Spooky

I realize that this blog was dedicated to building a working horse farm, from nothing to actuality. There are still so many things that need doing. We have plans, we’ve made lists, we’ve revised lists, added, subtracted, underfunded, abandoned, and modified our plans.

You make plans, then find out the sequence of events must be changed or it will have to be undone, redone. Or something else comes up, not planned for, that needs to be dealt with. And we always need to find time to ride, that’s why we are doing what we’re doing!

Back in the day I had a green, ‘spooky’ horse. Spooky doesn’t mean he’s dark, or a scary guy, it means he was afraid of lots of things, so many things I couldn’t even keep track. Several times things scared him and I ended up on my back, under him. Not a good place to be with horses. The goal is to stay on top, keeping the horse between you and the ground. He was raised in an isolated bubble and it was my dream to have him be fearless, like me!

I definitely had my work cut out for me! I first had to build his trust in me; he needed to prove to himself that I could be brave for both of us. This takes time, if you don’t have the time you will not be successful.

Along the way I will admit I was lucky to escape without serious injury. I didn’t say I was injury-free, just that it wasn’t ‘serious.’ And he was getting better, all building blocks to lay the foundation and build up his resume.’

One great product I found was a CD of spooky noises from Clinton Anderson. I am not a paid endorser, but this CD saved my ass, literally. The CD has 58 or so random noises that we all take for granted, but to a young horse this is all new sounds, and potentially life-threatening. You can’t explain it to him; he has to figure it out for himself. What doesn’t kill him makes him stronger. No truer words were ever uttered.

This CD has the sounds of gunshots; roosters; cows; pigs; sirens; air brakes; motorcycles; parade noises; air horns; diesel trucks; lawn mowers; chain saw; turkeys; children loudly playing; fair grounds; fireworks and fire crackers; and many more. This one item prevented me from sending him to a trainer.

I still have that green horse, but he's not green any longer - he has grown into an awesome nearly bomb-proof horse. I don't stop him from 'looking' or 'thinking' but he has learned to trust me instead of falling back on his basic instinct of flight.

The Perfect Storm

Last time we had a 'storm' was the derecho at the end of June. The area was without power until at least July 4th. It's been a busy storm season; Hurricane Sandy is setting its sights on the Mid-Atlantic region. We are that bull's eye.

Earlier in the month he purchased a new generator. This thing is massive; takes the two of us to get it out of the shed, and it has wheels! It will power pretty much the whole house, but more importantly, it will power the well pump.

Saturday was a beautiful day, I visited a friend in the morning to relieve her of some of her veggies: Arugula and assorted greens, broccoli, beets, and like that. I had gone to the grocer on Friday and did my usual shopping. The store was busy, but not a mad-house, although not a case of water to be had.

I also went to Todd's for more hay. I straightened out the stalls, he spread manure, and did all the pre-storm stuff: batten down the hatches, stow the whatever. He turned the patio tables upside down. He moved the truck and big trailer to the middle of the parking lot, away from any trees.

Sunday was mostly cloudy, rain starting around 6:00 p.m., but not a lot. Didn't want to bring them in too early, if they are going to stay inside for a long time. I delayed this as long as possible.

He worked on getting the second storm door up, in the front of the house.

This is a fabulous addition to the place. Irene likes it, too.

The breeze was picking up, gusting strongly from time to time. I closed one end of the barn, which did help. They all seemed happy to be in the barn, eating hay and listening to the radio.

We got word that the Federal Government was going to be closed Monday. The weather maps were quite impressive. Uh Oh.

It rained off and on, mostly on for most of Monday - the boys were in. I made sure the stalls were cleaned up regularly, fresh water and hay administered.

The worst was Monday night, with NOAA clocking the winds at our place at 76 mph.

I had closed only one end of the barn, keeping the little ones free. He had brought the manure spreader, the tractor and lawn tractor into the barn. The wind picked up and by nightfall the rain was now driving into Skip's stall, had soaked Lil Fred's stall and feed bin and was coming in from the hay loft. I had to close the other end or Skip would get soaked and wind-blown.

We heard a loud bang during the wind/rain storm, but couldn't figure out what it was. There were downed limbs, but none had hit the house. In the light of day we realized that the Clevis, the electrical connection to the house was pulled off, hanging literally but a thread.

The wires are hanging in the yard, you can reach them easily.

Uh Oh.

I now had closed both ends of the barn, keeping the little ones in but their stall doors opened. The wind kept shifting directions and my rain gauge was unable to keep an accurate reading. We started to take on water in the dining and living rooms. Uh Oh.

The wind howled through the night, and the water continued to trickle into the seven buckets in the dining room, and the one in the living room. The wind sounded like a small airplane trying to land in the attic, over and over and over. I did a late night check on the guys, refreshing water buckets and hay. The rain was coming across, horizontally in driving sheets.

In the end we got around 8 inches of rain, more or less.

Tuesday morning it was quiet, still sort of raining, misting, slight breeze. The Federal Government was again closed. Trees down on area roadways, METRO was closed, flooding in some low-lying areas like Old Town, power out in large local areas. But no more water hitting the buckets. Quiet.

Tuesday, mid-morning, he let Skip out into the dry paddock. Pandemonium ensued. Quickly he decided to let Skip and KC out in the big field. Both had been in almost 36 hours straight. Horses are not meant to be kept like Veal.

Door Number #3

The front door installation:

Just in time for Hurricane Sandy.

Behind Door Number Two

We were so lucky to receive for our combined birthdays and Christmas, and probably a couple celebrations next year, two storm doors that match the back door.

Max is keeping an eye on the installation of the new kitchen door.

Electric, Man

The entire scheme of the exterior lighting system is to illuminate the future pasture and Max's playing arena. As with everything around here, planning takes a while, arguing ensues, purchasing starts and stockpiling materials begins. Unfortunately the stockpiling of materials impacts my kitchen counters.

I believe the lighting scheme started gaining speed when it was evident that daylight was diminishing daily, rapidly. Coupled with a commercial blitz of a phone app that enables the user to turn lights or cameras or whatever on and off on the Android phone, the plans were solidified.

He had mounted flood lights to trees in the 'little woods' to broadcast light to Max's playing arena. He wants telephone poles but has been unable to locate the right length. Not too short, not too tall. We keep hitting dead ends.

The upstairs bathroom is an awful hell-hole. The ceiling leaked, unabated, for way too long. The tile flooring is broken. The walls and ceiling has serious water damage. The bathtub is horrible and hideous. The tile tub surround is chipped, cracked and broken. There are no electrical outlets in the bathroom. The door is hanging by a broken hinge, the door jamb is missing large pieces.

Recently I said it was my fantasy to completely renovate that bathroom. He said it was not in the planning; we'll never 'live' upstairs, never use it enough to justify the time, effort or money of straightening out that bathroom. We don't need it.

The very next day he decides to rip out the existing light fixture over the sink and install a ceiling light in the same location that a light had previously been installed a long time.

He then installed an outlet with a light switch for the new exterior flood light.

After all that he had to upgrade the breaker box in the basement to accommodate the new generator and circuit breaker box that that came with.

In short order, coincidentally a couple circuit breakers in the barn failed. The mini's stall lights were out of order and the hayloft flood light breaker was 'mushy' and wouldn't consistently work.

This is still a work-in-progress, as things evolve, as we change our minds, get side-tracked to other things, etc.

The quest for telephone poles continues...

October Surprise

Sunday we decided late in the morning (I didn't get up until 9!) to go for a ride. We usually take long rides, so probably not going to have time to do laundry, go to the grocery or anything else. Of course I want to ride!

We sat at the end of the driveway for several minutes, deciding. We are so lucky to have numerous destinations close at hand. We decided to go to the League!

The League was hosting the 4-day challenge, which runs from Thursday until Sunday, the grounds are not closed during this annual event. The numbers are down this year, eleven riders were competing. We have attended, but never ridden. It does live up to its name: Challenge.

When we arrived he noticed our friend's trailer first. It is a 'kid's weekend' and didn't expect to see them there. Surprise!

She was there, without him, with two friends who are apparently timid, slow riders. We decided to join them, and it was a slow, short ride.

I enjoyed her friends - both have gorgeous horses. I am still stunned that they trailered all that way and rode 6 miles - what a waste of a beautiful Sunday in October. I would love to ride with them again, but was sorry to see one of them correct her paint, Sterling, for loping - he has a wonderful lope.

We all had been warned that their horses did not like trains, but when a train came along the horses seemed to not even notice. At the junction we said Adios and went in the direction of the Woodstock. By now it is around 1:30.

We trotted the entire way to the road, crossed and traveled along the rail road tracks. I noticed a rider coming up behind us and was surprised, again, to know it was someone we hadn't seen in over four years. Wendy, on a Palomino (Sunset) came behind us; I knew she has had some serious health issues and is now getting back to riding.

We invited her to ride along with us if she wanted and she did. She was riding alone, but didn't feel totally comfortable doing that, and certainly didn't want to get lost. I also remembered that she was not afraid of speed, so when we were able we stepped up the pace. I promised her we would not get lost.

Another train came by, but we were too far away to see it. Wendy had camped out from Tuesday until Monday but did not participate in the 4-day, although she has in the past. KC was really good, he was kind of bossy with Sunset, and then Sunset untied himself at the Woodstock

- saw lots of deer, too, and a couple Herons and Mallards. We did not get lost.

And of course he had to be the show-off and and say 'you'd better hold your horse back cause I'm going to really go!' I said, 'be careful of the mud." And I got to see him almost fall off of Skip - I know, I know. They hit a mud patch and Skip's feet came out from under him - front end going one way, back end going the other - and Tom listing sharply to the left trying to do a header off the front - but Skip pulled himself out of it and tom got righted and there you have it! He would have gotten muddy/dirty and it was unnecessary. Fairly straight, flat, but it was muddy/slippery. We did have to hurry back because we left the Woodstock Inn at 4:30 ish.

We're back to chasing daylight. *sigh*

Saturday!!

Rabies clinic at Southern States Cooperative. We decided to take Irene, but not April. Both are due for their shots, but April is not doing as well as we'd want her to, and don't think the shot would be a good idea. Max is not due for one until next May.

I also needed a couple things from there, like propane, so I went alone. He was still working on the electrical project, and installing the new circuit breaker for the new 'whole house' generator.

Ironically, the power went out around 10:00 a.m., staying out for over an hour. I don't know why.

It was a pretty day, breezy, and we need the drying air.

I went over to Todd's for hay and had a nice visit with him. We have to buy hay, and not this five, six or seven bales at a time. I want sixty or eighty! The hayloft is bare.