Once, long ago, there was a Monday from hell

 

One Monday morning I woke up from a very light night of sleep with a terrible headache.  I hardly ever get headaches so I knew the day wasn’t going to go well.  Had I known how true my foresight was, I would have called in sick and pulled the covers back over my head.

Everything that could go wrong did go wrong at work.  The headache never dissipated, so I was more clumsy than usual and woke up the next morning with numerous new bruises.  When the day was finally done, I was exhausted and hungry, since I had also forgotten to pack a lunch.  I pulled myself up into the F250, fastened the seat belt and turned the key. 

Nothing.

At that point, it didn’t surprise me.  I was actually expecting something else to go wrong.  It was Monday, after all. 

I got a coworker to hold down the ignition key while I banged on the starter and the truck magically fired up after the third hit with a hammer.  I said a small thank you to the FORD gods and drove out the lane.

My drive to and from work is all back roads, which makes the 45 minute commute very tolerable.  That is, until you’re on a narrow dirt road with a steep drop off on the right and some moron runs you off the road. 

 

The tow truck driver was skeptical and made me sign a waiver saying I wouldn’t sue the towing company if my truck decided to mate with a tree.  Several hours and $250 later, my truck was back on the road where it belonged.  It was dark by then and I still had to go home and feed the horses.

As I pull into my driveway, thankful that nothing else had happened on the drive home, I spot eyeballs on the side of the driveway.  The dogs had been shut in the house when I left for work that morning, so maybe the eyes belonged to a cat?  But they were too far apart, unless it was a really large cat.  The kind of cat I probably didn’t want to run into in the dark.  Then my headlights hit the animal and I saw that it was Calypso.  What the heck was she doing out?  And why wasn’t she running up the driveway to greet me, as she normally did?

Then the knot in the pit of my stomach came back and sat there like a bad fruitcake.  Calypso wasn’t moving.  I jumped out of the truck as soon as I had it in park and ran to Calypso’s side.  It had started raining right after my truck was pulled out (of course) so Calypso was lying there wet and shivering.  I ran to the house and grabbed a flashlight and headed back to my dog.  Her right shoulder was large, swollen, and hot.  She couldn’t put any pressure on it and just laid there whimpering.

My planned hot shower and pity party had to wait.  I couldn’t fall apart yet, Calypso needed me.  I hefted her 60lbs and carried her into the house, then called a vet tech friend of mine.  It was after 9pm at this point and I hoped she’d still be up.  I ended up carrying Calypso back out to the truck and taking her over to M’s for inspection.  She told me to call the vet in the morning, but that he probably would not be able to do anything because of the location of the injury.  The shoulder is impossible to immobilize with a cast or splint.  The vet said the same thing the next morning and suggested pain meds, confining her to a crate for four-six weeks, and ice packs.

By the time I got home with Calypso, got her settled in, fed all the horses and myself, showered, and fell into bed, it was after midnight.  I had to get up at 5AM to do it all again.

I tell you all of this now, well after the fact, for one reason only.

I survived the Monday from hell and so did Calypso.  The next time life deals you one of those days that makes you want to curl up into a fetal ball and suck your thumb, just remember that tomorrow is a new day.  If I survived, so can you.

A very special dog

 

 

And she’s not even mine.

Kaja is one of the many dogs and puppies awaiting homes over at the The Olive Branch.  Except that Kaja is different.  Since the day she was dropped at the end of the driveway, to make her own way to the Olive Branch or get lost trying, I knew this little girl was different.  She wasn’t even five months old when her owners dumped her and her sibling off, but I saw right away that she was special.  Intelligent, kind, playful, and cuddly, with a willingness to please that is unsurpassed by any other dog there. 

There are no other dogs at the Olive Branch that are given such freedoms.  When I get to work in the mornings Kaja is fed with the rest of the pups, then let out into the play yard.  She plays for a few minutes, then deftly climbs the four foot fence to come looking for me.  She helps me clean the kennels, feed the horses, goat, and pigs, then rides in the Polaris with me while I spread manure.

She gets along with all the other dogs and is the canine ambassador in the cat kingdom.  The older kittens just adore her  --- rubbing themselves all over her, letting her join in their games of chase, and snuggling up with her for a nap at break time.  Kaja has a special relationship with Whinnie the goat, and is trying her best to become friends with Tyler the pig.  She keeps a respectful distance from the horses, has never offered to chase them, and has not once even barked at them.

 

Kaja plays a mean game of fetch and drops the ball eagerly at your feet.  She knows “Sit” and “down” and is currently learning “Shake” and “Rollover”.  “Stay” has been difficult because she hates being more than a few feet away from me.  Her job, as she sees it, is to be next to me at all times.  I recently fell off several bales of hay in the barn and as I was lying there taking stock of any injuries, Kaja curled up against my side, offering me her warmth and comfort because she knew I was hurt.  She didn’t jump all over me and try to lick my face like most pups would do when a human is on the ground.

 

 

Kaja is special.  She’s that once in a lifetime dog and today she was adopted.  I get to give her one last bath tomorrow before her new humans come to pick her up.  I’ll give her a kiss on the nose, a gentle ear rub, and wish her well at her new home.  Then I’ll wipe the tears away and move on to the next puppy project.  But I know there will never be another Kaja.

Sky and Mariah

 

This past summer I was allowed to bring some horses over to The Olive Branch to graze on one of their unused pastures.  This was symbiotic to both parties, as my horses kept the grass down so it didn’t need to be mowed, and it gave my pastures at home a bit of a break.  I should have taken more horses than I did, but since this was a first for me, I wanted to keep it simple.  I ended up taking three old fogies and two youngsters that were not yet available for adoption:  Semi, Junior, Stride, Mariah, and Sky. 

Semi and Junior have been married for many years so they were pretty much inseparable throughout the summer.  Stride has always been a loner so didn’t mind being a third wheel.  Which left Mariah and Sky, only one year apart in age, to become the best of buddies.

 

They didn’t seem to mind.

 

They ate out of the same tub every day.  I tried giving them separate tubs, but Mariah just couldn’t stand eating by herself, so they’d polish off one tub and move on to the other as a team.

 

When it was time to run and play the two were always within feet of each other, usually running belly to belly.

 

I originally took these pictures for the purpose of getting one or two good ones of Sky to put up on the website, but I could never get him alone!

 

Sky’s adoption is currently pending – it didn’t take long after I put him up as available for someone to fall in love with the handsome fella.

 

I know I’ll miss him, but probably not as much as Mariah will!

Dilbert Update

 

Remember little Dilbert, one of the minis rescued from the seizure outside of Fairmont, WV last year?  This is what he looked like when we rescued him.

 

 

This is him now!!!

 

Turns out, the little guy was broke to ride already.  I took these pictures at the fun show on October 8th, where he was ridden in some games, a walk/trot class, and then “ran” some barrels.

 

Too bad they didn’t have a dressage class… check out his extended mini trot!

 

I love happy endings!

Training Updates

 

It’s either feast or famine around this blog lately.  I either hit you with multiple posts in a week or zip, zilch, nada for weeks at a time.  Sorry about that!  Here’s what you’ve missed:

1.  Jethro was adopted and just left today.  The kids were also trying to sneak Amigo into the trailer without me noticing.  It didn’t work, but it was amusing to watch them lead him around with just their arms around his little neck.

2.  Traveler went for his fourth ride and first trail ride ever on Wednesday.  He was AMAZING!  Read all about his ride on Tamara’s blog.  Traveler heads over to my pony foster next week for daily riding and further training.  Then, it’s likely he already has a home waiting for him with Jethro’s adopter!

 

3.  At the same time Traveler heads to the foster, Chip will be headed to the vet for some much needed brain surgery.  Then he’s off to the foster as well for training.

4.  Did I tell you the story of Whiskers?  She was actually rescued by a friend, but turned out to be too dangerous and unpredictable for her to keep at her barn with larval humans running around.  She’s three, but I wasn’t going to start her training this year because we had so many other youngsters.  However, she kept hanging out around the round pen, watching everyone else and  looking left out.  So just to see how crazy Tamara really is, I asked if she wanted to work with Whiskers and see if she accepted the saddle as well as I thought she would.  Whiskers never batted an eye when she was tacked up, so Super Crazy Volunteer laid across her back, then swung on up.  Whiskers went berserk!

 

 

Can’t you tell?  I know it’s not a video, but that’s what happened.  Whiskers stood statue still, just swishing her tail at flies.  Tamara dismounted, untacked, and called it a day.  Now that we know Whiskers accepts pretty much anything, we’ll start her ground work and teach her voice commands and cues.  Once that’s done, the rest will obviously be pretty easy.

5.  Jasmine is doing so well that we’ll probably take her out on trail for the first time this week.  I’ll take pictures this time because I just know she’ll do awesome!

 

6.  Quill.. what can I say about Quill except that he’s incredible?  We should have him out on trail soon, too.

 

I never imagined having this many Maverick-wanna-bes in the herd!

Traveler’s first ride

 

Tamara wasn’t even going to get on Traveler the other day.  She’d already been there for a few hours, worked four other horses, and it was HOT.   Let me tell you a bit of a secret… it’s a LONG walk from the round pen to the driveway where she had parked.  After she was done with the last horse and had him untacked and turned loose, she was cursing herself for not leaving Quill tacked up and just letting him carry her saddle and bag down to the car.  Luckily, Traveler was standing right outside the round pen and he volunteered his happy fat butt to carry the saddle.  So I grabbed him and we threw the saddle on.  Then it was pretty silly not to go ahead and work with him.  So she put the bridle on him.  Since he has much the same attitude as Quill and she’d already done some ground work with him, we decided she should just mount on up and see what happens.

A whole lot of nothing happened.

 

 

Which is a big bonus since she forgot to put her helmet on before mounting up.

 

I let him follow me around the pen for a few minutes until he got his sea legs under him, then we called it a day.  Except that he still got to carry the saddle and bag down to the driveway for Tamara.  He’s such a gentleman.

 

Traveler will be going to the same foster that took River and Casper.  I can’t wait to see little Lexi riding him.  I think she’s really going to love the little guy!

Quill’s first ride

 

When Tamara was out the other day she got on Quill for the first time.  Let me tell you, it was devastating!  I thought for sure Quill was going to… going to… oh, I just can’t say it… I thought he was going to fall asleep!

 

He looks really upset about this whole human on his back concept, doesn’t he?

 

She only stayed on him for about 10 minutes.  Just long enough for him to find his balance with the extra weight, and wake up.  Just a little, mind you.  Not enough that he actually put any effort into the session.  I think Tamara worked harder than he did. 

 

Now I’m going to let you in on a little secret.  Quill has been worked with in the round pen a total of ONE time.  That’s just the way he rolls.  Crazy humans want me to do something? Okay, let’s do it!

 

 

I just love this little guy and I think Tamara feels the same.  How could she not?

Jethro

 

I haven’t been posting over on Training the Unwanted this year because I haven’t been doing any of the training.  Tamara has been volunteering her time to come out and work with these horses and she has her own blog to tell you all about it.  It’s over there on the right and it’s called “All about horses in training”.  Tamara helps other people with their horse troubles, so her blog isn’t just about the horses here.  Go check her out sometime!

Yesterday she came out and worked with Quill, Jasmine, Traveler, and Jethro.  This was Jethro’s evaluation ride and I was pretty confident that he was already broke to ride just because of his excellent ground manners and calm, relaxed way of handling new situations.

For instance, this was the first time Jethro had been introduced to the main herd.  The first time he’d been up on the ridge and in the round pen.  And it was probably the first time he’d ever had a little “helper” in a round pen with him.

 

 

 

 

I’m very impressed with the way Jethro handles himself and can’t imagine why someone would have turned him loose, or not gone looking for him if he had escaped.  He’s an awesome horse and I can’t wait to find the time to hit the trails on him for a more thorough evaluation!

And what do I say about Amigo?  How many times can I tell you how adorable he is before you get tired of reading it and find another blog to read?

Everyone should have a round pen

 

When I first built the round pen, my reasoning was simple.  I wanted a safe, confined place to work with all the green and unbroke horses that I have.  At the time, I didn’t have any ponies, so I wasn’t concerned with putting a third board down low to keep them from squeezing under.   I’ll never be able to work any small ponies in there, but at least Amigo still appreciates the hard work and time it took to build him a round place for scratching all the itchies.

 

 

 

At least someone is getting some use out of my round pen.

The new and improved Logan

 

Logan has been friendly towards me for a couple of weeks now.  He never let Glenn near him and I thought he might take a bite out of Brandi the other day when she was petting Eve, who is one of his herd.

 

He’s finally started playing with Calypso instead of running away from her attempts at fun.

 

He still has no interest in coming into the house, but that’s okay.  His job is outside and that’s where he needs to be.  He’s also really good at his job!  I haven’t seen the foxes or coyotes in the back pasture since Logan arrived.  I haven’t lost anymore chickens, either.  Go Logan!

 

He’s also become playful with me and is starting to come out of his shell.  When I come out with his dinner he bounces up and down, spins in circles, and barks excitedly.  He comes running to meet the truck when I get home and escorts me back to the house.

Have I mentioned that I just love the big lug?