd also like to be able to sit on my patio and read a book without being stared at. If I get a spare 10-minutes over my lunch break to exercise or groom a horse, I want to be able to do it without having a curious child or lost stranger talking to me from the other side of a chain-link fence. Just think of all the possibilities! My farrier can actually trim my horses' hooves without an audience, and bonus! I can actually pick up my mail without my neighbor knowing. Freedom and privacy are priceless. Unfortunately, it takes a lot of money to gain such a lifestyle.

Tarp Play

My old hay tarps were rotting and easily ripping in the wind, so I ordered a new tarp. Before throwing the old tarps in the garbage, I laid one down in the horses' paddock to encourage them to walk over it. Lostine immediately walked across it and then stood in her usual spot acting bored with it all. Gabbrielle side-stepped the tarp, only occasionally putting one front hoof on it to paw unless I trapped her and herded her across it. Bombay shook it, ripped it, dragged it around with his teeth.

Each time Bombay ripped off a piece, he waved it in the air like a flag. At one point I was herding Gabbrielle across the tarp and Bombay purposefully ripped a piece off long and loud right behind her in order to scare her. His ploy worked and she took off running. Eventually Bombay just started trying to eat it, so I had to pull it out of his mouth and take it away from him. Sigh.

I guess my horses aren't afraid of tarps anymore.




I remembered to take video coverage this time...

Topaz Lake

Though we had awesome weather this weekend, for once I wasn't in the mood for a trail ride. Instead I went letterboxing with my son and sunbathed at Topaz Lake. My legs were sheet white, because somehow, for some unknown reason, I spent my entire summer in blue jeans and riding breeches.

A fellow letterboxer who found one of my planted boxes, recently planted a letterbox in my area for me to find.

As soon as I read the description of the location of the letterbox, I jumped for joy and exclaimed, "It's hidden on Guinea Pig Island!"

Ever since I was a little kid, I called this outcropping of rock on Topaz Lake "Guinea Pig Island" because it is in the shape of a guinea pig if you look at it from the right angle. Unfortunately, the picture below isn't the best angle, but you can see that the small pile of rocks on the left could be a guinea pig's ear, and the mound on the right is the guinea pig's butt.

The letterbox was hidden somewhere in that gigantic guinea pig butt...

I actually didn't find the letterbox, but my son did. I tried to keep him busy taking photographs with my telephoto lens while I searched, but he was getting impatient, because he wanted to go swimming. If it weren't for him finding the letterbox, I would have given up. It's always disappointing to make a special trip and not find what you are looking for.

Here's a photo he took of a speedboat...

I love this photo he took of a fish in the water while he was standing on a huge rock...

Here's a shot I took of a seagull...

It's a good thing the seagull didn't see that fish.

Ears or Antenna?

It's a Dachshund...

No, it's a Chihuahua...

Perhaps an alien?

Lessons Learned in the Horse Kingdom

#1: Don't Give Your Horse a Frisbee

I found an old Frisbee in the garage while searching for paint rollers, and I tossed it into the horse paddock thinking the horses might like to play with it. They are always picking up objects with their teeth and banging them against things to make music. They also think it's funny to beat each other with toys such as Jolly Balls. The next morning the Frisbee was gone. I asked my husband if he put it away or threw it out. He said he didn't see any Frisbee. I then figured the horses dropped it over the fence and the little boy next door took off with it. However, the next day little red pieces of plastic began emerging up out from the sand. The majority of pieces were less than 1/4 of an inch. The largest pieces were 2-inches of the edge of the Frisbee. The horses had completely pummeled it with their hooves and then buried it!

#2: Always Dismount on the Uphill Side

This is a rule I've always known and adhered to, but this weekend I was too out of it to realize that I was dismounting my tallest horse on the downhill side. First off, it feels like it is a lot further down even though the difference is only a matter of inches. Secondly, because you are stepping back away from the horse on a hill, you just keep on stepping or falling backwards until you can regain control of your legs. Usually gravity wins out and you end up on your rump in the dirt.

#3: Junkyards, Dust Devils, and Horses Don't Mix

While I was riding Lostine, a little Dust Devil whirled across my neighbor's junkyard and knocked an empty gasoline container off a worktable onto the ground. That sent all three horses stampeding while I was on Lostine's back. When she's scared and her stall door is open, she runs for her stall. Fortunately, I was able to stop her before I got decapitated or had my knees sheered off by the metal door frame. I'm thinking I might save my life by going next door with a bunch of garbage bags and cleaning up the mess, but I know it would only be a matter of days before more junk just piles up again. Where there is space, junk must pile, and where there is junk, a whirlwind must travel.

More Triage on the Ranch

I'm not kidding when I say I feel like I'm constantly performing triage around this house, prioritizing which person / pet has the most serious health concern and therefore gets my time and attention as well as what little money we have invested into their medical care. The deductibles are so high with health insurance that the only thing it buys is helping you out in a complete catastrophe.

This morning I was working in my home office when the Internet started its usual routine of cutting in and out every few seconds between 10:00 AM and 12:00 PM. Since I couldn't complete my tasks without the Internet, I went outside to check on the horses. Normally, I just look out the window to see if everyone is behaving in an expected manner, but this time I felt compelled to go outside and physically examine each horse.

Sure enough, Bombay's knee and foreleg were swollen. I ran in the house to get some cold packs out of the freezer, looked at my computer, and sure enough, in that very same second my boss was calling me into a text conference regarding some emergency at work. I stood over the computer thinking of all the times I put emergencies at home on hold for these dang surprise meetings and decided that this time I was going to make my horse the priority. I told my boss my situation and he said he'd wait for me before starting the meeting. Great. Now I had to perform a quickie first aid job so as not to inconvenience everyone at the office. Sigh.

I ran outside and contemplated unrolling Vet Wrap around the ice packs to hold them in place, but I really didn't want to waste the materials. I decided to see if I could get a shipping boot to hold the ice packs in place. For some reason I couldn't get the correct shipping boot for the left leg closed while holding the ice packs in place, so I tried the wrong shipping boot for the right front leg on the left front leg, and that did the trick. My hands and fingers could manage to be in all the places they needed to be with that small change.

I left Bombay on the RV lane to graze, because I needed to keep him quiet and distracted by food. If I put him in the paddock with the horses, they'd rip off that shipping boot in no time. I ran into the house and told my boss that the horse should be okay for a few minutes, knowing I really should be supervising him. He started the meeting, but one person had left his desk so we had to wait for him. I kept running outside to check on Bombay to make sure he wasn't trying to rip or kick off the wrap. I was mostly concerned about the ice packs, because my husband and son need them on a fairly regular basis and the type we use is expensive and hard to find.

It turned out that the meeting had nothing to do with me, so I'm not sure why I had to be in it. Once it was over, I ran outside and sure enough, Bombay was starting to kick off the shipping boot and step on one of the ice packs. By then the ice had melted and wasn't doing him any good anyway, so I removed everything and put him back in the paddock. The swelling did go down a little and he's walking okay. I think we narrowly escaped a $500 vet bill this time around, but I'm not looking forward to what tomorrow might bring. There just seems to be no end to the injuries and illnesses around here.

Bombay is so used to people wrapping strange things around his legs now that he doesn't react anymore. I'm thinking of putting metal braces or shields on all four of his legs to prevent further mishaps. It's a wonder this horse isn't permanently crippled from all the accidents he's had just in the past six months.

I suspect he is losing his hearing, because there have been several times when I took him by surprise. Usually the second I open the door to walk outside, all three horses are on alert and looking at me. However, lately Bombay seems to be in his own world. As soon as he sees me approaching out of the corner of his eye, he spooks, so I have to come outdoors making noise and calling his name. He's only 12-years-old, so I don't think he should be losing his hearing due to old age. He could be losing his hearing for some other reason, but he doesn't have any other symptoms. If he is losing his hearing, that might explain why he's constantly getting hurt.

Typical Shenanigans

I got some pictures of Bombay and Gabbrielle's typical shenanigans when I'm busy riding Lostine. First, they poke their noses through the round pen railings and try to nudge my leg or bite my boot as we pass...


That doesn't get whatever result they are hoping for, so then they resort to trying to bite Lostine in the face as we pass...


They usually get bit back. After a few circles in each direction, Gabbrielle gets bored and starts trying to break the fence by putting all her weight in the middle of a wood panel and rubbing back and forth to itch herself, so Lostine and I have to open the gate and herd the troublemakers into the round pen where they promptly roll in the dirt...



That is usually followed by the "Tip Over the Step Stool Game". But first Gabbrielle must sharpen her teeth on the rubber mat...

Mmmmmm. Tastes like licorice and dirty boots.

She manages to rock the stool back and forth...

But Bombay has had enough of Gabbrielle's pussy-footing...

Just knock the dang thing over, will ya?

Bombay's impatience gets him a bite in the butt...

Now Gabbrielle has got to figure out how to pick the step stool back up so she can return to rocking it back and forth...

Oh wait! But now we are on to the next game. It's called "Desensitize Gabbrielle to the Lead Rope."

Usually humans do it to horses, but in my case, the horses do it to the horses...

Oh shoot! All the fun gets interrupted by a nosy neighbor coming outside to see what I am taking pictures of. She's talking on her cell phone telling someone how stupid I am to be taking pictures from the back of a horse. Now Bombay is more interested in the audience and telephone chatter...

Gabbrielle uses the opportunity to make her three-foot get-away...

Bombay starts a new game of twirling the rope into a lasso.