The place to be on a hot day

Dude, such a handsome guy with his mane blowing in the fan's breeze!

Summer returned to northern Vermont today. After about a week of days in the 70s and nights in the 50s, today the temperatures crept solidly into the 80s and they are supposed to climb even higher tomorrow and Wednesday. When I got to the barn around 5 pm, the horses were in the barn, and Dude and Bestie were sweaty but cool to the touch. I groomed both of them in front of the big barn fan - they love it. Bestie fell asleep so I didn't have the heart to take her picture and have the flash pop in her face. Whenever I put them on the cross ties in front of the fan it amazes me - I never would have thought they'd walk up to this big rattly thing, let alone fall asleep in front of it!

Playing nice with others ... or not

Yesterday a mare returned to the barn after being at home for the summer with her rider on college break. This mare, Lexie, was Bestie's sidekick back in the spring before she went home. The pecking order was Bestie, Lexie, Bacardi - a little palomino pony - and Sadie, a Quarter Horse mare who came to the group last and was definitely the low girl on the totem pole.

When Lexie went home, Bacardi moved up to sidekick position. Whenever I'd go get Bestie from the field, as soon as I'd get her through the gate, Bacardi would do a couple bared-teeth-rolling-eyes-monster-pony faces at poor Sadie just to let her know who was in charge in Bestie's absence.

Then Bacardi went home, and the dynamics shifted yet again. While I wouldn't say that Bestie and Sadie become BFFs, they did seem to reach some sort of agreement whereby they would hang out together quite peaceably, and Bestie would even get upset if Sadie's rider came to get her out of the pasture. The girl and her mom would end up bringing Bestie in to the barn also (thank you to them for their niceness and understanding about that!).

So now that Lexie is back, I figured Bestie and Lexie would immediately rush back together again; after all, it's only been about 3 months. But no - no nuzzle nuzzle reunion. Lexie's owner said today that Lexie is now the lowest in this little herd. Bestie and Sadie seemed to have teamed up to shun her. When Jessica, Lexie's owner went to get her from the field today, Bestie and Sadie were at the gate and there was no way Lexie was going to walk up and approach the "mean girls." Does she have to earn her way back into Bestie's heart? Is Bestie giving her the cold shoulder to make her pay for leaving for the summer? Will Sadie drop back down into the third wheel position she held for months? Only time will tell. It's tough out there in the mares' pasture!

The barn garden, the definition of "lush"

I've been meaning to write about the vegetable garden at the barn for a while now. About ten of us went in on seeds and plants, and now we have this amazingly lush garden that cost each of us $20 and a little bit of sweat equity. We planted together, people are assigned to harvest twice a week, and each of us has a weeding day assigned, and that's pretty much it. It's amazing what we've harvested already: summer squash, zucchini, swiss chard, spinach, lettuce, beets, carrots, radishes, green beans and yellow wax beans, eggplants, potatoes, endive ... I think that's it, so far! There are a ton of tomatoes still ripening; we've harvested a few, but there are a lot more on the plants and in fact they needed to be thinned out because they were so thick that it didn't seem the tomatoes were getting enough sun.

This is all very exciting, but I have to admit that for a couple weeks now I've felt a bit of veggie overload. Back in the spring (when I usually make rash decisions about gardening) I bought a farm share from an organic farm. I pick that up each Monday at work, and then get load #2 on Fridays from the barn. Early in the season, it seemed we ate kale and chard in every conceivable form; now, we're doing the same thing with zucchini and squash. It's absolutely great to have all this good fresh food, but it is a bit overwhelming. Katie had to harvest for me last week; I'm trying to stay out of the garden since the footing is so uneven, and after quality time bean harvesting she said she hoped she NEVER saw another green bean again!

The monster zucchini harvested last week; still on the counter for new visitors to the house to marvel over :)







Looking down the garden, greens up at the top, squash and zucchini way down at the bottom, herbs in the raised bed over to the right.

Horse Mom has a lameness issue

I haven't written about this because I kept hoping it would just go away :). Just over three weeks ago I was supposed to play in a weekend hockey tournament. In the first period of the first game, I took a fall; got tangled up with another player. When I fell my right leg swung out to the right and I felt a painful stretching feeling on the inside of my knee. I got up slowly, sort of testing it, and it could bear weight without any problem so I kept playing. Probably dumb of me. I iced it when I got home but nevertheless, the next day I was pretty sore. After a week of Motrin and icing it felt pretty good, but then I twisted it while picking vegetables in the barn garden. Grrr.

Since then it hasn't gotten better or worse. It gets really stiff when I stay in one position for too long, but I can basically get around. No way can I swing the leg up over a saddle. Pretty much anything that would cause a stretch to that inside portion of my knee hurts, so I avoid those movements. Given that I play hockey, ride horses, and work at a ski resort, I have heard LOTS of very interesting knee injury stories. I'm going to an orthopedist this week.

I'm pretty sick of the knee thing, needless to say. Missing hockey, missing my bike, missing riding. I've made it to the barn most every day and my activities consist of grooming the horses and mucking their stalls. I'm pretty leery of walking out and getting either one out of their fields, since I don't want to get bumped around and tweak the knee again. I did get Bestie one day since she, more so than Dude, is pretty respectful of your space and where you want her to go.

A fellow barn mate just started riding Bestie at the end of last week. Her own horse is having some navicular problems and just went home to hang out, and she was looking for a horse to ride until she comes up with a new plan. She's a good rider and a thoughtful one, so after mulling it over I asked her if she wanted to ride Bestie. She worked with Emma for the first session, since Emma has ridden Bestie and has some insight into what makes her tick. I did get a cell message after the first ride that they worked through some "issues." Yeah, I bet they did, since Bestie has had the easy life for a couple years now, and undoubtedly will want to test her.

Hoping to get a game plan at Thursday's doctor's appointment.