Happy New Year!

It's a new year, will it be a great one?  I think so!

On the first of January, I decided to become a Mary Kay consultant.  I needed to do something to support my horse habit, as well as earn a little extra $$ for the fam.  We'll see how it goes, but I'm excited!  If nothing else, I get my stuff at cost...

On the horse front, nothing new here.  The snow and freezing seems to be over and done with, now back to good ol' Western WA rain.  Cody's leg is looking better and better, maybe this spring we can go for short rides?  Tony is sound again, he had an abcess and was pretty sore there for a while.  Pink Stardust is just happy to be out with the big guys, so she can share the round bale!  They haven't been out for weeks, it's just been too nasty out.

And yet more snow!

Well, it didn't snow today, and Emma and I ventured out to town.  The roads were icy, even the main highway through town.  On the way back they had plowed it, so it wasn't quite as bumpy.  And then it was time to come up the hill to the house...not bad in the 4x4, they have it sanded quite well.  

Now I hear it is supposed to snow a bit more.  The horses are all happy enough, although I am sure Pink Stardust wouldn't mind a melt now.  The snow is almost up to her belly!  But, they have a good trail system built through the snow at present.  It goes from feet tub to feed tub to round bale to water.  I don't think they stray much farther than that.  The dog has been blazing trails for them...he is having a great time!

That's pretty much it for the day...pretty much all I have been doing is cleaning the house (blechhhhhhhh) but it did need doing...

Snow snow and more snow!

Well, it's another beautiful day in Washington!  

The snow is over the top of my middie hight Muck Boots.  My knee-high's are in the trailer, with a frozen lock.  

I have trails from the house to the feed room to the pasture.  And now a new one...from the house to the woodshed.  I had to bring wood in today.  That was a chore, pushing the full wheelbarrow through the snow!  

The horses are all doing well...fat and happy.  Well, maybe not happy.  But they are getting lots of food...round bales aplenty along with their grain mashes!  Even the pony gets in on the round bale extravaganza!  She thinks that's great!  Old Tony doesn't think too highly of his mashes though.  He will tip the tub over until it's all drained then will eat.  And they are all drinking A LOT of water, it seems like way more than usual.  Of course, it's generally raining here this time of year, so that helps with the fill-up's.

But it will all be over soon, then it's back to rain and mud and slogging through the pastures at feeding time!  Oh wait!  They are calling for more snow in a couple of days.  Oh boy.  Can't wait.  (Sarcasm)  

Well, hope all my zero readers are enjoying the snow.  Will post again soon, maybe!

Donations

Why is it that those who don't necessarily need a donation are the ones who seem to get it?  I just read an article in Horses Incorporated Magazine about a race horse in California (Frankie) with a leg wound who was hauled to WA (donation by Bob Hubbard Horse Transportation), spent months at a facility in Redmond, WA (Pegasus Equine Rehabilitation) and recieved "life saving" treatments in their new Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy thingie.   Oh yeah, and Pilchuck Veterinary Hospital in Snohomish donated vet work.

My horse has a similar injury that I have been treating since July.  I contacted Pegasus and asked how much a similar treatment would be.  EGADS!!!!!!  $200/per treatment, and they thought he would need at least 10 plus $60/day boarding fee.  I surely cannot afford that.  They suggested someone in my area might "sponsor" him, but who's gonna do that?  Cody is a great horse in my eyes, but probably not in everyone's!  He has never done anything...not a show horse, not a ranch horse, just a horse that I take the occasional reining lesson on and ride on the trails.  In fact, I wouldn't even ask anyone to sponsor something like that.  Except the owner of the facility!

Tomorrow, (or the next day, or maybe the next!) I'll go into detail on Cody's wound...

You start your YEARLINGS under saddle????????

You start your YEARLINGS under saddle????????

Why is it people think it's OK to ride a yearling?  I have a friend, well probably an ex-friend, who thinks nothing of starting a horse at 18 months.  And I don't mean just backing them and then sending to turn-out for a year or two.  I mean starting them, walk-trot-canter, lots of circles, hard stops, etc.  And then they don't even get turned out...it's back to the stall you go.  

It makes me cringe!  And whenever she says anything to me about it I just want to yell at her.  Last time I was at the barn I told her what I thought of it.  And she always wonders why her horses are lame!  Well, now she knows MY theory!!  

I don't think I am invited back...  But that's fine, my horses are home OUT IN THE PASTURE LIKE HORSES!  Yes, they are muddy and shaggy.  But they do get regular grooming and have rugs put on nightly.  And they are happy ponies!  Not dead-heads like you see in so many barns.  

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