June 2023

Happy June!
I love both the photos this month.  Lifelong horsey love.  



  Happy Birthday,  RICK!



Donnie is taking Dorian GrayCat to the vet as I type.  He seems sick.  Hopefully it isn't much, but Dorian is Donnie's sidekick outside (Feather is his indoor kitty).  So Donnie is very concerned.  When he gets home he plans on mowing the upper hay field.  Going to be a busy day.

Hi

ARK, my friend has a lame mare that she hands walks for points for the Tevis
cup contest.  So far she has 70 points.  She is very happy and her mare
improving.

Today is irrigationn...........

Hoping for a good report on DONNIE'S cat.

See you later............

Hello All,

It's been a hectic 3 or 4 weeks since I last checked in. Glad to her Jamie is doing well. Enjoy the new TV ELLEN. I'm glad you have such good neighbors to help you get it home and mounted. So glad to see you racking up the miles ARK. You had asked if I ever get to ride, unfortunately no. I have not had the time to ride a single time yet this year. I still hold out hope that I will. But even though I haven't been able to ride, they bring me great joy just feeding and giving them scritches daily.

My brother has been back in the hospital these past few weeks which is what has kept me away. He is home again now. To add to his troubles he is now on a catheter. He has appt next week with urologist and hopefully it can be removed, but I have my doubts. He had to have a pet scan today because they saw a shadow on his lung while he was in the hospital this last time. He also had to have some fluid removed from one of his lungs while he was in the hospital. He seems to think the shadow was because of the needle used to drain the fluid. I would think the doctors that read the x-rays would recognize that if it were the case. Our father died of lung cancer.

I did just get a water softener and new water heater installed. I buy myself such exciting gadgets. I also splurged and had a line run to the kitchen sink that will be my well water instead of soft water. I'm so glad I did that. I really like the taste of my well water. The soft water, eh, not so much, but it will be so much better for my house. I also recently ordered a new washer and dryer and a new stove. Nothing fancy, but I'll be able to dry my clothes after they are washed; I just don't like the washer I currently have so I'm getting rid of it; and I'll be able to bake again with some degree of confidence as to what the oven temperature is and how long it should take to get done.

Take care everyone, and if you are experiencing high temperatures like I am currently, stay cool!

oh goodness INDY................You are a hero to your brother..........Hoping all improves.
Are your niece and nephew ok? Glad you have new appliances to make your life easier.
It will give you more time with your horses. There is much happiness involved without
riding. Sometimes just staring at them makes me so happy.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RICKSTER...........I wish good health to you and CAROL..

Today was a rotten slow irrigation.............

How is DORIAN?

Indy, those new appliances will give you a lot of pleasure. Having things that are reliable is important.
We sure have had the heat for the last week with a few more days to come. But, it's time to make hay. It's ALWAYS miserably hot and humid for that.
Our local airport has lots of nice grass that they mow and roll into those big round bales. They were beautiful green bales. I don't know who gets it.

I was mowing this morning and thought I was being snowed on. The cottonwoods are "snowing" now. When that's over with, I'll vacuum the screens.

GRAYMARE:
 Dorian seems to be doing better than we thought he was.  He still has a couple of tests to come in, but overall he should be okay.  He has some minor inflammation in his intestinal tract that they are giving him meds for.  He did have a bit of a temp that indicated an infection.  He is home and staying in the spare bedroom right now to keep Feather from bugging him.
 Shadow's blood tests also came in and he is doing pretty well.  Both animals are at least 11 years old, so I guess old age is catching up with them a bit.  
 Your friend is way ahead of me on the Virtual Tevis Cup trail.  Areion and I are at 36.6 miles...at Robinson's Flat.


INDYAPP:
 Congrats on the new appliances!!     You will have a new kitchen!   Sorry about your brother's continuing health issues.  You are so great to take care of him.  
 I don't ride Daisy, Trinket or Cactus Jack, but I sure do enjoy having them here.  They are good for my mental health.  (I won't talk about my bank account's health this week,   )




Cactus Jack,  Daisy,  Ivan, Trinket,  Areion.... today.

"Does all this grass make my butt look big?" ARK your guys look great!

I'll agree that the horses are great for my mental health even if I can't ride right now. I will also agree that they are not great for my financial health, and my checkbook will attest to that tonight as the vet is coming for spring shots. He was suppose to come last week, but he had an emergency call and had to reschedule. I have absolutely no problem with that considering how many times I have called him over the years for emergencies and he has always been there for me.

It's suppose to be a scorcher today. I topped off the water tanks before I left this morning to make sure they all have fresh cool water. Tonight they'll get hosed off to cool off. (And then they will lay in the sand and roll.)

ARK   LOVE the new old-person horse photo!! AND the rump panorama!! GM is right on the money (oops-tender topic) in saying "There is much happiness involved without riding." Now I'm so far from the riding part that I depend on pics.  But I know I'm not alone.  Thank you, thank you!

You could frame that last pic and dub it Rump Parliament.

BEAUTIFUL full moon tonight...........like one huge reading light..............Anyone else seeing it?

HUGE thunderstorm this afternoon...all over our hay laying in windrows in the field. Sigh....Donnie will be doing a lot of fluffing the next couple of days to get it dry again. It was ready to be baled.

GRAYMARE:
The moon is gorgeous tonight! It really is like a giant reading lamp. I can see the barn occupants from my bedroom window.


INDYAPP:
Poor horsies. That grass really does make their butts big. All cannot be out in it for very long. Trinket is already showing signs of her spring laminitis, so she gets the least amount of grass time. She thinks I am cruel to her.... The others get to be out just as long as it takes me to clean the barn and area and get hay nets filled up. About an hour or so. They think I am cruel, too. We just had Daisy and Areion's feet x-rayed when they got their trims (and teeth floats), and so far this spring both are doing well with their feet. Daisy tends to get a bout of spring laminitis, too. Our wonderful vet/farrier expert retired a while back, so now we have to be careful to get those trims right. Daisy's trims are critical. No bute for her this year! (Crossing fingers).
When we moved here and suddenly had actual grass pastures, we thought our horsey life would be simpler than living in the woods with them. Wrong. It's way more complex.

BEECH:
I thought about you on Areion's birthday! Hope you had a great one! I probably have 10,000 horse pix that Donnie and I have taken since digital cameras and phone cameras became a thing. I try to resist posting too many... but probably don't resist enough.
Did your doctor friend like her marshmallow crossbow? Such a fun idea!

ELLEN:
I bet your 'snow' is quite nice while it is coming down. Kind of like leaves in the fall. Too bad they have to be cleaned up, though. We have a bunch of barn swallows who raise chicks in our barn every summer. When the entire flock of them come zooming around the barn, it feels like being inside a snow globe...except with black and blue snowflakes. We do love those birds! So far this year we haven't seen any evidence of snakes feasting on them or the chicks. Donnie caught 5 blacksnakes in the barn this time last year and may have cured the massacres...at least for awhile. So far the snakes haven't found their way home. The barn swallows usually stay until mid-August, then go somewhere south.
'

We had a small threat of rain yesterday but it didn't get here.  We need some rain.  Grass is starting to get brown already.  I think most of the farmers have their hay in the barn now; they've had plenty of dry weather to get it done.  
It was hot all week and most people were out on the lake yesterday afternoon.  The water has warmed up to make swimming very appealing.  This morning is rather cool and it won't be quite as hot today.
It was cloudy last night so no full moon for us. Maybe tonight.

I read somewhere the full moon the other night is called a strawberry moon.  It was very big and bright.

We've had scattered rain storms.  Not enough to do any good.  I was driving around town on Saturday and kept missing them.  I left my brother's to the sound of thunder.  Went to get gas and had a few sprinkles hit my windshield.  And when I got home there was evidence of a down pour, but I never experienced the rain.

Yesterday morning I cleaned the round pen where Sophie is confined to keep her off the grass.  She too thinks I am starving her.  I then pulled all the pins holding the panels together and moved the round pen a few feet because some of the legs of the panels were really sinking into the ground and it was no longer round from the horses rubbing up against it.  The horses of course had to help.  They had to walk through the panels that were laying on the ground.  Monster, Lily and Tiberius all had to poop in the freshly picked pen.  And Lily had to play in the water trough.  It is a really short and small water trough.  First she stuck her nose all the way in and splashed water everywhere.  Then, because that was so fun she proceeded to put her hoof in it and paw and splash.  When I got the pen all put back together and the pooped picked again, I the had to dump what water was left in the tank, rinse out all the sand from her hoof and refill the tank with fresh water.

ARK, there is a supplement called Heiro for the treatment of laminitis that I use for Sophie. I find that it helps her quite a lot.

Here's the latest about Jamie. She saw the oncologist today who told her that she does NOT need chemo. She'll start radiation for 5 or 6 weeks in early July. Then, she'll have her ovaries removed, followed a little later by implants. It will be a while yet, but I sincerely pray that a year from now, it will all be a bad memory.

YAY JAMIE..............I pray the same for Jamie.............

Our skies are rather hazy. Yesterday, I thought I could smell the smoke from the Canada fires. Ark, I'll bet you and Beech and Trudy are really getting it.

We could smell the smoke from Canada yesterday afternoon, but so far today (Thursday), we don't smell it. That may change as the day goes on. It had me coughing and sneezing worse than being in the hay. I can't imagine being in NYC.

Speaking of hay, we finished putting 147 bales of hay into the haybarn yesterday. We are a couple of tired people. We actually had someone call up and say they'd come help ( really sweet people), but they couldn't do it on Tuesday, which is when we did most of it. So we ended up doing it ourselves. The weather folks had predicted rain on Wednesday, so we hurried as fast as we could on Tuesday to get it done. Then it barely sprinkled on Wednesday. Anyway, we are done until late August with baling hay.


Good news about Jamie!!!

INDYAPP:
I will look into the supplement you mentioned. I already give the horses magnesium every day, which I noticed was on the ingredient list. Thanks for the heads up!! Poor Sophie. My horses understand her complaints.

Today we got up early, took care of the barn and set the horses up for the day, ran to have breakfast in town, went to WalMart and Kroger's, and were home before noon. Now we can sit down!

Boy, the quality of air is awful..............We have 3 fires going now, derailed train near
Flagstaff and finally, Trump has been indicted on 7 counts. Meanwhile, Biden's son is
off with his computer. We are all NUTS.

I just wish we had leaders we could trust.

Friday:  I just went down the hill to mow what little grass we have.  It's been so dry lawns are beginning to turn brown.  The cottonwoods are still "snowing".  I felt like I was being attacked by the fuzz as I was mowing.  Still picking it out of my eyes.  Those trees have been shedding for two weeks now.

Saturday:  That horse made my face leak again. One of my neighbors isn't even a horse person, but I got a text from her that she was having the same problem.  Cody's Wish is one tremendous horse!  
Cody's dad was there but the boy can't travel.

angelo (7-1) has won the 2023 Belmont Stakes, passing Preakness Stakes winner National Treasure heading into the final furlong the race and holding off a late challenge from betting favorite Forte. Jena Antonucci is now the first female trainer to win the Belmont Stakes, while jockey Javier Castellano captured two jewels of the Triple Crown this season after riding Mage to victory in the Kentucky Derby.

Cody's wish is always my favorite............talk about making silver lining out of nothing...........a real miracle.


This afternoon was hot at 90 degrees.........a good afternoon for horse races.

Everyone have a good evening...........

Last evening, I got a cute and funny call from Roman, a 10-year-old cousin.  He likes horses but hasn't had any opportunity to be around them much.  He called to tell me that he had made history.  He had predicted that Arcangelo would win, and since this was the first female in history trainer's first big win, that meant to him that he had made history too.  LOL   Obviously, he doesn't know anything at all about betting odds.  I just thought it was funny and cute that he wanted to tell me about it.  I told him that the next time I go to the track I'm taking him with me.   (It could be a long wait.  LOL)

That slurping sound you are hearing from Indiana is the grass sucking up the little bit of rain we are getting.  


TRUDY, where are you? I hope everything is okay.

ELLEN, as I recall, George could no longer drive and Trudy had eye problems and dental work
to be done. Her son had problems also. We got the picture of the little barrel racer with
the calm child proof horse and I don't recall any thing after that...............I would guess she's
doing just fine. Exhausted currently. I hope I'm right. I hope she responds..............

ELLEN, I just remembered ARK said she's on FACEBOOK now................

Oh.  That would explain it.

It has finally warmed up again after 3 colder days. The little bit of rain we had has helped the grass a little bit, but we need more. I'll give the tractor a few minutes of exercise today although the grass hasn't grown very much.
Not much going on around here.

Hiya all. All the riding lately has caused my hip joint problem to flare up again, and now my lower back is screaming, too. It's always something. I may try a back brace to help, but I have no idea what to do about the hip joint. I did PT for months after it first started several years ago, and it didn't help a bit. Not riding seems to be the only cure, and that's not going to happen.

Areion and I are now at 51 miles in the Virtual Tevis Cup ride. We are slow. I was going to take her to Pandapas yesterday, but my friend asked me to bring Ivan since another friend said she was bringing her new mare. The first friend is prejudiced against mares, she has never had one. Then the second friend brought her gelding, too, so we had no mares on the ride at all. I am not sure I am quite ready to do a trail ride on Areion, although she did them when she was being trained and has been to Pandapas a few times several years ago. She would probably be fine.
Ivan did really well yesterday at Pandapas even though we hadn't had a ride in about a month.

I don't think Donnie and I are caught up from our hay making efforts. We seem to live in perpetual semi-tiredness all the time.

We discovered a new restaurant in Christiansburg the other day, it's a BBQ place called Mission BBQ. Its theme is about military, police, etc. The BBQ was wonderful! It was so nice to go inside a new restaurant with wonderful food. I had a turkey BBQ sandwich and potato salad that were really tasty. Then a browny......

Dorian GrayCat seems okay after his rather expensive trip to the vet. Our blue truck is still in the shop, tomorrow is 3 weeks. That's getting old.