Mercy, Cuda, Chai, and Starlett Update!

Mercy is doing good. The mysterious swelling in her right hind pastern is now gone. She just finished another loading series of Adequan and got all of her vaccines updated! All I am waiting for now is the all clear to start riding from Dr. Schneider, but until I can get an appointment with him I wait and continue to hand walk Mercy when I can...

Cuda is now spayed, microchipped, and vaccinated! We are still going through some interesting and difficult issue with housebreaking, but it is certainly better than the first week she was home. She goes to work with me Monday through Wednesday and gets lots of walks! Tough life for a little poo dog!

Chai, my Norwegian Forest cat did something to her right front leg when she was outside last Tuesday. She came into the house right after I got home from work and she was non-weight bearing on that leg and literally ROLLING in pain. We rushed her up to her regular vet and they ended up putting her on some antibiotics and steroids. We are also giving her a half a baby aspirin every 3 days, just in case this is a heart related condition, as the vet expects. She is responding well, but we still would like to to a cardiac work up on her, just so we know if something more serious is going on.

Starlett not only got her teeth done, she also had her stomach scoped for ulcers! She is has always been a classic cranky mare, but more recently cinching her up has become a more painful ordeal for her. Luckily for her and us, she is clean! No ulcers! She also had her vaccines updated and is good to go until fall!

BTW, the swallows have returned! Spring really is on the way! ;)

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Still Catching Up: Cow, Bird, and Cat Herding?

Two days before Christmas I decided to try out one of my gifts from last year! Finally! My sister got me one of those neat steer heads so I could practice my rope tossing. For whatever reason, it took me a long time to get a bale bag and actually haul out the rope. I decided to introduce Mercy (and Star, kinda) to the sound of the rope hitting the plastic and canvas. I have thrown a rope off of Mercy before, while on and off her, but never at anything. Of course she could care less and just wanted to touch the steer head and continue eating her hay.

So I pulled on the rope and moved it in her direction. She stood her ground and seems very interested. Star, on the other hand, well, you can see her reaction... right before she bolted out of her stall and into her run.

I pulled it a little closer...

I hauled her out of her stall, de-cloaked her, groomed her up, and headed up to the trailer to saddle up. When I was warming her up and checking her responses to aids while neck reining, Chai decided to come say hi.

I actually thought she might have jumped up into the saddle with me she was that excited to see me! Could have been an interesting deal if Mercy wasn't OK with that...

No cat herding today. Only cows and birds for now, lol! Although, Chai does kind of look like a cow now that I think about it. Same blotchy black and white markings and those little devil horns I can see on her most days. Yup. Definitely part cow. *shrugs*

After that diversion, we got back to work. I practiced throwing the rope away from us, at nothing in particular, just to make sure we were still good with the basics. Then I moved on to twirling the rope over my head and Mercy. Again nothing. So I let it slip a few times and let it smack her in the face, on the rump, under her tail, to see if I could get a reaction. Nope. Nothing. We were still at a stand still, but every little experience counts, so it was a great start.

When I felt we were good enough to catch something, I positioned her behind the steer. Again, at a stand still. I took one shot and missed. She yawned. Thanks Mercy. I coiled my rope back up and tried again. This time I got one horn. Perfect! I got it tight, held on to the rope and asked Mercy to back a step. She complied and the steer moved to the right a little bit as we backed. And then the rope slipped off and we came to a stop ourselves. Perfect.

Still looking bored, I made Mercy move off to the left as we dragged the rope. I coiled it up as we made our way back to the steer. This time I *actually* made a full shot and got the whole head. Fine with me! I once again asked her to back and she got a little antsy and jigged sideways into the rope. I corrected her quickly and again asked her to back, which she did. That's where I dropped the rope in the ground, dismounted, and loosened her cinch. I would call that a great introduction to roping.

Unfortunately, I don't know that much about roping, so that is where I will probably leave it until I can get some pro help. I also decided that day that I don't know if roping is going to ever be my thing. I like working cows, not roping them. But I won't give up training Mercy the basics. I will continue tossing the rope and maybe one day I will find an old tire along the road and ask her to drag it. Maybe that will lead to me dallying off on my saddle. Who knows?!

Wordless Wednesday

Ripples and Rays

Mercy was really interested in the tasty leaves this past Sunday. It's pretty challenging to get going on our rides this time of the year because we all know those leaves are so irrasistably crunchy, right!? Well, atleast Mercy thinks so...


It was a beautifully sunny day for a ride. I was still feeling a little 'weird.' so we took it slow to start and took one trail at a time. After getting past the crunchy leaves, we headed out toward the creek. The surroundings were certainly looking a little less colorful then even just a week ago.

We picked our way through the rocks and logs and finally reached the creek. Lately Mercy hasn't shown any interest in going into the water, but on this ride she insisted that we go down there. I'm pretty much a push over, so down we headed while Star and mom stayed on the trail to wait. She took a good drink, looked around for something to eat, and stared in the direction her trail mates were waiting.

When Mercy had finally decided to leave the water we headed up the service road and took the first trail to our left. Usually we ride this trail the other direction, but it was time to try something new. As we rode along Mercy and I started hearing other people on an adjacent trail. I ignored it for the time being and continued on behind Star. We ran up the hill at full speed and when we hit the top we ran into the gals I had heard, on horses! Cool!

We often see trailers parked near the 'public' trail head, but never seem to catch the riders. Well, Mercy came undone a little and pranced in place until we went our separate ways. And she continued to really move out (at the walk) until we reached the tracks and out of hearing range of the other riders. She doesn't often meet other riders and their horses on our trails. How dare they ride there too! ;)

All the maple leaves on the track are down now. From the weather being difficult to me being sick, we didn't get to ride there during the peak leaf fall-out. The year's best pictures come during this time. Oh well, next year.

When we rode off the track trail we stopped by the apple tree to steal a couple apples for the girls. Just as we reached it the other riders came down the trail ahead of us. After saying hi again and making Mercy stand still and mind her manners, we all carried on our way. Coming down the rocky hill we met two bikers. They pulled off to the side so we could pass and continue on our way home.

It was such a nice day, so when we got home we let the girls out back to graze a little. Mercy was looking really pretty being outlined by the sun-kissed trees.

Star, not so much. Sorry girl...

Chai couldn't be outdone so she came out to help us clean the paddocks.

She was watching something amongst these sunlit maples...

On Tuesday, both my mom and I were both home so we headed out for a quick ride. We rode out to the lake and then followed the creek trail back home. It was really weird being on that trail after more than a week. The leaves are ALL down and the creek is really visible and loud because of it. The sun is easily able to filter through the saplings now, highlighting neat branches and stumps.

We rode while it was pretty windy, but the girls remained calm and as a reward we let them haul up the hill leading home. I love Mercy's explosive power when I let her loose!

With a fast approaching storm predicted for the early afternoon, I took the girls out for a quick ride this morning before the rains hit. It was already pretty windy so I knew it would be a short ride. I didn't really want to take Star with me, but she has been stocking up pretty good lately, so I took pity on her and brought her along. Any movement is better than none.

Of course, as soon as we headed out it started to sprinkle. The wind was howling too, so I asked Mercy to move out to hasten this ride even further. Star had a hard time keeping up so I brought Mercy to a more even pace. We rode the 'short loop' and headed home, a ride less than 20 mins long. It was sprinkling pretty good at one point, but by the time I got home it had quit. *sigh* At least we got out and they got to stretch their legs. Good thing we had some great rides earlier this week.

Random Happenings

Crazy Chai showing off in the grass

Tiki trees a squirrel

Java pounces on his leash

Young buck ruminates in the front yard

Mercy eats some tall grass by the lake

Mercy's gear at the gaming show (more on this later!)

Catching up...again

Wow, what a week! It started out with me washing and waxing the trailer. This only happens once a year and since we don’t have a cover for it, of any kind, I try my best to get it looking real good during that time. Of course, Chai helped for a while…

until she found a better spot to sleep… *sigh*

I am unable to remove the mats at this time (the previous owner glued them down when they replaced the floor right before we bought it) so I crawled under the trailer and checked them that way. It took two days, but I got the trailer washed and waxed. Of course it took another day or two to replace the tack! I didn’t want to use it! Tee Hee!

Mercy, Star, and I went on some pretty nice trail rides this past week too. On our first ride, I rode Star and ponied Mercy. Star was moving right out and Mercy was enjoying the opportunity to eat everything along the trail. We headed over to the lake and once again there was a couple fishing, so we detoured around them. After stopping for a quick snack, we continued on our way. We started home after a while and stopped by the creek. Star reluctantly went in, while Mercy literally dove in! She went right for the deepest part of the creek and I thought she was going to roll, but I think Star’s pawing distracted her…and then she forgot. She splashed around for a while until she put her head into the water too deep.

On one of the freakin’ HOT days we had this past week, my sister, Kimberly, helped me bathe the horses. I had bought Mercy a new Medicated shampoo for her itchies… I still don’t know what’s causing this, neither does the vet. I’m thinking fir tar, bug bites, or sweat. Until I figure it out, I will continue to do my best to help relieve Mercy of her aggravating and destructive itchies.

Star's obligatory "You can't get my mane wet, even from the other side!!!" I won...

Java got a bath too… and then found a nice resting spot…

Then I rode Mercy a ponied Star the next day. Mercy walks so fast that Star basically trots the whole time. It’s good for her. I thought she would try eating like Mercy does when she’s ponied, but she didn’t. What a good girl! Once again, we did a few looper trails, but it was so hot already at 10:30AM, so I pointed them back home. We stopped by the creek for a quick drink, them not me, and this time Star dove in! That’s pretty brave for her. She will never refuse to go into water, but she doesn’t love it. I was quite impressed.

The next evening, I saddled up Mercy and practiced some barrel racing on my front pasture. I didn’t work her hard or fast because 1) she’s not ready 2) the ground is rocky and 3) I needed to work on her impatience issues. The camera wasn’t set on the correct setting so ya... I even crawled on Star bareback for old time’s sake... not a good idea. She is very high withered and I had flashbacks about why I didn't win many bareback classes in 4H!

Mercy and I went to our second gaming show yesterday. We had one big bad moment and a couple of really big good moments. I will update you all on that later! ;)

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Ya, I know it isn't Wednesday anymore, but I had to study and kick some lab final butt! ;)