Horsin' Around

Scratch that. There's nothing cuter than TWIN fawns.

I was on my tractor tonight dragging my arena and on the hill were two cute twin fawns gamboling around, jumping, and playing, racing along the side of the hill and then running back to the watchful presence of their mom. They've been hanging around the house for about a month. I saw them just shortly after they were born. So so cute. One day I drove up the driveway and one fawn was under one tree, another was under another tree, and the doe was under a third tree. 

Anyway, seeing their activities tonight made me laugh and cry at the same time.

 

 

What books did you love as a child? 
Submitted by hearts. 

 

I think I read every horse book ever published. Early on it was the "Billy and Blaze" series...GREAT illustrations! Then when I moved into more serious reading, it was anything by Marguerite Henry (I remember crying my eyes when I finished "Black Gold".) and of course the action packed "Black Stallion" series by Walter Farley. Oh and I can't forget to mention the all-time classic, "Black Beauty". Yup, just as horse crazy back then, 'cept now I don't have to read about it.

 

So I was walking back into my barn tonight after feeding my horses and I hear an unusual sound, kind of a cross between running water and buzzing. Since the lights weren't on and it was dusk, I really couldn't see anything, but I had a sneaking suspicion what was generating that sound. I turned the lights on and sure enough, there nestled against the wall behind my rakes and shovels, was a big rattlesnake. Damn it!!! These things scare the shit out of me.

So I pulled the truck in the barn and got it as close as possible to the area where the snake is, climed up on the hood and grabbed a shovel. I tried to jab at it, but of course it ducked under the wall and is hiding who knows where.

I'm worried about my cats. They were showing quite a bit of interest when the thing was huddled against the wall rattling vigorously. And I'm also worried about myself. The area where it may have decided to take up residence is right next to my hay. And I'm worried about my horses. Though they are staying out all day and night right now, it's not a comforting thing to have a big rattlesnake slithering around.

Hopefully the thing is just going to slither along its merry way. I don't relish killing this one. It's big. That other one I killed was just a baby and it was easy to sever the head. I'm guessing the same won't be true in this instance.

Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!

Edited: I was just reading that rattlesnakes have their babies from August to October. If this is a female, I am going to freak if this thing has babies in my barn. They carry their eggs inside the body until they are ready to hatch. Please go away snake.

Edit 9/13: No sign of the snake this past week, so I'm hoping it's moved on.

Alright, I've had this blog for almost a month now thanks to rockfinder. I suppose it's time to write something. I know that my entries will be extremely sporadic at best, as I tend to be quite busy and can also be extremely LAZY. But, since I have had so many kind invites to join neighborhoods from the great community members at iStockphoto.com, I figured I'd better give them something to read, as boring as it may be.

My life is pretty darn mundane, but maybe it will interest someone :D

I guess it's no secret that I basically live for horses. Childhood obsession gone hay-wire (hardy har har).  I just don't know what I would do without my two very sweet and special babies, Coco (13) and Pixel (6).

Coco is such a mom. She is and has been the most nuturing, sweetest being I've

ever had the honor to know. Even when she was a young horse, she seemed like an old soul. Calm and kind. Forgiving. Loving. Hard to really describe the special relationship I have enjoyed with her the past 10 years (wow, it's been that long). Coco is careful and seems to know the fragile nature of a human being. Coco would save my life.

Pixel, on the other hand, is a rascal. It's hard to believe he is Coco's son, though the physical resemblance is strong. Of all the years I have worked in the horse industry, Pixel has injured me the most. Not because I'm careless (well, the one time I was), but more because it's just always all about Pixel and he doesn't necessarily think before he reacts. Here's the list of injuries, some more serious than others:

• A concussion and 20 stitches to the head (this one was totally my fault and foolish and careless)
• Kicked hard in the shin
• Fell off and skinned my elbow
• Crushed my foot (lotsa bruising and pain but nothing broken, whew!)
• Knocked me in the nose with his foot, again, not broken, but lotsa blood and pain.

I think that's about it to this date.

 

But, I just love him. How could you not? Look at what a beautiful baby he was!

 And he's pretty much obsessed with being the center of my attention...all the time. And he's so damn charming. And talented. And really fun to ride. He's getting so big and strong now. And the latest training I have been doing with him is really starting to show. His body is changing alot. He's getting muscles in all the right places. AND he's learning to be quite the showman.

He can be quite an excitable guy and taking him off the farm has proven to be an interesting experience. He's curious and he likes seeing different places, but he seems to suffer sometimes from severe ADD and doesn't want to pay any attention to me AT ALL. But at our latest show in August, he really focused in the show ring (the warm-up

was another matter) and seemed to know and appreciate that everyone was admiring his handsome-ness. I look forward to alot more success with him as he settles in to being a real show horse.

Though I successfully trained Coco through to "Third Level" dressage, it was always

a struggle for her, since her body type wasn't the most suited to dressage, but with Pixel, it's completely different. It's so much easier for him because he's so much more flexible and athletic than Coco, and when he's focused (which is so much more common now) he responds to my lightest cues (just a shift of my weight or light pressure from my leg) with ease and it's like we have a telepathic communication.

Well, I've gone on alot more than I orginally intended, so you have witnessed first hand the obsession. Sorry to bore :D!

So I come to the end of my first EVER blog entry. May be my last, who knows ;).