COVID 19 - The Coronavirus: The Mares Away From Home

We sold Annie.

For a while, Carrie wasn't sure if she was going to sell Annie or Nibs. It was the trainer, Tori, that suggested Annie would be easier to sell. 

Carrie was really happy with the home Annie was going to. It's a well-known rider who lives in SC.

We lost money on the deal. We got what we paid Sonya and Jeff, but didn't cover any of Annie's living expenses or training fees. We hadn't planned on making a profit (or even covering all expenses), but it would have been nice. Prices have been depressed with the virus shutting down so much, and Carrie wasn't willing to haggle to get any more. 

Annie's a sweet girl, so I hope she does well at her new home.

Meanwhile, Nibs has been having blazing heat cycles! The trainer said that she peed in front of every horse down the aisle and then had four feet off the ground doing lungework!

We're really hoping that Nibs' heat cycles will calm down once she's out of the horny teenager phase! Carrie has been researching medications and medical options like spaying her. Otherwise, she's a horse you can ride 3 weeks out of every 4.

Nibs is actually going to be going to SC. Tori is relocating with her military husband. Carrie used the money from Annie's sale to fund more training for Nibs. The hope is that she will come home rock solid and with no orphan issues hampering her integration to a herd.

Horses - They're expensive. We're fortunate the barn offsets a lot of the costs. If you're not having fun riding, they can drive you crazy, too!

Having the barn has been good for us during the pandemic, because we always have stuff to do! Carrie wants to have a barn that people can come relax at and our boarders have been visiting regularly! (Especially since the hospital furloughed a bunch of staff...)

All the Fuzzies

We have a lot of pets. It's probably hard for people to keep track of, so think of this as a primer.

Max is the OG kitty. Carrie rescued her a long time ago and predates our relationship. She's an adaptable little fart who likes to explore. I wish she was a better mouser. She's not overly fond of dogs and puts Loki in his place, but isn't traumatized by his presence.

However, she kicks her back leg like a dog when you scratch her ear just right.

Bucket is traumatized by Loki, though. She likes to hide in cabinets, behind the TV, or curtains and keep as farm from him as possible. She's a scaredy cat in general and terrified of her own bowel movements.

She is a snuggler. She loves nothing more than sleeping on a blanket in Carrie's lap. If Carrie's asleep on the couch, Bucket is usually near.

Happy is the newest addition. She's a failed barn cat, but our only cat tolerant of loud, hyper boys. We used to find her sleeping with Shane in the morning. She used to stay in her room and Shane's despite having a cat door to greater things, but now she's out and about.

She is the only cat who tolerates, nay, likes Loki. 

It was slow developing, but they actually play together some. She will bat at him and hop off a chair to chase him, no growling and claw-free. Loki's happy to run around any chair she's perched and on she doesn't bolt.

In an incredibly gross display of bonding, I've seen Loki lick her butt clean. I corrected him and they both looked up at me. I kid you not, she rolled onto her back and he kept one eye on me and went back to licking.

I'm hoping it was a one time thing.

Loki has grown considerably from the summer. He's over 20 pounds of fluffy and hyper. Like the cats, he is very interested when anyone lies down on the couch. Only he's likely to run back and forth across your chest and cause a ruckus by invading feline space. 

Loki's a big fan of chasing cats in the house (when they let him). Outside of the house he wants to pace cars. It terrified me at first, but Loki seemed afraid of the road when I had him leashed as the school bus came up. Loki's done a great job of recognizing the fence is his boundary. I don't know how much of that is from my yelling and how much is from his own inclination. He's actually run away when I've been in the barn and I've found him running back and forth up front whenever I remember he's out there. 

Basically, I trust him not to get himself killed.

That trust took a ding, recently. When I'm with Loki, I take him out near the horse jumps so there's a long runway of unbroken fence. I take him away from the entrance to the driveway and away from the west end where the fence changes to (uncharged) polywire. Loki likes to get a headstart on the cars and I've been worried about what he'd do if he got too far ahead of them and ran out of running room.

I was getting the mail and I watched Loki duck under the fence into the ditch as a car went by. The car honked and I started yelling. Loki may have gotten within four feet of the roadside before he turned around. I gave him a stern dressing down (he peed) and took him right into the house. 

Later, I realized I had dropped my phone when I went into action mode. 

Hopefully, Loki learned his lesson and won't go for an encore performance.

We've got five outdoor 'pets' on property. 

Annie is the newest addition to our personal herd. She is Nib's half-sister (same stallion) and a real beauty. She's very gentle and curious in nature. She will walk up next to me and sniff at my hair, shoulders, or whatever when I let her out at night. I don't know if she's still growing or if it's due to being half-Friesian, but her blankets fit oddly. Her neck is higher and her back is a little shorter.

She's low on the dominance totem pole and our most skittish horse. Carrie's started to train her and she was terrified of the arena gate for the first several sessions. She's eager to please and has progressed quickly. 

Carrie loves her. She braided her mane and was giving her some butt scratches in this photo.

Right now, we have a very laid back and positive herd on the ladies' side of things. Annie's the one who's taking a nap in the photo.

Kitty is with us until May. She and Annie have bonded to the point I sometimes call them a "two-headed monster."

Kitty taught me that horses snore. She's loud!

She's got a few other quirks worth noting. She will stretch her legs out and contort herself to avoid ever having two hooves on the stall mat. She eats more than any horse I've ever seen without blimping out and foundering. 

I have to be careful with her, because she highly dislikes her blanket and anyone touching past her shoulder line. If I don't watch her, I'm likely to get bit.

Maddy is the final member of our herd of mares. She's a great little pony who gets along with horses and people alike. We recently found a leaser who likes to ride her, so she's a contributing member of the family. Carrie, Shane, and I have all ridden her.....and so has Jenny, Gay, and Sophia! She's a trooper.

Lately, she stands and expect scratches whenever she's let out of her stall. He lip quivers and she'll toss her head gently whenever an itch 

Maddy has one unfortunate tendency: She poops almost every time she's stalled. I don't know if she wants her stall to fill "lived in" or if she's acting out her displeasure.

And then she steps in it.

I've come up with little nicknames for each horse, and I figure if Maddy had a tribal name it'd be "She Who Steps in Shit" shortened to "Poop-hoof" or "Shit-stepper"with her friends.

Thankfully, her piles are pretty small (when not kicked and spread all over).

Samwise (aka "Sam") would like to be with the ladies, but he's in the other pasture. Sam is Carrie's ride. He is the most flatulent horse I've ever heard or been downwind of. He toots with pleasure as he walks by me into his stall and he toots enough in his stall I'm always checking for phantom piles.

And he does it under saddle, too! Carrie calls it "his rocket booster."

Sam's the biggest horse on our property. He's got some cold-blood stock in him (Clydesdale) and Carrie calls him a "Heinz 57" overall. He's very food driven and always acts like he's starved when it's time for dinner. Shane watched him eat once and said he didn't chew. "He inhaled his food!"

He's been on a diet. It must be working, because I haven't heard Carrie call him "Apple Butt" for a while.

Sam's pasture mate is Eddie. Eddie was our first boarder!

I often call him "Steady Eddy" and/or "Old man." He's turning 22 years old. His owner, Heidi, says he's got a thing for the ladies, so no co-mingling allowed! He liked to cozy up next to the polywire when Nibs was in her 'private lot.' He and Sam both tried to shimmy closer to the mares the one time they escaped.

Overall, Eddy is a mellow fellow. He knows what he likes and he's predictable (Hence, "Steady."). He has his quirks, though. He likes to pick up his food bowl and flap it around. It reminds me a little of prisoners rattling cups on their cell bars in movies, but there's more of a comedic effect with the plastic bowl flopping up and down as he bobs his head!

Loki is still afraid of all the equines. In this picture, I was surprised he came in the barn to greet Heidi, at all!

He made sure not to get too close! It's probably for the better.

Our last horse, Nibs, is away learning how to work for a living. She's at Dragonfly Eventing learning how to bear a rider. 

She's doing really well at it, too! She gets along famously with people.

Alas, she's still having trouble getting along with other horses. We wonder how much of that stems from being an orphan. Unless she has a miraculous change of attitude, we may decide to put her up for sale. She's beautiful and extremely capable, so she should be able to find a good home where she's valued. She got along famously with Sam, but despises Eddie so she can't pasture with the boys. 

Someone with more fields and horses than us could find a working herd situation much easier. Sonya first stuck Nibs with Gizmo to learn some manners (she did) and then moved her to another herd of mares when Gizmo needed to help with a problem pony. 

And that's everyone!

.....for now.

You never know with Carrie. I hope that we get more boarders rather than new pets. Carrie's posted some ads and had some people contact us, but nothing that's stuck. That could change based on what I'm hearing, but who knows until it really happens.

Nibs is Away

It was an emotional Monday for Carrie. She stalled all the horses during morning feeding, so that she could load Nibs up onto the trailer.

Nibs is going to Staunton for training for the next several months. Carrie's broken horses before (aka taught them how to be ridden under saddle), but she decided she'd outsource the risk and energy. Nibs is super friendly to people, so hopefully she won't be too much trouble. It's how she relates to other horses that's the problem.

We are hoping that Nibs will have a better attitude once she's a 'working' horse. Carrie then hopes riding/exercise will help work out any nervous or excess energy Nibs may have so that she can live peacefully with her pasture mates. We've had her in the dry lot, but that's not a long term solution.

It costs a little to send her away, but we'll be saving some on food (and labor!). Nibs eats more than anyone else at the barn. She's over a third of the food bill for five horses (I'll do some math later, but it may be she eats as much as 40% of the grains, etc).

Carrie sent me a picture of Nib's and her new neighbor checking each other out.

We hope Nibs behaves and learns well! It sounds like the trainer can handle her shenanigans.

Carrie said that the woman who will be training Nibs has a competition level horse who also dislikes other horses. Her boy got persnickety and kicked through a stall wall. He needed surgery and will be out of competition condition for nearly a year.

Horses.

Yet Another Horse Update (With Video!)

The more time passes the more I wonder about how many corners the barn builders cut. Nibs was impatient and gave her door a kick during the week. One of the crossbeams popped right out.

Then we had a moment of deja vu on Sunday. 

Only this time, Nibs was innocent. Annie was oblivious (as usual) and kept crowding around Maddy and Maddy's door right before dinner. Maddy asserted herself and spooked Annie right into the door. The door lost.

Thankfully, we still had nails from the box Carrie had to run out and buy last time. The hardware store in town is closed on Sundays and Lowe's was a half-hour journey one way.

We upgraded the latch while we were at it. The old, small one was bent out of shape from Maddy trying to scratch her rump.

Between breaking things and mounds of poop, the horses certainly keep us busy

I plan on doing a costs breakdown eventually, but for now I thought I'd mention some of the ways we've gotten smarter about how we do things.

The hay feeders are a prime example. The boys like to roam their fields, but the mares LOVE their comfort food. They'd eat hay all day if we let them.

Grass is free and hay costs money, though. A greedy horse can gorge themselves on hay, too, so it's beneficial to force moderation.

We used to throw the hay directly in the mare's feeder, but it would disappear forthright.

We started to use slow-feed bags to help. They're a simple concept for the non-horse folks: You put the hay in a mech or string bag that lets horses eat, but prevents chomps.

The purple bags are actually the second type we tried if I recall correctly (Carrie's sleeping or I'd ask her). The first bags were too good at what they did. The horses would fiddle with the bags, get annoyed, and go eat grass. That seemed like a win to me, but Carrie pointed out A) that won't work as well in winter, and B) hay that's not eaten will mold.

We started with a bag and eventually shifted to three bags to allow a feeding station for each mare.

Carrie wanted to hang the bags evenly. She would lace the bag through the feeder and itself and used a carabiner to secure it.

At first, there was a set way Carrie wanted things tied. I started to mess with the formula a little bit every time I went out. I wanted to find the strongest way to hang the bag for the least effort. Part of it was to keep my mind active and part of it was because on cold nights it's a pain to fiddle around with cold fingers in the dark.

While I was thinking about knots, Carrie was thinking about other options and deals online. She found a set of bags that were cheap and easier to stuff (The purple bags had to be turned inside out, jammed on top of the hay, and then scooped right-side up and tightened).

We used three carabiners on the new bags: one on each corner to keep it up and then one in the middle to keep the top closed and a smart horse from turning the slow-feed bag into a convenient, fast-eat serving sack.

Originally, we'd hook both sides of the bag into the carabiner, push it through, wrap it around the feeder, and then hook it back onto the bag (Carrie likes everything super-duper secure).

I felt it was overkill and eventually started to keep the carabiner and the back end of the bag hooked all the time. I'd unhook the front side and the carabiner would help hold the bag open wide when I stuff it with hay.

It won Carrie over with it's convenience. No horses have found a way past it yet.

Nibs is still giving Annie the run around some, so Carrie decided to hang another feedbag under the lean-to. She backed out a pair of rivets, drilled the holes larger, and inserted eye-hooks to hang the bag from.

Annie isn't the smartest pony, though. She stayed by the feeder dejected. She chose to be near the other girls instead of eating.

I offered her some grass and Nibs wanted to get in on the party....which let Annie snatch some hay! Nibs shooed her off when I stopped handing her grass (Loki is still pretty intimidated).

I did get a picture of the three feeding stations working as intended later! Success!

The girls get along well 90% of the time. Nibs is bossy for another 5%, but it's the 5% where she turns on witch-mode that it could potentially be dangerous. It weighs on Carrie, because that's her baby girl.

Amazingly, you can sometimes hear the horses from all the way inside. Carrie and I heard what sounded like a stampede so we ran outside. It looked like Nibs was running Maddy off into the field, but then Nibs turned around and started a race back to the barn! The other girls came tearing after her and Carrie's heart nearly stopped when they almost skidded into the side of the barn!

The girls were at play! For all of her witchiness, they'd missed Nibs when she was put into seclusion. I missed the race, but I got a video of some of the prancing around afterward.

It was great seeing them run around. Nibs tried to nip at Annie when it was all done and Annie still wanted to nuzzle up to her, but maybe they'll mellow out more with time, the new feeding stations, and some supplements Nibs is on to help calm her and her heat cycles. 

I showed the video to my classes and some of the kids really liked it. I think a lot of them find me an odd package. I'm the poop shoveling, wrestling, math nerd and boardgame geek who's a Christ follower...but that's my life!

Full Time Farmer For a Day

Our herd has grown from our 0 to 2 to 6 since opening our doors. I've learned a lot in 2 months since the first time I helped with the chores. I nearly gave Carrie a panic attack the first time I did the chores without her (intended as a pleasant surprise). I started to do them on my own while she was hurt, but now it's a joint effort. She does the thinking and I play support.

We've worked together enough that we've come up with a system.

Carrie has things written down and has labelled cups and jars for measuring each ingredient out.

As I said, she's the brains of the outfit. She has the experience to see the bigger picture and chart a course. My part isn't rocket science. It takes effort and a willingness to get dirty.

Carrie withheld food from Oakie today and used it to lure her onto the trailer. Oakie's owner hired Carrie to drive Oakie home when their Plan A fell through.

Oakie's not a fan of traveling. She was a sweatball last trip and Carrie drives her trailer grandma-slow and rock-steady when she has horses in tow. I heard Oakie rambling around a little as they went underway.

That left me to tend the farm.

Things were an uneasy status quo. Annie's low-girl on the totem pole. She wants to join the other girls, but they're both bossing her around. Nibs is still being aggressive (which I wish was a surprise), but Maddy?

I didn't think a horse could be more submissive than Maddy, but I watched her assert herself. That leaves Annie as a horse in between.

Despite Nibs' temperament toward her, Annie seems really attached. She keeps running back and coming up alongside Nibs.

The drama flared up a few times over the course of the day (Annie skidded out and hit the fence again), but things were calm most of the time. I was able to tighten the line and fix it in seconds.

I got a picture of all three ladies eating together drama-free midday.

Meanwhile, the boys are comfortable enough to lie down and nap together. 

Shane and I left to go to the library for an hour or so midday. It was his standard "I don't want to go," followed by the "Now I don't want to leave!" I bumped into someone behind the library desk I'd last seen a decade ago in today's edition of "It's a small world."

With things calm midday, I was able to catch up on a lot of writing and uploading. Carrie called a few times for addresses. She had me call a flooring company that has more pallets than they know what to do with. They sell them for a buck a piece! 

The next round of horse drama became barn work after Carrie got back. She dropped Oakie off without issue, picked up some pallets, and picked up some tools. She went into the field and Nibs ran over to say hi. 

Nibs is incredibly fond of people. Especially Carrie since she "Mama" and bottle raised her. Nibs can get jealous when other horses monopolize Carrie's time, so guess what happened when Annie came over and wanted to crowd up next to Carrie and Nibs?

Nib's kicked. She missed Annie, but nailed her stall door perfectly.  

I got a good look at the nails the builders used, because they were knocked clean out of the frame!

We couldn't risk exposed nails, so we went straight into damage control. We stalled Annie and Maddy and closed their curtains. They had fresh hay and water to keep them occupied. Then Nibs was easy to keep at bay as we removed the door.

Nibs got to wander around and ponder her newfound freedom while we worked.

We laid the door down and pulled off the boards that had separated. Then we looked at each other and said, "Screw it."

I mean that literally.

The nails slid right off, so we decided to over-engineer the door with a bunch of wood screws. We didn't have enough the right size, so Carrie scooted off the to hardware store and left me to remove the nails. 

I'm no contractor. I took a couple shop classes in middle school and Pop made sure I learned a thing or two as a kid. Basic repairs weren't too much to ask for. 

Speaking of teaching kids, though....

I went inside the house and made Shane come out to help. He got to assist hammering the nails back through, so they could be clawed out.

Carrie came back and Shane got reassigned while Carrie and I shifted the hinges. Some of the old screws were loose and needed to be re-set.

We upgraded the latch to a bolt when we hung the door. It's been on the to do list (along with 1,000 other things) and this was the perfect time!

Nibs was stalled next and then Carrie had a new project in mind. Shane got to run back inside and play Super Nintendo (We are on break!).

Carrie had me tie strips of rope onto the top of each section of polywire to make it more visible for Annie. She followed behind with a can of glow-in-the-dark spray paint. Each strip and each post got a quick coat.

"How many do you want to do? All of them?" I asked.

"All of them," Carrie said.

There were a lot of them.

If the glow-in-the-dark works well it should look really cool at night.

Carrie found one pole that was improperly grounded as she painted and checked connections. The fence tester sang and lit up a few more notches when we checked!

And that's with some jury-rigging.  I spotted where Annie snapped the line.

We learned we needed to swap out another door latch when Maddy pushed her way out to join us! She wanted scratches and shadowed Carrie everywhere she went. I let Loki out and he enjoyed romping around with the girls.

Shane came back out with me and I got a cute picture of him and Annie.

Looks idyllic doesn't it? A quick look at the original shows I cropped out some of the stinky bits!

I scooped them up after. We were a little behind from the week and Oakie's stall needed a good cleaning. I filled multiple buckets of poop over the course of the day.

The ladies were turned back out and got to enjoy the field before we brought them in for dinner and evening chores. 

Being a farmer can be a fun change of pace.....but it's also a good reminder of why I got my teaching license! 

When I was growing up, Nana would say, "Degrees let you work in the air-conditioning." I enjoyed being outside. I enjoyed problem solving to fix the door and I especially enjoyed being out of school, but I'm not quitting my day job anytime soon.