A moment (just a moment) to think about sad stuff

We went with friends to see the movie "Marley and me" over the weekend. There were parts that were hysterically funny (particularly because we too had a challenging dog as our first--the much loved Bentley the bearded collie) and there were parts, mainly at the end, that were sobbingly sad. I don't think that I've ever been to a movie where at the end I could hear soft sniffles from what seemed like every row of seats!

That started me thinking about animals passing on. Our oldest dog, Dixie, just turned 10 on Christmas Eve, so she's getting along in years. Although being an Aussie, she probably seems full of energy to anyone who doesn't see her every day like we do. I started thinking about Dude and Bestie too after seeing the movie. Dude will turn 16 at the end of the month, which astounds me ... where did the time go?? We got him when he was eight. That will be a tough one to handle. My childhood horse had to be put down due to medical problems and I remember crying and crying. I once read an essay by Vermont author Chris Bohjalian about watching a mom watch her daughter as the vet put down the daughter's horse. I'm sure that mom was thinking about all the parts of her daughter's growing up that were shared with that horse. I cried reading the essay then and I'm getting teary remembering it now! Animals are loyally with us through so many of life's moments that it is hard to let them go.

The zen of mucking

Yesterday I filled in for one of the barn's weekend muckers who had gone out of town for Christmas. I usually take her slot a couple times during the year, which is nice when the credit for the work gets applied to knock the board costs down a bit. I find it relaxing to work at the barn, alongside the horses, and chat with the other women who are mucking. It's a nice time to catch up on their news as well as completely random topics that come up. The forecast called for freezing rain, rain and high winds as a front came through the area, so we didn't turn the horses out. They were all quiet for much of the morning, just munching their hay and hanging out. Even Dude, who normally gets a bit antsy when he doesn't get turned out, was happy to eat his hay, and then hang his head into the aisle and doze. There's something so peaceful about the scene.

I've become a wimp in my old age; my back and shoulders were aching last night! When we first got involved with horses, the kids worked in the barn during the summer and I took over their mucking chores one day per week once they went back to school in the fall. There were days I'd do 14-plus stalls. Now I feel like I'm hitting the wall at about eight. Of course when I was doing all those stalls I was having frequent lower back issues. After an MRI and many visits to the chiropractor and physical therapist, I think I'm being much smarter about it. Taking care to lift with my legs, and never bending so as to put strain on my back. Knock on wood, it's been fine.

I guess they need a person to supplement the Sunday mucking crew, but I'm a little wary of committing to a weekly mucking schedule. Both for fear of what it will do to my back, but also because I don't want to be locked in to it. It does eat much of the day, from 7:30 am until about noon. I feel like I already spend so much time there, without adding more hours!

Three snowstorms in the last week!

With one day of sleet/rain/icky stuff thrown in for good measure! It snowed pretty much all day yesterday. I was surprised (pleasantly) that the horses got turned out. The am and pm groups each got about two hours apiece, which is plenty for most of them since they get freaked by inclement weather. Pampered ponies! Dude and Bestie's turnout sheets had soaked through in the snow and had been hung by a kind soul on their stall doors. The funny thing was that when I arrived, it was so cold that the sheets had both frozen into solid lumps of folds! Luckily I had extra turnouts and midweights to put on them.

Didn't do much with them. Katie is out of town with a friend so I was working alone. Handwalked both D & B, so they each got a leisurely roll in the arena footing, which they love, then made them bran mash, which both slurped down with great gusto. With it being blanket time, they both get so itchy and love to roll. I feel like I'm constantly currying off arena dust!

Tonight with the wind chill it is supposed to be sub zero. Then up into the 30s on Wednesday and Thursday! Crazy. At least it looks as though the snow will stick around for Christmas. I bought some treats to bag up for our barn friends, along with sample sizes of Sore No More. The barn looks cute with stockings on a few of the stall doors.

We have a flake of hay, we get hand walked, we roll, we nicker for attention

Also known as ... The Life of Dude and Bestie When There's No Turnout. I feel like all I do is write about the weather and how it impacts the horses, but when you live in Vermont, that's pretty much the story, 24/7. We had up and down weather all last week so the fields were mucky, then froze, then got mucky. On Friday we had a storm. We lucked out because we got about 7 inches of snow; people to the south were much less lucky and ended up with ice and sleet. So the horses didn't go out that day because it was very blustery. Then the temps dropped that night to zero, and the fields refroze. And they went out. Today, Sunday, after a low of six overnight, it is now in the 30s, so the fields will start remuckifying and then tomorrow it is supposed to be in the high 40s, so the muckification will be good and messy and they probably will have a few days back in until it refreezes. Aaaaaaaaargh! It's crazy! Which blanket do they wear today?? Will they or won't they go out??

The weather in VT - gotta love it

Yesterday the temperature hovered at just south of 30 degrees for the better part of the day, then plummeted at night. When I got up today, it was 2 degrees. TWO DEGREES! That's January weather, not December weather. Our hardy barn workers turned the horses out. When I went to the barn after work, someone reported that with the wind chill, the temperature had been more like -16. Yikes! I walked Dude and Bestie in the indoor just to loosen them up a bit, and even Bestie didn't seem too interested in going outside to graze, which has been our routine of late. Dude was still working on his lunchtime flake, which he hadn't had time to eat before getting turned out in the afternoon. Hay, the great distractor. They both seemed very happy to munch on their hay and eat their grain as I mucked their stalls, rubbed down their legs, and picked their feet out.

It's supposed to be anywhere from -5 to 5 degrees tonight, then, get this, it's supposed to climb into the high 30s tomorrow. I hate the see-sawing temperatures; I just don't adjust well. I'm fine if it gets cold and stays cold (although I do get sick of hat head :)), but when it boomerangs back and forth I just never feel warm. We get two days of upper 30s, then back into the 20s with temps in the teens at night. Ugh. Brrr. It'd be nice if we could at least get some snow with those temps. Dude got his winter shoes on his front hooves on Friday, so we're all set for play time in the snow.

Fun and frazzle--it's definitely December!

Usually I make time on the weekends to spend a good chunk of time at the barn. I don't get to do that during the week, when my visits are generally hit and run, and I really enjoy just taking my time and not rushing through taking care of the horses. I thought I'd be able to linger yesterday ... nope. I had to clean the house, get some holiday decorations up, then had a haircut scheduled, and by the time I got to the barn it was 4 pm and I was due at a holiday party at 6 pm. So Maddie helped me to do a quick graze of Dude and Bestie (at least they are now getting turned out since the ground has hardened up). She took off, and I stayed to muck their stalls and clean out their feet before changing clothes to head to the festivities at a boarder's house about 10 minutes from the barn.

While I was at the barn, one boarder was hanging around watching her horse, who had a little colic episode earlier in the day. He hadn't pooped and she needed to run home and clean up and get her dish ready for the same party I was heading to. Of course, not 15 minutes after she'd left, he pooped, so I called her house and shared the good news. It is nerve wracking when they've colicked, but the sense of relief and joy on the part of all nearby horse owners once the long-awaited poop appears always makes me laugh.

The party was a lot of fun. One of our fellow boarders hosts it every year in early December and the spread of food is simply amazing. We all await Paul's famous spicy shrimp appetizer all year, and there are lots of other goodies to enjoy as well. Jen's fudgy brownies with peppermint chunks, Stephanie's bacon-wrapped water chestnuts ... yum, yum! It's just really nice to chat with people that you see pretty much every day, but generally don't have much time to shoot the breeze with while at the barn.

So my vow for today is to linger at the barn. But first, Maddie and I are heading to the International Festival, a fun little shopping and eating extravaganza that is held every year locally. Lots of good food and unique stuff to buy. Then off to the barn for the afternoon!

Fun with Bestie

Sunday I got to the barn early in the afternoon and snuck by Bestie's stall since she usually naps then. I went ahead and mucked Dude's stall, did a few other chores, then crept down the aisle right along the stalls to peek in and see if she was still lying down. Imagine my surprise when I peeked around the corner and there she was, staring back at me, not two inches away. I jumped and she did her crazy-girl high-pitched whinny, so I guess we were both surprised. Funny.

I had lunged her on Friday and the horses had gone out Sunday, so I saddled her up to ride figuring that she'd be fine. It took me three attempts to actually get on her back; as soon as I'd climb the mounting block, she'd walk off before I could get my foot in the stirrup. I just kept jumping down and leading her back around, and finally was successful. After one walk around the indoor, my stirrups felt cockeyed, so I jumped down and raised one then got back on. Right back on--no shenanigans involved this time! There were two other people riding so I decided to walk her around the field and then come back to the arena.

We got outside and I could feel her, tight like a spring. She walked just fine about halfway, but as soon as we rounded the fence on the far side of the outdoor rings, she started jigging and snorting and yanking her head up and down. I considered getting off (of course thinking all the while, "I REALLY should have lunged her") but decided to stay on and just kept talking to her. We basically jigged all the way back to the walkway into the arena. When I tried to slow her down she'd snort and toss her head all around like a nut.

Once we got into the arena, she settled down, but she definitely thought we were DONE. I just kept plugging away at it, asking her to do circles and one more round, and then I rode her back out and around the front door to the barn. And she was fine. She heaved a huge sigh when we got to the door; like this had been the most stressful outing she had EVER been on. I kinda felt the same way.