WordPlay

by Doranna

Ahh, yes.  April weather. 

Actually, this whole winter has been like this.  Achingly little precipitation of any kind, and going into what they’re calling a neutral year.  No La Niña, no El Niño.

When we do get wet stuff, it’s invariably somehow on those days of “zero percent chance of precipitation.”  And then it’s just a tease–a taste of what it might be like if it actually snowed.  Meanwhile the temps are all over the place, from hot to cold and back again.

Last night, the wood stove was going full blast.  The night before, I had the bedroom windows open…  Today, I freely admit to be hiding from the cold day and the cold wind, when my body was getting used to spring.   I haven’t, in any recent days (and also thanks to copyedits), managed to saddle Duncan up and ride.

This does not please him.

And snow in mid-April?

No.  DuncanHorse is not pleased.  No one, he says, consulted him.

By Patty Wilber

It is SPRING!   Has been for a while. (I suppose everyone knew this already!)

The days are getting warmer. Well, some days.

Here is how THAT works in NM in spring:

Monday, 80F in the afternoon.  The hair is coming off the horses in clouds and they sweat whenever I make them do anything over a slow jog.

(The whole shedding thing is fun!  Toots is losing her long white winter hair and becoming more mottled.  LT is dropping her pale  winter coat so her spots and gold summer hair are showing.  Lacey is chucking her very dark winter attire and right now her gold-toned summer coat is showing through in bizarre patches. One year I am going to take one pic/month to show the color changes of these girls–better do that soon as I must eventually sell two of them–at least that was The Plan!)

Tuesday:  Cooler, and LOTS of wind and then SNOW.

Wednesday, 23F in the morning and  more snow.  The horses are all cold because their hair fell off Monday.

Thursday, 60F by the afternoon and the horses are covered in mud because they rolled while there was still damp ground to roll on.  Why do they do this? It just makes more work when I have to get ready to ride!

******************

We got to Spring ahead.

I was doing a lot of cooking while I was trapped indoors by the pesky setting of the sun (and I was really enjoying it, too.) Not any more though.  Am at the barn.

All that extra day light at the end of the day is a good thing because now that it is warm, people are thinking about getting back to riding and business has picked up to the point where I am… over extended.  Surprise, surprise.

Just last month I was whining to another East Mountain trainer that I might not have ANY outside horses in the barn.  Be careful what you worry about.

Now I have got three outside horses and three of my own to ride.  And two more probably coming at the end of the month.

These three outside horses are all over 16 hands in height while my three are barely breaking 14 hands, so it is quite the contrast!

*********************

Spring means spring shots. 

I recently read an article suggesting that we tend to over-vaccinate dogs, and that research has indicated that the normal series of puppy shots might be enough for the dog for eight or more years.

So, I did a very little bit of research on horse vaccines and the diseases for which I vaccinate.  Not enough to make any decisions yet…

But I found: Over vaccination can result in decreased immune system function.

Horses are weirder than humans, immune system-wise.  Humans can form very long term immunity to various diseases for which we have been vaccinated, but horse’s produce immunity which may last only a year.

Horses produce antibodies just as we do, using the humoral immune system, but another branch, the cellular immune system, may have a bigger role in horses than in humans.

Vet’s often like the frequent vaccination schedule because it can cause people to visit the vet and thus keep up with other health needs of their animals.

Some of the things I vaccinate for are mosquito borne  and pretty unlikely to occur to my horses.  What are the odds I want to play?

Vaccinating older horses might not be necessary…

In humans, if about 80% of the population is vaccinated for a particular disease, the illness is unlikely to break out because there are very few “naive” or susceptible hosts to infect.  In effect, the unvaccinated free-loaders are protected by those that are vaccinated.  This is called “herd immunity”.  It applies to horses, too.  So, if I failed to vaccinate, would I be putting other peoples horses at risk?

These and other questions remain incompletely answered.  Guess I better make a decision soon though, before “spring shots” become “summer shots.”

*******************

The first Spring buckskin point show is coming up this weekend. Toots is semi-ready to show but I might toss LT into a thing or two, too.  Both these girls are reiner/cowhorse types, so we are sticking to the Saturday events for this show:  Ranch trail, ranch pleasure, reining (we are not ready for cow competition yet…bummer).  But, I am still planning to push cows home for those in the cattle events if they need me (and if LT–and maybe Lacey–) can handle it. Toots can!

With the extra paying guests, my girls get fewer rides per week, at least until the semester ends at the start of May. This is ok for level-headed Toots.  It is not so ok for my Fizz Kid, LT.  LT is super busy minded and without a really regular schedule, her sessions can be a little bit less than satisfactory.

Lacey is packing this summer, so if she never makes the show ring, this season, oh well, she still has a job.

Next Spring will be fine.

by Doranna

This is totally not the same as the camel toe effect.  Don’t even go there.

This is what happens on a Friday when one wakes up hoping to ride, and encounters this particular weather (and a Lyme Head attack) on the same day.  A little peek into DuncanHorse’s day, that’s what.

Also a little peek into what we’ve been dealing with since his spring shots went so terribly awry.  As it happens, on Friday he hit the front edge of a flare, and in some of the video shots you can see the hives high on his shoulders.

He got a dose of a mild steroid and was settled down the next day…and as it happens, he’s scheduled for a consulting vet visit next Thursday.  I’ve already ordered the incredibly expensive supplement called Transfer Factor because this vet has had such good luck with it when it comes to horses in Duncan’s situation.

Otherwise, it’s a DuncanHorse day!  Can you hear the wind in the background of some of the shots?  They were 50mph gusts, but I don’t think they’re coming through very well.  I can hear them, but…I know that they’re there!

By Patty Wilber

Last Saturday was the first Back Country Horsemen, Pecos Chapter, training ride for 2012.  I have been really busy teaching and riding my client horses.  I haven’t had too much time for T and Penny.  JD could really use a group ride, but I resisted and decided to take the two I actually plan to use on BCH projects this summer. (I get to take JD to Elephant Butte Lake 2/17  anyhow, weather permitting.)

Jim took Cometa, and I took T and Penny. We drove down to Town and Country Feed, right at the eastern edge of Albuquerque, 10 miles from us.  They have a big parking lot and access to open space that reaches into the hills you just can see in the back ground of the picture below.

Penny is the lead horse and T is the pack horse. He is packing stove pellets--40 lbs on each side, in nice compact, easy to load bags. Great for training! And I got to practice my box hitch, which held!

There were 11 of us, and I ended up leading with Penny–down the scary narrow chute by the rental horses, to the muddy creek crossing.  Penny has been over more than a few creeks, but the first water of the season some times can be interesting…but nope.  She’s five now and we have logged a lot of miles. It’s starting to show!  Yeah!

T, in his starring role as Pack Horse, at first had somewhat of an issue because a Big Black Long Ears was Right Behind him, but he settled very well–except for that one glitch where he wrapped the rope under Penny’s tail.  She didn’t buck or pitch a fit.  She just aimed, and kicked him.

I appreciated that she took it out on T instead of me!

We rode up and up and got a nice view.

Not a bad, for just outside a major city, eh?

It was getting windy, so we dropped off the ridge, found some nice trees to tie the horses to, and rocks for our picnic lunch.  Then we headed on down, as the weather turned colder and windier.

We got home, just in time to show Curly Moe to a potential buyer.  Julie had seen Curly Moe’s Blog, and already was a little smitten by his Very Cuteness.

But, she went to see another Fjord first.  One that has been ridden quite a bit, and whom we thought might be a better match (even though Kathleen and I had our fingers crossed for Curly!).  That other Fjord was having a bad day apparently, and did not make the cut.

Curly showed off his ground manners, rode really well (walked, trotted, turned, backed, sideways, bridge, gate, bent to a stop, halted on voice–he is a Very Smart Boy to have learned all that in 20 rides.  The show day was ride 21.)

Then Julie rode him, and he was almost perfect! I was SO PROUD!  Of course she had to buy him!

He will go to his new home about 5 hours south, in another week!

And lastly, some just for fun pics of Wednesday in Tijeras.  I woke up, looked out the window and saw no snow on the deck railing.  Dozed off of a bit and finally dragged myself out of bed, planning to feed real quick and head to work.

Opened up the basement door to….WOW.  The snow was up to the tops of my rubber boots!

It had been windy, so had blown off my porch rail, completely fooling me!  I got a few photos in the afternoon.

Lacey says, "longshot--look! she's got that box thing again! this one is blue tho!" Longshot says,"jd! u r closest! u check it out!"

Yep, that's a blue bath tub. I have a friend that had a blue toilet in his yard. I should have asked for it so I'd have a match for this tub! Lacey thinks snow in a blue tub MUST be different than all the other snow she'd been hanging around in all day, so she stuck her nose in it.

Curly in all his Cuteness.

Crazy mane! I thought it was fun that you can see my shadow, taking the picture and the shadow of Curly's head, too! We had fun on our snow ride!

Next week, I may have a little discussion on hernia repair, or maybe JD will have a feature on our trip to Elephant Butte!

Mother Nature has been taunting me this week.

You see, it’s weather-watching time, as TD Sunday approaches.  (Yup, I’m writing this on Saturday.  Sunday will be…busy.)

There are those of you out there who probably think this is some oblique reference to the Superbowl, which is not a recognized date in my house, other than the fact that the roads are blessedly clear of traffic during certain hours of that day.

No, TD = tracking dog.  Around here, it’s a test we have once a year.  And it’s the sort of test that’s so dependent on circumstances–weather, terrain, bunnies, judging decisions–that even if you and the dog are Ready, it can all still go very, very wrong.

One does not get cocky about a tracking test at any level.

I think that Dart is ready, if still very green.  He’s enthusiastic, driven, and he knows what his job is.

But that Mother Nature!

Over the course of the week, the forecast for Sunday has gone from calm with the slight potential of rain (not the worst thing that could happen) to calm (yay!) to cloudy (fine) and then, between Friday night and Saturday morning, to strong winds with wicked strong gusts.

(Not that I’ve been watching.)

As you may guess, even if you’ve never trained a tracking dog, this is not ideal tracking weather.  What we won’t know, until we get there, is whether it’s a decently consistent wind, or whether it’s suck-n-gust.

Well, by the time you read this, all will have been answered.  I may even add a little something here to indicate how it went…unless I’m out sulking and kicking at dust devils.  But meanwhile, here are images from Dart’s final training track before the test… (watch that tail wag…)

Already on the track, heading for the start article...

Sniffy sniffy sniffy--about to navigate Cactus Row

And off we go! He's decided he's sure of himself and he's about to put our brush-navigating skills to the test

It’s 10am Christmas morning, which is a whole lot later than this day started.  Not because I have eager kids in the house, but because today was my chance to run a certification track with Dart Beagle.

In order to enter the TD (tracking) test, a dog must prove he’s ready.  That means passing on an informal TD track.  Ours was scheduled for Friday the 23rd–but we spent Friday snowbound, digging out from under the third storm in two weeks.

insert random beauty

Sunrise, right before the start of the storm...

Thirty-six hours later, as the sun is about to set...clearing skies with lenticular clouds sitting on the Sandia Mountains

So we rescheduled for Monday.  But then the certifying judge had to reschedule something of her own due to that same weather, and suddenly here we are on Christmas morning, squeezing in the track together.

It was 15F when we left the house; marginally warmer when I ran Dart’s little starter track (a wee morale builder).  Eventually the sun came up and that helped a bit–when we ran the certifying track a little after nine, it was all blue sky, bright sun, and eager Beagle.

And for Christmas this year, the eager Beagle ran a picture-perfect track and found the glove.  8)

Now I am off to celebrate!

insert random holiday cheer

My view from the office at Horse Feeding Time

Duncan feeling a bit jaunty in his power red blankie

The dogs say "Happy Holidays!"

By Patty Wilber

Horse care after hard riding in cold weather. That was the blog plan anyway.

But then I went to the ranch last weekend, and it rained while we rode the horses in.

My slicker worked!

It rained over night.  It rained while we gathered  heifer 48, the sick orphan, and the four mama cows with the littlest calves whom we needed to truck,  rather than walk down the mountain.

Mama Blue 14, in the trailer with a snack of alfalfa

It rained enough that we put chains on all four tires of the 4-Wheel Drive truck we used for hauling the load of bovines off the western side.

Putting chains on in the mud.

It rained enough that we were worried the cattle pot (a semi truck) could not get into the pens down at the bottom of the hill on the eastern side.

It rained on the way out, two riders, and NO COWS.  Left the majority at the ranch and we are heading out this week to try again. I am gone as you read this.

A view on the way down. Still raining

So, maybe the title should’ve been be “Rode Wet”? 

Or maybe it should’ve  been “48″.   48 had brisket (high altitude respiratory edema) and probably pneumonia. She is not out of the woods yet and could still kick off, which would be rather distressing…because…

48 in the trailer. You can see her ear tag and the back of her head.

Well, I’ll tell you. (I guess this is her somewhat less than 15 minutes of fame…)

48 is a twin and and her womb-mate, Little 24 (distinguishable from Big 24 by the relative sizes of the ear tags), was the one mom wanted.  48 was abandoned.  We brought her in from the farm where she was born with in a few days, along with two likely substitute moms.

Both let her nurse some, but neither truly accepted her.  She took to nursing from behind when the “real” calves nursed from the side. She took the opportunities to eat when they were there.

About a week later, she got snake bit.

Her whole head swelled up and her eyes puffed into slits.  She had no Mom to care about her.

I took Penny and went to check the cows one day.  48 was all alone in a field 1/2 a mile or more from the herd, and I kid you not, the coyotes were circling.

Pushed her back to the herd.  She couldn’t really see where she was going but she could hear us and apparently didn’t wish to be caught, so we zigzagged her back to the bunch.  The cows didn’t seem to care, either way.

She was small but she survived.

We moved her to the high country in June with the rest, and she walked the whole way in.  She continued her vagabond sneak nursing.  I do not know how many moms she’s borrowed from, definitely more than three. She grew to be one of the bigger calves!

Then this, just one week before moving off the mountain!

She has received two doses of penicillin and seems to be improving.  Good thing, because if she’d died at the ranch (and I do have the “just died” picture but it was a little gruesome), in less than 10 days, this is all that would be left.

Scavengers waste no time. This is less than 10 days after death.. Cue music for Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom. A time lapse camera would have been cool. Bears? Lions? Foxes? Bobcat?

Hold on 48!

WIND.  Agility.  WIND.  Cold.  WIND.

WIND WIND WIIIIIIIND.

Every once in a while, a trial comes along that turns into a defining mark. “Remember that trial when…?”

Remember that trial when Friday’s 45mph gusts turned into Saturday’s day-long 60mph wind and mutated to Sunday’s blustery cold snap?

Early in the weekend with Wind Ears. Before it got bad.

First to go, the jump wings. The ring crews worked heroically to secure them.  Some couldn’t be saved, depending on their angle in the wind.  This led to a certain number of one-winged jumps and an ever-mutating course.

Next to go, the obstacle numbering cones. Well, we’re supposed to have memorized the course anyway, and who can read those things on the run?  But they did end up in some…inconvenient places.

Dog on the Run: What the heck is THAT?  Super-power: LEVITATE!

Early Saturday, before the wind hit peak, between gusts at the start line. The background tells the tale--contorted tunnel, traveling cone and chair in the ring...

Then came the set-up chairs. The set-up canopies were safe, because we’d all had warning…they were all tucked away, and the field was dotted with naked shade shelter frames.

That’s when it got fun. Tumbling crates, blowing jackets, flying trash, stinging desert grit, wayward hats, misshapen tunnels… Keeping the courses intact turned into a community project, with the ring crews in constant motion.

And jump poles! Even with rubber bands (which hold the poles gently in place but don’t prevent a knocked bar), they were scattered across the course.  Connery ran one course with four missing jumps.

ConneryBeagle: This is not RIGHT.  I will pretend the bar is STILL HERE.

But he still bayed into the wind and Double-Q’d.

Connery at the start line, spurning the wind

Unfortunately, he’s had a tough weekend as far as his pain is concerned, although we had him bundled away in a protected crate.  Little Dart was dazed and frazzled, and I was really glad he wasn’t scheduled to run; I’d have pulled him.  Belle…well, Belle did what she does best.

Belle: Oh!  Woe!  This must somehow be MY FAULT.

Sunday was a relief after that, bitter biting cold wind and all.  Thirty miles per hour, suddenly not so bad…

As for the hamstring, bless its little heart… I didn’t re-injure it.  I did my share of lurching, skipping, and jumping, and if I can get my hands on the video taken of Belle’s run from the worst of the wind, you might just get a gander of that.

Or not. I have to hold on to the shreds of dignity that I might possibly have remaining, after all…

(Hey!  I hear that!  STOP THAT LAUGHING!)

Meanwhile, it’s time to go check the mirror for my wild windburn, and do some laughing of my own.  Why waste the opportunity?

Yes, that’s right.  The days are longer, the days flirt with surprising spring temps, the ground grows achingly dry, and it’s all just a great big TEASE.

Dart is completely convinced.

Dart: SNOOOOOZE

Duncan is completely convinced.

A preliminary offering of spring horse hair

Never mind those singing birdies, the snow could come boiling over the Sandias at any time.  Never mind that balmy sun…the night temps are pretty frigid.

So keep the horse blankets ready, the trough water heater plugged in, and the winter coats to hand. Tease season, you are not fooling ME!

Dart Beagle: Oh yes you are.

Huh.  Guess I’ll just see if I can get under that hay pallet to rescue Duncan’s shedding blade from the resident pack rat.
~~~~

In other matters, it’s not tease season at all–it’s harvest season!  Because it’s Read an eBook Week, and there is a way cool sale going on at Smashwords.  The coupon codes are right there on the individual book pages.  And my books are included, along with some of the short stories!

Here’s my author page at Smashwords, from which you can reach any of the books/stories.

Here are the titles on sale:

Hidden Steel
Making the Rules
A Feral Darkness
Deep River Reckoning
The Scoria
A Bitch in Time

PS: Look what Dart found in the snow