Thank God for the Break!

It's been awesome having time off. From school at least, if not the barn!

Shane's hair is beyond shaggy. I'd love to cut it, but he wants to grow a 'man-bun.' There's a cartoon character who's a volleyball player with one and Carrie joked about me getting one, but it stuck with him!

Not that I can throw stones. My own pandemic hair is probably the longest it's ever been. Carrie attacked my hair one morning and then told me not to move for a picture.

I've trimmed the beard since then. I got tired of my mustache curling into my mouth!

No school takes some of the urgency out of barn chores. There's no planning or class lurking if we take too long. Carrie's been feeling better, so we've been going out as a family. That's let us tackle some of the odd jobs that can be overlooked for a while, but elevate the operation when done.

Like poopbusting.

I don't remember the last time we dragged the dry lots. Shane got a kick out of riding around with Mom.

Maddy has been her usual itchy self. Carrie tried switching to a different allergy medicine to see if it helped to no avail. 

Maddy will walk over and ask for scratches when we're around. She's got her favorites and we've learned a number of them.

She's very expressive!

The barn is a source of community and we hope a blessing to everyone who's part of it. Laura had a bit of heartache when she was walking Ernie. He spooked and stepped on her ankle. I found out when Carrie bolted inside to get ice. Laura found out she had a fracture on Sunday.

Barbara showed up while Amy and Carrie tended to Laura.

There was a riding party in the works. Carrie was on Eowyn.

Barbara was on Maddie.

And Gay was on a mule for the first time in her life!

"The ears are a hoot!"

Pockets hadn't been worked in a while and was reluctant to earn his keep, but Gay got him moving!

It was Carrie's chance to introduce Gay to Eowyn, too. The point of buying Eowyn was to ride, so I'm glad that Carrie's been active! 

Barbara tried out Maddy's new saddle and declared it a success. Maddy's been feeling good lately. A couple rides back, Barbara asked for a canter on the trail and Maddy offered to gallop....and gallop she did! We hadn't realized she was a speed demon and Eowyn couldn't keep up!

I took a few pictures to chronicle the fun before going inside to be with Shane.

The windows were up to get fresh air and I heard my name on the wind later. Abby was beside herself. All of her girl buddies were saddled up and she was all alone! The anxiety made her make a fool of herself.

Carrie asked me to stall here and close the curtain door.

I brought in Eddy to give her a buddy. He happily went to eating the remains of Pockets' hay while she marginally chilled out.

I went back to playing Legos with Shane. I was thrilled he showed an interest, so we made a concourse for his airport, a bridge, some mansions, and a bank, etc.

I went outside again when I heard horses squabbling through the window. 

The ladies stabled Pockets on the boy's side since Eddy was in his stall. They hadn't closed the curtain door and Magic and Pockets were acquainting themselves with each other!

Horses were a big part of the break, but we finally had board game time! Carrie and I finished Pandemic Legacy Season 0! It was worth the preorder. We played 5 Minute Marvel as a family several times, and Shane and I played a round of Horrified.

Shane spent a couple of hours looking at some of my Battletech stuff and asking questions, so we ended up playing a mission. One of my sourcebooks was for the animated series (that's canon as an animated series in the universe!). Shane was curious, so we looked it up on Youtube and watched some episodes. It's no masterpiece, but it was a shared moment.

The days blurred together, but Sunday rolled around. We saw highs of 70s early in the week and ticks became active again. The prediction for Sunday morning was mid to upper 30s, but it dropped into the 20s instead.

Laura was shambling around, so we did the majority of the barn chores. Carrie gave her 'das boot' to help and walked Ernie for her. Shane helped by playing announcer with Amy.

The sun warmed the air and it turned into a pleasant day with a high just over 60° F. Scott, Mark, and Hazel came over to grill and hang out!

We opened up a bunch of windows and the adults played 5-Minute Dungeon and The Crew while the kids curled up with tablets on the couch. 

And I didn't take any pictures. Can you believe that?

The one picture I have is from when we played The Crew. Carrie had a crazy hand and wanted to show us after the round.

I realized I didn't have any good kid pics as we were saying goodbye, but it was too late!

Landie came over an hour later. Shane 'babysat' her. They played hide-and-seek, Legos, and Shane read part of a Dogman book to her. There was a My Little Pony break in the middle, but Landie isn't the type to stay zoned out forever.

Carrie got jumped on by both kids multiple times! 

Shane got in a little trouble after his shoulder nailed her in the chest! "You're not that small anymore!"

It would've been nice if we could've had another playdate somewhere in the break, but double visits on Sunday was a strong finale. 

Have I mentioned I've enjoyed the break? Cause I did. I was productive, too. I wrote 22 blog posts over the span of 5 days! I didn't do any grading, but my students didn't do much over the break either. I'm as ready as I'll ever by for Virtual School on Monday and I hope they're in the same boat. There are three weeks to go until winter break. We've got to cover polygons, quadrilaterals, and basic circles before taking a couple of weeks off to forget it all!

Grandpa and Grandma Meet Eowyn

Saturday was beautiful. The arena drained from the downpour and Carrie turned it into giant zen rock garden.

And then she and her friends hopped on horses and messed it all up.

That was the point, though. Carrie wanted to show Eowyn off to her friends and family. Grandma and Grandpa were there!

I got called into the arena a few times to play photographer. I was hoping the pictures would be posted online for me to use on the blog, but I never saw them.

Grandpa hasn't posted any of his either, so what you see is what you get!

I took some pictures of Carrie cavorting around atop Eowyn. Carrie's really happy with Eowyn so far. She's already planning on taking her out on a future hunt/event. So far, Carrie said she's a "more chill, less forward Sam."

There was plenty of time to sit around and talk after the horses were put back out out rest. Carrie cooked a meal of salmon and asparagus with a fantastic horseradish sauce for everyone.

This visit was a longer one. Grandpa and Grandma stayed for much of the afternoon. When they left, our bellies were fuller and our house cleaner. Then it was time for evening horse chores and the weekly supplement cups before Carrie and I could crash on the couch for TV time.

Introducing Eowyn

School continued unabated for me, but Carrie had a fun outing Tuesday morning. She joined a hunt group.

But wait. Who did she ride?

It wasn't Magic or Eddie. They walked up to the trailer to inspect things. In fact, the trailer had left the house empty!

Meet Eowyn. She's Sam's half-sister. A draft cross.

She looks like a feminine Sam. You're not supposed to see a huge difference between male and female horses (save the obvious), but that's really the best way I can describe her. 

Sam's full name was Samwise, so Carrie wanted to keep a Lord of the Rings theme with Eowyn's name (and Eowyn has one of the best story arcs in the saga, so Carrie new I'd approve).

Carrie drove out to Sarah G's property last week (Sarah G is the trainer we bought Sam from and who sold Sam for us). Sarah had told Carrie, "You're not going to believe this coincidence with vet reports," when Eowyn had a similar report and situation as Samwise had. The odds of two similar situations caught Carrie's attention, but then Eowyn caught her fancy after a test ride.

Carrie sent me some pictures of her riding. She had a huge smile on her face.

Carrie committed to buying Eowyn. Tuesday morning's hunt was the final test drive and a semi-delivery since it was so close to our barn. Carrie said Eowyn was the first fun ride she'd had in a long while (specific to horses!). 

Eowyn was nervous about being in a new barn. All of the horses were curious about her.

Carrie brought in Abby and Pockets to introduce them and turn them out individually.

Abby's not a fan of change, but she seemed to accept Eowyn fairly quickly. She ran her off a few times, but Eowyn was running herself off regardless of what Abby did.

Abby did check in with her bff, Pockets, a few times. We hoped he would be fine with a new horse since he was lower on the totem pole than Abby. He'd been pretty mellow when he first came on the property.

But he was a mule. They don't always think the same as horses. He might have been jealous, too, as Abby seemed to really take to Eowyn and display signs she was in heat! Eowyn kept running in circles and tried to say hi to Maddy (who said, "Stay away from my dry lot!")

Pockets became a problem. Abby would kick and make her presence known when her space was encroached upon, but he kept after Eowyn. They call it "dragon ears" when a horse lays their ears back in angry, but big mule ears are more akin to "dragon horns!"

I had no memory left (Carrie never warns me when she's up to something), so I couldn't catch much footage. 

Carrie eventually caught Pockets, aced him (a sedative), and he still kept chasing and charging at Eowyn when he was let back out.

The hostility was right at the level there wasn't a clear and present danger, but uneasy enough Carrie wasn't happy as the sun went down.

"They're going to have to work it out...," Carrie said (and hoped and prayed!).

Fast forward and they have worked it out. Pockets is back to being the bottom of the herd's pecking order. 

Eowyn seemed to be the alpha for a few days, but Abby's back in charge. The two girls have bonded and Pockets is no longer Abby's bff. Or maybe he is, but Abby seems to love Eowyn.

Eowyn clearly ranks higher than Pockets, because she will move him around the feeder. Nobody shoos Abby.

Feeding time is when it's evident Abby is still alpha mare. She clears the other horses out from the lean-to. She will threaten to bite, kick, and maim anyone who tries to encroach upon her stall. Eowyn hangs back well outside her range. Pockets is the only one eager (or dumb) enough to encroach! He sidles up to his door, gets run off, and sidles back!

It's a little weird between Eowyn and Pockets after Abby is let in. Eowyn will try to run Pockets off, but he's so desperate to get his food he doesn't always play that game. If Pockets is by his stall, I can let him in easily enough, but Eowyn hasn't learned her stall door and sometimes there's a back and forth between them as I try to guide everyone to their proper places.

My prayer is that Eowyn will be our last new horse for years to come and that she'll be a healing and fun riding partner for Carrie.