Posts Tagged ‘horses’
Calorie Burning
We have tried to pay better attention to controlling how much food the horses get daily, ever since our last vet visit revealed they still need to lose more weight. It’s not as easy now as it is in the winter, when the only food they get is what we give them. Now there is more than enough grazing available, unless we lock them in the barn.
I’m not going to do that. It creates way too much mess for me to clean up. Early last week we had a cool day with wind and rain that set the herd to shivering. We put them inside overnight to dry off. Next day, since I was out of the routine of cleaning the stalls, I forgot all about it. Then I forgot the day after that. When I finally got around to it, the weather had warmed considerably and the humidity had climbed. It was nasty ripe inside the barn.
It gave me new appreciation for all the times I have had to do that chore in frozen winter temperatures. It’s much less stinky.
Back to controlling their food… our herd leader, Legacy, is rather persistent about asserting his authority over the others by way of moving them off their feed pan. If I put less out for him, he just finishes it quick and moves on to the next pan, forcing off anyone who happened to be there.
Since he seems to always get the most food, we’ve decided to balance that by getting him the most exercise in hopes of compensating. Sunday afternoon, Cyndie led Legacy to our arena space to do some longeing exercises. He is funny because it is quickly obvious that he knows the drill, and even seems to light up and enjoy proudly prancing around, but after barely finishing one circle he stops and turns toward Cyndie as if to say, “I’m done! That was great. How’d I do? Where’s my treat?”
In fairness to both of them, he and Cyndie are out of practice and it was distractingly windy. Also, the surface was wet and thus a bit slippery. She restarted him a few times, but eventually cut the session short, for his sake and hers.
Yesterday, I was walking Delilah and when we popped out of the woods, we found three of the horses on the ground, napping. It took them a bit to become aware of us, and after they did, the two chestnuts decided to get up. Our exercise-needing herd leader did not. He decided to stay on the ground.
He doesn’t seem very fired up about burning any extra calories.
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Quintessential Spring
The winter snowmelt was pretty easy to deal with this year, almost to the point of leaving things too dry for a short time. Then we got a few bouts of spring rain and our ground moisture began to show signs of life. Now we are in the classic battle of grass growing so fast that it is hard to keep up with the mowing, and occasional rain storms that hit on the days when it would have been nice to mow before the grass gets too long.
The horses are doing their part to keep things mowed (when we give them time on the grass) munching down the area we have fenced off for an arena.
Since we don’t do any jumping with our herd, we may end up leaving the area in its uneven, sloping natural state. We’ll see how it works for our purposes, once Cyndie actually starts holding some seminars.
The spot we picked for that arena is within the field we have designated for hay, and the narrow lanes that resulted beside it in that corner and along the drainage swale are now isolated from what will be cut and baled. We decided we may as well make it accessible for the horses to “mow.” I just need to put up a short length of fence to contain the horses in that alleyway and keep them from venturing out into the main hay-field.
When I finished mowing the grass yesterday, I spotted the horses already out in part of that space. Cyndie had put up a rudimentary barrier and given them access to one side. I still need to get a more secure version of a temporary fence there, though, as they will certainly challenge it in time, especially as the grass continues to grow more enticing out in the greater field.
In another classic sign of spring, I got a call from my hay supplier on Friday, checking in on how many bales we’d be interested in this year. He sounded a little crestfallen when I told him the much smaller number of bales we felt we would need. Between not wanting to be short and then getting higher yield than we expected from our own field last year, we got ourselves overstocked.
Other spring milestones include my being startled by the first garter snake of the year and the number of rabbits and raccoons visible romping again. Obviously, Delilah can’t find every rabbit’s nest when she is confined to being leashed the majority of time.
The temperatures have been bouncing classically between warm and cool, appropriately mixing at times to create thunderstorms, but so far, this year we are enjoying a perfect spring climate with few unsettling extremes. It is a nice change from the previous two years.
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Quick Fix
I paid for my neglect.
Cyndie pointed out something yesterday in our back pasture as we were strolling the grounds toward the labyrinth, after visiting the horses with her parents and our kids. We had just enjoyed a scrumptious Mother’s Day brunch at our house before heading out into the cool, blustery wind. Rain had been predicted, but the pending arrival was moved to much later in the day.
It’s a good thing that most of the day was dry, because it gave me a chance to remedy a situation that occurred because my failure to follow through on a plan. When the drain tile was installed last fall, it was left up to me to place grids over the trenches in high traffic areas. I didn’t do anything about it in the days after the contractor had finished his work, and then winter arrived and it all became buried in snow and ice.
Honestly, I just haven’t been concerned enough about it this spring to take any action yet. Then Cyndie alerted me to how the recent heavy downpour of rain had washed away stones at the end of the line that runs into the pasture. That left some of the tubing exposed, which revealed areas where the weight of the horses had pushed through the wet ground deep enough to collapse the tube in several spots.
Luckily, the damage occurred at the end of the line where it just runs out into the pasture, and the installer had run the tubing far enough out that I could shorten it without putting the areas I was trying to protect at risk. As soon as visiting family departed, I set about installing the fix that was always meant to be in place.
I pulled up the portion of drain tube that had collapsed and then cut it off to make a new end. We had some of the plastic landscape grids available that were left from previous projects, so I just needed to do a bit of digging to seat the grids level with the ground surface, and then backfill them with stones and dirt to keep them in place.
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It was quick enough work to make me regret that I hadn’t been more disciplined about just getting it done before any damage occurred. The silver lining is that I now have a chance to protect the other high traffic areas before horses will be stomping around the vicinity.
The other spots aren’t as high-risk as this one in the field was. The area where the damage occurred is where the line drains to the surface, so the tubing was getting closer and closer to ground level. Nonetheless, I will be upset with myself it I don’t install the grids in the other locations before something happens again.
Wouldn’t it be nice if I found out the grids were on sale?
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Life Giving
Despite the recent trend of precipitation missing us as waves of disjointed showers and thunderstorms have been flowing over our region, yesterday evening we finally received rain, but in the form of a dramatic gully washer. It poured as if from a pitcher, and then stopped as quick as if the pitcher had returned to upright. Just as I was beginning to consider a trip outside to tend to the horses, the downpour resumed in full gusto.
The sound of such heavy bursts of rain is dramatic enough on its own, but we also had a few booms of thunder which served to amp up the excitement. On top of that, Delilah felt the need to run to and fro, barking her 2-cents worth toward the storm. My decision to remain calm and collected despite it all made no visible impact on her confidence over our relative safety in the moment.
After the third or fourth wave of heavy rain, we received a sign that I could venture outside. The setting sun popped out from behind clouds, creating an irresistible invitation to go outside, even though some residual rain at our location was still dripping from the clouds overhead.
I chose to override my better judgement and wandered around with Delilah tethered closely to me as the lightning and thunder on the backside of this storm continued overhead, preventing Delilah from reaching anything close to calm and secure during this particular walk.
The air had the fresh smell of recent lightning strikes and the copious amount of water that fell in a surprisingly short amount of time was now rushing through our drainage swale. I felt a sense of appreciation for the much-needed moisture that was providing a life-giving treat to all our growing things.
The giant double rainbow that was filling the sky to the east served as an exclamation point to the whole sensational event. From where I stood, it shone down on the horses clustered close together in the paddock to ride out the storm.
I took Delilah into the paddock with me to open a gate that allowed the horses into the back pasture for the night, then headed back toward the house to check the rain gauge.
We had received 1.75 inches of rain in about 45-minutes time. I hope more of it soaked in than flowed away in the runoff. It just might have been a case where we got too much of a good thing.
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Green Grass
Our grass is growing in leaps and bounds now, which is the time when we need to limit the hours of access for our horses. That accelerated growing is a too-high-sugar fuel for our Arabians, per the doctor’s orders. I had asked how I would know when we needed to pull the horses off the pasture, and our vet said that she uses how quickly the lawn needs mowing as a reference.
I mowed on Sunday, and there are places where it already looks like I didn’t even cut it. I don’t like to mow more than one time in a week, but when it is growing this fast, it needs mowing in 4 or 5 days. I think that using this as a reference for when to limit the horse’s pasture time will work pretty well.
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Not Stinky
Pondering smells…
I didn’t live with cats until Cyndie and the kids successfully achieved adding one to our family unit. I didn’t have a strong aversion to cats. It was more what I would describe as a lack of interest in them. When I found myself facing the reality of having one in our home, my main concern was the smell of the litter box. I didn’t want to know it existed in our house. In time, I came to appreciate cats, but the litter box remained Cyndie’s responsibility unless I absolutely couldn’t weasel a way out of it.
When Cyndie landed work that provided good income, but would demand most of her time and attention, I was approved to take on the role of Ranch Manager. I didn’t give it much thought at the time, but the reality of tending the litter box was included in the many daily tasks about to become my sole responsibility.
I seem to have adjusted my sensitivities and am having no difficulties managing the chore of regularly cleaning the litter box.
I didn’t live with horses until just a year and a half ago. I knew manure would be a significant issue to manage, but I tended not to dwell on it. I figured it would be nasty necessary evil. I have come to realize the I don’t find it nasty at all.
Since the snow melted off the fields, we have slowly worked on spreading the droppings that had accumulated over the winter. I’ve tried a variety of different tools for the job, but so far the best results come from simply kicking the piles apart. While I was fervently flailing away in the back pasture yesterday, I became aware of what I now find to be a pleasant smell of the dry manure being broken apart.
There are certain smells typically associated with the keeping of horses. When a barn is well maintained, the aroma is a combination of hay, maybe a little dust, and probably some remnants of dried manure. To a horse-lover, it is an appealing smell. It resonates like wood smoke or the scent of leaves on the ground in the fall.
When I bury the pitch fork deep into the pile of composting manure and turn over the portion that has been breaking down, the smell is far from stinky. It is a rich, earthy smell that I find very appealing. It is a rewarding success to take fresh horse manure that can be offensive smelling and, in a relatively short time, convert it to something that smells pretty good.
It is an interesting twist that I tend to find the smell of perfumes irritating. Along the lines of beauty being in the eye of the beholder, I guess appealing aromas are in the nose of the breather.
Although, who doesn’t like the smell of fresh-baked bread? That one must be universal!
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Well Fed
When the pendulum of oncoming spring swings away from the snow showers to sunny warmth of surprisingly summer-like days, we are presented with more to do than there are hours in a day. It is a blessing and a curse.
There are areas of our property where the grass is already growing like crazy, forcing me to need to mow the hill behind our house last Thursday before the predicted Friday rain/show showers. The ground is barely dry enough to support the tractor, but I delicately pulled it off. That precipitation turned out to be pretty much a bust and after yesterday’s warm sunshine the grass in others is now looking overdue for a cut.
The horses are in full mode of shedding their winter coats. They don’t wait around for us to take care of brushing them out, resorting to the tried and true method of mutually grooming each other. It is such fine cooperation to behold.
We had a visit from the vet yesterday to get the horses updated on their vaccines. We squeaked in a session of grooming prior to the vet’s arrival so everyone would be looking their best for the doc. Cyndie checked the weight of each horse with a tape measure which provides that translation and we were happy to learn they have all lost some weight since we last checked. The vet says they aren’t where we want them yet, so we have additional work to do. We are hoping the addition of more intentional exercise now that the winter is over will get us the rest of the way to their healthiest weight.
With her parting comment, the vet made a point about the weight of our animals when Cyndie brought Delilah from around the barn where she had been barking for attention. Dr. Lisa said she thought from the bark it sounded like she would be a smaller dog. She reached down to greet Delilah and after putting her hands into Delilah’s thick coat she blurted, “Oh, that isn’t all hair! You are overweight, too!”
Point taken.
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Reality Check
I am going to pause today in my ongoing chronicle of our Guatemalan adventure to provide some perspective that I think will show why I choose to describe our 10 days with the Morales family in such specific day-to-day detail. This is the April reality that we have returned to at our home, latitude 44.7739° N:
You may be able to barely make out the silhouette of our horses in the distance through the falling flakes, but you won’t find any palm trees and I can attest that there was absolutely nothing similar to a balmy Pacific breeze.
Do you blame me for wanting to relive every precious warm moment of that visit with our great friends in their beautiful country? It’s winter-cold here again and the wind is gusting mini-blizzards straight out of the Arctic circle this week!
Seriously, tomorrow I am going right back to describing our last days at the beach house and then our return to Guatemala City in preparation of boarding the flight home. Maybe it’s escapism. I’m not proud. I do it because I can.
Aw, heck. I can’t even wait.
This is what I am talking about…
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Trip Images
Here are some additional images that represent our journey thus far…
A view of the outside and inside of the front door to the Morales’ gorgeous home in Guatemala City.
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A view of the back of their house and the beautiful hanging blossoms over the deck.
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Their variety of dogs. The pack was never stationary long enough to get them all at once.
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And more from the stable, Dunia riding, and their horses. I loved the look of the two-story housing.
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.Fandango and Sarnac
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Twice Locked
After a fantastic full night of sleep, we enjoyed breakfast out on their deck. It was Friday and Marco needed to work, but that was no problem because we would be going with Dunia to the stable where they keep their horses. Dunia had scheduled someone to record video for promotion of her C’Ubuntu equine assisted learning workshops. We would be participating in real exercises with the horses to provide the videographer genuine scenes to capture.
Cyndie had been to this stable the day before, but for me it was a thrill to meet their horses and get to know the space where they ride and host workshops. I was able to do exercises in the round pen with each of their horses under Dunia’s guidance. We finished with a group meditation on chairs in the pen with two horses free to move about and interact with us. That was a particularly amazing experience for me.
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After the round pen, we moved to beautiful pastures in a ravine and were able to spend idle time mingling with the horses in their space. The videographer used a drone, which buzzed like a horde of ferocious mosquitos, to get aerial shots. It seemed to unnerve the horses a tiny bit.
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Luckily, they all tolerated it as a necessary, temporary annoyance for us. Hopefully, Dunia will be able to report that she got some good photos and video from the day.
For lunch we made our way to a stylish contemporary restaurant in a mall, Café Saul, which is a favorite of Jose’s for their crepes. Then a stroll through the shopping mall to pick up a swim suit for Jose and makeup for Cyndie. While shopping, we heard a loud crack of thunder and then rain pounded on the roof far overhead. Power went off in the mall for a brief moment, but shopping was not disrupted.
When Dunia, Jose, and Cyndie & I got back to the house, all the doors were locked and we couldn’t get inside. Dunia phoned son Marco to come let us in and we walked around to the back deck to sit and visit. When Marco arrived and opened the door, we were in the middle of a story. Marco said something to Jose, who then jumped to his feet and they took off together in haste. Jose closed the door to the house as he stepped in and we kept on visiting until later. When we finally got up to go in, we found the door had locked again behind Jose. This time Dunia called Marco, Sr., and he suggested we drive to a nearby coffee shop to wait until he was able to join us. So we drove off again and were treated to a wonderful vista from the balcony of the cafe.
After coffee (and/or hot chocolate) and a treat there, the 4 of us headed back to the house where they prepared a chicken dinner. The boys arrived home in time to eat with us and we hung out around the table, Cyndie tracing horse images from their books while I played guitar with each of the guys. Stayed up till about midnight. It was delightful.
It was another day that felt like several. By the end, as we laughed and laughed about getting locked out twice in a row, the morning sessions with the horses seemed like it must have been a different day. That makes for a glorious vacation, if you ask me.
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Relative Something 